The Great Commandment Principle

Pastor Keith Hassell

Foundation Scripture: Matthew 22:37-40

I. What is missing in the church?

A. Have you ever felt that you were in a divine appointment with someone at a time of need in their life? People are very open when our help is relevant to their situation.

B. Questions

1. Do we believe that God has the answers for people’s lives?

2. Do we believe that God’s people are His vehicles to bring the message of forgiveness, hope, healing, and restoration?

3. Do we long for increasing numbers of hurting people to look to us and to our churches as places of hope and healing?

4. Are we providing this kind of place for hurting people?

5. Why do people visit our churches and not come back to find answers for their troubled lives?

6. How many hurting people see our lives and say, “That is what I need?”

7. Why is it that visitors are few and return visitors are even more rare?

8. Why is it that when we share the Gospel with unbelieving neighbors or coworkers, they are not interested?

9. Why do the people that need it most seem the least interested?

II. What are the un-churched saying to us?

A. A recent survey reveals that 57% of the un-churched consider religion very important to their lives.

B. Another study shows that an astounding 91% of non-Christians feel that the church is not sensitive to their real needs.

C. Rick Warren, the author of The Purpose-Driven Church, conducted a survey before opening the doors of his church. He found the following four common complaints about churches:

1. Church is boring, especially the sermons. The messages don’t relate to my life.

2. Church members are unfriendly to visitors. If I go to church, I want to feel welcomed without being embarrassed.

3. The church is more interested in my money than in me.

4. We worry about the quality of the church’s child care.

III. The missing ingredient: Relevance

A. Relevance: (Webster) Something is relevant when it has “significant and demonstrable bearing on the matter at hand.” It has real and practical application in the current situation. The message must connect with those it is intended to reach.

B. People are not streaming to us because they do not perceive our message as relevant to the deepest needs in their lives.

C. But isn’t the Gospel the answer to these needs? It is not the message, but the medium.

D. People need a relevant solution modeled right in front of their eyes.

E. Description of our society: Alientated, disconnected, and alone

1. People are alienated from God

2. People are alienated from one another, feeling empty, unloved, and alone.

3. This alienation results in crime, drugs, rebellion, abuse, addiction, divorce, and family breakup.

IV. Why are we not relevant?

A. We have forgotten who we are.

B. We have forgotten why we do what we do.

C. We have been right on the issues but wrong in the heart.

D. We have believed right but behaved wrong.

E. Being relevant is more than believing right, it is behaving right.

1. We have defended the right of unborn children while bombing abortion clinics all in the name of truth.

2. We condemn sinners but we do not reach out to help people who are trying to change

F. We have missed the heart of love behind the truth.

G. The Great Commission defines our mission, but the Great Commandment defines our heart behind our mission.

H. When we fulfill the Great Commandment we will no longer do church, we will be the church.

I. When we connect the Great Commandment to the Great Commission then we will reach people not only with our message but with our love.

V. How do we become relevant?

A. We must identify and meet the real needs of people.

B. We must help people experience God’s Word at the point of their need.

C. We must communicate the true character of God (He not only forgives people of sin, He loves the sinner!)

D. Rick Warren says in his book, The Purpose-Driven Church: “Look beyond the hype of every growing church and you will find a common denominator: They have figured out a way to meet the real needs of people. A church will never grow beyond its capacity to meet needs. If your church is genuinely meeting needs, then attendance will be the least of your problems---you’ll have to lock the doors to keep people out.”