An Engaged Church

Intro: Engaged: our theme for mission week. I want to get our minds of that theme by talking about what it means to be an engaged church.

Engaged: our theme for mission week. I want to get our minds of that theme by talking about what it means to be an engaged church.

GOD CAN BE GLORIFIED AND HIS WORK BE DONE WHEN HIS CHURCH IS FULLY ENGAGED!

To be engaged: one of the first things that I think of is a standard transmission. A transmission has a lot of moving parts. (Hundreds of parts) When they all work together they have the potential to create a lot of power and torque and momentum.

2 Things have to happen for the transmission to transfer power to the wheels. (1.) The transmission has to be connected to the motor (it doesn’t matter how big and powerful the motor is without a transmission it will go nowhere) and (2) the second thing is that the transmission must be engaged.

When my first truck broke down for the first time before I had a cell phone and I had to walk to a house in the middle of the night and use the phone it was the clutch plate that had gone out. There was nothing wrong with the transmission or the motor but one of the parts that engaged the two.

WHAT THREE THINGS HAVE TO HAPPEN FOR US TO BE A FULLY ENGAGED CHURCH?

1.

2.

3.

To be engaged as a church and really make a difference 3 things have to happen: (1) We have to be connected to be engaged to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in a real relationships.

Jesus said in “apart from me you can do nothing.” We have to be consistently connected to the vine or we will not be able to bear fruit.

John 15:5 ESV

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

As powerful as Christ is if we individually are not connected to Him we will go nowhere in the things that really matter; spiritual growth and bearing fruit.

The (2nd) thing that must happen is that we are God’s people must engage one another to grow spiritually, work together and transfer spiritual strength, encouragement, and help to one another

Engaging one another cannot happen at a distance. We have to be together and really share our lives, faith and the work that has to be done.

relays this truth. That we every part is working together we do as God intended.

Ephesians 4:16 ESV

from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

The (3rd) thing that has to happen is that we have to work together to engage the world and take Jesus’ love and compassion to those in need.

As exhausting as it is this is the great thing about mission week. It gets us outside of our own assembly and puts us in contact with those in our community.

Jesus was a perfect example of being known for the right reasons. (Not like the pharisees and religious leaders who went out and tried to make themselves known by promoting themselves through long public prayer and the clothes that they wore.)

Think about it: Why was Jesus known? It wasn’t because of how people saw Him at a distance. It was how people experienced Him up close and in their hearts as He healed and taught.

Because He was compassionate and spoke real truth. Jesus became known because of the miracles that He did to help people. Because of His amazing authoritative truth that He spoke.

says that Jesus was “full of grace and truth.”

John 1:14 ESV

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jesus did not promote Himself. He did not have to. Often He told people not to tell about what He did. Of course they told anyway. He came and taught and forgave sins, and helped people.

So we should be full of grace, graceful actions and truth, just as Jesus was.

So we as His body today, His hands and feet have to do the same: bring grace through helping others followed by truth by teaching others.

Trans: If you were to think about it this way; we need to be engaged in a relationship with God, in a relationship with each other (inwardly) and (outwardly) toward the world. Let’s look at how we can be engaged more in each of these direction.

Engage Your Heavenly Father

We cannot engage God at a “safe” distance. God calls us to come closer!

What is keeping you from drawing near to God?

We may fear getting to close to God because we do not feel worthy, or do not trust God, or because we are afraid of or know we will have to give more or change more

We may know God being closer to God may cause us to be father away from the world.

We may be afraid of what God will ask of us. How about that one?

We may be like Martha who was happy to serve Jesus at a distant and had her busyness keep her there.

We must be willing to sacrifice to be close to God just as He sacrificed to be close to us.

Whatever is keeping you from Engaging your heavenly Father consistently, daily, constantly, get it out of the way. Whether it is an attitude or a habit or things, sacrifice them.

If you are struggling with this let me give you a truth to motivate...

Being close to the Father is what everything else depends on.

Everything that Jesus did flowed out of His relationship with the Father. Jesus’ desire was (1) to do God’s will and (2) in doing so glorify God.

Through God being glorified people would come to know God and through Christ they would be saved.

So if our relationship with God is close, intimate and strong. If it is closer than any other everything else will be affected by it.

We can meet and have relationship and we can help the needy but unless we have in our hearts God’s love we will not really be engaged.

Trans: but if we are engaged in an intimate relationship with God we will have the love that is required to really be engaged with our family and those in need.

Engage Your Spiritual Family

Engaging one another cannot be done at a distance either.

We cannot carry out God’s commandments towards one another without getting close to one another.

Jesus taught the Apostles to engage one another by serving through foot washing.

John 13:34 ESV

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

We often stay clear of really getting engaged with one another by saying things like, I’m here for you or I’m praying for you or we are thinking of you. (None of which are bad but without real contact and closeness and sacrifice those things can be meaningless.) Kind of like...

words can be empty without actions to follow

James 2:16 ESV

and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?

What is it that keeps us from really engaging one another as spiritual brothers and sisters?

This is an important question because when we are closer we work better together!

There are a lot of reasons we do not engage one another. For example: it is easier to check out now (and be distracted by things such as a smart phone)…(this is one of the reasons that this theme is so good for mission week. Young people who grow up with smart phones…elab…when there is an uncomfortable situation socially…just check out…it’s acceptable....)

We need to be engaged and involved so that we can do what we are commanded: to bear one another’s burdens, confess sins, share with one another (), forgive one another, give to those who are in need.

being generous and compassionate starts with each other.

Romans 12:13 ESV

Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

Romans 12:13 ESV

Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

To engage one another we must be willing to be vulnerable.

It is risky, we do not always know who we can trust. We are tempted to be guarded.

Trans: if we have a heart that is conditioned and transformed by a deep meaningful relationship with God we can live out a close relationship with each other and together help the community.

Engage Your

Engage Your Community

God has always been concerned about those who are not (yet) a part of His nation.

God told Israel to tell the nation of what He had done. God had laws that would benefit the foreigner going through Israel. ,

,

God wanted Israel to be a light to the nations. Jesus wants us to lights to the people around us.

God often gets the attention of those who are away from Him through the compassion of His people and then calls them through the gospel. Jesus often coupled His healing and teaching.

Jesus often coupled His healing and teaching together.

God calls us by the gospel.

What is keeping us from engaging those in the community with good works and the gospel?

Mission week is a great opportunity to tell others not about what we are doing but about why we are doing what we are doing what we we are doing.

(ill: The other day I say someone in the community in the bank and the first thing they said was “ya’ll are about to be busy aren’t you.” That’s great that people know we are involved. NOW WE NEED TO TAKE THE OPPORTUNITY TO LET THEM KNOW WHY?)

We want people to know God’s love and that He wants have a relationship with them. SO TAKE THE OPPORTUNITY TO SAY IT HOWEVER YOU CAN FROM YOUR HEART.

SO KEEP IN MIND SOME OF THE THINGS THAT GOD CAN DO WITH THIS WEEK AND PRAY WITH ME THAT GOD WILL ACCOMPLISH THESE THINGS AND MORE. MY HOPES ARE THAT:

it will help each person involved engage God in a deeper relationship. That the teens coming and all of us will be closer to Him because of the worship, teachings and serving and seeing Him work.

It will teach the teens that following Christ is about serving others (both in Gods family and outside of it.)

It will help them to take the attitude of service and mission home with them and into the lives always…and help them be servants where ever they go in life.

It will help them appreciate what good can be done when God’s people work together!

It will help them see outside of their own little worlds and gain the skill of looking out for those who are in need around them.