Your Church is Too Small: Thinking Outside the Box

Brad strelau

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We are stepping to a new series this week called Your Church is Too Small, and the point is not about growth, although it has implication for it, it is about the danger of believing that church is what happens in this theatre on Sunday mornings.

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VIDEO

I’m not sure what you think of when you hear the word church.-

I think it’s fitting on my first Sunday as your pastor to deliver to you my vision for what the Church ought to be.

pictures

And of course it is not my vision in reality it is the church as Christ proclaimed it to be that I would like relate to you this morning,

pristine

cathedral

boring

underground church in China

And if you are just checking out the church, than this will be good for you to listen in.

If you are a Christ-follower and have possibly been a church-goer for a long time, perhaps I can take this opportunity to widen your perspective of what church is.

If you were to try to explain church to a first century Christian, using words like building, or a specific time that worship happens, you would find it difficult.

and what you think the perfect church is, but as one wise person said, …If you find the perfect church do not attend, or you will ruin it”

I’m not sure what you think of when you hear the word church.- and what you think the perfect church is, but as one wise person said, …If you find the perfect church do not attend, or you will ruin it”

The fact is that the ideas of what a church ought to look like is as varied as the people who attend a church building!

But my guess is what most of us believe about the church, is an idea very different than the one held by first century followers of Jesus. The word that we use for church does not come from the New Testament. In fact it comes from the German “kirche” which actually means the “Lord's house”.

And it is not even need to be the Lord that we worship. It can simply mean Lord lower-case L.

It means the place a geographical location where worship takes place and finds its roots more in the old testament idea of Temple worship than it does with what Jesus established among his followers.

So ultimately our idea of church often revolves around the idea of a building or a time. but whenever you read the word church in the New Testament you never see a word that refers to a building. A piece of real estate. A geographical location.

What you will see in the Greek in the NT when it speaks of church is the word ecclesia which means a gathering, a group, a community with common purpose.

And I don't think that that is just worthy of a footnote. I think that is an important thing to keep in mind. Because I think we can get very attached to a building. We can set aside a building in our mind that we come to once a week or possibly 2 or 3 times a week and consider it the church.

But First century believers would not have a concept anywhere close to that. And I think our theology can get pretty confused when we see the church as a building.

We can be confined in our thinking, and definitely in our ministries, our worship, our evangelism.

Our faith will be compartmentalized, limited, and isolated if we see church as a place and a time.

So today what I would like to do is take a look at the birth of a first century church to see ecclesia, in the way that Jesus meant it,

And I think we can glean some important characteristics of what this ecclesia, which is part of a 2000 year old global ecclesia, ought to look like and what our vision is for Town Centre and CA Church as a whole.

The biblical idea of the church would be more like this:

The Church:

The Gathering of all those who call Jesus their Lord, and who’s purpose is to live for Him, and through the power of His Spirit, labour for the redemption of the world; characterized by immediacy, unity, and generosity.

OUR (local )church:

The local Gathering of all those who call Jesus their Lord, and who’s purpose is to live for Him, and, through the power of His Spirit, labour for the redemption of the world; (starting locally); characterized by immediacy, unity, and generosity.

The 1st century church understood itself as a movement.

And as a wise man once said movements moves.

The Church....

I. Moves

Now some of you are American football fans…like American Football!! I don’t get it and I’ll tell you why!!

An American Football game, lasts approximately 3 hours and 15 minutes.

During those 195 minute, they average 11 minutes of actual play and 3 hours and 4 minutes of commercials and replays!!!

For all intents an purposes that is a great illustration of what many have settled for when they think of and call themselves a part of the church.

No one pays to see a huddle.

11 minutes of action and 184 minutes of talking about it!!!

There was no concept of taking your faith and huddling together quietly.

By its design the church was meant to be community actively seeking out the health of the community it finds itself in!

Move!

Every church needs to remember its roots, and the roots of every Christ following, Christ serving, Christ loving church is found in the Great Commission in

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:

18And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

PRAYER

Be seated.

Now this text has enough in it to keep us busy for a long time. Like to eternity.

PRAYER

First of all, no one has more right to have authority over your life than Jesus does.

There is no argument that anyone can come up with to commission and frame your behavior that is not trumped by Jesus--who died and rose again and has all authority on earth and heaven.

Turn to Acts 16

And in his authority, in his power what has he asked the disciples and you and I to do?

Paul is on what is called his second missionary Journey travelling through the known Mediterranean world planting new churches and visiting old ones.

Go into the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them all that I have taught you.

He has seen a man in a dream calling him to come to the area of Philippi and tell them about Jesus.

And when he does so (as he does everywhere he visits)he is hoping to set up ....

a local Gathering of all those who call Jesus their Lord, and who’s purpose is to live for Him, and, through the power of His Spirit, labour for the redemption of the world; (starting locally); characterized by immediacy, unity, and generosity.

Movements move---->go into all the world

Let’s turn to .

Luke restates Jesus words in Acts Chapter 1 verse 8

Acts 1:8 ESV

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Luke 1:8 ESV

8 Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty,

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Loosely translated, Luke is saying--Reach your community--reach the surrounding community, reach those you can't stand, and keep going.

That is the call of the Church!

As if your neighbour doesn’t need Jesus!

I. Moves

So let’s take a look at what this kind of church, this kind of moving, ecclesia, carrying out the great commision looks like, and hone in on a few characteristics.

Let’s turn to .

What you will see here is a church an ecclesia defined by immediacy, unity nd gen

We are going to look at the birth of a church. I am not going to read the entire chapter,

It’s about 50AD and Paul is on what scholars call his second missionary journey. He is going back to visit churches that he has already planted with a guy named Barnabas, and he is going back to visit them as well as to plant some new ones (because movements move!!)

And so He sets out with a guy named Silas, and they hook up with Timothy to the north and they are on their way (road trip). About half way through their trip, that probably took them about 2.5 years of “planes, trains, and automobiles” and some shady Super 8 motels, they come to a town called Troas.

While they are in Troas Paul has a vision.

A vision of a man in Macedonia, (a few days boat ride away from where Paul was) to come to Macedonia and help them (v.9)

Immediately, it says!! V10

At once!!

There is an urgency here that I don’t think we are overly familiar with.

“concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them!” (v10)

Notice that Paul’s conclusion is not that Macedonia needs programs, positive influence, needs a helping hand. They don’t need a building built so that people will come to them. That might come someday, but right now immediately...

They need the gospel.

Does society need all those other things? Yes, of course. But they are the outflow of the ecclesia.

Ultimately, as Paul would say over and over, the Gospel is of first importance, because the news of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection changes everything.

So Paul immediately makes his way to Macedonia and to the most influential city of Macedonia; Philippi.

v 12 tells us that it was the leading city. The city of influence and a Roman colony. That meant it was the disperser of Roman culture, thought, and religion. They were not thought of as small outposts on the frontier where the hicks lived, who were ignorant and less than the civilized cities of Rome and Athens and Corinth. If a town was given the title of “Roman Colony”, it mean that citizens in that city were as Roman as those who lived in Rome itself.

Togas and all!!

They were given the same rights and were meant to live, dress, eat, follow the same customs, speak the same language and worship like those who lived in the centre of the Empire.

It is to this city that Paul goes to immediately!

Philippians 1:3–11 ESV

3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

PRAYER

Paul’s letter to the church is in Philippi is the result of a church that loved and pursued Jesus.

A letter that has the most positive tone of any of Paul’s letter’s he loved these guys!!

A Christian community that exploded into the community out of a few rag tag believers.

And it all comes about because of Paul’s obedience and as a result of him taking advantage of every interaction to spread the gospel.

And what we witness in Philippi is the birth of a church.

And in , we see 3 separate episodes of people of drastically different backgrounds coming to Jesus for salvation and then finding themselves part of ....

First, we have Lydia

Acts 16:13–15 ESV

13 And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. 14 One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. 15 And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.

Acts:13-15

And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.

(she wouldn’t take no for an answer)

OK so hold that in your mid. Just press pause on Lydia for a second. File that.

Now we look at a girl from the other side of the tracks.

A slave girl.

Acts 16:18 ESV

18 And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.

Acts 16:16–18 ESV

vv 16-18

Acts 16:16–24 ESV

16 As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” 18 And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour. 19 But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. 20 And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. 21 They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.” 22 The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. 23 And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. 24 Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

OK so we have Lydia a wealthy trader of purple cloth.

We have a poor orphaned slave girl who had been paraded around like a circus freak because of her demon possession. By some evil men.

Two drastically different women, brought together through the gospel; delivered and made a part of the ecclesia

So, hold onto those 2 images, those 2 conversion stories and lets move onto the last one.

vv. 25-34 The Roman Jailer

Paul and Silas have been thrown into prison because of their healing of the slave girl; people are scared of them.

Acts 16:25–34 ESV

25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, 26 and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. 27 When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” 29 And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. 34 Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.

skip to v 40

Acts 16:40 ESV

40 So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia. And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed.

Acts 16:

3 drastically different episodes, about 3 different people, who gather together to make up the church in Philippi.

So I want us to notice a few characteristics here. And I believe that each one cascades into the next. Each characteristic brings about the next.

The 1st century church understood itself as a movement.

And as a wise man once said movements moves.

The Church....

I. Immediacy

Let’s get moving and let’s get on mission, and bring others into this community!!

Now some of you are American football fans…like American Football!! I don’t get it and I’ll tell you why!!

An American Football game, lasts approximately 3 hours and 15 minutes.

During those 195 minute, they average 11 minutes of actual play and 3 hours and 4 minutes of commercials and replays!!!

For all intents an purposes that is a great illustration of what many have settled for when they think of and call themselves a part of the church.

11 minutes of action and 184 minutes of talking about it!!!

By its design the church was meant to be community actively seeking out the health of the community it finds itself in!

Move!

Every church needs to remember its roots, and the roots of every Christ following, Christ serving, Christ loving church is found in the Great Commission in

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

Luke restates Jesus words in Acts Chapter 1 verse 8

Acts 1:8 ESV

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Work, plans for your life,

Loosely translated, Jesus is saying--Reach your community--reach the surrounding community, reach those you can't stand, and keep going.

That is the call of the Church!

I. Fueled by the Great Commission of

Believe and baptism, belief and baptism (which is a sign of discipleship and following Christ)

When we are striving here to see people come to Jesus and then follow Him into the waters of baptism it is not a CAC thing. It is not a religion thing, it is not a bullet on the Church’s list of do’s. But is also not something for your bucket list; something you should get done before you die (although many leave it long enough for that).

Belief and baptism were the 2Bs before we had the 3B: Bibles, Buildings, and Bands.

The reason we often real NT texts and it seems to appear that Paul is teaching that we can be saved by baptism is becasue it was assumed that when you made a decision to follow Jesus you got baptism immediately.

If Paul was here today and was talking to someone who called themselves a Christ follower who was waiting to get baptized, he would have no category for that!! A Christian was baptized!!

There was a sense of immediacy to the early church- to obedience and to getting the Gospel out and to see people follow Jesus.

And if anyone had excuses, if there were people who could put off baptism it was the early church—their excuse would be I don’t want to lose my job, I don’t want to lose my family, I don’t want to lose my head.

There was an urgency that we see throughout Acts that the Gospel needs to get out to the world! And if we are in we are all in!!

Many churches and church attenders are happy to live under the delusion of the Kevin Costner method of church growth!!

If you build it they will come!

That is not biblical and historically it has never been effective!

The Church historically has not been built on the model of setting up a building and waiting;

Of training ourselves just enough to be able to invite people to a church building so that the professionals can reach them for Jesus.

that is a modern invention!

The gospel takes that hierarchy away.

In -- Jesus tells His disciples “you receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you--and that is what will give you the ability and the strength to be witnesses for the sake of the gospel.

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

That means you!!

Jesus said “go”

it is an aggressive call to take the message out, not simply convince the outside to come in!

PAUSE

Now should Sunday morning at The Port be a place where non- Christians can hear the gospel, pray and make life altering decisions to meet Jesus? It BETTER BE!!

But we are all equipped, and called to minister wherever we are.

And thats no surprise if the eclessia forgets it is alive and thinks of itself as church waiting to trap people inside so that they can meet Jesus.

PAUSE

And I don’t think churches should be all about numbers

but I think you would be hard pressed to find a healthy living thing that doesn’t grow!!

I think a vibrant church full of people who understand themselves to be the Holy Spirit indwelt empowered ambassadors of the Kingdom of God, calling out to the world “Be reconciled to God” children of the most high God who have bought into the life altering, game changing, gospel of Jesus Christ, will see growth!!

PAUSE

And when we have that mindset, fuelled by the Great Commission, we will see roses up here that are not here only because of CA Kids, Ethos, CA Youth Events, or Hope for Freedom and may they never stop!!, ALL AWESOME!!! And we want that to continue. But that is limited.

because we also want to see them from your office staff rooms, and high school cafeterias, Chapters and SuperStores, over backyard fences.

We will see sellers of purple cloth and slaves and jailers come into the kingdom. And it will be messy and beautiful!!

SO, The community of Jesus needs to be fuelled by the great commission. A HOLY discontent that urges us on...

And when it is, I believe it will be a community saved and buffered from disunity

The church in Philippi was diverse, but they were one body.

II. Unity

What an interesting bunch we find in Philippi!!

Business woman, Jailer, confused broken ex-slave- all belonging to the ecclesia Philippi!

we might all look drastically different on the outside……………

ethnically, our interests, the things that tempt us,

but when our focus is on Christ and on being the community He has called to, we realise all that we have in common;

Look around..there are people in this room that outside of Jesus you probably would never talk to.

And definitely one you probably wouldn’t listen to.

The reason that we can all hang out together even though we are different, even though we are economically different, even though we may be politically different, even though we are even possibly theologically different, is that we are not simply looking at each other we are looking into each other as those who have been made in God's image. We are seeing who we are in light of the person and work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

The ecclesia unified in purpose to go into all the world and make disciples baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Writing to the the ecclesia in Philippi years later, Paul says..

Philippians 1:3–11 ESV

Philippians 1:3–5 ESV

3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

They were unified in their immediacy of reaching their city.

PAUSE

The Port was set up as another CAC campus 3 years ago, because we believe the the Tri-Cities like the Macedonian vision is in need of Jesus.

The driving force behind Paul’s work in every church He planted; His aim in every town was to push forward the Gospel..

His goal was to make disciples who make disciples, etc, etc.

And when we lose that vision, we move of the path of the gospel into what one writer calls the cul-de sac on the road to the great commission.!!

We get caught up in music style.

churches get caught up in paint colours

We critique programs, we talk about how much needs changing, we talk about all sorts of things that have nothing to do with getting the gospel to our neighborhood.

One website on church leadership curated church disputed from pastors all over the U.S. and these made the top 25.

A 45-minute heated argument over the type of filing cabinet to purchase: black or brown; 2, 3, or 4 drawers

Argument over the appropriate length of the worship pastor’s beard

A disagreement over using the term “potluck” instead of “pot blessing”

church splits over the hymnal colour

a mural painted in the front of the church that showed Adam with a navel!!! and the question arose; did Adam have a navel! why would he

that don't even know the name of their neighbor.

For many of us it might not be as ridiculous it is just an unspoken list that we have of what a church needs in order to satisfy us.

That’ll keep us on cul de sac.

That’ll keep us from doing the work of the church!!

And the way we produce unity is by being fueled by the Great Commission. When our focus is on drawing people to Jesus. When our focus is on getting the gospel out to those who need Jesus to those who are aliens to the gospel, it's hard to get caught up with paint colours, music styles, and gossip. With silly side projects.

Our mission is too important to get side-tracked; Souls are at stake!!

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say yJohn the Baptist, others say zElijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, a“You are bthe Christ, cthe Son ofdthe living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, e“Blessed are you, fSimon Bar-Jonah! For gflesh and blood has not revealed this to you, hbut my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, iyou are Peter, and jon this rock2 I will build my church, and kthe gates of lhell3 shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you mthe keys of the kingdom of heaven, andnwhatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed4 in heaven.”

Jesus give the disciples the image of a “Spirit empowered” force to be reckoned with. Not because of our power, but because of his. And it is a gospel of grace and forgiveness, but it is a force to be reckoned with.

Now often this is interpreted to mean that when Hell when death attacks, the church the ecclesia will be able to get by. When the ecclesia is being ambushed by evil, we will be able to withstand it. So hold on tight because as the evil forces come upon you wave after wave ultimately the Church will be ok!!

Again I think that comes from the idea that we hunker down at a location and hold on!!

I think that is reading this text backward.

I’ve never seen an army attacked armed with gates!! That seems like the least scary weapon ever!!

Where do you find gates in the ancient world?

at the entrance to a city!

In ancient times Hades, the kingdom of death was seen as a gated fortress where evil resided.

Who is being attacked here!!!???

We need to stop seeing the church as those who need to retreat!!

That’s why Paul can sing in the midst of prison. It is all just a set back!

Laughing at Romes attempts to squelch the Gospel.

Paul knows that if its not him, its gonna be someone else.

Death has lost its sting and has no ultimate victory!!

Because the gates of hell will not prevail!

We need to begin to see the ecclesia as the force of the Kingdom of God bringing redemption to our schools, society, work-places, homes.

Because not only will the church not be defeated it will take ground because ultimately we are armed with the gospel which has removed the power of death.

To the glory of God!!

Not in our power. THANKS GOODNESS!!

You and I cannot be the source of power for the Great Commission, for the eclessia.

And that is why as we aim to take ground for the sake of the Gospel as the community of Jesus, we don’t look over at our brothers and sisters in Christ and argue about the colour of their boots!!

We are too concerned with bigger and better things than to get caught up and distracted from being the church!

There is nothing more detrimental to the impact of the church on the world, than side missions. Causing divisions. Based on our pride rather than a love for Christ and His Church, and for the lost.

And Jesus said that the world would know who we are because of our love for one another.

And I have sat in homes and listened to people talk about people in their church with such distaste!!

How are we supposed to love the world when we can’t show love to our brothers and sisters!

We are called to be unified in purpose.

PAUSE

So, the church ought to be fueled by the great commission, to reach the lost.

The church ought to display unity in purpose.. for the sake of the Gospel.

And we see from the church in Philippi that the church (as a result of the Gospel) ought to be generous.

III. Generosity

because generosity was shown to me and my family --when we were really wondering, how are we going to get through this next month.

I won’t mention names, because of that whole humility thing. And when you give don’t let the right hand know what the other hand is doing stuff.

But when I had my knee operated on about 3 months ago-the surgeon basically said this was worse than I anticipated and its gonna take longer than we thought.

More physio, more time to recover etc.

Well it took very little time before meals started showing up at the front door.

and not like kraft dinner-- like 3 course meals with dessert.

Chow mein, fried rice, Shepherds Pie, pasta, it was like we opened a restaurant for international cuisine!

And to be honest it was such a shower of grace, that we couldn’t even keep up.

We kept saying no more!! and apparently they only heard the word more!

Eventually we had to invite our extended family over to help us eat it all.

We were blown away by the generosity of our church.

One of the other things that happened was that after I had reached my limit of what we could afford to pay for physio, I was approached by a young couple in the church who said they wanted to cover the cost.

Again I was blown away by the grace shown to me.

And many of you have experienced similar things.

Generosity.

PAUSE

Notice Lydias response to Paul and Silas was to offer hospitality! (v.15) and she was forceful about it!

The jailers response was to move from a torturer to a healer. vv34-35

he tended to their wounds and fed them.

By the time Paul and Silas leave Philippi

Lydia has set up church at her house.

So they were generous with their time, their space, and we learn later that they were generous with their finances.

Now when your convictions affect your wallet, you know that you’ve bought in.

You can have my hour on Sunday, maybe my wife and kids but don’t touch my wallet.

The church in Philippi was financially generous

Philippians 4:14–16 ESV

14 Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. 15 And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only. 16 Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again.

Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only. Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again.

They continued to give, because they had bought into the mission of the church. Not simply to see themselves thrive with the Gospel that Paul had entrusted to them, but they wanted to see the eclessia spread!!! They wanted the community to grow in their town and the next.

Thessalonica was just a few cities over and by the time Paul and Silas visited there the people of Philippi were already funding them.

As far as we know Paul didn’t even ask. He didn’t need to campaign. or preach a sermon on it or hint at it in letters, he didn’t need to be passive aggressive!!

The gospel fuels generosity. We need to be generous. It is an outflow of the Great Commission. In fact scripture would say that it is fruit that grows out of the gospel that has been implanted in us. No fruit no faith. James says.

So, when we call on people at Town Centre to serve as I am doing and we will do, it really should not be seen as an option.

When we ask that you who call Town Centre your home give financially to our mission as a church to help seekers and believer become fully devoted followers fo Christ, it is expected that you do so!!

Jesus who had all authority in heaven and on earth, himself kneeled down and washed the feet of his followers.

In a world that says, “Give me what I want now, how I want it, and keep it coming until I say stop!”, sacrificial service turns things upside down and transforms cultures.

sacrificial service turns things upside down and transforms cultures.

it should be the default of the church.

Paul reminds the Philippians in his letter to them in

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. (DON’T MAKE CHURCH ABOUT YOU!!) Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

So what might that look like here at Town Centre.

Looking not at your own interests, but to the interest and the needs of others.

It might mean serving

-in kids church, so that a mother or father don't have to leave with the fidgeting child everything couple of minutes and actually have an opportunity to worship and listen to a message.

-maybe you need to approach Paula and offer your services.

-maybe it means coming to ALPHA so that next time we run it here you can lead it.

- it might mean approaching Janice, or Sarah, Nic, or me after the service and telling us that you are available to serve in this church. so that the same people are not setting up AND tearing down after the service. So that those who have poured their blood sweat and tears for years can take a week off!!

There is no shortage of opportunity for you to follow Jesus example service.

It should mean this......When we let you know about ways that we want to reach this community, which we will be doing in the next few weeks, your immediate response will be to say…”Where do I sign up!! “ because I don’t just want to take up space until Christ comes, I want to be his hands and feet and work to redeem this city for his glory!!

It might mean.....that you financially give to the mission of this church!!

To our mission HERE and around the world!

In fact today I am calling on all those who can help to take 10 minutes after the service to help hand out fliers in the neighbourhood so that this community even knows

all you need to serve is Jesus and feet!!!

So check in with…….after the service.

PAUSE

It is the natural outcropping of people who have bought into the Gospel and want to follow as disciples of Jesus.

Conclusion:

This community needs the church, but only if it is the eclessia and not just a symbol taking up space on a map.

The world needs the gospel. There are Lydia's who have all the money they need who are successful who are ultimately poor. Slaves pushed around by evils.

There are those are married to their jobs. Seeing life as a simple repetition of days without any real purpose. Their only identity is in their job, and if their job disappears they got nothing left, and life is not worth living. They need Jesus.

There are people who are grasping for an identity in a significant other, in a job, a political party, a gender label,; oh they are all so much more than that!!!

And it is the work of the Kingdom of God, the proclamation of Jesus as life, the mission of the ECCLESIA to let them know!!

Everything else is biding time!

SLOWLY

it would have been easy for them to offer their lives over to the cause of the Kingdom.

Matthew chapter 28 tells us that there were still people doubting!!

Jesus didn’t say to his disciples “The fact that you have seen me resurrected in the flesh will fuel you to take my kingdom to the far reaches of the earth.

It is His Spirit!

Jesus said that he will be with us even to the end of the age. The power of the Spirit evident in the witness of the disciples is still alive and well. And at work in you and hopefully through you,

In . The Spirit of God is given to His followers at one of the first gatherings of the ECCLESIA. When the Holy Spirit arrives it is not just for comfort (although he brings that), not just for council (although he brings that), but ultimately to empower us as the community of Christ, set apart to reach the world with his gospel, unified in purpose as we focus on Jesus the perfecter of our faith, giving our whole selves, sanctifying and setting apart our comfort for his purpose, for His kingdom, and for his glory,

with hearts that take the great commission seriously,

with brothers and sister who are too busy pursuing Jesus to get caught up in side issues,

who are so overtaken by the Gospel that they are generous with all that God has entrusted to them.

So let us proclaim that gospel together, in our immediate realm of influence, in our workplaces, when we are hanging out. And here now as His Church, His eclessia, His living breathing moving church in the Tri-Cities...

Are you in?

Let’s Pray

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