Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

This morning, we are continuing our study out of the gospel of John so if you would turn with me to .

Introduction

John 2:

If you remember before we took a short break for mission’s month, we looked at how Jesus makes all things new.

He came to give us a new name based on our identity in God.

He transformed the water of lifeless religion into the new wine of an intimate relationship with Him.

And here we see Jesus cleansing the corruption of the church and proclaiming that He is the new temple through whom we have access to the presence of God.

It certainly isn’t hard to see why we need a new temple because unfortunately corruption has always been a part of organized religion.

When you give sinful people a large degree of power, this is generally what you get whether they are religious or not.

When I think the modern church can’t get any lower, it seems the news constantly proves me wrong and somehow we still haven’t found the bottom of this cesspool of corruption.

Not long ago, I heard new allegations about some priests in the Catholic church who have been using their nuns as sex slaves.

It’s absolutely crazy to think about the levels of immorality in our religious institutions and this has led many to become cynical and highly skeptical of the church and understandably are calling for the end of organized religion.

But here is the tension, a purely organic movement cannot have the lasting impact that an institution can make for the long haul and so the church finds itself between these two opposing modes of operation that seem to cycle in waves.

When the church becomes too institutionalized, grass root movements come in and spark change and reformation but eventually these organic expressions of church either die or they, themselves, become the very institutions that they fought against.

For example, John Wesley and his circuit riders fought against the dead orthodoxy of the Anglican church and spawned the Methodist movement but today the Methodist church has become the very same institution that it once opposed.

(This is probably way too much church history but it’s helpful in understanding these dynamics.)

If you’re asking yourself, where does Radiance fall on this spectrum between the organic and organized church, well, I guess you’ll have come to our membership class to find out.

The Temple

Now sadly, the things that we try to build for God often become just another monument to ourselves and to our achievements.

Actually, doing something for the glory of God as opposed to building your own glory is a very thin line.

And that line is buried somewhere deep in the human heart.

The temple in Jerusalem that served as the focal point of religious observance for the Jewish people began to blur those lines.

During times like the Passover celebration and other festivals, the population of the city would explode from roughly 50 thousand to over a quarter of a million people, all there to visit this impressive monument to God.

As we read, the physical building itself took 46 years to build at the time of Jesus’ visit and it would be close to another 40 years from this point to finish it completely.

At any given moment, 10,000 workers were employed to finish the project and run the daily operations.

Historic accounts tell us that the glimmer from the temple could be seen for miles and miles.

It is no wonder that Satan took Jesus to the very pinnacle of this building and tempted him to test the Father’s love.

Satan could have taken Jesus to any high point and tempted him to throw himself down but it was specifically at the height of this temple where Jesus was tested in gospel of Matthew.

It was as if Satan was saying, “There is already a thriving religious system in place, this God thing is making money hand over fist and is more popular than ever before and you can be at the center of all of that, if you just sell out and become part of the show.”

Could you imagine church attendance if a pastor jumped off the Sales Force building and the angels of God came out of the sky and saved him from dying?

I would leave our church for that ministry.

The only problem is that you would have throngs of people at church for all the wrong reasons.

They would be there for the spectacular show and the impressive faith and charisma of the pastor.

Now, there is nothing wrong with good strong Christian leaders but it becomes problematic when pastors become superstars who are more concerned with building their own little kingdom rather than the kingdom of God.

Again that line gets blurred all the time and it doesn’t help that religion equals big, big money.

There are books to sell, albums to release, and speaking engagements and concerts to pack out.

Matthew 4:5-7

It was as if Satan was saying, “There is already a viable religious system in place, God is making more money and is more popular than ever before and you can be at the center of all of that.”

Could you imagine church attendance and giving if pastors jumped off the highest building in their cities and the hand of God came out of the sky and saved them from dying?

The only problem is that you would have throngs of people at church for all the wrong reasons.

They would be there for the spectacular show, the impressive faith and leadership of the pastor, and the hope that God would do the same for them.

It was as if Satan was saying, “There is already a viable religious system in place, God is making more money and is more popular than ever before and you can be at the center of all of that.”

Could you imagine church attendance and giving if pastors jumped off the highest building in their cities and the hand of God came out of the sky and saved them from dying?

The only problem is that you would have throngs of people at church for all the wrong reasons.

They would be there for the spectacular show, the impressive faith and leadership of the pastor, and the hope that God would do the same for them.

and all of this fuss over a building that lasted just over 30 years after it’s completion.

History tells us that the temple was destroyed completely in 70 AD.

So when Jesus says, “How dare you turn my Father’s house into a marketplace?”,

I think much of the western church is guilty as charged.

We have turned religion into a business and we are now reaping the consequence of that.

For years, critics of American Christianity have been warning us about the consumer orientation of our churches.

Everyone wants to be at the newest, trendiest church that has a pastor who has the brains of Tim Keller and the body of Carl Lentz.

And these same critics told us things like, “What you win them with is what you win them to.” and “The medium becomes the message.”

So if our church services look like entertainment, it will produce the same level of of inspiration and life change as a good movie or book.

(I had a friend in college who would tell me such and such a movie or documentary changed his life.)

After a while, it was hard to believe him because I saw no visible change whatsoever in his life.

Sometimes church can feel like that, a lot of people saying that their lives are changed but there is little proof of it.

I think it is time to reevaluate what the church is and to rethink how we do church.

I want to look at three key steps in this rebuilding process:

Reform the church according to the Scriptures

Have the courage to destroy the old temple in order to build the new temple.

Imitate Christ’s zeal for the house of God.

One of the famous quotes from the Dutch reformation was “the church reformed and always reforming according to the word of Christ.

I believe one of the main reasons for the decline in Christianity is that we have moved away from the biblical purpose of the church.

The church has always existed to fulfill the mission of God which is to bring salvation and healing to the nations.

But instead, we have become this consumer oriented, personality and event centered anomaly.

We don’t look very much like the New Testament church that we read about in our bibles.

John Mark Comer, who is the pastor of New Town church in Portland gives us three basics things that we need to happen in order to recover the biblical DNA of the church.

1.

We need to do church in community and not as isolated individuals.

2. We need to put church back into the hands of the people.

a) Volunteer

b) Tithe

c) Invite Your Friends

I completely buy into the Home Depot model of church.

You can do it, we can help.

Our Encounter retreat is one the ways that we are trying to put the church back into your hands.

Most of the preaching at the retreat will be from our lay leaders.

3. We need to take the church to the city and not expect the city to come to the church.

People who are completely alienated from Christianity will not come to church no matter how good our music, how relevant our preaching, and how dynamic our programs.

We need to take church outside of these walls.

Each of you have to become the pastors and evangelists to your corner of the world.

I understand that this may sound crazy to some of you and it will take courage for us to destroy the old temple so that God can build the new temple.

The irony of the temple in Jerusalem is that it took almost 100 years to complete but it stood for a mere 30 years before the Roman army completely destroyed it in 70 AD.

It was doomed even as it was being built.

In the same way, it seems like the end of American Christianity is not a matter of if but simply a matter of when.

I read an interesting opinion piece in the New York Times and it caught my eye because it’s not often that they publish an editorial from a conservative Christian.

Then I read it and understood how it got into the Times but what he had to say accurately describes the state of the church in America.

He writes:

Since the 1980s, conservative Christians unwittingly participated in our own marginalization by placing too much hope in Republican politics.

Conservative Christians helped elect Republican politicians, but that did not stop the slide toward secularism.

True, the church gained some access to power, but it failed to effectively counter popular culture’s catechetical force.

Conservative Christians helped elect Republican politicians, but that did not stop the slide toward secularism.

True, the church gained some access to power, but it failed to effectively counter popular culture’s catechetical force.

Too many of us are doubling down on the failed strategies that not only have failed to convert Americans but have also done little to halt the assimilation of Christians to secular norms and beliefs.

Mr. Trump is not a solution to this cultural crisis, but rather a symptom of it.

For those of us who love the Lord and care deeply about His church, it will take courage for us to battle not only the secular culture outside but to fight the secular culture that is found within the church.

But the history books are filled with men and women who have done exactly that.

Martin Luther stood against the corruption of the Catholic church and famously stated, “Here I stand, I can do no other.

God help me.”