2020.04.05 Future Church : How May I Help You?
Notes
Transcript
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,
casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.
Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.
Future Church: How May I Help You?
Future Church: How May I Help You?
On October 3, 1992, Sinead O'Connor appeared on Saturday Night Live as a musical guest. At the end of her second song, she presented a photo of Pope John Paul II to the camera and tore the photo into pieces, said "Fight the real enemy," and threw the pieces towards the camera.
She was protesting a particular issue within the Catholic Church, but she was also from Ireland, where Protestants and Catholics had been at war with each other literally … including several incidents of blowing up children!
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In my lifetime, things have not been that grim in the U.S. However, we certainly feel a pulse of competition with other churches, don’t we? I could name a fellow Christian church here in Decatur, and I know some of the people watching today would recoil at the thought of this church.
Let me be blunt for a moment. There are lots of reasons that go into that reaction … but the PRIMARY reason is jealousy! We’re jealous because THAT church has better facilities, or THAT church has more people, or THAT church is too much like a show, or THAT church is growing in numbers…and we’re not. The harsh reality is that THAT church is reaching people for Jesus Christ that we can’t reach … AND THAT’S A GOOD THING!!!
When a church has problems, people leave. It’s really a simple concept … very few people become a part of a church in order to feud and bicker with other people. So, when a church starts bickering and feuding, people find the doors.
Those remaining behind can seldom own their role in losing people … so they find the church or churches to which the people are now going … and we blame that church.
In most communities where I’ve lived, churches have inherited a business mentality. If someone is part of a church, we feel like it should be our church. It doesn’t matter if the person doesn’t fit our community, or if our community doesn’t fit the person. It doesn’t matter if the person speaks a different language than we do. We have somehow believed that other churches are our competition, so we’re overprotective and suspicious of other churches.
Other Christian Churches ARE NOT our competition! SATAN is our competition, and as long as we’re looking at humans as our competition, Satan has a field day with us.
Look again at our reading from Peter’s second letter today:
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 5
all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,
7 casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.
8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
9 aBut resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.
NASB…all of you, clother yourselves with humility toward one another, for GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.
Humility puts us on the same team. Humility helps us realize that we DO have an enemy, and that every Christian Church, and every Christian person SHARES THE SAME ENEMY! Competition demands making comparisons that breed a lack of humility.
NASB Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.
Friends, we have a common enemy, and he prowls around seeking someone to devour. Churches can defeat Satan together a lot easier than we can while fighting each other.
Churches are experiencing the same attacks. We’re stronger together, and then we’re focused on the REAL enemy! Sorry, Sinead … the Pope is not the real enemy, Satan is the real enemy, and he wins battles when we fight each other.
In Adams County, Indiana, we have a ton of churches. A simple google search found 37 churches just in Decatur. We’re just South of Fort Wayne, a city bold enough to call itself “the City of Churches”. So, how are we doing in sharing the truth of Jesus Christ with our community? Remember, we’re not comparing to other cities … we’re just looking at the data.
According to data from a group called MissionInsite, 32.4% of residents in Adams County, Indiana report either a non-Christian religious preference, or NO religious or spiritual preference. That’s right at 1/3. So, if you’re a Christian, chances are one of your neighbors to the left or right is NOT! And they aren’t coming to any of the churches currently open in Adams County.
Using 2019 figures, there are 35,715 people in Adams County. Applying that percentage, that means 11,572 people living among us don’t know Jesus Christ!
If I told you a new church was starting up, you’d probably think, “What do we need another church for? We got plenty of those.” Apparently, we don’t. Every third person you encounter in Adams County doesn’t know Jesus. Maybe another church is exactly what we need to reach those people for God’s Kingdom.
Or … maybe we need to work better with each other. Maybe we can work better with other churches in the area to make disciples and tell every man, woman, and child about the saving grace offered at the cross of Jesus Christ.
We’ve been working separately...and at times against each other. But Peter tells us to remain humble because “Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking 11,572 people to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith.”
But resist him, firm in your faith
It’s time for Christian churches to work together and stop looking at each other as competition. We have a shared enemy, and we all want nothing more than to see him defeated. Aren’t we stronger working together than we are individually?
Today, we celebrate Palm Sunday - Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem to begin his Passion.
Pharisees – “make them be quiet” Jesus – “If they were silent”
This week (Holy Week), we see the result of Satan’s handiwork in the world. We MUST unite to defeat the common enemy. I’m not sure what that looks like, but I know how it begins. It begins with looking at other churches as our brothers and sisters instead of our competition or enemies. So let’s begin by praying for those other churches, that God would help us find ways to work together to reduce the number of men, women, and children in our community who don’t know Jesus.