Love Through Sharing
I Love My Church • Sermon • Submitted
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· 6 viewsHelp people see that loving the church impacts the community for the Gospel.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
**Address individual who tested positive Covid-19
Prayer for area churches
Brookside (Kevin & Cindy Reich)
Sanctuary of Hope (Sam & Ruth Kaunley)
Faith and Wisdom (Gary** & Carol McSpadden)
The River Forsythe
Transition into illustration
Think about a restaurant you were so excited about but it turned out to be such a dud!
Example: Eating at Epcot during out honeymoon vs. eating at Mr. Gilberti’s Place in Hollister
**Table set up on stage with a nice tablecloth and candles, etc … (Have someone serve a meal)
A great dining experience really comes down to those two things: Food and Atmosphere. It’s all about what you see and what you taste.
FOOD + ATMOSPHERE = EXPERIENCE
Jesus has given us new lives without FENCES! Kingdom Life!! A new set of values and ethics to live by. We learned in the first message that our reputation as people of this new community should be one of love.
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
It is important to realize that unless we participate in sharing the Good News, people will not come to know Jesus Christ!
13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. 14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
“You are the salt of the earth.”
(1) Salt bring taste. It is a flavoring agent. It brings taste to bland food.
If someone passes you a plate of food and it’s a little bland, what do you do? “Please pass the salt.”
(2) Salt preserves. Salt preserves from corruption. Before refrigeration, salt was the method of choice for preventing bacteria from poisoning food. (salt could literally make the difference between life and death)
(3) Salt is precious
**Wars over salt resources
Disciples are life salt because they are precious. In Jesus’ day, salt was a valued commodity. Roman soldiers were sometimes paid with salt.
Don’t miss what Jesus is telling us in this metaphor. He is making it clear how necessary and important we are for the welfare of the world.
Matthew 1. The Followers of Jesus Should Be like Salt (13)
“Disciples, if they are true to their calling, make the earth a purer and more palatable place.”
When God transforms our lives, we are needed to season and preserve.
“if the salt loses it’s saltiness”
Most salt in the ancient world came from salt water marshes, rather than by evaporating fresh salt water and therefore contained many impurities.
Too many Christians lose their “flavor” and become good for nothing.
**Unlike salt, you can regain your saltiness
“You are the light of the world”
In Jesus’ time they had small wicker oil lamps, which gave little light in the average home that had few windows; they were most effective when set on a lampstand.
Even the smallest of lights lifted up can chase away darkness. Light removes the darkness.
In the same way that Jesus’ life and message of salvation brought light to us (Matthew 4:15-16), His disciples are a living demonstration of the arrival of the kingdom of heaven.
David Guzik states:
Matthew 2. The Followers of Jesus Should Be like Light (14–16)
Jesus gives the Christian both a great compliment and a great responsibility when He says that we are the light of the world
Why? Because Jesus claimed that title when He walked on earth (John 8:12 and John 9:5) BIG RESPONSIBILITY
Spurgeon points out:
Spurgeon points out:
This was a title given by the Jews to certain of their eminent Rabbis … (now) applied to “a few bronzed-faced and horn-handed peasants and fisherman, who had become disciples of Jesus.”
This was a title given by the Jews to certain of their eminent Rabbis … (now) applied to “a few bronzed-faced and horn-handed peasants and fisherman, who had become disciples of Jesus.”
So don’t miss this metaphor either: Light removes the darkness. We not only carry the light of the gospel of the kingdom of God, but we are that light.
Because of the work of the Spirit in our lives, our transformation has produced kingdom light in us, affecting every aspect of our being, turning us into positive influencers in this sin-darkened world.
As salt and light, we bring the taste and atmosphere of Jesus’ kingdom to our world. If Food + Atmosphere = Experience, then the experience of the kingdom comes from His followers!
It amazes me to think of what God entrusts His church with! The Father trusted people to curate His creation, to manage and take care of it:
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
And now when He establishes His kingdom, Jesus entrusts us to curate His culture. We are to bring the taste, we are to bring the light, we are to bring the Jesus community/kingdom experience to our city so they can know God, find Him, repent, and find new life!
Think about it like this:
Don’t like how our city is? Ask yourself if you are salting it.
Discouraged that our culture is so dark? Ask yourself if you are lighting it up.
If the culture is bland and dark, then we need to get to salting and lighting.
When we intentionally love one another, when we intentionally use our gifting and live out the love of God toward one another and to the world outside these walls, we are salting the bland and bringing light to the darkness.
Saying “I love my church” isn’t just about us, doesn’t just impact us; it’s about everyone outside these walls as well.
How do we bring the I Love My Church experience to our culture?
1. People will experience Jesus’ community when we live its values.
1. People will experience Jesus’ community when we live its values.
We can’t separate Matthew 5:2-12 from 5:13-16. The Beatitudes are not an intro, and then the salt and light part really begins the sermon. They are part of the same thought:
5:2-10—The Beatitudes—the values of the kingdom
2 and he began to teach them. He said: 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
The salt and light metaphors come out of the Beatitudes.
Jesus has brought the kingdom of God through regeneration and renewal by the Spirit.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
He transforms us. The Spirit produces in us meekness, righteousness, mercy, purity, and peace.
These are the characteristics of Jesus’ disciples - this is how God establishes His kingdom. (Not through war and conflict)
The Beatitudes are a character profile of a person who says, “I Love My Church.”
So seasoning and shining isn't only about the message we declare with our lips, it’s about how we go about our lives—lifestyle is the emphasis here.
Being salt and light is about the message we declare with our actions, reactions, and everything in between. We can’t separate message from lifestyle—this is about who we are and how we are.
The values in you as you live the kingdom bring flavor to a bland, rotting world. The values in you as you live the kingdom bring the light to a world of darkness.
People will experience the kingdom when we live its values; this helps us realize how to be effective agents of salt and light. These show us how to love the church outside of the church.
2. We live the values of Jesus’ community in our daily ordinary.
2. We live the values of Jesus’ community in our daily ordinary.
Fox News Report 2015
A young man who drank a quart of soy sauce went into a coma and nearly died from an excess of salt in his body, according to a recent case report. The nineteen-year-old who drank the soy sauce after being dared by friends is the first person known to have deliberately overdosed on such a high amount of salt and survived with no lasting neurological problems.
I share this story because it applies directly to how we live. We are called to bring salt and light to our world so that they can experience the kingdom, not so that they can be blinded by the sun or OD on sodium. So the question we have to answer is: Are we seasoning and shining, or are we blinding and gagging?
You’ve all seen either in a movie or actually on a street corning someone holding a sign that stated:
REPENT! THE WORLD IS COMING TO AN END!
Example: The Baptist church protesting a Skillet concert @ the Johnstown War Memorial.
I started watching the crowd around the people with the signs, and I have to be honest—I saw no one praying, no one repenting, no one who looked moved or touched in their spirit. If anything, people were just making fun of them and laughing.
Is there truth to the message of the sign? Yes, absolutely! But just because it is correct doesn’t mean that it is effective. I’d argue that this is pouring a gallon of soy sauce down someone’s throat. No one walked away from those signs thinking, “I need Jesus.”
If I was a betting man … I’d be willing to put money on it … no one walked passed them thinking, “I want “THAT” Jesus.”
It’s really easy to carry a sign around in a crowd. It’s a lot more difficult to be Jesus in the ordinary and in the mundane. But it’s in the trivial day-to-day stuff, at the office, at school, at the gym, on the job that people need to experience Jesus when they experience us.
It’s in the trivial day-to-day stuff that we need to be salting and lighting, not gagging and blinding.
Think about your daily routine. Think about your coworkers. Your classmates. Your neighbor. The people you run into while you go about your day.
Know this—people will experience the kingdom from you in the normal, and in those moments the normal becomes extraordinary as people taste and see … from you … that the Lord is good.
3. Those who have truly experienced Jesus will help others experience Jesus.
3. Those who have truly experienced Jesus will help others experience Jesus.
14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
I hope that if we’ve learned anything over these last few weeks, we’ve learned that loving the church isn’t about the building, it’s not about the programs. It’s about relationships—primarily our relationship with God but also our relationships with one another. But it doesn’t stop there. We also have to love those outside of these walls.
Remember …
35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
You can’t season and shine when your ordinary isn’t separate from the bland darkness.
Church, small groups, and the rest of our programs assist us to grow and become a stronger community of faith.
We are strengthening our saltiness and brightness if you will. But if we never are interacting with people outside of our church, then we have failed.
We are to live Jesus’ values while in connection with our world. What are ways that you can begin making connections with your neighborhood?
Conclusion
Conclusion
One question which really needs to be asked by all churches, is,
If GCA ceased to exist, would Branson miss us?
If GCA ceased to exist, would Branson miss us?
Would they say, ‘No! You can’t go!’ Or, if we were to cease to exist, would the neighborhood even notice?”
We must be a church that they would miss—not for our own sakes or our own reputations, but because they are experiencing Jesus when they experience us.