If My People

Over the last few weeks, Pastor Danny has worked to help us understand something deeply important. To do so he has shared with us a verse that is often misunderstood. This series is meant to examine 2 Chronicles 7:14 and unpack how this verse relates to us. In week one, Danny focused on the words If My People. Last week he talked about humble prayer. He used Jesus example of a poor sinner and a Pharisee. The Pharisee proudly thanked God that he was not like the sinner. The sinner on the other hand became undone in the prescense of God, he understood that he was flawed and therefore received forgiveness. As we read scripture today I want you to keep the prayers of these two in mind.

God

2 Chronicles 7:14 CSB

and my people, who bear my name, humble themselves, pray and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.

While we understand that this scripture is a specific promise to a specific people we also understand that it reveals the heart of God toward His people. In our modern day, this includes Christians. While we could spend some time in the weeds of context, today my plan is to keep it simple.

God’s desire is that all people and especially His people (those who bear His name) would be humble people who dedicate their lifes to seeking Him. Romans 12:1 tell us to present our bodies as living sacrifices as our true and proper worship. This of course goes to the denial of our own way so that we may live God’s way. It is also echoed in Jesus words in Luke 9:23 when Jesus declare that whoever want to be His disciple must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow Jesus daily.

Repentance

I believe we have missed repentance. When I say “WE” let me clarify. Today I am speaking to those in this room and those watching online. In other words I am not speaking in general term. So now that you understand that let me say what I said again, I believe that we have missed repentance. Here is what I mean.

We have, at times, perpetuated a false Gospel that says in order that to be a Christian one simply must believe in Christ. While I would never argue that believing is part of it I would say that it is not all of it. In Acts 2 the Holy Spirit descends on this meeting in the upper room resulting in these believers in Jesus speaking different languages. This understandably caused a rukus but Peter explains to the gathered crowd, some of whom had just bn mocking this act of God by claiming that these people of God were drunk, Peter explains to them exactly what happened. Jesus is the Messiah and has sent the Holy Spirit to annoint and empower those who believe in Christ. As Peter gets to the end of the message he says in

Acts 2:36-38

6 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

CALL TO REPENTANCE

37 When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”

38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

verse 36 ““Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

The people understood immediately that they were guilty of putting to death God’s Messiah, the Lord of all and in verse 37 it says the people were cut to the heart and asked the question, “What should we do now?” Notice what Peter says, he says to them REPENT and be baptized.

Repentance is not simply changing your mind. Repentance is completely changing your direction. It is saying I am not going to do this anymore.

The Surprise

At this point, most of you are probably tracking with me. Christians in this room for the most part, understand that we must turn from our wicked ways. And so as Christians what do we do. I think often what we do is we look at the check list of the “do nots” those thing God doesn’t want us to do (lie, murder, cheat, dishonor, and so on) and we think “Am I doing any of those things?” And if the answer is no by default we just move on. But in doing this we can miss something vitally important. The crowds in Acts 2 that were the same people who had shouted “Crucify, Him” just a few days earlier. These were Jewish people. The people of Israel. The people of God. Their faith had become so convulted that they put to death the very one who came to save them. In the most wicked and vile act humanity has ever seen they shouted for the death of God Himself. The sinned not just as individuals but really as a people.

So, people of God, church how do we know we as a local body of believers, are doing what God has called us to do. And what if, we are missing the mark. In order for our church to function correctly we must each pursue God. We must each repent of our sins. But I would also argue that we as a body of believers need to, on a regular basis, evaluate if our body is infact operating the way Christ, the head of this body would have us operate. And if we are missing the mark, if we are not doing what God would have us do as a church, we need to repent and understand the way God would have us operate. While we will never be perfect and we should not get lost in the sea of what ifs, I do believe that we should be willing to ask tough questions. We should be willing to put any and everything we do as a church to and if and when God calls us to do so. And so I offer some things for us to consider. These are simply things we do as a church. I am not declaring them, in this moment, right or wrong, but rather I am simply offering them up for consideration. And remember, we are the church. If we are going to repent of the thing that God doesn’t want from us, we must first understand what those thing are. So lets do an inventory.

Programs

Is Sunday School effective in our context to make disciples? Do we understand clearly as a church what it means to be a discple? How do we measure the effectiveness of Sunday School?

Are two service God’s desire for our design? Is it really God’s will that our small church be divided into smaller churches? Is this the body of Christ cut in half, or are we one body functioning together, or are we seperate bodies who are interdependand. Are we fuctioning as a body by working together or have we seperate ourselves so much.

A great test of how we are doing as a body is how we respond to gossip or false teaching. When cancer enters this local body will we be able to identify it quickly and remove it. Or will we let it fester until it destroys us.

What about student ministry and kids ministry? Are we doing our best to follow God’s desire to carry out God design?

And the list could go on and on. As a church, we must understand that God has called us to function together. We are not traveling this world alone. We need God and we need each other. We need clear vision so that our feet know where to go. We need defined biblical values so that we make the right decision. We must understand that when we as individuals make decision even outside of church, it can and does effect the church.

I guess what I am trying to communicate is that repentance is more than just changing our mind, it is changing direction. As individuals we are given the opportunity to follow Jesus into new life but that means we cannot live life the way we did before. Almost everything changes. We must also understand that we are called to be togther. We are the church. The body of Christ and we have a common goal, a common mission to carry out the Gospel is both word and deed. To fulfill our purpose, to work toward that goal, to carry out that mission it takes all of us. We will not all have the same fuction but we are all needed. We do not all have the same gift but these gifts should be used together. We need to be ready to change direction, to do something different, to eliminate those things that hinder us from pursuing Christ.

(Call for the Band)

The problem though is that as a church grows change becomes much more difficult. We begin to consider not just what God wants but what people want who give money and attend our church want. We, and I know I have been guilty of this, want the church to be what I want or we want. If we are not careful we can elevate our preferences to become more important than God’s desire.

If my people who are called by my name, (thats us) would humble themselves and pray and seek my face (pursue God), turn from the wicked ways (repent of the things that God does not desire) then.....

So how should we respond. The dangers of a message like this are many. It can cause people to rise up ready to start a revolution and start changing everything. The problem with this is that this is not what God is asking, nessecarily. Another danger if for someone to brush off this message. To think, we are fine, we are not perfect but we are fine. This is also not the right response.

Todaymaybe you need to establish a relationship with God.

If you are a Christ follower, I would ask for you to respond today asking God to show you those areas in your life that are not fully submitted to Christ so that we may repent. I would also ask that you pray for those in leadership of this local church. It is never easy to make tough decisions or even to understand what decisions need to be made.

If you are a leader in this church, I would ask that you too respond by asking God to reveal anything in your life that isn’t honoring to Him and when He does, repent. I would also ask that you begin to ask God to help us as leaders of the church to be willing to do what He has called us to do and to elimiate those things that only serve to distract us from carrying out His will.

God love us enough to forgive our sin but He doesn’t want us to continue in sin. He wants us to turn to a new way. A way that leads to life. A way that leads to spiritual health. A way that leads us, humbly to Him.

Let us pray