The Alliance Core Values—an introduction

Introduction:

I’ve begun praying for God to bring a spiritual awakening to SAC! And having had several conversations recently I have become aware that we all need to think deeply about where we are in our walk with Jesus Christ.

To honestly examine our relationship with Jesus and others. What are the very core beliefs of the Alliance? Let’s focus on what are we stand FOR!

It goes without saying that there ought to be a close connection between what we believe and the way that we behave.

In fact, the Bible says very clearly that there is such a connection: Proverbs 23:7 literally means “As a person thinks in their heart, so they are.”[1] In other words, the wise live by what they believe.

Where are you when it comes to living what you believe? In this series of messages, I want us to measure where we are as it relates to what we say we believe.

We are going to look at how our key beliefs shape the way that we live. In the next several weeks, we are going to look at seven core values—each one expressed in a statement that you can recall. We are going to hear from seven different individuals whose lives have been dramatically impacted by these values. We’ll look together at some people in the Bible, and some from our own Alliance heritage, who can serve as role models for each one of us, and we’ll dig into the Word of God to drive these values more deeply into our own lives.

Let’s Pray: For Spiritual Awakening

Two very firm convictions:

(1) That these “core values” are, in the end, not really the core values of The Christian and Missionary Alliance so much as they are the core values of Jesus—and that if we really want to become more Christ-like, it will only happen as Jesus’ values become our own.

(2) That when we in the Alliance family have, as a group, really lived out these values, we have been a dynamic, world-changing movement.

We stand on these truths!

The first core value we will explore is...

“Lost people matter to God. He wants them found.” (REPEAT IT TOGETHER)

If you know anything at all about the life of Jesus Christ, you have to admit that He LIVED AND DIED that statement. He came “to seek and to save that which was lost”—and everything He said and did underscored that fact.

Yet, astonishingly, most Christians seem quite content to leave the task of seeking and finding the lost for whom Jesus died to someone else! If we are going to be like Jesus, we must become a people “on mission” with Him!

This may sound frightening, but trust me, as you begin to involve yourself with Jesus in this mission, it will become one of the most exciting things you have ever done!

The second core value:

“Prayer is the primary work of God’s people.” (REPEAT IT TOGETHER)

Next time you read from Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, pay careful attention to how much time and energy Jesus paid to the activity of communicating with his Father in heaven.

He was “all about” prayer—and by the way, every single person who has made a big impact for God has also become “addicted” to the practice of prayer. When we learn how to pray the way Jesus taught His disciples to pray, well, then we will change the world!

The Third core value:

“Everything we have belongs to God. We are His stewards.” (REPEAT IT TOGETHER)

Jesus modeled this one, too. You see, Jesus didn’t just tell us how to live; He showed us! And if we learn what one writer, A. W. Tozer, in his book The Pursuit of God, has called “the blessedness of possessing nothing,” we will experience a freedom most of us have never known, and at the same time we will, in fact, have access to all of the riches of God which come to us in Christ Jesus.

Now, I already know that this core value will challenge us greatly because it runs so counter to everything our society tells us.

The fourth core value:

“Knowing and obeying God’s Word is fundamental to all true success.” (REPEAT IT TOGETHER)

When challenged by the devil, Jesus “defeated” his temptations with this verse of Scripture: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

And to His disciples He said, “My meat is to do the will of Him who sent me.”

To us, those who follow in the footsteps of those same disciples, He says, “If you know my commands, you will be happy if you do them.”

The fifth core value:

“Completing the Great Commission will require the mobilization of every fully devoted disciple.” (REPEAT IT TOGETHER)

Why do think that Jesus—instead of spending every moment and every ounce of energy doing miracles, healing the sick, and preaching to the crowds—devoted so much time and energy to the training disciples?

It was because the goal was so big, so astonishing, and so far-reaching that God chose to involve all of His children in its scope: the Great Commission—captured in this vision statement by one of our international workers.

All of Jesus for all the world takes all of us!

How can we do it?

By working together and using all that He has given us— every one of the gifts and resources that God has given to us through Christ. It CAN be done. And, with His help, we can do it.

The sixth core value:

“Without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, we can accomplish nothing.” (REPEAT IT TOGETHER)

Even a casual reading of the gospels will be enough to convince the honest reader that Jesus relied heavily upon the Holy Spirit of God for His life and ministry. That is one of the main points made by the accounts of His baptismal experience.

And when he breathed on the disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” and then told them to wait in Jerusalem until the Spirit had come upon them, He made it pretty clear that we can only expect to accomplish His work in the very same way.

A question becomes very important to each one of us: Have you received the power from on high? Are you living in the fullness of the Holy Spirit?

Finally, there is this:

“Achieving God’s purposes means taking faith-filled risks. This always involves change.” (REPEAT IT TOGETHER)

The Lord Jesus was the ultimate taker of faith-filled risks. He went to the cross believing that God would raise Him from the dead!

Faith is all about believing God when everything else says, “It’s impossible.”

Think about this. As a people we are pretty resistant to change. If we are comfortable, then we don’t want anyone to change things very much, but God never called anyone to go anywhere to leave things the way they found them. He is always calling us to change—to get up and move forward to the Promised Land! If we are the people who are going to “bring back the King,” we’re going to have to take some faith-filled risks!

Well, hopefully by now you are convinced. These are not so much the values of the Alliance as they are the values of Jesus.

Over the next several weeks we are also going to see that whenever and wherever the people of The Alliance actually live out the behaviors associated with these values, we have been an extraordinary world-changing movement!

Only if we make these our own truths to stand on will we ever fully experience the life God intended us to have.

I am praying that this series will literally change our lives!

[1] Schwab, G. M. (2009). The Book of Proverbs. In Cornerstone Biblical Commentary, Vol 7: The Book of Psalms, The Book of Proverbs (p. 599). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.