Biblical Community (Part Three)

I’m happy that, Lord willing, starting next week we will begin our new series on 2 Corinthians. But I’ve got one more sermon that I want to do on community. And I think it’s an important one. I want to talk about an unexpected hindrance to community. But ultimately I want to show how this is great news and encourage you with the gospel and the work of Christ on our behalf. I’ll read Ephesians 4:7-16 and then I want to walk us through this potential hindrance to the type of community the Bible talks about.

READ EPHESIANS 4:7-16

I’m not sure how many of you are sports fans, but I challenge you to think through all of the head coaches that you can think of in the NFL, MLB, and NBA. How many of them were really good top caliber players? Why isn’t Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player ever, coaching? Why did he try and find out that he was miserable? Or think about baseball. Some of the best coaches were mediocre players…don’t get me wrong…still professional athletes so way better than you and I…but still compared to other major league players…they aren’t that good? Why do good players make bad coaches?

It’s the same reason why I’m terrible at working on cars but my dad was an amazing mechanic. Growing up when I was trying to learn how to do things my dad would get a little frustrated with how long it took me to turn the wrench, or get something unscrewed. He was under a time crunch and so he ended up just saying, “Here, let me do it.” It’s easy to do that. He was the expert. I wasn’t. But his ability became a hindrance for me. I never really learned how to do it because I always knew that my dad could fix it.

2 Peter 1:3-4 says this:

3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

Did you catch what that says? His divine power…that’s Jesus…has granted to us all things (that’s not some things…that’s all things) that pertain to life and godliness. What this means is that everything that ultimately matters has already been purchased for us in Jesus. We are equipped by Jesus to be faithful to Him in what He calls us to do. And this comes through the knowledge of him…what does that mean? It means that there isn’t some secret key to the Christian life that you need to unlock. It means that through the gospel—the good news of the finished work of Jesus—we have been called to his own glory and excellence. It is through this…verse 4…that we are granted very great promises…what are those great promises? It’s not a house boat, it’s not your best life now, it’s “become partakers of the divine nature” it’s being more like Jesus…which is our greatest good. It means that Jesus has already solved our greatest problem. “Having escaped the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire”.

So what does that mean for you? It means you have in Jesus everything you need for life and godliness. It means that when we talk about the really tough things in Scripture like living in biblical community with one another…doing tough stuff like sharing the gospel…having a difficult conversation with a friend for their ultimate good. That kind of stuff.

We hear this and we say…man, that doesn’t sound like my experience. I feel so unequipped. I don’t feel like I have what it takes. I don’t feel like I have everything I need for life and godliness. So why does our experience not seem to match up to this promise in 2 Peter 1? A couple of reasons I think.

One, I think we are a bit too much like Simon the magician. I don’t know if you remember that guy but it’s a story in Acts about this guy named Simon who sees the power of the Holy Spirit and he wants in on it. Dude even gets baptized. He looks like he truly wants to become a disciple. But after a bit he’s exposed as a fraud. What was the problem? I think Scott Sauls says it best:

Simon wasn’t interested in Jesus using him as a servant for God’s glory. Instead, Simon wanted to use Jesus as a servant for Simon’s glory.

So I think one of the reasons why our experience of 2 Peter 1 isn’t quite what it ought to be is because we are far too enamored with ourselves. We hear about the great promises of God given to us and we immediately try to plug it into our lives and all the junk we’ve got going on. But it’s like a little kid trying to fit a square block into a triangle hole. It’s not going to work. God doesn’t share his glory with another. The Bible isn’t fundamentally about us and our kingdom. It’s about God. And these promises are given for our life and godliness means that God rescues from our greatest problem…sin…and gives us power to do what is for our greatest good…be more like Jesus. But if our goals aren’t to kill sin and be more like Jesus then we’re going to be frustrated thinking that we’ve been promised all this power to make our lives awesome. And when God graciously frustrates our designs to be the center of the universe we’ll think he’s not telling the truth about the promise He’s given us.

Another way to say this is that just because we are saved doesn’t mean that we are mature. Or to put it in the language of Ephesians 4…catch some of these words…”mature manhood” “measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” “not tossed to and for”.

until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood,[e] to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

It’s a bit like when someone is in the hospital for a lengthy period of time. If they aren’t able to walk for a bit then muscles tend to atrophy. Muscles waste away. And so what happens is that you have to slowly build those muscles back up. It’s the same way spiritually our spiritual muscles can be atrophied. We’ve technically got the power, we have everything we need for life and godliness given to us in Christ through the gospel…but when we don’t use the gospel…when we are tossed to and fro by the waves…when we are carried away and start slowly trusting in things other than the gospel…functional idolatry…then our spiritual muscles start to atrophy.

Or when we don’t use the gifts that God has given us. When we’re relying on others to do things that God has called us to do. When we aren’t using our spiritual muscles we will atrophy. And so this is what we are talking about this morning…a hindrance…a perhaps surprising hindrance to biblical community is often the pastor and staff.

We are called every single one of us to be disciples who are making disciples. Our slogan of “a church united to enjoy God’s grace and extend His glory” is really just another way of saying that our purpose is to be disciples who make disciples. You cannot get around this in the NT. Matthew 28 isn’t just given to the early disciples…it’s something that’s given to us. Jesus has given them power…everything they need for life and godliness…to make disciples of the nations. Be disciples who make disciples.

Here’s a way it’s been explained to me that I’ve found helpful. Great book...called Trellis and the Vine. So imagine with me a trellis and a vine. A trellis is the structure that keeps the vine in a bit of order, it provides shape and structure and even safety to the vine. That trellis is the framework that a church uses: management, finances, infrastructure, organization, governance, all those types of things. The vine is the actual doing of ministry—being and making disciples.

Now churches need a trellis. But what happens if we focus on the trellis instead of the vine? And that’s a tempting thing because a trellis is easier to control. A trellis can look very beautiful and ornate, you could have neighbors come over and see this beautiful trellis that you have in your garden. It’s the same way with church, it’s easy to measure bottoms, budgets, and buildings. It’s easy to measure how many events and programs a church is doing. We can be really active and have people showing up and it can look like we are very healthy. But are disciples being made? Is there a vine on that trellis?

“[Here’s] the thing about trellis work: it tends to take over from vine work. Perhaps it’s because trellis work is easier and less personally threatening. Vine work is personal and requires much prayer. It requires us to depend on God, and to open our mouths and speak God’s word in some way to another person. It requires us to depend on God, and to open our mouths and speak God’s word in some way to another person. By nature (by sinful nature, that is) we shy away from this. What would you rather do: go to a church working bee and sweep up some leaves, or share the gospel with your neighbour over the back fence? Which is easier: to have a business meeting about the state of the carpet, or to have a difficult personal meeting where you need to rebuke a friend about his sinful behavior?”

“Trellis work also often looks more impressive than vine work. It’s more visible and structural. We can point to something tangible—a committee, an event, a program, a budget, an infrastructure—and say that we have achieved something. We can build our trellis till it reaches to the heavens, in the hope of making a name for ourselves, but there may still be very little growth in the vine.”

So what we want to do is focus our efforts on vine work. That doesn’t mean neglect the trellis but it means a fundamental shift in the way we think about ministry. You and I…every disciple not just those of us called to be pastors…are called to be disciples who make disciples.

So how do we grow in maturity? How do we keep our muscles from atrophying? Now notice how we reach maturity. Look at this in Ephesians 4. Here is what is happening in verses 7-10.

So here is the point of verse 7-10: The context is about unity within the body of Christ. Jesus has purchased unity for His body. And this is lived out through the diverse people drawn into a local church. Paul quotes Psalm 68 to show that Christ is the conquering King of Psalm 68 and in this he is giving gifts to his bride—the church. He does this so that the church might grow in love and grow in displaying the beauty of God.

And what are these gifts…leaders. And what are the leaders to do? Verse 12. They are to equip the saints for the work of ministry. So what does that look like in practice? Or to use the language we used earlier…to help the saints work their spiritual muscles…to keep them from atrophying…what happens if the pastor says, “Let me do it!” Atrophy. Not living in the promise of 2 Peter 1.

Notice verse 12. Verse 11 lists the gifted men that are given to the church and then he says why they are given, “to equip the saints for the work of ministry”. The pastor, evangelists, teacher, missionary is sent to the church to equip the people to do the work of ministry. It is not the other way around. My job as a pastor is to equip you to do the work of ministry. But so often what happens is that the minister is thought to be the one that ought to do all of the work of ministry and those who are not “called to the ministry” are supposed to be sure to faithfully attend, give their money, pray for the pastor who does the work, and soak up all the knowledge they can, and if possible try to get someone else to come and watch their minister do some ministry.

What then is the pastor supposed to do? He is supposed to preach and teach in such a way that those that are not pastors will be equipped and faithful in the ministry that God has called them to do. You know what this tells me. It tells me that every believer is uniquely called and gifted by God to do a specific ministry to proclaim the glory of God. If your pastor is not secure enough to equip you to do ministry then he is not doing his job. But in that same vain if you are sinfully sitting on the sidelines it is not the pastor’s fault—it’s yours. A healthy church has everyone engaged in ministry and not just those “on staff”.

I think Mark Dever says what I’m trying to say well:

With competent staff in place, a congregation might pass over caring for each other in favor of letting ‘trained professionals’ do the job. Over time, this shift dilutes the depth of commitment a congregation has for one other. So without staff, a grieving widow is cared for by the congregation in a way that strengthens the entire community. But when staff meet the need, the congregation limits its investment and loses an opportunity for unity.

OUR WEDENSDAY NIGHTS AS A MODEL OF THIS. MAYBE WHY GOD HAS WITHHELD A STAFF PERSON FOR US.

A couple of models of pastoral ministry:

There are a couple of prevailing models of what a pastor is. The first is a service-providing clergyman. The pastor’s role is to care for and feed the congregation. In this model the pastor is provided for financially so that he can provide various services for the congregation: preaching, organizing things, putting together and leading programs, counseling members, weddings, funerals, and basically whatever services are needed to help the church be more like Jesus.

Now there is much in this model which is helpful and biblical and good. This does not need to be discarded. It’s clear from Scripture—Acts 20 in particular, that shepherds are called to feed the sheep. That’s a fundamental role. The first deacons in Acts 6 came about so the pastors could devote themselves to prayer and ministry of the word. And so there is much to commend. But can you think of any weaknesses that might come from ONLY embracing this model?

-limited to the gifts of the pastor (everything rises and falls on leadership, law of the lid) -feeds our consumerism -creates pew potatoes -Christian life is reduced to an hour or so on Sunday morning -can easily slip into criticism and complaint OR putting the pastor on an unbiblical pedestal -doesn’t really have the whole church doing ministry

In the 70’s and 80’s a kickback from this. Seeker-sensitive and attractional church model came up. It was something that did a really good thing in recovering the fact that members should be doing ministry…very good thing with Saddleback and Purpose Driven Ministry. But from it came things like the pastor is the CEO.

That’s just not a biblical model. The church isn’t a business and shouldn’t be ran like one. Are there aspects in which the pastor is to be an overseer…yes. B

The third model is that of a pastor as a trainer. The pastor still is preaching and feeding, but he is doing so not as a service to provide but to equip the saints for the work of ministry. We feed the sheep not for themselves but so they are healthy enough to reproduce. The pastor is training people to fulfill the work of ministry.

This is why I say things like if this associate pastor is able to have qualified and helpful people leading worship or people doing youth ministry then he doesn’t necessarily have to be the one doing it. I’m not saying that these ministries are allowed to flounder, but that his task is not to fundamentally be a clergyman providing a service. His job is to be training others for the work of ministry. This is what God’s Word says in Ephesians 4. That God gives to the church pastors to equip the saints for the work of ministry.

This is one of the hopes that I have for our small group ministry. It’s a way to help all the saints do this work of ministry. To help us, I believe, to do community better. To work out our muscles. As we do life together and we ask questions and try to apply the Bible, and live out even more these one another’s in the Bible, I believe what you’ll see is growth in Ephesians 4. You’ll see unity. You’ll see growth in Christ-likeness and you’ll see a better experience of 2 Peter 1.

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1) Do ministry. This is great news. God doesn’t get a wrong address. You are equipped to do the work of ministry that God calls you to do.

2) Life and godliness and pleasing God comes through the gospel.

3) The sufficiency of the gospel

4) The good news of God providing for His church. It’s a beautiful thing to see.

5) I want you to know that this is my philosophy of doing ministry. It likely impacts certain things about the way that I do ministry. I don’t want to be a hindrance. I’m not vital to the ministry here and I don’t want to be. I could die tomorrow and the ministry would continue on. I’m not that important and I don’t want to be. But at the same time God has called me to lead…He has called me to lead this church and I desire to do that to the very best of my God-given ability. It says in our constitution…____...I believe at this stage in the life of our church the best way to do that is through small groups. And so I’m leading us in that direction. If we find that it doesn’t help us in community we are still called to the type of community the Bible calls us to. We’ll figure out another way to do that. If we find that it doesn’t help us to exercise our spiritual muscles even more…then I’ll commit myself to continuing to help this body of Christ become more and more like Jesus.

6) You want to see God move and work…we’ll put you to work here. I don’t care to micromanage. I don’t care to stand in the way of folks doing ministry.