The church that loves Jesus

Introduction

The Christian faith is a religion; Christianity is not. Christianity is a movement that proceeds from Jesus the Christ. Fundamentally, the church is a love relationship with Jesus. He has demonstrated his love towards us: in that, while we were yet sinners, yet his enemies, Christ died for us. Our response is to love Him back. He has characterized that kind of love.

John 14:15 CSB

“If you love me, you will keep my commands.

For Jesus, love is not a soft fuzzy feeling; it is not passionate worship with singing and emotion; love is obedience.

So, the question is: what is the ultimate expression of love/what is the ultimate expression of obedience to Christ.

Begin with the end in mind

In 1989 a book burst onto the bestseller list. Stephen Covey was a leadership specialist who codified what he had been reading and researching into a book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. For me, his second principle really resonated: begin with the end in mind.

Doesn’t this actually reaffirm the nature of our God?

Isaiah 46:10

Isaiah 46:10 CSB

I declare the end from the beginning, and from long ago what is not yet done, saying: my plan will take place, and I will do all my will.

In the King James, the writer of Hebrews says this about Jesus Himself:

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

The Father declares his point of reference based on seeing the end from the beginning; our Lord looked out into the future and saw joy instead of agony - and now seated at the right hand of God He is writing our faith which in his mind is already finished.

In God’s church, we have responsibility to do this same thing: examine His revelation for markers of the finish and seek to make our current reality consistent with His vision.

Our Current Social context

Charles Dickens used the conditions of London and Paris around the time of the French Revolution to write “A Tale of Two Cities”. He said, “It was the the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way...

The times we live in has much to do with our reactions to life. The American church, particularly the evangelical expression of church, is currently in the midst of being examined and found wanting. The examination is being done by social pressure, based on the changing mores of American society. The church is not weathering the storm very well. The reason? Internally, we have become frail; we have accepted as valuable things that are not seen as valuable by God; we have emphazed matters of style over matters of substance.

Success has been judged in terms of commerce rather than the terms of revelation. We have given great credence to those who have numerical and financial success instead of those who have great wisdom and have demonstrated great sacrifice. We have devised mission statements; purpose statements; strategic plans for growth — all drawn from the world of business rather than drawing our reality from God’s revelation. In a mad quest to be seen as relevant by modern generations, we have actually moved the church to irrelevance. And, have no doubt, to American culture we are irrelevant.

The Solution: hear the implications of God’s message.

Colossians 1:28

Colossians 1:28 CSB

We proclaim him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

This is our destination verse today: we will verify how a church loves Jesus in being obedient to the biblical revelation about the nature of church ministry. But every destination has a beginning. Notice the beginning: we proclaim HIM.

The background to understand God’s purpose in the church

Who is this one we proclaim? We don’t have to look far: clearly explained in the context.

Colossians 1:24-27

Colossians 1:24–27 CSB

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I am completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for his body, that is, the church. I have become its servant, according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

The truth then - in a world that had never heard of Jesus Christ is the same truth now - in a world that finds Jesus Christ irrelevant to life.

Notice these important aspectss:

Within Christ’s body, the church, the mandate is to make the word of God fully known. Notice that it is a mystery hidden throughout the ages and geneations but is now revealed to who? His saints. As an individual, you may not follow me to the end today. That said, please get this: God reveals Himself and He does so through his Word. This is not a mechanical thinkg nor an intellectual thing, even though the mechanics of hearing or reading and the intellectual thing of understanding are at play. No. This mystery is revealed in a progressive way and revealed only to those who are devoted to Christ and obedient to what they recieve.

God’s plan did not include only on chosen people but has been made fully known to those who by heritage did not know Him.

Result of this revelation? the glorious wealth of this mystery: Christ IN you, the hope of glory. Every generation must decide what they place as authoritative for their lives. Paul affirms to the believers in Colossae: the glorious wealth of the mystery is Christ IN you. I would say to you: the church is fundamentally a place where Jesus Christ is acknoweldged as living Lord, not religious icon; where Jesus is experienced in a real interior temple, so real that He is impossible to deny. He is not merely of objective importance as namesake of the faith, but is of subjective importance because He lives in us and among us. Only when we understand this background are we equipped to move on to:

The Central Subject of the message of the church

we proclaim HIm

We proclaim Him because we know Him, personally and intimately. There is a watershed event for life. In this event, the transcendent God reveals Himself from the realm of eternity and brings conviction to your heart that He is who the Bible says He is. There is no set routine to this revelation. It can be a long persuasion like CS Lewis who found himself, “Surprised by Joy”. It can be quickly life transforming like what happened to Becket Cook. Firmly entrenched in the gay lifestyle, one sermon changed his existence. Just 10 years ago.

The point is this: there is that moment when we know Him, when we know that we have passed from death into life and that entire reality is based on knowing Him. Church is made up of people who have this personal, trasncendent experience: and our mesage is Him. we proclaim Him.

The continuing methodology of the church

warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom

We live in a day of positive reenforcment. That is not inconsistent with our faith. Still, there are things in life that must be taught by warning. We warn our little ones about the danger of a hot stove; we wanr them about not touching animals that they don’t know; we warn them about how to cross a highway.

In the faith, there are many reasons for warning. We have an active enemy.

1 Peter 5:8

1 Peter 5:8 CSB

Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.

Listen to me. He devours the careless. Great scandal in the church right now. Listen to me: it is less scandal than it is spiritual reality. It does not matter who you are, where you have arrived spiritually. There is an enemy and his constant prowl is to take us down.

That’s the kind of warning that needs to be part of our process.

Central, however, is teaching. This is the systematic conveyance of the truths of New Testament faith. It is done through human mechanics: we teach. But, it is accomplished only by spiritual dynamics:

Ephesians 1:17–18 CSB

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

We will speak more about this process in messages to come. Still, the point is that the church matches its labor to the direction of the Lord of the church: we warn and we teach with all wisdom.

The destination of the church

Again, we are speaking of the church that loves Jesus; that puts Him and HIs glory above all else; that loves Him more than anything else.

that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

Often we have settled for the maximum number of attenders as the mark of success. Or we have salved our conscience by offering a few “discipleship” courses. We cannot be the church of the living Lord without moving people along in thier understanding and devotion to Him until they reach maaturity. Again, we will speak further in messages to come: Mature believers stand at the intersection between God and man: they constantly represent fallen people to God; they constantly represent God to people who do not know God or are weak in faith.

Conclusion

What kind of church are you, Chinese Baptist of Coral Springs? What kind of church do you want to be?