Who is the Church, and What is Her Mission
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 12 viewsNotes
Transcript
Handout
Handout
Apostles Creed: I Believe in the Holy catholic Church
Apostles Creed: I Believe in the Holy catholic Church
This is not Roman Catholic Church.
Holy - sacred, pure, set apart, righteous, spiritual.
catholic - universal, global, body of believers across world past, present, and age to come.
Church - one with the Trinity, one, body of believers, those who repent, confess, declare their allegiance, and believe in Jesus.
Who is the church? The Body of Christ
Construction Illustration
What does every project need in order for everyone to do their job?
Answer: a blueprint, or a plan / Divine Plan
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Ephesians 1:11
In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,
Romans 8:29-30
For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
What does every project need after getting a plan or blueprint:
Answer: General Contractor / Holy Spirit
Who is the Church? Christians Equipped W/ Gifts
1 Corinthians 12:4-7
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
Romans 12:6-8
We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.
1 Corinthians 12:14-18
Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.
Construction Illustration: Framer cannot say to the Concrete guys, “I do not need you.” The Electricians cannot say to the framers, “I do not need you.”
We Need Each Other
A believer cannot experience God in all the dimensions God intends for him or her apart from the Body of Christ—a local church. As the Body goes on mission together to the ends of the earth, Christians begin to experience the fuller dimensions of life in God’s Kingdom. Henry Blackaby
What is the Church’s Mission? Love God. Love People. Make Disciples
Loving God: The Great Commandment (Matthew 22: 36-37)
We love God with our whole being, everything within us, first. Our guts, our innermost selves. We are worshippers.
This was primary for Jesus. It is our starting point.
Loving People: Lay Down Life for One Another John 15:12-13
All the one anothers in the Bible. Second half of Great Commandment. Refer back to Body of Christ and its behavior toward one another.
Make Disciples: The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20)
All authority is given to Jesus, we submit to His rule and reign. We do not have all authority.
Our God is a Missionary God - we first bear that image wherever we go.
God is a Missionary God - that is who He is, His nature. It doesnt start with a command. It starts with who God is. it flows out of His nature, Genesis 1, let US make man in our image, F.SH.S, out of communal love the cosmos and humanity gets spilled out, then Genesis 3 God goes after Adam and Eve. Genesis 12 God goes after Abraham as a do-over with His creation, God goes after Israel, and Jesus goes after the humanity world again. Then, the Father sends Jesus, Jesus sends the Holy Spiirt, the Holy Spirit sends the Church. God is a missionary God, it His nature. Who is God? How do we image? And mirror and walk out what God is like
Bible all about God creating a people group that will bring glory to Him.
America is all about individuals in isolation taking care of themselves, my family, my. its about me.
And when we marry that with the Bible and America and when we come to Christ, it is all about me. I come to church and come to Christ for me. Did I like the service today, did I like the music today, did they take care of me today, and it is not the mentality of US.
Mission is the participation in the life of God. It is when we participate with Him in the world.
The mission of God is to bring healing and renewal to all of creation. Bible is story. All the writers are telling one beautiful story of God.
The end of the Story - not a bunch of souls in heaven singing, but the end is a city is a walls, people, city of culture, food, drink.
The way God wants to bring healing and renewal, is through a missionary people. Genesis 12, Paul in Galatians gospel in advance. Through you all people will be blessed. Israel is a means to an end. They lost sight of that. Does not end with you, ends with no walls, community, culture, food, drink, and city.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Point of the church is not the church, we are a means to an end.
Church does not have a mission, the mission has a church.
American church thinks we are the end. We are not.
Our mission is to join in the mission of God.
Disciple making - evangelism. Calling people to follow.
Work - raw materials, service to fellow man, do what you have been called to, whatever it may be. Place and value at work. Honor Jesus as a graphic designer, or barista, a mom.
Justice - join with God’s heart with the poor, foster care, refugee care, service, mercy ministry.
Sea of untapped gift unlocking in this room.