Members Known for Integrity

What?

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Our Vision

At our recent Congregational Meeting, we agreed on the following statement of vision:

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At Narellan CCC, we aim to be a healthy, functioning and safe community of faith with members known for integrity.

Today we will continue this sermon series explaining our Vision and Mission statements by considering together the final qualifying terms describing the community of faith we aim to be,

We aim to be a community of faith with members known for integrity.

Where the previous qualifying terms indicate the inward-focussed qualities of our community, today I will explain the outward-focussed qualities we hope to embody.

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Mocking The Prime Minister

To illustrate some of the difficulties we face in this vision, let me draw your attention to the negative attention our Prime Minister has faced over the past week because of a recent speech.

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Prime Minister Scott Morrison made a speech at the Australian Christian Churches (Pentecostal) conference on 20 April. A video of the speech has been leaked online with the intent to mock him and diminish him in the eyes of Australian citizens and voters.

The Guardian news service has uploaded some snippets of that video which highlight the points of the PM’s speech which are considered offensive by some commentators:

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The Prime Minister’s religious faith does not in any way detract from his capability as our nation’s leader. That he has a faith at all is worrisome to some in our society, just as his not having a religious faith would be worrisome to others.

It seems then not even a friend of Jesus at this level of our society is immune to persecution attacking his faith in Jesus and his Christian lifestyle.

Why?

Our Elders and Ministry Team, Ministry Intern and myself, are all consciously aiming to set an example of faith and life, ministry and mission for our church. Yet it is up to all of us to own the vision and work together to make this a community of faith where all our members are known for integrity in our faith and lifestyle.

So What?

To help us recognise what are the outward-focussed qualities we aim for, we need to first understand the difference between a community of faith and a church.

What Is a Visitor, Friend or Member?

The word “church” is simply the English translation of the Greek word ekklesia, meaning a public gathering for a particular purpose. Commentators tell us the Church is

The community of faithful believers, of whom Jesus Christ is the head, called out from the world to serve God down the ages. Scripture emphazises that the church is the body of Christ whose members are intended to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Scriptural understanding of the church is corporate, rather than solitary or individual.[Martin H. Manser, Dictionary of Bible Themes (London, UK: Martin Manser, 2009).

The Church is the people of God called out for a purpose.

Interestingly, the term is used in the Gospels only twice (Mt 16:18; 18:17) but appears more frequently in the book of Acts, most of the letters of Paul, as well as most of the remaining NT writings, especially the Revelation of John.

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Psalm 149:1 CSB

Hallelujah! Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of the faithful.

Over time the misunderstanding has developed that Church is the Sunday service of worship, an activity rather than the people. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Worship is important but secondary to the ministry of reconciliation (2Co 5:18) and discipleship (Eph 4:11-16). Worship is an element in our discipleship and arguably the last element —I will discuss this more in the future.

Where a local church is a gathering of the friends of Jesus for discipleship, ministry, mission, fellowship and worship, a community of faith is all those who fall within the sphere of influence and participate in the regular activities or occasional events of a local church.

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It is a fact that nowadays people belong before they believe. They identify with a church long before they become a member and often before they even attend a worship service. Therefore, in our community of faith are visitors (or contacts, depending on whether they connect with us by attending a worship service or any other activity), friends and members.

Another way of putting this is visitors enter the house, friends enter the room, but it is members who sit at the table and join the family, yet are expected to do their share of the chores and will are corrected when they stray.

We want as many of our visitors and friends to become members of our community, for their own sake as much as for that of our community. We all benefit from having fully engaged and committed members in our community, yet we are not doing our job as a church if our community is not also comprised of visitors and friends.

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What Does It Mean to “Be Known For”?

It is the members of our church who especially carry the name of our church wherever they go and whatever they do. And we want the members of our church to be known for integrity.

To be known for anything necessarily implies our members are out and about in the neighbourhood and identifiably members of this church. We all live and work and study and play in our neighbourhoods, but unless we are known as belonging to the friends of Jesus at Narellan Congregational Church, then we are not acting as witnesses in the world.

It is attributed to St Francis of Assisi that he said,

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Preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary use words.

Yet there is no evidence he uttered this statement. His lifestyle was certainly an example of this, but St Francis made a much greater impression on his world by his preaching. In a society where many clergy lived extravagant lifestyles, Francis’ vow to poverty was a stunning image of the Gospel. Yet it is also a fact Francis preached to the rich when invited to their extravagant parties and he preached to travellers on the road.

The familiar image of Francis with the birds reflects the story that he even preached to the birds.

It is as the apostle Paul wrote,

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Romans 10:14–15 CSB

How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.

If the members of our community are to be known for anything it will be because we are identifiably members of this community who are actively involved in our neighbourhood. This is our outward-focus, to be known outside these doors because we are, in fact, outside these doors actively and proactively.

May the members of our church be known as members of our church so that we have an opportunity to share the good news about Jesus. May our neighbours know of our faith and good works, not for our sake or glory but because we have been good witnesses for Jesus the Christ in both our words and deeds.

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Why Is Integrity an Issue?

More than merely saying a good word or doing a good deed, the people in our neighbour want to see integrity in us. They want to see consistency between what we say and what we do and they want to see it over time. They want to see the positve difference to our lifestyle that placing our faith in Jesus makes.

In his beatitudes, Jesus said,

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Matthew 5:13–16 CSB

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It’s no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. “You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Salt does not make food taste better if you wave it above. You need to put it in the food so its effect permeates.

Light does not benefit anyone if it is turned off immediately. Light needs to shine to be helpful.

Our family, friends, associates and neighbours need to see our good deeds over time before they will be interested in hearing our good words. If we do not become known for integrity, over time, they will not be interested in what we have to say and will thus miss an opportunity to be reconciled to their creator God.

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Now What?

If you have been a friend or member of any church for a period of time, then you are likely thinking this is all pretty obvious. Why then are Christians thought to be hypocrites, intolerant and irrelevant?

These abusive labels are not fair. Yet too often they seem true. There are enough examples known to the public.

While we argue these labels are unfair, the problem is that legitmate friends of Jesus are not known often enough for their integrity to shine. Why is this the case? Because we are not often enough known to be friends of Jesus.

Why do we not let other people know we are friends of Jesus? Because we fear persecution.

Let me finish with advice that covers both sides of this issue. The first piece of advice I would share with you comes from the apostle Paul, who wrote,

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Galatians 1:10 CSB

For am I now trying to persuade people, or God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

In other words, you can’t be popular all the time and follow Jesus, period. If we learn anything from placing our faith in Jesus is that our lifestyle should be based on a sense of urgency to glorify our Creator and Father God in all we think, do and say.[The means of glorifying God are: 1) by praising God Rev 4:11; 7:12 See also Lk 2:13; Ro 11:33-36; 16:27; Heb 13:20-21; 1Pe 4:11; 2Pe 3:18; Jude 25; 2) by living for God 1Co 10:31 See also Ro 4:20; 1Co 6:20; 2Th 1:11-12; 1Pe 4:10-13; and, 3) by doing good works and bearing fruit Jn 15:8; Php 1:9-11 See also Mt 5:16; Gal 5:22-26; Heb 13:20-21; 1Pe 2:12.]

We are to glorify God anyway, come what may. Which brings up the other side of the issue and my final piece of advice.

The apostle Peter wrote,

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1 Peter 2:12 CSB

Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that when they slander you as evildoers, they will observe your good works and will glorify God on the day he visits.

In other words, live with integrity among and serve the people in your neighbourhood at all times. It is certainly easier in the good times, when everything is going well for you and everyone loves you. But if you live with integrity among and serve people in the bad times, when nothing is going well and everyone is against you, even then they will remember and thank God for you.

Whether you see that fruit or not does not matter. Stay true. Onward and upward!

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Our Elders and Ministry Team, Ministry Intern and myself, are all consciously aiming to set an example of faith and life, ministry and mission for our church. Yet it is up to all of us to own the vision and work together to make this a community of faith where all our members are known for integrity in our faith and lifestyle, so that we may always and everywhere bring glory to God for the sake of the lost among our family, friends, associates and neighbours.

*If you have any questions about these reflections on our Vision Statement, or would like prayer for any concern or point of praise, then join with me and the Prayer Team to the right side of the platform after the service.