Sermon Tone Analysis

The human body is amazing

Let’s all snap our fingers.

One, two, three.

Snap.

Did you know that in snapping your finger, you are doing something absolutely unique?

Last year there was a study published by scientists in England showed that a finger snap is the fastest movement of our bodies.

The finger snap is 20 times quicker than the blink of any eye.

The research group set up high speed cameras and sensors and found that the speed of a finger snap is ridiculous.

The funny thing about the study is that the whole point of the exercise was to determine whether or not the big bad movie villain Thanos could have wiped out half the universe life with a snap of the fingers, which led to “just how fast is a snap of the finger?”

The human body is amazing.

The church body is amazing

Christ designed our bodies so that they would exist in community.

And that community itself is called a body.

One of Paul’s favorite ways to talk about the church is to talk about the church as a body.

We read it just seconds ago in Paul’s letter to the gathering of Jesus followers in the city of Ephesus.

The church is a unified, living organism meant to be, to do, and to move.

Just as God breathed life into the very first person, Adam, at creation, so too God has breathed life in to his community of followers through the Spirit.

And this body is amazing.

Jesus designed the church body to be his presence on earth.

He designed this body to be his hands and his feet on earth.

We began a study of who the church is and what the church does from the book of Ephesians.

The church was made for more.

This is meant to help us think differently about the church.

In some ways, The Table is already doing many of these things because as an infant church, from the very beginning we do and think differently about church.

So, in some sense, this is a reminder, but also a challenge for us to keep moving in the direction that we have been moving.

Quick overview of Made for More

So, here’s a refresher for where we have been the past 3 weeks:

1.

More Jesus

Truth 1 - It is through the church that Jesus and his fullness is going to fill every corner of society: where we live, learn, work, and play

Shift 1 - From more effort to more Jesus

2. Made to BE More

a. Truth 2 - Every follower of Jesus is a unique masterpiece work of God

b.

Shift 2 - From more volunteers to more masterpieces

3. Made to Love More

a. Truth 3 - The primary motivation for filling Jesus into all areas of society is love

b.

Shift 3 - From more guilt to more love

4. Made to Do More

a. Truth 4 - Jesus gives organizing systems to His body for fullness, for more impact, and for the mobilization of EVERY member

b.

Shift 4 - From more hierarchy to more missionaries

Mythbusting Ephesians 4:11

The Table as More… the Table is already primed to be More in Los Fresnos.

One of the fundamental myths that we are tackling today is a myth that develops over time.

In some instances this myth is expressly stated.

In most instances, it is simply a habit that is reinforced by the way we do church.

And that myth is that only the pastor is the evangelist, only the pastor is the teacher, only the pastor is on mission for Jesus and his church.

Regardless of how it happens, whether it is by design or by accident, what we are going to see this morning is that this simply is not the way the Bible understands church or the roles in the church.

The church is made to DO more!

Now that doesn’t mean more programs and more staff but more everyday missionaries!

As kids, we went to summer church camp one year and there was a song we learned from the new camp director, a song that is actually pretty old, but it was new to us.

It was a catchy little ditty.

Be a missionary every day.

Tell the world that Jesus is the way.

There are more lines, but you get the point.

Be a missionary every day.

All of you.

All of us.

Over the years, I’ve heard that song attacked quite forcefully.

We’re dumbing down the word “missionary”, if everybody is a missionary, then we’ve cheapened what it means to go to the jungles with the good news of Jesus.

And then there’s the outright denial that all of us are on mission… only the pastor is or only those who are specifically called to the task of mission work, especially overseas.

More than once i’ve heard someone say, not all of us are missionaries.

That’s the pastor’s job.

That’s the missionary’s job when they are in the jungle or in a foreign city speaking a language not their own.

No. What we’re looking at today from the book of Ephesians, and it’s true in the rest of the New Testament, is that the song had it right.

Be a missionary ever day.

Tell the world that Jesus is the way.

Jesus has designed the church, the entire church to be on mission.

Mission is in the DNA of what it means to be a gathering of Jesus followers.

We’ve defined the church in this series as

a gathering of Jesus followers where the Word is preached and the Sacraments are provided.

We don’t need a building.

We don’t need a committee.

We don’t need any programs.

All we need is a space and a time for a gathering where the Word is preached and the Sacraments are provided.

Period.

That’s the biblical definition of church.

We gather.

We confess Jesus as Lord.

We hear his Word of forgiveness and grace.

We receive His Word of forgiveness and grace in his broken body and his shed blood.

That’s church.

And this kind of church is moving.

It is not static.

It moves toward others who are not yet part of the gathering.

The entire church body is organic and has legs and arms, and it moves in compassion and it moves toward those who are without the Word and Sacrament so that they too can participate.

The church was made to DO more!

When we say that the church was made to DO more, we need to remind ourselves that “doing” is not the gospel.

“Doing” is the product of the gospel.

“Doing” is not Good News.

Only Jesus and His salvation of us is the Good News.

However, the church has been given the task of working in this world and this work is for our neighbor.

All of us are perfectly positioned to make an eternal difference where we live, work, learn, and play.

We have the privilege and calling.

thanks to our baptism, to get to be everyday ambassadors of Jesus.

We get to join the ranks of common, everyday, ordinary people who have gone before us who have been called by Jesus to continue his ongoing work in this world.

111 Hours

We have 111 hours for more Jesus in all of life

That work involves the 168 hours that all of us have every week.