Multiply the Church
Multiply • Sermon • Submitted
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Intro
Intro
Over the past month I have been talking about how we become a people of multiplication
This is the last week of a series that we simply have called “Multiply”
Its a teaching series where we are looking at this new direction, this vision of multiplication
So if you missed the last three weeks I want to give you one sentence that sums it all up
We are called to be a people who bear fruit, who live sent, and arepersons of peace that lead through giving ourselves away.
We are called to be a people who bear fruit, who live sent, and arepersons of peace that lead through giving ourselves away.
So the last three weeks of sermons are all about who do we become so that we can become something as a church
And I want to touch on this word multiply real fast:
Multiplication is a mathematical term that means to make more numerous
SO there is church addition
Where each one reaches one…that means we grow…1+1+1+1=4 So if each one reached just this week we could double in size and that would be exciting...
But what if 1 person discipled 2 people and those two each discipled 2 then they all discipled 2 and they all discipled 2 people....
So 1+1+1+1=4 but the way the kingdom of God works is through multiplication. 2x2x2x2=16
So I want to see us not just grow by each one reaching one…which is great by the way....I want to see the kingdom of God grow and flourish through multiplication...
Where we are multiplying disciples, leaders and churches
So we have talked about multiplying our own lives…Reaching outward and multiplying disciples and last week was our own leadership
so this week I want to talk about the church
And I want to do this in a very personal way…Because its part sermon and teaching…but also part testimony
I don’t talk about this very much but, when I first started here at REC, I hired a spiritual director. A spiritual director is someone who helps you to hear from God and discern where God is leading you.
So this past week, he asked me a question.
He said: what is your life’s work?
My first response was my family…and he said…Ok right answer, that should always be your first answer, and that will always be my first priority
So he said other than your family, what is your life’s work?
The answer that came to mind so effortlessly was “the church”
Not just this church or the church that I came from, but the whole church.
Back when I was a youth pastor and in Seminary, I was being mentored by my former youth pastor
Every Monday for 7 years I met him at our local Starbucks and I poured my heart out to him and he helped me along the way
This was one of the best things that has ever happened to me in my professional ministry...
Well getting toward the end of us meeting together I had really grown up in ministry and it was one of those things where now we just met and talked about ministry
And right about the same time in he and I both got new supervisors at the church...
For my friend, his supervisor was so bad that I would tell him, there has to be sin somewhere…if everything your telling me is true then there is just no fruit in this guy’s life…so it will come to light …And a year or so later it was revealed that my friends supervisor was fired because he was involved in some really bad stuff....
And I got a new supervisor…Now this guy came in from the business world and immediately he and I were oil and water
Every idea I had, he challenged
So we would both come to our Starbucks meeting and we would download on each other the latest crazy news about what happened to us the week before.
And all the time we would pause ourselves and say…This is just all too crazy…is it us? are we the unreasonable ones? are we loosing it?
And one day he and I were really discouraged and in that discouragement we sat down at Starbucks and wrote the plans to create a non-profit that would feed kids around the world and that would bring clean water to people around the world…I remember how excited we were about this non profit....
We had donors we were going to talk to, we had events we were going to do…we had all of these amazing plans
I was so ready to quit the church but to still do the work of God in the non profit sector
So my mentor and I decided that before we did anything we would pray on it for a week and then connect the next week over our non-profit ideas
Well that week God did an amazing work in both of our hearts…He had absolutely killed the non profit idea
We both came back to coffee that next week scared to tell the other person what what God had done in our hearts because we didn't want to bum each other out
But It was a God ordained moment because we sat across from each-other with basically the same story...
The church is God’s bride and I can not abandon her....
God called me to the church....
And I remember that I shared with my friend this verse…Little did I know that this verse is something that I would say like I was a broken record
I would end up saying this verse so often that my previous church made me this skateboard deck with the verse on it
But the verse that God gave me that week was Romans 8:19
For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.
Already if you have been paying attention, I must have quoted this verse like 20 times this past year...
And I told you that you are going to hear this verse from me all the time...
But I remember sitting with this verse and wondering why I stopped on it…why did this verse capture me so much?
What was it that just got me about this verse?
For me to take you on that journey we need to back up to Romans 8
I was reading Roman’s 8 in my quiet time
You have to really understand Romans 8:1-4
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
So what Paul is telling the church in Rome here is that if you are walking with Jesus then you are free from the bondage of sin and death
When Paul says that the law is powerless, what he is referring to the old testament law....See what that law does is merely to point out sin but it can not free us from the power of sin or it’s consequences
Because Jesus came in the likeness of sinful flesh to become a sin offering....He took on all sin so that you don’t have to live by the bondage of sin anymore so that you can be free...
You can experience true freedom in Christ
Maybe your here today and you have never experienced true freedom without condemnation. Maybe your life has been full of condemning voices....Those condemning voiced might even lead you to have suffered from depression, anger suicidal thoughts
The point the apostle paul is truing to make is that Jesus takes your condemnation…That is what the cross is all about…That stuff that should condemn you is heaped onto Jesus and he forgives you and makes you right with God
All you have to do is accept that free gift of Grace that Jesus is so readily giving you
Lets keep going
Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
In this section Paul contrasts these two ways of living…either by the flesh, which is your own desires or by the Spirit, which is God’s life indwelling in yours...
So when you are living to please yourself and meet all of your own desires then you cant please God
But when your mind is set on the spirit of God....on all who he is then you get to experience peace
You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
Ok So if you have said yes to Jesus then that means that the spirit of God actually lives in your body...
The same spirit that rose Jesus from the dead is in you
And through the spirit of God you are being given this new life
Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Right up front Paul says we have an obligation…Because God has reddemed us…we need to live by the spirit
So when you live by the spirit that makes you a child of God
When you are lead by the spirit then we actually share with Jesus in his suffering and in his glory
And then the Apostle Paul says this
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.
What Romans 8 teaches us about the Children of God:
Do not experience condemnation from God. (Romans 8:1)
They are experiencing true freedom through forgiveness. (Romans 8:2)
They have their minds set on the desires of God not their own. (Romans 8:5)
They get to have new life through God’s Spirit. (Romans 8:11)
They are lead by the spirit of God. (Romans 8:14)
They are not slaves to fear. (Romans 8:14)
They share in his suffering and glory .(Romans 8:17)
All of creation is waiting for the children of God to be revealed. (Romans 8:19)
So I am sitting with my mentor…A week ago we had spent hours plotting quitting our jobs and starting a non profit and God lead me to Romans 8 and it rocked my world.
It got me imagining wow....what if more and more people looked like children of God
Just imaging a people who have gone from condemnation to love and how much that changes them! Now go from Slave to free
Now remove sin and rewire someones heart and oh year remove fear
Yeah the world needs more and more of these people
So My mentor and I absolutely came to the same conclusion…The church is the vehicle that God has created for people to become the children of God
Don’t hear me wrong, Non-profits are great and the church needs them around…But for me…It was as if God clearly said that I was called to help people understand that they are sons and daughters of the king.
Jesus didn’t raise up 12 disciples to start a movement of people who go into all the world and start non profits to solve all the wolrds problems
Jesus invested his life into 12 people to send them into the world to start a movement of church planting that would change the world,,,that would bring people into freedom in Jesus…so people would understand that they are sons and daughters of the king...
The church is God’s divine conspiracy in this world
And yeah guess what...Church is messy because its full of people working out their salvation
Church is messy because people still fall into sin
Church can at times be hurtful because people still operate in the flesh and not in the spirit
But for 2000 years the church has been birthing new children of God and I knew that for me God was calling me to be a part of his body and to help people realize their significance as God’s kids
To help people find redemption
So for me it took contemplating leaving the church to realize that God was calling me to her now more than ever...
Later in Romans Paul would go on to give the central Metaphor of the church
For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
The church is God’s body...
jesus is the head
We are the arms and legs
We act on behalf of Jesus in the world
And don’t get me wrong, non-profits are needed and they are amazing....But nothing can beat this
So lets go back to the beginning…My life’s work is the church
The church is God’s only plan to reach a hurting world
The church is called to bring hope to the hopeless
The church introduces people to Jesus and sets captives free
The church births new children of God every day
So thank you for indulging me on one of my favorite chapters in the Bible…The question is what am I getting at here
Well for the last three weeks we have been talking about this vision of multiplying
and I have been talking about the kind of people who we need to become
But all of that collectively comes together in what I envision for REC…What I see as the redemptive potential of this place
First I want to invite you to consider the aspen tree
First I want to invite you to consider the aspen tree
Aspen Picture
Aspen Picture
When you look at this aspen grove you might be tempted to say look at all of those trees
It would be an easy mistake to make to look at this grove and say that this is multiple trees
But Arborist would tell you that what appears to be many trees is actually one tree
The main force of life is the root system underground
See the aspen naturally spreads its roots and sprouts up new expressions and variations of itself.
Scientist will tell you that when you look at the Aspen grove with DNA you can actually trace it all back to one tree
This is what I envision for REC
River’s Edge church has a tremendous redemptive potential
I see REC as an aspen tree…That grows people...
In 10 -20 years I hope that we can pull out a map and say…wow Look at all that God has done!
Look at all of the children of God who have been revealed to this world
Look at the redemptive potential!
SO what do we have to do to get there
You have heard me say this so many times and I will keep saying it
We need to get serious about our relationship with God: Part of this is hiring a worship leader
We need to strengthen what God has given us here: So we are planning on renovating this building in a way that will be a 30 year renovation
We need to become a discipleship factory
We need to produce leaders like never before
And only when we have become a disciple making and leadership building factory is when we can send
We can be a church planting hub
Because all of creation is longing in eager expectation for God’s kids to come in and act like their father in heaven...
All of creation is longing for redemption
All of creation is longing for real freedom and they doesn’t even realize that they are in bondage
All of creation is waiting for a new life, that is truly life
All of creation is just waiting for the day where fear wont control them any more
All of creation is waiting for the kind of people who are sold out to God’s spirit
So obviously there is a financial component to all of this
We are asking people to partner with us in this vision
Over the next 3 years we want to raise $300K
To hire a worship leader (and this is just the beginning)
Make discipleship and leadership development central to what we do
Renovate our facility so it can act as a hub for church planting
And we want to sprout a new limb something really easy that actually doesn't even take a ton of effort on our part just giving…It is starting a church in El Salvador…just buy putting a clear water source in the church, that will plant a brand new church there and this can happen for $25-30K
So maybe your here and you want to partner with us in seeing this come about....on the bulletin QR code or on the welcome booth in the lobby there are pledge cards where you can prayerfully partner with us in seeing this vision come to life....
But there is also a personal component to this
Look back to that list about what a child of God is
What Romans 8 teaches us about the Children of God:
Do not experience condemnation from God. (Romans 8:1)
They are experiencing true freedom through forgiveness. (Romans 8:2)
They have their minds set on the desires of God not their own. (Romans 8:5)
They get to have new life through God’s Spirit. (Romans 8:11)
They are lead by the spirit of God. (Romans 8:14)
They are not slaves to fear. (Romans 8:14)
They share in his suffering and glory .(Romans 8:17)
All of creation is waiting for the children of God to be revealed. (Romans 8:19)
Is this you? Have you surrendered your life to Jesus? Because it takes a child of God to make a child of God
Communion
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”
Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Means of Grace
Jesus is the fruit of the tree