Ephesians 4:1-15
Introduction
It
has been our honor and privilege to host this Symposium and it is my
privilege to speak to you at this closing session. I trust this will be
profitable to you. May the
Lord bless each of you for participating and your congregations as they
have freed you to be here for this event.
My all time favorite play is “Fiddler on the Roof.” The play opens
with the usual chaos in the village square.
It is fast moving and ever changing with many plots and scenarios
developing. The first act closes with a monologue from Tevia, trying to
bring some sense to the happenings around him.
He says, (let me paraphrase part of this) we know who we are, and
what God expects of us. If this were not so, we would be crazy, “Like a
Fiddler on the Roof.”
I want to
propose somewhat the same to us as we live in a world that might seem to
be chaotic. We need to know,
who we are, and what God expects of us.
It has been said, “that in the formation of every organization,
are the seeds of desegregation.” Thus
the question I have to propose to us this morning is the same one we have
been considering together these past few days. “Are We Who We Say We
Are?”
I’m not going to preach an exposition or exegesis of our text.
I simply want to build upon some biblical principles. As Leaders of
this glorious
Church
of
Christ
, I want us to
look at three things.
First, The
Purpose of The Church – Mission God has called us to.
Second, The Pattern in The Church - Life cycle of a Congregation
Third, The Practice for The Church - Practical things we can do to remain
salt and light
First, The
Purpose of the Church
In our American society, the fast food restaurants have become a
standard for many of us. Now after a gourmet meal, one might snub their nose at them, but when you are hungry and in a hurry they seem pretty good. Let’s pretend that it is one of those times. You’re working hard and
it’s past
noon
.
At first you thought you would skip lunch. Instead you decided that
since you deserve a break today that you would hop in the car, swing
through the drive through and, grab a quick lunch to bring back to the
office. You pull up to the window and you order a cheeseburger, fries and
a diet coke. (diet coke compensates for the fries.) Well, barely missing a
beat you are on your way back to the office. As you leave the driveway you
are ever so thankful for whom ever it was that invented this concept.
Driving back, the aroma is a little overwhelming, so you decide that you
will munch on a few of those fries. Oh no! This one does not have any
salt, so you take another. The same thing, it is bland. You begin thinking
they must be training someone new and they forgot to put the salt on the
fries. You now have a crisis; you are faced with having to eat this whole
bag of fires with no salt. Have
you ever noticed that when there is no salt on the fries even the
cheeseburger tastes flat and the diet coke loses its ability to wash
anything down? You are
disappointed and your whole lunch is ruined. Probably your whole afternoon
will be ruined too. It is
interesting that a little thing like salt can influence our lives.
All kidding aside, sometimes people come into our churches expecting us to
be savory and we are not. What is the biblical mission of the Church?
This is important especially if we are going to be who we say we
are. I want us to note five elements of the purpose of the church as they
are found in the epistle of
St. Paul
to the
Ephesians.
To Glorify God
- Ephesians 1:5, 6,12,14,18
I’ve
listed this as being of first importance.
The Westminster Confession states that, “The chief end of man is
to Glorify God.” Our Congregational Fathers of both the
Savoy
and Cambridge
Platforms, held the preeminence of this truth as irrevocable.
Unless the dreams of the past and the visions of the future are in line
with this purpose, the church will never be salty.
When dreams are deferred, people lose hope, and where there is no
vision, the people perish. The dreams and the visions of the church must
be first and foremost dedicated to the glory of God. If they are not,
there will be the potential for misunderstanding, division and strife. All
we need to do is study the church at
Corinth
to see this
principle enacted. The driving force in being who we say we are, must be
the (Sola Gloria) Glory of God! The
next element of the church’s purpose is found in the need to edify the
saints.
Edify the
Saints - Ephesians 4:11-16
This
involves sound doctrine. So
let us look a little more pragmatically at this. By nature, the body
inherently cares for itself. If you contact a virus, the body
automatically goes into action. One of the responsibilities of leadership
is to develop the church functionally unto the work of ministry.
It is here that the Holy Spirit, using sound teaching, builds up
the Church.
There are three tools that God has given us to equip the saints. First, He
gave us His Spirit to abide inside us.
Second, He gave us His Word to guide us.
Lastly, He gives us His people to be beside us. This is so we might
“strive together for the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace.”
If we are going to be who we say we are, we will need to utilize the Holy
Spirit’s ministry through His Word to His People.
The next element of the church’s purpose is found in its
character. It is called to set
a standard of purity.
Set a Standard
for Purity - Ephesians 5:26, 27
What
a great picture of how the Lord wants His bride. Paul also told the Roman
believers that he would present them as chaste virgins to the Lord at His
coming. Purity is an area of Church life that is in serious disarray.
This is a good time to call the church unto holiness.
During
the days of Paul, the culture was saturated with moral decadence, yet Paul
never hesitated to call the Church unto holiness.
If
we are going to be who we say we are, the church will need to set the
standard for holiness. We should not be confused as the world is.
Unfortunately many today (even leaders in the church) call good evil and
evil good.
Purity involves “Positional Holiness.” This is how God sees us in
Christ. It also involves
“Practical Holiness,” which is how man sees our lives. I love a phrase
that Dr. Warren Wiersbe said, “What God blesses is great likeness to
Jesus.” Could this be one
reason the Church is not attractive to this generation?
Is it because they see nothing different in us than in the world in
which they live? We appear to
have nothing to offer them. Like
Lot
, our lifestyle
seems to be a mockery. Whatever happened to the clarion call of those who
have gone on before us to be the light to the world and a city that is
placed upon the hill? Another
element of the church’s purpose is to reach those outside the faith with
the message of Christ.
Reach the Lost
for Christ - Ephesians 4:11
Each
of the Gospels and the book of Acts hold forth the commission that we are
to go forth with the Gospel. This
is not merely a concept but it is to be a way of life.
If we are going to be who we say we are, this must be our
conviction. Dr. D. James
Kennedy says in his book, “Evangelism Explosion,” if the Pastor is not
involved evangelism probably will not happen. The Scriptures proclaim,
“How blessed are the feet of those who bring good news.” The fifth
element of the Church’s purpose is to be a restorer of the knowledge of
good and evil.
Restore a
Knowledge of Good and Evil
I
am in no way suggesting that the world will not get better until we usher
in the Kingdom. What I am saying is that where the church is planted it
has always bettered the community and the world. The church brings men out
of darkness into the Light. In
essence, we the church are “Agents of Cultural Change.”
Schools, missions, hospitals, science, have been the legacy of the
church as a result of the changed hearts of mankind. Where sin abounds,
grace much more abound, thus in a sense we are called to be a restraint
upon evil.
If we are going to be who we say we are, we need to understand the social
governmental elements of the church. Too
many of us Congregationalists have a problem leading the church, because
we have never studied its nature. Let’s
go a little more into the observable pattern in the life of any local
church or association of churches.
Second,
The Pattern of the Church
The Church,
like all organizations, seems to follow a cycle of life. As Solomon
reminds us, “there is nothing new under the sun.”
History repeats itself, and it has been said that the only thing we
learn from history is that man does not learn from history.
Since we know the purpose of the Church let’s quickly look at the
pattern we seem to follow.
The Dream
This
is where all Churches and movements begin.
In Scrobie
England
, in a little
Post office, there was born from faith a dream to purify the Church by
following the New Testament patterns.
It spread to
Plymouth
, then the Bay
Colony and into
Exeter
,
New Hampshire
. What
enabled them to do what was humanly impossible?
The Dream. A little
congregation was gathered in
Augusta
,
Georgia
in 1845.
On the corner- stone of their building they inscribed these words,
“Men, who see the invisible, hear the inaudible, believe the incredible
and think the unthinkable.”
The famed American preacher, Dr.. Donald Grey Barnhouse was once visited
in his church by a former professor. Professor
Dick Wilson. At the end of the sermon Dr. Wilson walked up to Barnhouse
and said, “I come to hear those I train and I look for one thing. Do
they preach a Big God or a little god?”
One
hundred and two souls packed themselves onto a tiny ship, the Mayflower,
and it was through this dream that American Congregationalism began.
The
Organizational Structure
From our dreams
comes a clear understanding of our mission.
We write the By-laws and policy with the goal of doing a thing
decently and in order to the glory of God. We move from the basis of our
structure outward with a positive focus.
The Positive
Ministry
Our
motivation is to be for something. Our tradition was for the
revitalization of God’s principles in the life of His church. Sometimes
groups start because they are against something. They usually fail.
The early ministry of a church or association involves purity,
edification, and evangelism. We have a positive aspect. This then prompts
us to have a focus beyond ourselves.
The Outward
Concern
The “Go” in
the Great Commission is the reality, as we go to reach beyond ourselves.
This is the pivotal point of all churches or organizations. It is
here where we rise or fall. Sometimes
in growth, we become complacent. The changes around sometimes cause us to
retreat or gravitate to what is familiar. The first thing that happens
when we lose a concern that is beyond ourselves is we lose our vision for
the future.
The Loss of
Vision
This does not
happen all at once. It happens
over time. For 19 years I was
involved in church planting and revitalization and I found the pattern
always true. Most congregations were at one time vibrant, but somewhere in
the process, the dreams of the past and the vision of the future were
circumvented. I remember one
church I served where we were experiencing great numerical growth and a
man said, “I won’t let this church go over 250, or I’ll be gone.”
Well, he did leave. Robert Schuler wrote in his book, “Move Ahead
with Possibility Thinking,” that congregations have mentalities.
Some have a hundred-member mentality while others have a
five-hundred member mentality. Too often we not only never rise beyond our
vision, we begin to look backwards while getting there.
I often tease my parents about this subject. Their dream was always
to move to
Cape Cod
. Well one day my
dad found a way to make that possible. It was only a few years after that
my dad said, “I don’t know why all these people are coming down to our
Cape
.”
So I asked him, “Dad would you like them to close the bridge?”
He thought that would be a good solution. When we lose our vision
we develop an inward focus.
The Inward
Focus
In
Acts six, we read of the contention over the daily administering of food.
The Apostles were wise, and they did not get trapped in such an
inward focus. The inner workings of the congregation are important, but
they can never replace the Spirit filled life.
It is the Holy Spirit who keeps our focus beyond ourselves.
In
1620 the Pilgrims landed on the
Plymouth
shore.
With great vision and courage they came to this wilderness to
settle a land. In the first
year they established a town. In
the second year, they elected a Town Council.
In the third year, the government proposed building a road 5 miles
west into the wilderness. However, in the fourth year, a group of people
in town tried to impeach the Town Council because they thought that
building a road into the forest was a waste of public funds.
Somehow this little group began to lose their vision. They were once able
to see across an ocean, but now they were finding it difficult to look
five miles into the wilderness. When we develop an inward focus our
ministry then takes on a maintenance mindset.
The Maintaining
Ministry
We
see this illustrated in the life of Moses in Exodus eighteen.
Moses was running a maintenance ministry. He was overwhelmed and
the people were discouraged. His
Father-in-law, Jethro, came and told him that it was not good.
Then Jethro helped Moses to develop an outreach ministry and to
multiply his efforts.
Maintenance Ministries stop outreach and cause a lose of mission. I used
to call a group of people in one Church I served the Pillars of the
church. By that I meant that they had been holding the church up for a
long time. When buildings and budgets become more important than heaven
and hell and the souls of those who go there we are running a maintenance
ministry. Maintenance
ministries always take up a negative emphasis.The Negative Emphasis
The
focus is on what we are against or what it is that we don’t need. This
is where conflict occurs. We
exist to protect and we use words like “me” and “mine” rather than
“God’s.” We become
characterized by fear! We know as the Scripture states that a “Fear of
man always brings a snare,” and that “fear has torment.”
When a church or association is paralyzed by fear, it looks, at
times, more like a cult than the Church of the Living God.
The Joy is sapped out of the congregation and replaced by suspicion, evil
speaking and questioning everyone’s motives.
Foolish to think that this can happen to me!
The Questioning Congregations
The
members begin to ask why we do what we do. When there is no purpose, no
mission, people slip away. This always leads to blame shifting.
The
Polarization of Groups & Individuals
Sometimes it is
seen in the dividing of the generations.
The dreams and visions are not in line with each other. More
important, they are not in line with God. The deacons blame the pastor and
the pastor blames the deacons. The
result is sadness and despair in the congregation. The Joy of the Lord is
nowhere to be found. The churches that were once so alive seem to be
struggling for their very existence.
The Loss of the
Joy of the Lord
Unhappiness is
like a cancer in the body of Christ! A sense of uselessness prevails.
Forsaken biblical mandates and replaced with the strategies of the world.
Prayer meetings become almost non-existent. The weapons of our
warfare become carnal, rather than might and power for the pulling down of
the stronghold that stands against the Church.
These are the dreams of our own making and ends in the ultimate
disintegration of the congregation. I
mentioned to our congregation that the difference between a rut and a
grave is only the depth.
The Death of a
Movement or Congregation
My
experience in revitalizing churches in rural
America
and as an acting
Executive Secretary of the Connecticut Congregational Fellowship led me to
see this principle more often than I wanted to. One church that seats 500
had a day when three services had to be held. The Governor of the State
attended, and
Lincoln
often attended
when in the north. The attendance in the past years has been forty to
sixty adults. Now it is a remnant of days gone by.
I often remind myself of a statement I once heard and I take it
very seriously. “In
the formation of every organization are the seeds of disintegration.” ]
f we are going to be the kind of association of churches we say we are and move forward, then we will need to know where our churches are at.
The good news is this cycle can be broken and reversed at any stage
in the process. Through the Lord Jesus Christ who has promised to build
His church, we can do all things. So,
are we who we say we are? If
not, how can we be? Let’s
look for a few more minutes on the practice of the church.
Third,
The Practice of the Church
I want to try
to remind us of three things we can do to continue growth or correct a
problem if it exists.
1st,
Back to The Basics
How
many of you remember the old television series “F-Troop?” Do you
remember the Indian tribe’s name? It
was the “Hecowees.” In one episode the chief of the Hecowees was asked
from whom they got their name. He
said, “We traveled over hill and valley and over hill and valley and
over more hill and valley. We
did this for many moons. Finally one day they come after this long journey
someone said where the ‘heck are we!’ ”
If you asked most people sitting in the pews what it means to be a
Congregationalist, about all they could tell you is that they get to vote
on things.
A friend of mine, Bill, upon graduating from high school began to look for
employment. This was about the time of the invention of pink rolled
insulation. Bill being an enthusiastic personable young man was hired as a
salesman. Since that was then a small industry, the company’s president
did all the training. Bill’s sales the very first month went higher than
anyone else in the company and they continued to grow each month
thereafter. Bill was very
impressed with himself and savored his sales ability. He began to add to
the presentation and color it up a bit.
As the months went on Bill’s sales began to drop until he could not even
make his quota. The President of the company asked Bill what was
happening. Bill was totally
confused. Bill was working harder than ever but producing less. The
President said, “Give me your presentation.”
So Bill gave him a demonstration. The President asked Bill, “When
did you change the presentation I gave you?”
Bill said, “I thought the presentation needed a little more color
and that I could add a few things to it.”
The President told Bill to forget his new and improved version and
to just get back to the basics and the product would sell itself. Bill did
just that and it was not long before Bill was at the top of the sales
charts again.
Could it be that we need to go back to the basics, go back to our roots,
go back to the Rock? Have we
lost our mission or, worse have we traded it in for the new and improved
version? I do not think
that we need to be culturally relevant, and I will speak about that in a
moment. Like the church at
Laodicea
, could we have
lost our first love, and do we need to repent and do the first works?
Next, if
we are going to be who we say we are then we are going to have to be
culturally relevant and have a generational appreciation.
Cultural &
Generational Appreciation
All
through the scriptures God calls us to be thankful people. “In
everything give thanks for this is the will of God for you who are in
Christ Jesus. For God inhabits
the praises of his people.”
All in all, God wills and does of His good pleasure to accomplish His
purpose in His Church and it is all to the praise of His glory.
God’s sovereign acts will stand.
We need to learn to appreciate and accept valid differences in the
body. A sense of open
mindedness to cultural and generational needs must prevail. Too often we
selfishly fight about the color of the carpet.
In the early church there was a man who became known as Julian the
Apostate. He wrote, “I have not seen wild animals fight like the
Church.”
Remember: It is His church. We
are simply co laborers together with the Lord. Although we can’t live in
the past, we can learn from it. Remember it is His church and we are to
follow His directives. For, it is
“In Him and for Him and through Him that all things exist.
It is in him that we live and move and have our very being.”
I remember when I was founding Pastor at
Talbot
Church
.
It grew very quickly. At one deacon’s meeting we realized that we
were a young church, void of old people. So they held a prayer time to ask
God to send us some older people so that we would have their wisdom. God
did. But first as a Church we needed to ask some questions. Like, if my
parents were to come here what would they like?
Then we made some generational adjustments
If we are going to be who we say we are we will not only need to go back
to the basics, we will also need to truly appreciate the different
cultural backgrounds and generations of our people.
We need to
ask God to give us a love for the dreams of the past and a passion for the
visions of the future. Many
years ago
Spain
inscribed on her
coin the picture of the
Pillars of Hercules
that stood on either side of the straits of
Gibraltar
, the extreme
boundary of her empire, with only unexplored ocean beyond.
On the scroll over them was written “Ne Plus Ultra.” “Nothing
beyond.” However, when
Columbus
discovered
America
,
Spain
struck the
negative and left the inscription, “Plus Ultra.” “More beyond.”
Years
ago Walt Disney bought a piece of land in the middle of nowhere and
decided to build an amusement park. At
that time it was not popular. People thought he was so foolish. Years
later across the continent in some of the swamps of Florida Mr. Disney
decided to do it again. Well before the project was finished Walt Disney
died. It was remarked to the then CEO that it would have been wonderful if
Walt could have seen this. To
this he replied, “He did, why you think it’s here?”
CONCLUSION
An
American shoe company decided to sell their products in
Africa
.
The first salesman was there for about six months when he requested
to be brought home. He said, “It will never work here, the people
don’t wear shoes.” So the
company, in one last try, sent another young man, who one month later
wrote back asking for order after order. He wrote with his order, “this
is great, everyone here needs shoes!”
If we are going to be who we say we are then we will need to understand
the “Purpose of the Church” and the mission God has called us to. We
will need to understand the “Patterns of the Church,” the “Life
Cycle of a Congregation,” and we will need to Understand the “Practice
of the Church,” and some practical things that we can do to remain salt
and light.
ARE
WE WHO WE SAY WE ARE?
As those of old with a forward thrust, dare
brave the restless sea.
With vigilance and purity, captured by integrity.
Time passed by, the battled
raged through never ending change.
Founded in the truths of God, enabled
by His power.
Forward now like them of old to face our future bold.
Sustained by faith and kept by grace until the Covenant fulfilled
The question still remains as then, is our mission clear?
Are we who we say we are? Integrity
until the end.
