Good News, Bad News

1. we are searching Ephesians 4 to discover the way church is supposed to be:
§ 9/18 & 25 we explored the strategic importance of unity
§ 10/2 I spoke about service
§ 10/9 I spoke about the spiritual growth that results from our service about growth – ministry leads to maturity
§ today – I’m speaking about the bad news that must precede the good news

Sing “Open Our Eyes, Lord” led by WTeam

2. read Ephesians 4:17-24

3. 4:17-19 is the bad news – 4:20-24 is the good news

4. we’ve all heard good news/bad news jokes…
§ doctor – I have some good news & some bad news
§ patient – what’s the good news
§ doctor – the good news is the tests you took showed
that you have 24 hrs to live
§ patient – that the good news? Well what’s the bad
news?
§ doctor – the bad news is I forgot to call you
yesterday!

§ gallery owner – I have some good news & some bad neww
§ artist – what’s the good news
§ gallery owner – the good news is a man came in yesterday asking if the price of your paintings would go up after you die, when I told him they would he bought every one of your paintings
§ artist – that’s great, what’s the bad news?
§ gallery owner – the bad news is that the man was your doctor

§ lawyer – I have some good news & some bad news
§ client – well give me the bad news first
§ lawyer – the bad is the DNA tests showed that it was you blood they found all over the crime scene
§ client – oh no, I’m ruined, what the good news?
§ lawyer – the good news is your cholesterol is down to 130

5. imagine a good news/bad news conversation between God & humanity –
§ God – I have some good news & some bad news
§ Humanity – well give me the bad news first
§ God – your thinking is futile, your understanding is darkened, your separated from my life, your ignorant, your heart has hardened, you’ve lost your sensitivity, you’ve given yourself over to sensuality, impurity & lust
§ Humanity – sounds terminal, what’s the good news?
§ God – Christ, Jesus Christ, is the good news, he’s made a way for you to leave all that behind, be renewed in your minds, put on a new self, and become like God-like in true righteousness & holiness

6. today, the bad news of vs. 17-19; next week the good news of vs. 20-24

the bad news (17-19, 22)
1. these read like pretty harsh words. Paul lays it on pretty heavy. These are not the seminal ideas for the latest Christian bestseller. The Prayer of Jabez & The Purpose-Driven Life they’re not.
2. But what Paul writes here he writes in the Lord. These words come from Christ & saddles up to the way he sees the world. The Message - and so I insist--and God backs me up on this. What follows is God’s assessment of the human condition.

3. Paul tells the church in Ephesus that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do. What he means is – quit living your life without God. And then he describes a life without God, the bad news.

4. read vs. 17-19. Not all people without God live exactly like this. But the description is generally true of cultures & societies & peoples who live God-less lives.

5. I want you to notice the downward spiral that Paul depicts – from hardness to darkness to deadness to impurity.

Hardness (18):
1. hardening of their hearts. The word for hardness is poros & means a stone harder than marble. Or, a heart of stone. In the Bible heart means your mind, will & emotions. The “core” you. Hardened, petrified.

2. these people are unwilling to respond to God’s truth. They’ve said “no” to God too many times. They’ve taken life into their own hands. They live as if God doesn’t exist.

Darkness (18):
1. darkened in their understanding. Darkness follows hardness. There is an absence of spiritual sensitivity. There is an inability to discern true spiritual reality. The truth that is in Jesus (21) is lost upon these people.

2. their understanding, their mind, their intellect, their spiritual radar picks up nothing of God, of Christ, of his Light.

Deadness (18):
1. separated from the life of God. Death follows darkness & hardness. These people are spiritually dead. Cut off from, unable to dial into the life & vitality of God.

2. what a terrible thing to be separated by the life of God. This is our word zoe life – God’s life, eternal life, true spiritual life. Wholeness, joy, peace.

3. this kind of separation from the life of God makes anything possible – spousal abuse, sexual abuse or suicide bombings or lying, cheating, deceiving or the killing fields of Cambodia & the Holocaust of WWII or the racism which surfaced at Canby High School this past week.

Impurity (19):
1. last comes impurity. John Stott prefers the word ‘recklessness’ in his commentary. Having lost all sensitivity means having lost the ability to feel. Hardness, darkness & deadness lead to a callousness & numbness of soul. These people simply no longer care.

2. 3 of the words in 4:19 have to do with our sexuality:
§ sensuality – uncontrolled sexuality
§ impurity – the opposite of sexual purity
§ lust – the desire to have more & more sex anyway it can be had, wherever it can be found

3. I want to elaborate upon sensuality, impurity & lust by talking about pornography. Pornography is running rampant & out of control in our society. Bear with me.

Pornography
1. 3 weeks ago a number of churches in our country participated in a National Porn Sunday – organized by the creators of the web site www.xxxchurch.com. The point of National Porn Sunday - confront the elephant in the pews. In other words, followers of Christ are not immune to become addicted to pornography.

2. some financial statistics:
§ pornography is a $57 billion industry world-wide with $12 billion of that coming from the US
§ US porn revenue is larger than all combined revenues of all professional football, baseball & basketball franchises
§ US porn revenue exceeds the combined revenues of ABC, CBS & NBC ($6.2billion)
§ Child porn generates $3 billion annually in this country & that number is rapidly growing

3. some internet porn statistics:
§ 4.2 million pornographic websites, 12% of total
§ 68 million daily search engine requests for porn – 25% of all requests
§ 1.5 billion monthly porn downloads between friends – 35% of all downloads
§ 89% of all youth who receive sexual solicitations come in chat rooms

4. user statistics:
§ 40 million Americans regularly view internet pornography – that’s 1 out of every 7 people in our country
§ 20% of men & 13% of women admit to accessing porn at work
§ the breakdown between male & female visitors to porn sites comes out at 72% men & 28% women
§ Focus on the Family research points out that 20% of all pastors have a pornography issue
5. in this country we are experiencing a growing number of teens & adults, male & female who are becoming addicted to pornography.

6. psychologists have identified a 5-step pattern to pornographic addiction:
§ exposure
§ addiction – keep coming back for more & more in order to get new sexual highs – experiences of emotional or sexual arousal get locked in the brain by the chemical epinephrine & become impossible to erase
§ escalation – the search for more exotic material
§ desensitization – shocking & disgusting behavior is no longer avoided but sought out
§ acting out fantasies – people do what they have viewed

Biblical perspective
1. we learn in the book of Genesis that God created both men & women in his image as sexual beings. But once sin entered into the world, sex was misused & abused.

2. pornography attacks the dignity of men, women & children created in God’s image. Pornography also distorts God’s good gift of sex, which God intends to be only shared within the bonds of marriage.

3. the following practices are spoken against in Scripture. Often these are linked to pornography – adultery, bestiality, homosexuality, incest & prostitution.

4. scripture teaches us to celebrate our sexuality in marriage. Premarital & extramarital sex lie outside of God’s will.

5. as Christ-followers ours is to work to keep ourselves pure. We are to flee sexual immorality. I believe our responsibility goes beyond our own personal morality. We must reach out to those entrapped, in this case, in pornography.

6. what can we do?
§ parents need to teach a biblical view of sex to their children
§ we need to evaluate our exposure to media with inappropriate sexual themes (magazines, TV, videos, DVDs, websites, music, etc)
§ the church should quit blushing about sex, teach what the Bible teaches about sex & make its fellowships a safe place to share struggles & ask for help
§ maybe some of us need to take up the fight against pornography in our society
§ encourage our federal & state representatives to pass legislation against the distribution of pornography

7. if you have a struggle with pornography here’s some steps you can take:
§ be honest with yourself – admit your problem
§ confide in a trusted friend who can hold you accountable
§ I would be willing to meet with you – Jeff would
§ Check out www.xxxchurch.com for helpful resources
§ The elders would be happy to pray with you – or we could arrange for a team of women to pray

8. don’t be shamed, don’t stay in hiding, don’t stay in denial. God loves you just the way you are. God is waiting to help you. God is waiting to give you good news!

Guest Speakers

Canby Alliance Church has guest speakers today, Duane & Lois Thiessen.

We will discuss their message during the class today.

For more information about them you can learn more of them here, and here.

“HEAVEN”

Revelation 21-22

1. today I want to talk about heaven. The events of the last several months have caused me to think about heaven, a lot…
* the fire in June & how Brenda, Norm, Mel, Will & myself could have been killed if we had made different decisions – all of us were seconds from being in the youth center when that huge fire ball rolled through
* in July my younger brother was shot by his wife in a domestic dispute – he’s going to be okay but if the bullet had entered his body an inch or two in a different direction, he might have been killed
* in August Heather’s brother Gary died less than 2 years after being diagnosed with colon cancer
* on 9/15 I led a memorial service for Maureen Guthner’s sister, Mavis
* on 9/20 Duane Oleson dropped dead of a heart attack in Pasco, WA (son of former CAC pastor)
* on 9/22 Renae Roskott died in her sleep
* on 9/24 I led a memorial service for Nancy Pickett’s 99 year old mother-in-law, Francis
* on 10/5 Tom Sawyer died of a stroke while hunting
* earlier this week in a conversation with my parents I heard that my cousin’s son was wounded in the war in Iraq – the vehicle he was traveling in hit a land mind – the person sitting next to him was killed – he may lose a leg due to shrapnel wounds

2. add to these Katrina, Rita & the earthquake in Pakistan.

3. there have been days where I’ve thought long & hard about heaven & wished it would come soon.
4. on the other side of the spectrum, I’ve enjoyed, we’ve enjoyed, evenings of laughter while eating dinner & having 3-4 conversations going on at once amongst the 4 of us. Life is also good.

5. I have 7 realities about heaven that I want to share with you this morning from Revelation 21-22. I’m indebted to Darrell Johnson of Regent College & his commentary on Revelation for much of what I’m going to share. What will we find in heaven?

Heaven
1st God is there (21:3)
1. in him we live, move & have our being, in heaven as never before. In heaven we are finally encompassed by & enfolded in God himself.

2. we will at long last live, fully alive, within the circle of the inner Trinitarian relations of God. We, mere creatures that we are, along with all of creation, will be drawn into the circle of Holy love that has forever existed as Father, Son & Holy Spirit.

3. God is there in heaven.

2nd glory is there (21:11,23)
1. the ultimate reason for the universe is to show the glory of God (rick warren). What is the glory of God? It is who God is.

2. the essence of his nature. The weight of his importance. The radiance of his splendor. The demonstration of his power. The atmosphere of his presence. God’s glory is the expression of God.

3. Any glory that this earth has seen is but a speckle, a shadow of the heavenly glory.

4. in heaven God’s glory shines – its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. This is poetic language attempting to describe the indescribable – God’s unfiltered presence manifested everywhere.

5. theologians call this phenomenon ‘effusion.’ The unrestrained expression & free flow of all that makes God to be God.

6. glory is found in heaven.

3rd materiality is there
1. heaven is full of tangible stuff. Stones & gems of all colors. Walls, gates, streets. Trees yielding fruit. A city. A river full of the water of life.

2. our Christian faith is the most materialistic of all faiths or world religions.

3. originally God made us for earth & placed us on earth. In Jesus God will fulfill that original intent in a new heaven & a new earth (21:1). Heaven, our eternal home, is actually the new earth.

4. our Christian hope is not to be freed of our creatureliness but to be freed of the sin that causes our creatureliness to decay. Heaven is God’s new earth, new city, his original dream, brought to completion & perfection.

5. stuff matters to God. Materiality is in heaven.

4th peoples are there (21:3, 24)
1. men, people, nations, kings. In heaven God will gather up within himself the full range of the world’s ethnic diversity.

2. no one ethnic grouping can bear or manifest the full image of God. It takes us all – Anglos, Hispanics, Peruvians, Costa Ricans, Dominican Republicans. These are the people Tom & Roberta worked with as missionaries. People that they helped bring to Christ from these various ethnic groups will be part of the make-up of heaven.

3. the new heaven, the new earth, the new city will be composed of a vast multi-ethnic people.

4. peoples are in heaven.

5th creativity is there (21:5)
1. if God is anything God is an artist. God is creativity. God is beauty, shape, form & texture. The beauty & wonder of his creation in earth, sky & sea are signs of that.

2. heaven is going to be noted for its new expression of Divine creativity – I am making everything new, says the inventive God.

3. creativity – vibrant & unceasing. I do not understand all of what that means. As wonderful & stunning & spell-binding & awe-inspiring as this creation is, it doesn’t hold a candle to the new things that God has in store for us.

4. creativity is in heaven.

6th life is there (22:1)
1. this explains all of the creativity. The water of life. The Greek language has 2 words for life. Bios meaning the life we inherit from our biological parents.

2. but heaven will be full of zoe life. The life that does not run down because it cannot run down. It is God’s life. It is eternal life. It is Divine life.

3. it is the life that Jesus brings to us & gives us. Jesus did not leave heaven & come to earth to give us our biological life. He came to grace us with spiritual-zoe life.

4. Zoe life becomes ours when we humble ourselves before God. When we admit that he is God & we’re not. When we admit that we’re helpless to do anything about our “sin” problem. When we recognize that God has solved our sin problem in Jesus. When we by faith accept the fact that Jesus died on the cross as the perfect sacrifice for us. When we confess our sins. When we invite Jesus into our lives to be our forgiveness. When we turn the reigns of our lives over to Jesus & ask him to lead the way. Zoe life, spiritual life, eternal life becomes ours. And heaven becomes our true & lasting home.

5. zoe life is in heaven.

7th God’s face is there (22:4)
1. I save the best for last. Here’s the most wonderful reality of heaven. It’s a face. The face of God is there.

2. we will finally be able to see the face of God & not die. Then we shall see him – Father Son Spirit – face to face as I Corinthians 13 says.

3. and they shall see his face. Isn’t this the deepest longing of our hearts? As children we possess a deep-seated longing to be intimately connected with our parents, those who give us bios life.

4. I believe this is even truer with our heavenly Father. Beneath any longing we have to know & be known by our earthly parents, we hold a desire to be connected with our Creator.

5. we have a God-shaped vacuum in our souls. Only God can fill that. To look into God’s eyes & have him look into ours is to fill that vacuum so that we are completely satisfied, so that finally feel completely at home, completely human, completely made in the image & likeness of God.

6. God’s face is in heaven.

On earth as it is in heaven
1. this phrase from the Lord’s prayer is taking on a greater & greater significance for me as I grow older. These 7 realities of heaven are also meant to be earthly realities. Right now. Today.

2. We as Christ-followers exist, in part, to do our part in showing them in the here & now. We pray that God’s kingdom may come & his will be done, NOW, on earth as it is in heaven.

God
1. God is in heaven & God is on earth. We are his people. We are his Body. God shows up “in” us. The world discovers Jesus “in” us.

2. are you allowing God to be your very life? Your everything?

Glory
1. I wish I had a better grip on this one. The glory of God. A friend emailed me a prayer 2 weeks ago – Lord, would you increase my appetite for the things that attract your presence. God’s glory is God’s presence.

2. do we have a hunger, a longing to both experience God’s glory & be conveyers of his glory?

Materiality
1. matter matters to God. Do we value our bodies? Do we take proper care of them – diet, exercise, rest? Do we value God’s creation? He has made of keepers of his vast, wonderful world.

2. When it comes to ecology & the environment, we as Christ-followers should be leading the pack. As we sometimes sing, this is my Father’s world (Tom Sawyer loved this hymn). What are we doing with our Father’s world?

Peoples
1. heaven is truly going to be multiplicity of races & ethnic groups. The Alliance church is Paris, the international church, is composed of people from 32 different countries. That’s a picture of heaven on earth.

2. if that’s the shape of heaven, we’d do well to begin to live like that now. To shed our American ethnocentrism – national self-centeredness & pride – and begin to affirm & embrace other nations. In doing so we will begin to bring heaven to earth now.

Creativity
1. we Protestant evangelicals are slow to get this one. Historically we have not valued creativity. We have debunked the arts. And in being so we have denied an essential part of God’s nature.
2. I would pray for an outburst of Spirit-driven creativity in our midst. Song – dance – painting – sculpture – drama – writing – drawing – lettering. We are impoverished without it. We miss out on part of God’s very nature.

Life
1. are we experiencing God’s life? Spiritual life? Divine life? Zoe life? Eternal life?

2. the unique role we play in this world is to act as conveyers of God’s eternal life. Government can’t dispense it. Schools don’t have it. Business doesn’t trade in it. But we as the church do.

3. Jesus came to seek & to save the lost – those with biological life but not spiritual life. This is what we must be about.

God’s face
1. God’s face is reserved for heaven. But here’s the counter-part. We can be reflections of Jesus. As we surrender our lives to Jesus & give ourselves to him & his mission, he is seen in us.

2. we may be the only Jesus some people ever see. The closest they might ever get to God’s face is to peer into our face.

3. we must be like Moses. We must spend enough time in God’s presence that his radiance, his love, his life, his presence shines through ours.

4. On Earth As It Is In Heaven – let’s help to bring heaven to earth by being Christ-followers in whose lives can be found – God, his glory, his value of materiality, his love for all peoples, his penchant for creativity, his life, and his inviting face.

Church: The Way It’s Supposed To Be, Part Four

“Growth”

Ephesians 4:7-16

Ministry morphs into maturity

Father Son Holy Spirit – as we discover the way church is supposed to be, I pray that you would do things in our lives that we are not used to. Give us an appetite for the things that increase your presence. Take our lives & use them wherever & however you see fit for your Kingdom work. Amen.

I came across these 6 safety tips this week – listen closely:
§ 20% of all fatal accidents happen in cars (walking to church)
§ 17% of all accidents happen at home
§ 15% of all accidents happen to people walking on the street
§ 14% of all accidents happen on air/rail/water transportation
§ beware – more people die in bed than in any other place!
§ church – only .001% of all accidents happen at church = this is a safe place to be!

We are searching Ephesians 4 in hopes of discovering something about the church – the way its supposed to be.

On 9/18 we explored the strategic importance of unity – the 7 “ones” (body, Spirit, hope, Lord, faith, baptism, God) which form the foundation for the 5 “ways” we are to treat each other – with humility, gentleness, patience, tolerant love & peacekeeping.

On 9/25 we expanded our understanding of unity. 1 – God himself is a unity of 3 persons. 2 – the church’s unity will help convince the watching world that Jesus & his love are real. 3 – unity is our final destiny as the people of God

Last week I spoke about service.
1 – what Christ gives to the church (apostles prophets evangelists pastors-teachers).
2 – what the church gives to Christ (works of service). Nobody can do everything but everybody can do something.
3 – what Christ does with what we give to him. My 3rd point from last week that I didn’t have time for.

Today I want to speak about growth. What Christ does with what we give him – our works of service. Let me set the stage.

5-fold offices

1. quick review:
* apostles – start things
* prophets – stir things up
* evangelists – share Christ
* pastor/teachers – shepherd people toward Christ

These 5 are charged with preparing/equipping God’s people for service. These leaders are the equippers for ministry. Those in the church are the doers of ministry.

A few prepare – many do. This is the way the church is supposed to be. What happens when a few prepare & many do? Paul lays out 6 outcomes.

6 outcomes

1 – We will experience spiritual growth (12)

When apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastor-teachers empower people for works of service. When empowered people serve. Something happens that is supernatural – spiritual growth.

The best way to define spiritual growth is to look at the next 5 outcomes. They are the stuff of spiritual growth.

2 – We will achieve unity in doctrine (13)

Unity in the faith = theology, doctrine, the body of truth embraced by God’s people. The 7-fold creed of 4:4-6 = 1 body Spirit hope Lord faith baptism & God the Father.

Here’s my observation – statements of faith in the Scriptures are far shorter & simpler than those the church has created over the years. The longer & more detailed our statement of faith, the harder it becomes to find theological & church unity & the more Christ-followers who are fenced out.

Example – The Christian & Missionary Alliance. Our doctrinal statement declares that we believe in the pre-millennial return of Christ. That Jesus Christ will return to earth before the 1000 year millennium

This means that the following people could not join The Christian & Missionary Alliance – St Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Francis Schaeffer, John Stott, J.I. Packer, R.C. Sproul, Charles Colson & many others. They hold to a different view.

This is why I like The Apostles Creed – it simply says, he shall come again to judge the living & the dead. That does it for me.

It's sad when our theology divides us when most of what divides us are secondary matters – not issues of Christ or salvation.

Leaders equip & Christ-follower serve UNTIL unity of the faith is achieved.

3 – we will experience a fuller experience of Christ (13)

1. Paul’s word for knowledge in this statement goes far beyond intellectual accent. He means growth in our personal relationship with Christ, our experience of Christ.

2. Paul is not high-lighting how much we know about Christ – he is pointing to experience of Christ in our daily living.

3. a number of years ago I became curious about the Kennedy family. I read a number of books about the Kennedy’s. I found out all kinds of juicy, fascinating & tragic stuff. Joseph Patrick Kennedy married Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald.
§ 1st son Joe Jr. died on a secret mission in WWII
§ 1st daughter Rosemary was born mentally impaired. After a failed lobotomy she was sent to a convent in the Midwest to live the rest of her life
§ 2nd daughter Kathleen died in a plane crash over France during WWII
§ President John F Kennedy was assassinated in 1963
§ Robert Kennedy was assassinated in 1968
And on it goes. After a while I knew a lot about the Kennedy family.

4. But I didn’t know the family. I had knowledge about them but none of them.

5. our knowledge about Christ, gained from studying the Bible, is meant to become knowledge of Christ. As we invite him into our lives. As we seek to love, obey, worship, serve & follow him.

4 – We will grow to become more like Christ (13,15,16)

1. now Paul unpacks this a step farther. It’s all about becoming like Christ. The gospel. Discipleship. Is about transformation of our character, about Christ being formed in us.

2. the whole point of the gospel is to be transformed into the image of Christ:
§ Romans 8:29 – to be conformed to the likeness of his Son
§ Galatians 4:19 – until Christ is formed in you

3. this means that we come to:
§ believe what he believed (mind)
§ live the way he lived (character)
§ love the way he loved (relationships)
§ serve the way he served (service)
§ lead the way he led (influence)

4. 4:7-16 is all about Christ:
§ Him who gives ‘serving’ grace to each of us (7)
§ Him who gives these 5 gifted people to the church (11)
§ Him whose body is built up (12)
§ Him that we know & experience (13)
§ Him whose fullness becomes our own (13)
§ Him we grow up into (15)
§ Him who is the Head of the Body (15)
§ Him who is the source of the church’s unity & growth (16)

5 – we will be saved from doctrinal instability (14)

1. take note of the contrasts between 4:13 & 4:14:
§ maturity (13) vs. infancy (14)
§ Christ (13) vs. men (14)
§ the faith (13) vs. every wind of teaching (14)
2. works of service includes a teaching ministry of some kind that nails down the theological essentials & gives people a firm foundation on which to base their faith.

6 – we will live in truth & love (15)

1. instead of being deceived by false teachers Christ followers are to speak the truth in love to one another.

2. truth without love is harsh & bruising. But love without truth is wishy-washy.

3. Paul is not pitting love & truth against each other. The 7-fold creed of 4:4-6, ‘the faith’ of 4:13 under which we are to unite, the ‘truth’ of 4:15 establishes a clear sense of boundaries, of what we believe. There is content to our belief.

4. but that content must always be communicated in love. Truth is not to be used as a hammer to pound the gospel into people’s heads.

5. speaking the truth in love. I want to focus on the preposition in. To be in Christ is to be in a relationship with Christ. In is a relationship word.

6. Tod Bolsinger of the San Clemente Presbyterian Church puts it like this in his blog, speaking the truth that is anchored in Christ, in relationships that reflect the love of Christ.

7. love is the pre-eminent relationship word in the Bible. The closer we are to each other, the more natural it will be to speak the truth to each other. If we have a relationship built on the love of Christ, we must speak the truth. If we can’t speak the truth, we’d better build the relationship.

8. truth & love are the twin towers of spiritual growth, of Christ-likeness = we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.

Ministry Morphs into Maturity

1. 4:11-12 is all about ministry & service, action & movement, expressing your love for Christ in works & deeds.

2. 4:13-16 is all about maturity. The results of ministry. Service turns into growth. The church as a whole develops. Individuals ripen.

3. the bottomline? I need your ministry for my maturity. And you need my ministry for your maturity. Together we are the Body of Christ. United in him for service & transformation.

4. Christ is Who holds this all together:
§ Him who gives ‘serving’ grace to each of us (7)
§ Him who gives these 5 gifted people to the church (11)
§ Him whose body is built up (12)
§ Him that we know & experience (13)
§ Him whose fullness becomes our own (13)
§ Him we grow up into (15)
§ Him who is the Head of the Body (15)
§ Him who is the source of the church’s unity & growth (16)

5. our focus must not be – the apostles prophets evangelists pastors-teachers, or, equipping & empowering, or, works of service, or, the 6 outcomes that our service creates. All are important. All are to be valued & desired.

6. but our greatest value & our greatest desire must be Christ Himself. Our ministry, our service, our growth, our maturity grow best out of our intimacy with Jesus.

7. is Jesus the center of our lives? Mike Steele (email that Mike Higgs sent to the elders this week), it strikes me that focusing on the heart relationship with Jesus (learning to hear his voice & do what he says) is truly organic and reproducible. How could a person who is intimate with Jesus not have his heart for the world?

8. my challenge to you? Get close to Jesus. Learn to hear his voice. Commit to obey his voice. Pick up his heart for our community!

Church: The Way It’s Supposed To Be, Part Three

“Service”
Ephesians 4:7-16

No one can do everything but everyone can do something.

Father Son Holy Spirit – thank you for the Church. Imperfect as it is, you are committed to its success. Today open our eyes to the importance of service – no one can do everything but everyone can do something. I pray that you will begin to do things in our church that we are not used to. In Jesus’ name, amen.

1. Eugene Peterson says that when it comes to following God we often do the right thing in the wrong way. He shares an example from his own life. Evangelism.

When he was 8 or 9 years old the school bully used to wait for him after school and beat him up. He tried going home different ways but the school bully always found him.

One day things changed. The school bully tried to hit Peterson but Peterson struck 1st & knocked him to the ground. Than he sat on top of him. He pummeled his face with his fists & gave him a bloody nose. Suddenly he realized that he was stronger than the school bully.

He told this kid he had to cry ‘uncle’ if he wanted Peterson to stop hitting him. The kid cried ‘uncle.’ Next thing Peterson knew he told the kid, if you want me to leave you alone, you have to pray & accept Jesus Christ into your heart as your Lord & Savior right now. And the kid did. And Eugene Peterson had his 1st Christian convert! He did the right thing in the wrong way.

2. I think we often do the right thing in the wrong way when it comes to church. Example – we view the church as consumers. How will this church meet my needs? How will this church serve me & my family?

3. in contrast, when it comes to the church the thrust of Scripture is almost always service-oriented, not need-oriented. We are to be servants not consumers.

4. The more focused I am on getting my needs met, the more likely I am to grumble & complain. The more I’m focused on serving others, the more I will grow to maturity in Christ.

5. Read Ephesians 4:7-16. I want to break down this passage into 3 sections: 1st, what Christ gives to the church; 2nd, what the church gives to Christ; 3rd, what Christ does with what the church gives him.

What Christ gives to the church (4:11)
1. this verse identifies 5 people who are given as gifts to the church. No spiritual gifts – we find those in Romans 12 & I Corinthians 12 – but people who are gifts. Romans 12 & I Corinthians 12 describe God-given abilities - Ephesians 4 describes God-given individuals.

2. apostles – apostle means ‘sent one.’ Apostles are visionary. They like to pioneer new churches or ministries. They often come up with new, innovative ways to do kingdom work.

3. prophets – is one who hears & listens to God. They have a sense of what needs to be challenged or changed. They come up with creative solutions. They understand the times & what the church should be or do. They challenge the status quo.

4. evangelists – they love to share the good news of Jesus Christ. Love spending time with non-Christians. Their passion is to see people accept Christ.

5. pastors – care for people. They shepherd others toward Jesus Christ. They get involved in the messes in people’s lives. They hold hands, hug & speak words of hope & encouragement into the wreckage of life.

6. teachers – they love to study, think, love to package truth, ideas & concepts. They believe that Biblically-based teaching is a catalyst for life transformation. They look for ways to explain & apply Scripture.

7. pastors & teachers are often combined in the same gifted person. More than anything else I am a pastor-teacher.

8. Christ has gifted his church with apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors-teachers. But why? For what reason?

What the church gives to Christ (4:12)
1. to prepare God’s people for works of service.

2. to prepare. This word could also be translated ‘equip.’ This word has a rich background:
* medically it is the technical term for setting a broken bone
* fishing-wise it describes what fisherman do to prepare their nets for fishing – they clean the seaweed from them, sew up torn sections, untangle them – Matthew 4:21
* educationally it describes the act & process of training someone to teach – Luke 6:40
* spiritually it describes the process of growing to spiritual maturity & wholeness – 2 Corinthians 13:9,

3. apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors-teachers are charged with:
* seeking to heal what is broken in people’s lives
* repairing, cleaning, untangling what is being used in people’s lives
* training people to act, serve, teach
* shepherding people to spiritual growth

4. This is my job description & Jeff’s & Kyle’s. To love you, teach you, train you, correct you, point you, free you, & empower you. For what?

5. Works of service. We are saved to serve. We are all servants. We are all ministers. We have a job to do!

6. Works. Sometimes serving Christ or his people or the community is hard work. Work means that it will cost you something – time, energy, money. Sacrifice is called for. Ephesians 4:12 is a call for all of us to get to work!

Harry Lee Kwai
1. a few months ago I asked Harry Lee Kwai to encourage you to step out & start serving God through our church. God used Harry in a big way. Over 100 of you signed up to serve. Some of you are wearing your “You Can’t Say No” T-shirts today.

2. I want to thank you for not saying no. It’s not not saying no to Harry – it’s not saying no to Christ. You’ve:
* cleaned the church kitchen
* defrosted the freezer
* worked on bulletin boards
* put up the new church mailboxes
* landscaped the new office grounds
* helped get Sunday School started back up
* worked to make the Recker’s basement the new youth center for our students
* painted & cleaned & pruned shrubs
* provided food & hospitality
* called people.
Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you!

3. and thanks to all of you who have served so faithfully down through the years – 1, 2, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25. This church wouldn’t be here without you.

4. I thank-you BUT you need to know something – this is the way the church is supposed to be ALL THE TIME. Not just after a fire. Not just after Harry inspires you to step forward. ALL THE TIME.

5. Once we are saved, God calls us to start serving. We do it for him. We do it out of obedience. We do it out of gratitude. We do it in order to be apart of something far bigger than just ourselves.

Works of service
1. there are 3 areas where we are going to need some works of service in the next few weeks. 2 have to do with reaching out beyond our church.
* set-up this room for the Habitat dinner-auction Saturday evening – this is to help those in our community who can’t afford housing – if you can help see Jim Brands
* lend your hands to help make the Helping Others Sale a success – this is to help the needy in our community as well as NW Medical Teams – fill out the insert
* we moving our office again this month – we love the house on 2nd but its too small – we’re moving to the old District Office on Knight’s Bridge Rd across from Canby Grove – we need people to help us pack up, clean the new offices, and move

2. God does not want me to do everything. Or Jeff. Or Kyle. We’re here to empower all of you to do the work of ministry. And the more of you who step up to the plate, the more kingdom impact we are going to make in our community.

3. nobody can do everything but everyone can do something!

What Christ does with what we give to him (4:13-16)
1. when we “prepare” you & you respond with “works of service” we can count on at least 6 outcomes:
* Christ will build up his body, the church (12)
* Christ will unite us in faith (13)
* Christ will bring life & renewal to our relationship with him (13)
* Christ will bring us to maturity in him (13)
* Christ will establish our stability (14)
* Christ will link us in love & truth ( 15-16)

2. what we find is that ministry is closely tied to maturity. Serving Christ leads to growing in Christ. Being a servant produces spiritual growth in our lives. If you are not growing, maybe you’re not serving. Getting your hands dirty for Jesus & his kingdom leads to growth.

3. I see this in those who go on short-term missions – those who join the youth staff – those who serve on the worship team – those who take plants & meals & love to the needy in our congregation – those who run the Food Pantry – those who pour their lives into our children by teaching. And on it goes. Your life of following Christ is incomplete without works of service.

4. This has been a good weekend for Oregon football. The Beavers upset the Cougars in Pullman! The Ducks stomped Stanford in Palo Alto! The players who played are the ones who made a difference. The more they play, the better they play. The longer they stand on the sideline, the longer they have to wait to improve as players. Playing leads to better playing – service leads to spiritual growth

5. Don’t wait to be asked – ask to do something – make something happen.

6. Nobody can do everything but everybody can do something!