Sermon Reflection

Staying on Course – Monday’s Reflection on Sunday’s Sermon

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Edit (10/26/11): listen to this sermon online

You can’t set a course just by looking at the waves.  This was one of the points from the sermon yesterday at Orchard Community Church as we looked at Acts 6:1-7.  At first glance this passage seems to be about just some organizational issue in the early church, but it is really so much more.  The early church was faced with an important issue – certain people were not being cared for.  There were two potential problems that could have happened in this situation.  The early church could have dismissed the issue as being no big deal which would have been disastrous because it would have destroyed the unity of the church.  The other potential problem is that they could have become “all about” that particular issue.  All of the focus and resources of the church could have been diverted to deal with that particular need.

Instead, the apostles say that they must keep their focus on God’s Word and on prayer.  In other words, as the primary leaders in the church they must stay focused on the main mission because this is what sets the course for the church.  The particular need that came up was important, but it could not be substituted for the overall mission.  So often in our lives and in our churches we start chasing the biggest and most immediate “wave” that is coming at us.  We change our course in order to deal with the immediate issue.  Then, when that wave disappears we see another wave and immediately set a new heading.  We chase one wave after another and end up going in circles.  We lose sight of our overall mission of living out and spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ because we are too busy focusing on one wave after another.

Our course must be set by something outside of our changing situations.  This is true in the church and in our individual lives.  The apostles understood this and they made a decision to keep their focus on the Word of God because they were unwilling to lose sight of the overall mission for the sake of an immediate need.  The highest priority in the early church (which should also be our highest priority today!) was to make sure that their course was set by the Word of God.  Only by the primary leaders keeping their focus on the Word of God could the changing situations be dealt with in the best possible ways.

This narrow focus by the primary leaders doesn’t limit other people’s involvement or ignore important needs.  Just the opposite!  The apostles choice raises up a new level of leadership in the church to deal with situations that come up according to the overall direction that is set by God’s Word.  The church didn’t choose just anyone and they didn’t just choose people who had skills that were useful for the current situation.  They chose people who demonstrated the work of God in their lives because the situations aren’t just practical (or secular) issues – they are always spiritual.  When the overall mission of our churches and our lives is set by the Word of God, then every situation becomes an opportunity to carry out that mission in how we respond to situations.  We see the people who were chosen to lead in this particular situation go on to do great things for the kingdom of God.  This is because every service opportunity in the church should also be a discipleship opportunity.  Burn out among secondary leaders in the church or burn out in our individual lives is usually a sign that we are chasing after waves because the course is not being set by God’s Word.

What about you?  Do you ever feel like you are just chasing one wave after another?  How do you keep a focus on God’s Word in your life?  How should we do this in our churches?

Here are the daily devotions that were listed on the back of the sermon notes.  If you are looking for a way to make God’s Word a priority in your daily life, this might be a good way to start!

Monday:  Read Acts 6:1-7.  Why was it important for the apostles to keep their focus on the “ministry of the word of God”?  Do you make God’s Word a priority in your life?  Why or why not?

Tuesday:  Read Acts 6:1-7 again.  Why was it important for the men who were chosen to be “full of the spirit and wisdom” in order to take care of this need in the early church?  How does this challenge you today?

Wednesday:   Read Hebrews 12:1-3.  What does it mean to “fix your eyes on Jesus” and how do you (or should you) do this in your day to day life?  How do we do this as a church?

Thursday:  Read Ephesians 4:11-16.  What is it that keeps us from being tossed about by every wave (circumstance or idea) that comes our way?

Friday:  Read Acts 6:8 – 7:60 (this is the text we will be studying at OCC this Sunday).  Think about what stands out to you and what questions you may have.

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Extras

Passing the Baton

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“What me…a leader?  But I’m not qualified”  This is the response I often get when I speak with someone about being a leader in the church.  This brings two things to my mind.

The first is that EVERYONE is a leader.  I don’t think we have a choice of whether or not to be a leader – we only have the choice of whether or not to be a GOOD leader.  Someone is always watching us and looking to us to set an example.  This makes us leaders to someone, somewhere.   The ideals we have for “leaders” should apply to all of us.  Not everyone will hold a leadership title, but everyone is in a position of leadership so the big question if we feel we aren’t qualified is what are we going to do about it?

The second thing that comes to my mind is that this means I have work to do.  When someone says they are not qualified to be a leader, I take it personally.  It is my job to equip people to lead in the church.  I don’t understand when pastors complain about not having quality leaders in their church.  If there are no quality leaders, then it’s the pastor’s job to do something about it!

A very good friend gave me a relay baton with the verse reference “2 Timothy 2:2″ printed on it.  In this passage, Paul tells Timothy (a young pastor) ” And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.”  Paul trained Timothy and he is telling Timothy to train others.   Godly church leaders don’t just fall out of the sky, they are built up, developed, and trained over time.

If you feel that you aren’t qualified to be a leader in the church, what are you doing about it?  Someone is watching you and probably even following your example – this makes you a leader so be the best one you can be.  Who knows where it may lead?  You might just be passed a baton that puts you in some official leadership position. Are you ready?  If not, then let’s get training!

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the Church and the Word

Fully Devoted Followers of Christ

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apples
 

Part 2 of the Mission of Orchard Community Church (Read Part 1)

The Mission Statement of Orchard Community Church is “We exist to make and become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ through the renewing and transforming power of the gospel for the glory of God.”

 

We think fruit is good for food, but to the fruit tree the fruit is all about multiplication – growing more fruit trees! The trees must grow and mature in order to produce fruit that will produce more fruit trees. At OCC, we want to be intentional about growing in our faith. We believe that maturity in our faith is not just for the “super Christian” just like growing up is not just for some children. Our goal as a church is not just to be believers in Christ, but to be fully devoted followers of Christ. We cannot choose to follow someone and then take a seat once that choice is made. Following implies movement – a journey from early faith in Christ to constantly walking in faith, living life as worship, and producing fruit that scatters the seeds of the gospel wherever we go.

Being fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ means that we are growing by spending time in His Word and seeking to live out God’s truth in everything we do. It means that worship is the goal of everything we do, not just how we spend one hour on Sunday mornings. It means we know we can never stop growing, never say that we’ve already put in our time, and never stop learning more about this incredible relationship that God has made possible with Him through Christ’s death on the cross.

We do this through studying God’s Word together in small groups, in Sunday School, and through the sermon each week. We will unabashedly challenge, encourage, and equip each other to grow in faith because we want to be an orchard of growing, fruit producing trees, not just a field of immature saplings.

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” (Colossians 2:6-7)

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the Church and the Word

Pulling Together – the Mission of Orchard Community Church and the Glory of God

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Imagine 2 children on the same little league baseball team.  One set of parents hopes that the coach of that team will turn their child into an all star – whether he or she has the talent or not!  The other set of parents hopes their child will be part of a team where everyone has fun, gets equal playing time, and learns good sportsmanship.  Same team.  Same coach.  Same bat and ball.  Same rules.  But vastly different ideas about what the team is supposed to accomplish.  That coach cannot possibly satisfy both sets of expectations and is in for a long season!

Orchard Community Church decided to write out a mission statement before they hired a new pastor.  They also came up with a list of Core Values to communicate what is most important to this church.  As the new pastor, I am extremely grateful for the work that was done to help the church pull together in the same direction.  Over the next few weeks I will use Wednesdays to communicate and explain the mission statement and core values of Orchard Community Church.  It is my hope that this will help us at OCC to pull together with common purpose and direction.

Mission Statement of Orchard Community Church:  We exist to make and become fully devoted followers of Christ through the renewing and transforming power of the gospel FOR THE GLORY OF GOD.

To state a mission is to live with an end in mind.  It is an expression of a hoped for destination.  This focus becomes a unifying idea that allows us to evaluate everything we do against this all encompassing mission.  The end of the mission statement is really the most important – “for the glory of God.”

Why do we exist as a church?  There is a lot of pressure on churches to make people happy.  Often people come to church to be affirmed and to feel good.  But the church does not exist for the people.  We exist for God.  Saying that everything is “for the glory of God” may seem trite or overly grand, but it is absolutely essential because it provides the appropriate direction and boundaries for everything we do.  If we reach hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands with the gospel but do so in ways that do not promote and display the glory of God then we have failed.  If we form a fellowship of close friends and families who love each other but ignore God’s glory then we have failed.

For many people, the ends justify the means.  For the church, the end is the means.  We don’t just do everything for the glory of God, it is the glory of God at work in and through us that accomplishes all things.  It is the display of God’s glory in lives lived together focusing on Him, saved by Him, and doing all things for His glory that changes other people.  It is God’s glory that demands our worship.  It is God’s glory that drives our discipleship.  It is God’s glory that should be the goal of everything we do.

God has given us everything we need in Scripture to understand how His glory is displayed among His people.  We must be students God’s glory displayed throughout Scripture so that we can pull together as a display of God’s glory in this world on His terms, not ours.

How does understanding the mission of the church first and foremost as being for God’s glory help us to evaluate what we do?  Maybe we can get some conversation going in the comments to discuss this together.

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the Church and the Word

The Church is…A Disciple-Making Community

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Jesus gives the marching orders to the Church in Matthew 28:19 – “Go and make disciples.”  Our first priority, the best thing that we must seek to do above all else is to make disciples.  A disciple is a follower of Jesus.  Jesus looked at people and said, “come, follow me.”  He was telling them to spend time with Him and get to know Him.  He was telling them to trust Him.  He was telling them to accept His priorities as their priorities.  He was telling them to redefine their lives in terms of being His follower.  Being a disciple is more than just being a believer, it is being a follower.

If a disciple is a person whose life is redefined by Jesus and is following Him, then a Disciple-Making Community is a group of believers who are completely focused on growing in their relationship with Christ and helping (encouraging, challenging) others to do the same.  This involves evangelism, but it can’t stop there.  It involves offering programs to teach people and to help them grow in their faith, but it can’t stop there.  Making disciples is personal.  Making disciples is relational.  It takes time and sometimes it’s messy, but, according to Jesus, it is the number one priority of the Church.

This is going to take some effort to get right.  It just might cause us to radically redefine our priorities and our understanding of what the Church is about.  I hope that we care for people, but helping people is not necessarily discipleship.  I hope that we offer quality educational and social programs, as well as great worship experiences, but these are not necessarily discipleship either.  I hope that we maintain the tools God has given us – the budgets, buildings, property, and equipment that can help us do what God has called us to do – but the tools are only important to the degree that they are helping us to accomplish the mission of making disciples.

Would making disciples be at the top of a list of the most successful things we do as a church?  If not, then it is time for some serious evaluation and realignment to the mission Jesus gave us to “Go and make disciples.”  Let’s have business meetings, committee meetings, and staff meetings that are primarily concerned with discipling people.  Let’s recover the idea that being a leader in the church is about making disciples and bringing everything the church does in line with this important mission.

There are many things churches are doing that we should be proud of and feel good about, but if I’m understanding Jesus correctly, none of it means anything if we are not making disciples.

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