Frances Chan is an amazing man. Loves Jesus, loves the Church, loves the lost, and has a powerful way of expressing it. I love it. So, some of what I will be sharing comes from his talks on the Mission of the Church.
I. Why have Church?
What is church? What’s church about?
- Church is not where we go, where we attend. Church is who we are.
A. Church is the family of God
- What does family mean to you? What is a family?
- Basically a social group, cluster of people related to each other.
Eg. Kinship, Community, People group, Church
- Church is a family 1 Jn. 3: 1, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called
children of God! And that is what we are!
- We are children of God. As a church we are family.
- Eph. 3: 14-15, “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom
his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.
- Heb. 2:11, “Both the one who makes men holy and those who are
made holy are of the same family.”
- We are the family of God.
- Not only are we, the Penticton Nazarene Church a family, but every
person from every church and every region all over the world, in Christ
Jesus is also the family of God.
- How do we know that?
- We have been born again into the family of God through our acceptance
of the gospel and repentance in Christ Jesus.
- We have God’s seed in us, that is the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
- We are becoming more & more like Jesus, transforming into His likeness.
- And we carry the name of Jesus Christ calling ourselves Christians.
- Let’s come back to the question,
- Why have Church? Why do we meet together?
B. Church gathers to worship, fellowship together, disciple one another.
- Acts 2: 42-46, Worship, Fellowship, Discipleship.
1. Let’s start with worship. What is worship? In the corporate context?
What is worship when we gather as a church?
- Worship includes singing, silent reflection, prayer, scripture reading,
offering/ tithe, Communion, preaching, serving, and at times evangelism.
All of these are corporate acts of worship.
Fred Bittner describes corporate worship in this way, “Worship is anything
you do that declares the worth of the Lord, which deepens your
relationship with Jesus, and urges others to follow after him.”
- Great summary. In other words, worship is more of God and less of
me. Worship is about God and not me.
2. Fellowship. In the church context, what is fellowship?
- Webster’s Dictionary (a) companionship, united (b) a community of
interest, activity, feeling or experience, i.e., a unified body of people of
equal rank sharing in common interests, goals, and characteristics.
- In other words, Fellowship in the church context is talking about:
relationship we have with each other (personal interaction, communication),
a partnership (sharing, contributing, working together with each other),
- This speaks directly to what we see happening in our Act 2 passage.
3. The Church has a mission.
- In the context of Why Have a Church? The Church is on a mission.
- Matt. 28: 19-20, (Open Bible Read)
- Everything we’ve talked about, regarding the Church centers around Jesus
and the mission He’s given us.
- We can not carry on as a church without making this portion of
Scripture the key focus of our very purpose.
- This is the commission Jesus has give us, His Church.
- I’m going to make a shift here. Were going to take a new direction for the
time being. There’s a reason for it, because I want to make a point.
- Anyone here a Hockey fan? This doesn’t have to be about hockey. It can
be about any other team sport. But let me use hockey to make my point.
- Who was living here in Penticton 1953, 54, 55?
I’m going to talk about the Penticton Vee’s.
According to the Allan Cup Records the Vee’s played for the Allan Cup in 1953 and lost 4-1. However, the next year, 1954 the Vee’s won the Allan Cup Championship. But the story was not over for them. In 1955 the Vee’s were chosen out of all the Canadian teams to represent Canada in the World International Ice Hockey Championships. After winning the International Ice Hockey Federation Championship in 1954, the Russians were seen as the new dynasty of hockey power, and in the 1955 season the Vee’s were selected to represent Canada in the IIHF tournament. Well, nobody believed a team coming from a town just over 10,000 people, who basically grew apples and peaches, were even suitable for such a competition. After all, the Russians had a population of 200 million, of which they could choose their best team. But to the world’s surprise the Vee’s won all 8 IIHF games only allowing 6 goals against and scoring 66 goals, then beating Russia in the Championship game 5-0. It was a seemingly impossible feat, but they did it. They did it.
a. Now, let me ask the big question here: How is it that a bunch rag-a-tag
guys from the Okanagan orchards won this world hockey championship?
- How in the world did they do it?
- # 1. They played as a team.
- # 2. They were unified.
- But how did they get to this place?
How did they get to playing as a team, unified together. (I’ve played on
teams. Always individuals who play for themselves, want to be heroes.
Think of themselves more competent, skilled, want the limelight)
b. How did the Vee’s become so unified and work together as a team?
- It wasn’t because they went on retreat before the series to become one, become a team.
- It wasn’t because they all sat in a circle, held hands and prayed together,
- It wasn’t because they had the greater talented players, stars on the ice.
- It was because they had a common goal upon which they focused.
A common objective.
- They were focused on winning one game at a time.
- Focused on the goal, the IIHF championship, and if they even had a
chance, they had to play as one team.
- They had figured this thing out, because there was a goal. The goal was
winning, wining the Championship.
II. Having A Common Goal Unites Us
1. The point I want to make here is that of unity.
That of being united together, striving toward the same goal.
- The Vee’s of 1955 were united in striving toward that one goal, winning
the Championship.
- Frances Chan says, You don’t develop unity by trying to develop unity.
You develop unity by having a common goal. And when you have a
common goal, and that goal is the obsession of your life, then unity
is going to happen naturally.”
2. You see, as a church, we often think that services and get-to-gethers will
create unity. It never works. It never works because unity is about a goal.
It’s about an objective.
- You see, when we collectively come together ,and agree that this is the
most important thing, this is our goal, this is our purpose, then we will
become united around this purpose we have,
- We will become unified because we need each other to reach the goal.
Why am I sharing all this stuff with you today, -- because I want to talk about the mission of the Church.
3. There’s a passage in Jn 17 where Jesus prays for his disciples, knowing
His time on earth is finished. He knows He will be crucified, will rise
from death, and will return to His Father.
- And so He prays this prayer over His disciples. Read with me this
passage or pay close attention as you listen.
- Jn. 17: 20-21 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their
message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.
May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me
4. Isn’t it strange that Jesus says the world will believe because the church is unified?
- Think about that for moment.
That seems to go against everything we have learned about evangelism.
- You see, people of the world don’t really believe Jesus is the Son of
God, who came in the flesh. That He actually walked on this earth,
died on the cross, rose from death, ascended back to heaven.
- People just don’t believe that. So what will make them believe it?
III. Our Mission Is To Make Disciples
1. Here’s our traditional approach. We think, I will go to the Bible and I
will show them Scripture, prophecy, stuff written 500-1500 years
before it happened, 300 plus time accurate prophecies. How can
anyone with 100% accuracy predict these events?
- They can’t deny it.
- Or we think, if only they could see a miracle happen. Say, someone
coming into the church on Sunday with a leg amputated. We get that
person to the front on the platform, and we get our leadership to start
to praying for him and declare God’s healing. And suddenly this leg
begins to grow and reform until it’s complete.
- We would say, Oh, I wish my neighbor would be here today.
If He / she saw this that would have proved it, they would believe.
- Or maybe we think, if we had a great worship team, or great sermon
that would make the difference. Then they would believe.
2. But no, that’s not Jesus perspective. Jesus knows what works.
He says, “You want people to believe in me, then be unified.”
- That was Jesus prayer, for us.
- Not more Scripture, not more miracles, not more prophecy, preaching, and all this other stuff.
- Don’t get me wrong, all those other things are good, but think about this:
- Jesus prayed “Father, that they be one, unified. You in me, I in you, they in us -- so that.”
- That’s the goal. So that the world would know.
- Vs. 23, "I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent
me and have loved them even as you have loved me."
- This is Jesus prayer, “Father I want them to be brought to complete unity.”
- Why? Why complete unity? -- In order to let the world know
that you sent me and that you love them.”
3. Ok, what does our unity have to do with God’s proof to the world, that
God loves them, and that God sent Jesus.
- Yet. This is what Jesus was praying for.
Jn. 13: 35, Jesus tells his disciples this: “By this all men will know that
you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
- Jesus prays, not simply for unity sake in the church, but His prayer
was for the proof and the evidence of His Spirit truly alive in you
and me, and that will convince the lost around you to believe in Jesus.
- What does Act. 2: 42-47 say to us, They were together,
they were united, they won the favor of all the people,
and Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
4. This is huge! Absolutely huge! This is GINORMOUS!
- Your friends, my friends, our neighbors, our family, people we work
with, -- believing in God, falling in love with Jesus, because of the
unity we have with each other.
- This is the goal! This is the purpose of our lives.
This is the mission of the church!
- Is there anything more important for the church?
- Is there anything more important to do in your life, than helping people
you know, who right now will not be spending eternity with you, or me?
- About a week or so ago, as I was in prayer I had this thought that turned
into this vision in my mind.
- And I pictured the embrace of every believer as they entered the gates of heaven.
- There was Jesus with outstretched arms, and encircled behind Him
thousands of angels, loved ones, family and friends stepping forward
with great big huge grins, to greet me.
- Surroundings so beautiful it can’t be described.
- And then the thought hit me. And how would the lost be received into the gates the hell?
What would their reception be like?
- The picture was so dark, so hideous, so frightful, so painful -- I couldn’t look further.
I had to turn away. It was dreadful.
- This great fear came over me for all those whose reception into hell would like this.
And I had this question: God, what can we do about it? God, what is the answer?
Here's the answer. Jesus cries out to the Father, “That they may be one.”
- Is the prayer of Jesus for me? Is it for you? Us?
Let me leave you with this today.
- Are you, am I veiling the revelation of Jesus salvation by my disunity.?
- Am I putting a bad taste in the hearts and minds the unbelieving I rub shoulders with?
- Am I truly one with God, and one with my church?
- Am I on mission with my church, or is church about me and what I want?
- Jesus prayer is about unity. It’s about reflecting the image of Jesus.
- It’s about a genuine presentation, giving real evidence that Jesus is God.
The testimony of our lives that Jesus is the Savior. Jesus is life.
Life today, life eternal.
