We continue with our series Dare to be Different and this month our theme has been different friendship.
This morning I want us to consider together Different Friendship: Church the people of God.
Matthew 18:20 says, “For where two or three gather together as my followers, [Greek: gather together in my name.] I am there among them.”
It’s an all-age service so let's dare to be different and have a quiz! I am going to show you some pictures of everyday objects in close up. And I want you to guess what they are.
Ok here is the first picture: What is this?
Any ideas?
Let me help you out, this is a close up picture of one of the following: a candle, a piece of spaghetti, or lip balm.
Which of those do you think it is?
It is a piece of spaghetti.
Second Picture: What is this?
This is a close-up picture of one of the following:
Carpet, a teabag or cotton wool.
It is a teabag
Third Picture: What is this?
An apple stalk or an eyelash or a twig.
It is an apple stalk
Fourth Picture: What is this?
Bubble wrap, crystal glass or soap foam.
It is soap foam
Sometimes we think we know what something is but we may get it wrong.
If I ask you the question, “What is the church?” I wonder what your answer would be.
We may all think we know what the church is, but we may get it wrong as we did with some of the pictures we have just looked at.
Let’s hear what the Bible says the church is,
1 Peter 2:4-5, You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but He was chosen by God for great honour. And you are living stones that God is building into His spiritual temple. What’s more, you are His holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.
Our reading said that our church begins with Jesus, the living stone, the most important stone of all.
We can’t see Jesus, although He is alive, so this slide shows the name of Jesus in the shape of a cross.
The cross reminds us of what Jesus has done for us, as the cross and resurrection are actually the foundation of the church - the Cornerstone.
The reading then said that as people come to Jesus, they too become like living stones that God puts together to build His church.
Our group of churches contains many people of different ages and backgrounds.
We have different life experiences and gifts.
We have come to Jesus to receive forgiveness of our sins and His gift of eternal life.
If I asked you to draw a picture of our church would you draw a building like this, or would you draw a group of people like this?
The church is the people of God, not the building we meet in.
Our building is simply a place we meet together to worship God and have friendship or fellowship with each other.
If the church is the people of God, what is God’s purpose for us - His church?
To keep it simple, three short words to describe God’s purpose for us as His church.
UP, IN and OUT
1st word - UP.
1 Peter 2:9 says: “You are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.”
Our first purpose as the church is to WORSHIP GOD, to praise Him, to lift up His name, to focus UP.
Let's read Psalm 100 together:
Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!
Worship the Lord with gladness.
Come before Him, singing with joy.
Acknowledge that the Lord is God!
He made us, and we are His.
We are His people, the sheep of His pasture.
Enter His gates with thanksgiving;
go into His courts with praise.
Give thanks to Him and praise His name.
For the Lord is good.
His unfailing love continues forever, and His faithfulness continues to each generation.
2nd Word - IN.
The IN purpose is about GROWING A COMMUNITY of friendship and fellowship on earth that looks rather like the community of God in heaven.
A painter called Rublev tried to show us something about what God is like by painting this picture of the Trinity.
God the Father is on the left-hand side; next to Him is Jesus, God the Son, and next to Jesus is God the Holy Spirit.
This picture helps remind us that God himself, the Trinity, is a community of relationships.
Remember at Jesus’ baptism, the Holy Spirit was present in the form of the dove, and the Father spoke from heaven, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.” (Matthew 3:17).
The trinity are in relationship with one another.
If we look at Jesus’ life and His relationship with His Father we see the relationship of love, unity, and self-giving.
The church is to be a community on earth that looks like the community of God in heaven.
A community where people love each other, accept one another, serve one another, encourage one another, live in harmony with one another and submit to one another.
Friendship, fellowship, relationship, family.
When we, as the church, look like the community of the Trinity, we bring glory to God and we will grow as people are drawn to us.
3rd Word - OUT.
Jesus told His disciples to “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.”
(Mark 16:15)
The OUT purpose is to go into the world and SHARE THE GOOD NEWS about Jesus with those who haven’t heard it yet.
Those of us who have accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour know the good news of the Gospel:
Jesus died to save us from our sins.
We are not meant to keep the good news to ourselves we are meant to share it with others, family, friends, neighbours, colleagues, strangers.
We have good news to share about how we have been forgiven in Christ and assured of a place in Heaven.
We have the good news to share that God loves us and has sent Jesus to die for our sins so that we can become His children, both now and for all eternity.
That news is to be spread to our families, our friends, our neighbours, our communities, the people of this town, the nation and all over the world.
So this morning we have discovered that the church is the people of God with the three purposes of:
“UP” WORSHIPPING GOD -
“IN” GROWING A GOD-LIKE COMMUNITY - and
“OUT” SHARING THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT JESUS
May I encourage you to follow the purposes of God for us as the church.
May our worship of God give Him the honour and praise He is worthy of.
May we grow together in friendship and fellowship as a God-like community.
And may each of us take every opportunity to share the truth about Jesus and the love of God with others.
Lets close by saying the Lord’s Prayer together.
