The Game Plan for the church
In office this afternoon – I heard one of my sons calling out “Come and see somebody’s brains”
Next thing I hear is boom! boom! man did they ever come running?
And next I hear: E---u gross, arrgh….
Tonight we gonna look at God’s brains – i.e. his game plan for the church.
1. From day one, God’s intention was community.
26 Then God said, “Let us make people in our image, to be like ourselves. They will be masters over all life—the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the livestock, wild animals, and small animals.”
27 So God created people in his own image;
God patterned them after himself;
male and female he created them.
Genesis 1:26-27 (NLT)
From day one, God’s intention was community. God is one, but three in one so we see here God “in our image”. Three distinct persons, One community.
This is God’s game plan for the church. He said this is very good. He enjoyed it, he rested when this was done, most fantastic done, nothing is left undone, all work of vast creation finished. We were made like that a complete work of God’s genius, to be separate like God the Father, Son and Spirit. Yet like Him one God, i.e. one community. This is what the church is ought to look like.
So are we made in God’s image, we were made to connect with each other, just as the Trinity. What made sin so horrible is the desire to disconnect from God… disconnect from people. Like Eve disconnected from Adam, vice versa -people decided not to pattern after His image, and sought to create their own images of God and themselves.
Larry Crabb wrote in his book Connecting, “We have made a terrible mistake! For most of this century we have wrongly defined soul wounds as psychological disorders and delegated their treatment to trained specialists. Damaged psyches aren’t the problem. The problem is disconnected souls. What we need is connection. What we need is a healing community.” He’s right! Hit the button on the nose.
Realization hit me as I led Bible studies on Wednesday nights. Going through whole book of Genesis now into Ex. 20 into the 10 commandments.
Sin is really disconnectedness, Adam Eve, Cain and Abel…
When Enoch walked with God… when he really connected with God, what happened, “then he was no more because God took him away.” Gen.5:25 (NIV) different from others of Adam’s line who is described “Then he died”. This is not God taking him out, in our vernacular killing him. But God took him to Himself. History of man is one sorry story of disconnectedness after another. Till the day we see Jesus connected to God His Father revealed to us in the NT.
That God is calling together a community reflects His community, the relationship of love and dependence between the Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Spirit. That is why we sense something is right about church, even when it is imperfect, it seems innate that it is good and wholesome, to be in church, we somehow know God is here, like Jesus said: “I promise that when any two of you on earth agree about something you are praying for, my Father in heaven will do it for you. Whenever two or three of you come together in my name, I am there with you.”
Matt.18:19,20 Something wonderfully powerful in community. Want to experience something of God, be in community. God is there when we deliberately gather in God’s name.
That is why when the church was first established, people were added to church, community, not to a building, not to a program, not even to training sessions. First and foremost, people were made to connect to God, feel free and sins forgiven, connected because of God’s grace sensed renewal, cry freedom… again, why common denominator – faith in Jesus… (Read Acts 2:41-47)
2. From day one of the church’s existence, God’s intention was community.
41 Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church—about three thousand in all.
42 They joined with the other believers and devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, sharing in the Lord’s Supper and in prayer.
This is game plan folks! See what happens when they joined with other believers in community…
Do things come naturally when common connection is Jesus, you want to get into God’s Word, get together with others who share same personal experience, eat together, pray together… Nothing forced, no one was there now u have to sign up for behavioral management classes, learn the rules how to behave, they just joined in with gusto, so natural in a supernatural way, fully alive in the living God, hungry… gotta question a faith that feels like a straight jacket and a pair of handcuffs… Do u sense freedom, joy...
3. It is because of this shared experience in community, they felt God’s presence.
43 A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders
It is in this community, sense of awe came over them all. Awe and reverence perhaps can be felt alone, but there is nothing when it is felt with others. Matt. 18:20 is right 2 or three gather, Jesus is there.
When this presence is felt, I believed miracles can happen. Natural occurrence when the supernatural is felt. I believe reason why we don’t see more miracles is there is no sense of awe, no sense of awe comes from no sense of common experience of grace and forgiveness and acceptance in Christ,
Come together we feel we can’t foul up, no room for mistakes, people look funny at you when you dress wrong, sing wrong key, lift up hands… no awe
no sense of freedom therefore no natural movement in the supernatural wanting to come together and thus no sense of natural disposition of hungry devoted believer like Paul “I want to know Christ and power of His resurrection” I want to forget what’s behind, straining toward what is ahead, I press on… hungry for more of God
all passion dissipates, rules dominate
4. It is because of this constant meeting together they felt each other’s needs.
. 44 And all the believers met together constantly and shared everything they had.45 They sold their possessions and shared the proceeds with those in need.
As deep sense of awe pervades, just want more… no need to say we gotta have church, they just wanted church, resulted in changed people… when Jesus is there…people change… not programs… not worship music…, resulted in practical ministry.
5. No wonder they celebrated community whenever possible in big or small groups
Lastly resulted in great worship in big celebration centers…and small groups in homes… illogical 3,000 met in one house… met in HOMES… and great friendships! Community big and small, that’s game plan for the church!
46 They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—47 all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people.
6. This community brought about more changed lives.
Great thing is when authentic Christ- centered community is alive and well, enjoyed, celebrated, admitted sinners received grace, not feel judged, favor is felt, friendships real and where God is worshipped, miracles happen, presence of God is felt, naturally coming from a supernatural encounter… results are…
And each day the Lord added to their group those who were being saved.
PBC, this is what I envision… authentic community, my dream is folks being transformed first with grace of meeting God through Christ, and then meeting each other in Christ… this game plan has worked for 2000 years and I believe it will work till He comes again.
