V15ion, Week 2: A Better Church

Intro: Welcome to Freedom Church… We’re so glad you’re here with us!    Motion Night Promo – Table – 3 ½ weeks away!   If you’re new with us, we welcome you.  Welcome to a group of imperfect people who have encountered a perfect savior.    (7 Years as a Church…what a journey!)   In the bible, numbers have meaning attached to them… 7 is the number of spiritual completion.     We believe we have completed a work in the last 7 years… and are beginning a new season as a church… a new work of reaching people who have never been reached.   Series intro:  We started a series last week called “V15ION – A Better Year” where we are looking at our lives and asking the question:  “How can we be better?”   (Not perfect, not the best ever… just better than we have been… our next step in the journey.)   Transition:  Today… we are looking at how we can be a “Better Church”.   We you hear the word church, what comes to mind?    (Stain glass windows, huge steeple, the pope, boring, scandal, your childhood?)   There is no mistaken that the there are all kinds of images and emotions stirred up in people when you talk about church… a lot of those are negative and usually justifiable.    2000 years of church history has not done the best job of promoting a healthy view of what Jesus intended the church to be.     (The institution, crusades, the kkk, protesting, countless scandals…)   Transition:  We all have ideas about what church is or what it should be… But lets look at God’s plan for…   Before we can get better as a church, we have to have the right perspective of what the church is.   1.The Church is not a club for the perfect, but a hospital for the broken.   Later, Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. (There were many people of this kind among Jesus’ followers.)  But when the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with such scum?” When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.” Mark 2:15-19 (NLT)   2.The Church is not a good idea, but God’s only idea.    15 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”17 Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. Matthew 16:15-18 (NLT)   The local church is the hope of the world.    The local church is the vehicle God designed to carry the hope of Jesus to the world!     3.The Church is not a place, but the church is YOU.    Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20 (NLT)   “Church” = Eklessia (CALLED OUT ONES)   The bride of Christ…    Transition:  So how do WE as a church get better?   1.We keep the church a priority.    Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. Matthew 6:33 (NLT)   Seek = intentional searching; seeking in order to find Kingdom = dominion; territory   The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don’t, the parts we see and the parts we don’t.  If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance. You are Christ’s body—that’s who you are! You must never forget this. Only as you accept your part of that body does your “part” mean anything. 1 Corinthians 12:25-27 (MSG)   2.We keep Jesus the main thing.   You’ll remember, friends, that when I first came to you to let you in on God’s master stroke, I didn’t try to impress you with polished speeches and the latest philosophy. I deliberately kept it plain and simple: first Jesus and who he is; then Jesus and what he did—Jesus crucified. 1 Corinthians 2:1-2 (MSG)   Next to people who are far from Him, I believe nothing breaks God’s heart like the denominational divide put up by His people.   We allow ourselves to be divided on things… that at the end of it all don’t make a difference on where someone spends eternity!   Again I say, don’t get involved in foolish, ignorant arguments that only start fights. 24 A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach, and be patient with difficult people. 2 timothy 2:23-24 (NLT)   Our goal as a church should be to add value to the world around us... not add discouragement.     “You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. Matthew 5:13 (NLT)   We are the hope of the world, because we carry the Hope of the world. Jesus. Always… only Jesus.    3.We keep the un-churched in mind   For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.” Luke 19:10 (NLT)   To get different results, we have to do something different.   The casualty of a growing church is personal comfort.    Impressed by their bold belief, Jesus said to the paraplegic, “Son, I forgive your sins.” Mark 2:5 (MSG)