United we Stand, Story of the Book # 9

United we stand

What a mess!  It should have been a model church; after all it had all the earmarks of becoming the greatest church in the denomination.  Its founding pastor was the most prolific church planter in the denomination; the next man was by far the best preacher that could be offered and tossed in for good measure was one of the original founders of the denomination. 

One who had stood closer to the original flame that started the group than any other.  It had everything that could be offered to it, it had been planted in a major metropolis that was the capital city of the state.   Time, money and talent had been invested in seeing it become everything that it could possibly be.  This church was destined for greatness.

But then it came tumbling down like a house of cards.  They began to have problems with the spiritual gifts and tongues in particular seemed to tear the church apart.  Sexual immorality had reared its ugly head within the congregation, as well as incest, adultery, marriage problems and just a hint of heresy over the resurrection.  Members were taking each other to court, and their fellowship times were becoming excuses for gluttony and even drunkenness.

And then if that wasn’t enough the entire church split along party lines giving loyalty to either the guy that planted the church, or to the fellow who was such a great preacher or the denominational official.  What a mess. 

Surely not a Wesleyan church, it must have been you know one of those churches.

Well you’re right and you’re wrong.  I mean it wasn’t a Wesleyan church but then again it wasn’t one of those churches either. 

The church planter was Paul, the preacher was Apollos, and the official of the denomination why that was one of Jesus’ closest friends, Simon Peter.  The church of course was the Corinthian church and its problems are well chronicled in both 1 and 2 Corinthians the letters that Paul wrote addressing those problems.

Here we are week 9 in our “Story of the Book” series.  Since the first of July we have been taking a whirlwind tour through the bible.  Last Sunday we were in the book of Acts and looked at the Birth of the Church, and finished with Bill Hybel’s words “The local church is the hope of the world.” And the promise of Jesus when he said “And the gates of hell will not prevail against the church.”

And now we have arrived at the Pauline Epistles, or the Letters of Paul.  This section is exactly what it is called, Letters written by Paul to various churches and individuals.  It includes Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus and Philemon. 

These letter were written by Paul between 50 and 57 AD.  These probably aren’t the only letters that Paul wrote but they are the ones chosen by God to be preserved for the church.    

Most of the letters were written to churches and often related to problems that the church was having in regards to specific situations.  And letters are the most personal of correspondence, even now, maybe especially now, if you receive a letter you are getting something special.

And we think that privacy is a major concern today and we are always warning people that what they write will be around forever it wasn’t much difference when our country was first born.  Our first Prime Minister Sir John A. MacDonald testified to the power of the letter when he said “Never write a letter if you can help it, and never destroy one!”

And Paul was a prolific letter writer, it is because Paul left us so many letters that we feel we know him so well.  

It was Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe who wrote, “Letters are among the most significant memorial a person can leave behind them.”

But there is a problem with reading a letter, letters are dialogues, they are part of a fluid conversation.  And when we read a letter it is often like hearing only one side of the conversation.

In the case of the scripture that we are looking at today Paul starts by bringing us up to speed on the other side of the conversation.

You see in this case Paul  is writing to a church that is torn from within and  Paul sums up the major problem of this division in 1 Corinthians 1:12  Some of you are saying, “I am a follower of Paul.” Others are saying, “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Peter.”

And then he responds to the problem in the next verse by asking is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?  And the answer is “of course not”. 

What a dumb question, but it is rhetorical.  Dr. Victor Hamilton who was a professor at Asbury theological seminary and he illustrated by telling the story of being in the Toronto international airport and it was wall to wall people. 

Dr. Hamilton had just finished reading the paper he had purchased and had no place to put it so he sat on it.  A gentleman walked over and asked Dr. Hamilton “excuse me sir, are you reading that paper?”  Hamilton looked at the man and said “yes I am” then he stood up turned the page and sat back down again. 

A rhetorical question is a question that you really don’t expect an answer to.  Like “how dumb do you think I am?”  Don’t really want anyone to answer that do you?

And so even though Paul doesn’t expect his readers to answer his rhetorical question he answers it himself in 1 Corinthians 3:4-6  When one of you says, “I am a follower of Paul,” and another says, “I follow Apollos,” (or “Denn)” aren’t you acting just like people of the world?  After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? (Who is Denn) We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us.  I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow.

And so Paul Begins With the present reality:  The Corinthian Church was a Church Divided.  And we all know what Jesus said about division remember Matthew 12:25  Jesus knew their thoughts and replied, “Any kingdom divided by civil war is doomed. A town or family splintered by feuding will fall apart.”

I’m sure that he would have added every church divided against itself will be ruined.  Some thoughts on disunity:

Proverbs 6:16-19  There are six things the LORD hates— no, seven things he detests:  haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent,  a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong,  a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family.

Galatians 5:19-21  When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures,  idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division,  envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

Now the Guptill paraphrase of that last statement is this “if any of the aforementioned applies to you then you is going to hell.”

The disunity in the Corinthian church was brought about by three men, Paul, Peter and Apollos.  But understand that wasn’t their original plan.  That wasn’t what anyone of them wanted or planned.

In Acts 18:1 Then Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.  If we were to continue to read in Acts 18 we would discover that Paul joined up with Aquila and Priscilla who were fellow tent makers, and that Crispus the ruler of the synagogue believed and all his household and that many others believed, finally we are told in Acts 18:11  So Paul stayed there for the next year and a half, teaching the word of God.

Well that explains Paul’s connection with the Corinthians but what about the other two guys?  Well Apollos is mentioned in Acts 18:25 when we are told he had been taught the way of the Lord, and he taught others about Jesus with an enthusiastic spirit and with accuracy.

And then again he is mentioned in Acts 19:1  While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior regions until he reached Ephesus, on the coast, where he found several believers.

So, from that we can assume that Paul founded the church and then Apollos came as the preacher. 

But what about Peter?  Where does he come into the picture?  And you might be thinking “But preacher we don’t know what Peter’s connection was to the Corinthian church.” You’re right and that is how it will remain on this side of eternity, we just don’t know. 

We don’t know when Peter was thereof why Peter was there but somewhere along the line he developed a following.

Three good men, each with only the very best motives for serving the Corinthian church and yet they became the reason for dissent. 

In a church that I served there were some folks who were constantly reminding me of how awesome one of the former pastors was.   He was a great teacher, and a great visitor and they were so lucky to have had him as a pastor. 

I love Cornerstone, but someday, hopefully not someday soon, but someday I will be gone.  And I hope that your loyalty to whoever replaces me will equal or exceed your loyalty to me and that the words “When Denn was here” will never cross your lips.  Because when that day comes, you will need to realize that your primary loyalty will be to the Cornerstone of the present not the Cornerstone of the past. 

And so Paul broaches the most pressing problem in the church, a problem that was more severe than sexual immorality, an issue more pressing then tongues, more critical than problems relating to communion, more dangerous than divorce or lawsuits. 

The very first problem that Paul addresses is the disunity that was rampant in the church.  And he approaches this problem not as the boss, not flaunting his apostolic authority, not ordering the people to unit but instead we read in 1 Corinthians 1:10  I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ . . .

You notice that it’s not addressed to servants or subjects but brothers and sisters, and he doesn’t present himself as brother’s keeper but brother’s brother.  And he doesn’t order he appeals.

This isn’t a request for Paul, he’s not addressing the “First Pauline church of Corinth” be instead he appeals in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Because I am the pastor of Cornerstone whatever you do reflects on me, and whatever you do reflects on Cornerstone Wesleyan church, and whatever you do reflects on the Wesleyan church as a whole, and it hurts but  really it don’t matter.  But when you bring reproach on the name of Jesus Christ that matters.

Probably the greatest damage done to the Christian church throughout the ages has been done by Christians.  I will defend the church of Jesus Christ to the hilt and part of doing that is to promote unity within the local body.

Now I want to clarify right now, this message is not because there is disunity at Cornerstone.  This isn’t a reactionary message at all, you don’t need to be wondering about what you might have missed and what is happening at Cornerstone. 

But understand that there was a time in the Corinthian Church that they didn’t need this message either and then one day they did.  Perhaps if Paul had of addressed these issues in advance this might have been a different story.

1 Corinthians 1:10  I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.

And so Paul not only identifies the present reality but he also  presents them with a vision of a preferred future.  Paul says that he believed that  The Corinthian Church Could be a Church United  Now personally I prefer the how NKJV translates Paul’s words, when he says I want  “That you all speak the same things.”  And very simply it means that the church needs to be one in doctrine, or as some would say “We are singing from the same music.”

Now that doesn’t mean that you can’t come to Cornerstone if you don’t believe what we believe.  But that does mean that if you don’t agree with what we believe and you are vocal about your beliefs then you probably would be happier in another denomination.  Because although the Wesleyan church may not be the one and only true church it is the Wesleyan church and you probably won’t change it, at least not this week.

Why should we all live in harmony with one another?  Well Paul implies that that is the first part of the goal which is Let there be no divisions in the church.  The word division is the Greek word skhismah and it literally means a tear in a garment, something that is torn when it should still be in one piece.

Surely Christ was thinking of the church when he prayed in John 17:23  I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.

Notice that Jesus didn’t say the believers had perfect unity, he said “may” they experience perfect unity, they weren’t there yet.  The real problem with the Christian church is people, if we didn’t have people we wouldn’t have any problems.  Of course we wouldn’t have any church either, oh well. 

We may disagree on some things but let’s be careful about how that is presented to those outside the church.  Nothing will damage the reputation of the church quicker than infighting.  On the other hand listen to what David says in Psalm 133:1 How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony!

Disagreements are not division, but when parties start to form over a disagreement that becomes divisive.  As long as people gather you will hear the words “I don’t think so” and “I don’t entirely agree” or “I wouldn’t do it that way”.  And I have no problem with that, and you don’t need to leave the church over it. 

People that do that often find that the same problems come up time and time again.  When I was fresh out of college a very wise old preacher’s wife (at least she seemed old then, she was probably 40) told me once, “Don’t change churches because of problems because you will find them in your next church with different faces.” 

We will never agree on everything I can virtually guarantee that.  My wife and I don’t agree on everything, my staff and I don’t agree on everything, my best friend and I have never agreed on everything.  So it is very doubtful that you and I will agree on everything. 

And sometimes I’ll be right and you’ll be wrong.  And sometimes you’ll be right and I’ll be wrong.  And sometimes we’ll both be right, and if the truth be told there will even be times that we will both be wrong.

It doesn’t matter if we disagree over whether to sing old hymns or new worship songs, whether we clap or don’t clap, raise one hand, two hands or three hands.  What translation  of the bible we use, what clothes we wear or how long or how short our hair is or even when and how Jesus is coming back.

By the way in that particular instance we need to remember that was are supposed to be on the welcoming committee not the planning committee. 

You see those things are only differences of opinion.  But when they start to cause you to think less of me then they become divisive.

Now that does not mean that we tolerate sin or heresy in the body, Paul is very adamant about that and perhaps we have fallen down on the job in that area. 

In trying to be a loving church maybe we have forgotten that the church isn’t supposed to condone sin in the body instead it called to condemn sin. 

Paul was very blunt when it came to sin that was in the church in 1 Corinthians 5:9-13  When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin.  But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy, or cheat people, or worship idols. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that.  I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people.  It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning.  God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, “You must remove the evil person from among you.”

We shouldn’t sacrifice standards of belief or morals on the altar of unity.

And so the result of all agreeing together we are told by Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:10  I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.

In order for the Corinthian church to get from the Present reality: They were a divided church, to a preferred future: They could be a church united Paul tells them Unity Will Have to be Intentional   The word picture that is used here for united together actually comes from a medical word in the original language which literally meant “knit together”, and it was usually used in the sense of a broken bone mending or a scar healing. 

Maybe Doctor Luke was with Paul at the time of the writing and suggested that particular usage.  But the fact of the matter is that it does not refer to something that had always been whole but had in mind something that needed to be mended or healed.

The truth is that if there has been a split in a church body or in a personal relationship then it can be rejoined, healing can happen but it has to be intentional we need to want it to happen.  And don’t expect it to be perfect overnight. 

If you were to break your leg, even though I have no medical training I would suspect that your doctor would strongly recommend that you stay off said leg until it mended properly in the same way when a split in the church is healing don’t try bending it again the same way that broke it before.

When it comes together in perfect unity Paul says it should first of all be unity in thought in 2 Corinthians 13:11 Paul tells the church in Corinth 2 Corinthians 13:11  Dear brothers and sisters, I close my letter with these last words: Be joyful. Grow to maturity. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you.

And in Philippians 1:27  Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing side by side, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News.

As we continue to grow our main concern should not be expanding, and our main concern should not be not expanding.  Our main concern should not be what type of music we sing, or what bible we read out of from the platform, or how well the preacher preaches or doesn’t preach.  Or what colour the carpet is or whether the preacher wears jeans or a robe.   

Our main concern needs to be that there are people in our communities who are dying and going to hell.  Our main concern needs to be reaching those people with the gospel of Jesus Christ and everything else is secondary. 

This building and our programming they are nothing more or less than tools to help with the task at hand and the task at hand, needs to always be, helping to depopulate hell. 

And so Paul tells us that ours should not just be a unity of minds but as well a unity of vision and purpose.   

There may be times that you may not agree with everything we do, but do you agree with our vision and purpose?  It will only be in unity that we will be able to move ahead together to do the task that God has called us to do. 

Remember what the prophet Amos said in Amos 3:3  Can two people walk together without agreeing on the direction?  

Each of us, by making Cornerstone our church home have agreed to walk together, let’s do it and reach out and touch this community for God.

The Birth of the Church, Story of the Book # 8

The Birth of the Church

Sigmund Freud wrote “The act of birth is the first experience of anxiety, and thus the source and prototype of the affect of anxiety.”    Which might explain Andy Warhol’s statement “Being born is like being kidnapped. And then sold into slavery.”

This is week eight of our Story of the Book series and since the beginning of July we have been on a whirlwind tour of the Bible.  Last week we arrived in the New Testament and from the Gospels I selected the book of Mark to speak on and my central theme was what it will take if we want to be more than an average Christian. 

The Gospels of course begin with the birth of Christ and take us on a journey through his life and ministry leading to his death and resurrection.  And that brings us to the next stage of our journey.  This is only one of two sections where we will only be looking at one book, in a few weeks we will look at the book of the Revelation but today we are looking specifically at the book of Acts or more correctly “The Acts of the Apostles.” 

It is accepted that author was the same author who wrote the book of Luke, Luke, who was a Gentile physician.   The book of Acts was written around  AD 63 and Luke  was writing these accounts for a friend of his by the name of Theophilus, who was either a new believer or someone seeking to know more about Christ and the early church. Interesting name Theophilus, it was my great grandfather’s name but more than that in the Greek it means Lover of God.

I never knew my Great Grandfather and the only person I ever met with the name Theophilus was a pastor from Burkina Faso who I met when I taught in Ghana in 2013.  Three weeks ago today Pastor Theophilus and his wife were killed in a motorcycle accident on their way to church and Pastor Theophilus was also a lover of God.  

And so Acts is really book 2 with the Gospel of Luke being book 1. 

And if I was to ask you what was important about the book of Acts I would get all kinds of answers. 

It is in the book of Acts that we read about the Holy Spirit coming upon the early believers on the day of Pentecost.  It is in the book of Acts that we read about the martyrdom of Stephen and James, it is here we read about the persecution of the believers and how because of that persecution many of those believers were forced to leave Jerusalem. 

It is in the book of Acts that we read about a man named Saul, and his journey from an obscure reference in a tragedy involving the first Christian martyr to his becoming one if not the most influential voice in Christianity.  Oscar Wilde could have been speaking about Saul when he wrote “Every saint has a past, every sinner has a future.” Because with his conversion Saul became Paul and Paul would go on to write the majority of the New Testament and develop and shape the theology that would make Christianity distinct among world religions.

In the Wesley Study Bible we read:  “The entire Book of Acts is an expansion and fulfilment of the promise in 1:8 ---- “you shall be witnesses . . . in Jerusalem . . . Judea and Samaria, and the end of the earth.”

But when I think of the book of Acts I think of the birth of the church.  Bill Hybels of Willow Creek community Church is noted for saying “The local church is the hope of the world.”  And I truly believe that. 

The church is the instrument that Christ planned on using to change and impact the world.  That was apparent when he told Peter in Matthew 16:18  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.  But when Jesus spoke those words there was no church. 

If the Gospels are the story of Jesus then Acts is the story of the church and Groucho Marx said “Although it is generally known, I think it's about time to announce that I was born at a very early age.” And the church was born at a very early age. 

So what do we learn about the New Testament Church?  Because you will hear folks say from time to time, “We ought to be a New Testament Church” or “Our church should be more like the New Testament Church.”  I’ve even had a few pastors through the years tell me, “We are a New Testament Church.”  I’ve always wanted to ask them, “So has anyone died taking communion lately?”  If you didn’t get that you need to read 1 Corinthians 11:30.

The Church was Born in a Partnership    Have you ever heard the phrase “It takes two to tango”?  That is particularly true when it comes to making babies.  Here is the reality it takes a boy and a girl to make a baby.  2 girls can’t make a baby and 2 boys can’t make a baby and neither the Supreme Court nor popular opinion can change that. 

In the case of the Church the two it required was God and People.  Peter spoke, the Spirit moved and the church was born.  Could God have done it without people?  Sure, he’s God, but that isn’t how he chose for the church to be born.  And two thousand years later it still requires the moving of God and human effort.

It reminds me of the story of the man who bought an empty lot and turned it into a beautiful garden.  Originally it had been overgrown with weeds and filled with rocks, but through hard work, determination and love he turned it into an object of beauty.  One day as he stood admiring his garden a stranger happened by and commented, “That sure is a beautiful garden the Lord has given you”  “Yes it sure is” replied the man, “but you should have seen it when the Lord had it by himself.”

Every church is born out of a partnership with God and with people.  Every growing church grows because of a partnership with God and with people, every healthy church is healthy because of a partnership with God and with people. 

Unfortunately when things aren’t going well God often gets the blame. “I guess it’s not God’s will that our church should grow.  We’ve been praying and praying and nothing has happened.”

I have discovered through the years that the two cop outs that churches and pastors use to explain why one church is doing well and theirs isn’t are 1) God is really blessing that church or 2) They are lucky.  And I’ve heard them both applied to Cornerstone. 

And it's a cop out because they are both things we can't control so we don't have to accept responsibility for what we can't control.

My response is: Why wouldn’t God bless other churches?  Is it in His will that they are not growing?  Does He not want people to meet Jesus and experience his grace?   Doesn’t God want all churches to be healthy? 

And as for the luck comment, I had a boss once who used to say “Luck is what failures call success.” And it was Pierre Trudeau who said “Luck, that's when preparation and opportunity meet.” 

In Acts chapter 2 we read what happened when the Holy Spirit came upon the believers in the upper room, it says a great crowd gathered and were asking questions about what happened.  And then we read in Acts 2:14 Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, “Listen carefully, all of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about this. . .”  And he goes on to preach and call people to repentance and they respond.  But What if the Holy Spirt had moved and Peter had of stayed silent? 

Not only was the church born out of a partnership, the next thing we discover is that The Church was a Growing Church.  The early church was not stagnant or in decline, it was a church that was growing and not just a little bit of growth either, it was off the charts.

Listen to some of the early descriptions of the church Acts 2:41 Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all. Acts 2:47  all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.  Acts 4:4  But many of the people who heard their message believed it, so the number of believers now totaled about 5,000 men, not counting women and children.

Eventually they just stopped counting, and so we read in Acts 5:14 Yet more and more people believed and were brought to the Lord—crowds of both men and women. Acts 9:31  The church then had peace throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, and it became stronger as the believers lived in the fear of the Lord. And with the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it also grew in numbers.

I am passionate about church growth and have been since I started pastoring, and I’ve beat that drum in each of the churches I’ve pastored and with other pastors.  And because of that I’ve had people say “Denn, you are only concerned about numbers.” 

And that’s not entirely true, that’s not all I’m concerned about, but it is one of the things I’m concerned about.  And if numbers are just numbers that that might be an issue, but when you realize that numbers are actually representative of people it becomes different, especially when they are people you care about.

When a church grows it means more people are hearing the word of God, more people are being presented with the opportunity to accept Christ, and more people are being discipled.

When a church grows there is more opportunity to reach more people with the love of Christ, more opportunities to impact the world.   And that is all in keeping with the command of Christ to reach all the world. 

And we are going to come back and park here for three weeks in September and take a look at why the church should grow, how they church will grow, and what the cost of that growth will be, but that’s not until September so I’ll leave it alone for now.

The next thing we discover about the New Testament Church was that The Church was a Multiplying Church  The church didn’t start and finish in Jerusalem.  There wasn’t just one mega church that Peter pastored.  By the end of the book of Acts there were churches scattered across Asia and into Europe. 

And that was what was supposed to happen, the last command of a Jesus was for the church to go into all the world.  But they didn’t go willing.  We all like to be comfortable, change isn’t always something that most folks look forward to, let alone leaving home and hearth to go start churches in faraway places.

So for the first seven chapters of Acts we see the early church growing at an incredible rate, I think the technical term is Hand over Fist, but it was limited to Jerusalem. 

But remember what Jesus told the Apostles in Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  

In Acts chapter 1 it seems that Jerusalem was to the be the starting place for the church, but by Acts chapter 7 it would appear that Jerusalem has become the stopping place, the only place that the church was making inroads. 

And then we come to Acts 8, Stephen has become the first martyr of the early church Acts 8:1  Saul was one of the witnesses, and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen. A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem; and all the believers except the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria.

It was only when the believers were forced to move outside their comfort zone that what was supposed to happen actually happened.

Years ago when I was at a church planting seminar of some kind I heard a speaker say, “Churches are programmed to reproduce, the question is will be a planned pregnancy or an unplanned pregnancy?” 

Twenty years ago I watched a church from our denomination go through a church split.  That was an unplanned pregnancy. 

Ten years later I saw the same church take part in an intentional church plant where they participated with people and finances. You might say that was a planned pregnancy.  

Which of the two births do you think was less stressful for all involved?  And which one ended up with the stronger daughter church? 

There are life cycles to churches, they are born and they die.  That is reality.  None of the churches that were written about in the book of Acts exists today and if the church is going to continue to exist then new churches will have to be started.

One of our core values when Cornerstone was in the planning stages was that Cornerstone would be involved in starting additional churches and while we having been involved financially in several we still haven’t birthed a church, yet.

We just celebrated our 20^th anniversary by the time the Jerusalem church had celebrated their 20^th anniversary there were dozens of new churches as a result of the Jerusalem church.  Hmmmmmmm.

But it wasn’t just a growing and multiplying church.

The Church was a Demanding Church  When you hear people talk about wanting to be involved in a New Testament church they always seem to have this vision of a church where everyone is sitting around in a circle, holding hands, enjoying fellowship and being taught things that don't offend or challenge anyone, and seldom is heard a discouraging word and the skies are not cloudy all day. 

When someone says they wish the church was like the New Testament church it’s because in the their heart of hearts they know that if they attended a New Testament church then the only songs that would be sung would be their favourites and they would be sung the way they liked to sing them. 

They know that if they attended a New Testament Church they would never be asked for money and they would never be judged on their behaviour and would never be asked to volunteer in the nursery.

But trust me on this, that wasn’t the way it was.   

I don’t know what your favourite music style is but I can almost guarantee you that isn’t what the New Testament Church was singing. 

And listen to what the Bible tells us about stewardship in that church Acts 2:45 They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need.   And Acts 4:32 All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had.  

And as a matter of fact there is a story told in Acts  about a  couple who sold a field, told the church they were going to give all of the proceeds to the church and then only gave half, well let’s pick up the story in Acts 5:3-5  Then Peter said, “Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself.  The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God!”  As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died. Everyone who heard about it was terrified.

Wow, at Cornerstone if you make a financial commitment and don’t keep it, we don’t even call. Are you sure you want us to be like the New Testament Church?

And there was behaviour that wasn’t tolerated in the early church, regardless of what culture said, and regardless of what the government decreed.   And I don’t know how many times through the years people have told me the church isn’t supposed to judge people.  But that wasn’t a reality in the New Testament church, listen to what Paul told the church, 1 Corinthians 5:12  It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning. Wow, in a day and age when the church seems to be more and more vocal about the morality of those outside the church.  Maybe we’ve lost our focus. 

And the church is reminded in Ephesians 5:3 Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people.  And that isn’t an isolated instance, over and over again throughout the New Testament the church is held to a much higher standard than the world, in how they gave, how they loved, how they served and how they behaved.

And what was the result of that? Well ultimately The Church was an Impacting Church  There is a great statement in Acts 17.  As Paul and Silas are travelling and establishing new churches they arrive in Thessalonica and as was their custom they first go to the Synagogue to preach. 

And we are told in Acts 17:4  Some of the Jews who listened were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with many God-fearing Greek men and quite a few prominent women. Cool right, but not everybody was happy and if we continue to read in Acts 17:5-6  But some of the Jews were jealous, so they gathered some troublemakers from the marketplace to form a mob and start a riot. They attacked the home of Jason, searching for Paul and Silas so they could drag them out to the crowd.  Not finding them there, they dragged out Jason and some of the other believers instead and took them before the city council. “Paul and Silas have caused trouble all over the world,” they shouted, “and now they are here disturbing our city, too.” 

The charge was that Paul and Silas had caused trouble all over the world. In some versions though it reads this way “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.”  And that is what the church did, it turned the world upside down.  Never again would the world be like it had been before the church.

I know there are critics of the church, and some of their criticisms are valid.  But understand this, that the world is a better place because of the Church of Jesus Christ.  The church has been at the forefront of providing education, health care, of taking care of the poor.  It was the church who rallying against slavery.  It was the church who embraced the cause of women’s rights and civil rights. 

And locally the church continues to make a difference, because of a Church named Cornerstone marriages in our community have been saved and made stronger, young men and women have made better choices than they might have made without the church. 

 Families have been embraced and supported during transitional periods.  Ask some of the new moms the difference a week of meals made when the baby came home from the hospital.    

Because of Cornerstone in Action, volunteers have made a difference with feed Nova Scotia, St. Georges Soup Kitchen, Adsum House, Phoenix House and other agencies. 

Last Christmas the people of Cornerstone provided sleeping bags and long underwear to dozens of homeless people in partnership with Souls Harbour.  Each month Cornerstone provides dozens of cans of chunky soup and evaporated milk for Feed Nova Scotia, every two weeks Cornerstone provides meals at Ronald McDonald House for families with sick kids at the IWK.

Because of Cornerstone there are families drinking clean water in Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

But bigger than all of that, there are people today who will spend their eternity with God, because of Cornerstone and around the world through the ministry of those we support and partner with. 

We have turned our world upside down.  Because as Bill Hybels says “The local church is the hope of the world.”  And as Jesus said “And the gates of hell will not prevail against it.”

What Will I Have to Do? Story of the Book #7

What Do I have to Do? – Gospels

During the four years that I was in Bible College I had several opportunities to have Dr. Bill Burbury as my Professor, and in some of his classes Dr. Burbury offered what he called “Mark by Contract.”  When you went to your first class Dr. Burbury would give you a list of requirements for the course.  If you wanted to pass the course then you did certain things and you would be guaranteed to make a certain mark.  And if all you wanted to do was to pass the course then you could plan your semester from there and at the end of the semester you would have a “D”. 

You would have passed the course, just. Of course that only worked if you were planning on graduating with a degree than that was pretty much worthless because in order for your course to count toward ordination you were required to have at least a “C”.

So if you wanted to do more then simply pass the class then you started adding more requirements.  If you wanted a C then you did all that was required of you to get a D and you added some more work and if you did all those things then you got a C.  If you were even more industrious then you could add to the C requirements and get a B and add to the B requirements and get an A. 

You understand the concept of “Mark by Contract” now?  And so during the first week of each term ever student was able to choose the mark which they wanted to earn. 

Most of those students choose an A or a B, however by term end many had only done the work required for a D or a C.  Interestingly enough most students marks didn’t change, there wasn’t a dramatic change in mark percentages. 

The A students continued to be A students, the B students B students.  Etc, etc.  Nothing really dramatic happened.  In the vast majority of cases nobody took the opportunity to move up to the next level.  I will confess that I remained a B student.  My mark really didn’t change, I did enough work to get the mark I had always gotten and that was it.

Dr. Burbury once confronted me as my faculty advisor and asked me why I was content with a B or a 3.0 average when I was capable of A of 4.0 work.  You know I thought about if for a minute or so and then I answered saying “You know Dr. Burbury, “As” and “4s” are sharp and harsh while “Bs” and “3s” are soft and rounded.”  Bill just shook his head.  Which meant my strategy had worked, if you can't dazzle them then baffle them.

You see often what we achieve in life is determined not nearly as much by our smarts as it is by as it is by our dedication and devotion.

Whatever the advantages or disadvantages of the contract method of marking were the main thing is you always knew what was expected of you.  When you started the class you could ask “What do I have to do to pass this course or ace this course?” and you would receive an answer.

We are all born with a desire to be at one with our Creator, our God and we try throughout our lives to come to the place that we are supposed to be at. 

And while we may never actually verbalize the question in our hearts we are all asking the same question that was asked of Jesus in Mark 10:17  As Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to him, knelt down, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

He was asking: How do I get to heaven?  What do I have to do to get a passing grade?

Well, we’ve made it through the Old Testament and here we are in the New Testament.  Over the past six weeks I’ve had the opportunity to guide you through the Pentateuch, the Historical Books and the books of Poetry and Wisdom. 

While I was away on vacation Stefan preached on the story of Daniel from the Major Prophets and then Deborah preached on Jonah from the Minor Prophets.  And so here we are, in the New Testament.

This week we are looking at the first four books of the New Testament, books which most folks refer to as the Gospels.  The Gospels contain four books, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  And the authors are named, traditionally it has been held that Mark was recording Peter’s account of the life of Christ.  The scholars tell us that these books were written between 50 and 70 AD with the earliest account being the Gospel of Mark.

Sometimes you will hear people talk about the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Phillip or the Gospel of Mary.   The book and movie The Da Vinci Code made a big deal out of these Gospels and how they were supposedly suppressed by the Vatican.  The reality is that they were written between two and three hundred years after the death of Christ and are not historical accounts. 

But there have been times that I’ve met Christians who are all excited about this gospel or that gospel that reveals more about Jesus.  Here is a warning from 2,000 years ago that Paul gave in 2 Corinthians 11:3-4  But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent.  You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed.

And so here was the question I had to answer, out of all the Jesus stories in the four gospels where would I land?  And if I had of asked two dozen people which one of the stories I should preach on from the Gospels I would have had two dozen answers. 

So we have landed in the Gospel of Mark because those in the know tell us that this was the earliest Gospel that we have, and that it is actually Peter’s account of the life of Christ, and Peter would seem to be a pretty good source, seeing he was there from the beginning.  And so we begin with these words.  Mark 1:1 This is the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.

Just as students would come to Dr. Burbury and say “what do I have to do to pass this course?” the man that we read about this morning comes to Jesus and says “what do I have to do to pass the course, what do I have to do in order to get into heaven?” 

Christianity is very much a contract class, where the requirements are spelled out for us.

Have you ever worked for someone who had unverbalized expectations of what they expected of you?  They knew what they expected but they had never actually conveyed it to you, until they asked why you hadn’t done what they thought you should have done but had never actually mentioned that they wanted you to do it. 

Maybe it wasn’t an employer, maybe it was a spouse or a child or a friend.  That happens at times, people assume that we should know certain things.

And yet God lays out what is expected of each of us in this book.  On judgement day Jesus won’t be saying “Oh, I thought you knew that?”

The first thing that we need to discuss are the entrance requirement.  Different courses at College had different entrance requirement.  For example I needed to have Intro to Psychology before I could take Pastoral Counselling, and Pastoral Counselling before I could take Family and Marital Counselling.

You couldn’t enter into a contract in a course of study until you were first in the course.  It wouldn’t matter if you did all the work perfectly and on time if you weren’t actually registered in the class, it would be a waste of time. 

In the same way it’ really silly to live an A+ Christian life if you aren’t actually a Christian. 

So how do you get into Christianity?  Well it’s sort of like preaching to the choir, but in case there’s someone who’s not sure the Apostle Peter does a great job of summing it up in Acts 3:19 Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away.   It’s that simple, turn away from your sins, that’s called repentance, ask for forgiveness and turn to God.  That’s the entrance requirements, you are now a Christian. Simple enough?

Well got this far and I was stumped, I mean I should now talk about how we can be an “A”, “B” “C”, “D” or “F” Christian.  And we all know the “A” Christians and we could name the “B” Christians.  Most of us know the “D” Christians, they are the people who have pretty well dropped out of the race but not quite.  They are still registered in the course but they are skipping class. 

Kind of what happened in the spring of the year when I was in high school, not that I was personally acquainted with skipping, I read about it in a book.  And if we are feeling really carnal we can even name the F Christians, they’ve just given up all together. 

And so we all know the “A”, “B”, “D”, and “F”.  They are easy to spot and we lift them up or run them down depending on their grade and the degree of our carnality.

Neither of which we should be doing by the way.  Now I had no problem with those people, they had all made their choices.  They were either very dedicated to the Lord, dedicated or they were just looking for a fire escape from Hell.

They had decided exactly what type of Christian they were going to be and that’s what they were doing, and they were willing to live with their choice.  I said before that I was a “B” student through high school and College, with a little more work and a little more effort I could have been an “A” student but I would have had to give up some things that I wasn’t willing to give up. Not bad things just things. 

I’ve had two assistant Pastors through the years who graduated from College with 4.0 averages and were both admitted to honour societies.  Angela has always claimed that I lived my academic life vicariously through those two, and I won’t name names, just pick your favourite assistant pastor and assume that is who I was talking about. 

Now most of the “D” and “F” students (you ever wonder what happened to “E”? Inquiring minds want to know, what type of education system goes A, B, C, D, F? Like 1, 2, 3, 4, 6.) That was what was technically known as an aside.

So, where was I, oh yeah, most of the “D” and “F” students that I knew in High School and College were there by their own choice. 

And I know that is a generalization, and I know that all generalizations are wrong.  I understand that there are people out there with genuine learning disabilities but not this bunch.  Their marks bothered their teachers, their parents, the educational system, as a matter of fact it bothered everybody except the person it should have bothered.  The student.

I’ve said all of that to say this, The “A”, “B”, “D” and “F” Christians are content to be where they are, and besides it wasn’t them I have problems with.  It was the “C” Christian, you know the average Christian.  Out of necessity there will be more average Christians after all in school the “C’s” should outnumber the “As”, “Bs”, “Ds” and “Fs”.  Isn’t that what average means?

We all want to be normal but none of us wants to be average, interesting.  But in some areas of life we have to be average, think about it if we were all above average then that would be average. 

And most times being average doesn’t hurt.  Collins dictionary defines average as “The mean value or quantity of a number of values or quantities.”  However I prefer John Maxwell’s definition he said that “Average is the best of the worst and the worst of the best.”

Maxwell once preached a message on being a success and after the message a lady came up and demanded to know what was being wrong with being average.  Maxwell responded with this statement.  “If you’re not a Christian, nothing is wrong with being average.  If you are a Christian then you must not be content until you develop the potential which God has given you to its fullest extent. In so doing you will bring glory to God and be lifted above average.”

You won’t be better looking or more intelligent because you have become a Christian, I mean look around, look at me.  But when you become a Christian your attitude toward life should change, and your consecration in service, your love for others and your love and service to God should all become above average.

The question remains then, what does an average Christian do?  Well to be truthful, not much.  They don’t pray much, they don’t give much, they don’t study God’s word much, they don’t love much and they really aren’t all that dedicated. 

The average Christian has the entrance requirements down pat, but they haven’t gone much beyond that, they are like the people being written to in Hebrews 6:1 So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God.

Most of us have the basics down pat, but have we gone on to become mature in our understanding? 

God is not a God of mediocrity.  God demands the very best of us.  Was the sacrifice an average lamb?  Was the temple an average building?  Is Heaven just an average place?   No, so how do we rise above being average? 

1) To be Above Average Will Require More Effort.  

When those around you quit, then it’s time for you to grit your teeth and try harder.  Success in any endeavour but particularly in the spiritual realm is achieved and maintained by those who keep trying. 

Today you may not be what you want to be, hope to be, dream of being but the one key to achieving your dream is a determination to not quit. 

Eleven years ago when we started talking about the building there were a number of people who were really excited about being a part of the dream, until they realized what it would cost, and they walked away. 

Your mother ever give you poems when you were growing up?  My mom was forever giving me poems that she thought might help me at some point. 

And those were the days before the Facebook and email, you had to type stuff out and then and photocopy it and deliver it. It took some effort back then to share things.

One she gave me is probably familiar to some of you: 
Two frogs fell into a can of cream.
or so I've heard it told;
The sides of the can were shiny and steep,
The cream was deep and cold.
“O, what's the use?” croaked No. 1.
“Tis fate; no help's around.
Goodbye, my friends! Goodbye sad world!”
And weeping still, he drowned.
But Number 2, of sterner stuff,
Dog paddled in surprise,
The while he wiped his creamy face, 
And dried his creamy eyes.
“I'll swim awhile at least,” he said –
Or so I've heard he said;
“It really wouldn't help the world,
If one more frog were dead.”
An hour or two he kicked and swam.
Not once he stopped to mutter.
But kicked and swam and swam and kicked.
Then hopped out via butter.

It was Emerson who said “A Man is a hero not because he is braver then anyone else, but because he is brave ten minutes longer.”  And it is that type of commitment that makes us more then average.

You see being a Christian isn’t a destination it is a journey.  We begin our Christian walk and sometimes we want immediate results. 

We say we are going to study the bible and we turn to Matthew 1:1 and we begin to read Matthew 1:1-2  This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham:  Abraham was the father of Isaac. Isaac was the father of Jacob. Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers. . .   And on it goes, name after name for 16 verses.

And we throw up our hands and say I don’t understand this and walk away.

When we pray we walk away disappointed if God doesn’t immediately drop our wishes in our laps.  You don’t walk out of marriage at your first fight, you don’t quit school the first time you can’t solve a problem, and you don’t leave university simply because you don’t like studying. 

Well you don’t do those things if you want to succeed. And if you are going to succeed in your Christian life it will require effort.

Which is why Jesus told the man in the story Mark 10:21  Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”  It wasn’t about money, it was about sacrifice.  What do you love more than God and are you willing to give it up?

2) To be Above Average Will Require More Faith .  The average Christian has just enough faith to die with but not enough to live with.  Oh that was good, I think I’ll say it again, “The average Christian has just enough faith to die with, but not enough to live with.”  

What I mean is that we believe that God can have an effect on our eternal life but we’re not really sure that he can do anything about the life we are living today.

But listen up, if your prayer life is going to be above average then your faith is going to have to be above average.  If you are going to get more out of the bible study your faith will have to be above average.  If you are going to give more than the average Christian then you will need above average faith.  Not just a little bit, but more than most. 

And bottom line is that if you want to please God, then you are going to have to have a little more faith, because Hebrews 11:6  And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.

It doesn’t say it’s tough to please God without faith or that it’s difficult to please God without faith, it says it’s impossible to please God without faith.  Faith is being able to see what isn’t there yet.  Back in the day when Cornerstone was just a dream, I could see the church we would become. 

Eleven years ago when the building was just a dream there were people who when they drove by this property didn’t see 5 acres of scrub and brush, they saw a facility where lives would be touched and eternities would be shaped. But that was yesterday, how about today?  Do you not only believe that God could perform miracles for this church do you believe that God will perform miracles for this church.

You are a Christian, by your decision to ask Christ for forgiveness and accepting Him as your saviour you have already demonstrated that you have enough faith to die a Christian, the question is do you have enough faith to live as a Christian? 

When Jesus asked the rich man to give up all that he had he was asking was whether or not the man believed that Jesus would take care of him.

3) To be Above Average Will Require More Love.  Most of us can love.  We love our mom, our dad, our brothers and sisters, we love our spouse and that special friend. 

But what about the shrew that’s always saying nasty things about you?  What about the Pastor when he’s a little bit critical or says something you don’t agree with.  What about the guy that cuts you off in traffic or the drunk on the corner.  How about Stephen Harper, Justin Trudeau or Thomas Mulclair?

Do you love enough to make a difference in somebodies life? More importantly do you love enough to make a difference in your life?  Do you love enough to sacrifice and give things up for the sake of others? 

When we ask you to help drill wells in Africa or a help with RMH or Souls Harbour we are asking you to give up things for the here and now in order to make a difference in the there and then. 

Jim Elliot was a missionary who was martyred for his faith almost sixty years ago, shortly before he died he wrote in his journal “A man is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” 

That all that Jesus was asking of the rich man, that he give up what he couldn’t keep to gain that which he couldn’t lose.  Jesus was asking the rich man to love others, to make John 13:35 a reality.  John 13:35  Jesus said “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

When the 19^th century turned into the 20^th century a sailing ship was discovered drifting in the Arctic Ocean amongst the icebergs, her crew had been dead for 13 years.  She was described by one writer as “A drifting sepulchre manned by a frozen crew.”  Without love that is all the church will become, a drifting sepulchre manned by a frozen crew.

If you were to compare hot and cold would the average be lukewarm?  So if your spiritual state is neither hot nor cold, just average it would be lukewarm?  I sure hope it’s not because listen to what Jesus said in Revelation 3:16 But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!

Ouch, let me close with two epitaphs for you to think about, the first was for a guide in the Swiss Alps who died in a fall, it simply read “He died climbing.” And the second was for an eighty five year old scientist that simply read “He died Learning” What will they put on your stone?

I love what the old lady said, “I ain’t what I oughta be, and I aint’ what I’m gonna be, but thank God I ain’t what I was.”

Will you be average or are you willing to be all that God wants you to be?  The choice is yours.