Built on the Rock! – Sermon – 27 August, 2017
Built on the Rock!
Matthew 16:18
I tell you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
When Jesus said these words to Peter:
– What did He have in mind?
– What was His plan?
– What were His intentions?
– What was His goal?
– What kind of image did He have in His mind?
The first thing we should consider is the fact and His purpose, which He clearly states in the following words:
“I will build the Church” or “I will build My Church”.
It should be very clear that we are involved in the work of Jesus. Yes, we are the church, we are the members of the body of Jesus Christ, we have a role to play and each one of us has different gifts and talents given to us by God to use for the advancement of the church. As Paul states in the letter of Romans, when he talks about different gifts given to us by God’s grace, such as prophesying, serving, teaching, encouraging, contributing/giving to the needy, leadership, showing mercy, etc.
With these God given gifts, it is clear that Jesus has a specific intention to build His church, which reflects His expectation that we should do what we ought to do.
Is this what Jesus had in mind?
In the book of Acts, Luke writes about the first church that was created or born on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon the praying disciples:
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miracles and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. ….” (Acts 2:42-47)
Today let us re-imagine what the church was for Jesus.
In the Uniting Leaders conference 2017, one of the guest speakers, Mark Conner from City Life Church, put a definition of the church as this.
The Church of Jesus Christ is “a community of Christ’s followers empowered by the Spirit to participate in God’s mission in the world”.
Sometimes we evaluate the church according to its size. Oh, a very big church, a big congregation, a megachurch, over twenty musicians, five pastors, more than 1000 at Sunday service, few weekly Bible Study groups, Woman’s Fellowship groups, Sunday School with over 300 kids, Youth group for different ages, turnover budget over one million, etc.
At other times we struggle to find the right church, we look at how they worship, what kind of sermons, what is their written mission, are they charismatic or liberal, and so on.
One thing is clear that the church has changed a lot since the formation of the First Church, sometimes losing its simplicity.
Do you know that there are 37 million churches and well over 33000 denominations in the world and the majority being Protestants?
Let’s go back to the definition:
The Church of Jesus Christ is “a community of Christ’s followers empowered by the Spirit to participate in God’s mission in the world”.
The church of Jesus Christ is:
- Community – Fellowship, partnership, people coming together characterised by love.
It is clear that the church is not a gathering of individuals or strangers, who come to church to meet others.
Sometimes we make a mistake when we say:
We go to church.
But we are part of the church; we belong to one another.
In Paul’s words we are the members of the body of Jesus Christ.
The church is a community and characterised by:
– Love
– Friendliness
– Serving in a team
- Christ followers – Disciples, who learn and follow the given instructions.
A group of people, a community, establish a partnership with God to work out and work in.
“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed – not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Phil. 2:12-13)
Work out and work in.
This is a good concept which leads us to differentiate between trying and training. There is a big difference between these two concepts. You try something and it is not necessary to succeed, but there will be more chance to achieve something if you train in that area. Like physical training, this will be spiritual training or spiritual practice.
Questions:
– Am I trying or training to be like Jesus?
– Are we producing believers or followers?
– Are we trying to do something or transforming?
III. Empowered by the Spirit – To do something or to produce something, we need power. If we need light, we need electrical power. To lift up a heavy load, we need physical power. The same applies in our spiritual life.
If we want to act and serve the Lord, we need His power, we need the Spirit. We need the energy to act on His behalf. Remember what Jesus told His disciples. He promised to be with them always until the end of the world, but He also instructed them to go to Jerusalem, to sit together and pray, to receive the Holy Spirit. Only then they will be able to do their part.
- Mission – We read in Luke 10:1-12 that Jesus sent out the 72, two by two, with specific instructions. He sent them out for a mission. The church was established for a mission or to do a mission. An impossible mission, but yet possible by the empowerment of the Spirit.
The church has a mission, but it will be better to say that, the Mission has a church.
Mission Statements are important, because they state what we pursue and guide us through our ministry.
They clearly identify the purpose, outline the guidelines and direct us on the right path.
If there is no mission, there is no purpose and hence it is not possible to register progress and achievements.
A church without a mission is a dead church. But also a mission without a church is a dead mission.
The Church of Jesus Christ is “a community of Christ’s followers empowered by the Spirit to participate in God’s mission in the world”.
Are we in line with this statement or definition?
Can we say that we are a community of faith, followers of Christ, empowered by the Spirit to participate in God’s mission?
So what we should do as the church of Jesus Christ, which was built on the solid foundation, the firm rock, Peter and the firm faith.
What should the church of Jesus Christ do or be:
– Be a blessing to our community
– Build relationships with people
– Meet people’s needs
– Share the good news about Jesus