Church: God's agenda for local churches

Good morning, church family. We're going to now read God's Word together.

There's two passages we're reading from today.

So first of all, we're reading 2 Corinthians chapter 3, the first six verses.

2 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

And then after that, we're turning to Ephesians chapter 4 and reading the first 16 verses.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

So let's go to 2 Corinthians chapter 3 first.

2 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

Are we beginning to commend ourselves again?

Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you?

You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts to be known and read by all.

And you show that you are a letter from Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God.

Not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts.

Such is the confidence that we have through Christ towards God.

Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us,

but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant,

not of the letter, but of the spirit.

For the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.

Let's turn over to Ephesians chapter 4 now.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

So chapter 4, starting at verse 1.

I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,

with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.

There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call.

One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.

Therefore, it says,

When he ascended on high, he led a host of captives and he gave gifts to men.

In saying he ascended, what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth?

He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,

to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,

so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine,

by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head,

into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped,

when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

This is the word of the Lord.

Well, good morning, everyone, and good morning to those on Zoom with us this morning.

I'm one of the pastors here.

My name's David.

We're four weeks into exploring God's vision for his church in our teaching series called Church,

A Foretaste of Heaven.

A pretty ambitious title, is it not?

Church, A Foretaste of Heaven.

And in four weeks, we've explored how God's church is so precious to him.

It's the focus of his work in the world.

It's the community in which saved individuals come to spiritual maturity.

So the question then that's coming along with us each week is,

does your vision of the value and purpose of our local church family,

this part that you're here of this morning,

does your vision of us align with God's vision?

It's quite a challenge for us, really, to think about that.

Last week, we started to explore God's agenda for local churches.

And we said that to be relevant and contemporary,

and that's what we hear all the time these days,

people want to be relevant and contemporary.

Well, to be relevant and contemporary,

we need to follow God's agenda for the church,

rather than what society says we should be doing as a church,

or perhaps even what our own personal preferences for doing,

for what we should be doing as a church might be.

Or, in the case of some churches,

it would seem like their agenda is just entirely pragmatic.

That is, their goal is to get the crowds in,

and so they do whatever works.

Last week, I suggest there were two big-picture principles

that governs the agenda, God's agenda for the church.

The first one, be who you are,

and we looked at that last week.

Our primary agenda is to be who we are.

That is, to be the living temple,

living stones in the living temple of the living Lord.

And the other picture we looked at last week

was to be the pillar and foundation of the truth of God's word.

This morning, we consider the second principle,

which I'm just calling this morning,

do what our specialist tools equip us to do.

Now, if you enter the workspace of a carpenter,

or a plumber, or an engineer,

or a medical researcher,

or an author, or whatever else,

enter their workspace,

and you will observe the tools of trade.

And the tools of trade make their agenda obvious.

Specialist workers need specialist tools,

which in turn reflect the specialist nature of their work.

And on top of that, then,

a good boss will always ensure that his workers

have the best tools for the job.

The best, we hear today talk about workplaces

that are fit for purpose.

So that, with the tools provided,

and the workplace environment,

then the boss can be sure that his business is going to thrive,

be successful,

and achieve that which he wants his business to achieve.

Well, I'm going to say to you this morning

that Christ provides us with the very specialist tools

we need for our very specialist task,

and a workplace fit for purpose.

So our agenda, in a sense,

one sense is really quite simple,

that is, to be skilled

in using our specialist spiritual tools

for our specialist spiritual task.

I won't say that again,

because I wasn't even sure we'd get it out once,

let alone saying it multiple times,

so you'll have to remember it from now on.

We start in 2 Corinthians 10, verses 3-5.

2 Corinthians 10:3–5

If you've got time,

if you quickly look it up, it'll be good,

otherwise just listen up,

I'm going to read it to you.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10, verse 3,

2 Corinthians 10:3

For though we walk in the flesh,

we are not waging war according to the flesh.

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh,

but have divine power to demolish and destroy strongholds.

We destroy arguments,

and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God,

and take every thought captive to obey Christ.

The background story to these verses in the church at Corinth

was that there were powerful individuals

determined to exert their influence on the church

and take the church down a pathway of their choosing.

And it was quite a divergent pathway

to what Paul had urged on them

when he came to them speaking nothing

but the gospel of Jesus crucified.

And so their strategy was to ridicule

Paul's Christ-centered teaching

and to mock Paul's character,

Christ-centered character,

while promoting an alternative gospel

and an alternative set of leadership characteristics

within the church.

And Paul accuses them,

it's a pretty harsh accusation,

Paul accuses them of being peddlers of God's word,

using the tools of the world.

Those tools, if you read through the letter of Corinthians,

especially to Corinthians,

those tools were the tools of self-promotion,

the tools of manipulation,

pressure,

designed to control people

and to get the people in the church

to do what these leaders wanted them to do,

these powerful individuals wanted them to do.

They were running their own agenda.

In sharp contrast, then,

Paul speaks of the specialist spiritual weapons

or spiritual tools provided by the Lord

and interestingly,

these tools are not designed to control

or manipulate,

but they're designed to get inside and change.

Demolishing hardened unbelief

and bringing people to God

in new attitudes and obedience.

What are these tools or weapons?

Well, you only need to read through

1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians

and you'll see Paul over and over and over again

going back to his primary weapon

as the weapon of the gospel,

the weapon of God's word.

The tool of God's word

supernaturally applied by God's Holy Spirit.

Now, if you look at 2 Corinthians 3 with me,

if you've got your finger in there,

2 Corinthians 3 is just one example

throughout Paul's ministry

of Paul's repeated emphasis

on God's word

and being applied by God's spirit

and the outcome of it.

So, in these verses,

Paul's really saying,

look, at the end of the day,

God's word applied by God's Holy Spirit

is the only tool

capable of producing real change,

internal change,

a change that brings

and is sourced in life,

new life, new obedience,

new orientation.

How does that work?

Well, again, the background context,

I don't have time to get into it,

but it's primarily by regeneration.

That is,

the word brings people alive

to start with.

And then,

God's spirit applies that word

in a process of total renovation

from the inside out.

At the same point,

it's made in the letter to Hebrews,

Hebrews 4,

Hebrews 4:12

verse 12.

Let me read that to you as well

when I find it.

Hebrews 4, verse 12.

Hebrews 4:12

For the word of God

is living and active,

sharper than any two-edged sword,

piercing to the division

of soul and of spirit,

of joints and of marrow,

and discerning the thoughts

and intentions of the heart.

What a weapon Jesus has provided

for our specialist task,

a task that pushes us

not to control people

from the outside,

but to see them changed

from the inside.

And God's word

is that weapon

able to slice,

and that's the picture.

It's a very gruesome picture,

but it's able to slice

through the hardest

of rebellion,

getting into our

innermost being,

and it opens us up

in our innermost being

to the light of the gospel.

And then totally

reformats us

from our innermost being

out

to a new love

for the Lord.

So what does all that mean

for Paul?

What does that look like

on the ground for Paul?

Well, very simple, really.

Paul was busy doing

what he was equipped

to do

with the tools

he was equipped with.

That is,

he was busy

speaking the gospel.

He was busy doing

what the Lord

had equipped him to do,

knowing also

that the Spirit

of the living Lord

will do what only

he can do,

and that is,

take that spoken word

and make it real,

make it new

in the lives

of those to whom

it was spoken.

Paul does

what he's equipped

to do,

and is comfortable

leaving the Holy Spirit

to do what only

the Holy Spirit

can do,

give new life

and relationship

with God.

Then there's

the tool of prayer,

which Paul

repeatedly

urges

believers

to take up

and utilize,

to be urgent in.

Why?

Because Paul

believed

and knew

it to be

a very powerful,

effective tool

provided by the Lord

Jesus,

provided by the Lord,

for our use

in this spiritual warfare.

2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 1:11

chapter 1

verse 11.

The context

of 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1

is Paul

just rehearsing

some of the struggles

and the suffering

and the terrible

situations he's been

through

as an ambassador

for Jesus.

And it's interesting,

and you can go

and read for yourself

again,

I don't have time

to take it all apart,

but Paul's really

saying this,

he said,

look,

it's prayer

that's got me

through this.

Your prayer,

he says to those

he's writing,

the Corinthians,

and the prayer

of many other believers,

and my prayer.

His prayer

that was instrumental

in enabling Paul

to not only survive

the daily struggles,

but to thrive

and keep going

in his proclamation

of the gospel

through daily struggles.

Now friends,

across the breadth

of scripture,

we just get this

common refrain,

the Lord loves

to hear

his people pray.

The Lord loves

to hear

his people pray

because prayer

is simply

the expression

of our helplessness,

the pouring out

of our helplessness

before the Lord,

the pouring out

of our sense

of total dependence

upon him.

and in prayer,

we're asking

the Lord

to give us

those things

which he has

already determined

to give us,

but as a father,

delights to hear

his children

ask for them anyway.

Prayer works.

The Lord

builds his kingdom

through the prayers

of his people.

We're told that

repeatedly

in the pages

of the Bible.

And in 2 Corinthians 3,

the passage

we're just looking

at there,

prayer results

in far more

than that.

It actually results

in more glory

and praise

for the Lord.

Paul says that.

Verse 6 there.

So,

you also

must help us

by prayer

so that many

will give thanks

on our behalf

for the blessing

granted us

through the prayers

of many.

it starts

a cycle.

The more people

pray,

the more they see

their prayers

answered

and the gospel

advanced,

Christ honored.

The more they pray

in thankfulness

and so on

and so forth.

Friends,

our God-given

task

reflected

in our God-given

tools

are designed

to affect

change

from the

inside out.

Radically

changing

attitudes,

desires,

understanding,

radically moving

people from

rebellion

against God

from a

stronghold

of autonomy

to faithful

living

under his

rule.

Now,

who's up

for that

task?

Well,

the answer

is every

believer

providing

we're skilled

and equipped

with the

tools

that the

Lord has

provided

because the

tools are

fit for

purpose.

We do

what the

Lord asks

us to do,

speak the

gospel

and pray

and trust

that the

Lord will

do what

only he

can do,

is make

that word

alive in

the depths

of a

person's

heart and

mind.

Now,

that's a

fairly simple

agenda in

lots of

ways,

isn't it?

Now,

there's lots

of other

complications

as you go

along the

road,

but that's

not too

hard to

understand.

And yet,

the church

seems to have

found it

really,

really hard

to hang

on to

and be

committed

to.

See,

we look

around our

world and

there are

many,

many

organisations

who are

doing great

things,

but a

majority of

them have

to be by

virtue doing

limited

things,

because the

things they

do,

while great,

are from

the outside

in.

So,

there are

organisations

who can

draft new

laws to

correct injustices,

they can

bring in

new schedules

to address

corruption,

they can

educate people

in farming

techniques,

they can

come up

with new

processes

to tackle

hunger and

poverty,

and so on

and so

forth.

But that

will only

ever be

limited in

its effect.

By

contrast,

God's

church

is to

pursue

real

change,

lasting

change,

deep

change from

the inside

out.

A change

that will

actually,

as Jesus

said,

dismantle

the kingdom

of evil,

dismantle

the self-interested

attitudes and

thinking of

individuals and

governments.

And that

will only be

dismantled with

the word of

God,

prayerfully

spoken into

our world.

Now,

hear me very

carefully at

this point,

and this

sweeps over

the last

three or

four weeks.

Individual

Christians may

well choose

to be involved

directly in

social action

or in any

number of

organizations that

are doing good

things to

change the

structure in

society and

stuff like that.

That's perfectly

legitimate for

any believer to

be in.

But I'm saying

this morning,

it's not primarily

the role of the

church.

The role of the

church is to

have a clear

contemporary

expression of

God's living

word, calling

people back to

God, praying

for inside-out

change, and

modeling the

reality of that

gospel to change

people powerfully

in the way we

live and treat

each other.

God's agenda

is that when

we see God's

agenda like

that, it

doesn't seem as

exciting as

political activism.

Indeed, it may

not even seem to

achieve as much as

political activism.

Involvement in a

foreign aid program

can take you to

exotic places and

introduce you to a

range of wonderful

people.

But if you look

through history and

look through history

fairly, then you'll

see that it's

actually been when

the word of God

has been taken to

people, that

lasting and

substantial change

has been brought

into God's world.

world.

All right, second

point I want to

make this morning

then is that the

church family is

God's fit-for-purpose

base for his work in

the world.

I've already hinted

at it, but business

operators commonly

speak of the

importance of having

a workspace that is

fit-for-purpose,

meaning it's designed

to maximize the

success of a

particular business

venture.

Well, I want you

to hear this

morning that I'm

saying this local

church family is

God's fit-for-purpose

workspace for

building his kingdom

and his glory.

Yep, with all our

flaws, with all our

failings, with all our

insufficiencies, God

intends us and has

designed us to be a

fit-for-purpose

workspace.

It's quite

incredible, really,

just to say it like

that and think about

it for a moment.

And it's the base

for nurturing the

family in the home.

Ephesians 4 is where

we go to next.

We've dipped into

that a couple of

times over the last

few weeks.

Ephesians 4, 1-16.

Ephesians 4, 1-16.

Ephesians 4, 1-16.

It picks up there the

whole idea of us being

the body, identity, we

looked at two weeks

ago.

Our identity, our

calling, chapter 4,

verse 1, is to

demonstrate the wisdom

of God's salvation

purpose worked out in

and through local church

families like ours here

this morning.

Ephesians 4 gives the

detail of that

calling.

And essentially,

the detail is that we

are to be a gospel

revealing community.

A gospel revealing

community.

gospel is God's good

news, as Martin had

it up on the screen

for us this morning.

It's God's word.

It's God's good news

word of forgiveness

and new relationship

with God in and

through Christ.

Ongoing renewal from

the inside out by the

power of the Holy

Spirit living within

us.

So therefore, we ought

to be, as I said

last week, word,

focused.

Gospel focused.

Since every part of

God's written word,

every part of the

Bible is either

speaking about Jesus

in the future or

reflecting on Jesus

now that he's come.

We need to be word

focused.

And we are a gospel

revealing community

in that you can't

really see the gospel

except in the people

that it's taken hold

of and changed.

So we're a gospel

revealing community

in that we make the

reality of the

changing power of the

gospel visible in our

world, visible in this

community, in our local

church family here.

community.

And that community has a

particular shape in its

visibility.

It's to be marked by

holiness.

We've seen that in past

weeks.

Striving to be like our

Lord and Savior because he

is holy.

It's to be marked by

unity.

Reflecting, again,

Ephesians, reflecting the

fact that Jesus died to

remove old sin-driven

walls of hostility,

divisions, and create one

new humanity that would

live gladly and

consistently under the

Lord's rule.

A community that would be

marked by love, reflecting

the generous, committed,

self-sacrificing love we

received from God in

Jesus.

It's there in Ephesians

4.

We are to be a gospel

revealing community.

My friends, since the

local church is the body

of Christ, brought together

in such diversity, Ephesians

4, and at such great

cost, Ephesians 1, then

how can we possibly live as

disembodied Christians,

sitting loose to his died

for community?

Spiritual health ought to be

our primary desire.

And this is the compelling,

consistent display of being a

gospel revealing community.

That is our agenda.

Mark Davie, in one of his

books, says that it's very

easy to build community

without the gospel.

If we build community

without the gospel, or build

community shaped by things

other than the gospel, and

you can go and see churches

where those communities are

built by a sense of shared

need, a sense of common

cause as we look at the

world, a sense of common

desire of what we want the

world to look like.

If we have a community built

on things other than the

gospel, then we're actually in

serious spiritual ill health

and in great danger.

We need to make sure that our

community here is built on the

gospel, shaped by the gospel,

exists by the gospel and for the

gospel.

And likewise, if we claim to

believe the gospel

gospel without overflowing into a

gospel revealing community, then

we're also very unwell

spiritually and in great danger.

So it's the base for nurturing the

family in the home, but it's also

the base for equipping family

members to work from home.

We're to be a gospel revealing

community, but then at the same

time we're to be a gospel

gossiping community.

We've got a sort of double identity.

The Lord calls us out of the world.

This is John Stott's line.

The Lord calls us out of the world,

renews us, and then sends us back

into the world to be gospel

gossipers.

Again, if you look at Ephesians 4,

9 and 10, a couple of very

difficult verses in there, but I

think I just want to lift out one

thing because it's something similar

to the thoughts in Ephesians 1.

That is that he might fill all

things.

In other words, however you think of

our world or God's action within the

world, everything according to God's

purpose is to be filled by Christ.

To be filled with the Lordship of

Christ.

This local church here, 50 years now,

exists by the gospel and it exists

for the gospel because God's word is a

missionary word.

A missionary word is the way by which

God confronts people in his world and

continues to grow his kingdom, continues

to bring people into his died-for

community, his body, the church.

And so again, a proper understanding

and experience of the gospel of

salvation will overflow naturally into

proclaiming the good news of Jesus to

others.

In other words, if we understand the

gospel properly, then naturally we will

be a missional community.

We will have a missional outlook.

And through that, we'll have an incredible

impact on the world at large.

Paul's own ministry and teaching bears

this out in full.

Recently, I've been reading, rereading

actually, Paul's first letter to the

Thessalonians.

It's a wonderful letter.

I'm seeing stuff in it I've never seen

before.

I'm not sure how I read it before, but

maybe that's the nature of God's spirit

working.

But it's so chock-a-block full of gospel

community, gospel-revealing community,

gospel-gossiping community.

Because in there we see Paul's missional

heart and we see its impact on a wide

range of people.

And he says in 1 Corinthians 2 that he

didn't just share the bare words of the

gospel.

He did that.

But his missional heart overflowed that he

shared his life to go alongside those

words.

And that had a tremendous impact on those

people in Thessalonica.

Because when they became Christians, they

then started to model what Paul had modeled

to them as they understood the gospel.

And they also then became missional to a

wide range of communities beyond their

reaches.

friends, our local church here is the basis to

work from home.

That is, we ought to be naturally, not by

dint of being flogged out of guilt, but we

ought to be naturally a missional community.

We ought to be overflowing as we gossip the

gospel wherever we find ourselves.

Now, that brings us into the fraught issue of

evangelism.

And I think I'm using the word missional

instead of the word evangelism.

Because I think sometimes we use the word

evangelism these days too narrowly.

So we think of evangelism as an event where we

proclaim the message of Jesus to workmates or

through some other thing that we've

organized.

And there's real benefit in that.

Don't get me wrong.

But of itself, that would be quite limited.

Sometimes I think we opt for those

evangelistic events because they're either

a little bit easy.

That is, okay, we gear ourselves up for X

number of weeks and we run the event and

it's all over.

Sit down, down and dusted, and then we can

go back to sleep again.

Sometimes we get involved in evangelism out of

a sense of guilt.

We sense that Christians should be speaking

the gospel and, well, yeah, let's organize it

and get on with it.

We go for a bare minimum in some ways to

solve our conscience.

But those things will not exhaust what we're

called to here for our agenda is to be

missional in outlook, missional in heart.

As Christ died for our community.

We ought to be overflowing with delight in the

gospel, in the Lord Jesus.

We ought to be overflowing with desire to

gossip that gospel wherever we find ourselves,

whether at work or at sports or wherever,

buying our groceries or wherever.

I was even told this week that when I go to

Weewa, I have to go to the barbers.

I've never been to the barbers in 40 years.

Alison cuts my hair.

But I have to go to the barbers,

according to Chez, and pay 50 bucks for a haircut

because it's a gospel missional environment.

I'm still pondering that.

Chez might go halves in the cost of that.

Or when you see me at Christmas, I might have long hair.

I'm not sure.

I'll say.

I might have dreadlocks or something.

We'll say.

But we need to be missional wherever we find

ourselves, whether it's at the hairdresser or the

barber or buying or grocers or wherever.

And then we bring those two things together.

Gospel gossiping and gospel revealing.

We bring those we speak to back into our local community here

as a reinforcement of the words we're saying to them.

And I'll tell you, that is where the local church is at its best

when these two things dovetail.

In practice, you see, unbelievers are often attracted

to the attractiveness of a community.

Before they're attracted to our theology of Jesus.

They come into a place like this and they know they're desperate

for community.

They're desperate for connection.

They're desperate for hope in a hopeless world.

They're desperate for something different, something substantial.

And they may well interact with that as a community first

before they then understand the details of the source of that in Christ.

And the opposite is also true.

In my ministry experience, so many unbelievers I've come across,

their first point of rejection has not been the words of Jesus per se,

but the lack of consistency in the way they see Christians live.

So they reject that before they even start to think about the words of Jesus.

So my friends, we need to be bringing these two things together.

We need to welcome friends and family and invite them to join our community here.

And we need to do that full of confidence that our community as a unit is authentic and compelling and winsome.

And we'll actually embellish or endorse what we've been saying to our friends and workmates privately and individually.

Nothing will make our impact on society greater when those two things come together really well and really practically.

And I can say before you this morning, and I've got to finish on this then,

that it's a terrific delight to me, having been here for 23 years,

to be able to say with no hesitation at all to anybody I meet wherever,

whether it's through email or down the street,

I say, just come along.

Come and have a look.

Have a listen.

No questions asked.

Just sit, suck it in, look around,

and you'll quickly learn what we're all about.

I do that into a community that I know is well and truly sinful, like myself.

There'll be lots of failings.

But I believe this to be a gospel-revealing, gospel-gossiping community.

And for that, I'm deeply, deeply thankful.

And ultimately, my friends, I think this is a real test of how closely aligned we are to God's agenda.

Because the question then to you is,

are you happy, keen, willing, confident to invite your friends and family

and workmates and sportsmates and whoever else's mates to come along and visit?

Are you keen, to go back to the series title,

are you keen and confident and saying to your friends,

look, come along, come along to our local church for a foretaste of heaven?

What a privilege the Lord has put before us.

Let's rise to it.

Let's struggle all the more to bring these two things together,

to be a gospel-revealing community

and a gospel-gossiping, missional community.

This is God's agenda for us.

And ultimately, nothing will secure glory and honor for the Lord more.

Let me pray.

Lord, we thank you that your commissioning of us is rather simple

in terms of your agenda being very clear and precise.

that forgive us, Lord, when we've turned away from that agenda,

seeking something else of our own preference

or being squeezed by our culture.

help us, Lord, to be delighted with that notion of our impact as a church here in this community

and across the world,

being greatest through our being a gospel-revealing community,

a community of holiness, unity, and love,

word-based, gospel-focused,

Holy Spirit-dependent.

And help us, Lord, just to overflow with that

so that those who come in contact with us might be drawn in

and genuinely, through our witness,

come to know the Lord Jesus Christ

and get a foretaste of heaven.

In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.