How We Help People Follow Jesus | Pastor Chip Parker

Legendary NFL football coach Vince Lombardi, the guy who is so legendary that the Super Bowl trophy is named after him, is famous for a lot of things when it comes to coaching.

But my favorite story of Vince Lombardi is how one day during a locker room speech, he holds up a football in front of this room full of professional football players and tells them, gentlemen, this is a football.

And he doesn't tell them, gentlemen, this is a football because they were oblivious to the fact that this was indeed a football.

He didn't say it because they were all idiots and had no idea what a football was or what it looked like.

He did it as a way to emphasize the importance of fundamentals, the importance of being on the same page with the most important things, those things that are basic and essential to who we are and what we do.

And so, what I want to do today is take a few minutes to do that same thing for the orchard.

I want to give us a few minutes to just kind of pause and look at those fundamental things that make the orchard the orchard.

What are those things that are essential to who we are, what we do, and how we do it here at our church?

And I think to get there, we have to understand that the orchard is different as a church, primarily because we are a church that focuses on people and process, not programs.

When you think about a church that's focused on programs, you think about churches that have a million different programs, a million different ministries, something for everybody, and those aren't bad things.

But at the orchard, we wanted to do it a little bit differently.

Instead of being focused on all of these different programs that you can pick and choose just like you do at a buffet, we wanted to be focused on the people who attend and helping move them through a process of spiritual transformation.

Because we believe that spiritual transformation is the most important thing that we can help you with as a church.

As followers of Jesus, our goal, our striving, our effort is to work and live in such a way that we would be transformed into the image of Jesus.

As a matter of fact, I want to start by looking at one verse with you this morning.

If you got your Bibles, go with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 3.

2 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

In 2 Corinthians chapter 3, Paul is shifting his letter to the Corinthian church and he's reminding them of Moses.

2 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

Moses, the most famous prophet in the Old Testament, who led the nation of Israel through the wilderness toward the promised land, the prophet who saw the Lord face to face, who spoke with him and then spoke to the people on behalf of God.

And he calls back, Paul does, to the time that Moses beheld the glory of God, and it changed him physically so radically that when he came down from the mountain of seeing God's glory, he had to put a veil or a covering over his face because his face had been changed to where it shone brightly.

And so, kind of alluding to that moment in the Old Testament, Paul says this in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 18.

2 Corinthians 3:18

He says, Now we all with unveiled faces are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory.

This is from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Why?

Because we can never encounter God and remain unchanged.

Let me say that one more time.

We can never encounter God and remain unchanged.

Beholding his glory affects in us a transformation as we are changed into his likeness.

And that transformation is brought about through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

And that transformation looks like us being changed into his image.

That's the goal of who we are and what we do here at the orchard.

That we would be transformed.

That we would have this spiritual transformation as we are changed into the image of Jesus.

Now, when we think about that word transformation, that word transformation, you know, does have that idea of yes, we're going to look different, not just physically, but we're going to look different inwardly.

And something else that's really interesting when you look at this word in verse 18 is it's not just that we are transformed into the same image.

Paul says that we are being transformed into the same image.

So two things there.

Number one, we are being transformed, which means that it is the Lord Himself that is working to bring about this transformation.

And number two, that this transformation is an ongoing, here it is, process.

It is an ongoing process by which we are changed into the image of Jesus.

We are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory.

It is an ongoing process.

It's not a one-shot affair.

We are transformed into the likeness of Jesus with ever-increasing glory.

That's what the phrase there is, from glory to glory.

The phrase denotes this idea that there is a glory, a splendor, a radiance that grows steadily within us and doesn't fade away in contrast to the glory that was shown on Moses.

So we want to put that in simple terms here at the Orchard.

And when we say this spiritual transformation that we want to experience, I think the idea that we have to think about in terms of our church is this: we want to help people experience this transformation and help them experience this transformation as they follow Jesus.

As you follow Jesus as a church, we want to help you find this transformation that Paul talks about.

We want to help you experience this transformation.

Now, here's the thing.

Some of us start at point B, C, M, N, L O P.

You know, we we start all different places, but here's the thing everybody starts somewhere.

And so when Pastor Eddie founded the orchard, he had this idea in his head.

And so he said, at the orchard, we want to be a church that exists for those who are starting at a place where they are unconvinced.

They're not sure what they believe, they're not sure why they believe it.

They have questions, they have doubts, but they are engaging with faith trying to find answers.

And so at the orchard, we want to be a place for people who are unconvinced.

You don't have to agree with everything I say, with everything Pastor Robert, Pastor Matt, Pastor Eddie says.

We want you to come here, even if you're just asking questions and exploring these.

We want to be a place for the unconvinced.

But there are a lot of people who are here today when the first time you walked in these doors, you weren't unconvinced.

You knew Jesus, you trusted him as Savior, but you were unconnected.

That's where a lot of people in our area start.

They're unconnected because they have not found a church home.

Maybe they have at one time, but there was something that happened.

They experienced church hurt, they fell out.

Maybe you're just new to the community, you haven't put down those roots yet.

Maybe it's just that life got busy, travel ball was fun, and you had a boat, and it kept you from getting connected in a local community.

And so your starting point isn't that you're unconvinced, you're just unconnected.

Or I think for others, you might not be unconvinced or unconnected, but you are unfinished.

We're all unfinished.

We are all in the place that we still need to be transformed.

We need to be formed spiritually.

We need to be transformed spiritually.

And so those are the three, if you will, starting realities that we see people come into the orchard at.

So what do we want to do as a church?

We want to help you follow Jesus so that you move from that starting reality where everybody's somewhere to what we're going to say is a formation outcome.

Right?

We talk about spiritual formation all the time at the orchard.

As we are transformed into the image of Jesus, we have these formation outcomes.

We want to see everybody, no matter where they started, especially those who were unconvinced, we want to see them come to a place where they are now not just convinced, but equipped.

They are equipped where they know God's word, they believe its truth, and they are so confident in it that they can share it and talk about it.

Not just from unconvinced to convinced, but unconvinced to equipped.

We want to see those who are unconnected find connection.

We want to see them get to that formation outcome of being connected where they live life in community with others.

Look at me.

The Christian life is hard.

It's almost impossible when you're living it in isolation.

We need each other.

We are called to be the church for each other.

We did a whole series called One Another's that explain the importance of this.

And then finally, not that we are ever finished, but we do want to be formed.

Right?

We need to continually be shaped, continually be refined, but we want us, uh we want ourselves to be formed so that we look like Jesus, we live like Jesus, we act like Jesus.

And so we have those starting realities of unconvinced, unconnected, unfinished.

Then we have the formation outcomes of equipped, connected, and formed.

The question is, how do we get from here to here?

How do we get from where we start to the outcomes we want to see?

That's where at the orchard we have four main growth environments.

Environments that we as a church work to provide to you because we believe in these environments you can grow into these formation outcomes.

Those growth environments are first worship.

That's where you are right now.

We want Sunday morning to be the best hour of your week.

Where you come and you worship, you connect, you visit, you hear teaching from God's Word, you are changed.

We want worship to be the best hour of the week, but look, we don't want it to be the only hour of the week.

And the truth is, the vast majority of people who call the orchard home never move beyond that growth environment of worship.

You're here, it's all you see, it's all you know.

Don't get me wrong, we want you here, but let me tell you, what makes the orchard such an amazing place is that there's so much more to it than you ever see.

So what we want to do is help you walk through that door from worship into the other environments that help us grow quickly.

Those environments are number one, groups.

We are all in on groups.

Maybe they meet at the house, maybe they meet at group night here at the church, maybe it's you and two or three others at Panera.

It doesn't matter.

We believe that when we get in community around life transformation, around spiritual formation, we begin to mature into the image of Jesus.

Iron sharpening iron, doing life with others.

We are following Jesus together.

If you're not in a group, you're missing out on one of the big things we do as a church to help you grow.

Secondly, not just do we want you in a group, but we want you to find a place to serve.

Now, maybe that place to serve is here on a Sunday at the orchard in kids' ministry, first impressions, media, whatever, but it doesn't have to be because the point isn't that we just want you to volunteer at the church.

We want you to find a place to serve.

We do not grow spiritually in the way that God intends until we find our gifting and calling and begin to serve in that manner.

We are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

And then finally, another growth environment that probably as my fault, we don't talk about enough, is the growth environment of giving.

See, giving is a growth environment.

And when I say giving, be very clear.

Yes, I mean finances, but I mean so much more than that.

I mean giving of your time, your energy, your emotional bandwidth, your talent, your treasure, all of those things, because we know that we will never grow to where Jesus wants us to be spiritually while we hold tightly to everything that He's given to us.

We're only gonna grow when we begin to partner together through generosity.

And so when we ask you to give in the offering box or on dollar offering Sundays or to support mission or community projects, we're not just doing that because we want to raise funds.

We're doing that because we believe that your heart is going to follow your treasure and that if you will partner in generosity with others, with your treasure, with your time, with your resources, then you're gonna see yourself grow in a whole new way.

So what we believe is this very simply, no matter where you start, whether you're unconvinced, unconnected, or unfinished, if you will find a way to plug into those four growth environments, worship groups, serving and giving, that we as a church can help you reach those formation outcomes of being equipped, being connected, and being formed.

And here's what I believe.

When we have people who are equipped, connected, and formed, that's when we start seeing informal missionaries take the field.

And informal missionaries taking the field are not just those people who are called vocationally to move across the world and to do something in a country where we don't know the language.

No, it's people every single day living intentionally on mission for Jesus right where they are.

There are those informal missionaries who invest in intentional relationships with others, who invite them to faith, to church through intentional conversations, who share the gospel and their own story of their life being changed by Jesus, and then they sacrifice laying down their preferences, their desires to open that door even wider so that more and more people come in.

And when we release a army of informal missionaries into North Central Florida, that's when we begin to impact lostness.

That's who we are at the orchard.

That's what we feel that God's called us to do.

And now hopefully you understand how God has called us to do it.

Maybe a couple questions that pop in your head or Chip, well, what about uh, you know, kids and students, where do they fit in?

What if I told you that we have the same process for spiritual formation in our kids and students as we do with our adults?

Because our kids on Sunday morning they experience worship, they experience small groups.

We try to find small ways for them to serve.

Same with students on Wednesday night, worship in groups.

You may say, well, Chip, how come we don't have, you know, a ministry for women or men or seniors or whatever at the orchard?

Because we don't do ministries at the orchard.

We have groups.

And you say, well, Chip, what is the difference between groups and ministries?

Let me put it to you like this.

I think ministries are where you expect the church to do something for you and you get to show up and just take it all in.

Groups are where we want to equip you to be the church and do that for others.

That's why groups are so important to us.

We don't want to just be a come and see church.

We want to be a go-and-do church.

And so our job is not to do all the things, our job is to equip you that you would be equipped, connected, and formed so that you can invest, invite, share, and sacrifice, and we can see lostness impacted in our region.

And I tell you what, I am so thankful to be able to be a part of this church, to be entrusted to lead this church, and I truly believe that our best days are before us, and we are building on the shoulders of giants who have laid a great foundation over these last 18 years, and it's time for us to take the next step forward into the next era of the orchard.

Let me pray for you.

God, thanks for this time that you've given us just to remember who we are and what we've been called to.

God, thank you for this place called the Orchard and what it means to each of us who call it home.

God, I know we're a church that's a little bit different.

And as bad as I wish we were, I understand that sometimes we're just not a church for everybody.

But God, I thank you for those who've called this place home.

Who've put down roots and said, man, I don't like everything those guys do, but I love why they do it.

I want to impact lostness too.

God, I pray that you would raise up an army of informal missionaries here at the orchard, that we would see lostness impacted in this area, that we would see eternity different because of how we live and how we do church.

God, we ask that you would continue to use us, not for my name, not for the name of the orchard, not for the name of anyone in this room, but for the name of Jesus, that he might receive all the glory because he alone is the one to whom it is due.

It's in his name we pray.

Amen.