"What's The Point" - Pt.2

Hi, this is John Ozanting, lead pastor of Evolve Church, and this is the Evolved Church Podcast.

Thanks so much for tuning in.

We hope that you find today's message encouraging and full of hope for wherever you're at.

I've struggled with the word church as a Jesus follower.

And I've been following Jesus a long time.

But I've struggled with the word church because of what it means for so many different people and what it doesn't mean for a lot of people.

Last week we talked a little bit about this that if you walk up to any person and be like, talk to me, the church, what does that mean to you?

You're probably gonna get a myriad of perspectives.

And it's gonna be infused with feelings of maybe history or past or family.

Um there might be nuance of disappointment and hurt mixed into that definition of church.

And in the world that we live in, there there are many people when it comes to church, their opinion is simply this what's the point?

I just don't see the point.

Uh I I used to go to church, but I don't go to church anymore because I just don't see the point.

And so we're gonna define, we're gonna take a few weeks.

We started last week.

If you weren't here last week, that's cool.

I'm gonna actually do a quick review, but I want to encourage you, um, if you have time this week, 30 minutes, to just lean into our audio podcast, and you can actually listen to last week's message wherever you listen to podcasts or on our website, evolvechurch.com.

But we started last week um by defining church out of the urban dictionary, urbandictionary.com.

Anybody ever looked up your name or something else in urbandictionary.com?

Show of hands, don't be shy.

Lots of you have love it.

I typed the word church into urbandictionary.com.

And here's what I found church, another word for prison.

The other day I got sentenced to every Sunday at church until I move out of my parents' house.

Hashtag next definition church, the best cure for insomnia.

Can't sleep, go to church.

Hashtag church, hashtag sleep, hashtag boring, hashtag insomnia, hashtag religion.

Church.

Can I get an amen?

Hallelujah.

We don't talk that way here.

Church.

A place people go to several times a week so they can feel good about themselves for being brainwashed into giving a percentage of their hard-earned paycheck to the invisible man upstairs that pays no taxes yet never has enough money.

Church.

Do you like my outfit?

Yeah?

Whatever.

And the last one, which I think was my favorite, I mean there were lots, I just picked these four.

Church.

That thing with the stuff where they tell all those lies.

At church, they told me that Jesus can walk on water, and I told them that Chuck Norris can walk on Jesus.

Hashtag Jesus, hashtag Chuck Norris, hashtag chupacapra, hashtag Taco Bell.

I can't make this stuff up.

This is all out there in the internet.

So last week we asked a big question: what is church to you?

And I was encouraged kind of a few times throughout the week, um, a few people's social media posts and just kind of putting putting that question out there for their community, for their connection, for their network.

And we defined church last week.

We told a little bit of a history lesson.

I'm not going to retell that, but I want to encourage you to go back and listen to it.

How how and why we use the word church, and what was meant to be something organic and beautiful and relational and vibrant and moving turned into something that was institutionalized and governed and ruled.

And that was not what was in Jesus' heart.

We looked at a passage from the book of Matthew in in the second half of the Bible, and the very first time the word church appears in our Christian Bible, we looked at that and how powerful it was and what it meant.

But basically, we we use the word church today, which comes from a German word, kirka, and we talked about how that is actually not what is meant when we're when we use the word church.

What is supposed to have its roots and its origin in is a Greek word.

This is this is as deep as it gets, people.

The Greek word ekklesia is the word that Jesus used when he said church.

He actually spoke a word ekklesia, and and he was talking about a purposeful, often powerful gathering of people that were united by identity and united by purpose.

And it was this missional thing, and I quoted Andy Stanley from his book, Deep and Wide.

You can lock the doors of a kirche, not so with the ecclesia of Jesus.

You can't lock the doors on what church is meant to be, because it's meant to be living, breathing, vibrant, moving out, purposeful, united.

Okay, are you with me?

We talked a little bit about how the church has always been meant to gather together and then to scatter out.

And a healthy church expression always involves gathering and scattering and gathering and scattering and scattering and gathering.

And the truth is, most people in the Western world, in the nation of Canada where we live, in North America, when you say church, people automatically think of a place that they go to on a day in the week.

They don't think of a life that they live out 24-7, wherever they're at.

They don't think of a mission and a movement that they're attached to.

They don't think of a unified purpose as imperfect as we are, united, we're here to kind of fulfill the mandate of Jesus.

And so at the end of last week, I said, How are we allowing this experience of being together to shape and bring life to how we scatter?

We gather.

Why do we gather?

So that it can cause us to step out and scatter out with the mission and the movement that Jesus has invited us into.

And then we call it quits.

But that's where I want to pick up today because every great action story begins with defining the mission.

How we scatter out with the mission and the movement of what Jesus had in his heart for the church is really important.

And then it's on us to uh, as I was thinking through this, I thought of like Ethan Hunt, um, Tom Cruise.

Anybody seen um Mission Impossible movies?

Right?

They all kind of start in a similar format, and uh there's like a secret coded message, and uh he gets this message and he's in a booth or he's in a telephone booth or a or a vehicle or something, and he gets this coded message, and the coded message always says the same thing.

What does it say?

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, right?

And then the self-destruct, and you know, if any members of your IM force would be captured, you know, disavowed, blah, blah, blah, all that other stuff.

But your mission, should you choose to accept it?

And so as we talk about mission and movement today and what Jesus meant by that, underlying that for each one of us in the room is am I going to accept this mission?

Am I gonna choose it?

I've I've been following Jesus for my entire life, but I actually love going to church on Sundays.

It's quite convenient.

I get up, I feel good, I go to church, and then I just live however I want the rest of the week.

I don't have to worry about it much.

But then I go back to church, and so I'm not sure I'm gonna accept this mission if it means I'm gonna have to live something out more than just on Sunday mornings, John O.

And I'm okay with that if that's how you're feeling.

Other people in the room are like, I don't even know if I want to follow Jesus.

I barely know anything about the guy.

My friend just dragged me here.

And and if you're not in a place where you're following Jesus yet, I just want to tell you that's okay, but it doesn't disqualify you from being a part of the mission and the movement that we're gonna talk about today.

Because um, our story, the story of Jesus' ecclesia, is one of action.

It's a story of purpose, it's a story of mission.

So, the big question I have for you today what is the mission and the movement of Jesus' ecclesia that we've been invited into?

If we gather together to learn and grow and hang out and build relationships and do life in community and build friendship and serve, and then we scatter.

Why do we scatter?

We scatter for the mission, then what does that mean?

So that's what we're gonna talk about today.

What is the mission and the movement of Jesus' ecclesia?

This purpose-filled, passionate, motivated, inspired, active, out there, crazy group of people.

You and me, baby.

Come on, let's get nuts.

There's two um, there's two greats I want to start with, and this is Christian talk, this is church talk.

And if you grew up in church, maybe you heard both of these.

And if you didn't, it might be brand new, but I'm gonna help you understand it.

The two greats are this Great Commission, Great Commandment.

Everybody say great commission.

Great commandment.

And they come right from Jesus' heart, and they pretty much define the mission and the movement of Jesus' ecclesia.

Okay?

The uh the Great Commission, we read about it in the book of Matthew, Matthew 28, verses 16 to 20.

Matthew 28:16–20

I'm reading from the Message Translation.

If you have a Bible, follow along, if not, it's on the on the screen behind me.

Meanwhile, the eleven disciples were on their way to Galilee.

This is after Jesus had died, and this is after Jesus had been buried, and this is after Jesus uh rose from the dead, eyewitnessed um by Romans, by Jews, by Gentiles, hundreds of people bore witness to Jesus alive after he had been crucified at the hands of the Romans, and the Romans knew how to crucify people.

So Jesus had set for a reunion with his disciples in Galilee, and the disciples are on their way.

And I pick up, it says, The moment they saw Jesus, they worshiped him.

Some though held back, hesitant, not sure about worshiping Jesus, about surrendering, about risking themselves totally.

After all, he was dead, but now he's alive.

What is going on?

Okay, that's the reference, that's the inference here.

Verse 18, Jesus undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge.

Here's what Jesus said God authorized and commanded me to commission you.

Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and then instruct them in the practice of all I've commanded you.

I'll be with you as you do this, day after day, right up to the end of the age.

Notice Jesus says, Go out and train everybody you meet.

Go out, scatter.

And then Jesus says, then instruct them in practice, gather.

And then go out, scatter, and then instruct and gather.

At Jesus' heart with the Great Commission, it's connected to Jesus' heart for what we call the Great Commandment.

And you don't have to memorize this.

Um, this is just to kind of set up what I want to talk about today.

But in Matthew 22, um, there's a story about Jesus and some religious leaders who were trying to trick him and best him and kind of put Jesus in his place.

And so the Pharisees heard how Jesus had bested the Sadducees and they gathered their forces for an assault against Jesus.

One of their religious scholars spoke for them, posing a question that he hoped would show up Jesus.

He's hoping to like trick Jesus.

He says, Teacher, which command in God's law is the most important?

To preference this, this is a Jewish man asking another Jewish man about which commandment is the most important.

And if you know anything about Judaism, they have hundreds of commandments.

Hundreds that they lived by.

And if you were a good Jewish person, you would abide by hundreds of commandments.

And so this Jewish leader is trying to trick Jesus, trying to get him to say something to get him in trouble.

And here's Jesus' response, which which we call the Great Commandment.

Jesus says, Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and your intelligence.

I love that.

This is the most important and the first on any list, but there's a second to set alongside it, not behind it, right beside it.

Love others as well as you love yourself.

These two commands are pegs.

Everything in God's law and the prophets hang on.

So the Great Commission: go out, scatter, tell people about Jesus.

You've you carry something that other people need.

And there's a way that it's been done for years that kind of makes us step back and feel a little bit leery.

Like, I don't want to be a Jesus freak.

I don't want to have that rap.

I don't want to be the person that we see downtown on a street corner, like with that placard.

We saw him again this week, and man, it was everything within me not to jump out and take him out for lunch.

Um, because because that's what we think.

We think of sharing our faith that we have to be we have to be weird and we have to be out there and that we have to have a bad reputation.

Um, but but it's it's within each one of us that carry the essence of Jesus to share what we have with other people, and how we do that is by loving God big and right alongside loving people the same way we love ourselves.

Great commandment, great commission.

So, big question what's the mission, the movement of Jesus' ecclesia that we've been invited into?

In other words, what's the point?

If we're meant to not go to church but be church, that's new language for me, John.

Oh, I'm willing to work with you, but still, what's the point?

Here's our mission.

Here's our why.

To grow a community built on the hope of Jesus while living lives that share his extraordinary love.

That's our why.

So it's not about read your Bible, pray every day, and you'll grow, grow, grow.

Well, if if you interpret it that way and that's important to you, go for it.

But there isn't a like checklist have to do, except for grow community founded and built on the hope of Jesus, and live lives that share his extraordinary love.

Grow community built on the hope of Jesus, gather together, and then live lives that share his extraordinary love, scatter.

That sentence is the mission statement of Evolved Church.

That's our unpacking of Great Commission and Great Commandment.

We merge Great Commission and Great Commandment together to say, as a community, we're gonna we're gonna build something that's rooted on the hope of Jesus while we all live out lives that just share his extraordinary love.

And so, how are we gonna do that?

Now we know why we do it, how are we gonna do that?

And that's what I want to close with today.

How do we grow a community built on the hope of Jesus while living lives that share Jesus' extraordinary love?

And we put it this way by helping every person feel like they belong, find hope in Jesus, grow in their journey, and become someone who helps others to do the same.

That's how we do it.

It's through a place of belonging, it's through a culture of hope, it's through an opportunity to grow, and it's through an open hand to invite other people into that journey with us.

This is actually the vision statement of Evolve Church.

Maybe you've read it on a website or somewhere, our website, hopefully.

Um, by helping every person feel like they belong, find hope in Jesus, grow in their journey, and become someone who helps others to do the same.

So I've got three questions as we wrap up today.

Number one, how are you helping other people feel like they belong?

How are you helping other people feel like they belong to something?

You personally, not you collectively, but you personally.

How are you doing this?

And already I can feel the tension in the room because of the people in the room that are like, hey dude, I'm not a Jesus follower.

It's not my place to help other people feel like they belong.

I disagree.

And I've got the mic.

And in the room, the tension also feels like this.

It feels like this, like, if you knew what was going on inside of me and what I struggle with, you would never trust me to help other people.

If you knew my brokenness, if you knew my fill-in-the-blank, you've disqualified yourself already from having a vital place in helping other people feel like they belong.

And to you I say, stop it.

We love Philippians chapter 1, verse 27 in the message translation.

Philippians 1:27

This is like I love this verse.

Meanwhile, just live in such a way that you're a credit to the message of Christ Jesus.

That's not so hard.

We could all do that, even if you're not following Jesus.

You could be inspired by how he loved, how he was a servant leader, how he how he elevated and valued people that nobody else did.

Jesus fostered a sense of belonging for other people everywhere that he went.

It was in his DNA, it was in his core.

The initial come follow me invitation to strangers, like 12 people that he never hung out with.

It was like, let's do life together.

If that doesn't create belonging, I don't know what does.

Despise people, tax collectors, Samaritans, Gentiles, Jesus always made room for them, always found a place for them at his table, or invited himself to their table.

He he fostered belonging everywhere Jesus went, alienated people, sick people, diseased people, crippled people.

Jesus went after, pursued, brought healing, brought life, created belonging everywhere Jesus went.

It was who he was.

And so my first question for us today how are you helping others feel like they belong?

Because belonging begins with you.

And what's easier is for me to go, but actually, you're supposed to help me feel like I belong.

That's why I came here.

Then just flip it around for me.

Choose to be someone of purpose, choose to be someone on mission, in movement, choose to contribute to this sucker rather than just pull out of it.

Because faith in Jesus is not a consumerism religion.

It isn't about what we're getting out of it.

And I've discovered in beautiful ways the more I pour out, the fuller I feel.

I feel that way with relationships, I feel that way with time, I feel that way with money.

The more I pour out, the greater things are.

Belonging starts with you.

Don't make me start saying names because I'll go around the room.

I'm gonna, I'll do it.

Belonging starts with you.

Don't be blinded by your own lack or your own inner struggle or your own insecurity.

Belonging begins with you.

So, how are you helping other people feel like they belong?

Here and out there.

Number two, second question: how are you helping others find hope in Jesus?

Man, people are people get scared when we use the name Jesus.

Unless we're swearing, right?

Unless we're swearing, right?

Then they're then they're like, yeah.

But if we talk about a man from the first century who lived and served and loved and died, if we talk about Jesus, people are okay talking about God.

Because then they can like superimpose whatever they believe to be true about God.

But as soon as you bring Jesus into the picture, people are like, oh Jesus.

Right?

You know what I'm talking about?

That's because we're too pushy.

I gotta say it.

It's because we're too weird.

And and the Bible calls us peculiar people set apart, but don't let that be an excuse to get weird.

Because too often, what I've discovered is that well-meaning Jesus followers, they're always trying to teach people out of their pain.

Oh, they meet somebody who's heard, and they're like, I've got an answer for you! His name's Jesus.

And that person doesn't need to hear that.

They just need to know that you see them and that you look in the whites of their eyes, and that you're willing to journey with that person through their pain.

Not teach them out of it, just walk with them.

How are you helping others find hope in Jesus?

It begins by not trying to muscle or teach people out of their pain.

Let's not be in a hurry with people.

Done are the days of like repent or go to hell.

Done.

Can we just call it finished?

Jesus' church has to be famous by what we're for, not by what we're against.

And that begins with us knowing the difference between making conversions, turn or burn.

Or making disciples.

Because we're called to make disciples.

Not to like convert people, but to journey, walk with people, whatever they're going through, to do life with them, to do it well.

Be a credit to who Jesus was by how you love, by how you create time, by how you share meals, by how you serve people.

Let's not be in a hurry.

Let's take our time with others who are on a journey of finding hope in Jesus.

Take your time, baby.

Be patient.

How are you helping them feel like they belong?

How are you helping them find hope in Jesus?

Lastly, how are you helping others grow in their journey?

I haven't done this yet, but I'm gonna do a little like room.

Participation project.

So if you're like an introvert, this is gonna be really uncomfortable for you.

Just saying, giving you a heads up.

Alright, show of hands when you're ready.

Show of hands when you're ready.

Everybody, who's ready for room participation?

I'm I'm just gonna wait.

Show of hands if you're ready.

I'll just wait till every hand is up.

Come on, Greg.

Oh, you think I can't see you up there?

Like, uh, no, no.

So I'm gonna ask three questions.

And then I want you to just indicate a yes by raising your hand or a no by keeping your hand down.

Here we go.

Who in this room, by show of hands, would say that you have some friends?

Gary, that's offensive to me.

That's like a majority.

I'm gonna put it at like a 92%.

That's good.

Okay.

Next question.

Here's where it gets deep.

Are you ready?

Okay.

Who in this room by show of hands would say that you have a mentor?

All right.

It's a lot less hands.

But that's good.

Thank you for participating.

I have one final question.

Who in this room by show of hands would say that you are a mentor to somebody else?

Beautiful, even more.

It's that last question.

Actually, I want to get the percentage up.

It's that last question.

Who in this room would say that I'm a mentor to somebody?

I have something in me to give.

Not of my own strength or my own intelligence or my own worth, but because I know Jesus is and I know how he's transformed my life.

And so that gives me credit to serve him well by helping other people grow in their journey.

If I had a goal with today's message, it would simply be this 100% of the people in the room would feel like through Jesus, you have value to help other people grow in their journey.

You have value to help people grow.

You have value to mentor others.

And in life, it's usually the majority of the like, of course I've got some friends.

And then there's some people who are like intelligent enough to go after finding a mentor.

And I believe that's really valuable.

Find people who are further along the season than you are, right?

If you're at, you know, in in uh premarriage counseling, when I work with couples who are preparing to get married, I always talk about this.

I'm like, tell me who your friends are.

Tell me about your friends.

And then I'm like, who are your mentors?

And it's usually like cricket, cricket, cricket.

Right.

And I just think, man, with your marriage, find a married couple who's been married 10 years or further along the journey and just like ask them over for dinner, ask them out for breakfast, pursue that relationship because they've got something to deposit in you.

Go after it.

But the third one is as important, if not the most important, because our great commission, connected to our great commandment, loving God, loving others as we love ourselves, and going out there and scattering to share about Jesus and gathering to teach people about Jesus, is connected to do I have inside of me a deep sense of worth that Jesus calls me his sibling, brother, sister, co-heirs?

That's what the Bible says, joint heirs with Christ.

All that we need, all that's been given to us is not for us to just hang on to.

It's to it's meant to be poured out to give into other people.

So that's my last and final question.

How are you helping others grow in the journey?

You personally?

How are you fostering a sense of belonging for other people?

How are you creating environments where people can find hope in Jesus in your life, in your spaces wherever you do life, and how are you helping people grow?

So, what's the mission and the movement of Jesus' ecclesia that we've been invited into?

It's to grow a community built on the hope of Jesus to gather, while living lives that share his extraordinary love, scatter.

And how do we do that?

Well, we do that by growing a community built on the hope of Jesus by helping every person feel like they belong.

Find hope in Jesus, grow in their journey, become someone who helps others do the same.

By helping every person feel like they belong.

And I'm gonna say every person helping every person feel like they belong.

And every person helping every person find hope in Jesus, and every person helping every person grow in their journey, and every person being committed to being that kind of person all the time.

You're not missing anything, you're not lacking anything, you're not lacking education, you're not lacking uh spiritual wisdom, you're not lacking um, you know, years in the trench, right?

You, you, right, you, right where you are, you as you are, as Jesus created you to be, everything he's placed, you right now, have what it takes to help others belong, find hope, and grow in the journey.

That's our mission, that's our movement, that's our why.

So when people ask you, what's the point?

Why do you go to church?

You can just say, I don't, I don't go to church.

That's what I do.

I love that answer.

It's my favorite answer.

When people are like, What do you do for work?

I'm like, I'm a pastor.

And they're like, I don't go to church, I don't either.

I'm not a religious person, me either.

And then they're like, wait a sec, didn't you just say you're a pastor?

I'm like, yes.

But then they go, how does it work?

What is the book?

I don't go to church.

I am church everywhere I go.

And I'm not that way just because I'm a pastor.

Because some of you like, yeah, but you're a pastor.

I heard I heard it in the room.

I heard some of the yeah, but you're a pastor.

I'm that way because I follow Jesus.

And I love following Jesus, and I want to keep following Jesus, and I want to learn about following Jesus.

And so it's this mandate, this mission, this movement for every single one of us.

That's our purpose, that's our call, that's our why.

Help others feel like they belong, help others find hope in Jesus.

Take your time.

Don't be weird, don't be in a hurry.

And then lastly, help them grow in their journey.

Let's pray.

God, thanks so much for what we could lean into today.

Kind of this church talk, great commission, great commandment.

Got reading words that Jesus spoke in the first century, that his disciples cared enough to write down, that became our Christian Bible that could speak to our hearts today.

Not out of religion, not out of rote, not out of something we grew up with, but out of a sincere desire to be on point and on mission, a part of the movement of Ecclesia.

God, we want done done are the days in our life where we just go to church because we feel guilty or obligated, or grandma will be disappointed if we don't.

Done are those days, God.

Today begins a new day where we choose to be a valuable contributor to Ecclesia, what was in your heart, what you are building on planet Earth, what you are inviting us to be a part of.

And so, with great commission and great commandment in our heart, we choose to be the kind of people who rest in the knowledge that you've called us your own.

We are a redeemed and paid for community.

We are not undeserving, we are not disqualified, we are not invaluable, we are not broken.

You've called us whole.

You've called us restored.

You've called us forgiven.

And then the list goes on and on and on.

And then not only do you call us those things, but you invite us to be a part of your story by helping every person feel like they belong, find hope in Jesus, and grow in their journey.

That's who we want to be, that's how we want to live.

Not just something we want to do or go to on Sunday morning.

God, right now I just sense you're kind of healing uh hearts in the room.

Mind, thought, will, emotion.

People that have disqualified themselves from being valuable contributors to your church.

For whatever reason.

God, you're drawing them closer, you're pulling them in.

Thank you, Father.

Thank you, God.

Would you mind just closing your eyes with me and I'm a little bit caught up in this moment because I just sense God's change in some people's belief systems today.

You're seeing with fresh eyes that to follow Jesus isn't a religious obligation, but a mission and a movement and a purpose that we get to be a part of.

And day in, day out, week in, week out, month in, month out, year in, year out, there's nothing that we could say or do to ever disqualify us from being a part of that.

So, God, by your Holy Spirit, as you're touching lives today, I just ask that you would continue to draw the best out of us as we fix our hope on you, as we discover our place of belonging, as we grow in our journey, that we wouldn't stay there, that we would become someone who always commits to helping others do the same.

Just in the quiet of this moment, all across this room, from the floor to the middle to the top, if you're in this space today and you've never made a decision to personally follow Jesus, to pursue an intimate personal relationship with a living God.

I want to pray a prayer in the minute in a moment, just out loud altogether with everybody in the room, but I want to include you in that prayer.

If there's if you feel like maybe it it you would interpret it as a stirring in your heart or a sense in your gut, a longing for something, I just know that the presence of God here is patient and is drawing you into relationship, not religion, not obligation, not checklists, relationship.

Love.

God is drawing someone here.

So we're gonna pray a simple prayer.

And if that's you, I want to encourage you to just pray it out loud.

We're all gonna be saying it.

You won't stand out, I promise.

A prayer of faith where you believe something so strongly in your heart that you want to just say it out loud with your mouth.

And so you just have to repeat after me, say, Dear God, thank you for sending Jesus to cover me, to take my place, to set things right once and for all between you and I.

I receive that gift, not on my own earning, but by faith, in love, come into my life, every part, would you fill me up with your hope, your purpose and strength, and with your spirit?

I ask in Jesus' name.

Thank you so much for listening to today's message.

If you're ever in the Edmonton area, pop by for a visit.

And if you need any more information, visit Evolvechurch.com.

We hope to see you soon.