It Is Time to Restructure Our Lives, Part 1

IT IS TIME TO RESTRUCTURE OUR LIVES, PART 1

By Pastor Brian Wilbur

Date: July 26, 2020

Series: Missional Home Groups

Note: Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

 

What follows is an edited transcript of the July 26 sermon.

 

INTRODUCTION

Let’s pray.

Father, I am weak, but you are strong. You work mightily in our lives through your holy Word. Father, I pray that your Word would go forth this morning and stir our hearts, and transform our lives, and bring us more fully into your purpose and your plan for us as a church family. Father, I pray that your Holy Spirit would illuminate our hearts, and give us understanding, and compel us unto obedience. In Jesus’ name, amen.

So, the title of this sermon is, “It Is Time to Restructure Our Lives, Part 1.” And there is an intentionality to that sermon title. Obviously, to say that we ought to restructure our lives is pointing to something outward, relational, and visible in terms of how we are doing life. I realize, though, that restructuring our lives is of very little value if it's not flowing out of a restructuring and a renewing of our hearts. There has to be internal transformation that leads to the outward, visible transformation. And yet, I want to put that outward and visible transformation front and center, because inward transformation should lead to that – and so I say that it is time to restructure our lives. 

I believe that we are in one of those unique moments in life when we have an opportunity to be reset in the things of God. Now, as I'm walking through this message, you might be tempted to think that this is a knee-jerk reaction to the last four months, but I want to assure you that it is not. In fact, for me this sermon is really the product of the last twenty-one years – twenty-one years of learning, reflecting, observing, experiencing. All of that is funneled into this particular sermon.

I also want to say that almost everything I say in this sermon, I've said in other sermons here at South Paris Baptist Church over the last two and a half years. There's hardly anything new here. And if I get around to it, I might link back to those sermons, so you can see that – because today's sermon is somewhat topical in nature, but it all flows out of the biblical exposition that we have been doing over the last two and a half years.

REAL STRENGTHS AND SIGNIFICANT WEAKNESSES

Now a couple of weeks ago, we walked through Revelation 2-3. And what Jesus often did as he was addressing the churches, is that he would call attention to the good qualities that he observed in the churches. And then he would call attention to the significant weaknesses that those churches had. And he called those churches to repentance. The apostle Paul did the same thing: he wrote some very difficult and challenging things in his letters as he was calling the churches to greater obedience and faithfulness – and with one exception, he always began his letters with thanksgiving to God for how he saw God at work in the life of that church.

And so, I want to start off that way in this particular sermon. I want to highlight some of our strengths, and then I want to highlight some of our significant weaknesses. That will be the segue into the message of the hour.

Strengths

As I see it, here are some of the strengths of South Paris Baptist Church. I believe that these are genuine strengths that I observe as I see your lives.

First, I believe that there are many people here who have a genuine faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and who have a desire to walk with him.

Second, I believe that many people here have a genuine care for one another and an interest in each other's lives and a responsiveness to needs that arise.

Third, I believe that many people here are genuinely committed to biblical

truth: preach it, teach it, study it, learn it, share it.

Fourth, I believe that this church has a healthy, long-standing support for global missions. We support our missionary partners with money, and prayers, and mission conferences – as these missionaries are our friends who take the gospel all over the world.

These are genuine strengths and we should be encouraged by them.

Weaknesses

Now I also want to highlight what I think are three significant weaknesses in our church family.

First, our lives are largely disconnected from one another. Jesus calls us to be a family that is doing life together. This is something that has come up in different conversations recently over the last four to six weeks. But I think our lives are actually not integrated with one another in the way that they are supposed to be. At a recent Elders’ Meeting, I asked the elders on a scale of zero to ten – zero meaning ‘nothing is happening’ and ten meaning ‘there's no room for improvement’ – I said, ‘On a scale of 0 to 10, how well do you think South Paris Baptist Church is doing life together as the New Testament describes it? The average of our four answers was four. Four out of ten. We don't know each other very well. And we're not only disconnected in general, but we're disconnected between generations.

Second, we are under-discipled. Some people recently have testified to this reality that they feel a lack of being discipled, and they want someone to come alongside of them and help them to grow in their walk with Jesus.

Third, we are not making new disciples. You don't see a consistent flow of new converts, baptisms, new disciples here. We're not making new disciples outside of our own families.

So, all this is a real problem – and these three things are not three separate things. They are really the same problem looked at from three different angles.

Let me share something that I find very interesting and important. Recently, in one of our family meetings, someone spoke and implied that we're playing church. And then in a private conversation that I had with someone, a person said to me, ‘I'm done playing church’. I've been thinking about this notion of ‘playing church’ – and I want you to think about something. If Jesus calls us to be a disciple-making community whose lives are integrated with one another as we follow Jesus on mission to make new disciples, but we're not doing that or we're not doing that very well, then yes – there is an unreality to what we are doing. Because we know what Jesus is doing – he is calling people to follow him, to love each other, and to make new disciples. To the degree that we are not doing that, to that same degree we are off track from where Jesus is, and his power is therefore less operative in our lives. So there is an unreality to what we're doing.

If we are true Christians, then we are disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ and Jesus calls us to be a community of disciple-making disciples. Listen to this insightful quotation:

“… we don't have a missional problem or a leadership problem in the Western church. We have a discipleship problem. If you know how to disciple people well, you will always get mission. Always.”[1]

Do you know what? I didn't need someone to tell me that we are under-discipled. Do you know why? Because if we're not doing life together with Jesus on mission to make new disciples, then I know that we are under-discipled – because well-discipled people do life together on mission with Jesus to make new disciples. So yes, we are under-discipled.

MY  BURDEN IN THIS SERMON

And my burden in this sermon is to challenge the faulty assumptions – the faulty perspectives, the faulty beliefs – that have led us to this place where we're not on Mission with Jesus to make new disciples. I identified a dozen or so faulty assumptions, but I'm probably going to focus on just seven or eight. Are you ready? What I'm saying here is that there are reasons why we have the particular church culture that we have. There is a reason why we have the set of strengths and weaknesses that we have. If you dig down, what you will find is assumptions, perspectives, beliefs, convictions that lead us to do what we do. And I want to challenge those assumptions that I believe may be leading us to be off track from where Jesus calls us to be.

FAULTY ASSUMPTION #1: PRIVATIZED SPIRITUALITY

The first faulty assumption is this: Jesus doesn't call us to do life together. You could call this ‘privatized spirituality’ or ‘God and me spirituality’. This faulty assumption says: Jesus doesn't call us to make his family central to our lives; and my personal relationship with Jesus, maybe with a little sprinkling of Christian community, is enough.

Now doing life together – you could just think of a passage like Philippians 1:27–2:4 where we spent a considerable time a couple years ago – doing life together means that we are: 1) laboring “side by side for the faith of the gospel” (Philippians 1:27); 2) united in heart, mind, and soul (Philippians 2:2); and 3) looking out for one another's interests (Philippians 2:4).

In fact, there are so many New Testament passages that talk about doing life together as Christians, that it's really hard to know which one to draw attention to. But just think about a few things with me.

We are a family, right? At the end of Mark 3, Jesus said, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” (Mark 3:33) And, referring to the people who were gathered around him to hear his Word, he says, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3:34-35) We are a family. We are a family gathered around the Word of God.

And we are a spiritual temple, right? First Peter 2 says that we are “a spiritual house” (1 Peter 2:5). We are “like living stones” (1 Peter 2:5) – and, as living stones, we ought to be fitted together and built up as an offering to the Lord.

And then, of course, there is the metaphor of the body. Romans 12 says that “we, though many, are one body in Christ” and that individually we are “members one of another” (Romans 12:5). We belong to each other as fellow Christians. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul tells us that we have been baptized into the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-13). The church family is one body, with many members (1 Corinthians 12:12). And so there is this interdependence, right?

Paul talks about feet and hands and ears and eyes and noses (1 Corinthians 12:14-21) – and I don't know about you, but my hands and my feet and my eyes and my nose and my ears, we are always together and always working together and always cooperating in the tasks of the body. And that is what the church is supposed to be.

In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul talked about how God has composed the body. He wrote:  

“But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.” (1 Corinthians 12:25-26)

Ponder those phrases: “no division” and “the same care”.

Also, we have a real responsibility for the spiritual well-being of our Christian brothers and sisters. It's not just their responsibility. It's not just the elders’ responsibility. It's also our responsibility. Scripture calls us to encourage one another, exhort one another, and edify one another (for example, 1 Thessalonians 5:14 and Hebrews 3:12-13). It is difficult to give substantive encouragement and substantive edification in the context of shallow relationships.

Brothers and sisters, Jesus calls us to do life together.

FAULTY ASSUMPTION #2: COMPARTMENTALIZED SPIRITUALITY

Here is faulty assumption number two: Church and worship and discipleship and ministry are things that I go and do at a specified time and place. It's not who we are. I call this ‘compartmentalized spirituality’. This faulty assumption thinks ‘I'll schedule a little church’ or ‘I’ll schedule a little ministry’ into my life.

Brothers and sisters, we don't go to church. We are the church.

We don't turn on worship at 10 a.m. We are worshippers. Scripture says, “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:17)

We don't check the discipleship box for a two-hour class. We are disciples, if we are true Christians. Jesus said, ‘Follow me,’ right? There is a great passage in Luke 14. Jesus said,

“Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters” – 

and boyfriends and girlfriends and smartphones and hobbies –

“yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”” (Luke 14:25-27)

“So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:33)

Further, we don't limit ministry to scheduled events. Do you know what it says in Titus 2? You can turn there if you want to – Titus 2, a beautiful passage – and I'm going to read verses 11-14, although I'm going to focus on verse 14. Paul writes:

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” (Titus 2:11-14)  

Now I don't want anyone to think that what I'm talking about up here this morning is about us accomplishing something great in our own strength – or us rescuing ourselves from our folly and sin. No! Let me be clear: Jesus is the One who rescues us from our folly and sin. It is God’s grace that transforms our lives. Jesus gave everything, right? He “gave himself for us” – He laid down his life and shed His blood. His body was broken in order to redeem us from sin and to make us a pure and holy people who are set apart for him. And what do a people-set-apart-for-him look like? What characterizes their lives? The answer: zeal for good works. If you are zealous for good works, then you don't just write it on your calendar a couple times a month. God calls us to be zealous for good works in the home, zealous for good works in the church family, zealous for good works in the neighborhood, zealous for good works in the workplace. “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” (Galatians 6:10)

We are worshipers and disciples 24/7 – at all times and in all places – or at least we are supposed to be.

FAULTY ASSUMPTION #3: INTAKE WITHOUT FRUIT

Here is faulty assumption number three: As long as I am soaking up the Bible, that is enough. I don't know what to call this one. We could call it ‘disobedient discipleship’ or ‘education without transformation’ or ‘inspiration without obedience’ or simply ‘intake without fruit’.

This distortion can look a couple of different ways. First, there is the cerebral version of soaking up the Bible: big head, just taking in information – Bible studies, sermons, readings, classes – but your life is not actually transformed. Second, there is the sentimental version of soaking up the Bible: you just feel emotionally inspired in the Word, you feel like you're getting filled up – but again, where is the actual transformation, where is the obedience, where is the living it out?

Jesus said in Luke 6:

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.” (Luke 6:46-49)

Notice the contrast: ‘comes and hears and does’ versus ‘hearing and not doing’. It is so easy to be duped into thinking – with all the classes and all the studies and all the sermons and all the books – that I'm growing in knowledge and that growing in knowledge is enough. Yes, you may be growing in knowledge, but are you growing in obedience?

At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter if you find my sermon interesting, agreeable, thought-provoking, or inspiring – it doesn't really matter, because that can happen with zero change. What matters is trusting God's Word to the point of taking concrete steps of obedience.

And do you know what? We can perpetuate this same problem when we are the ones who are doing the discipling. Soaking up the Bible is not enough, and teaching others to soak up the Bible is not enough. Please understand: I do hope you soak up the Bible (Psalm 1:1-2), but by itself it is not enough.

What is the Great Commission? In Matthew 28, Jesus tells us that we must “[teach] them to observe [or obey] all that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:20) The Great Commission involves teaching others to live in actual obedience to our Lord.

The Great Commission in Matthew 28 is the same commission that was entrusted to the apostle Paul. Paul said that Jesus commissioned him to do what? To preach that human beings “should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.” (Acts 26:20) The Great Commission involves urging the repentant to demonstrate their repentance in concrete actions.

And do you know what? A big part of teaching obedience is setting an example – because a lot of spiritual growth and growth in obedience actually happens through imitation. This is a good biblical category. Jesus said, “For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.” (John 13:15) And the apostle Paul said, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1) If we would disciple one another in this way, where our maturity and strength and progress is rubbing off on others, then we have to be doing life together.

I know this is another heavy sermon. Maybe I can only preach heavy sermons now, I don't know. But let me lighten up for just a moment. My family and I went to Pietree Orchard to pick strawberries a few weeks ago. And we were out there in the fields picking strawberries, and I saw a big strawberry, and I said, “The big Daddy!” About a minute later, Malachi found a big strawberry, and he said, “The big Malachi!” There's a lot of wisdom in the adage that more things are caught than taught.

It is true – God designed us to experience real growth through the imitation of worthy examples.

FAULTY ASSUMPTION #4: OVER-SPECIALIZATION

Here is faulty assumption number four: Mission is what missionaries and evangelists and ministry leaders do, and I ain't one. We could call this ‘the problem of over-specialization’ – or an overly specialized view of ministry or an overly specialized view of mission.

And it's not that we just do this with missions. We do this with everything. The mind overcome by ‘the problem of over-specialization’ thinks: ‘Showing mercy is what Christians gifted with mercy do; practicing hospitality is what Christians gifted with hospitality do; giving encouragement is what Christians gifted with encouragement do.’ Now listen – I appreciate the fact that there are Christians who are gifted in all these ways, and they certainly are great examples and pace-setters in those areas. But Jesus calls all of us to give encouragement, all of us to practice hospitality, all of us to show mercy, and all of us to participate in missions.

The Great Commission is entrusted to the church (Matthew 28:18-20). As a church family, we are “the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13). We are “the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). Paul instructs all of us:

“Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” (Colossians 4:5-6)

Mission is the business of the whole church.

And this leads right into next faulty assumption.

FAULTY ASSUMPTION #5: DISJOINTED AIMS

Here is faulty assumption number five: Our love for one another is unrelated to our mission to the world. I call this ‘the problem of disjointed aims’. This faulty assumption reasons that loving each other is irrelevant to our evangelistic witness, or that the internal life of the church is separated from the mission of the church. And what's happening here, once again, is that different aspects of church life and church ministry are each being put in their own little box, in an airtight container.

But suppose that our love for one another and our mission to the world are tightly connected and mutually energizing, each supporting the other. I think that this is what the Bible teaches.

For example, there is a great passage in Deuteronomy 4, which teaches us that living out our faith publicly and visibly and tangibly is a critical part of our witness to the world. And keep in mind that a lot of those instructions that God gives us to live out, pertain to how we relate to each other. The wisdom of God is displayed through an obedient people who are relating to one another in a godly way – and this godly obedience is a testimony to the nations. In the passage to which I am referring, Moses says:

“See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?” (Deuteronomy 4:5-8)

Our practical obedience – together – is part of our witness to the world.

And then there are two very familiar and very important passages in the Gospel of John. These are two of my favorite passages – and have been for about two decades. Jesus told us near the end of John 13:

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)

And then in John 17, where Jesus is praying for the apostles and for the church, he prays:

“I do not ask for these [the apostles] only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:20-21)

Our transformed lives – expressed in love for one another – authenticate our message and lend credibility to the message of the gospel.

And the idea here that Jesus is speaking of, is that our love for each other must be tangible and visible. Our practical demonstration of sacrificial love for each other and our practical display of unity with each other is distinctive – and it is meant to communicate that the reality of Christ and the reality of the gospel and the reality of the transforming power of the Holy Spirit is actually at work in our lives. Our sacrificial love for one another is a like a megaphone telling the world ‘God is here, God is with us, come and see!’ But one wonders how tangible and visible our love for each other is, when we're not doing life together – and when most of our interactions are taking place in the church building for 90 minutes a week.

To be clear, we don't love one another to be seen, as if it's some kind of theatrical production. But our love for one another should be seen. Do you know what that means? It should be unremarkable and normal that the residents of the Oxford Hills see us engaging with each other, loving each other, serving each other, laboring side by side together, here in the Oxford Hills. As Jesus said, “[Let] your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)

FAULTY ASSUMPTION #6: DISCONNECT BETWEEN FAMILY AND CHURCH FAMILY

Let’s proceed to the next faulty assumption – I’m especially passionate about this one. Here is faulty assumption number six: I can't do life together with my church family without being unfaithful to my physical family. With this faulty assumption there is a disconnect between the family and the church family.

Sadly, the way that some churches structure their ministries and organize their fellowships, this assumption may have some real validity. In some churches, the greater a person's commitment to the church and to the ministries of the church, the more that person is absent from their physical family. So the family suffers. And we can fool ourselves: ‘Oh well, it's the Lord's work, right?’ The marriage suffers. And there's no beautiful community happening inside the home. But there's output of activity in the church – ‘Yay,’ as we continue to fool ourselves, ‘the church activity looks really impressive.’ So, in some people's minds and in some actual real situations, there is an inverse relationship between church involvement and family health. Sometimes you have church situations where the church is structured so that being at church or doing church stuff means that the family is separated: adults here, kids over there; men here, women there; those with those gifts over here, those with other gifts over there; older age back here, middle-aged up there.

Honestly, I think that our Lord has a very low view of such happenings.

Intergenerational harmony is a biblical mandate for God's people, who are bound together in the covenant of grace. The hearts of the fathers are to be turned to their children – with fathers discipling their children and bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The hearts of children and youth ought to be turned to their fathers and ought to esteem the example of the elders among God's people. The heritage of godliness is to be passed from generation to generation to generation. And yet, sometimes you get into a church and this intergenerational legacy is rejected and families are actually weakened. What a tragedy! 

Listen: the greatest discipleship tool in the world is a godly home. The greatest ministry tool in the world is a godly home. And yet, some churches structure discipleship and structure ministry to weaken the home. Is it any wonder that we lose our kids and the church has died? Why would they want to be part of a church that robbed them of their godly heritage?

So let’s be clear: the church is supposed to be an intergenerational family that reflects the physical family and then feeds health back into the physical family. Timothy, says the Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 5, treat the older women like mothers, treat the older men like fathers, treat the younger men and the younger women like brothers and sisters (see 1 Timothy 5:1-2). Elsewhere Paul calls upon the older women to train the younger women how to be faithful wives and mothers and how to work productively in and through your home (see Titus 2:3-5). Why doesn't that happen? I'll give you one reason: because we're not doing life together! If we're not doing life together in an intentional way, where mutual discipling and mutual edifying and mutual encouraging is normal, then it seems really intrusive for some older women to just kind of come out of the blue and say, ‘Let me come alongside of you and teach you how to do this.’ Don’t misunderstand: we ought to praise the Lord when an individual steps up and does it anyway. But what I'm trying to say is there needs to be a church culture in which that sort of discipling and mentoring makes sense.

I want to maximize my faithfulness to my physical family by bringing them with me to do life together with you, my church family. I'm glad that over the last six weeks we have had Olguine, Tom and Mary, Vern and Brenda, and Pastor Charles into our home, with our children present. I am glad that in the last six weeks, my entire family has been at the Johnsons, and at the Bristols, and at the Fosters, and at the Whynots and at the Slomas, and at the Wakefields’ camp. I’m glad because when my children think about church, I want them to think and feel that church is like family – and that ‘doing church’ typically means that my physical family is with me when I am with my church family.

FAULTY ASSUMPTION #7: THE BUSYNESS DELUSION

Here is faulty assumption number seven: I’m too busy. I called this ‘the busyness delusion’. This faulty mindset thinks, ‘I'm too busy to do life together – with Jesus and with my fellow Christians – on mission to the world. I just don't have time for it.’ The reason I call this mindset a delusion is because you and I are remarkably similar: we both have 168 hours in a week, and at the end of the day we will do what we consider most compelling, most important, and most necessary. That's what we will do. The question is: what do you find most compelling, most important, and most necessary.

The New Testament gives correction to people referred to as busybodies. Do you know what the busybody concept is? Busybodies are people who are running around their responsibilities. God gives them a particular command, but they are circling around that command and doing something else. ‘I’ll get to that later,’ they say.

But consider this: what would happen if we were content to fill up our lives with obedience to God's instructions? Our life would be full, our joy would overflow, and the distractions and trivialities would fall away. The New Testament tells us to redeem the time and to make the most of every opportunity and to be devoted to good works (Ephesians 5:15-17, Colossians 4:5-6, Titus 2:11-14).

Listen, your life is structured a certain way, and I am appealing to you and me to restructure our lives – to bring them in accordance with the New Testament vision for doing life together and following Jesus on mission. And if we actually do life together on mission with Jesus, it will not be by accident. I was talking to Charlotta about this earlier in the week. And she said, ‘Yeah, we're not going to attain this haphazardly.’ That’s right. Doing life together on mission with Jesus will only come about through deliberate efforts to follow the Lord.

(FAULTY) ASSUMPTION #8: THE PROBLEM OF IGNORANCE

Here is faulty assumption number eight: I don’t know how; I don’t know where to start. This, of course, is the problem of ignorance.

In truth, this assumption about not knowing how may actually not be a faulty assumption. In other words, it may actually be true that you don’t know how. But what I am attempting to get at here is that even if we are ignorant about how to do life together, we don’t have to stay ignorant. We can know how! And we can know enough to get started!

But to the degree that at this present moment we don’t know how, consider this: unhealthy disciples make unhealthy disciples. Unhealthy disciples build unhealthy church cultures. Healthy disciples don't build a church culture in which we're not doing life together on mission with Jesus.

So, maybe you don't know how – maybe we don’t know how – but are we willing to learn and grow?

I will tell you this, though: if we keep doing what we have been doing – with perhaps some minor tweaks – very little will change. And programs won't accomplish the change that we need. You can have a fellowship program, an evangelistic program, a discipleship program, a men's program, a women's program – but they will take us away from our families, and they won’t bring about the changes that we need.

SNEAK PREVIEW: A VISION FOR MISSIONAL HOME GROUPS

In today's sermon I have laid a biblical foundation for the kind of life that Jesus is calling us to live. Next week, my plan is to cast a very practical vision for what this could look like in practice. What I'm going to be casting a vision for is missional home groups that are intergenerational and family-integrated. The other Elders and I have been talking about these things, and Lord-willing we will be pursuing this vision in the weeks ahead. The purpose of missional home groups is to establish a context for following Jesus together on mission. It's not just adding one more thing onto the list of church activities. Instead, it IS putting missional home groups at the center of congregational life, right alongside the worship service – the idea is “in the temple and from house to house” (Acts 5:42; also see Acts 2:46). Gathering together as an entire church family for corporate worship is central, and gathering together in smaller missional home groups will also be central. Lord-willing, these home groups will create space for us to be attentive to Jesus, and to do what he calls us to do.

But to conclude this sermon, I just want to give you an analogy. Just suppose that the Fosters, the Bristols, the Wakefields, the Kostovicks, and the Wilburs – just suppose that our five families were commissioned to go make disciples and plant churches in Moscow, Russia. Off we go, and we're a team. We're called to make disciples and plant churches. We're pilgrims and strangers in a foreign land. What would we do? We're a mission team. What would we do? We would do something like this:

We would gather together, often. We would eat together. We would care for each other. We would have open Bibles, and we would encourage one another from the Scriptures. We would pray together for God to help us, and lead us, and work through us. We would gather around the question ‘How are we going to reach this city?’ – and we would brainstorm, and we would compare notes, and we would open our eyes and tell one another what we're seeing. Where are the opportunities? Where are the open doors? What can we do? What contacts have we already made? Who can we be praying for? We would be encouraging one another and supporting one another in this enterprise of making new disciples. We would do it together as a close-knit team.

And the sad thing is that here in America, we are so assimilated and so comfortable that we don't see ourselves as pilgrims on mission in a foreign land. That, Lord-willing, will change!

Let's pray.

Father, I pray for the working of the Holy Spirit. I pray that you would guard people against false guilt and false shame. And I pray that you would bring true conviction, wherever it is needed. Bring true correction, true encouragement, true strengthening and redirecting. And Father, I pray that this would not just be something that catches hold in one or two people. I pray that there would be numbers of people who say, ‘Yes. let's do this – let's follow Jesus together on mission!’ Father, I pray that you would so transform our lives, that you would pour us out into the Oxford Hills, and that we would make new disciples. For Jesus’ sake I pray, amen.

BENEDICTION

I invite you to stand to receive the benediction:

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the comfort and fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Go in his peace. 

 

ENDNOTES

[1] Mike Breen and the 3DM Team, Building a Discipling Culture: How to release a missional movement by discipling people like Jesus did. Second Edition. Pawleys Island, SC: 3 Dimensions Ministries, 2011: p. 12. I have found Breen’s work to be remarkably helpful in understanding discipleship and mission in the context of family-like relationships within the body of Christ. That said, I do not necessarily agree with Breen on all points of Christian doctrine.