Folks, you have a review sheet in your bulletin, as an insert today. I’d like to take a look at that, so we can review just what we need to be about to be a church whom God will bless in the future. Would you look at that with me right now? If we want God’s blessing on all that we’re doing here, we need to be a church that is about…
Praying for God’s Power (even though we usually want to do things ourselves)…
Using everyone’s language (words matter and how we speak to others needs to be done as intelligently as possible, that we might reach as many as possible with the Good News)…
Employing every member’s gifts &/or talents—Every Member in Ministry (EMIM), remember? No ‘pew warmers’ (or, as our new bishop would say, ‘pew potatoes’); no one is left on the sidelines, but all are active in the ministries of the church…
Being devoted to God’s Word—our marching orders directly from God. Daily time in God’s Word should be more important than anything else we spend time with each day—period, if we want God’s blessing on our lives individually and collectively…
Loving each other deeply (koinonia)—remember, not just bagels & coffee & handshakes together, but life together—really caring about one another and what each of us is going through in life… AND…
Worshiping with JOY—no holds barred … but freely worshiping God as we feel the need to do … without being suppressed by the masses
And then today’s are there for you, too…
These are the things we need to be about if we’re to experience God’s blessing on what we’re doing here … both now and in the future! These are all the things the Early Church was about … and God blessed their socks off (which is why most were just wearing sandals)! If we want that kind of blessing in our lives, this is what we need to be about too … along with this: Just listen as we go back to Acts 2 today to see what else the Early Church was up to…
Acts 2:44-45 (MSG)
44 And all the believers lived in a wonderful harmony, holding everything in common. 45 They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person’s need was met.
Acts 2:40-41 (MSG)
40 He went on in this vein for a long time, urging them over and over, “Get out while you can; get out of this sick and stupid culture!” 41 That day about three thousand took him at his word, were baptized and were signed up.
So, what do we see here? We see that churches that God blesses are those who will…
BE WILLING TO LIVE SACRIFICIAL LIVES! Verses 44-45 again say, “And all the believers lived in a wonderful harmony, holding everything in common. 45 They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person’s need was met.” So, what does sacrificial living involve … in a nutshell? It involves what Paul Describes in Romans 12 (Bible study inside a Bible study today)…
Let me take a moment to break this down for you and let me start here: Wherever your head goes, the rest of you follows … right? To go in any direction—especially if it’s against culture—has to be a head decision. The world is full of temptations (sin) that can lead us away from God, but Paul here is trying to give us encouragement to live a different way—basically this: Because of all God sacrificed through his Son, Jesus, in order to give us life … our response should be to live lives that please him. So listen to what Paul says here (Rom. 12:1)…
“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.”
If we’re about living sacrificial lives, that always begins with … a Conscious Decision!
We have to consciously decide if we’re truly going to be sold out for God!
We have to consciously decide if we’re going to give our everything—our ‘walking-around life’—to God as an offering…
That’s sacrificial living … and it doesn’t just happen. ‘God’s agenda—not ours, deliberately. Here’s something else…
Sacrificial living is also about a Changed Disposition! That’s what has to come next… But (and hear me clearly), this is a process! Again, there’s a reason Pastor Rick Warren says: “The problem with living sacrifices [us] is that they tend to crawl off the altar!” We give our lives to God … and then we take ‘em back. We give our lives to God … and then we take ‘em back. Does that pattern seem familiar to anyone here besides me? Let’s take a look at verse 2 & 3 again…
“Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. 3 I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.”
An example of something in our disposition that needs to be changed is this: We need to be devoted to God’s Word. Yeah, I know that was a couple weeks ago, but let me explain. Do you know the difference between a strong cup of tea … and a weak cup of tea? Same ingredients, right? The difference is the amount of time the tea stays in the water to steep. In the same way, the longer we stay in God’s Word, the stronger we will become spiritually—in our walk with God. That’s just one example of the need for a Changed Disposition…
So, sacrificial living involves a conscious decision, a changed disposition, AND … a Seized Determination (vv. 4-8)! Let’s go back to Romans 12 for a moment…
“In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. 5 The body we’re talking about is Christ’s body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn’t amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ’s body, 6 let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren’t. If you preach, just preach God’s Message, nothing else; 7 if you help, just help, don’t take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; 8 if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don’t get bossy; if you’re put in charge, don’t manipulate; if you’re called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don’t let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.”
So, what do we need to do? Determine to do our part, as God’s word describes! That’s sacrificial living (‘cause Lord knows many of us love to take over and be bossy!)… In other words, don’t let the world hold you in its mold; instead, allow God to remold your minds from within, moving you toward a maturity that can only come while walking with Jesus! If we want to be a church that God blesses, we need to learn the JOY of living a sacrificial life for Him… And, FINALLY, if we want to be a church God blesses, we need to be willing to…
REACH OUR COMMUNITIES FOR CHRIST! Back to Acts and the Early Church, we read in verses 40-41 where Peter is still preaching and it says:
“He went on in this vein for a long time, urging them over and over, ‘Get out while you can; get out of this sick and stupid culture!’ 41 That day about three thousand took him at his word, were baptized and were signed up.”
3,000 people … decided to follow Jesus … and sealed the deal with their baptism! Folks, the Early Church reached people for Christ the very first day! (In fact, with 3,000 people coming to Christ, the first church was a megachurch from day one!) The question today is: How are we doing in continuing to reach out to those who are lost?
Don’t ever forget Jesus command in Acts 1:8: “What you’ll get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world.” This is Jesus’ command to be His witnesses throughout the world! Evangelism is not an option…
Folks, as long as there is one person within driving range of this church who does not know Jesus personally, we’ve got a job to do! We need to be consistently doing all we can to grow. Why? Because, every number represents a soul—one that will either be saved or lost on the Day of Judgment. We need to be about God’s business of sharing that salvation is a reality … in Christ! And we need to be about that until Jesus comes again…
So, how do we do all this? How do we live sacrificial lives … with JOY? And how do we consistently reach out to those who do not know Christ? We’re going to become a church that God blesses … when we learn to keep our eyes fixed on God—on his Son, Jesus. And, where is he? ‘Up ahead … leading us into the future God wants for us—God’s very best! I want God’s very best for the (Ridgeway: Grace &) Dodgeville UMCs. Is that what you want? How badly do we want to be a church that God blesses?