Characteristics of the Church

Written by Ed Allen
 Sunday, 05 September 2010 09:00

Sermons - General Sermons

When we ask what something is like we usually get people’s experience of that thing. But when we ask what something is, we get a description closer to the essential nature of the thing.

So what is the church?

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A GATHERING OF PEOPLE CALLED BY GOD

  • Ekklesia – ancient Greek used for city assemblies
  • Called = both selected and appointed for something
    • Set apart, special, on his team
    • Also, suggests purpose, direction
  • This means our life together is initiated by God
    • This is also true of us individually
    • “You did not choose me, but I chose you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last.” John 15:16
    • means that our real life comes from waiting on God – not by making it happen
    • means that we are not here by accident
  • This is why we have said that we maintain our spiritual health to the degree that we grow up toward God in worship.
    • We have tried to emphasize this aspect of our life this year –“ going vertical”
    • Uber encounters, Luke series, DOP
    • This is why one of our covenant habits is “practice creative devotion”.
    • This is the meaning of our Sunday morning gatherings – we worship
    • Acts 2:42-46
  • The church is a gathering of people called by God

THE SOCIETY OF JESUS

  • Acts 11:26. The disciples were called “Chris-tians”
  • Ours is a common life in which we share common possessions.
    • Acts 2:44-46
    • Acts 4:32-35
      • This is not communism; clearly people did have individual belongings.
      • Plus, we’re getting a picture of the church in Jerusalem here. It isn’t clear that all the other churches experienced either the same level of need or the same overwhelming abandonment to the common pot. But it is clear that this is how God’s people respond to need. And it is clear that this reflects how the church thinks of its belongings.
      • The church does not think of its belongings primarily in a personal sense. The church thinks of itself as stewards over belongings, but not owners. The church recognizes that the owner of the belongings is God, and therefore, in a very real sense, they belong to everyone.
  • We have a common life … and we have a common message and we have a common purpose and we have a common culture and we are part of the same spiritual family. In the interest of time, I won’t marshal all of the Biblical evidence to support each of these claims, but I commend the whole NT, especially the book of Acts to you.
  • This is why we have said that we maintain our spiritual health to the degree that we grow in toward God’s people in love
  • Move to your region
    • Ashburn/ Leesburg/Sterling
    • South Riding/Stone Ridge/Lena Run/Kirkpatrick Farms (anywhere Dulles South)/Manassas
    • Chantilly/Herndon/Reston/Centreville
    • If I didn’t mention you, pick whatever is closest.
    • If you’re visiting someone, go with them.

A SPECIAL SQUADRON OF SELF-SACRIFICING SERVANTS

  • Acts 2:45
  • From the very beginning, Jesus made it clear that outreach is what we were called to do
    • Luke 5: 10 “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch people.”
    • Luke 9:57-58 – following Jesus involves sacrifice, but
    • Luke 10 – in following him, we get to be involved with God in what God is doing in people’s lives
  • Clearly the early followers got it.
    • The entire books of Acts is the story of the progress of the message of Jesus – in spite of the sacrifice and often martyrdom of the Christians themselves.
    • As I was thinking about this this week, I stumbled onto Paul’s request in Ephesians 6:19-20.
  • “The church is the only society in the world that exists for the benefit of its non-members.” William Temple
    • This means we cannot get so consumed by our life together that we ignore outreach.
    • We cannot allow ourselves to get distracted by lesser things.
      • Think of the things that you complain about.
    • This is why we have said that we maintain our spiritual health to the degree that we grow out toward the world in service and evangelism
      • This next year we’re going to give focus to both inreach and outreach – with special emphasis being given to outreach.
      • We’re going to give some dedicated attention to the two strategic initiatives that God has raised to the front of our attention: leadership development (which is an inreach focus) external communication (which is an outreach focus). Let me give you some specifics:
        • Postponing the Big Event – throwing our energy into figure out how to get our message out ...
        • Figure out how to get our message out through marketing
      • And we’re going to raise our outreach quotient as individuals, families and small groups.
        • Diane and I often feel like we don’t have time to outreach. This means we don’t have time for the most significant part of our God-given job description.
        • Jesus did not say, “come follow me and I’ll show you how to feel really peaceful.” Or “come follow me and I’ll show you how to find yourself.” Or “come follow me and I’ll show you how to raise great kids.” Or “come follow me and it will add value to your already great and comfortable life.”
        • Jesus said, “come follow me and I’ll turn you into a highly skilled self-sacrificing servant and I’ll place you in a squadron linking you up with other self-sacrificing servants where you’ll find great support and encouragement and where you can work together to make a difference in the world.”
        • That’s what GCC is! It is a gathering of people called by God; it is the society of Jesus; and it is a squadron of self-sacrificing servants who are out to change their region for Christ.
        • Let’s get busy. God has called us to make a difference and we’ve got a lot of work to do.
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