A bishop once joked on the radio about the European heaven and hell. Apparently, in the European heaven, the romantics are Italian, the mechanics are German, the police are English and the cooks are French.
But in the European hell, the cooks are English, the police are Italian, the mechanics are French and the romantics are German.
These national stereotypes are probably really unfair - but we all recognise the image they portray. Basically it’s down to each country suffering from a widespread public perception of their national flaw. Each nation, to that extent, has an image problem.
The church in our country has an image problem as well, let’s not kid ourselves. But how did that happen? How did the church ever get to a point where the general impression amongst ordinary people in our land is that it’s dull and outdated?
The truth, according to Ephesians 3.10, is that the local church is the means through which the manifold wisdom of God is proclaimed to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms. The local church is in the front line of God’s great strategic purpose for transporting the message of salvation to the ends of the earth. The local church is the pillar and foundation of all truth says 1 Timothy 3.15. It is the hope of the world.
What is the Church that Jesus isBuilding?
God’s means what he says and his word is eternally valid. God never thinks to himself “Oh, I wish I’d never said that.” His church really is the glorious agent for blessing the world that God says it is.
“I will build my church” Jesus said. You won’t do it, the clergy won’t do it; your ecclesiastical structures and systems won’t build anything, but I will complete what I started when I poured out the Holy Spirit in power on the Day of Pentecost. “I will build my church.”
Question: What is the one true church? Answer: The one true church is the one that Jesus Christ is building right now. Anything else will weaken, dwindle and die - because unless the Lord builds the house, the workers labour in vain.
A local church in the United States did a survey of non-churchgoers in their neighbourhood. They went to shopping centres, parks and railway stations, and they asked passers-by one simple question; “Why do you not go to church?” I think that the five most common answers they found in their study are not wildly out of line with what you would find if you conducted the same survey here.
At Number 5, people said, ‘I feel uncomfortable with worship.’ Number 4; ‘I’m too busy. I just do not have time.’ At Number 3 (they would have loved Gift Day two weeks ago). ‘Because the pastor is always going on about money.’ At Number 2 they said ‘The message of the church does not interest me, it is not relevant to my life.’ And, at Number 1, the biggest single reason why people never go to a church is ... roll of the drums ... are you ready? ... ‘It’s boring.’
Yes, Jesus changed water into wine, but alas the church has managed too often to turn wine into water!
Grow and Bear Fruit
The opening paragraphs of Colossians 1 talk about the local church the way Jesus wants it - which is how we should want it.
It does not breathe an atmosphere that anyone could characterise as boring. Twice it mentions growth and fruitfulness. God expects his church to grow and bear fruit. In fact Jesus has commissioned us to do so.
Jesus said, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit - fruit that will last - and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.” (John 15.16)
God does not envisage inertia and certainly not decline for his church. The proclamation of the good news about Jesus brings about changed lives. It must! And this is still true in 2012.
Let’s quickly run through Colossians together and try and get hold of the atmosphere of the church in Colossae. Because there are three key factors here, necessary for the growth and fruitfulness, which God expects to see in the life of a local church. Think of it like planting a tree.
First of all, if you’re going to plant a tree, you must have some decent soil to plant the sapling in. If you put it in poor soil the tree’s growth will be stunted. Think of faith as being like soil. That’s a comparison Jesus made in the parable of the sower. The good soil of faith produces a harvest 30, 60 and up to 100 times what was sown.
Well, the church in Colossae was a community where faith was evident. Look at v3-4. “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus." So this wasn’t a social club; this was a group of people who lived by faith.
Faith is not so much about believing the creed (though that is important and I’ll come to that in a minute). In the Bible, faith is something you do, not just something you think. If you live by faith you conduct your life in obedience to God’s word, even if it’s not what you yourself would have naturally chosen. Put what God wants first in your work, in your finances, in your interests, in your choice of language, in your free time, in your relationships… in everything you do make sure Jesus is Lord, he is the boss, he calls the shots. That’s faith! Are you living by faith?
Secondly, if your sapling is going to grow it needs water around its roots. Job 37.17 says “[God] brings the clouds … to water his earth and show his love.” Colossians 1 describes a church where love was evident. In v4 Paul says “we have heard of … the love you have for all his people.”
Love in the church is the first and most vital sign that the Holy Spirit is at work. Love is robust evidence of the Holy Spirit’s anointing. That’s why in v8 here it says that a man named Epaphras … “told us of your love in the Spirit.” Have you ever experienced a critical, harsh or uncaring church? That is one where the Holy Spirit has very little control. Are you letting God change your heart so you share his love with people around you?
Thirdly, if your sapling is going to have any chance of growing it needs light. It’s no good planting a sapling in a small yard facing north with a high wall around it. It’ll never grow. The essential light churches need to grow is truth.
God’s truth is absolute and eternal. He is a holy God who does not drop his standards and say “Oh, go on then.”
Psalm 119 says this: “The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.” That’s right.
The church at Colossae really got hold of deep Gospel truths. In v5 Paul talks about the true word of the Gospel that had come to them. They believed in truth. They believed that sound doctrine was essential and non negotiable. This is different to faith; faith is what you do. Truth is what you think. Do you stand on God’s word as the chief authority over your life? In v6 it says that the Christians in Colossae had heard the Gospel and now they truly understood God’s grace. The great truths of justification and the atonement had gripped their minds.
If you have let truth shape your world view you will fully appreciate that you are more sinful and flawed than you ever dared believe. But at the very same time you will have discovered that you are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than you ever dared hope. Let the great truths of God’s grace renew your mind and shape your thinking!
Faith, love and truth… No wonder Paul says in v6: “The gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world - just as it has been doing among you…”
And in v10 he has every confidence to say: [May you] “live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.”
Forward with the Vision
I think these verses really express eloquently what our vision is here at All Saints’.
About 18 months ago we agreed a four-year vision which says this:
We believe that God is calling us to four years of outreach with the objective that every household in our parish should know that we are a vibrant Christian community ready to:
- pray for them
- serve them practically and
- invite them to encounter Jesus Christ.
I think that we have made good progress in connecting with the parish around us and that there is a sense of momentum. People used to say to me in my first year here, “It’s like we’re on a bus but there’s no number or destination on it.” I am not hearing that kind of thing now and I take that to be a good sign! But I think that this is a good time for us now just to pause and refocus on this vision.
That “vibrant Christian community” bit is what I’ve just been talking about. Faith, love and truth… In Colossae, faith and love had sprung up (Paul says) and that young church was now the talk of the town.
This is why we’ve wanted to focus on the theme of renewal since the New Year. We need to recharge the batteries of our faith. Are you being renewed in love? Are you renewing in your commitment to Jesus as Lord?
This first quarter of the year is a time for us to fill up again and let God revitalize our passion for the kingdom.
I hope we are, or want to be, because if we are not being renewed and refreshed by the Holy Spirit there isn’t really anything to tell the world about.
What do you think? Does the Gospel sound more convincing, more authentic, more attractive coming from Tigger or from Eeyore in your opinion? Tigger’s gospel has a ring of truth about it. It sounds like this: “The wonderful thing about Jesus, is grace is a wonderful thing…” It sounds like it has made a difference to Tigger and now he can’t help himself from telling others.
Eeyore’s gospel seems ineffective. If anything, it’s bad for you. It just makes you miserable. It is more like; “Oh well, I suppose God so loved the world. But probably not me. And I don’t know about you.” No one comes forward to the front when Eeyore is giving the altar call!
After this season for personal spiritual renewal, what do we have planned this year to take our vision forward?
I want to talk about 4 opportunities in the 4 months in April, May, June and July (one in each month) that will stretch us as a church, no doubt about it, but will also, I believe, bear fruit and bring growth if we are letting God make us a vibrant Christian community like the Colossae church was.
There is lots of planning still to do and not all details are confirmed but here’s an idea of what special events, over and above our standard programme, are coming up.
Firstly, in the first week of April, we have been invited by several other churches in the area to join them for a week of evangelism amongst children and youth in Preston Park. It will start with a youth evening guest service here. It will be a joint-venture and we are going to link up with Christians from local churches in Teesside as well as with a team coming over from the USA. We think it will be tremendous fun and we believe that working in unity with other Christians and churches really adds value.
God says so in Psalm 133 doesn’t he?
How good and pleasant it is
when God’s people live together in unity!
It is like precious [anointing] oil…
It is as if dew… were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the Lord commands his blessing,
even life for evermore.
On 5th June the nation will celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. We are hoping to put together a street party in Dunottar Avenue and Swinburne Road and the church will be the focus of getting all that together. There is some work to do on authorisations and consent etc., (in fact the neighbours don't even know it yet!) but we think that could be a fantastic opportunity to get among our nearest neighbours, introduce ourselves, find out what’s going on in their lives tell them why the church in their street is such an important part of our lives, and be as much of a blessing to them as we can.
And then at the end of July, we are going to do some more outreach based on the Olympics; another Christian holiday club - but this time involving the whole family - and a party evening with barbecues and the Opening Ceremony on a giant screen.
And this will be supported by more editions of Community In Touch delivered to every home in our parish so everybody will know what God is doing here. I hope you’re excited about all this. I hope you’ll pray and ask God what role he wants you to take in it.
Ending
I want to finish with a little story about watches. If you asked someone in 1968 which country will lead the market for wrist watches in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, everyone would give you the same answer; Switzerland. Why? Because Switzerland completely dominated the global watches and clocks market at that time - and had done since the early 20th century.
The Swiss designed and built the best watches in the world. It’s the Swiss who produced the first watch with a hand for the seconds. The Swiss developed delicate mechanisms with ever finer precision. The Swiss produced the first fully waterproof watch. The Swiss invented automatic winding. The Swiss seemed unassailable in innovation and market dominance. In 1968, 65% of all watches in the world were made in tiny Switzerland.
But in 1980 - only 12 years later - the Swiss had to make 50,000 of their 62,000 watchmakers redundant and their global market share dwindled to just 10%. Why? What went wrong?
The problem was that they ignored a new technology; the quartz crystal. Quartz watches do not need a main spring or a winding mechanism, which was the great strength of Swiss watches. The Swiss rejected quartz technology from the outset while a small Japanese company Seiko invested in quartz and became, in three or four years, the world’s largest manufacturer of watches.
The reason I’m telling you this is simple. A domestic industry that was so secure, so profitable and so dominant was buried in the space of 12 years because of a lack of focus at a decisive time. They failed to act at a time of opportunity - and the consequences were devastating.
The church that Jesus is building is a movement that is mobile, flexible, optimistic and looking out. The former Archbishop of Canterbury William Temple was right when he said that the Church is “the only organisation in the world that exists primarily for the benefit of its non-members.”
So what God is saying to you? The Lord is building his church. Will he find you on the building site with your hard hat on?
Let’s pray…
Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 5th February 2012.
