How do you act in church?

How do you act everywhere else?

Why would you act any differently in church than you do in the rest of the world?

Do you think God can only see what happens inside the church building?

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Here’s a question to get you thinking: Why should God forgive you for anything?

Think about it.  When God created the universe and world it was good.  He looked at everything and was pleased with his creation.  There was no death, no pain, no suffering.  But Adam and Eve messed that all up.  They had a relationship with God, but they threw it all away out of their selfishness.  And ever since then people have been turning their backs on God.  The world is full of people who have chosen to lie and cheat and steal and murder and hate and abuse one another and live immoral and sexually perverted lives.  People ignore God’s commands all the time and choose instead to gossip and let their lusts control them.  And it has destroyed our world.  What used to be a perfect place of peace and blessings is now a world of death and pain.  We can still see semblances of beauty behind the mess we’ve made, but it’s often a reminder of how much human beings have destroyed.  So why should God bother with such wicked and evil people who have been so destructive and hateful towards him?

The obvious answer is love.  But here’s another question to think about: If God is willing to save you because of his great love–if the love of Jesus was enough to hold him to the cross instead of damning every person who has ever sinned directly to Hell’s fires–if he was willing to go through such pain to be a sacrifice for us, how are you going to respond to that love.  Because a relationship only works if the love goes both ways.  If you are unwilling to obey God, it proves you don’t love him.  Jesus said “Those who love me obey my commandments.”

Here’s my answer to the first question: God forgives us so that we can love him.  He wipes our sins away to give us the opportunity to return his love.  He cleans up our lives so that we can live clean lives.  To many people think God forgives them so that they can have a free ticket to Heaven and be just as self  centered as they have always been.  So they might say they love Jesus, but their lives show otherwise, because they continue with the destructive sin that proves a lack of love for God.  But God saves people so that they can e brand new and live for him instead of themselves.  God wants the very best for us, and selfishness and sin are not the best for us.  Living in harmony with God and following his commandments is what’s best for everybody.  Salvation is not about getting into Heaven.  It’s about becoming God’s children and living as family and experiencing his love without measure and sharing that love with the world.  But it means cutting the sin out.  It means trading our old evil life for a new pure life.  And God promises to help us live right every step of the way.

So who do you love?

Here are the verses that you can’t hear in the message:

Romans 5:15-21 (somebody read) And what a difference between our sin and God’s generous gift of forgiveness. For this one man, Adam, brought death to many through his sin. But this other man, Jesus Christ, brought forgiveness to many through God’s bountiful gift.  And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but we have the free gift of being accepted by God, even though we are guilty of many sins.  The sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over us, but all who receive God’s wonderful, gracious gift of righteousness will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.

Yes, Adam’s one sin brought condemnation upon everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness makes all people right in God’s sight and gives them life.  Because one person disobeyed God, many people became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many people will be made right in God’s sight.

God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful kindness became more abundant.  So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful kindness rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 6:1-11 Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more kindness and forgiveness?  Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?  Or have you forgotten that when we became Christians and were baptized to become one with Christ Jesus, we died with him?  For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.

Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised as he was.  Our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.  For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin.  And since we died with Christ, we know we will also share his new life.  We are sure of this because Christ rose from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him.  He died once to defeat sin, and now he lives for the glory of God.  So you should consider yourselves dead to sin and able to live for the glory of God through Christ Jesus.

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Did you know that all Christians are supposed to be missionaries?  We might not all be called to travel to a foreign country, but Jesus did say to go into all the world and make disciples, to baptize them and teach them to obey everything that he taught.  And guess what?  Even if you’re not in some foreign country your still in the world somewhere—unless you’re an astronaut—though even in orbit there are people we can teach Christ’s commandments to.  No matter where you are, you are called to teach people to obey what Christ taught.  Maybe you’ve never thought about it before, but if you are not making disciples wherever you go, you are disobeying Jesus Christ.  And if you are disobeying Jesus Christ then that proves he is not your Lord and that you don’t love him.  Remember, he said “Those who obey my commands are the ones who love me.”  So if you don’t obey Jesus, and he is not your Lord, and you are not making disciples, then are you really a Christian?  Or are you simply mislabeling yourself?  James Chapter 2 makes it pretty clear that there’s a big difference between knowing God exists, and living a life that demonstrates your faith in him.  Even the demons “believe” in God and tremble.  So the question is, do you TRUST and OBEY God?   And inexperience or lack of education are both extremely lousy excuses, since all Christians are supposed to have the Holy Spirit living inside them and directing them.  After all, the only way you can get experience is by doing something.  Don’t you think it’s time you got started?

This talk is really just a short report on a building project we sent a team to help out with.  It was a trip in support of mission training and work, but all missionaries need support too.  So if you’re not ministering in a foreign country somewhere, be sure that you are helping to support that work with your money as well as sharing the Good News of Jesus yourself.  Just like the early disciples, we should be both spreading the Gospel AND financially supporting others who are making disciples around the world.

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Have you ever stopped to think about what it must have been like when God created people?  I picture Creation as a kind of artistic event—where God stands back looking at a blank canvas and formulates his ideas and then says “Let there be…” like an artist brushing strokes of color to create the image held in his mind.  Then he steps back and says “It’s good.” and keeps adding more and more to the picture.  But when he had finished everything else and was ready to make people he became the sculptor.  It’s like he got down on his hands and knees and picked up the dirt on the ground and shaped it into a man.  This part of his creation he wanted to do more than just speak into existence.  He wanted to mold Adam with his own hands and then breathe life into him.

And it seems that the farther we drift from God (as individuals and a culture) the less we care about Human life.  It tends to become less important to us.  A thief can wind up serving more time in jail than a murderer.  Old people, unborn children, and the disabled are seen as less valuable.  And we suffer as a people because of it.  Perhaps it’s time to take a fresh look at what it means to be a human being with the breath of God in our lungs that sustains us and makes us alive.

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I always think it’s funny when grownups tell kids not to run and play in church because they’re in the “House of God!” As if God is getting upset that kids are playing. “Hey you kids! Stop having so much fun, or you’ll make God mad! He’s trying to take a nap like the rest of the people listening to the sermon, and if you wake him up he’ll be as grumpy as I am!” What a goofy thought, that God’s house is a church building–as if God was sitting all by himself during the week, and finally got to see everybody on Sunday morning. “So how was your week everybody? Did you do anything fun?” People come to church thinking they’ll get something from God there. They pray and sing, and sometimes they dance and talk like crazy people. Others just sit there and act like scarecrows in pews. But so many of them transform into completely different people as soon as they get back home. All the ‘God’ stuff seems to evaporate like drops of water on a hot skillet as soon as they leave the church building.

But everybody (even non-church people) know that Jesus is supposed to live in your heart. So shouldn’t the life of any Christian be consistent whether they are at home or church or work or school or wherever? If we have God in us at church, we ought to have the same God living in us when we walk out the door. Right? God’s house isn’t a church building. It’s the pure heart of a Christian. And if God is really living in somebody’s heart, it ought to show through–all the time. If you say you have God in your heart, but he doesn’t show through in how you live your life all the time, maybe it’s because you don’t have God in your heart. Maybe what you really have in your heart is your own made up god. So when you go to church and act like he’s in there on Sundays, is it just a show?

I know these are pretty harsh questions, but don’t you think they are important ones to ask? Do you really believe you can have God in your heart and live like the Devil? I would think this is one thing you’d want to make sure you had right. What else in life really matters compared to whether you’re really following God or just following your own evil desires? Jesus asked the same question…”And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process? Is anything worth more than your soul?” Matthew 16, Mark 8, & Luke 9

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So there are plenty of examples of bad churches in this world. We’ve all seen people who give God a bad name. They either teach things that are completely unbiblical or they lead people astray just for money or they are complete hypocrites teaching one thing and living another. It makes me so sad every time I hear of a pastor who got caught stealing from his church or sleeping around or doing drugs or anything like that because they are supposed to be the leaders of the church. But the pastor isn’t the only one who should be a good example. The church (the whole church) is supposed to be holy. That means Christians aren’t supposed to live like the rest of the world. They are supposed to have pure hearts and live righteous lives. By the power of God, they are supposed to be obeying his commandments–all of them. That’s what Jesus said proves who loves him…”Those who obey my commandments are the ones who love me” (John 14)

So what makes a good church is when the people who are members are living just like Jesus did. If you are a Christian, I challenge you to live like it. Read what Jesus tells you to do, and if you love him, obey him. If you aren’t a Christian, I challenge you to challenge your Christian friends to put up or shut up. If they don’t live out what they teach, point out their hypocrisy. If they do live out what they teach, then listen to them. They know what it means to have new life (to be “born again”) in Christ.

The reason I did this talk was because we welcomed a new member to our church that day, and I just thought it was a nice chance to talk about what it means to be part of a church.

Enjoy!

PS. I gave this talk when it was snowing outside, and it totally reminded me of a Bible verse about snow. You know how clean and sparkly everything looks after a fresh snowfall. The Bible says no matter how gross and nasty our past looks, God can make our heart look as clean and pure as newly fallen snow. We have to choose to stop living with evil in our lives and start obeying God, but when we do, God says you get a fresh start. Isn’t that cool?! Check it out in Isaiah chapter 1.

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Did you ever wish you had super powers?  Did you ever imagine what it would be like to fly or bend steel with your bare hands or shoot lasers from your eyes?  If you could pick any one power, what would it be?  I think superheroes are cool.  I like Superman, the Incredible Hulk, the X-men, and just about all the rest.  And it’s been great to see technology get to the point where artists can make the amazing things they do on the movie screen look so real.  Big action movies like those where the good guys fight to save the world against evil are the best things to see at the theater!

So what if you could really be a superhero?  What would you do with your powers?  Would you use them for good or for evil—to save others or to serve yourself?  What if you really could have super powers?  What if you really did have a special ability written into your DNA or your spiritual make up?  What if you were meant to be the hero fighting to save the world from evil?

Well, maybe—just maybe, you are.  Listen to this and think about that idea:

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This is a little clip that talks about a couple analogies for what spiritual life and living as part of the church ought to be like.  I always like word pictures that help explain complex concepts in down-to-earth ways.

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