Sermon Cloud

— Connections Church of Denver, Colorado, constructed coffee bars outside their worship centers to attract visitors to their eight satellite churches.  They have now decided to abandon church services altogether to focus on coffee.
    "Congregational surveys revealed that people liked the coffee more than the services, so we’re practicing what we preach and focusing on our gifts and strengths," said former teaching pastor and now chief marketing officer, Pete Brown.
    "The sermons were okay, but the vanilla frappes moved me more,” said one woman who regularly attended the church because she enjoy the special brews. "I even brought my Jewish neighbors and they loved it."
    Connection’s staff realized last year that more money was coming in through the coffee bar than morning offerings. So the church renovated each of its locations into the Connections Coffee Clubs and removed most traces of its spiritual past. Now attendance is up and members are attending more frequently.
    "Who knew I was so gifted at making foam?" says a former elder, now the head barista, as he tops a heart-shaped design on a cappuccino.
    The church’s small groups have been turned into neighborhood reading clubs, with some reading Christian titles and others following Oprah’s recommendations. The only visible remnants of the coffee house’s past are offering plates which serve as tip jars, and the greeters stationed at the door to give a more welcoming feel than the nearby Starbucks.
    Some former members were stunned to arrive at church Sunday morning only to find the sanctuary transformed into a casual seating area with newspaper racks and coffee-themed gift items.
    "I guess we’ll go back to the Methodist place," said one father who had brought his family. "But we’ll most likely stop by here for breakfast each Sunday.”
    People in the surrounding neighborhoods say they are now more likely to visit. One man who came occasionally said he will feel less guilty standing at the coffee counter now that the morning church services have stopped.
    "Before, we had to sit through the service and pay our dues, now we get to go right to the good stuff — double espressos."
    Connections’ staff also feels liberated now that the pressure of ministry is off.
    "The best way to be relevant is to give people what they want," said Brown. "For us, that’s coffee and a warm and inviting place.”

This article is a spoof from Lark News. They have a sadistically fiendish way of paroding the modern church; but this spoof leads us to ask the question rather pointedly: What is the reason for the church?

Are we simply a special interest group, a political action committee, a social club, a think tank, an artist’s community, or a relic of days gone by?

Again, the only way to answer that question with any specificity is to consult the scriptures and the history of redemption contained therein.

So a little review:  In the beginning, God created a place and put Adam and Eve there.  With those two people came the divine institutions of Family, Church, and Government.  Adam and Eve were to care for each other in the most intimate way as a family; they were to worship God in all their duties as the church; and they were to manage the place where God put them as the government.  All of this would be intensified as their family expanded with children.

Properly defining each of these institutions requires an understanding of the other two.  Therefore the church can be initialy defined as a family that is properly governed.  This is just a starting point – so let’s continue our review.

We know that Adam and Eve sinned, and they lost their communion with God and each other.   As a result, all relationships are fallen, including the relationship among the three institutions. 

However even as sinners, Adam and Eve teach their children to worship God.  Cain and Able bring sacrifices of Thanksgiving to God and one receives God’s favor, the other does not.  Here is another defining characteristic of the church:  The church is a worshipping interprise – but some forms of worship are acceptable to God – others are not! 

Now, all of life is supposed to be worship before God – a reflection of how we value Him and His ways; but when the church gathers as a family properly governed; we must do so in a way that God says is pleasing to HIM!  It cannot be the invention of our own imaginations or desires.  We must learn this Cain and Able, that we must worship the correct God, correctly.

Because of Cain and Able, a division takes place in the family. God made a judgment upon Cain:  As a result, some of the people of the earth will be properly related to God because of how they worship Him, while the other portion of humanity, NOT properly worshipping God, will be under His judgment, because they refuse to worship and relate to God rightly.  

Problem is, who really wants to worship God rightly?  Especially when we all have so many cool ideas about what life is supposed to be about and we have so many projects that are more important than religious observance? 

It’s because of this truth that God is required to step in in order to protect Noah’s family, and all humanity in a manner of speaking, by starting all over again --because no one seeks the standards that God has set for the world unless God graciously intervenes.

God makes another gracious move in calling and preserving Abraham and His family.  He establishes a unique relationship with him so that through His faith and obedience, all the families of the world would be blessed by observing and following Abraham’s example.

Abraham’s family becomes the nation of Israel.  The core of Israel’s identity was their worship of the One True and Living God.  God installs three offices to guarantee the proper place of worship in Israel: the prophets, priests, and Kings will all coordinate the devotions of Israel so that all of life would be worship before God (isn’t this just an echo of Family, Church, and Government? Prophet, Priest, & King?)

Even though the center of Israel’s worship will take place in the ceremonies of the Tabernacle and Temple – with ceremonies that acknowledge sin, that communicate reconcilation; that express thanksgiving to God – EVEN THOUGH this was prominent, it was not the only place of worship for Israel – worship would also be expressed in everyday life – such as how they farmed and raised their children and in how they cared for the alien in their midst.

Problem was, Israel didn’t maintain an exclusive relationship with God.  Not even the prophets, priests, and kings could keep their devotion to God’s standards, and Israel immitated the worship of other cultures and lost their unique identity, she failed in her mission, and forfieted her place of prominence in the world.

But God is faithful, and He again, will graciously accomplish His plans to bless the world through the remnant descendants of Abraham.  God would once again step in to protect a family line who would rightly worship Him.

Enter Jesus; the promised seed, the predicted heir, the anticipated anointed one, the prophet, priest, and king who would Redeem Israel.  Jesus, himself, properly worships God with his heart, soul, mind, and strength and loves God and neighbor truly.  Jesus is the true worshipper of God!  Jesus becomes the offering and sacrifice to bring reconciliation, and the New Israel, the Church, express their thanks and worship to God because of the salvation they possess in Jesus Christ.

The point I’m trying to make is that God decides how to be worshipped. God graciously preserves a people to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

Those who do worship Him correctly become a blessing to the world.  This is the story of both Testaments of Scripture:  It’s all about the Lord calling a worshipping community to himself, and they act as a loving family - properly governed.

Now none of this is particularly earth shattering or revolutionary, it just happens to be the foundation for the church.  And since we call ourselves a church, we must determine what kind of church we must be.  And we won’t ever become the church Christ has promised to build if we ignore the proper foundation.

So what is the church?  A unique worshipping community that remains so, graciously, as a family - properly governed to be a blessing to the world.

When we see the New Testament church hatching out of the nest of Old Testament Israel, we find them instituting some practices that remain with us to this day because this New Church shares a common foundation with the Old Testament saints! Let’s look at their very first convictions and interactions at the very beginning:

^{Acts 2:38} And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. è

³⁹ For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself." è

⁴⁰ And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation." è

 ⁴¹ So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.  ⁴² And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. è

 ⁴³ And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.è

⁴⁴ And all who believed were together and had all things in common. ⁴⁵ And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. ⁴⁶ And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, è

⁴⁷ praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. è (not a physical family but a spiritual one growing…)

So here in Acts 2 the foundations for the church are being expressed; but what is the REASON for the church?  Ephesians 2, starting vs. 4…

Ephesians 2:7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

2:16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

2:19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,

2:20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,2:21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. :22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. = speaks of worship

3:6 This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. = we must proclaim the gospel

3:9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, 3:10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. 3:11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord,

è This is why we started from the beginning with Adam and Eve, God has an eternal purpose and plan for the world and beyond.  To establish a true family of worshippers of the Father through the Son and would be directed by His word and Spirit.  So that, whatever God is going to do in the world – WAIT, whatever God is going to do in the entire universe, He is going to do it THROUGH Christ’s people – his church!!

So what is the reason for the church?  To be worldly successful?  ABSOLUTELY!  As long as it is committed to her core identity: Proclaiming the Gospel of grace; establishing our uniqueness as a community that actually worships the true God!  Demonstrating our union, of which when celebrated in the sacraments of the church communicate gospel truths applied to all believers; and being disciplined in our calling to faithfully worship God as a family, to worship God by our obedience, to worship Him by being ministers of reconciliation -- especially as we serve our fellow man in righteousness.  This is when we become a blessing to the world.

This means that we have some goals to accomplish to fulfill our reason for being!

1 Worshipping the correct God correctly

2 Living as a family properly governed

3 Proclaiming the Gospel of grace and reconciliation

4 Graciously serving others so that we might be a blessing to them

How will we know we are accomplishing these goals?

-         Finding the directions for worship in God’s word

-         Acknowledging that we all play a role in the family

-         Living as witnesses to the reconciling power of God

-         Making sure that we reach every man, woman, and child within our circle of accountability with the opportunity to hear and respond to the Good News of Jesus.

I’ve always liked this description of the church è the invisible kingdom of God made visible.  We become visible to the world when we worship faithfully – not just in a church service, as important as that is – but with all of our life, in every arena in which we live.  The primary place that we have always made a powerful impact in revealing this kingdom is in our families, properly governed.  This is why our first line of ministry and discipleship is to our families – when spiritually mature families gather for corporate worship they will demonstrate the priorities of reconciliation and the need and desire to minister outside our church walls to be a blessing to the world.