I recently mentioned that I am preaching each week at a local church.

I am doing a sermon series right now called "The Church Inside Out." It is a thematic series, built around missional church ideas.

I appreciate the folks here willing to listen to a yankee preacher in a TN town. Also, preaching a "missional church" series at such an established church is always both a challenge and a blessing.

Here are my message notes from last Sunday. You can listen to the audio here.

God's Purpose in the Church

The church is being the church when it is a body on mission for God's Kingdom.

There are two models to consider:

Building + Clergy + Program = Church (Constantinian model)

Body + Mission + Kingdom = Church (Biblical model)

1. Body: Focus on Being rather than Doing Church

The church is being the church when it is a body on mission for God's Kingdom.

There are marks of doing that make a true church, but they are not what peope typically think. Most people see the "essentials" as building, clergy, and program. That is the wrong focus.

Those can be tools... but too often tools become rules and we begin to focus on them and not the fact that the church is a body.

The Body

Colossians 1:15-20 (HCSB) "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation; because by Him everything was created, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-- all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together.

He is also the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He might come to have first place in everything. For God was pleased [to have] all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself by making peace through the blood of His cross-- whether things on earth or things in heaven.

It is one body...

• Ephesians 4:4 (HCSB) There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope at your calling;

...purchased with Blood...

• Acts 20:28 (HCSB) Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among whom the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood.

...of which individually We Are Parts.

• 1 Corinthians 12:20 (HCSB) Now there are many parts, yet one body.
• 1 Corinthians 12:27 (HCSB) Now you are the body of Christ, and individual members of it.

James Emery White writes in his book, Serious Times, that "Christ followers are notorious for being dismissive of the church, as if it were a disposable institution created by human beings..."1

No doubt, there are many churches in institutional form at have been created by human beings, By the same token, there are some poor excuses for automobiles being built by some manufacturers but that doesn't mean you'll see me mounting a horse anytime soon... The fact that there are bad churches does not mean we reject God's plan.

We have talked a lot about Ephesians 3:10. Paul says that the multi-faceted wisdom of God may now be made known through the church. Like it or not... had a bad experience or not... God has not and will not ... give up on the church.

The church was not plan B... and God doesn't have a plan B if this church thing doesn't work out. He doesn't have a drawing board to go back to.

White also says,

We do not live and breathe in a neutral environment but in the midst of a hostile conflict, and we are behind enemy lines. The god of this world has been named, and he is ensconced firmly on his throne. There is only one domain beyond his control that stands in the way of total dominion: the body of Christ. As a result, the church is under constant assault, for it stands alone against the night. It demands constant reinforcement and steadfast commitment. The church is not simply the vanguard of kingdom advance; it is the entire assault force. According to Jesus' words, the church is not only to take a stand against evil but also to stage a frontal attack.

Now, let me say that the church is not the center of God's plan. Jesus is. But, the church is central to God's plan. Jesus places the church in a position of great importance.

Now, it does not matter if a church meets in a cathedral or a coffee shop, but the church does matter.

In addition to the picture of the church as body, she is also picture as "The Bride":

Ephesians 5:25-26 (HCSB) "Husbands, love your wives, just as also Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her, to make her holy, cleansing her in the washing of water by the word."

2. Mission: Be On God's Agenda and Not Our Preferences

Ephesians 3:10 (HCSB) "...God's multi-faceted wisdom may now be made known through the church..."

There are too many churches that have lost their "usefulness" as tools for God's agenda:

Matthew 5:13-16 (HCSB) 13 "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It's no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled on by men. 14 "You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven."

We are all called to ministry (1 Peter 4:10) and all sent on mission (John 20:21).

3. Kingdom: Build His Kingdom and Not Ours

The Church is a Sign and an Instrument of the Kingdom.

The church is the invisible kingdom made visible. That is why we are called "ambassadors." We represent another kingdom.

2 Corinthians 5:17-21 (HCSB) "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come. Now everything is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed the message of reconciliation to us. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ; certain that God is appealing through us, we plead on Christ's behalf, "Be reconciled to God." He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

What is an ambassador?

According to Answers.com:

A diplomatic official of the highest rank appointed and accredited as representative in residence by one government or sovereign to another, usually for a specific length of time.

But the Kingdom is not yet fully here. That's why Jesus prayed, "They Kingdom come and thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

The disciples were looking for the Kingdom, but in the wrong place. They were not to rule in the Kingdom, but to be a sign and an instrument of it:

Acts 1:6-8 (HCSB) 6 So when they had come together, they asked Him, "Lord, at this time are You restoring the kingdom to Israel?" 7 He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by His own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

The church is something of a government in exile. The King of all the Universe turned the world upside down when He came, not as a worldly king, but as a subversive savior. And, He established a church that calls Him, "King" though his Kingdom is not of this world. They are a sign and an instrument of that Kingdom.

As Dallas Willard says,

"The church is not the kingdom, but the church represents the kingdom of God on earth!" Willard says, "His [Jesus'] objective is eventually to bring all of human life on earth under the direction of his wisdom, goodness, and power, as part of God's eternal plan for the universe. We must make no mistake about it. In thus sending out his trainees, he set afoot a perpetual world revolution; one that is still in process and will continue until God's will is done on earth as it is in heaven. As this revolution culminates, all the forces of evil known to mankind will be defeated, and the goodness of God will be known, accepted, and joyously conformed to in every aspect of human life. He has chosen to accomplish this with and, in part, through [us] his students... (Dallas Willard, Renovation Of The Heart (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2002), pp. 14-15).

That is why the church is to be known and identified by love. It is to show what heaven is before we get to heaven.

John 13:34-35 (HCSB) "I give you a new commandment: love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

Conclusion

There are two forces at work in every church:

(I am using the words centtipetal and centrifugal in the common usage, and not in the technical use in the science physics.)

First, there is a centripetal force pulling us in. That is the force of self: making it "about us." And the more we have, buildings, money, programs, the stronger that force gets. That force pulls us inward.

Second, there is a centrifugal force pushing us outward to those around us. That "force" is the Holy Spirit. God is sending us to people who live in the contexts around us and around the world.

Let me give you an example of how that centripetal force often beats out the centrifugal force.

Parable of the Life-Saving Station

Why do we do what we do? Sometimes we lose our sense of purpose.

On a dangerous sea coast where shipwrecks often occur, there was once a crude little life-saving station. The building was just a hut, and there was only one boat, but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea, and with no thought for themselves, went out day and night tirelessly searching for the lost. Some of those who were saved and various others in the surrounding area wanted to become associated with the station and gave of their time and money and effort for the support of its work. New boats were bought and new crews trained. The little life-saving station grew.

Some of the members of the life-saving station were unhappy that the building was so crude and poorly equipped. They felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea. They replaced the emergency cots with beds and put better furniture in the enlarged building. Now the life-saving station became a popular gathering place for its members, and they decorated it beautifully because they used it as a sort of club. Fewer members were now interested in going to sea on life-saving missions, so they hired lifeboat crews to do this work. The life-saving motif still prevailed in the club's decorations, and there was a liturgical life-boat in the room where the club's initiations were held. About this time a large ship wrecked off the coast, and the hired crews brought in boat loads of cold, wet and half-drowned people. They were dirty and sick. The beautiful new club was in chaos. So the property committee immediately had a shower house build outside the club where victims of shipwrecks could be cleaned up before coming inside.

At the next meeting, there was a split among the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the club's life-saving activities as being unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal social life of the club. Some members insisted upon life-saving as their primary purpose and pointed out that they were still called a life-saving station. But they were finally voted down and told that if they wanted to save lives of all the various kinds of people who were shipwrecked in those waters, they could begin their own life-saving station. So they did.

As the years went by, the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred in the old. It evolved into a club, and yet another life-saving station was founded. History continued to repeat itself, and if you visit that sea coast today, you will find a number of exclusive clubs along that shore. Shipwrecks are frequent in those waters, but most of the people drown.

Reprinted from Ideas books by Youth Specialities, Inc. 1224 Greenfield Drive, El Cajon, CA 92021. Used by permission.

Reprinted by permission in the Fall 1990 issue of Student Leadership journal, © 1990 by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA.

Our task is to promote "love and good works" when we gather together:

Hebrews 10:24-25 (HCSB) "And let us be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works, not staying away from our meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day drawing near."