Covering the Basics (Part 2)
Speaker: Andrew Brown
Key Passage: Romans 12: 1-18
Date: 6 June 2010
Just this week I heard a joke that I quite enjoyed. Apparently there was a man who decided to get a talking parrot to keep him company. So, he went to the local pet shop and spent a fortune on a parrot that the manager guaranteed would talk. However, when he got the bird home, no matter how hard he tried, he could not get the bird to say a single word. The next day he went back to the pet store and complained to the manager, but the manager said, “Look, don’t worry about it. The parrot will talk. What he probably needs is a ladder to climb upon.” He bought the ladder home, and it didn’t work. So he went back to the pet shop and said, “It still doesn’t talk!” This time the manager suggested that he buy a swing because this would make the bird happy and then he would speak. But again the same problem occurred. The bird remained silent, and this pattern continued for several weeks. Every time the owner complained to the pet store manager, he would suggest that he buy one more gadget for the silent bird. So over the weeks a series of mirrors, plastic trees, and shiny parrot toys were brought home, but still nothing worked. The bird flatly refused to speak. Finally a week later the bird died and the owner sadly returned all the near new gadgets to the pet shop. The manager was very surprised because the bird had always been so talkative. He asked, “Did the bird ever say anything…I mean, did he ever utter even one single word?” The owner replied, “Well actually as a matter of fact, he did. Just before he died, as he lay on his back, he looked up at me and asked, “Don’t they sell any food at that pet shop?’”
That joke’s a reminder that sometimes we need to get back to the basics. You need to stick to the basics before you get involved in all the fancy stuff, and last week I talked about the importance of baptism and of simply being obedient to Christ. No doubt a few of you have got post-notes with the words ‘Be baptised’ stuck up somewhere around your house. I hope you’ll talk with us soon about setting a date for your baptism, because not being baptised is a bit like running forwards with a bungee cord attached to your waist. You won’t make the spiritual progress that you want to until you’ve got this matter sorted out with God.
But the issue that I want to talk about this morning affects every one of you, and it’s something that follows hard on the heels of baptism. Not only is it foundational to your spiritual life, but also it’s the springboard to everything else. Everyone needs to understand this part well so we are going to look in Romans 12 at this issue.
1. Now just for a bit of background, many people consider the Book of Romans to be the most important book in the Bible. It’s the famous book in which Martin Luther discovered that you can have peace with God, not through your own efforts, but through His efforts for you. This insight changed has the whole way we look at God, but unfortunately it has obscured one of the main reasons why the Book of Romans was written in the first place.
You see there was a problem going down in the church in Rome. The problem was that at the very beginning many of the first Christians were Jewish. At one stage about a third of the Jews in Jerusalem were Christians and the Roman church reflected this. The Jews were the largest group in the church. But in 49AD disputes broke out between Christian and non-Christian Jews in Rome, and the Roman Emperor used this as an excuse to kick all the Jews out. When the Jews finally filtered back into Rome under a new Emperor they discovered that other people from all over the Empire had occupied many of their seats at church. Imagine this scenario. This group (1/3rd) are Jewish. This group (2/3rd) are Gentile. The Jews are no longer the biggest bunch in church. The Gentiles have taken over, and they are looking down their noses at the Jews thinking ‘more of us are becoming Christians than of them;’ while the Jews are thinking ‘we want to be Jewish Christians –Christians in our own culture. Maybe we don’t belong here in this church anymore.’ In effect the church at Rome was starting to come apart at the seams, and so Paul writes to them with some very clear directions. He has some very strong things to say as he reaches his climax in Romans 12.
Does Paul just suggest that they all head off in different directions and form their own congregations? No! Does he say, “Sure, go ahead -do it your own thing!” Again, no! What Paul says is (verse 1) firstly offer yourselves to God. That’s where it all starts. He says commit yourself heart and soul, boots and all to being a part of God’s will and God’s work. Like a living sacrifice offer yourself to God as an act of worship by hanging in there with the church in Rome. Paul says lots of folk have missed out on salvation so far; don’t opt out of the church yourself! Instead commit yourself to God and to His people.
Then he urges them to change their minds (v2). He says don’t think the way the world does. Don’t adopt their standards and behaviour. You’re not like them in the first place so don’t go down that track. Let God teach you what to think and then your behaviour will follow. Then you’ll know what’s best and right to do in this and in every situation. Humble yourself a little bit more (v3). Don’t think of yourself as being better than each other. Don’t think of yourself as a Jew or a Gentile more highly than you ought. Learn to submit to one other. Don’t be all high and mighty. The only difference between you is the quality of your faith.
If you do these things what you’ll see is that you are part of one body, one people (v4-7). You are part of one organism and organisation called Christ’s body. You belong to each other. You have spiritual gifts that God has given you to use together. So if you can prophesy, prophesy. If you can serve, serve. If you can teach, teach; if you can encourage, encourage; if you can give, do it generously; and if you can eld, eld! Don’t stand on the sidelines. Be involved. Be an active part of the body. Then he concludes with a whole lot of other words, but the gist of them is ‘Love each other (v8+).’ Love one other. So Paul says to the church in Rome, offer yourself to God, change your minds, humble yourself a wee bit more, recognise that you are part of the body of Christ, and love each other.
Look conflict is normal in any church, but what I hope you can see in what Paul says is that God wants you to be committed to His people. God wants His people to be as one. You see the reality is that Jesus didn’t just come to save persons. He came to save a people. He didn’t come just to rescue individuals and to see them baptised. He’s come to make us one at a very practical level –congregation by congregation. The message to the church at Rome is that God has taken the Jews and Gentiles and grafted them into one family with gifts and abilities meant for each other, and so if you want to be close to God, you must draw close to this group of same people!
2. And this truth hasn’t changed in over 2,000 years. You can see this same principle in other parts of the Bible. For instance the Bible speaks of the ‘Universal’ church and the ‘local’ church. The universal church is the sum of all Christians everywhere. Jesus talked about this in Matthew 16:18 when He said, “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.” When you are baptised you are ‘added’ by the Lord Himself to the ‘universal’ church. Like Acts 2:41 “Those who accepted His message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.”
A ‘local’ church, however, is a specific group of Christians who function together as a congregation, like in Acts 14:23 where “Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord.” The Bible makes it very clear that involvement in, and commitment to a local church is essential for Christians. Throughout the New Testament, the pattern of the Christians is to meet in local congregations (e.g. Acts 2:46; 1 Corinthians 14:26; Ephesians 4:16; 1 Timothy 3:15) and in some verses we are even commanded to do so. “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another and all the more as you see the Day (of the Lord) approaching (Hebrews 10:25). “ Once you are baptised you should join yourself to a ‘local’ church and when you move joining a new church should be automatic.
There is, in fact, a divine purpose for the local church that impacts every Christian. The New Testament pictures us belonging to each other, having fellowship together, submitting to elected leadership, building each other up through ministry, being accountable to the Lord through the local church and meeting together regularly. The classic passage for this is Acts 2:42-47 on the early church. “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common… Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people.” So Christians are obligated to participate faithfully in the life of a local congregation, where-ever possible.
3. But like the Romans this is something that we frequently struggle to do. Quite a number struggle in this way. For instance I was very angry to read an article in the newspaper this week that claimed that the younger generation today is one of the most selfish there has ever been. It said that computer games have made them hard and unfeeling towards others. I wanted to yell “No way! That’s not true. We all struggle. We are all self-centred. We all want to float along without getting too involved in the lives of others.” For example, there are an estimated several thousands believers in Auckland who float around from church to church each Sunday without ever putting their down spiritual roots. Rick Warren rather unkindly calls them “Bunny believers” because they hop from church to church, and it’s symptomatic of our western culture. We have become so infected by individualism that we often do things on our own in our own way and we tend to live like spiritual lone rangers.
So what are we to do? Well God calls us to be obedient and Paul gives us the guidelines in Romans. Firstly, he says you must commit yourself to God and to His people. Offer yourself as a living sacrifice. Commit yourself heart and soul, boots and all to God’s church. I mean the local church is the hope of the world. There isn’t some other means. 2. If necessary, change your mind Paul says. Don’t think in the way that the world does. Get God’s perspective. 3. Humble yourself if you have to. Learn to submit to one another. Often people don’t join a church out of pride. They don’t wish to come under authority for instance. 1 John 4:20 says, “If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.” In the same way if you cannot submit to your brother or sister whom you have seen, you cannot submit to God who you have not seen. 4. God also wants to recognise that we are a part of one body. You belong in a local church with every one else. We each have spiritual gifts and abilities that each other needs. And finally 5. we are to love each other. In this day and age we need to follow the advice that Paul gives.
4. But we also have a special tool to help us do this. There is special way in which you can express your commitment to the body of Christ, and this tool is simply called “membership.” Every Baptist church has a membership and joining the membership is simply the tool that the local church has used for hundreds of years for to help Christians achieve these spiritual goals. Membership encourages, inspires, clarifies and shapes your commitment to God’s people.
In some ways it’s similar to marriage. The promises and vows that you make if you marry support and sustain your good intentions through the good times and the bad. In fact you become a different person by making such promises. It’s more than just window-dressing. The ritual of getting married or becoming a member doesn’t just symbolise something; it also enacts it! You are shaped by the commitments that you make.
For example, I remember when Nan Yong and I got married in February 1995. We stood in front of two hundred people in the front of church and I made a pledge. “I, Andrew, take you, Nan Yong, to be my wife. Where you go, I will go. Where you live, I will live. Your people shall be my people, and your God shall be my God.” In making that promise I become a different person. I made a commitment that wasn’t there before, and it has made a huge difference in my life. That commitment has been a source of great joy on many occasions, and it has protected me when I have needed it most. You know our God is a God of love and faithfulness. Proverbs 3:3 says, “Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.”
And it’s a similar thing with membership. It formally binds you into the body of Christ.
Of course some people don’t want to become members. Some people simply don’t want to get involved or to make that kind of commitment. That’s sad because they are opting out of something that Christ wants. There are others, however, who don’t support their churches style, approach, doctrine or beliefs. Maybe they don’t like some of the members either. All I can say is that there must be one church somewhere they can approve of! They must find it and join it! But maybe they’re not Christians. In that case it’s fair enough, not to join the membership.
But as Andy Stanley says there must come a time in your life as one grows up where you stop dating the ‘local’ church and you become a member, so I encourage you to become a member of PBC.
C. How do I become a member of a local church? The first step is investigation. At most churches they have a newcomers night like we do. You attend ‘Exploring PBC’ and if you believe you are eligible and want to become a member, you let someone in leadership know. Then there’s a discussion. You will be interviewed regarding your Christian faith, church background, present circumstances and plans to participate in the church. A report is passed on to the elders. Following a favourable discussion at Elders Board the name of the prospective member is advertised in the church newsletter and church members are invited to comment confidentially on their application. Finally once the Elders Board approves the application you are welcomed into membership at the next available communion service.
Today we have two people who have done that just recently and we are going to welcome them into the membership of PBC in a moment. But before we do could you please take the Post it ‘note’ in your newsletter and your pencil and write down today’s theme: “Apply for membership.”
Just to conclude this message I want to show you a clip that Keran sent me this week. Those of you who are Apple fans will love it. Take a close look at their instrument and spot what’s different. You might enjoy it, but the significance for me is that this is a beautiful illustration of what the local church is like when we are all on the same page and working together. ‘How Great is Our God’ clip -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaJ4A7mXJH8
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