WEEKLY ARTICLE

What does the Church do?

Weekly Article

by the Rev. Matt Kennedy

The Church of the Good Shepherd

What are you here for?

When you ask Christians what the Church is supposed to be and do, you generally get a variety of answers.

“To take care of the poor and hungry”

“To meet spiritual needs”

“To bring people together”

All of these are good answers, but incomplete.

The best summary of the mission of the Church and, consequently, the mission of Good Shepherd is found in the last chapter of the Gospel of Matthew:

18Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20)

This famous passage which you have no doubt heard before is called “The Great Commission” because Jesus is “commissioning” or charging his disciples, his Church, with a new mission.

The first thing to notice about the Great Commission is that Jesus calls the Church, and every individual believer as well, to be outward focused. The Church is not about us.

The Church equips believers to fulfill the Great Commission and reach out to the lost.

We are disciples called to make disciples. We are missionaries called to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ in our neighborhoods, schools, offices and homes.

What is that good news?

It is both simple and profound. God became man in Jesus Christ and willingly suffered death on a cross to bear the just punishment for the sins of the entire world. Then, three days later he rose from the dead and now he is seated at the right hand of the Father. This act opened the gates of heaven to all who are willing to repent and give their lives to Jesus Christ. Anyone who surrenders himself to Jesus Christ, and trusts in him alone, will be given eternal life with God. His sins (past, present, and future) will be forgiven, he will be counted or credited with the righteousness of Christ, and he will be indwelled by God the Holy Spirit. God will live with and in him forever and one day, like Christ, he too will rise from the dead.

This is the message of the New Testament; this is the message we have believed, and this is the message we are called to proclaim.

Parishes and churches that forget or neglect this great commission often do so because they turn inward. They begin to speak and think of the church in terms of ownership.

“This is my church” or “This is our church” people will say and they will begin to see evangelism as a threat to normalcy.

And it is. When new believers come into the Kingdom, they bring lots of chaos with them. It makes a church a wild and often unruly place to be. But that is a good thing. It is a sign of new life.

When Anne's dad, Bob, preached at our wedding he gave us a blessing in the Supyre tongue which, roughly translated means, “May you have a dirty home.”

He explained that for the Senefo people, this blessing is a figure of speech. It is another way of saying: “May you have lots of kids.”

Anne and I know that few things are dirtier than a home with lots of kids. We certainly have a “dirty” marriage.

The bible teaches that God wants a dirty church as well. God wants lots of baby believers and he doesn't seem to mind the chaos too much.

Imagine what it must have been like to walk with Peter the hothead and Matthew the money-pincher and John the suck up. But Jesus patiently transformed these men, these new converts, into the selfless leaders and servants through whom he laid the very foundations of the faith.

It is the role of the mature believers in a church to do the same. Not only to evangelize but to facilitate the growth and discipleship of those baby believers who come to faith.

As I said in my last article, the longer you have been a believer, the less your focus should be on you and your needs and the more it should be on Christ and facilitating the birth and growth of Christ in others. In fact, as you grow, giving and serving others, conforming the purposes and plans of your life to those defined and described in by Christ in the scriptures is the only thing that will satisfy and bring you joy.

Chris Osgood sent an email to me this morning that illustrates this principle using the acronym JOY. You will have joy when you place Jesus first, Others second, and You last.

That is precisely correct. Jesus said that those who want to “save their lives”, to get what they can get in this world, will end up losing them. They will never find what they are looking for. But those who “lose their lives,” who put Christ and others before themselves, will find them.

It's interesting to think about the way God works in a parish. He brings people together in the same body who would naturally, on their own, never choose to be friends and then he commands them to stay and love one another. It takes forgiveness, patience, a willingness to admit it when you are wrong and to see your own faults. It's tough sometimes but it gets easier with practice. God uses difficult relationships in a church to build his love and patience into cold hearts. That is why it is so important not to run away from conflict or uncomfortable relationships because when you do you often find yourself running away from God.

The Church is not our church or my church or your church. It is Christ's church and his alone. His Word is our foundation. His call is our mission. Christ has called Good Shepherd (and all churches) to put the needs of the lost and the newly converted above our own and that is what we must do if we hope to find his blessing and joy in our life together as a parish and in our own lives as individuals.

So this year, as in every year that I am rector, the primary mission of the Church of the Good Shepherd will be to share the living gospel with as many people as possible trusting that the Lord will work through us to bring salvation to the lost. And when he does, we will welcome them with open arms.

There are many specific ways that we will work to fulfill this mission over the year. You will be hearing a lot more about it after the vestry retreat coming up at the end of this month.

But the Church is not only called to proclaim the gospel and welcome new believers.

Notice also that the passage above does not stop with the call to make converts. It says we are to make “disciples” and to teach them.

“make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

One problem with churches that focus only on evangelism is that once someone commits his life to Christ, he needs love, and nourishment to grow.

It is vital that new Christians be integrated into the community of believers and nourished with good spiritual food.

This nourishment comes by studying the bible daily. The bible is God's Word, mother's milk for the believer. It also comes through daily prayer and weekly worship.

The discipleship phase of the Christian life does not end. No matter how long you have been a believer; no matter how many times you have read the bible; no matter how many times you have been to church or bible study; there is never a time when you will outgrow these foods.

At some point, you go from being a baby believer who primarily feeds to a mature believer who is fed and then, having been nourished and equipped, devotes himself to feeding others. But you never outgrow the need for food; the need for the bible or prayer or worship.

In fact, if Christ is first in your life, your hunger for these things grows as you do. Think of a teenage boy. He is much bigger and stronger than a baby and, if he's been raised correctly, has the ability to help around the house, but if you think a baby can eat…watch a teenager. This is precisely what happens as you grow. You need the bible, the fellowship, worship, the things of God far more than you did as a new believer. The difference is that as you mature, God gives you the capacity to turn around and use what you have been given to bring others up.

Christ calls the church not only to proclaim the gospel but also to nurture the growth of those who hear and receive it.

This means that at Good Shepherd there must always be bible studies and Christian education, opportunities for new believers and mature believers to be fed and equipped and taught to know and understand God's Word.

It also means that the mature believers at Good Shepherd should not only commit to a bible study themselves but actively look for and invite new believers to join and participate as well.

So the second part of our mission at Good Shepherd is to feed and equip believers at every stage of development so that the church is not filled with pew sitters but with disciples willing and able to give their lives and live their lives for Christ.

This is vital work. It is eternal work. Nothing you work for on earth has a shelf life beyond 80 or 90 years. But the work God does in and through you lasts for eternity. God is in the process of redeeming and transforming the world from sin, rebellion and death to a new and glorious kingdom. He has chosen to use you and me to play a part in that process.

The more equipped you become the more the Lord will use you in bringing people to salvation and new life. The more mature we become as a body, as a parish, the more God will use us to bring lost people home.

It is an amazing call, an incredible privilege, and it requires our best efforts

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