The Kind of Church America Needs
This past weekend, it was my privilege and delight to be the guest preacher at Port Charlotte Global Methodist Church. Their Lead Pastor, Denvil Farley is on a four week sabbatical and I was honored to speak at the church he leads and serves. As it was the weekend closest to July 4th, Denvil and I thought that a message on the kind of Church America needs would be helpful to the people of God who call Port Charlotte Global Methodist Church their spiritual home. Below is both a link to the video recording of the message (it begins at 32:00) and the unedited manuscript. I pray this helps you as a follower of Jesus and as we together navigate these turbulent times in our nation and world.
Jorge
The Kind of Church America Needs
Port Charlotte Global Methodist Church
Rev. Dr. Jorge Acevedo
I was a local church pastor for 39 years and Lead Pastor of one church for 27 of those years. But here’s my honest confession. Preaching on the week of July 4th has always been difficult for me. So as you could imagine, I was really happy when Pastor Denvil asked me to preach this weekend! Here was and is my dilemma. On the one hand, I love America and all that she stands for...freedom, promise, hope and liberty. My truth is that whenever I travel internationally whether for leisure or ministry, as soon as the plane lands in “the land of free and the home of the brave,” I always want to run out onto the tarmac and plant a big kiss on our US soil. Like you, I love our country. My father served in the United States Air Force for 25 years and is a picture of the American dream. Google “American dream” and my dad’s picture comes up. He came here with my mom as newlyweds from very humble, poor circumstances in Puerto Rico and died at 97, more than 70 years later, a man of with significant means and influence. My family loves this country.
And yet, I know that you would also agree with me that we are not a nation that always lives into God’s best. The reality is that we are a nation run amuck in immorality and callousness. From pornography to our treatment of the poor, from our abortion policies to our immigration policies, America has a lot of work to do. So, what’s a guy who spends many of his days preparing to speak a word from the Lord to large groups of Christian people supposed to speak on two days after we have celebrated our independence? What does a preacher preach on this weekend?
As I have aged (and hopefully matured), I have realized that most often on this July 4th weekend, I was asking the wrong question. I was a bit misguided when the question I thought we needed to consider as the people of God was “How can America be the country God wants her to be?” This really was and is the wrong question. The right and better question is “How can the Church in America be the Church God wants her to be?” Here’s what I mean. It really is “low hanging fruit” to point out the ways much of the behavior of Americans does not reflect the holiness of God. Remember that Jesus taught his apprentices this truth:
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
Matthew 7:13-14 (NIV)
Followers of Jesus ought not be surprised when people who claim no allegiance to Jesus and his Kingdom do not act like apprentices of Jesus. The lost travel with delightful ignorance through the wide gate of destruction. Instead, what Christ followers ought to do is expect Christians, narrow gate people, to behave like Christians. Why are so many self-avowed Christ-followers not living like Christ-followers? From how we use our money to how we manage our sexuality, Christians in America seem to look a lot like the culture. The bottom line as I have prayerfully pondered this particular message is simple. Here it is: America is in the shape it is in because the Church of Jesus is in the shape that it is in. I know this hurts a bit but stay with me. You see, a nation is only as strong as the Church.
Peter the Apostle knew “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” when it came to his walk with Jesus. He accompanied Jesus to a miracle where a girl was resurrected. He walked with Jesus to a high place where Jesus mysteriously transfigured and he spent the night with Jesus going to an agonizing prayer meeting shortly before Jesus’ death. Peter also walked on water for a few steps then took his eyes of Jesus and sank. He knew the heartbreaking agony of denying he even knew Jesus but also experienced the exhilarating words of grace from his risen Rabbi at a beachside breakfast. As an old man leading the constellations of house churches in the most important city of his day, Rome, Peter wrote a letter to followers of Jesus doing life together in the first century. In chapter 4, he admonishes them to endure suffering and to persevere. After reminding them that they have been delivered from a sinful life, he turns his attention to a single word we do not like to hear…“judgement.” In the 21st century, this word is not in vogue. In verse 17, Paul writes these words with a tear in his eye to the church:
For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
1 Peter 4:17 (NIV)
Peter reminds Jesus followers then and now, that it’s a good thing for God to turn the spotlight of judgement on the Church. We go first if you will. Remember that throughout Paul’s letters, he repeatedly teaches that good parents discipline their children and that likewise, our loving heavenly father disciplines us…his children…the Church.
You see this kind of careful examination and judgment in Paul’s letters. Let’s take for example his first letter to the Corinthian followers of Jesus. Listen how he opens his letter:
Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people…
1 Corinthians 1:1-2a (NIV)
Now, if opened an email with this greeting, I’d be really excited to read the rest of it. The tone is kind and welcoming. Paul is describing followers of Jesus then and now with good words like “sanctified” and “holy.” He’s praying “grace and peace” on us. What’s not like?
But read on. Just 7 verses later, Paul uncorks some pretty heavy stuff. The tone of his writing quickly changes. Look with me at what he writes in 1 Corinthians 1:10 (NIV):
I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.
1 Corinthians 1:10 (NIV)
Paul takes the Corinthians followers of Jesus to the woodshed. The ink hasn’t yet dried on his kind words above about being “sanctified” and “holy” when he points out how unsanctified and unholy they are behaving. Their divisions and disunity were under the spotlight of judgment by Paul.
And then, if you read the rest of 1 Corinthians, Paul points out all kinds of ways in which the Church is misbehaving. After addressing their disunity, he goes on to address, sexual sin, believer’s suing one another, messing up in their marriages, misuse of spiritual gifts and bad worship practices to name a few. So, which is it, Paul? Are we holy or unholy? Are we unholy or unsanctified? The answer is “both.” Positionally because of their trust in Christ, they were made holy by Christ but conditionally, because of their spiritual immaturity they were unholy. But the wisdom we see in Paul’s letter’s is the reality and the truth that the Church always needs correction, discipline and judgement about her condition. And please hear me Church, this message is for the Preacher too!
So, for the time that remains, I want to in the spirit of kind, honest correction, answer the question: What kind of Church does America need? There are many things I could speak about, but I sensed the Holy Spirit’s guidance to focus on only three characteristics of the Body and Bride of Christ that in our present moment as a nation, our nations need. I am asking you to ask the Holy Spirit which of these applies to your life. Where do you and Jesus need to do some work?
First, America needs a Church that is passionately Christ-centered. Maybe you remember the old Sunday School joke about the teacher who showed the class a picture of squirrel and asked, “What is this?” Sheepishly, a little girl raised her hand and said, “I know it looks like a squirrel, but the answer is ‘Jesus’ because in the Church, the answer is always ‘Jesus.’” That girl was right. In the Church, the answer is always Jesus! The Church is supposed to be about Jesus. It’s not about our heritage, denomination, theological perspective or ministry approach. The Church is not centered in a particular worship style or preaching method. The Church is supposed to be centered on Jesus Christ. The answer is always “Jesus.”
At the end of Paul’s long discourse of correction for the followers of Jesus in Corinth, he reminds them of this. He tells them what is most central to their Gospel message. Read 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 (NIV) with me. Ready? Go!
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve.
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 (NIV)
Paul tells them that what is “of first importance” is Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection and appearances. What’s of “first importance” to the Church? The little girl in Sunday School was right. It’s Jesus! The answer is always Jesus. The Church is built on this single reality. Jesus died for our sins, was buried and rose on the third day. This is our only story as the people of God.
So let me ask you. Do you see your church, Port Charlotte Global Methodist Church as “my church” or “Jesus’ church?” Does doing God’s will eclipse your personal preferences? Are you willing to pray for and pay for ministry you do understand or may not even like if it reaches the countless lost people within a stone’s throw of this church?
Let me illustrate. Decades ago, our church had outgrown our space in our Sanctuary. This was a great problem to have. After much research, we determined that we could take out the pews and put in chairs and seat another 125 people for $25,000 or build a new 5-to-7-million-dollar Sanctuary. No brainer, right? Sadly, a handful of people challenged our leadership team that vetted this wonderful solution. I saw people speak unkindly to one another over pews. A few even left our church. Ironically, as soon as we took out the pews and replace them with chairs, those chairs filled up with precious people who matter to Jesus.
So, how are we doing as a church? Are we passionately Christ-centered? Am I a passionately Christ-centered Christ-follower?
Second, what kind of Church does America need? America needs a church that is fervently prayer-filled. Because the church is built by and on Jesus Christ, a biblically functioning church will want to regularly ask God what He wants for His church! This happens in prayer individually and corporately. The prototype church described in Acts 2:42 has prayer listed among the four most important activities of the Church:
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
Acts 2:42 (NIV)
When you look at the original Greek of this verse, the phrase “to prayer” is actually in the plural, “the prayers.” Scholars mostly agree that as Jews this was the practice of prayers offered three times a day (morning, noon and evening). Right in the center of your Bible are the corporate and private prayers they prayed from Psalms. But it also would include the more extemporaneous prayers of the people of God individually and corporately in their house churches.
The bottom line was that these new Christians knew that one of the things that matter most in this new experience of Christian community was connecting with God or what mystics call “union with Christ.” We often think of prayer as an “end” when in fact, it is a “means.” The focus of prayer is not that we pray, but that we connect with Source of all life. Remember the words of Jesus in John 15. After stating that he is the vine and his Father is the gardener, he says:
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
John 15:5 (NIV)
The word “remain” can also be translated as “abide” or even “make at home.” The idea is that remaining, abiding and making Jesus at home in our lives is essential to our flourishing as an apprentice of his. But here’s the interesting thing about these and most of the red-letter words of Jesus. The pronouns here are in the plural not the singular. If Jesus was from the South, it would read,
“I am the vine, and y’all are the branches.”
John 15:5 (Southern Translation)
This work of abiding is both individual and corporate work, but the primary goal is the same. It’s connection or union with God. Our power as the movement of God making heaven crash to earth (that’s what Jesus taught us to pray: Thy Kingdom come. They will be done on earth as it is in heaven) flows from our intimacy with God. A praying church is a powerful “gate of hell shaking” church.
So, how are we doing as a church? Are we fervently prayer-filled Church? Am I a fervently pray-filled Christ-follower?
Third, what kind of Church does America need? America needs a church that is zealously mission-focused. A Christ-centered and prayer-filled church will supernaturally join Jesus in mission and declare with our spiritual father, John Wesley “The world is our parish.” The last words of Jesus in all four of the Gospels and in the Book of Acts, all point to ordinary women and men joining Jesus is his mission of the loving takeover of Planet earth. In Acts 1, the first disciples were still not sure about the mission of Jesus. Despite being eyewitnesses to Jesus’ supernatural resurrection, they were still looking for earthly answers to spiritual problems. Look at Acts 1:6-8 (NIV) with me:
Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Acts 1:6-8 (NIV)
The disciples were still wanting Jesus to overthrow those dirty, rotten Romans and reestablish Israel to her former glory. Jesus, one last time before ascending to the Father, gives them his final command…again! It’s the command, a commission to join him in mission as a Spirit-empowered people in spreading the Good News, here, there and everywhere; across the street and around the world.
Let me kindly ask you. “Is the world your parish?” Do you have a burning passion to see God’s Kingdom come on earth as in heaven. Do you have a heart for the people who live in Port Charlotte to experience the love of Jesus? In his book Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools, Tyler Staton prophetically writes:
God doesn't dream of the church on fire; God dreams of the city reborn. God's dream isn't that the church will improve its programs, grow in number, add another worship service, and host an influential conference. All of that is fine. It's just not what God dreams about. God dreams about pouring his Spirit out on the whole city.
Tyler Stanton, Praying like Monks, Living like Fools
This is God’s dream for this city and his plan A is to use you and me to make it happen.
So, how are we doing as a church? Are we zealously mission-focused Church? Am I a zealously mission-focused Christ-follower?
So, there you have it. There were many more things I could have said about the kind of Church America needs, but I prayerfully settled on these three. America needs a church that is passionately Christ-centered, fervently prayer-filled, and zealously mission-focused. How are we doing? How am I doing?
You may have wondered why I chose the picture I chose for these graphics. It’s a real picture of church under profound renovation. They are not just changing the color of the carpet! They removed an old crumbling foundation and are rebuilding a whole new foundation. I wonder if this might be a metaphor for what God wants to do in our lives and in God’s Church in America. These truths I have spoken this morning come from God’s Word. They are foundational for individual and Church flourishing. Remember, a nation will only be a strong as the Church. Will you join me in becoming these kinds of Christ-followers in this kind of Church, the Church America needs? Let us pray...
