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ALAN GILES – December 27, 2009
“THE GOSPEL CALL”

Intro… Today we come to the 4th installment in this series we have come to simply call “The Gospel Series”.

We have examined The Gospel from a few different angles and in each case observed the journey that God has taken me on over the past
nine years.

We began with The Gospel War, where we developed a clearer understanding of who we are in Christ, and I shared with you how this affected my life as I began to truly realize what it meant that, even though I have been justified… or counted as righteous before God…
I am continually being sanctified… or made to be righteous, By the Holy Spirit.

We saw that this was the process Paul was describing in Romans 7, where he gave expression to the fact that his flesh was constantly battling against his spirit, or the inner part of him that delights in
the Law of God… The Gospel War.

Next came the realization of The Gospel Church, where my heart began to burn for Christ’s bride, and the Spirit began to build in me this desire to see the Church redeemed back into The Gospel Driven, Fully Committed, Christ Centered, Called out Body of Witnesses that He had created her to be.

Then, God brought me through the study of The Gospel Church Member, showing me how He has strategically placed each one of us within the Body, and how He had from the very beginning of time Created me in His image, that is a Trinitarian-Like image, in which it is not good for me to be alone.

And so Cassie and I had taken these truths on board in our lives.
We were living in Washington, I was an officer in the Navy, and I
was preparing to deploy on a Nuclear Submarine for the first time
ever… and God was showing me something that was… at first…
absolutely mind blowing.
God Calls His People To Full-Time Ministry.

Now maybe that doesn’t reel you like it did me… but let me explain a little.

Up until that point… sad to say… I thought that there were Christians… and then there were CHRISTIANS…

Or in other words… I thought there were those whose job was to simply believe in Christ… and then there were those whose job was to tell EVERYONE about Christ.

We called these people missionaries, pastors, worship leaders, seminary professors, etc… And these were the people who, for whatever reason, God had told that they were supposed to go to seminary, learn to play the guitar, and be able to read the Bible in Hebrew.

And for the most part… I thought very highly of these people.

I had relatives who were missionaries, knew some really good pastors, and had even come across a couple of worship leaders that weren’t quite as crazy as the people I had seen on TV.

But they were who they were. They were different. They were ministers. They were supposed to be different than me, because they were paid to be different.

And then God started working on me. I was listening to a sermon one the radio one day, and the preacher said something I will never forget…

“We have all been called to be ministers of the Gospel.”

The verse he was working in was 1st Peter 2:5

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into
his marvelous light.”

He had settled in on the phrase, “that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of the darkness into His marvelous light,” and He was making a case for something that I had never thought of…

God Calls…

And not only that, But as I have stated it in today’s Key Truth

Key Truth
God Calls His People To Full-Time Gospel Ministry

Continue Personal Story

Now today, I want us to look, not only at my life, and the way in which God has called me, but I want us to look at the lives of two other Biblical men.

Today’s Examples
Moses – Exodus 2-4 … Paul – Acts 9:1-9, 13:1-3

Now I understand that both of these men are men who led what we might see as extraordinary Christian lives, and I don’t want to downplay in any way the significance of God’s calling on their lives, but I do want us to see how through the story of these two men’s lives, God has laid out Characteristics, Clarifications, and Cautions for us to understand when seeking to know his calling on our lives.

So to begin with, I would have us look at the 4 Characteristics of God’s calling.

First of all, God’s calling is Strategic.

Moses was an Israelite, a member of the tribe of Levi. Yet he was raised by an Egyptian princess.

Paul was an Israelite, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. Yet he was a Roman citizen.

Both men had a strong Jewish Heritage, but through the course of their lives had not only learned another culture, but were most likely versed in the language of those cultures, understood the rhythms and patterns of those cultures, and even understood the ways by which they could seek an audience with figures of higher authority in those cultures.

Have you ever wondered how Moses got an appointment with Pharaoh? Something tells me that not just any Israelite off the street could have had that kind of access to the Egyptian ruler.

Consider also Luke’s entire account of Paul’s dealings with the Roman government throughout the book of acts. Or how Paul was so well versed in the scriptures (a Jew of all Jews), or a Pharisee, and yet how incredibly well he related the gospel to Greek and Roman audiences.

Both men had been called Strategically prepared… and then subsequently Called by God.

Secondly, God’s call is not only Strategic, but it is Specific.

Moses – “Bring my people, the Children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
(Exodus 3:10)

Paul – “that I might preach Him [Christ] among the Gentiles.”
(Galatians 1:15-16)

In both men’s lives, God gives them a calling which is very specific.

He had been preparing them for the specifics of their calling, and then Strategically and Specifically called them to the work He had prepared for them.

Now you might be thinking that God does not call all people in such a specific way. But I would argue that He does call all Christians to certain specifics, and then in all of our lives He goes into a more personally specific calling.

Let me clarify by providing an example from my time on a submarine.
Submarine Example

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.
(Mark 12:30)
Love your neighbor as yourself
(Mark 12:31)
Husbands love your wives.
(Colossians 3:19)
Wives submit to your husbands.
(Colossians 3:18)
Children obey your parents.
(Colossians 3:20)

These are all specific callings.

There is 1 God. Love Him!

There is only 1 you. Love your neighbors like you love you!

Love your wife. 1 Woman. Love her.

Submit to your husband. 1 Man. Submit to him.

How much of our focus is actually on looking to God for direction in regards to how He would have us Love Him, Love those around us, Love our spouses, and honor our parents?

Do we even see these things as God’s calling on our lives or do we treat these as optional paths to follow while living a Christian life?

Because I will tell you this. If we do not come to a point where we see the simple things in life as a calling from God, than we will most likely never come to a place where we are looking to God for the more personally specific calling He has for us!

“God, should I move to here or there, should I take this job or that job, should I attend this school or that school?”

All good questions, all pertaining to our personally specific calling in life, but all questions we may never even lay before God if we do not see the whole of our life as being under the call of God.

Thirdly, God’s calling is Supernatural.

Moses had a burning bush.
Paul had a bright light and an audible voice on the way to Damascus.
Mary had a visit from an Angel.
Joseph had a dream.

I had a stirring in my spirit like I had never known before…
and an understanding.

“Become a Pastor. Love my Bride, the church, and bring her back to what I created her to be.”

You say, “how do you know that’s what you are called to?”

“I just know. God told me.”

“But did He tell you, like, out loud, or in a dream? Did you see some sort of message in the sky?”

“No, but He told me.”

“So then how do you know?”

“I just know”

In fact, this is the point in the conversations on airplanes, or with people I have just met, or am trying to explain my life to, where things just get weird.

Because there always comes a point when people want to know how we know we have been called to what we have been called to… and that’s where we usually get to the point in the explanation where we just have to say, “God told me.”
And that’s what it is. It’s Supernatural. It is an understanding between the Supreme God of the Universe and a human being. It is not ordinary. It is a calling.

Lastly, God’s calling is not only strategic, not only specific, not only supernatural, but God’s calling is Sustaining.

Read the story of Moses’ little 40 year jaunt through the desert with the Israelites. It was not easy.

Read Paul’s account of what He went through for the sake of His calling in 2 Corinthians 11. It was not easy.

In fact, in Paul’s case, his calling led him to:

5 separate occasions of 40 lashes minus 1
3 beatings with rods
1 stoning
3 shipwrecks
A night and a day spent lost at sea
Constantly being on the move
Danger from rivers
Danger from robbers
Danger from Jews
Danger from Gentiles
Danger in the city
Danger in the wilderness
Danger at sea
Danger from false brothers…
Toil
Hardships
Hunger
and
Thirst

What kept him going? What Sustained him?

The CALL.
How about Isaiah? We have probably all read the account of his calling in Isaiah 6:1-8 where Isaiah sees God on His throne, and sees the temple, and the seraphim. He hears the worship of God, and is overwhelmed with who he is in front of such a Holy God.

God then says, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” and
Isaiah responds with “Here am I! Send me.”

But don’t stop there, keep reading. Look at what God calls him to?

He essentially says … “go tell the people that they are deaf, blind, dumb, and evil, and if they do not turn from their ways, I will destroy their cities, raze their land, and send them into exile!”

What a calling! Read Isaiah some time and see what He went through?

What kept him going? What keeps us going?

The CALL.

It is sustaining … It is enough.

Life might bring us to a place where all we have left is The CALL.

Maybe the only reason we can love any deeper, or work any harder, or take that next step, or even get out of bed… is because we know we
are Called.

And as we look back at how we were called so strategically, so specifically, and so supernaturally… we are sustained.
And we continue on… in Gospel Ministry.

Quickly, I just want to make a few Clarifications to God’s calling,
and highlight a couple of Cautions, and then we’ll close.

First Clarification:

* We Are Called By The WILL And COMMAND Of God…
Not To COMMAND God To Our WILL (1 Cor. 1:1, 1 Timothy 1:1)

Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus… (1Co 1:1)

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of
Christ Jesus our hope, (1Tim 1:1)

We are called by God’s command, to do God’s will, and not to command God to our will.

Second Clarification:

* We Are Called To JOIN God At WORK…
Not To A WORK Which We Then Ask God To JOIN
(Exodus 3:7-10, Acts 13:1-3)

Then the LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their task-masters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And now, behold, the
cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” (Exodus 3:7-10)

Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen
a member of the court of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off. (Act 13:1-3)

God does not ask us to strike out on our own… start something up… and get it to some unknown point at which He will then show up and start helping us. God works… then calls us to join Him in the work that He is already doing.
Third Clarification:

* We Are Called To A WORKING Gospel…
Not To WORK The Gospel (Romans 1:1-5)

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart
for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, (Rom 1:1-5)

2 sermons ago we looked in depth at how The Gospel has pushed and driven its way from a little upper room in Jerusalem that Pentecost morning, through Judea, through Samaria, through tribe and tongue, through Europe, and Asia, and around the world.

The Gospel is a working Gospel. It does not need to be worked. Our calling is simply to allow The Gospel to work in us and through us… and God will take care of the rest.

Finally, 2 Cautions regarding our calling.

It must be Defended, and it must be Developed.

The last thing Satan wants is for you to take God’s calling on your life seriously. He will attack you through your friends, family, and co-workers. He will distract you with money, trinkets, and toys. He will take shots at your health, your happiness, and even take shots directly at your heart. So our calling must be Defended.

Furthermore, our calling must be Developed. Jesus spent somewhere near 30 years training for his calling. He spent 3 years preparing his disciples for their calling. Paul spent at least 3 years developing his calling, and Moses was 80 years old before God put him into action.

Allow God to help you develop your calling. Spend time in prayer, know Him, Know His Word, seek Godly mentors… Defend and Develop your calling.
Final Thot:
God Has CALLED Us All To Full-Time Gospel Ministry…
He Simply Routes Our PAYCHECKS Through Different AVENUES.

God has not saved us to a meaningless series of years spent wandering this earth, collecting things that gather dust, storing up treasures that will perish, and doing whatever it is that we want to do with our lives.

God has us here for a reason. He has a purpose for every one of our lives. He is calling us all to a life of Full-Time Gospel Ministry. Seek Him. Ask for His guidance, ask for his direction, seek out His calling
for your life.

It might not seem like you are called to anything great. But I guarantee you that you are called.

Maybe it’s to host a cell group. Maybe it’s to help lead worship. Maybe you are called to be a light in a dark place, or a salt to a people who do not sense their thirst for the living water. Maybe you are called to be a friend to someone who has none, or called to be an encouragement to someone who is down. Maybe you are called to be a witness to your neighbors, or to raise children who will be a witness at school. Maybe you are called to train leaders or teach youngsters… I don’t know.

But I do know that He has called us all to Full-Time Gospel Ministry. When we are at work… we are to be at work… in Gospel Ministry. When we go home… we are to bring God with us… and be at work… ministering to our families.

We are ministers on the road… ministers at the store… even ministers at our kid’s athletic events. In every aspect of life we are on the clock as employees of God. Ambassadors… servants… lights. Wherever He calls… we are to go… and whatever the calling… we are called to answer.

Year after year… month after month… week after week… day after day.
Until that final day when God calls us home and greets us with those warm and comforting words that we are all longing to hear…

“Well done, my good and faithful servant…
“YOU ANSWERED THE CALL.”

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ALAN GILES – November 8, 2009
“THE GOSPEL CHURCH MEMBER”

Well, if you can remember, last month we took some time looking at
“The Gospel Church,” and we finished with a pretty detailed definition of
what the Gospel Church is…

A Gospel-Driven, Fully-Committed, Christ-Centered,
Called-Out Body of Witnesses

Now, we spent an entire sermon just developing this definition, and then
we finished with an in depth look at how God’s Gospel has propelled Christ’s Church from a small informal gathering of believers in an upper room, all the way around the globe, through every tribe and tongue, and even into this very body of witnesses.

And I shared with you, how I went through this phase where I didn’t really
see what the need was for church, or why I should necessarily even go to church, but how through this realization, this revelation, if you will, of what the church actually is, and whose it is, that God dramatically changed my heart and not only softened it toward His church, but placed within it a real passion for this Bride of Christ.

Now if I look over my life, and we follow this sort of narrative path we have taken, then I would say the next thing that God showed me… was really where I fit within this monstrous, 2,000 plus year gospel push, and how my life had actually been strategically designed for this very place and this very time.

So this week, we are going to zoom in on this thing we have defined, this Church, and I want us to take a look at the individuals, that is you and I,
who make up the members of what the Bible calls … The Body.

So if you would, turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 12, and we will begin by reading today’s …

Key Passage
1 Corinthians 12:12-27

The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body – whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free – and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

So to begin with, Paul confirms what we learned last time, and that is that
the Church is a Body.

And not only that, but Paul digs a little deeper and shows us that not only are we A Body, but that we are THE BODY of Christ and that every one of us is a part of it, or that every one of us is what I am calling today …

A Gospel Church Member

So today, I want to look at us, the people who make up the greater Body of Christ, the parts … the members and I want us to see, not only what we were created to be, but I also want us to see the God in whose image we were created.

In order to do that we need to check out two Great Christian Doctrines.

Both can be found in the first two chapters of the Bible, and both are incredibly important to our understanding of not only what A Gospel Church Member is … but also what a Gospel Church Member’s life should look like.

The first is Creation itself, and the second, the doctrine of the Trinity.

Two Great Doctrines
CREATION and TRINITY

So let’s start at the very beginning… Genesis 1:1-2

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep,
and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

Now, next comes the account of the creation of all that we know pertaining to life on earth … First comes light, then the sky, then land and seas, and all of this God says is good.

Next comes vegetation, trees and plants, and seasons and days and years, and stars in the skies to mark these times, and all of this God says is good.

Then on the fifth day God creates sea creatures, and birds, and then on the sixth day comes land animals, livestock, and forest and jungle creatures, and all of this too God calls good.

Then finally, before the end of the sixth day, God says in verse 26,
“Let us make man in our image, in our likeness”

and the first human is breathed to life … and for the first time there is something that is not good, and that God identifies in Genesis 2 when He
says … “It is not good for man to be alone.”

And so in Genesis 1, God makes everything on earth and in the skies and the seas, and it is all good, and then He finishes by saying let us make man in our image, and He does so, but then He says this is not good… or in other words this is not fully In Our Image just yet, because man is alone.

And so in chapter 2 we read that God places man in the garden, and He gives him dominion over all created things, but then in verse 18 comes one of the most significant statements that ever came from the mouth of God …

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.
I will make a helper suitable for him.”

Now that… is a big deal.

Isn’t it absolutely amazing that God looks at Adam, this newly created man,
this man who has no sin, this man who is living in paradise, walking in unbroken fellowship with God, his maker, and says of his situation…

“It is not good … (that is) It is not good for man to be alone.”

And so Eve is created. Brought forth from the rib of Adam, and given to him in marriage, and the two become one.

Or in other words … the 2 parts … are brought together… and from them… one more perfect body is formed.

And so from the very beginning of human life, God establishes this idea of man, living for more than just himself … living in community, living as a member of a larger body.

This is one big reason why the doctrine of creation is so incredibly important – maybe even a big part of why this doctrine is under such heavy attack today.

You see there are those who don’t want to have to come face to face with the fact that we human beings were intelligently designed by a creator for a purpose, or they would have to abandon their pursuit of themselves and come to grips with the fact that we human beings were created to live for more
than just ourselves.

And so this is why so many people turn to a big bang for an explanation of how we came to be, or why so many people are so eager to believe that we are the result of the evolution of the mobilization of some sort of single cell bacteria.

You see, if we choose to believe, as the Bible teaches, that we are not just here by chance, but that we are here as part of an intelligent design by this Creator God, than we have no other choice but to look at why we were designed the way we were, which then leaves us with the realization that we were not created to live alone, not even alone with God, but that we were created to live as a member of a larger body, and this might mean we have to set our selves aside for the good of someone else.

But there is more. Within this very account of creation that we just read, is another important doctrine that helps us see what this life as a member of a body looks like.

Look again at Chapter 1, verse 26.
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…”

Now anybody with any sort of curious mind immediately jumps on a statement like that and has to wonder… “Who is the us?”

I mean we are in Genesis 1… and there is no one to talk to yet…

And so now we come to the Doctrine of the Trinity.

There is one God, who exists as 3 persons. God the Father is God. God the Son is God. And God the Spirit is God. There is one God.

Or in other words, within God Himself, there are 3 members, who make up
one body.

And this idea of a Trinity, or God as 3 persons, is not restricted to the account of creation alone. It runs throughout the course of the entire Bible.

All throughout the Bible we are told that there is one God.

Moses said “…The LORD is God; there is no other besides him” (Deut. 4:35).

Similarly, God Himself told the Jews “. . . there is no god beside me” (Deut. 32:39).

King David wrote, “. . . you alone are God” (Ps 86:10).

And then finally, God spoke to the Israelites through the prophet Isaiah saying,
“I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God” (Isa. 45:5).

And so the Bible is very clear… There is one God.
And yet the Bible is also very clear about another thing.

There is, within this 1 God, 3 persons, who live in perfect fellowship together, in perfect unity, as one body, the Triune God.

Look with me if you would at the Baptism of Jesus, in Luke 3.

When Jesus came out of the water, The Holy Spirit of God came down from the sky – in the form of a dove, and it rested on Him. Then God (God the Father) said in a voice loud enough for all to hear, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:22)

And so God shows us, at the baptism of Jesus, that there is indeed three people, or three members, of this Trinity.

And then look if you will at John chapter 1, verse 18

Jesus says, “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the
Father’s side (Kolpos – Bosom), has made him known.” (John 1:18)

And then Jesus teaches us, all throughout the gospels, what this Trinitarian life, or life as a member of one body, looks like.

Jesus… God the Son… teaches that “The Father… Loves the Son.” (Jn. 3:35) … and that the Son… “loves the Father” (John 14:31) and that in Him, The Son, resides the Spirit of God… and that He and God are one. (John 10:30)

“The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.”
(John 3:35)

“I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.”
(John 14:31)

“I and the Father are one.”
John 10:30

And then in John 16, Jesus gives us a beautiful picture of the Trinity when
He says,

“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine.
That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.”
John 16:12-15

All that belongs to the Father… belongs to the Son… and all that belongs to the Son… belongs to the Spirit.

And so God the Father … gives freely to the Son… who gives freely to the Spirit… who then uses what is given him and makes it known to us… in order that he might bring glory to God the Son.

One more passage (John 17:1-5) …

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:
“Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

And so here is the picture we are given of God.

There is one God… as we saw earlier… and yet He exists as 3 persons …
or 3 members… of one Body. So there is one Triune God.

We see that all that is God’s is given freely to the Son who gives freely to the Spirit, who uses what is given him to bring us into relationship with the Son, so that he might be glorified through this, and we might have eternal life, and all of this so that the Father may be glorified through the Son, who is being glorified through the Spirit, who is in fact… the very Spirit of God.

This is what C.S. Lewis called The Dance, and that is that all of them are in constant exaltation of each other, and that all of them give freely, one to the other, and that there is a unity within their diversity.

This is the Triune God of the universe. This is the creator… the designer of all that is… and this is whose image we bear.

So when God says, back in Genesis 2, that “It is not good for man to be alone.” It is because of the fact that back in Genesis 1, man was created in God’s image, that is the image of a Triune God, and so naturally when God looks down and sees that there is no one for Adam to experience this freely-giving, diversely-unified relationship with, He says … “This is not good.”

And so now I want us to take these concepts, these dual doctrines of creation, and the trinity, and I want us to go back to 1 Corinthians 12, and see not only what a Gospel Church Member is… but how we were created to live.

So first of all, I want us to see that

The Gospel Church Member Is…
A Strategically Placed Part Of The Body Of Christ

Paul tells us in verse 27 that …
“we are the Body of Christ, and that each one of us is a part of it.”

And not only that, but if we look back at verse 18 I think it is important to note that not only are we a part of the Body of Christ, but we have been strategically placed, by God, exactly where we are within the body.

“God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them,
just as he wanted them to be.”

So if we think back to the last sermon, and we recall just a portion of what God has done to build this body of Christ over the last 2,000 years, and we zoom in on our own lives, then in light of this truth, we can recognize that we have been strategically placed, by the creator of the universe, in this exact time, in this exact location, in this exact church, even in this exact seat…
for a reason.

It is just as God wanted it to be… I am just as God created me to be.

I am a Strategically Placed Part of The Body of Jesus Christ!

That means something to me … That means that I am here for a reason.

I am a part of this body for a reason. I am exactly where God has seen fit to place me… I am not here by chance, or by accident.

I did not randomly evolve to this point in History, I have been created… by a Triune God… and strategically placed within the body of Jesus Christ.

Secondly,

The Gospel Church Member…
Celebrates Equality In Diversity

Back in 1 Corinthians 12, starting at verse 17 …

If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part,
where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

In the Body of Christ, there is no master race… no master culture, no master socio-economic status.

You see the Body of Christ… is fully integrated… at every possible level.
Which means the white man, and the black man, and the Asian man, and the Hispanic man all sit equally… one right next to the other.

It means the poor live among the rich equally, and the uneducated walk among the educated… as equals.

And this is just like the Trinity. Just like how in the Trinity there is no indebtedness, of one to the other, no power play, it is so diverse that there are 3 distinct persons of the Trinity, yet so equal that there is only one God.

The Gospel Church Member celebrates this diversity, and he marvels at the equality that is able to exist within such a diverse body of people.

In Revelation we get a glimpse of what heaven will look like, and in chapter 7 we are shown a body of people, a great multitude, so great that there are too many people to even put a number to, and that this multitude is made up of people from every nation and tribe and language, and that this multitude is all clothed in white robes and together, as one body, they are worshipping the Lord.

This is where the church is headed, and it is what we are called to even today, here on earth.

If the whole body were an eye… where would the sense of hearing be?
If the whole body were an ear… where would the sense of smell be?

If we were not all different, than where would the body be?

Lastly…

The Gospel Church Member…
Freely Gives Of Himself… For The Good Of The Body
(1 Corinthians 12:21-

21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot
say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable
are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

We delight in one another (Rejoice Together) and we help each other when we are in need (Suffer Together), we Freely Give of Ourselves… for the good of the other members of the body.

* We Delight In One Another… We Rejoice Together

This is the model set out for us by the Trinity. This is the Father saying,
“The Son, The Son, The Son.” This is the Son saying “The Spirit, The Spirit, The Spirit.” And the Spirit saying, “Let me point you to the Son who can reconnect you with the Father…”

None of them hold the other in debt, all freely give, all freely receive, and all of them seek the glorification of the others.

We have been made in this image, and it is only by living a life that follows this model that we can ever fully experience what we were created to be.

This means we delight in the honoring of each other, we are thrilled when one of us gets a promotion, we rejoice in each other’s strengths, and we are eager to see each other succeed in life.

Where this does not happen jealousy will creep in, and a critical spirit will overtake the body and poison the relationships between its members.

* We Help Each Other When We Are In Need… We Suffer Together

The Gospel Church Member feels the pains of the one going through sickness as if it was their own body.

The Gospel Church Member sits quietly and listens to the one who is going through a season of doubt.
The Gospel Church Member pays the rent when the rent can’t be paid, brings the meals to the home of the family who just had a baby, cleans the bathroom of the young mother who is struggling just to get a few hours of unbroken rest.

The Gospel Church Member calls after the death of a spouse if for no other reason… than to just say “I care.”

The Gospel Church Member gathers around the death bed of an elderly saint to hold cell group with her one last time before she goes to be with the Lord in Heaven.

The Gospel Church Member loves, laughs, and rejoices… and The Gospel Church Member cares, hurts, and cries.

The Gospel Church Member gives freely of themselves… for the good of the body.

This is the model that has been set forth for us… This is what we are called to.

Within the very trinity there is a strategic fit for each member, a celebration of equality within diversity, and an unprecedented giving of oneself for the good of the others.

This is the image we were created after, and this is the image that the gospel is redeeming us back to.

Colossians 1: 18-20 tells us that …

And he [Jesus] is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and
the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

The Gospel Church Member…
Is Being Reconciled Back Into A Trinitarian-Like Body

Remember God said that it is not good for us to be alone.

We were created in His image, and therefore by design have been created to live as a Strategically-Placed, Diversely-Equal, Freely-Giving, Member of The Body of Christ.

And so we are not only a Body of Witnesses… but we are actually… together… One Great Witness.

One strategically-placed and connected, diversely-equal, freely-giving, witness… to the redeeming power of the Gospel.

You see the greatest witness we will ever have… is the body that we are
a part of.

As the world watches… it will marvel.

It will marvel not at our willingness to hand out tracks, or door to door evangelize, or even to preach the gospel from the street corner.

The world will marvel not at what we do… but who we are.

The world will marvel at the fact that we are secure in where God has placed us… that we are a part of something so incredibly diverse… yet so miraculously united… that we live lives that are so freely giving… and so freely receiving… and that slowly… one day at a time… we are being reconciled back… into the triune image we were created after.

Oh! What a glorious thing it is to be a Gospel (A Good News) Member of the Church of Jesus Christ!

Final Thot:
We Are The BODY of Christ… And EACH One Of Us… Is A PART Of It.

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Pastor Mark Mikels – October 4, 2009
“THE EVER-PRESENT TENSION ”
(1 Corinthians 5:1-8; 2 Corinthians 2:1-11)

Intro … In preparation for communion this morning, I would draw your attention to what I’ve labeled Today’s Key Focus …

Today’s Key Focus …
The TENSION that exists between being
GRACIOUS and RIGHTEOUS.

This is a tension that is experienced wherever Christians live in fellowship with one another (could be in a family/could be in the church body/could be within any friendship setting).

It’s a tension that is felt whenever sin invades that fellowship. It’s the very tension that caused our Three-Personed God to set in motion the plan that would put Jesus Christ on the Cross.

It’s the tension that exists between being gracious and righteous.

These words have been stuck in my heart and mind for the past several weeks now … They first entered my mind as “partner terms” as we Overseers were closing a meeting with prayer – a meeting that had been spent discussing a matter that had cropped up right within our fellowship – a matter that we knew required some “official” church response.

And that night as I prayed that the Lord would guide us, I asked the Lord to help us to be both Gracious and Righteous. When I uttered the word “gracious” I had not yet thought of the word “righteous”. It just flowed out as the closing thought of that prayer and those two words have been linked within me ever since.

Time for some definition … What do these two words mean and why do I say there is such tension between them and what difference does it make anyway?

For purposes of sensing the tension let’s reverse the order … Here’s a couple of definitions from the Mikels’ dictionary of practical theology.

Two Key Definitions …

RIGHTEOUS – motivated to uphold God’s STANDARDS and
to hold people (especially God’s People) ACCOUNTABLE.

GRACIOUS – motivated to grant FORGIVENESS and to enable HEALING.

It doesn’t take much pondering to see the tension between these two, does it?

The righteous perspective says “God’s standards are inviolate; we cannot overlook them or just casually deal with those who break them.” The righteous perspective hears the voice of the Lord clearly saying “Be Holy for I am Holy” – and “Touch not the unclean thing”.

Now, pushed to an unbiblical extreme, the righteous perspective can become harsh and lacking in compassion. There are people and families and churches as well as Christian organizations of many kinds that over the years have exhibited this extreme righteous perspective.

On the other hand, the gracious perspective says “Which of us has not fallen into sin; let’s lift the fallen one up lest the fall become permanent.” Those taking the gracious perspective primarily hear the voice of the Lord saying, “Forgive one another as I have forgiven you.”

In its extreme unbiblical form, the gracious perspective can become sinfully tolerant and actually lead toward continued sin. There are also of course people and families and churches as well as Christian organizations of many kinds that over the years have exhibited this extreme perspective.

It can certainly generate incredible tension as we seek to maintain both “Righteous” and “Gracious” perspectives simultaneously and yet that’s what
God would call us to do.
In the actual sequence of things … when sin enters into the fellowship, the first perspective that must be expressed is the righteous perspective – the sin must be recognized and dealt with; God’s standard must be declared and upheld.

However, the Lord would have us give full expression to the gracious perspective as soon as possible. The tension comes as we seek to decide when it is time to transition from the one to the other – or more correctly when the time has come to give full expression to the grace that forgives and heals.

There’s a lot riding on that decision for Today’s Key Reality clearly points out that …

Today’s Key Reality …

Prematurely granted GRACE does damage to the STANDARD;
Tardily granted GRACE does damage to the PERSON.

Fortunately the Lord preserved for our learning a perfect example, an illustration if you will, in the Scripture …

Today’s Scriptural Illustration …
“The CHURCH at CORINTH”
(1 Cor. 5:1-6; 2 Cor. 2:1-11)

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife. And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this?
(This was prematurely granted grace – it was doing damage to the Standard.)

Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present.

When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord. Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? (1 Cor. 5:1-6)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I wrote as I did so that when I came I should not be distressed by those who ought to make me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you, that you would all share my joy. For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you.

If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you, to some extent–not to put it too severely. The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. (This is Paul warning against tardily granted grace – it could do much damage to the person.)

I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. The reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him.

In this little glimpse into life in the Church at Corinth, we see Paul first urging the believers in Corinth to adopt the righteous perspective and “Recognize and Deal with the Sin that had invaded their fellowship and to hold the sinner accountable”.

Then in the second letter we see Paul urging them to now adopt the “gracious perspective” and “grant forgiveness and re-affirm their love”.

These are the “rubber meeting the road” kind of situations that parents and church leaders and even friends face all the time – We want to uphold God’s righteous standards and yet we want to comfort and re-establish those who have fallen into some sort of sin – to say such situations create tension is to
put it mildly.

Leads to today’s key question …

Today’s Key Question …
What determines proper TIMING?

Answer: The PRESENCE of CONFESSION and REPENTANCE.
(1 John 1:9)

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins
and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

And that Scripture leads us to our Final Thot which actually is the central thot of this meditation … the thot that determines our behavior as a body whenever sin enters the fellowship …

Final Thot …
Confession and Repentance RELEASE Grace –
REBELLION keeps Grace under LOCK and KEY!

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ALAN GILES – September 27, 2009
“THE GOSPEL CHURCH”

Intro … Well it has been almost 3 months since we looked together at Paul’s letter to the Church in Rome so I have to ask. How has the battle been?

If you remember, if you were here, we spent that 4th of July weekend talking about what we called The Gospel War. It is a war unlike any earthly war. It is a personal war, and a war that is actually waged within ourselves.

It is a war that caused the Apostle Paul himself to cry out “what a wretched man I am,” and yet, just a few verses later to be able to say “Thanks be to God.”

If you missed that sermon than I would sum it up by saying that we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God… but Christ.

Christ has once and for all paid the penalty for sin… bringing about victory once and for all, and not only providing for our justification, or right standing before God, but also providing a means for our continual sanctification, or our making to be righteous.

But this war… This Gospel War… is a believer’s battle … meaning 2 things.

1 – Non-believers do not fight this battle. They can’t. There is no spiritual life in them with which to fight the flesh. It is not until the inner being is brought to life that it can even begin to war against the flesh… and secondly, the Gospel war is a very personal war.

2. It is fought within. It takes a different shape and form for every believer. You might even say that Satan engineers uniquely prepared attacks for each one of us.

So last time we talked about this war and I kind of tied it in with my life and my journey through the halls of Annapolis, the battles within that I faced, and the sanctifying work that God did in my life over those 4 years.
Now, that being said… I came to a place in life… and maybe you have been here before as well… where I had actually come to peace with who I was as a man… not knowing it was well short of what God had planned for me… but nevertheless, I was happy… sort of.

I was newly married. I was an officer in the Navy. Cassie and I were living an adventure, having just moved to Charleston, South Carolina for a year of Nuclear Power School. We had a big house (by our newly-wed standards), a dog, money in the bank, and even a mustang.

Cassie was a strong Christian woman, and I was what I would call a man who had a good personal relationship with Christ.

That meant that He and I were good. I knew where He stood, and where I stood, and I knew that as my life progressed we would continue to grow closer.

I also knew, or thought, that things were much better as long as I stayed in a personal, almost private, relationship with Him.

That meant that I really didn’t need to talk all about our relationship, didn’t really need to go on telling people all about our relationship, and certainly didn’t need to gather around with other people who are also supposedly enjoying this same relationship with him and play the game that every one called church.

I’m not actually sure where my dislike for the church began, but I know that it was fully fleshed out over the course of the 4 months that I worked for the Navy chaplain corps.

It had been my first assignment as an officer, sort of a temporary duty assignment, and it had been terrible. I still say to this day that
it was like living in the land of the Pharisees.

It was a phony, political, popularity driven game that fully fleshed out in me a complete disdain for the church, and everything associated with it.

I couldn’t stand the politics, the fake smiles, the watered down sermons, none of it. But more than anything, I really couldn’t stand the military chaplains, at least not the group that I was under the influence of.

I don’t know why. I don’t know if I was just cynical about all leaders or if it was just that certain profession of leaders, I don’t know. But I do remember this. I was determined to never go to church again… no matter what.

But then… Cassie.

One day, while I was in class, Cassie, on the recommendation of my mother, attended a Bible Study Fellowship Session in Goose Creek, South Carolina. And there, Cassie met Amber. And Amber was a Navy wife as well. And Amber was new to the area as well. And Amber’s husband, Tyler, was an officer in the nuclear pipeline as well. And Amber was so nice. And Amber was so kind. And Amber was so funny… And Amber invited us to church!

So there it was. My beautiful bride, not more than 5 months removed from our wedding day, asking me if we could go to church with Tyler and Amber.

“Well what time is it at?” I asked… furiously storming through my mind, trying to find an excuse for every time of the day.

“Sunday School is at 9, and then Church is at 10:30.” Cassie replied.

And there it was… my out. My escape. “Well,” I replied, “I’ll go to one or the other… but we’re not going to both. I am just too busy and really I should be studying that day so really I can probably only go to the Sunday School thing.”

Because you see… Sunday School wasn’t church. She had said so herself. Sunday School was at 9, and then Church was at 10:30. So theoretically, I could go to this Sunday school, satisfy Cassie, and then leave after that and not really have had gone to “church.” Plus, we all know that Sunday School is just where you sit around, eat doughnuts and drink coffee, and go through some workbook where every other answer is Jesus or God right?

So no problem… and off we went. And nothing was the same again.

At Remount Baptist Church, God lit in me a fiery passion for His Bride, The Church. God used that little church in South Carolina to spark a fire in me that has steadily burned for the last 5 years.

You see, through my experience there, and at a couple of other churches, combined with what has been a nearly exhaustive study of The Church, God has placed in my heart a longing to no longer fight alone… but to fight alongside warriors just like me… in A Gospel Church.

So today, I want to unpack for you a chunk of what God has shown me about His church over the past 5 years.

Now normally, I prefer to find one section of scripture and just sort of park there for the entire sermon, but today I just can’t do that. There is just too much, in too many places, a lot of which we will touch on today, and some of which we will look at in our cell groups this week.

But first, when we talk about Church, we have to ask, what are we talking about exactly?

What is Church?

You see, to have a Gospel Church… we have to somehow have this thing called church. But what is it?

Would you believe me if I told you that a church… is not a place, and it is not a building, but it is… a people. Or more specifically… a called out people…

Or as I have it on your note sheet;

A Called-Out Body of Witnesses

The New Testament word for church is the word Ekklesia, which comes from two greek words, “Ek,” which means out, and “kaleo,” which means calling.
The two words combined forms the word Ekklesia, or a “calling out,” which in New Testament times was actually more of a political word than it was a religious word.

In classical Greek “ekklesia” meant “an assembly of citizens summoned by the crier, the legislative assembly.”
In Roman times, if there was a city state that found itself too corrupt and oppressive, the Roman government would call for an ekklesia, an assembly outside the civil authority of the city, and yet with the responsibility to represent Caesar and restore the city state back to a peaceful existence.

So there would be a breakdown in the way things were being down, a recognition of the breakdown and a desire to restore things to the way they were. An assembly of people would then be called out, to represent the King, and through them, with the authority of the King, or Caesar behind them, peace and prosperity would be restored once again.

So now with this understanding of Ekklesia, verses like Matthew 16:18 can be seen in a whole new light. Christ asks His disciples who do people say I am and then who do you say I am and Peter professes in verse 16, “You are the Christ, the son of the living God,” to which Christ replies that on this rock, on this acknowledgment that He is Christ, He, that is Christ, will build his church. Or in other words, on this profession that Jesus Christ is the son of the living God, Jesus will begin to call together His Ekklesia.

You see, everybody knew there was something wrong. There had been since Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, but the Ekklesia had not yet been called out… That is until Jesus comes.

So now we read something like Colossians 3:15 where Paul says:
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as
members of one body you were called to peace.”

And we start to see this in a whole new light. Not only are we called, but we are called together as one body… one Ekklesia.

And then verses like Romans 12:4-5 and 1 Corinthians 12:12-14 start to really drive it home because Paul says:

Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. (Rom 12:4-5)

The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body–whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free–and
we were all given the one Spirit to drink. (1 Corinthians 12:12-14)

And so we have Christ who calls us out, and forms us not into millions of groupings defined by race, or gender, or political affiliation, but He calls us out into one body.

And not only does He call us out, not only does He form us into one body, but he then gives us a directive. He says in Acts 1 …

“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 1:8)

And so He tells the very first ekklesia that we are to be His witnesses. Starting in Jerusalem, and continuing on to the ends of the earth.

So the Gospel Church, starts first of all with a Called-Out Body of Witnesses.

Called by Christ. Formed by Christ. And witnesses to the one and only savior, Jesus Christ.

So it only makes sense then, that if Christ does the calling, and if Christ does the forming, and if our witness is to the power and glory of Jesus Christ, then the true church, the Gospel Church, must not only be a Called out body of witnesses, but the Gospel Church, must be a:

Christ-Centered, Called-Out Body of Witnesses.

And by Christ Centered, the New Testament is very clear that The Church, or Ekklesia, is not only called together by Christ, but as Colossians 1:15-18 tells us we are led by, and held together by Christ.

Paul writes;
“He [Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over
all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven
and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or
rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.

He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
And he is the head of the body, the church;”

And then in Ephesians, one of my favorite books of the Bible, we are told that it is Christ, the Head of His Ekklesia, who we are to grow together into the fullness of.

Where again, Paul writes …

“It was he [Christ] who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and
there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is
the Head, that is, Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-15)

So now we are getting somewhere. Now, we have something very special.
We have something more than a building or a time, or a fancy name… now we have a people. A people who have been called out by the Son of the Living God, formed together as one body, called as witnesses to the Kingdom of the most high God, held together, and led by Jesus Christ himself, who is the Head of this body.

Now… we have church … We have Ekklesia.

But the Bible doesn’t stop there. If we keep digging, if we keep looking at what the Bible calls church, we quickly see that there is an aspect to this church, this Christ Centered, Called out Body of Witnesses, that is again, very different than any other calling in the world. It is a …

Fully-Committed, Christ-Centered, Called-Out Body of Witnesses

If we stay in Ephesians, and we move one chapter to the right, Paul paints for us a beautiful portrait of the church, and he uses marriage
to do it.

He says;
“Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the
head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body,
of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ,
so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” (Ephesians 5:22-27)

Now I know that this set of verses is almost always used to talk about marriage. And most pastors will read about wives submitting to their husbands, and all throughout the congregation husbands will be nudging their wives in the side to make sure they are listening, and then the pastor will talk all about how husbands are to love their wives, and all the wives will subsequently give the loving elbow right back and then all the couples go home, act civil to each for about 2 hours, until some sort of divisive issue comes up and the husband will tell his wife to submit to him and let him watch the game and the wife will say something about him not loving her like the pastor said he is supposed to and the real gem in the verse will have gone completely untouched. You see the real jewel in this text, actually has very little to do with us, and how we are to act, but in fact has everything to do with Christ, and His commitment to us.

On one hand Paul is saying wives submit and husbands love, but look at the example he gives… Christ.

Christ so loved us, His bride… His Church… that He GAVE HIMSELF UP FOR HER.

The Son of the Living God, loved his church so much, that he gave up everything for it.

And Paul says… Do likewise – Submit to Christ… He is the Head of the Church. And then fully abandon yourself… for the sake of Christ… and
His Church.

Don Grant said just this past week at shepherd’s meeting, “Can you imagine what it would be like if all believers woke up in the morning and thought, ‘What can I do for Christ today?’”

Can you imagine that? What would The Church be… if we were all as selfless… as Jesus Christ was for us.

Cassie and I just had our second child… Abigail. And I’ll tell you, if you have ever been with a woman in labor… a woman who is going through absolutely excruciating pain, on your behalf then you’re probably like me in the fact that there is nothing you wouldn’t do for that wife of yours.
She wants a pillow, she gets a pillow. She wants you to push on her back, you push on her back. She needs a nurse you get a nurse…

Why? Because you love her… and she is in absolute pain… on behalf of your family…

So can you imagine… the pain… the suffering, the sun blackening torture that took place when Cross abandoned Himself for us… His Church?

And then can you imagine… committing ourselves to Christ, and to each other… in the same way… with the same passion… with the same love…

Then… we would be a Fully Committed, Christ Centered, Called Out
Body of Witnesses.

Last piece. The Gospel Church… Is Gospel Driven

Gospel-Driven, Fully-Committed, Christ-Centered,
Called-Out Body of Witnesses

It is a, Fully Committed, Christ Centered, Called Out Body of Witnesses… Driven…that is fueled or empowered by… the Good News The good news that Jesus Christ… The Son of the Living God… The creator of all that was and is and is to come… gave Himself up… for us.

You see, in the beginning… God created everything… in perfect shalom… that is in perfect rhythm and peace with itself and everything around it, and everything works like it’s supposed to.

We had plants and animals, but not waste and abuse. We had grapes and wine, but not drunkenness or alcoholism. We had food, but not gluttony, sex but not lust, marriage but no In-Laws… but most importantly… we had unbroken fellowship with God.

But then comes the fall. Adam & Eve sin, fellowship with God is broken and the entire earth is thrown out of perfect Shalom, and into this downward spiral.

Now in this spiral God shows up to a man by the name of Abraham and essentially tells him that through him He is going to bring forth a nation of people, a called out nation, that will be a nation representing, or bearing witness to the one true God.
And so from Abraham we get Isaac, and from Isaac Jacob, who is later named Israel, and from the 12 sons of Israel we get this nation of Israel, this called out nation, that bears witness to the Kingdom of God.

But God doesn’t stop there. Remember He tells Abraham that He will not only bless him by bringing forth this nation but that through this nation all nations will be blessed.

And so then we get, from this nation of Israel, this man called Jesus… the Messiah… the Savior.

And we learn as we watch Him minister and heal and teach and preach and fulfill one prophesy after another, we learn that He is indeed the Son of God, and that He has come as a fulfillment to God’s promise to restore shalom to the world once again.

It is then through the sacrificial death and subsequent resurrection of Jesus that The Gospel, or good news is made clear to us, that Jesus Christ, God the Son, has borne our sins, and provided for us a path back to God, and back into the unbroken fellowship with him that the first humans once enjoyed.

Then Jesus, right before He ascends back to heaven tells us in
Matthew 28:

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and 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)

Jesus essentially says “you have been called out, formed by me, to be my witnesses to all the world… now go, pray, wait for the Holy Spirit… and then be my church.”

So from this moment all the disciples and apostles and close followers of Christ go back into a room and they lock themselves in and they begin to pray, and on the day of Pentecost Peter preaches the first post ascent sermon, and 3,000 men become believers in Jesus Christ, and they too join this Ekklesia, and bear witness to the good news that Jesus Christ, the Son of God has taken away the sins of the world.

This all happens in 33 A.D., and from here on out history tells the story of the Ekklesia, or the church, being driven by the Gospel.

By 39 A.D. Paul, who was once Saul has already begun to take the gospel to gentiles.

In 42 A.D. Mark goes to Egypt.

In 49 A.D. Paul goes to Turkey, and then in 51 A.D. to Greece.

In 52 A.D. Thomas arrives in India, In 54A.D., Paul heads on his third missionary journey. By this time he’s writing the book of Romans, and he says that wherever he goes, the gospel advances and drives and changes lives. More and more bodies of witnesses are called out, and formed right before his eyes.

In 174A.D., the first Christians are reported in Austria.
By 280A.D., there’s the first written knowledge of rural churches emerging in northern Italy.

Let me tell you why that’s a big deal. Christianity, for the first 200 years, was completely urban. It was not rural at all. In fact, the word “pagan” basically means someone outside of the city. So Christianity was completely an urban religion. And then by 200A.D., we start having rural churches.

By 350A.D., 31.7 million people claim Christ as Lord. That’s roughly 53% of the Roman Empire.

In 432A.D., Patrick heads to Ireland. We celebrate this every year by getting smashed and pinching one another.

In 596A.D., Gregory the Great sends Augustine and a team of missionaries to what is now England to reintroduce the gospel. The missionaries settle in Canterbury and baptize 10,000 people in the first two years.

In 635A.D., the first Christian missionaries arrived in China.

In 740A.D., Irish monks reach Iceland.

In 900A.D., missionaries reach Norway.

By 1200A.D., the Bible is available in 22 different languages.

In 1498, the first Christians are reported in Kenya.

In 1554, there are 1,500 converts to Christ in what’s now called Thailand.

In 1630, there is an attempt made in El Paso, Texas to establish a mission among the Mason Indians.

In 1743, David Brainerd starts a ministry and a mission for American Indians.
In 1845, the Southern Baptist Convention organizes its mission board.

In the early 1900’s Ursula Poates plants 3 apple trees in her yard to help convince prospective land owners that fruit could be grown in this part of the Mojave Desert.

In 1947 in a little town in Pennsylvania Sadie Mikels gives birth to a son named Mark.

2 years later, in 1949, the town of Apple Valley is officially recognized by the U.S. Post Office.

In the mid-1950’s Robert Dennis, the Father of our own Anita Olson, and Grandfather of Laurie Olson, as first director of the Southern California Conservative Baptist Association, oversees the planting of 1st Baptist Church
of Apple Valley.

In 1972 Mark, now Pastor Mark, graduates from Denver Theological Seminary and is ordained as a minister in the Baptist denomination.

In 1976 Apple Valley Christian School is founded as a ministry of the First Baptist of Apple Valley, with 19 students in Kindergarten and 1st Grade.

In 1987 my mom and dad enroll me in Apple Valley Christian School and we begin to attend First Baptist Apple Valley where 2 years later, on Valentines Day 1989 Pastor Mark Allen Mikels baptizes 8 year old Alan Micah Giles and impresses upon him the story of Samuel, and how as just a young boy he learned to listen to God, and to walk in his paths.

On September 18th, 1994, God uses Mark & Linda Mikels to plant Sonlife Community church.

14 years Later God brings Mark and me back together and a work that was began nearly 20 years earlier is brought one step closer to completion.

On and on and on I could go. What I just gave you was a remedial, cursory, small brush stroke of all that God has done in Christian history to get you and me in this point, in this place, and all of it goes back to exactly what was said in Genesis 12, exactly what was promised in Genesis 20, exactly what was spoken of in the prophets, exactly what was said in Jesus Christ, exactly what occurred in the New Testament. The Gospel continues to push itself forward over and over and over again.

This is history, this is what’s going on. Every government, every war, every plague, every bit of persecution, everything that has ever occurred in every corner of the world exists for one reason alone – God’s great gospel. It pushes and drives everything.

Do you know how the gospel left Jerusalem? Stephen was martyred. Do you know how Christianity got here? The Puritans were being persecuted. So they hopped on a boat and came over. Everything is about what God is doing. This is what we’re caught up in. This is what’s happening. We’re right in the thick of it.

In 1900, there were only 558 million Christians on planet Earth; in 2002, there were 2 billion.

If present trends continue, then by 2025 there will be 633 million Christians in Africa, 640 million Christians in South America and 460 million Christians in Asia.

This is what’s going on. This is the Gospel drive that we find ourselves in, and the Gospel will continue to press forward.

If we’ll see this, if we’ll get this, if we’ll understand this, if we’ll understand where we are in all of this, then the little details of life don’t toss us all over the place.
If we can see ourselves as what we are … a strategically placed players in God’s story, then in dark times we know God’s got this and somehow this plays into what God is doing.

If we can see this, get this, grasp this, then we’re tethered, then we’re anchored, then I think we are much more apt to play our part well.

And that is exactly what God asks of us… play our part well. He’s got the rest. He has done the calling, done the forming, and even provided the good news for us to bear witness to.

He has provided His son as our Head, our Leader, our Chief Shepherd. He has shown his commitment to us, and asked us to commit ourselves to Him, and then to each other, as His church.

Finally, He has not only promised us, but shown us, since the beginning of time, that His Gospel, His Good News of Salvation will drive us, and will propel us, as He builds His Church.

So as long as we remain faithful, and we remain committed, and our lives bear witness to the King… then we will enjoy, and our children will enjoy, and our children’s children will enjoy… this beautiful, marvelous, blessing from God…
This CHURCH.

Final Thot. And yes it should look familiar… I can think of no better way to say it than Pastor Mark said it last week.

Final Thot…
There Is No Greater Calling In All The World Than To Be A Responsible,
Reliable Member Of Christ’s Church; There’s No Greater Privilege
In All The World Than To Be Involved In Christ’s Church.
May We Recognize The Calling And Cherish The Privilege!

The Gospel Church… is Christ’s Church… not ours. It is all about Christ -not us – for we are merely one part of this incredible, unstoppable, two thousand year old, worldwide… Gospel Church.

A Collection Of Stand Alone Sermons