Otterbein United Methodist Church

February 24, 2008

Scripture: Acts 2:36-47

Sermon: “Now That Was Church!”

Throughout church history people have been gathering on a weekly basis, doing what church people do when they get together… songs are sung; prayers are prayed; creeds are recited; sermons are preached, and pleasantries are exchanged on the way out. Every now and then as people walk out of those meetings they say things like… “What a great service!” “Now that was church!” or the staff: “We really nailed it today!”

Two months ago today was Christmas Eve. After the second of our three services that evening, several of us staff members were together having some refreshments and waiting for the start of the late service. Most of us had already been in both services and we were comparing our thoughts on two great services that had already seen more than 600 people worshipping here in Otterbein’s sanctuary. I even used the expression “Now that was Church!” to describe those services and added… “The list of what we don’t get right around here might be pretty long, but I guarantee you, Christmas Eve isn’t on that list.”

However at the same time that we here on earth are giving our assessment, heaven is giving an assessment as well. They are asking the same question: “Was that really church? Is that what we had in mind when we put together the idea of a redeemed community coming together and being the Church?”

Did you ever think that perhaps heaven has a different assessment about what we do than what we on earth may have? Bill Hybels gives an example of this based on the Old Testament book of Amos… the people were regularly gathering and fellowshipping and do all the things they called worship, yet they were oppressing the poor and marginalized; they were shady (if not corrupt) in their business dealings, and this is what heaven had to say about their worship… “I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.” In essence God is saying, “Get rid of your musicians; fire the choir!” Amos 5:21, 23.

They probably left that day saying, “Wow, great service! Now that was church! The rabbi scored a “9.8” on the sermon today!” But heaven was saying, “Unacceptable! 0.0! Your hearts are so far from me and so hardened to the plight of others that you’d be better off not even meeting than trying to call this church!

The last book of the Old Testament, Malachi, describes a time when God’s people had come up with a cost saving way to worship! (There’s enough “Dutch” in me that I’ve always appreciated this kind of thinking!) God had asked his people to atone for their sins by going out into their flocks and picking the best and choicest lamb and bringing it as an offering to God. This, of course, was a foreshadowing of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and the blood of the most precious Lamb of God. But some really clever worship gatherers said, “Why should we go out and get our best lamb for sacrifice? Any old lamb will do, after all it’s only going to be sacrificed and offered on the altar to God! So they would go out and find a sick, or blind, or dying lamb – one about to keel over anyway, and they’d say, “This is perfect to sacrifice to God, because… it’s worthless.”

(Guys, it’s cute when the kids do it, but would your wife appreciate you bringing her a dandelion bouquet?)

After one of these worship-gatherings (where people are bringing these sick lambs and feeling good about themselves), God speaks some very troubling words: “When you offer these weak, dying and blind animals on my altar, that’s just wrong! Would you try offering something like that as a gift to an earthly ruler?” Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you," says the LORD Almighty, "and I will accept no offering from your hands.” Mal 1:8, 10.

Notice God’s not saying tweak the service 5 or 10 percent, but rather “It’d be better to shut the whole place down than that you continue on the course you’re on.” Strong words from God! How people think about church and the attitude they manifest about it matters big time to God!

A New Testament example… a group of religious leaders invited Jesus to come speak in their synagogue. You’d think that’d be a great day in church. But the Pharisees were really looking for a way to discredit Jesus. Just before Jesus arrives they go out and find a man who has a disfigured arm. They invite him to the service and have him sit in the front row, and say, “Perfect.” They were betting on the fact that since Jesus always had compassion on human suffering and misery (and they had made some addendums to what you could do on the Sabbath, and healing wasn’t on the list), that he would heal the man on the Sabbath day and they’d be able to discredit Jesus as being a Sabbath breaker.” Sure enough, the day comes and the place is packed. Jesus notices the man and sees the Pharisees leaning forward to see what will happen. (Mark 3:5) – Jesus became very angry at the hardness of the hearts in the worship gathering. “This isn’t church… this guy you’ve brought in here… you don’t care about his daily pains, his family, his struggles to make ends meet. You don’t care about his future either on earth or in eternity! This buzz that’s in this room is not the anticipation of the Father’s presence; it’s not eagerness to hear the truth; it’s not a desire to have God touch your life in a meaningful way. If this were really church, there would be lots of infirmed people here with the hope and expectation that God would minister to their needs. If this were church there would be lots of wayward people here with the expectation that God would transform their lives. There would be a love for God, and a love for people and an eagerness for the Spirit of God to move in ways that would cause people to leave transformed!”

Now, Jesus did heal the man; and the Pharisees hurried out in the streets to tell people what Jesus had done!

What we (here on earth) might think is great church, doesn’t necessarily impress heaven at all, and sometimes what we think as small and of little significance has heaven celebrating because transformation is happening! What causes a party in heaven is something as simple as a heart open and transformed.

Unfortunately, most churches are steeped in mind-numbing tradition. The same thing happens week after week, and year after year. The only week to week changes are the hymn numbers, the scripture reading, and the sermon title. It got that way because once upon a time, God’s people sang three hymns, took up an offering, had three prayers and a sermon and the Lord blessed them with his presence. They thought if they did the same thing again, God would bless them in the same way again. But our eternally creative God doesn’t answer the prayer “encore” (do it again the same way, Lord), so the church has been waiting for years for that next blessing! So much so that we come to value the tradition over the Lord’s presence! We choose form over function. People can actually become so comfortable with the tradition, that the Lord showing up would be unwanted! It’s like sitting on the rocks and pebbles between the banks of a long since dried up river, and saying, “The water’s great!”

The Church today has way too much chosen…

* Worship as attendance at a weekly event over a genuine encounter with God! Audience over activity!

* Outreach that is an invitation to church without an invitation to Christ!

* Relationships that places friendliness ahead of genuine friendships.

* Discipleship that stops with join the church rather than lives submitted to Jesus Christ!

* Service that is a part of already being here (like a greeter) rather than really caring for the needy.

(Notice these first five have mentioned the five WORDS in our Purpose Statement)…. But the list continues…

* We’ve chosen giving our left-overs over sacrifice… * Attendance over participation…. * Forgiveness over repentance… * Handshakes over intimacy… * Sitting as spectators over active participation…

* Looking to clergy to interpret the Bible over going to the Author Himself! …* Knowing the Bible stories over applying the lessons... * Knowing about Jesus over knowing Jesus!

Challenge: So imagine coming to Acts 2 and seeing what the New Testament Church was really like. There is nothing like the beauty, power and potential of the local church when it is functioning in the power of God’s Spirit. You see, there was once a community of believers who were so radically committed to Jesus Christ that whatever He asked them to do, they’d do. Whatever price He asked them to pay, they’d pay. They understood that getting saved, baptized and filled with the Spirit (Acts 2:38) was just step one. They understood the need to come together as a community of faith to be discipled to transform the world!

When God urged them out on a limb of faith, they’d go out on the limb of faith just to see where God was taking them. That group of believers became like family. They ate together; they shared life deeply; they discovered what it was like to know and be known, to love and be loved. That same church broke down barriers between race, ethnicity, class and culture. Bold prayers were prayed and answered – so much so that people got used to standing back in awe and watching God work! That same church cared so much about those outside the faith, that they spread the faith creatively, compassionately, uncompromisingly, and at the risk of their own lives! If such a church existed on planet earth in the first century, why can’t it exist today? Has God lost his stuff? Is the Spirit asleep? There is no good reason that it can’t happen. It should happen; it must happen!

I ask you without embarrassment or apology, set aside any self-serving plans for your life and get on board with God’s grand plan! There is something worth giving yourself to! Such a vision is so grand that it is worth dying for! You only have one life… if you give the rest of your life to anything other than trying to build that grand dream of God’s kingdom… you might score some achievements, but you’re wasting your life!