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How to Kill a Church I
Corinthians 1:1-17 This is a letter Paul is
writing to a church, and look how positively he greets them... [read vv.
1-9] Then beginning in v. 10, he
pulls out a gun and blows them away! [read vv. 10-17] “Jesus, yes!
The church, no!” That was
a popular slogan in the 60s...or so I’m told.
And it seems to be a revived notion today as many are put off by
organized religion. I believe
that could have been the sentiment in AD 56 in the city of It was a
defiled church, full of sexual immorality and drunkenness.
Some lived very worldly, taking God’s grace and forgiveness lightly. It was also a
divided church with differing
cliques and factions vying for leadership.
People talking behind the scenes, and taking sides. And so it was a
disgraced church.
Not only were they not glorifying God, they were hindering the
progress of the gospel all around. Now, none of us are
perfect. Actually very far from
it. We cannot be sinless but we
can sin less. If you knew me
like I know myself you wouldn’t listen to me.
But hold on, because if I knew you like you know yourself I wouldn’t
talk to you! Positionally in Christ we
are seen as perfect [vv. 1-9], but the world is watching us outwardly and
they see something far different.
They aren’t even looking for perfection, just ‘reflection’ of Christ.
They want to see results, an effort, a change, something relevant for
them...hope!
This church was a “Church
on the Rocks.” This church was not
doing all that they were supposed to be doing. There were some in the church
that were really hurting it. In fact they were allowing the devil to use
them to destroy the church. Rom. 1:18-32 is Paul’s
record as he looked out the window while there.
It lists what he saw. [read] Satan wants to kill this
church, but he’ll use people to carry out the dirty deed.
He wants to use you! Like
he did at Revelation 3:1-3 Some die and close their
doors, but many still have meetings - and yet are dead. The angel at the tomb said,
‘Why seek the living among the dead?’
And many are finding it true as they seek a church.
Once you surrender your
life to Jesus Christ, you are no longer yours but God’s. He owns you. It's not YOUR
life! You have a new master now.
He's a good master. It's fine to be HIS slave, but a slave you are, and
don't forget it! You owe Him!
There's a bond involved in your slavery.
You are a servant. Why do we forget?
Perhaps if He beat us and abused us it would help us to remember that
we are His slave? Should it
really count against our Father that He is so good to us...and so we forget
that He owns us? When you forget Whom you
belong to, you stop acting like a child of God’s and start acting like a
child of the devil’s.
As a Christian, you are a
representative of God here on this earth. When you forget that, you are
prone to live opposite of what God wants you to. You are an ambassador from
a foreign land. You don't belong here!
You aren't supposed to adapt to the culture and blend in. The locals
are supposed to know that you are a dignitary...a representative from
another place! And while we're remembering
who we are, let's not forget who we used to be.
What were you saved from, specifically.
Go over it now in your head.
What are you being saved from in the present day?
Will you sin at all in your future?
You'd better believe you will - you're a sinner! But, God has saved you, and
changed you inside and out, and now is sending you on assignment to a lost
and dying world. Don't forget
who you were and who you are in Christ!
In order for the Church to
be able to reach out to the lost, we must have unity within our
congregation. The devil is going to try to cause you to forget whose you
are, who you are, and what your mission is so that he can destroy the
ministry of this church.
How do you kill a church?
Kill unity...
We've all heard about
Churches that have been destroyed over the color of carpet or who is going
to say the prayer during the service, who didn't shake my hand or come visit
me, etc. The devil will use anything for us to fight about. ill.--Think about this. For
those of you who are married, what do you fight about most often? Is it the
things in life that are really important, or is it silly little things that
don’t matter; like leaving the toilet seat up?
Who took my keys? And
should the TP roll over the top or under the bottom? We are the same way in
Church. We will fight over anything, whether it matters or not and this will
destroy the harmony within the church.
Often we fight over secondary issues, not what is truly important.
And the devil loves it when he can get us off course in that way.
We as humans want to be in
charge. The problem with this? 150 people can’t all be in charge. That is
chaos. There is a reason that God calls a man to pastor a Church. It isn’t
because the pastor is a better person than anyone else, but it is because
that is the way God set it up. Anything with two heads is a ... monster! By the way, allow me to
make it clear who IS in charge of THIS church... ...It had better be God or
we are all in trouble. If you want to kill the harmony of your Church, fight
one another for power.
We sometimes forget that
Jesus went to the cross because of
our sins. It is easy for us as good Church going people to start
feeling better than everyone else but don’t forget that Jesus had to die for
you too.
When God uses you to see
great things happen, please never forget Who did that and Who gets the
credit. It's wonderful when phenomenal things are happening in lives here…
But, never forget Who actually did that!
We are just instruments of
God. He is the leader and we are
slaves. Our job is to submit to
the authority over us. When we
begin to feel powerful because God is using us, don’t forget that Jesus is
the One that died on the cross and rose again. The power of the Gospel is
not in this building or our programs but in the cross of Jesus Christ!
Kill
Purity. Isaiah 53:1 [some source material from Shawn Drake]
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