Some of us are very accustomed to the technology of the day and can easily make a video call to a loved one living on the other side of the world. But does that replace the face to face meeting? I guess all of us would agree that nothing beats being present with someone in the moment. I am taken back to this past Christmas when our family planned to be together, all af us. We received news that my brother and his family could not make it. It absolutely broke our hearts as we haven’t physically seen them in a year and a half. To our great surprise, just after lunch on Christmas Day our doorbell rings, and what followed was jumping, screaming and rejoicing and off course a whole lot of crying, big men crying, as my brother and his family walked through our doors. Nothing beats that. Being together in one room, in one place.
So no surprise that when we asked people what they have missed the most about church, that they would answer; the actual gathering and the worship together. No matter how great technology is, and is helping us to communicate God’s Word to some of the people in our congregation, it will never ever be able to replace the gathering of the saints of God.
I also miss that. Preaching to the camera and worshipping without seeing people respond to God is definitely not an easy task. Yes, I am looking forward to the day that we will be singing together glorifying God in the same place. Oh boy we are going to fill the air with the praises of His people. On that day! Let us also remind ourselves to pray for all pastors, teachers and ministers of God’s Word who are currently facing a tremendous uphill battle in sharing God’s Word.
This brings me to a question. What do you think is the church’s biggest challenge in this season? Personally I believe that this is one of the most important Spiritual times in the history of man. I trust that you are with me, in eagerly awaiting the return of our Lord Jesus! I believe that this current season is significant in the preparation of His pure and Holy Bride. Since the beginning of 2019 God has been speaking to us about returning to the basics of the Gospel, especially out of Acts. In other words; to get rid of the things in the church that men has made important and focus on the things that God has made or deems essential. I use the word essential deliberately.
There is probably no bigger battle in the world right now; the battle of what is essential and what is not. President Trump in America just deemed churches and all places of worship as essential and ordered the opening of every place of worship, with immediate effect. It shouldn’t surprise you that not everybody agrees with him. In a similar way the church is also facing a battle of what is essential and what is not. As we are steering through this storm we have to decide what will stay on the boat and what will need to be chucked overboard. The whole world lies in a state of disruption and everybody is seeking for a new normal! But how will this new normal look? Timothy Keller said a few weeks ago that he believes that every church will need to be replanted after this pandemic is over. Talk about a disruption.
Through every Disruption comes the greatest opportunity.
As a local body I believe it is so important to understand this. Out of every disruption comes the greatest opportunities. This is time of prayer and reflection like never before. A time of seeking God, even more as we navigate through this time of disruption.
This reminds me of moving house. I don’t know if I ever felt so disrupted in my life physically than the time I moved house. There is a period in moving, that you just don’t know what is going on. You don’t have plates to eat out off, because they are packed away; you don’t know where to sit because every couch and chair has been overloaded with some sort of material or box. But yet the opportunity of a new season lying ahead keeps you going. And then the opportunity to get rid of some stuff that you have acquired over the years is also there. The nonessential things you have gathered over the years.
I believe the church has gathered many nonessential things over the decades, and God is saying enough is enough. But is it is up to us to break down those things, it is up to us to get rid of those nonessential things and throw it overboard. Let us pray that God will show us what it is we should get rid of.
Jesus the greatest disruption to the church
Jesus was a disruption to the traditional church when he arrived on the scene. Such a disruption that they could not see the truth nor could they see the way. They only saw Him as a disruption to their traditions and they missed the biggest opportunity, the coming of the Messiah.
Let us read the story in Matthew 9:9-17
' As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”
Out of this passage I would like to higlight two things that I think we have to return to as a church. Two things that I believe God wants us to return to. Two of many essential things according to God,
1. Those who are sick need a physician.
In verse 12 Jesus hears them complaining and He remarks that those who are well don’t need a physician but only those who are sick.
We need to come back to the core existence of church. Sick People. The mission of church was and will be, until Jesus returns, to save the lost. For Jesus church was much more than just an hour service a week. It was everyday living. Church for Jesus meant real and truly deep connection with others. As soon as Jesus asked Matthew to follow Him, He turned Matthew into a disciple maker. No training, no two year course, just being! His house was turned into a feast that very night, and many sinners and some of his tax collector friends came together. Jesus had a wonderful way of connecting with people in a real and deep way, no matter their background. He is the same Jesus today and He is alive in us today. We should not forget that God has called us to go and make disciples. We do need to focus more on the unsaved and the lost, instead of keeping the already saved happy. I do think in this time of disruption we have to pray that God will reveal to us each personally, how Christ would like us to live. What is it Lord, You want me to do? It might be as easy as opening up your house, like Matthew did. It is not about being perfect it is about being available.
2. I desire mercy and not sacrifice
In verse 13 Jesus also spoke to the pharisees and mentioned that they have to go and learn what it means, referring to a passage in Hos 6. In that portion of scripture the prophet Hosiah prophesied about the Messiah and in verse 6 God said that he desires mercy not sacrifice and that He desires people to know Him more than burnt offerings. I agree with Dot Mitchell when she said that it will be sad if the church goes back to the way it was. Falling back into rituals and traditions and thinking that it will please God will be a sad day indeed.
So many times God showed us in His Word that He prefers obedience, mercy and relationship, over the rituals and sacrifices of men. Traditions and sacrifices only carry worth if we do it out of relationship. In the context of our scripture in Matthew, the Pharisees placed a high emphasis on ritual the fasting. Many of them fasted religiously, even twice a week. They thought that the fasting would please God more than being merciful and loving to other people. The ritual became more important than the basic essential necessity of connecting with and loving people. I think it will be wise for us to see the worth God has placed in each and every one of us. We tend to make certain rules and regulations more important than pure love and mercy. In actual fact I have set love and mercy aside at times just to stay in check with the regulations and rules I have set myself. May the Lord help us to see that it is more important to listen and love on people than to keep with the traditions we have created to make ourselves feel more holy?
The church faces real challenges in this time, We have heard many of those challenges today. And many times we really don’t know how to face them. I want to end this talk today with a few pointers I think we have to keep in mind as we journey in this uncertain time together.
1. New Wineskins are needed.
God gave a clear Word to our church, a month or so before lockdown that He is going to change the wineskin. We did not expect the global lockdown as we received that Word. I think we all secretly were hoping for a more subtle change. We see Jesus referencing the New wineskins to the discipels of John the Baptist, when they asked them why they are not fasting. His answer, No one puts new wine into old wineskins. For us to go forward into what God has planned, for us to be effective as a church in the last harvest we have to understand that the wineskin needs to change. I have said this before. We have been praying for revival but if the harvest or revival comes what would be the use, if people get saved into the current church system? An old wineskin? God is currently changing the wineskin like He did 2000 years ago, He is changing you, he is showing what is truly important, don’t long for a return to the old way of church. Look forward to what God has in store.
2. We are the wineskins.
We are the church, it is not the building nor the meeting that constitute church. We are the church, so we have to operate differently. Programs don’t make the church work, people make the church work. This means we will have to change. Every single one of us has to be willing to change. Be willing to allow God to stretch us and remould us. If it is true that every church needs to be replanted like Time Keller said. It means that we have to rethink everything we are doing. How we connect? How we communicate? How we teach and equip, How we give, How we engage? How do keep things simple? If you should ask me How I think the church will look like? My answer would be. I don’t really know, but I do know it will look more like the church of Acts than it will look like the church of 2019. It will be a church where every person in it will be a living stone.
3. Unwillingness to change with the move of God will cause ruin.
It is a real fact proven over and over again. Jesus said No one puts new wine in old wineskins. It just doesn’t make sense. Yet we have to admit that once we are set in our ways it is difficult to change, especially once we are comfortable. I pray that we will hear this warning in our Spirits and that we will not conform but that we will be willing to be continually transformed.
4. True change only takes place by the working of the Holy Spirit and by the Word of God.
We can make adjustments ourselves, but without the power of the Holy Spirit and the guidance of His Word, these adjustments, will eventually turn into a new form of dead religion and tradition. The Holy Spirit is essential in the Church and the power of His spirit even more essential. The Pharisees knew the Word of God better than anybody else, but they missed the true meaning of the Word because they did not have the Spirit of God. Having the knowledge of the Word without the power of God’s Spirit will only puff you up. Having the power of the Holy Spirit without the knowledge of the word will only blow you up. To effectively change for this new season we need to be filled with God’s Spirit, continually spend time in His presence and we need to know the Word of God. A balance of both.
We are approaching the celebration of Pentecost in a weeks time. Can I challenge you today to take more time this week to spend quality time in His presence? Can I urge you to ask God, how He wants you to change, remembering that you are the church! Changes in a church does not merely happen in a board meeting, it happens in the hearts of people. God is changing you as we speak, not because of this message, but because He has been busy with you for a long time. Hear Hs voice today. I am full of confidence in the Lord that we will stand stronger as the body of the Lord when the dust settles. The opportunities to preach His gospel will arise out of the ashes of this pandemic and we the church will become effective workers in the harvest field off our Lord. Let us be willing to change and move and adapt as we surrender our lives fully to Him.
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