Good morning. Today we are continuing our series based on the book The Purpose Driven Church. We looking at what it takes to become a purpose driven church. As we started this series last week, we found that our driving force cannot be tradition, personality, or any other force that tends to drive churches today. Rather the driving force for a healthy church should be purpose driven and biblical. We look at the great Commission as our key text to finding the purpose of the church.
As we continue today we are looking at the next chapter and that is The Foundation For A Healthy Church. Jesus said it in Matthew 16:18, “I will build my church.” If Christ does not build the church, then the builders build in vain.
Paul also said something about this in I Corinthians 3:10 when he said, “By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder.” So, the foundation for a healthy church is definitely found in Christ.
To illustrate the importance of having a good foundation listen to what Rick Warren says. He writes, “A few years ago I bought some property in the mountains behind Yosemite National Park and built a log cabin. Even with the help of my father and some friends it took two years to complete since I couldn’t work on it full-time. When I began building, it took me an entire summer just to lay the foundation. First, I had to clear a pad in the forest by cutting down and uprooting 37 towering pine trees. Then I had to dig over 60 feet of 5 foot deep French drains and fill them with gravel because the ground was wet from a nearby underground spring.”
Warren goes on to say, “After 10 exhausting weeks, all I had to show for my efforts was a leveled and square concrete foundation. I was very discouraged. But my father, who has built over 110 church buildings in his lifetime, said, “Cheer up, son! When you’ve finished laying the foundation, the most critical work is behind you."”
The most critical part of any building or organization is its foundation. Once the foundation is laid, all the rest falls into place.
The foundation of a building determines both the size and the strength of a building. You can never build larger than the foundation can handle. Now when we think about it, the same is true when it comes to churches as well. A church build on an inadequate of a faulty foundation will never reach the potential that God intended for it to reach. As soon as something outgrows the foundation, it tends to topple over.
The most important aspect of building a healthy, strong, and growing church is to have a solid foundation. This comes by everyone being on the same page as to what the church’s purpose is. If you remember last week I mentioned how the majority of members in churches think that the church exists to meet their needs and minister to them. While the ministers in those same churches felt that the reason the church existed was to meet the needs of the lost and to minister to them.
Now as we look at the purpose of the church we are going to look at our purpose statement or our mission statement. We have it displayed out in the vestibule as well as printed on our bulletins. Our purpose is 3 fold: first, To Gather (We come together to worship and praise God! In Psalm 34:3 it says, “Glorify the Lord with me, let us exalt His name together.”), second, is To Grow (We nurture people to commit to a closer walk with the Lord. Here we want see growth spiritually as well as numerically. We find this in Ephesians 4:12-13 where it says, “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.”), and the third reason is To Glorify (We proclaim and lift up Jesus so that the lost may see and find Him. In Romans 1:16 it says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.”)
You see, a good mission statement is short enough for everyone to remember (Gather, Grow, and Glorify), yet it still makes a powerful statement about our church. If it can do these 2 things, it will yield 5 wonderful benefits for our church.
First, A Clear Purpose Builds Morale
Morale and mission always go together. In I Corinthians 1:10 Paul writes, “I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.”
Notice that Paul says that the key to harmony is to be united in purpose. Benjamin Franklin once said, “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall hand separately.” A church that is divided in their purpose, will eventually die. There must be unity in the purpose of the minister, the leadership, and the members of the congregation in order for there to be harmony and in order to have an effect on the community around them.
Listen to what Rick Warren had to say. He writes, “Proverbs 29:18 in the King James Version says, “Where there is no vision the people perish.” I believe it is also true that where there is no vision, people leave for another parish! Many churches are barely surviving because they have no vision. They limp along from Sunday to Sunday because they have lost sight of their purpose for continuing. A church without a purpose and mission eventually becomes a museum piece of yesterday’s traditions.”
Not knowing the church’s purpose can be the most discouraging thing for the people who are involved in that church. However, there is nothing that can better get a church going than to discover their purpose and to see how it fits into Christ’s teachings. Hopefully as we continue in our study, that is what happens to our church as well as to each one of us.
The second thing is that A Clear Purpose Reduces Frustration
Without a defined purpose statement or a mission statement, it is easy to become frustrated with all of the distraction that take place around us. Perhaps you feel the way that Isaiah did when he wrote in Isaiah 49:4, “I have labored to no purpose, I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing.”
A church without a purpose may feel like this from time to time. We do things with no purpose behind it, and we gain nothing out of it.
If we have a clearly defined mission statement, then when we do something, it has to fulfill one of our purposes. If an activity will meet a purpose of our church, then do it. If it does not meet one of our purposes, then don’t do it. A clear purpose not only defines what we do, it defines what we do not do. By applying this rule, it will take away much of the frustration that the church experiences.
A third thing that a clear purpose does is it Allows Concentration
Focused light has great power in contrast to unfocused light. For example, by focusing the power of the sun through a magnifying glass you can set a leaf on fire. Or like the boy in Toy Story, you can burn or melt plastic. However, if the sunlight is not focused, you cannot burn a leaf.
This principle of concentration can work in other areas as well, and especially when it comes to our purpose. You see, a focused life and a focused church can have a much greater impact than a church that has lost its focus. When it comes to a laser, the more focused it is, the more power it has to make an impact. The same is true when it come to church and to lives within the church. The more focused we are, the greater impact we can have on our friends and on the community around us.
Listen to what Rick Warren had to say in this section. He writes, “The reason for this is that a clear purpose allows you to concentrate your effort. Paul knew this. He said in Philippians 3:13 in the New Living Bible, “I am bringing all my energies to bear on this one thing, forgetting what is behind and looking forward to what lies ahead.” One of the common temptations I see many churches falling for today is the trap of majoring in the minors. They become distracted by good, but less important, agendas, crusades, and purposes. The energy of the church is diffused and dissipated, the power is lost.”
Warren goes on to say, “If you want your church to make an impact on the world, you must major in the majors. It is amazing to me how many Christians have no idea what the main objective of their church is. As the old cliché says, “The main this is to keep the main thing the main thing!””
Having a clear purpose allows us to focus on what the main thing is, and to concentrate on that. By doing that, we can be as effective as possible. Being efficient is not the same as being effective. Peter Drucker says, “Efficiency is doing things right. Effectiveness is doing the right things.”
God wants churches to be effective and that means to do the right things. The few churches that are rally effective, concentrate on their purpose. By focusing on our purpose, we can keep our priorities strait, our church focused, and be effective to those outside of Christ.
Fourth, A Clear Purpose Attracts Cooperation
People want to join a church that knows where it’s going. When Ezra told the people exactly what God expected them to do the people responded in Ezra 10:14 in the New Living Bible, “Tell us how to proceed in setting things strait, and we will fully cooperate.”
Look at the apostle Paul. He was always clear in his purpose, and as a result people wanted to be a part of what he was doing. This is especially true with the Philippian Church. In Philippians 4:15, it tell how they were so captivated by Paul and his purpose, that they gave ongoing financial support to him.
It is hard to be a purpose driven church, it you lack cooperation on everyone’s part. So, as I see it, cooperation is a key to becoming a purpose driven church. And it is something that is gained by having a clear purpose.
The fifth and final thing is that A Clear Purpose Assists Evaluation
II Corinthians 13:5 says, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.” How can a church evaluate itself? Is it possible to evaluate the growth or the productivity of a church? Well, this is not done by comparing our church to the other churches around us, but by asking, “Are we doing what God intends for us to do?” and “How well are we doing it?”
Peter Drucker says, “What is our business?” and “How is business?” These are the 2 most important questions that a church can ask itself as a way of evaluation. The church’s purpose statement must become the standard by which you measure health and growth.
Listen to what Rick Warren says about evaluation. He says, “There is absolutely no correlation between the size and the strength of the church. A church can be big and strong, or big and flabby. Likewise a church can be small and strong, or small and wimpy. Big is not necessarily better, nor is being small necessarily better. Better is better!”
He goes on to say, “The purpose of this book is not to make your church as large as Saddleback. Size is not the issue. The important issue is this: Your church will be stronger and healthier by being purpose driven.”
You see, size has nothing to do with being a purpose driven church, but I will promise you this, if you make a commitment to become a purpose driven church, people will want to be a part of that and the size will increase.
Listen to his last paragraph of this chapter. He writes, “Becoming a purpose driven church takes time, it doesn’t happen all at once, or even over 6 months. It may even take your church several years to make the transition. If you want your church to become purpose driven, you will have to lead it through 4 critical phases.
First, you must define you purpose. Next you must communicate that purpose to everyone in your church on a regular basis. Third, you must organize your church around your purpose. Finally, you must apply your purpose to every part of your church. I’ll describe each of these tasks in the following chapters.”
As we continue through our study of becoming The Purpose Driven Church we will look at each of those phases in depth.
Now, how does all of this relate on a personal level for everyone here? We looked at the idea of our mission statement. Well a way that it can be on a personal level is for you to live out that mission statement. Gather, Grow, and Glorify. Now what I mean by live it out is to simply live by what it says.
When it says to gather, that means being here in worship with fellow believers. Now this can also be a challenge to you to be here as often as you can, and not just for one service a week. Really take advantage of the worship opportunities.
Next, it says to Grow. This means personally as well a numerically. This can be accomplished by being is personal growth as well as be involved with gathering and learning as much as you can. It is in that way that we grow to a closer relationship with Christ. Now the second part of this is to grow others as well. And that can be done by witnessing to others and trying your best to get them here to learn and grow with you.
Finally, Glorify. This is to lift Him up, and be an example for others to see. This is being Christ like and living the life that He wants us to live. It is the fifth purpose that we have mentioned and that is to obey Him.
We also looked at the idea of a healthy foundation. The same is true for all of us as individuals. We too need to have a strong foundation. Look with me at Matthew 7:24-29. Here in this passage Jesus is talking about having a good foundation. Here in Matthew 7:24-29 Jesus says, “1”
You see the wise man builds his life on a firm foundation, and the foolish on shifting sand. As Christians and non-Christians, we need to be building on the firm foundation. And all of that begins by listening to His words and putting them into practice.
When you build you marriage on the foundation of God, then it will last. If you build your family on the firm foundation of Christ, then it will stand the time. If you build your career on the foundation of Christ, it too will last. However, if all of this is build on shifting sands, then when things get bad, it will be washed away and it will fall to ruins just like the wise and the foolish builders houses did in this passage.
If you would look with me now in II Timothy 2:19-21. Here in this passage Paul writes, “2”
When you have a firm foundation in Christ, then you also have a noble purpose and you are useful to the Master. As we discover how to become a purpose driven church, it is my hope that you will all realize that you too have a purpose for you life. The church is not the building that we meet in. We could meet in a garage, and it would still be church. We could have church at someone’s house. We could have church in a field along side the road, and it would still be church.
Church is not a building, it is the people that fill the building. Therefore, it is important that we are all build on firm foundations ourselves in order for the church to be purpose driven. It is also important that you realize that you have a purpose as well. Your purpose is to fulfill the 5 New Testament purposes as well. The greatest commandment, to love the Lord with all of your heart, and to love you neighbor as yourself. And the great commission that we looked at last week. In Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus said, “3”
When we can have a firm foundation in Christ as individuals, and then we come together here at Fly Branch Church of Christ, we can develop the church with a firm foundation as well. It is then, and only then that we will be able to have the impact on the community around us that God intended us to have. To reach out and show His love to others that they might come to know Him and the saving power that He has. It is then and only then that we become the purpose driven church.
Let’s pray |
