Good morning, today I am going to begin a new series. I feel that this is a series that can not only help us all as individuals, but it has the potential to have a dramatic impact on our entire church as well, and that is my hope.
Some of you may have been involved in the Sunday School Class that discussed and went through the Rick Warren book, The Purpose Driven Life. Well, starting today we are going to begin a series of sermons based on another Rick Warren book. We are going to look at becoming The Purpose Driven Church. Now I have looked through the book and have selected 7 of the chapters that I feel would be applicable for us to take a look at. Much of my sermons for the next 7 weeks is going to come strait out o this book. As I was writing my sermons, I felt a little bad, because of the amount of stuff that I was taking right out of the book. However, I feel that it is all great stuff that Rick Warren brings out, and he has a great way of saying it already. I also feel that this is the best way to get these points across to you, without you having to read the book yourself. So, if you would get the book, you would see most of what I am saying already printed in the book itself.
But anyway, let’s begin with a word of prayer, as we begin this journey in becoming the purpose driven church. “PRAY”
The first chapter from this book that I would like to take a look at this morning is, What Drives Your Church.
To start let’s turn to Proverbs 19:21. Here in Proverbs 19:21 it says, “1”
So, what is it that drives our church? The scenario shows up time and time again in church after church. There is a meeting where the church is supposed to decide something, but they can’t because of having many different views on how things should be done. Now I’m not just talking about small differences here, I mean some really big differences. Things that should not matter when it comes to making decisions in the church.
You get multiple driving forces in the same church that are competing for attention. This results in a conflict and a church that is trying to head in several directions at the same time.
If you would look up the word “drive” in the dictionary, you would find this definition, “to guide, control, or direct.” When you drive a car, it means that you guide, control, or direct the car down the road. When you drive a nail, that means that you guide, control, or direct the nail into the wood. When you drive a golf ball, you hope to guide, control, and direct that ball down the fairway.
Every church is guided by something. There is always a driving force behind every decision and every move that a church makes. It may be a driving force that no one knows, but there is always a driving force at work behind every church.
So, what is it that drives churches?
First, there are churches that are Driven By Tradition. Listen to what Rick Warren has to say about a tradition driven church. He says, “In the tradition driven church the favorite phrase is “We’ve always done it this way.” The goal of a tradition driven church is to simply perpetuate the past. Change is almost always seen as negative, and stagnation is interpreted as “stability.””
He goes on to say, “Older churches tend to be bound together by rules, regulations, and rituals, while younger churches tend to be bound together by a sense of purpose and mission. In some churches, tradition can be such a driving force that everything else, even God’s will, becomes secondary. Ralph Neighbour says that the seven last words of this type of church are, “We’ve never done it that way before.”
So, the tradition driven church is not the best driving force to have. A major league baseball pitcher was having trouble. He started the season with a terrible record. After the mid-season break though, things began to get better. He won 4 games in a row and suddenly became unhittable. When asked what was different he replied, “Mechanics.” In other words, he had corrected a bad habit in his pitching motion. After making some changes in his pitching style he began a winning streak and became a better pitcher.
Do you recall the last time you tried to change something? It wasn’t easy, because you were comfortable with the old way, the new way seemed awkward. That is often why we hesitate to make changes in the church, is because we are comfortable with the way things are. Change is hard, and at times it is impossible.
The trend for a tradition driven church is to feed those who attend, and not to worry too much about the community around them.
The second driving force that Warren mentions is the church that is Driven By Personality. Listen to what he has to say about these churches. He says, “In this type of church the most important question is, “What does the leader want?” If the pastor has served in the church for a long time, he is most likely the driving personality. But if the church has a history of changing pastors every few years, a key layperson is likely to be the driving force. One obvious problem with a personality driven church is that its agenda is determined more by the background, needs, and insecurities of the leader than by God’s will or the needs of the people. Another problem is that the personality driven church comes to a standstill when its driving personality leaves or dies.”
So, the personality driven church is likely to be in some ways like a dictatorship. One driving personality will make, or cause all of the decisions in the church. Eventually this type of church will come to a standstill, and possibly even die off itself when the leading personality leaves the congregation.
A third driving force is the church that is Driven By Finances. Listen to what Rick Warren says about these churches. He says, “The question at the forefront of everyone’s mind in a finance driven church is, “How much will it cost?” Nothing else ever seems quite so important as finances. The most heated debate in a finance- driven church is always over the budget.
While good stewardship and cash flow are essential for a healthy church, finances must never be the controlling issue. The greater issue should be what God wants the church to do. Churches do not exist to make a profit. The bottom line in any church should not be, “How much did we save?” but, “Who was saved?” I’ve noticed that many churches are driven by faith in their early years and driven by finances in later years.”
So with this church, it’s all about money. Someone once said, “treat money like your god, and it will plague you like the devil.” When a decision is to be made, the first thing that matters is how much does it cost. This tends to be one of the driving forces behind a lot of smaller churches. One thing to remember are the words of Tertullina when he said, “Nothing that is God’s can be obtained with money.” The church doesn’t need to be driven by finances, it needs to be driven by God.
The next group that Warren mentions are churches that are Driven By Programs. These churches tend to have programs that are in place, and everything else works around the programs. Program driven churches focus on the programs, and not the results. When things don’t work out right, the people in charge of the programs blame it on themselves. The program driven church never questions if the program is out of date, or if it still works.
Then there are the churches that are Driven By Buildings. Winston Churchill once said, “We shape our buildings, and then they shape us.” This type of church often spends more money than the members can afford in order to have the buildings that they want. Their focus is on the building and not saving the people in their communities. Charles Colson once said, “Inspired architecture does not change live, nor do buildings impart spiritual power.” And John White said that, “We do not in fact build beautiful buildings from a spirit of worship, but for prestige and pride."
So, when a church is driven by building programs, what is really at the heart of their ministry? Is it reaching the lost, or is it simply to have the pride of a new and bigger building?
Finally Rick Warren talks about the churches that are Driven By Seekers. Now this sounds like the best driving force to have. Let’s listen to what Warren says about the Seeker driven church. He says, “in an honest attempt to reach unbelievers for Christ and be relevant in today’s culture, some churches allow the needs of the unbelievers to become their driving force. The primary question asked is, “What do the unchurched want?” While we must be sensitive to the needs, hurts, and interests of seekers, their needs, and while it is wise to design evangelical services that target their needs, we cannot allow seekers to drive the total agenda of the church.”
He goes on to say, “God’s purposes for His church include evangelism, but not to the exclusion of His other purposes. Attracting seekers is the first step in the process of making disciples, but it should not be the driving force of the church. While it is fine for a business to be market driven, a church has a higher calling.
The church should be seeker sensitive but it must not be seeker driven. We must adapt our communication style to our culture without adopting the sinful elements of it or abdicating to it.”
So, we see that the seeker driven church is not the best type of church to be. In this church, the seekers tend to drive what happens. It is in this church where the world begins to creep in, with hopes of it being a way to attract the unchurched. However, in most cases, it just corrupts the church.
So, what is the Biblical driving force for a church? What we need today are churches that are driven by purpose and not by other driving forces. There are 2 essential elements of this Biblical Purpose Driven Church. First, it requires a new perspective. We must begin looking at everything our church does through the lens of 5 New Testament purposes and see how God intends for the church to balance all 5 purposes. Now these five purposes are displayed throughout the New Testament and are as follows: Purpose # 1- Love The Lord With All Your Heart, Purpose # 2- Love Your Neighbor As Yourself, Purpose # 3- Go And Make Disciples, Purpose # 4- Baptizing Them, and Purpose # 5- Teaching Them To Obey. Now we are not actually going to look at those five purposes today, but they are coming up in the future.
Second, the Biblical Purpose Driven Church requires a process for fulfilling the purpose of the church. Again we are not going to look at that process today, but it too will come in the future as we continue looking through The Purpose Driven Church.
Now Rick Warren says, “This is not some “ivory tower” theory, it has been field tested in a real church for 15 years and has produced one of the largest and fastest growing churches in American History. It is also producing exciting results in thousands of other churches in America, Australia, Europe, and Asia. Your church, regardless of its size or location, will be healthier, stronger, and more effective by becoming a purpose driven church.”
Now, as I read through the book, I discovered myself, that becoming the purpose driven church is not just something for the big churches. The principles that are discussed in this book will work with any size church, anywhere, as long as the members and the leadership are not different driving forces going in different directions.
Moving on, if you would turn with me now to I Corinthians 3:10-14, we will look at some of Paul’s words. Here in this passage Paul writes, “2”
The apostle Paul said that God will judge whatever we build on the basis of whether it will last. Paul also tells us here that the key to building something that lasts is to build it on the right foundation. As we continue, next week we will be looking at the foundation for a purpose driven church.
By focusing on the 5 New Testament purposes, the church will develop the healthy balance that makes lasting growth possible. Once again in Proverbs 19:21 it says, “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” Plans, programs, personalities, and traditions don’t last, but God’s purpose does and will last!
Rick Warren warns that there is a huge importance of being purpose driven. Listen to what he says, “If you serve in an existing church that has plateaued, is declining, or is simply discouraged, the most important task is to redefine your purpose.”
If we take a look today, that is exactly the state that we find ourselves in. That is why we have been trying to do some new things to help in growing our church. We try new things with the hope that they will produce results. However, when one thing goes bad, we don’t give up trying, we come up with a new idea and run with it. The church is about teaching others about God and bringing them to a relationship with Him. The church does not exist with the purpose of getting to a certain size and then maintaining that size.
If you would ask typical church members why their church exists, you’ll get a wide variety of answers. Why is that, because most churches do not have a clear consensus on this issue. I mentioned the results of a survey several months ago, but I will give you those results again. They surveyed members of nearly a thousand churches asking the question, “Why does the church exist?”. Of the church members surveyed, 89% of them said that the church existed to meet the needs of their family and to teach them.
These people may think that the church and that the minister’s role is to simple feed the sheep that are already in the pin, and try not to lose too many of them. Only 11% of those surveyed said, “The purpose of the church is to win the world for Jesus Christ.”
The ministers of these same churches were asked the same question, and the result was the exact opposite. 90% of ministers said that the purpose was to win the lost. When you have different driving forces that are trying to lead the church, you tend to stay stagnant, and have other conflicts arise.
Warren goes on to say that, “Absolutely nothing will revitalize a church faster than rediscovering its purpose.” When a church can rediscover what its purpose is, there will be only one driving force, and it will be held by both the minister and the members.
Churches are started for many different reasons. Sometimes those reasons are inadequate. However, unless the driving force behind a church is biblical, the health and growth of that church will never be what God intended for it to be. Strong churches are not build on some of the driving forces that we spent time looking at this morning, they are built on the eternal purposes of God.
As we continue to do this series through some of the principles that Rick Warren provides, I am excited to see how God is going to impact our church with His Purpose.
Again, in the future we are going to look at those five biblical purposes more in depth, and we are going to look at how to develop a process that will add success to fulfilling God’s purpose. If we take this seriously, this could be a revitalizing experience for our church, and those that will benefit form it are not only all of us, but also all those who we will be trying to reach for Christ as well.
In closing, John Henry Newman once said, “Everyone who breaths, high and low, educated and ignorant, young and old, man and woman, has a mission, has a work. We are not sent into this world for nothing, we are not born at random, we are not hear, that we may go to bed at night, and get up in the morning, toil for our bread, eat and drink, laugh and joke, sin when we have a mind, and reform when we are tired of sinning, rear a family and die. God sees every one of us, He creates every soul… for a purpose.”
Well, the same is true for the church. Both new and old, big and small, rich or poor, country or city. We are here for more than to feed ourselves, be complacent, stay a comfortable size. We are created by God and we have a purpose. Every church has the same purpose, and that is to reach the lost with His message, and to see them grow in Christian maturity.
Listen to the great commission in Matthew 28:18-20. Here in Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus says, “3”
Let’s Pray |
