The George Barna Group did some research several years ago and noted that in the United States there are approximately 400,000 Protestant churches. Out of those 400,000 roughly 50% are comprised of 75 people or less. And out of those 400,000 nearly 3,500 close their doors every year never to re-open. Why? What is going on?
According to an April 2008 news article in the Knoxville News Sentinel [link] baptisms are down for the third year in a row within Southern Baptist Churches (5.5 percent) while total membership has dropped by nearly 40,000 people. In 1950 Southern Baptist Churches baptized one person for every 19 members while in 2007 that number dropped to 1 baptism for every 47 members. What's happening to our churches?
Has the gospel lost it's power? Lost the power to save people, to change people's lives? No, the gospel is still the greatest news ever given to man that Jesus who is God "died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared" 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 and the gospel has nor never will lose the power to save people Romans 1:16 "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes."
Could it be that our methods are outdated? Our buildings need a face lift? Our programs need re-tooling? Our music needs to be louder? Are we now competing with the culture for time and attention as people shift their priorities and work around their busy schedules? I am sure we could revisit our programs. We could look at how to present the unchanging text, the gospel, to an ever changing culture. We could create strategy based on the demographics surrounding the church and cater specifically to them, that might help. We could offer programs to address various needs within the community. We could give our building a face lift, a new touch of color, we could even get an electric guitar or not. I think each generation has it's own distinct challenges on how to present the Bible in the context of the time period in which they live. And we could spend time and money and resources making changes, buying literature, paint, Gibson guitars, and pictures but before we do that, before we take off in a new direction, before we go there I just want to step back for a moment.
Earl Weaver, former manager of the Baltimore Orioles once jokingly said, “The key to winning baseball games is pitching, fundamentals, and three run homers.”
Ted Williams, the great baseball player once said, "Whenever I went
into a slump, I went back to fundamentals. Wait on the ball, be quick,
use a light bat and choke up."
No matter what sport you talk about whenever a team is in a slump, in decline, or not where they need to be they often go back to the fundamentals of the sport, they re-look at the basic principles, moves, and strategies that must be mastered before doing anything else.
And so with the time we have here I want us to go back for a moment and look at the basics of our faith, to get back to the fundamentals found in our Bible, to be encouraged in Jesus, to be reminded again of what is at the heart of everything we do so that we will be on track and focused on that which truly matters.
Psalm 119:18 says "Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law."
Let's pray and then we will get right to work.
Father
God, I don't want to come to you with any fancy words, any agenda. I
want desperately to know you more, to love you more, to see you Jesus
as you are high and lifted up. Open our eyes Lord that we may behold
wondrous things out of your law. Holy Spirit I ask that you fill us,
refresh us, encourage us and open our eyes for your glory and our
benefit. Amen
Turn in your Bibles with me please to Mark 12:28. We are going to begin with Mark, chapter 12 verse 28 and read through to verse 34.
Mark 12:28-34
28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these. 32 And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. 33 And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions."
In the gospel of Mark Jesus is at the end of His ministry and what a ministry it is! He has done many many great things in the lives of those He has touched.
Mark Chapter 1 - goes into the desert for 40 days, is tempted, does not sin, calls His first disciples, heals many many people
Chapter 2 - Heals a paralytic by telling him that his sins are forgiven (which is much better than a co-pay!), tells the religious folk that He came to hang out with sick people/sinners and heals a man on the Sabbath
Chapter 4 - teaches in parables, calms the storm
Chapter 5 - commands demons, raises Jarius' daughter from the dead
Chapter 6 - Jesus feeds 5000 with 5 loaves and 2 fish
Chapter 8 - Jesus foretells of His death and resurrection
Chapter 11 - we see the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on the back of a colt in fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9 and He cleanses the temple
Jesus has healed the sick, He has raised the dead, He has taught and preached about the kingdom of God and without question Jesus has proclaimed over and over again and again that He alone is God. In doing so Jesus had many enemies, many who hated Him, and many who plotted to have Him arrested, tried, and put to death.
And so in chapter 12 we see that Jesus' enemies have sent their best and brightest to pick a fight. These guys really know their stuff and you can see them coming from a mile away, sort of like the guys in white shirts and ties on bikes and they have a verse for everything. They didn't go to Jesus to learn, to see Him, they went hoping to trick Jesus into saying something offensive, to see if they can get Jesus to say something against the government or to blaspheme God.
So they ask Him about taxes and the resurrection and aren't really making any headway mostly because Jesus is God and they are idiots and then one of the scribes who has been on the fringe listening in asks a great question.
It's kind of like he has been sitting at the kid table listening in on the discussion and finally he gets his chance to ask Jesus a question.
28 And
one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another,
and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is
the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all
your strength.’ 31 The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.
Knowing who God is
Loving God
Loving people
These are the fundamentals of the faith. These verses are the wind sprints, the tire drills, the bleacher steps, the roadwork, the basics if you will of our faith and I think it does us well to revisit these from time to time to make sure we are on track and focused on what really matters .
Basic Fundamental #1 - Knowing who God is
29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
"Listen up!" Jesus is saying. Everything begins and ends with God. You can't be a church, can't be a Christian, can't be effective in your community, can't reach people for Jesus, can't be saved, unless you know who God is.
There is one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all Ephesians 4:6 and that God is united as one in God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We are commanded in Exodus 20:3 to have no other gods before God.
It is God alone who is worthy of all glory and honor and praise nothing or no one else.
It is God alone who is holy and righteous.
It is God alone who is good.
It is God alone where we find our hope and our rest as David says in Psalm 62.
When we know intimately who God is, when we see Him in all His glory, high and lifted up, when we realize that He alone is God, He alone is creator, He alone is our sustainer and He alone is our salvation then everything else is put in it's proper perspective, everything else falls into place, everything else begins to make sense.
It's not just enough though to know God, to know about God, to know a couple of songs, to know a couple of verses, to have a Bible, to know someone who once went to a church.
James 2:9 says that even the demons believe that God is one and shudder but merely knowing about God, having a head knowledge is not enough. Jesus said you gotta love God with everything you got!
Basic Fundamental #2 - Loving God
you shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all
your strength.
Each of us are created with the sole purpose to worship and enjoy God
forever. The question is never will we worship but who or what will we
worship. Jesus tells us that the greatest command is to love, agapao,
the cherish, to be content with, to hold dear only Him to be satisfied
with nothing else! Yet you and I have the propensity to turn anything into an idol, to worship many other things and people in place of God.
We do it with food, sex, money, pets, material items and the list goes on and on and on.
What sits on the seat of your heart? What do you spend most of your
time thinking about? Where does all your efforts, time, attention,
skill diverted to?
We have to love God...with all of our heart - give Him your undivided attention. With all our mind - fill you things with the things of God. Study His word, be in prayer, listen to good sermons and with all our strength - make every effort you can to love God. Everything will conspire against us to take us away from God to distract us and we have to use every muscle in our bodies, every once of energy we have to fight against any impulse away from God and to make time for God, to love God.
Secular humanist and evolutionary biologist will tell you that we are products of chance, the result of random processes, animals who have risen from the primordial soup. Happiness, anger, and even love don't exist as they are merely chemicals secreted and synapses firing within our brains.
Yet in Genesis 1:26 God says "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." You and I are not here by chance and we are not products of random, uncoordinated processes we are created by the hands of the Father, in the likeness of the Trinity, with inherent dignity, value, and worth. We are image bearers of God.
Basic Fundamental #3 - Loving People
The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
1 John 4:16 say that "God is love" Out of His infinite love God has created everything around us, everything for us, and everything for His glory. As men and women created in the image of God, with the attributes out of God we are to represent God here on earth and to bear His image here on earth and the second greatest commandment we are given is to love people.
Not a touchy feely, creepy you have something I need or want or I can use you to get my way kind of love. That's not what Jesus is talking about. What Jesus is commanding us to do is to see people as He sees them, to love them like He loves them. John 3:16 says that "God so loved the world that He gave his only Son so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life." Is Jesus commanding us to die for others? Maybe? But I do think He is asking us to die to ourself, to die to our preconceived notions about people based on the way they look, the way they dress, the way they talk, where they are from, or how they vote. I do think the commandment is pointing us to give of ourselves to other people by being their friends, by helping meet their needs, and by loving them as Jesus loves them.
As the church aren't we the body of Christ until He returns? Does this mean we have to love people who don't love Jesus? Yes. Aren't they the enemies? No!
As the church I think we get too easily sidetracked by political and personal issues. The country is divided between red states and blue states and sometimes we see this as a good vs. evil. As men and women of God we are called by Jesus to be in the world and not of the world and we are called to fight for truth and to stand up for what is right so I am not advocating that we abdicate this responsibility. Yet as the body of Christ what is it we should be known for? Our political stances? Our voting record? What we oppose?
David Kinnaman, in his book Unchristian, notes the perceptions that young people in America have about the church and Christians. In national surveys the results were almost always the same...young people view the church and Christians as anti-homosexual, judgmental, hypocritical, and too political.
What does it matter what others think? The reality is that there is an
entire generation of people who are growing up outside of the church,
away from God, and who are turning away from the things of God because
they are completely turned off by the people of God.
We are not a political party! We are jars of clay with treasure inside, the treasure of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have the greatest news the world has ever heard. God made us, God loves us and it is God's gift of His Son Jesus who died on the cross for our sins who saves us.
I don't care what other people think about me, what they say, how they react to me, but I do care what they think about Jesus. What they say about Jesus and how they react to Jesus. Do people see Jesus when they see you? Me? Our Church?
You and I are to love and to be known for our love because it is the love of Jesus ministering to a dying world, reaching out to a lonely world that is desperately searching for love. Let's get back to the basics of loving people like Jesus loves people. Let's be generous with everything we have, let's give abundantly of our stuff and our time. Be big tippers when you eat out. Be courteous to others. Be about making friends with people completely different than yourself. Be missional in your neighborhoods and be Jesus to everyone around you.
Maybe, just maybe we need to refocus on what truly matters:
Knowing God, Loving God, and Loving People.