13th Sunday after Pentecost!
Introduction:
A. What does a key do for you?
B. It gives you the ability to enter a building
doesn't it! It also gives you the ability to decide who else enters the
building!
C. Jesus told Peter one time he was going to give him the keys to the Kingdom; let's look and see what Jesus might have been saying.
Prayer
Matt. 16:13-19
I. Let's look at this scripture. (especially vs.
19)
A. Here of course Jesus was talking to Peter.
1. But I think this can be applied
to the church.
2. The church that was built upon this rock (Jesus Christ).
B. This was a very positive statement about the
church!
1. He was saying my church won't
be dead, but it will e alive!
2. It will be going about doing
things:
a. It will be opening the doors
for people to come
to God.
b. And binding them up with the
Love of God.
II. If Christ was this positive about the church,
then what can cause a church not to be
effective?
A. Traditions:
1. Traditions
aren't necessarily all bad; they can help make things operate smoothly, and
there can be traditions that are really meeting people's needs, that really
help us to worship.
a. Traditions like the Apostles Creed, Nicene
Creed, liturgy in worship, help us keep
connected to the Christians that lived closest
to the time of Christ!
b. Tradition is one of the 4 parts of the
Quadrilateral that helps us decern the will of
God when Scripture is not clear on the subject.
c. Christian tradition is important!
d. I am glad to be a part of a church that honors
and finds value in those traditions of the early
church!
2. But traditions can be bad,
usually more recent
traditions!
a. They may not be meeting any
needs at all, but because
that is the way we've always done it, that is the way we are going to continue to
do it!
b. They can cause us not to accept
change for the better!
c. They can cause us not to try
new things to meet people's
needs!
a. They
can keep us from moving into the 21st century.
e. They can keep us from doing something that God wants us to do, and that is when it becomes bad! It can cause God's church to be ineffective!
B. Another thing that can cause the church to be ineffective is Inconsistent lives of Christians:
1. As a church we teach many
things.
a. We teach that God should be
first in our lives!
b. We teach that we should support
the church and its
ministries!
c. We teach that Christians should
live clean,
moral lives!
d. We teach that God loves us!
2. But if we don't show this by
the way we live every day of
our lives, we aren't being consistent, and we are causing the church to be ineffective!
a. If they view us as a hypocrite by the way we live,
they won’t want what we have. They will not view
us as being genuine!
b. If they don’t feel loved by us, if they feel
judged by us, that will color their view of God,
and they won’t want God in their lives!
c. But if they feel loved and haven’t been loved
by other so called Christians, they might just
want to come and visit that church that helped
make you who you are!
3. When we do show this by how we
live, people on the
outside will want what we have!
C. Poor leaders can make the church ineffective!
1. Ministers that preach one thing and at the same time are doing something else! This not only loses respect for them but also for the church!
2. Teachers:
a. That don't live what they
teach.
b. That don't prepare!
c. That don't work on their
teaching skills!
d. This can cause us to be
ineffective.
1) We need to do our part!!
2) We are responsible for the job
we do!!
III. What can cause the church to be effective?
A. Loose them to be forgiven and given a new
chance at life!
Offer them Christ!
Unconditionally!
B. Bind them with the Love of God!
1. In our world today, our country
today, we need to love
like we have never loved before!
2. We need to let go of our
preconceptions about people!
Our preconceptions will cause us to not invite or open
the conversation!
a. Maybe their skin is
a different color than ours
and we have all these preconceived ideas about
how they are! Preconceptions that will keep us
from inviting!
b. Maybe their hair is longer, shorter, a different
style, not as clean, and we don’t open the
conversation.
c. Maybe they have tatoos and we do not like tatoos,
or maybe they don’t have tatoos and we do and we think
they
are self-righteous and wouldn’t listen to us,
so we do not make the invitation.
d. Maybe they dress poorly and look homeless, so
we do not make the invitation.
e. The list goes on. When we see people who are
different and because of that do not make the invitation, we have not
taken the key to open the door, to unbind them for God!
f. Listen
to Paul’s instruction from Romans
12:1-18. Let love be genuine! Rejoice in hope! Extend hospitality
to strangers! Live in harmony with one another. Live peaceably with all!
g. We have the key! If we do not make the
invitation or open the conversation, people may
never know the love of God!
3. If
they show up at church, do we make them feel welcome
no matter how they look?
a. Do we make the
effort to talk to them?
b. Do we show
them around or tell them about the
church?
c. Do we let them sit in the seat we usually sit
in without making them move and feel unwanted?
d. If they keep coming, do we let them become a part
of us? We have
the keys! It is up to us!
4. I
do not see any of this being a big problem in general
here. I think it
is just good for us all to be
reminded about the ways people can not feel included
or loved!
5. We are responsible to reach out
to people! God has
given us the keys!
a. Are we doing it?
b. We can make a difference!
c. If we'll stick together and
work together for Christ,
we'll change some things! We may not change
the whole world, but we can brighten the corner
where we are!
d. We can continue to grow and
bring people into
the Kingdom of God and the church!
e. We can positively influence Forsyth with the Love of God!
f. I am reminded of another of Jesus’ parables: if we will sow the seeds, some will sprout and grow!
Conclusion:
A. We hold the keys; it's up to us! Let's get to work!!
B. Has something in this message touched you? Do
you feel like
you have missed some opportunities to bring the love of
God to someone because of preconceived ideas? Have you
failed to be loving?
Have you failed to give the
invitation? Do you
need to get to work for God? You can
bring it to God as we encounter Christ at the table this
morning, and we can leave and get to work!
Prayer of Confession
Service of Communion
