Date:
Text: 1 Thessalonians 2:10
Title: Values that are dear to us (I)
Theme: Our ministry needs to be an outflow of who we are.
Introduction:
Being
the beginning of a new year, many of our minds will be on what to do this year.
President Bush is thinking about his economic stimulus package, plus
Coming to church this morning, you may also be wondering what kind of message you will hear. Are we going to hear about the church’s master plan for the next 10 years, or 5 years or this year, or for the next few months? Or will it be plenty of thunders with little rain?
Visions and plans for nations, individuals and church are certainly important. We are all familiar with Proverb 29:18, “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraints.”
Having said this, I would like to take a slightly different approach this morning. In today’s scripture lesson, Paul was explaining to the Christians at Thessalonica what kind of person he was: holy, righteous and blameless. In the passages before and after this, we see how hard Paul worked among them. He had action plans while he was there. Here, he shared with the believers about the values he held dearly. Underneath his ministry, was his personhood.. From this and other passages in the Bible, it is clear that who we are, our values and characteristics are the foundation of what we do. Our ministry, be it at home, in and outside this church, must be an outflow of who we are.
This morning, plus one Sunday in February, I would like to share with you what are some values that we treasure and cherish in this church. This does not mean that we have arrived, but they are goals that we strive for.
I. Christ is the head of the church.
“他在萬有之先.萬有也靠他而立。他也是教會全體的之首.他是元始、是從死裡首先復生的、使他可以在凡事上居首位。He is
before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he
is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from
among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.” (Colossians 1:17-18) This is about
Christ’s supremacy. He is above all, the Lord of all. He is the Lord, the head
of his church, including HCC.
Being
the head of this church, He provides us with life and direction, causes the
church to grow and exercise authority over us. We are energized by his power,
governed by his Word and Spirit.
What
does it mean to us? Simply, we can do nothing apart from him (John 15:5,7). We recognize
how much we are dependent upon him. Yes, he has given this church many resources;
we have many capable and talented men and women. Yet, apart from Christ, we can
do nothing. We express our dependence on him through prayers. On a daily basis,
we remember this church in our prayers, telling God how much we need him. We
dare not make decisions without him.
Secondly,
when we make decisions, as a church we are to ask a very simple question, is
this pleasing to Christ. We don’t just ask, is this good for the church, but
more importantly, is this decision pleasing to God? With Christ as our head, we
invite him to govern us. We, the entire body of Christ, the elders and the
deacons, the pastors are to constantly reflect upon this: do our ministries,
our meetings, and how we relate to one another a true reflection that Christ is
our head?
II. Bible
is the inerrant word of God.
“我們傳揚他、是用諸般的智慧、勸戒各人、教導各人.要把各人在基督裡完完全全的引到 神面前.We
proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may
present everyone perfect in Christ.”(Colossians 1:28) “聖經都是 神所默示的、〔或作凡 神所默示的聖經〕於教訓、督責、使人歸正、教導人學義、都是有益的.叫屬 神的人得以完全、豫備行各樣的善事。 All Scripture is
God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in
righteousness, so that
the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”(2 Timothy
3:16-17)
We
believe that God used words that we understand to communicate to us about
himself. He inspired the prophets and the apostles to write down his words in
this Bible. Since he was the one who initiated the communication, therefore his
words are without errors in its original language. There are two fold purposes
in our teaching and preaching. First, the purpose of our teaching is to point
and bring the listeners to Jesus Christ. We are to help people establish a
loving relationship with this heavenly Father. It means helping them to know
Christ in a personal way and to help them enter a closer and more intimate
relationship with Christ.
The
second purpose in our teaching is to help believers to grow into spiritual
maturity, to become Christ like. To become more like Christ in our personal and
family life, in how we relate to people within and without this church.
Therefore,
whenever we teach, whether we are SS teachers, Bible study leaders and pastors,
we remember that our teaching is not just information transfer, but we teach to
change lives. Howard Hendricks once said, “if the students’ lives are not
changed, then we have not taught.”
III. Authentic
worship is a life style.
“我對你說過、容我的兒子去好事奉我、…and I told you, “Let my son go,
so he may worship me.” (Exodus 4:23),
“時候將到、如今就是了、那真正拜父的、要用心靈和誠實拜他、因為父要這樣的人拜他。那真正拜父的、要用心靈和誠實拜他、因為父要這樣的人拜他。Yet a time is coming and has now come when
the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are
the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his
worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth” John
We
tend to look at worship as something we do on Sunday for the 1 or 2 hours. Or
that first 20 minutes in our fellowship and small group meetings. In the
scripture, the word worship has a much broader meaning. In Exodus 4:23, Moses
told Pharaoh to let the Israelites go to the wilderness so they can worship
him. But the original word is also translated as so they could go and serve
him. So worship means to serve God. Our entire life is a service to God. So
worship is really a way of living. When we serve, we are to serve with all of
our hearts, and be governed by his word, the Truth.
However,
there is also a narrow meaning of this word ‘worship’. It refers to Christians
coming together at a certain time, at a certain place to praise God, to pray to
him and listen to what he has to speak to us. When we come, we are not just
coming to another meeting, listening to another preacher. Instead, when we
come, we are here to worship the living, holy and almighty God. We worship him
in spirit, meaning wholeheartedly. Different people express what is in their
hearts differently. To some, clapping or raising their hands is a very natural
way of expressing their praise and adoration. To others, it may be silence and
more contemplative. There is no one right way to express what is within us,
there are different ways of expression.
When
we come together to worship, besides spirit, we also worship in truth. This
truth can mean God's word. When we look at different practices, again the
question is not whether we feel good about it, but is this pleasing to God?
Does God's word have any reference to this or is it silent on this matter. One
principle we are to remember is this: when God's word is clear, we hold tight
onto it. When God's word is silent on the practice, then there is freedom in
what we do.
IV. A
grace oriented community.
“神差他獨生子到世間來、使我們藉著他得生、 神愛我們的心、在此就顯明了。不是我們愛 神、乃是 神愛我們、差他的兒子、為我們的罪作了挽回祭、這就是愛了。This is how God showed his love among us: He
sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through
him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us
and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”(1 John 4:9-10) In this and other passages
we learn that God created us, sustained us and redeemed us. When we were still
his enemies, he loved us by sending his son into the world and died for us.
Having redeemed us, he also perseveres us, enabling us with his spirit so we
can manifest his holiness in our lives. There is nothing we can brag about, it’s
all his grace, it is Grace Alone. The more we are true to ourselves, the more
we see our sins and corruptions, the more we realize God’s grace towards us.
For this reason, “Amazing Grace” has become the national anthem for the
believers. “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I
once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.” Christian life is
about God loving a sinner like me.
You
remember the story about a woman caught in adultery and was brought to Jesus.
The crowd wanted to condemn and punish her. What did Jesus do? “Neither do I
condemn you, go now and leave your life of sin.” Jesus was saying, I have forgiven
you, go now and sin no more. What is our motivation for living a holy life?
What is our motivation for becoming more Christ like? He has already loved and
forgiven us. Our loving him, becoming like him and serving him, is a response
to his love and grace. We love because he has first loved us.
In
this community, the motivation for our ministry is not to gain brownie points
from God, but a response to his grace. I remember several months ago, while
visiting one fellowship group, a brother said, “ I pray that HCC member will
serve God whole heartedly not out of guilt or responsibility, but as a response
to God's grace.”
May
this be a community where we experience God's unlimited and irresistible grace
towards us. And out of our gratitude towards him, we live a life pleasing to
him. And as we experience his grace towards us, may we also be gracious to
those around us.
V. Dignity
of all people. Genesis 1:26,27
“神說、我們要照著我們的形像、按著我們的樣式造人、使他們管理海裡的魚、空中的鳥、地上的牲畜、和全地、並地上所爬的一切昆蟲。神就照著自己的形像造人、乃是照著他的形像造男造女。 Then God said,
“Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish
of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth,
and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created man in
his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created
them.”
This
is probably the most important statement in the Bible about men. Since we are
created in God's image, this is where we derive our intrinsic meaning and
value. Our value and worth is not dependent on what we have and what we have
accomplished. Each one of us is very precious because we have been created in
God's image. What does it mean to us?
Since
life is precious and sacred, we value all human life, from the unborn to the
elderly, to the handicapped. We, individually and corporately, do our best to
protect and help the weak, the helpless and the voiceless ones.
It
also means that we do not see people as commodity that we use to grow this
church. Nor are we to see individuals as numbers that boost our attendance
record, as a means to our goals. Instead,
we see each person as God's image bearer, thus highly precious. We’ll treat
each person with dignity and respect. We offer each other basic courtesies. We
respect people’s opinions and convictions even if they are very different from
ours. We give them our full attention when they talk; we care for them when
they are in need. .
It
is my prayer that whoever comes into contact with this community of believers, they
will feel they are being respected and loved.
Conclusion:
Next
month, I will continue to share with you the other values that are dear to us. These
few days some of us may be cleaning our rooms or thinking about rearranging the
furniture and redecorating the house. While doing this, we usually consider
what do we want to communicate to friends who visit us? What kind of atmosphere
do we want to convey to those who enter this house?
Isn’t
this also true with our church? What do we want to convey and communicate to
others or even to ourselves about this church? If someone asks me, “William,
tell me about HCC.” I probably will begin to tell him our ministries, programs
and action plans. Yes, this is important. Yet, equally important, is that we
know who we are, what are the values we treasure.
It is my prayer that in the days and years
to come, as we continue to grow, to worship and serve God together in this
church, our ministries and programs will and continue to reflect values
important to us. May our ministries be an outflow of who we are in Jesus
Christ.