Community Covenant Church - Sunday Celebrations

September 26, 2005

Our Purpose is to Communicate
Acts 1:6-8; 20:24

Last week I had the joy of sharing a vision with you of Community Covenant Church as:

.... a growing family of faith celebrating God’s love, healing and restoration through Jesus Christ

This Sunday, and during the four Sundays ahead, it is my joy to remind us of the five great purposes of the Church... those things we hold in common with all biblically based churches living out their visions in their respective communities. In short, those five purposes are to:

1. Communicate (Evangelism/Mission)
2. Incorporate(Baptism & Fellowship)
3. Educate (Disciple/Grow)
4. Demonstrate (Ministry)
5. Celebrate(Worship)

Today, I lay before you our first great purpose, and that is to be a family of faith who communicates.

In The Purpose Driven Church, Rick Warren reminds us that the word “communication” comes from the Latin word communis meaning “common”. The lesson here is simple, you cannot communicate with people unless you hold something in common with them:

- Negotiations between unions & management require common goals for which they aim. In most cases it comes down to money..
salaries for workers verses profits for owners.
- If there wasn’t a common desire for presidential power, I wonder of Republicans & Democrats would ever talk to each other about the issues that are important to us!
- Marriage counseling is of questionable worth when couples no longer have anything in common. Who needs “good communication”
when there is nothing in common?
- Even Hollywood demonstrated this truth about communication when it connected earthlings and space aliens through the common language of musical tones in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”.

Communication cannot happen without something in common.

If you were to look at our church’s history, all the way back to the Swedish immigrants of the early 20th century, one can imagine a lot of communication going on about their common experiences in America, and their heritage in Sweden. When I served First Covenant Church in Omaha, a church of over 600 members, I was told that the church was that size from the late 1800’s, simply because of the “common-ness” among those Swedes. That church had a nickname in the Covenant... “The Sleeping Giant”..... Why? Because, for all practical purposes, it was a giant at birth that never grew up. Size wise, it looked successful... but it’s “sleepiness”, it’s lack of dynamic growth, spoke to a fundamental communication problem.
>>> First Covenant of Omaha, like Community Covenant of Hopkinton, or any Christian church for that matter, have all been entrusted by God with the most wonderful news people will ever hear. We call it “Gospel”.. literally “Good News”. We are a people called together for the purpose of communicating that Good News..., We are called to be “evangelists”. And one of the signs of a church that knows how to communicate is that it grows. It grows...
- From 5 to 10,
- From 20-70,
- From 100-200,
- From 600-2,000.
And it grows because what we have to communicate is what all hearts yearn to discover... God’s love. We have stories to tell.... biblical stories and our stories .... all of which reveal a living, loving, gracious God, who created us, forgives us, and transforms us. We have the Good News that God is not just working for us, but that His plan of redemption is for all people.
This is our calling, our mission..... most certainly one of the great purposes of the Church. Unlike our service to one another which we call our “ministry”, our service to others is our “mission”, and Jesus sends His disciples out by offer us this co-mission:

Acts 1:6-8

6 So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Much later in the Book of Acts, as we see this commission played out and Paul’s missionary journey’s are described, we hear the importance of communicating the Gospel, as Paul speaks to Ephesian elders at Miletus. He declared:

Acts 20:24

..... I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me —the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.

When you consider the “worth” of your life, what is your measurement? Do you measure or “worth” in terms of bank accounts, possessions, academic degrees, the accomplishments of your children?
>>> How many of us, like Paul, would understand our worth in term of communication, of completing the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace ?

Communicating the Gospel of God’s grace is the first of five purposes of the church. For we, as a family of faith, are called:
- To Communicate,
- To Incorporate,
- To Educate,
- To Demonstrate, and
- To Celebrate

Do you see communicating the Gospel as a purpose of Community Covenant? If so, where do you see it? Do you see yourself as a part of this purpose? If so how?
The Bible declares the truth:

2 Corinthians 5:17-20a

17 ....., if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.

At the very heart of God’s will for the people he created, is that they be reconciled to Him. God is the Father of the Prodigal Son, who stands waiting, and searching the horizon for the return of his wayward son.
And as we take note of God’s heart, it is also interesting to note that at the very heart of human desire, is to know and to be loved by God. And guess who got to announce this Good News... JESUS!
But today, who gets to announce this Good News...... YOU & ME, Jesus’ ambassadors... we have the privilege to communicate Good News to this generation.

Now, if communication requires that we have something in common, then we have a growing problem in our country. It is the same problem Missionaries have faced for years.... a problem of cultural differences... of differing world views defined by differing gods. Today the problem is ours, for many of our neighbors no longer go to church, or if they do, many put their faith in an institution rather than in a God who saves. Other neighbors go to Mosques & temples that remind us how the world once “foreign” to us ha snow come to our shores.
The solution?

Communis.... what we have in common. Life’s struggles & sorrows, needs of our communities & needs of our kids. While the problems of missionaries are ours today, so too are their joys.... the joy of communicating Good News and introducing friends and neighbors to God’s love & grace in Jesus Christ. But remember, communication begins with what we have in common, not where we differ.
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As you think about our calling as a Church to communicate and to share in God’s passion for lost children, let me pass on three communication tools highlighted in The Purpose Driven Life, (Chapter 37) that you already have to be “evangelists”... to be communicators of Good News in this world.

The first tool is:
1. Your Testimony
Your “testimony” is simply your witness of how Jesus Christ has made a difference in your life. The Apostle Peter describes it this way:

1 Peter 2:9
... you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Everyone who becomes a Christian has a testimony of what life was like before Jesus, and how it is different now. And yours is a unique and important story. Some stories highlight dramatic, immediate change, while other stories witness to the the power of God’s “still small voice” guiding us gently through change over time measured by years. What is your testimony?
About ten years ago I first heard people stating their belief that the Jewish Holocaust... the mass executions of Jews and Jewish supporters in German prison camps, never happened. Today I increasingly hear that assertion. And the reason we hear it more and more each day, is because there are less and less witnesses around, offering their testimony.
Testimonies offer witness to the truth. When testimonies are silenced, truth is defined by those in power.
Your testimony of a life transformed by faith in Jesus, coupled with that of others, defines a truth about eternity that others must consider for their lives.

A second tool you have for communicating is:
2. Your Life Lessons
This is one of those wonderful counter-cultural reminders that aging has it’s benefits, in this case, the older you are the more life lessons you have to offer.
Just the other day I was talking with a retired Pastor about issues on my mind. Within a couple minutes I heard three stories from his life that addressed my situation. Has that ever happened to you? Did you ever learn from the success or the failures of others?
While there are those people destined to repeat the failures of others because they fail to appreciate history, many others seek wisdom from those walking life ahead of them.

I wonder if that isn’t the underlying draw of the TV show “The Apprentice”, which pits the enthusiasm of young entrepreneurs with the insights and decision making skills of Donald Trump... the American icon of big business.

But you don’t have to be a Donald Trump to offer wisdom to others ... for you, like those men & women found in the Bible, have life experiences that can help others to see and avoid sins in life, to see and accept God’s invitation to walk in saving relationship with Him.
As you communicate with neighbors on the common ground of life issues, share your wisdom, and acknowledge God’s hand in helping you through those issues.

A third tool you have for communicating is
3. Your Godly Passions
This is were our differences make a big difference for God’s Kingdom. For while our unity in Christ offers a huge witness to God’s presence & work in this world, God loves to use our individual godly passions to bring witness in an endless variety of ways. And so we affirm the witness to Christ we see:
- in those passionate for juveniles in jail,
- in those offering meals to people buffeted by life’s trials.
- in those who walk to raise money to cure CF, MD or cancer.
- in those who strap on a guitar and play to glorify God.
- in those who love horses and dream of a therapeutic riding ministry,
- in those who hop on their “hog” and motorcycle for Jesus.

What are your godly passions? How might God use them to draw others to the One who lifts up the oppressed, and defends the defenseless. Your passions, especially in New England where the culture has an acute sensitivity to “causes”, ... your godly passions will offer a clear witness to Christ.

Last week as I shared a vision of “Community Covenant Church as a growing family of faith celebrating and sharing God’s love, healing and restoration through Jesus Christ”... I knew I wasn’t sharing anything new to you... because it is what we have all experienced. But put in those terms... the terms of healing & restoration, ..... that vision facilitates a common language... a communis, with neighbors here in Hopkinton, and your specific neighbors.
Just as our Lord came to earth in human form, so that he could have shared human experience with us, our initial communication with those outside the Church is all about what we have in common as human beings. And then, as we use the tools given to us by God, we communicate... we testifying ... to the gospel of God’s grace in terms of the healing and restoration we have found in God’s love.... the highlight of which is Jesus Christ.
There are some who try to dismiss “small talk” as a waste of time. But small talk is good, when small talk leads to big talk. Communication begins with what we have in common. So befriend neighbors and talk about life. Soon you will be talking about true LIFE, as God becomes a new common ground, and the Kingdom of God grows larger.
As we consider the 5 purposes of the church, remember that communicating the Good News of God’s salvation in Jesus Christ, is the one purpose we can only do on earth. Let us take this purpose seriously, for our time here is short, and there are many people who need Good News from those willing to find common ground and communicate God’s salvation to them.
AMEN

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (r).
Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.
Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.