I’m trying not to overstate it, but I think last Sunday’s message was one of the more important messages I’ve preached at First Pres. I tried to help us understand again why Christ instituted His Church. It wasn’t as if Jesus had to come up with a plan for His followers once he realized that He was going to ascend to Heaven. It wasn’t as if Jesus thought, “Well, now that I have started this new Christian Community, I guess I should figure out what its purpose will be.” Rather, Jesus came to live out the mission of God. That mission – a mission of redemption and reconciliation – continues now through the Holy Spirit empowered Church. The mission has a church; that mission is the reason the church exists. The Church’s part of that mission is to disciple-ize. We do that by being disciples and developing disciples who are living out the whole Gospel.
Why is this such a big deal? It’s a big deal because it reminds us why First Presbyterian Church of Fresno exists and what it is that we’re supposed to be doing. Reminders are important. They help us to stay on task; they help us to stay on mission; they help us to stay dependent on the Holy Spirit. This reminder helps us to guard against allowing our church to become solely a community of care. Caring for each other is important, but it’s not most important. Imagine if those first disciples, that first church, would have made caring for each other their primary aim; they probably would have remained a tiny, well-loved church. This reminder helps us to guard against simply hoping that others will come join us. Imagine if those first disciples, that first church, would have simply started holding worship services with their fingers crossed that non-believers would come to find out about Jesus; the book of Acts would have been much less exciting. But that first church didn’t do that. They took on Christ’s mission, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and began to turn the world upside down. They didn’t stay in a holy huddle hoping that others would find their way in; they split up and moved out to live and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus.
Has the call or commission for the Church changed? Was that Great Commission of Jesus simply for that first generation of disciples? No. Church researcher, Thom Rainer says, “Thriving churches have the Great Commission as the centerpiece of their vision”. If First Presbyterian Church of Fresno is going to thrive, we must be a church on mission. That’s what this sermon series, “First Church,” is all about. In the midst of this sermon series, I’ll be unveiling an important initiative for the summer that we’re praying and expecting will help us to take the next step in living out God’s mission.
Church, God is at work among us; He is shaping us for His mission. What a privilege it is to participate in His awesome work! I’m so grateful that He has called me to be part of this First Church.
P.S. Thought you might want to see again one of the quotes I used on Sunday. “We must change our ideas of what it means to develop a disciple, shifting the emphasis from studying Jesus and all things spiritual in an environment protected from the world, to following Jesus into the world to join him in his redemptive mission” (Reggie McNeal).