Pt2, Church Membership Matters: Responsibility Matters

June 10, 2018                          NOTES NOT EDITED
Pt2, Church Membership Matters, Responsibility Matters

Mark 6:30-34

Sermon-in-a-Sentence: Every church member must share equally in the responsibilities of the Kingdom of God.

Responsibility is a significant core issue in the Bible.  There is no verse that says, “Thou shalt be responsible.”  Preaching on responsibility is a little like explaining the taste of chocolate or the concept of softness.  The key to responsibility is in the word itself:  response.  Responsibility is the Christian’s response to God’s act of grace, or salvation, beginning with God’s act of creation.  In a broader sense, responsibility is a creature’s logical response to his or her Creator.  The fact that God created us establishes a “duty” that we have to Him as Our Creator.  He is the Sovereign; we are the subjects.  We owe a “duty” to God, which is responsibility.

Responsibility is the condition that came into existence when God created us, and even more so, when He saved us.  By way of comparison one might consider, “wetness.”  Wetness is a condition created by rainfall.  One naturally, or logically, follows the other.  So it is with responsibility.

From the very first book of the Bible, man’s responsibility to God has been described, proscribed, and clarified by God.  For example, in Genesis 1 God we see man’s responsibility first proscribed by God,

“The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it” (1:15).  Then, God further clarified man’s responsibility in the following verses:  “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for no the day you eat from it you will certainly die” (1:16-17).

From the beginning of creation, man has had a responsibility, or duty, to God and His creation.  This responsibility also extends to our fellow man.  The very first question asked by a man in the Bible clarifies the matter of our responsibility for others.  After Cain kills his brother Abel in a fit of jealously, and God confronts Cain about the welfare of his brother, Cain answers:  “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Gen. 4:9).
Though Cain intended this to be a rhetorical question implying the answer, “No, I am not my brother’s keeper,” God swiftly and summarily punishes Cain for shirking his responsibility to love his brother.

Now, as we come down to the N.T., Jesus summarizes all of the Law of God—which is basis for mans’ responsibility to God—in two statements, “Love God.  Love your neighbor” (Mt. 22:37-39).  If you read carefully the Ten Commandments, you will see this same “two-fold responsibility” summarized on the “Two Tablets” Moses received from God on Mt. Sinai.  On page one, commandments 1-4, our responsibility to God is outlined.  On page two, commandments 5-10, our responsibility to others is outlined.

Like threads woven together to produce the tapestry of God’s plan for His creation, every verse in the Bible speaks to man’s responsibility in this plan.  The passage I’ve chosen to demonstrate that Responsibility Matters is Mark 6:30-44, especially v37.  Let’s read.

Make special note of verse 37:  “You give them something to eat.”  Every believer is responsible for the growth of his or her church.

A believer shares meets this responsibility in at least three ways: by PRAYING for the Church’s growth; by INVITING the unchurched to attend; and by warmly WELCOMING those that visit.

1.  By PRAYING for the growth of the Church

Notice what Jesus does right before the miracle happens (v41):

⁴¹ Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke the loaves.

The word “blessed” (ESV, “said a blessing”) translates a very significant word in the N.T.  Eulogēsen (eὐλόγησεν) is one of the few words in the N.T. that has little or no direct connection with Classical Greek usage.  It is a distinctively “religious” word in the Bible.  It refers to “seeking God’s favor.”  Saying a blessing is a form of prayer.   This is why I often use the quote:  “We can do great things after we pray, but we can do nothing until we pray.”
Prayer is not a “part” of the discipleship process, but is the very foundation.  No church will ever grow that is not “bathed in passionate, persevering prayer.”  Prayer and growth fit together like a hand and glove, like peanut butter and jelly, like Simon and Garfunkel.  You never have growth without prayer—at least not healthy growth.

This miracle of Feeding the 5000 appears in all four gospels.  It is extremely important.  A very important theme in the N.T. seems to be hiding in plain sight in this miracle.  Growth.  The crowds grew.  The needs of the crowd grew.  The Little Boy’s Lunch grew.  We often overlook the fact that everywhere Jesus went “large crowds” followed.  Jesus spent many moments with just his twelve disciples and few friends.  He spent many moments completely alone with His Father.  He spent a massive amount of time “building large crowds.”

Here’s my point:  a church’s growth matters to God.  A healthy church continues to grow, just like a healthy child.   Let us go back to a verse from last week to remind us of this fact.  Acts 2:41 says,

⁴¹ So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about 3,000 people were added to them.  Acts 4:4 also emphasizes numerical growth, ⁴ But many of those who heard the message believed, and the number of the men came to about 5,000.

Every believer is responsible to help the church grow numerically.

Healthy growth is built on prayer.  It does not come from the clever engineering of attractive children’s programs or elaborate worship entertainment.  Healthy growth does not come from well-organized social programs targeting the felt needs of a community.  Children’s programs, passionate, well-purposed worship, and social outreach are part of a healthy church, but not the foundation.  The foundation of healthy church growth is “prayer.” 

Over the years I read many other thought-provoking, soul-stimulating, faith-challenging quotes on prayer.   John Wesley said,  “God does nothing but by prayer, and everything with it.”  Oswald Chambers declared, “Prayer does not fit us for the greater work; prayer is the greater work.  Martin Luther also pointed out, “Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance, but laying hold of His willingness.”  What is the most important lesson we need to learn in regard to prayer?  John Laidlaw summed it up:  “The main lesson about prayer is just this: Do it! Do it! DO IT! “
So many churches falter, so many lost souls continue to wander, so many spiritually starving people continue to go hungry because “churches don’t pray!”  Without the Lord’s prayer to God in Heaven, the five loaves would have remained two loaves; the two fish would have remained two fish; and the crowd would have remained hungry.

This is the pattern throughout the Bible:  prayer proceeds great miracles.  Let this be our motto:   “We can do great things after we have prayed, but we can do nothing UNTIL we pray.”

2.  By Inviting Others to Church

The miracle feeding of 15,000 or more people took place because one of the disciples “invited a little boy to come see Jesus.”  The three synoptic gospels do not tell us where the “loaves and fishes” came from, but John gives us that detail (Jn 6:8-9):

⁸ One of His disciples, Andrew,  Simon  Peter’s  brother, said to Him, ⁹ “There’s a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish—but what are they for so many?”

Over the years, I’ve tried dozens of “Evangelistic Strategies.”  My earliest foray into evangelism on the streets came with Evangelism Explosion, developed by D. James Kennedy, a real champion for Christ.  This evangelism approach begins with the question, “If you were to die today and stand before God, and He asked you, ‘Why should I let you into heaven?”, what would your answer be?”  That was the spark that ignited an evangelistic encounter.

One of my favorite evangelism strategies, or tools, came from Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ.  It was a booklet titled, “The Four Spiritual Laws.”  A person begins an evangelistic encounter asking, “have you heard about the Four Spiritual Laws.”  Law One states, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.”

Now, my “go to, on-the-spot” evangelism strategy is are the “ABC’s of Life.”  Years ago, while doing the “evangelism presentation” for Vacation Bible School, I realized how simple it was to present the gospel to children in a way even the youngest could grasp:  the ABC’s.  Any child out of Kindergarten was well acquainted with the ABC’s.  A-Admit that you are a sinner.  B-Believe that Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for your sin that you could never pay.  C-Commit your life to Jesus as the “Boss, CEO, or Leader” of your life by turning away from your sinful ways and turning toward Jesus.”  Spiritual Life is as simple as A,B,C.  At present, our church provides “Got Questions-We Have Answers” cards to guide searchers to an evangelistic website called, truelife.org.

There are many, many good tools for helping a person share their faith and draw people to Jesus.  For whatever reason, most people just don’t do it.  I want to give you the “simplest” method of evangelism there could possibly be:  “invite people to church!”  Believe or not, this is one of the earliest “evangelistic” strategies in the N.T.  It could be called, “The Andrew Invitation Strategy (AIS).”  Notice John points out that it was Andrew who invited the little boy to “come, meet Jesus.”  The disciple, Andrew, is showcased three times in the N.T. and each time he is inviting someone to “come and see” Jesus, just as he did this little boy. Anyone and everyone has the skill to invite people to attend church.

The story is told about a preacher and a barber walking through the slums of a large city.  The barber complained, “If God was as kind as you Christians say He is, He wouldn’t permit all this poverty, disease and squalor.  He wouldn’t allow these poor street people to get addicted and become so pitiful.”  The preacher was silent as they continued to walk.  They came upon a man whose scraggly hair was down to his shoulders.  He had obviously not had a shave for at least a few weeks as indicated by the half-inch stubble on his face.  The preacher said calmly, “You must not be a very good barber or you wouldn’t permit a man to continue living like this without a decent haircut and a shave.”  The barber replied indignantly, “Well, don’t blame me for that man’s condition.  He has never come to my shop.  If he had, I could’ve fixed him up and made him look respectable.”
That’s really the point in regard to our responsibility to invite people to church.  Why do we complain about the sin on our streets if we are not at least willing to invite people to come sit in our church? 

Maybe you don’t feel qualified to share the “Four Spiritual Laws” or the ”ABC’s of Life,” or some other evangelism method.  But surely, you have enough skill to invite someone to attend your church!  Every member shares the responsibility of inviting people to church.

We share the responsibility for the growth of our church by praying for growth, by inviting people to church, and

3.  By Warmly WELCOMING Those Who Attend

Friendliness and hospitality are great tools for evangelism.  In fact, one of my professors used to say, “The front door of your home is the side door of the church.”  What he wanted us to understand is that one of the most powerful evangelistic methods is “friendship.”  We not only need to be inviting others, we also need to be “inviting” to others when they attend.

The Bible has a great deal to say about “hospitality and friendship.”  In fact, “hospitality” is listed in the same passage as other gifts of the spirit in Romans 12:

¹³ Share with the saints in their needs; pursue hospitality.

Hospitality is not in the more formally recognized list ofgifts in verses 6-8.  It is in the next list that follows  which outlines a “list of ethical behavior” in verses 9-19.  Hospitality is listed with “love, showing honor, working diligently, and service.”  Hospitality is mentioned along with, “hope, patience, prayer, and joy.”  Hospitality is a major aspect of a Christian’s responsibility.  Being “hospitable, or friendly” is the responsibility of every church member.

The word translated, hospitality, is an interesting one. Philoxenos (fil-ox-en-os, φιλόξενος) literally means, “lover of strangers, or friend of strangers.” “Philos” is the root for love.  “Xenos” is the Greek word for “stranger.”  The opposite of a philoxenos is a xenophobe.  A xenophobe is someone who resists, or even reacts violently against, people who are not “of their own kind,” or who are strangers.  You often hear the word, xenophobe, used falsely against people in the modern political climate that oppose illegal immigration.  The media often calls President Trump a xenophobe—among many other derogatory terms.

How hard is it to simply be friendly to people who visit our church? First impressions are powerful.  How visitors perceive our church as a whole is largely based on the first person they come in contact with. 

A couple years ago, an old hobo was really down on his luck.  He knocked on the door of a local tavern named, “George and the Dragon.”  George and the Dragon was a popular pub, in those parts. A woman answered the door and the disheveled little  man meekly asked, “Could I have a bite to eat?”  At that the woman let out a plethera of punctuated profanities as stinging as the venom of a viper.  She screamed, shrieked, screeched, and squawked like a horrible creature from a dark, haunted forest.  Then, she slammed the door of George and the Dragon’s Tavern in the face of the hobo with such force it knocked him down.  The hobo picked himself up and again knocked on the door of George and the Dragon Tavern.  Once again, the horrible woman answered.  This time, the meek hobo asked, “Now, could I kindly speak with George?”

Appearances matter.  First impressions are of primary importance.  As Christians, we have an obligation to greet people with warmth and kindness.  I like how the Living Bible translates Romans 15:7:

⁷ So warmly welcome each other into the church, just as Christ has warmly welcomed you; then God will be glorified.

You do the church and Kingdom of God a great disservice if your countenance looks like you just had a tall, warm glass of vinegar!

By virtue of God creating us, and then again by God saving us, we have a responsibility as church members to work for the growth of our church.  We discharge this responsibility by praying for growth, by inviting others to church, and by warmly welcoming all those that attend our fellowship.  Being responsible simply means that we “do the right thing.”  We do what duty demands of us. 

We can learn much about responsibility from a man who backed into another car in a parking lot. With a few people standing around watching, the man got out of his car and went to the car he had damaged.  With others watching, he wrote and left a note on the windshield.  This is the responsible thing to do.  Except . . . here’s what the note actually said, “I smashed into your car.  The people that witnessed this accident are watching me write this note.  They probably think I am giving you my name and address so that you can contact me to pay for the damage.  I am sad to say, “the crowd is wrong.”

Well, that guy was not a very responsible citizen.  I sincerely hope that every one of us has a better understanding of our responsibility to pray for and promote the health and growth of the church.