I'm Thankful for the Church - part 3
I’m Thankful My Church Shares the Good News
We have been taking a look at how the church functions through the lens of giving thanks. We are thankful our church builds up one another through love. We are thankful our church worships together being a place that draws in people to the throne of God. These two aspects of the church function together to accomplish the primary function of the church—to tell the Good News of Jesus Christ.
It is through Jesus that we are transformed into a people that can love one another and build up one another. It is through Jesus that we are able to approach the throne of God in worship. And it is through Jesus that we can tell others about salvation, about transformation, and about eternal life.
Today, we will look at what the Good News is, and then we will look at some ways we can continue to tell others about Jesus.
Why is the Good News good?
The story of Jesus begins way back in the very beginning. In Genesis 1 we read about God creating the universe including our little piece called “Earth”. The Lord begins with light separating the days and nights. He surveys His work and calls it good. He then makes the sky and the earth, and says those are good as well. He produces birds for the air, fish for the sea, and animals for the earth, and He says those are good also. He makes the sun, moon, and stars, and decides those are good, too.
Everything is going well, and so He then does something a little different. He takes time to gather together dirt from the ground and form it into a man. He then breathes into the man giving the man breath and life. It is significant that God takes time to create humanity this way, because for the last 5 days the Lord spoke everything into existence. He says, “Let there be light” and there’s light. “Let there be a sun, moon, and stars,” and boom, there is the sun, the moon, and all the stars. He gets into the dirt to create man which shows us that humanity is going to have a very different, and very important, function in the world. This creature is not going to be like the rest of them.
And one more thing should be noted at this point. In all of God’s creating efforts, at no point in time does He say anything but “This is good!” And when He looks at everything He created, He looks at Creation as a whole and proclaims, “This is very good!”
Creation, including humanity, was created to be good.
Creation was not dysfunctional in its beginning. There was nothing wrong with the world, or its humans, in the beginning. And yet, we know from basic human experience that this world is not very good at times. Humans are notorious for their ability to ruin good things. So, what went wrong?
In the third chapter, we read how the humans were led astray by the enemy. The serpent led the humans to rebel against their Creator, and the repercussions extend far beyond a simple mistake. Romans 8 says:
For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
Romans 8:19-22
Creation itself has been corrupted by humanity’s sin. That is why the Earth is such an inhospitable for humans. And that is why humans are so inhospitable to each other. Sin corrupts our relationships with each other, with our world, and most importantly, our relationship with our Creator. The One person who can help solve our problems, we cannot hear from because sin corrupts our ability to hear God speak to us.
But I said the Good News is good. So, where is the good part? His name is Jesus.
The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
1 John 3:8
Jesus entered this corrupted, sinful world and brought freedom to the captives, healing for the dying, and liberty for the oppressed. We are captive to the devil’s schemes, but we can be set free by following Christ. We are dying in sin, already condemned, but we are made alive through Christ. We were oppressed by the guilt, shame, and defeat of sin’s effect on us, but we can have liberty because Christ makes us free. That is the Good News.
Everything that was lost and destroyed by sin can be found and restored through Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the Good News. This is the gospel that has been passed down for the last 2,000 years and the gospel that we continue to pass down. Paul wrote it this way:
Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain.
1 Corinthians 15:1-10
God worked throughout the history of humanity to bring about the Messiah. Christ came and died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures—meaning all the prophecies of the Old Testament are fulfilled in Christ. God spoke to humanity through the prophets of old letting us know that we would not stay in our sin forever. There would be a person who would free His people from the schemes and oppression of the devil and sin. Jesus is one who was promised to come, and He did.
Now, it is just as Paul wrote to the Romans.
For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Romans 10:13
We have a choice. We can remain in our sin, remaining in a perpetual self-destructive state that ultimately leads to death and condemnation, or, we can turn to Jesus. We can be set free.
That is Good News.
Making the Good News Known
The very next verse in Romans leads us to why the local church exists.
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Romans 10:14-17
People cannot respond to the Good News if they don’t hear the Good News. And they cannot hear about Jesus if no one tells them. And no one can tell them, if no one is sent. We are a gathering of Christians who meet regularly to worship, to build up one another, and to train up missionaries that we send out.
The local church exists to draw people to the throne of God and then send them out to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Last week we took a look at Isaiah 6, and we saw how even Isaiah, the priest and prophet of God, trembled at the throne of God. He knew he was a sinner, and he lived among sinners. But when he saw God on the throne in the Temple, God did not condemn Isaiah. Instead, he took a burning coal from the altar, the place where sacrifice for sin was made, and cleaned Isaiah. Take a look at what happens immediately afterward.
And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”
Isaiah 6:8
Immediately after Isaiah is cleansed of his sin, the Lord asks who will go and preach to the people of Israel. Isaiah steps up to the plate, and says, “Send me!” We are not drawn to God and cleansed of sin just for our own benefit. The Lord continues to use His people to draw others toward saving knowledge of Jesus. If we only come to service to sit and soak, then we miss the point of our salvation.
So, where do we start?
Jesus gives us a pattern that we can follow in the Book of Acts. Turn with me to Acts 1.
So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
Acts 1:6-11
The pattern we are to follow is found in verse 8, but before we take a look at the pattern, notice that what we do and how we do it is within the context of the disciples’ question. The disciples are asking if Jesus is going to restore Israel. Is Jesus going to complete the task of the Messiah? Jesus tells them it is not for them to know the times or seasons the Father has fixed. In other words, it is not up for the disciples to know the future. They are to concern themselves with the present.
Every once in awhile someone will ask me if I think we are living in the End Times. The truth is, I have no idea, and nor does anyone else. It is not up for us to know. We are no more privileged than the apostles, so I don’t think the answer would be any different for us today. Perhaps we are, or perhaps the End is still generations away. Regardless, our task is to not decipher the times and seasons that we do not have authority to know. Our task is the same the apostles began 2,000 years ago.
We are to be Jesus’ witness in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. We will know when it’s time for Jesus to return because the angel told us what to look for. Jesus will return through the clouds just like He ascended.
So, what does this pattern mean for us who do not live in Israel?
First, we begin in Jerusalem. We start in our own backyard. Jerusalem for us is Chilhowee, MO. As a church, we should ask ourselves, “How well are we reaching those next door to us?” We certainly have programs and ministries, but could we do more? Are there church members who are not engaged in active evangelism? If so, why not? Perhaps we need more training. Perhaps we just need to mark on the calendar designated days for visitations. To that end, I propose we make the 3rd Thursday of the month visitation night. I already have a long list of people that we can visit. We will start with those, and go from there.
Second, we move on to Judea. For us, that means Johnson County. How can we work with other churches to reach more people in Johnson County? We are a part of the West Central Baptist Association which is an association of about 66 churches in Johnson County and parts of surrounding counties. This association is one reason we began the 5th Sunday Sing-sation. We are meeting with other churches to worship and fellowship. We also can work with the BSU at UCM or Standing in the Gap, or other ministries that are seeking the lost. We already support these organizations and the association through our giving, but perhaps it is time for some of our members to support them with their time.
Third, Jesus told the apostles they would go into Samaria. Missiologists have interpreted this to either mean going into other states, or it could mean going to a people group outside your own. In either case, the point is the apostles would witness to a people they would not normally see. At this time, Jews and Samaritans had very little to do with each other. The apostles would have to break social norms in order to go and reach the Samaritans. Who would you have to break social norms to evangelize? Maybe it is a people in a neighboring town. Maybe it’s a different ethnic group. Or, maybe it is going to another state or city. Regardless, the point is that as we engage in missions, there is going to come a time when God calls us to witness to someone that is outside our comfort zone. Go anyway.
In our church, we are associated with the Southern Baptist Convention which has two major missionary agencies, the North American Mission Board and the International Mission Board. NAMB is always in need of missionaries and church planters. They also have several programs for Christians who want to take part in mission trips. I believe it is past time for Chilhowee Baptist Church to take part in one of these missions efforts. I don’t know where we should go, nor do I have a plan to get there. But I do know that if we do not begin in prayer, it doesn’t really matter. Begin praying for God to show us where we should go, and pray He opens the door for us to go.
Last, Jesus told the apostles to go to the ends of the earth. Christians are called to find those who have not yet heard and tell them about Jesus. The International Mission Board is the SBC’s organization that is actively engaged in this effort. The IMB have identified 3,150 people groups who are unreached and unengaged, meaning that not only are they primarily nonbelievers, but they have no one that is actively telling them about Jesus.
Think about this for a moment. As of 2020, the SBC had 47,530 churches in the US. There are only 3,150 people groups left to reach with the Gospel. If every church sent 1 missionary, we would have 15 missionaries for each people group.
Who is our 1? Who among Chilhowee Baptist is called to go to one of these unreached people and tell them about Jesus? I know God is calling us to engage this world, to the very ends of the earth, with the Good News of Jesus. And I don’t mean a collective “us” as in the Church, I mean Chilhowee Baptist Church of Chilhowee, MO. But we will never reach the ends of the earth if we don’t start with our backyard.