God's Purpose for Our Church: Sunday, March 2, 2008

God’s Purpose for Our Church
Acts 1: 1 – 11.

I. Introduction.

This is a true story. You always know it going to be good when someone begins by telling you it is a true story…

In 1980, a young man who had recently graduated from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary travelled to Lufkin, Texas to preach in this church. The young man came to Lufkin to share his vision for evangelism and starting a new kind of church in Southern California. Some of our long-term members remember this young seminary graduate and the time he preached in First Baptist Church. His name is Rick Warren. His dream turned into one of the largest churches in the United States.

On any given weekend Rick Warren’s church—Saddleback Community Church in Mission Viejo, California—holds six worship services with a total attendance of 26,000 worshippers. And it all started right here in Lufkin’s First Baptist Church.

After Rick Warren preached in our church, our deacons held a meeting and made a recommendation to the church that we support him financially in his dream to plant a church in California. The church agreed, and we supported Rick Warren with $250 per month from 1981 – 1984.

Most of you know the name Rick Warren through his book, The Purpose-Driven Life. Churches all over the world, including Lufkin’s First Baptist, have studied this book and undertaken an event known as Forty Days of Purpose. Several years ago, we went through Forty Days of Purpose. We divided our members into small groups to read and discuss God’s purposes for our individual lives as well as God’s purposes for our church.

There were so many people who purchased the book The Purpose-Driven Life, that Rick Warren is now recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the third wealthiest author in America. I wasn’t sure how to feel about this until I learned what Rick Warren has done with his finances. The first thing he did was to refuse any salary from his church in California. Then he added up the total amount of salary his church has paid him over his 25 year career and paid it back to the church. So, now he can say that he has never benefitted financially from serving as a pastor. Then he identified five world-wide projects and sponsors them with his book earnings.

Last year, I got this crazy idea to invite Rick Warren to come to our church and preach. Jeannie Gilcrease helped me research Rick’s email address and phone number. And I started trying to call him. I discovered in the process that he has a secretary who answers his phone and responds to his email. I have never been a person to give up. I am tenacious! I am a bulldog! I do not give up. I called his secretary and emailed her so many times, that she finally gave me her cell phone number so I could call her direct.

When I called her on her cell phone, I thanked her for helping me. I said, “I realize that you get calls like this from hundreds of pastors just like me every single day.” She said, “I do get a lot of requests, but I’ve never had anyone as persistent as you are!”

She tried to help me, but we could not get our church calendar and Rick’s speaking calendar to line up. So, now I am working to schedule him sometime for 2008.

Then, I had an opportunity to meet Rick Warren face-to-face. He was the keynote speaker for the Baptist General Convention of Texas back in October. Right before Rick was supposed to speak, I walked backstage and found him. He was surrounded by a group of pastors just like me. They were engaged in conversation but stopped when I walked into the room. They gave me a look that communicated, “You are not supposed to be here.”

When the conversation stopped, I stuck out my hand and said, “Rick, my name is Andy Pittman. I am the pastor of First Baptist Church in Lufkin.”

Rick shook my hand and said, “Andy! I just finished a press conference and told them that I got my start because First Baptist Lufkin believed in me and my calling to California. Your church was the first church to believe in me and to support me financially. Tell me how things are going in Lufkin.”

We sat down on a sofa as I started telling him about all the wonderful things taking place in this church. I told him about people joining our church and the excitement we feel every single week. I told him about the five mission churches we are sponsoring right now—a cowboy church, an Hispanic church and a black church in Lufkin as well as two international churches, one in Canada and one about to begin in Ethiopia. He took out a notebook and started writing down notes on what I was saying.

Then, Rick leaned back on the sofa and said, “I want to come to Lufkin to preach.” I said, “It’s interesting that you say that. I have been trying to schedule a date through your secretary for the past few weeks.” He asked for my business card and promised to come back to Lufkin.
Now, I want you to keep in mind that we are still surrounded by other Texas pastors. They are watching us and listening to our conversation.

Then, Rick added something. He said, “I am going to come to Lufkin to preach and give your church a plaque. I need to tell ya’ll how much you have meant to me.”

I replied, “Rick, I want you to come to Lufkin, and I want you to preach. But, I don’t want you to give us a plaque. I have a better idea. Remember when you wrote that book and made all that money?” He said, “Yes.” I said, “And remember when you added up the salary your church paid you over 25 years?” He said, “Yes.” I said, “Instead of bringing us a plaque, why don’t you bring us a check?”

The room erupted. Rick was bent over laughing. He loved it. He even offered to write a check on the spot to cover the first installment. Of course, I told him I was joking and did not want anything from him.

I tell that story to introduce two ideas. First, I want you to know the story of Lufkin’s First Baptist Church. This year, 2008, is the 125th anniversary of our church. A lot of changes have taken place in our church over 125 years. But, hopefully one thing has remained unchanged—our purpose. God placed each man, woman, teenager and child in this church for a purpose. What do you think that purpose might be?

I also told that story to introduce Rick Warren. His first book was The Purpose-Driven Church. In this book, he addressed the contemporary fascination with church growth. Everyone says they want their church to grow. But what are you doing to grow this church? If you agree that God has brought us together in this church, how are we going to work to grow this church?

Rick Warren says there are three ways for our church to grow:
1. Birth. As long as our members keep having babies, our church will grow.

2. Transfer. Sometimes people transfer their membership from one church to another. Often these people have moved to Lufkin for new jobs, and they come to our church from a church in another town. At other times, people will move from one church in Lufkin to another church. Aubrey calls this “aquarium growth.” It means taking fish out of one aquarium and placing them in our aquarium. I prefer to call this “sheep stealing.” Our church will grow if we can steal sheep from other churches. Or, perhaps we don’t have to steal sheep if another church in town starts having conflict. Sheep will start to come here to get away from the conflict.

3. Evangelism. Would you believe, this is the only kind of church growth found in the New Testament? The New Testament does not tell us to grow our church through either birth or transfer. The New Testament tells us our purpose is to evangelize the lost.


Read Acts 1: 1 – 11.

These were Jesus’ last words to his disciples as he ascended into heaven. After the resurrection, Jesus spent forty days with his disciples. They had one final gathering together on the top of the Mount of Olives. In this final meeting, Jesus did two final things. First, he gave them their last instructions. Second, he promised them the Holy Spirit.


II. The Disciples’ Misunderstanding.

It’s interesting to me that Jesus ended his ministry on earth just as he began it. He talked about baptism and taught them about the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God was the dominant theme throughout Jesus’ teaching ministry. You have heard me say that we can debate all day long about what exactly the Kingdom of God is. On one hand, we know that the Kingdom of God is a future reality. It is something Jesus taught us to pray for in the Model Prayer—Let your kingdom come (to earth). In this sense, we will never fully experience God’s Kingdom until we are with him in heaven.

On the other hand, in Jesus’ first sermon he said, “Repent! For the Kingdom of God is here.” In this sense, Jesus taught his disciples that we can actually begin to experience the Kingdom of God while we are still living on this earth. The Kingdom of God is the realm in which God is the sovereign King.

This world is the realm of the devil. Satan subdues this earth through sin and sickness and natural disasters and death. Jesus broke into Satan’s realm and began spreading the reign of God. When people placed their faith in Jesus as Lord, they stepped out of Satan’s kingdom and entered into God’s Kingdom. Through the ministry and teaching of Jesus, the Kingdom of God began to grow and expand. This was Jesus’ work on earth. This is the work Jesus is now handing over to his disciples. So, Jesus spent his last forty days reminding his followers of their responsibility to expand the Kingdom.

Jesus taught this to his disciples for the entire three year period of his ministry with them. Surely they understood after three years? Surely they didn’t need to be reminded what the Kingdom of God is? But look at the question the disciples asked Jesus in Acts 1: 6, “Lord, are you at this time going to RESTORE the kingdom to Israel?”

The disciples still did not understand their purpose! Jesus did not come to RESTORE anything! Jesus came to create something completely new—the Kingdom of God. To restore something means to return it to its original state. To renovate something means to take what you have and make it better. Jesus came neither restoring nor renovating. He started over. He created something new. He did not restore Israel as God’s people. Jesus created a new people, the church.


III. Jesus’ Final Instructions.

In my interpretation, Jesus established his disciples as God’s people on earth. We see this at work in the very next passage of Scripture. In the book of Genesis, Jacob’s name was changed to Israel. Jacob / Israel had 12 sons. These 12 sons became the ancestors of the 12 tribes of Israel. From Genesis through the end of the Old Testament, God’s people were represented by the number 12. When Jesus selected his followers, Jesus chose 12 disciples. At the end of Jesus’ life on earth, Judas—one of the 12 disciples—hanged himself. Therefore, there were only 11 disciples remaining. Eleven is a good number. It’s more than ten, but less than twelve. It’s a good number, but it does not symbolize anything. This is why Judas had to be replaced. There had to be 12 disciples in order to symbolize the new people of God Jesus came to create.

Acts 1: 8, contain the final instructions Jesus gave God’s chosen people—the church. One word: Witness. Tell someone about Jesus.

Jesus created his new people so that we can tell others about Jesus. Jesus established the church so that we could continue his original work of breaking up Satan’s reign on the earth. Our job—our God-given purpose—is to grow and expand God’s Kingdom on earth. The only way to do this is by witnessing—telling others about Jesus.

Notice what Jesus did NOT say. Jesus did not say, “Break into Satan’s reign on this earth by having a lot of babies.” Jesus did not say, “Break into Satan’s reign on this earth by transferring people out of the church across town.” NO! Jesus said, “The only way to stop the advance of Satan’s kingdom is to witness to others about Jesus.”


IV. The Holy Spirit.

God’s purpose for our church can be summed up in one brief statement. God has called us to stop the reign of Satan on earth. The only way to stop the advance of Satan’s kingdom is to witness to people who do not know Jesus. Our purpose is evangelism. If we are not doing the work of evangelism, we are not fulfilling our God-given purpose.

Jesus gave us instructions to do the work of evangelism. But Jesus also gave us the power to do the work. The bad news is that we cannot fulfill our God-given purpose of evangelizing the world on our own. The good news is that Jesus gave us the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish this.


V. Conclusion.

So, how can we tap into the power of the Holy Spirit to do the work of evangelism? Simple! We have to pray!

On January 28, our church staff met in an all day planning retreat. It is ironic that on the same day, the BGCT evangelism director described the four ways to do evangelism in today’s world. He said evangelism should involve (1) Prayer for lost men and women; (2) Intentional efforts to win the lost; (3) Building Relationships with non-Christians; and (4) Specific Events which gather non-Christians to hear the Gospel.

I say this is ironic, because on the same day, our staff developed a plan to use small groups to reach non-Christian people. We did not read about these four elements of evangelism until after our staff retreat concluded. But we our plan incorporates all four elements.

Beginning on Sunday, March 30, I want to see 100 people from our church meeting in small groups. These small groups will focus on evangelism and will ask each person to identify three people you know, whom you believe are not Christians. We will spend five or six weeks praying for these people. Then, we will host an event at the church with food and information about our church.

I want our church members to approach the people you have been praying for and invite them to the event. Tell them, “I have been praying for you for the past five weeks. I want to invite you to come to my church on Saturday night. You will learn more about what my church does, and my pastor is going to tell you what we believe.”