22.08.10 - Re-setting Our Compass

If you are on a journey using a compass, every so often you need to re-set your compass. That simply means get a new bearing so that you know which direction to head. You need a map and a compass. You make sure your map is facing north, using the compass. You align the dial of your compass with the compass needle. You position the compass over your current position and turn the base until the arrow points to your destination and where the dial is intersected by the arrow on the base gives you the bearing.

If you then travel some distance and get off course, you can repeat the process and get a new bearing. To set your compass you need four things. You need a compass, and a map, but you also need to know where you are and where you want to go.

Over the last little while we have been re-setting our compass. The elders and staff have been involved. We have had congregational meetings and there has been a small group working specifically on our vision. Our vision is where we want to go. We are re-asking ourselves, “Where are we? Where do we want to go?” so that we can re-set the compass and head in the right direction.

A while ago we put a draft mission triangle in the newsletter and asked for comments. We have updated that a bit. It now looks like this. It picks up three key things Jesus said. When He was asked by a Pharisee trying to trap Him, which was the greatest commandment in the law. Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind. The second greatest, He said, is to love our neighbours as ourselves. Those two greatest commandments are on two sides of the triangle. At the end of His life, Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations.” That is the Great Commission and is on the bottom side of the triangle.

We often talk too about the five purposes of the church. They are easily attached to the triangle. Worship is our expression of our love for God. Loving people is expressed through fellowship and through serving, meeting needs. Making disciples involves evangelism and bringing people to maturity.

You will be given a copy of that at the end of the service as well as a draft list of values that we would love your comments on. We have still to work on our vision and some goals, so we are only part-way through the process but it is all part of re-setting the compass.

I’d like to consider a biblical example. The early church wasn’t perfect but it still does give us a very good idea of what a church should be like. In terms of knowing where we are heading; what our destination is, there is really no alternative than to be guided by what we see in scripture.

In the book of Acts we see the life of the very early church. Just last month we looked at the story of the lame man healed at the Temple (Acts 3,4). I want to look at it again. I won’t read it all. I’ll summarise it. You might like to have your Bibles open at Acts 3, 4. One day Peter and John went up to the Temple at the time of prayer; three o’clock in the afternoon. At the temple gate they saw a lame man begging. He asked Peter and John for money. Peter looked straight at him and said, “I don’t have any silver or gold but what I do have, I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk!” And of course, he did. Walking and leaping and praising God, he went into the temple with them. When the people saw him, and recognised who he was, they were filled with wonder and amazement.

Now I just want you to see how this illustrates our triangle. Peter and John were going up to pray in the Temple. It started with worship, but it didn’t end there. It was “Peter and John” so they were having fellowship. They were doing this together. And it was three o’clock in the afternoon – afternoon tea time – a very good time for fellowship.

Then they saw a person in need so they healed him. Actually, they were very emphatic that they hadn’t healed him, but we will come to that. They served – They met a need – in this case, by the power of God.

But that is not the end of the story. Healing this man wasn’t the end. If we carry on in Acts 3 we see that the people in the Temple came running over to see what was happening. When Peter realised this, he started preaching. He said, “Why are you staring at us? We didn’t heal this man. The God of our fathers has glorified His servant Jesus.”

That probably wasn’t the safe thing to say. Jesus wasn’t very popular with the leaders and it was only a short time since He had been killed. But Peter was very direct. He accused them of killing this Jesus whom God had glorified. “You handed Him over... You disowned Him... You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released! You killed the author of life, but God raised Him from the dead. It was that Jesus whom you killed who healed this man completely as you see. Not us. Jesus.”

He then became a little more conciliatory. “You acted in ignorance. God had said through the prophets that the Messiah would suffer.” Then 3:19: “Repent then, and turn to God, so that your sins might be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that He may send the Messiah, who was appointed for you – even Jesus.”

There was the evangelism. Repent and be forgiven. Notice how Peter said that Jesus had been appointed for them. Jesus had been sent for them. God had given a Saviour for them. The people who killed Him would be saved by Him. That is God’s grace, isn’t it?

If we move into chapter 4 we see that the religious leaders arrived, were pretty angry, arrested Peter and John and threw them into prison. But look at v.4: But many who heard the message believed; so the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand. Their evangelism had been effective.

The next day the leaders questioned Peter and John. By what power or name had they done this thing? Again, Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, was forthright: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed... Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved.

The next verse (4:13) says, “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realised that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”

Peter and John were uneducated fishermen. How come they were so bold as to confront the leaders like this? The leaders concluded that these men were different because they had been with Jesus. Peter and John had a boldness and a maturity and power that came not through formal education but through being with Jesus. These men had been disciple.

The leaders decided they could do little but they did command Peter and John not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. Peter replied, “Should we obey you, or obey God? We cannot help speaking about what we have seen or heard.” They were now mature followers of Jesus who couldn’t help but witness to the things they had experienced, even though that might endanger their lives. They had died to themselves and that is perhaps the greatest sign of maturity.

Peter and John went back to the gathered Christians and said what had happened. The Christian community started praying. They recognised the conflict that was developing. The worldly rulers were rising up against Jesus whom God had anointed. That meant they might rise up against Jesus’ followers too, but these young Christians prayed, “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

Isn’t that great? “Persecution is breaking out. Lord, enable us to speak out boldly. Perform more miracles in the name of Jesus.” Even these new Christians were gaining real maturity. The next verse says, “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.”

In that story we see all of the five purposes. They were all part of the life of the early church. And there is a sequence. It was because they had come to love God that they loved each other and joined in fellowship and they loved others and served them. It was because of the miracle that they had the opportunity to preach and it was because they loved both God and people that they wanted to tell them about Jesus. Miracles are sometimes called “signs”. They point beyond themselves to Jesus, so the serving is often what opens up the opportunity for evangelism. And, of course, it doesn’t stop with conversion. Conversion is to be followed by growth to maturity. Peter and John had grown through being with Jesus. The new believers were already growing and keen to be involved in the serving and the evangelism.

You might think I was a little flippant about the fellowship; they were going to prayer together and it was afternoon tea time! But this story is bracketed by two summary descriptions of the life of the church where all five purposes are very clear but fellowship is particularly prominent. These two descriptions are at the end of Chapter 2 and at the end of Chapter 4. We have looked at them many times before because they are a snapshot of what God wants His church to be like. If you think that there wasn’t much evidence of fellowship in what I said, the evidence for fellowship in the early church is enormous. Fellowship is about togetherness, community, family, caring, sharing.

READ Acts 4:32-35

All of the believers were one in heart and mind. “All of the believers” must include even those who were converted in the temple that day the lame man was healed. They had been brought into a community who were united – one in heart and mind. A large part of what we read about in those verses is about sharing possessions and caring for the needy. It is about community and serving.

The other thing mentioned is that the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of Jesus with great power. I take that to mean that they continued to do what they had done in the temple and before the leaders – to say that the Jesus who had been crucified was God’s Messiah whom God had raised again and that there was forgiveness and salvation in this Jesus. In other words, that they continued to share the good news. So fellowship, serving, evangelism.

We don’t specifically see worship or maturity in those verses but let’s also read the ones that come immediately before the story of the lame man at the temple. Listen for all five purposes: worship, fellowship, serving, evangelism and growth to maturity.

READ Acts 2:42-47

Every so often, we need to review. We need to remember what it is all about. We need to get things in focus again. We need to re-set our compass so that we head in the right direction.

The life of the early church was characterised by those five purposes, in a wonderful and powerful way. They were a whole package and it is that package that we want to have in place. That is our hope – that we might be like them. Wouldn’t it be great if we could read those verses and think that they were a description of Calvin; that we too were devoted to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer; that we were seeing signs and wonders and that level of commitment to each other that meant that people were selling their possessions so as to give to those in need; that we met frequently (daily?) for worship and we met frequently in each other’s homes and enjoyed meals together praising God; and that the Lord was adding daily to our number those who were being saved?

This story of the lame man didn’t stop with the worship. It didn’t stop with the fellowship. It didn’t stop with the serving. It didn’t stop with the evangelism. It didn’t stop with maturity because the next generation began worshipping and fellowshipping and serving and evangelising and growing others.

Is that the direction we are taking? Let’s pause long enough to take stock and to remember what it is all about and to re-set our compass so that we are heading where God is calling us – as a church but also as individuals. Where is your compass pointing? Is it time to re-set that compass?