Lining Up with God's Purpose

As those of you at Faith know, we are in the middle of a series called "Extreme Makeover: Church Edition." I actually preached a similar series at a previous pastorate but as I've prepared for this series each week I've ended up rewriting each sermon. I've seen and begun to understand God's purpose and plan for His church differently than ever before. It's very exciting.
Yesterday, I preached about how we, the people who make up Christ's church, are the framework or the walls. 1 Peter describes it as the "living stones" who are built on the Cornerstone, Jesus Christ. As those who are built on the foundation of Jesus, it is important that we line up with the Cornerstone, that we follow the same "line" as the foundation follows. A building built at odds with the foundation will not stand very long, especially if it is expected to withstand adverse weather conditions.
Practically speaking, this means that we, the Church, must be in line with God's purpose for the church as revealed through His Son, Jesus. This is where things get a little "sticky." I believe that means the Church must constantly be aligning and realigning itself with those ideas and principles that best represent who Jesus was and what Jesus did. In other words, it's not about what I want or prefer. It's not about what I think the church ought to look like or be like. It's not even about what will make me or people like me happy. It's not the responsibility or obligation of the church to line up with me...or...(dare I say it)...even you. It's the calling of the church to line up with Christ!
So here's the question I'd like you to ponder and respond to: What does that look like? If the church begins to look more and more like Christ, what will change? What will be different than it is right now? Give it some thought and then join the discussion.

Counting the Wrong Numbers

This past week I was moved as I watched a clip from the movie "The Guardian" starring Kevin Costner. I used this clip in the sermon because I thought it illustrated so wonderfully the fact that we as "the church" spend an awful lot of time counting the wrong numbers. In the movie, Kevin Costner's character is asked several times about his "number." His number is supposed to be the number of people he has rescued from peril as a Coast Guard-ian. When he finally reveals his "number" he replies, "22." Surprised, the young recruit is taken aback as he assumed the number would have been much higher. "22 is number of people I lost," Costner says, "it's the only number I kept track of."

We have a tendency in the church to count the ones we rescue instead of the ones we lose. Probably because we can feel better about ourselves if we talk about the 20 we rescued instead of the hundreds we lost. In Costner's case they were lost only to the sea, they only lost their life. In our case, those we lose are lost to the enemy and they lose their eternity.

Perhaps we could all take a little time this week to ponder those who we walk past, those who are hurting and in need, those who need to be rescued. Perhaps instead of passing them by while feeling good about past accomplishments, we could focus on those that we see today, those that God causes by divine appointment to be where we are, when we are there so that we can reach out and help them.

Just something to think about.