Refresh 2021

January 03, 2021

Christopher C. Freeman

Title: Refresh 2021 Text: Various FCF: We need to be reminded about our goals at CBC Prop: Because this is Christ’s church, we must look to Him for direction and purpose. Sermon Intro: [Slide 1] Turn in your bible to Acts chapter 2. I am very anxious to finish up I Timothy and I realize that that last two Sundays we haven’t had a real exegesis or expository dive into a text of scripture. But today I could not pass up the chance for us to refocus and refresh ourselves on the vision, mission, and purpose of Columbus Baptist Church. For some of you, you may have never heard us speak of this. Others may remember it from their membership class. Still others may be very familiar. But regardless of where you are – it is good for us to occasionally remind ourselves where we are going so we can assess how we are doing. And what better time to have such a conversation, than the first Sunday of the year. Everyone is making resolutions… why not remind ourselves who we are, why we are here, and what we are to be doing? In my first year here, and even before I officially became the pastor, the church leadership were discussing who CBC was. Just a bit of history. At the time two pastors had resigned. One a long-time pastor here and the other his associate. They were leading the church down a path that certainly was with good motives but was really not an appropriate focus of the church. So in the wake of all of that – the church leaders sat down and began wondering… why are we here? Who are we? What is important? What isn’t’? That conversation affected what kind of men they were looking for in a pastor. And after I became your pastor that conversation continued. Through the Spirit’s direction we were pressed to find answers to these questions. What is the vision of CBC? What is the mission of CBC? And what is the purpose of CBC? And in that first year, gathered around a conference table at the Holiday Inn Express in Port Huron, we sought the Lord. And the Lord showed up. Truly He had been showing us His answers even before that day in that conference room. But that day we put things down on paper. Through the next 4 years we continued to hone and refine these things, but for the most part, they are the same now as they were then. Transition: So let’s remind ourselves. I.) What is the Vision of CBC? a. [Slide 2] What is a vision? i. Vision answers the question, “What is the ultimate goal?” ii. Who are we? What is our identity? b. Is a Vision biblical? i. God spends much of the New Testament painting the vision for the church. ii. Paul in I Timothy described the church as the Pillar and Bedrock of the truth. iii. They are the bride of Christ. iv. They are a group of people devoted to Christ and His Kingdom. v. They are devoted to one another – being a community. vi. They are devoted to God – in that they are being made to be Christ-Like. vii. And they are to go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them and teaching them to obey all the things Christ has commanded. viii. In this way the gates of hell shall not prevail against them. They are armed with the gospel, the life-changing truth of grace, that can change men, one soul at a time. c. [Slide 3] What is CBC’s vision? What is our ultimate goal? “To be a devoted community of Christ-Like disciple makers. d. We see this on display in Acts 2:42-47 i. What do we see here? ii. We see a church devoted to doctrine, fellowship, communion and prayer. iii. They lived in awe and wonder as the Lord demonstrated His power among and through them. iv. They were devoted to love, unity, and support of one another. v. They were devoted to humility and gratitude. vi. And what did God do? He added to their numbers daily. vii. It is important to note that we do not see this necessarily as prescriptive, but rather, descriptive. 1. We would not say that unless we meet in houses daily, we are failing. 2. We would not say that we must pool our resources together and redistribute it to one another, or we are failing. 3. We would not say that we must be exactly like this 1st century church in the details. 4. But we would say that when it comes to faith and practice – we ought to be exactly like them. 5. Their devotions ought to be our devotions. a. Doctrine b. Fellowship c. Communion d. Prayer e. Worship f. Love g. Unity h. Financial Support i. Humility j. Gratitude 6. These are all devotions of God’s church. And each of them are listed as necessary components of His church throughout the New Testament. 7. Indeed, if a church lacks any one of these – it is failing the goal of the church. To be a devoted community of Christ-Like Disciple Makers. e. [Slide 4] How are we doing? i. If I can be so bold – I think that we are doing quite well in pursuing the vision of our church. ii. I believe that the devotions required of all of Christ’s church are devotions you would find here. iii. I don’t look at any of this list and find any glaring holes. Surely there are things we could improve – but nothing we are missing. iv. Our Fellowship took a hit this year – but of all of them, I think this one we see as extremely important coming out of 2020. v. Communion, and partaking of Christ together is central to some of the most recent things we’ve been learning and putting into practice. vi. Worship seems to be coming along nicely. I recently did a study on all the elements of worship listed in the bible. And we have all of them in almost every service we have together. vii. Love – There is no question we love one another. But not love like the world. Instead a love that teaches, edifies, rebukes, instructs, cares and comforts each other. This is the love we have for one another. viii. Unity – primarily in truth, but even in direction. We are all headed the same way. f. [Slide 5] How could we do better? i. Our Doctrine must always be refined. Indeed, from our “state of theology” quiz that we sent out earlier this year – it was clear that there are still some doctrines we wrestle with. ii. Prayer is a weak point I think. At least for me. I do not pray as I should. I hope and trust that you are lifting up your voice not just for physical needs or pains but for God’s Kingdom to come. iii. It is hard to imagine a church that doesn’t need to grow more humble. Certainly we should leave that on the “could do better” list. iv. Gratitude – My oh my we are often complainers are we not? Deepen our thanksgiving Lord! II.) What is the Mission of CBC? a. [Slide 6] What is a Mission? i. A Mission answers the question “How do we accomplish the vision?” ii. How do we reach our goal? What makes us who we are? b. Is having a Mission biblical? i. Missions typically change based on the current situation. ii. The church in Ephesus’ vision may have been the same as ours, but the mission of the 1st Century Ephesus church would be somewhat different than our mission today in 21st Century America. iii. The church in Acts 2 met in homes and at the synagogue daily and pooled their resources to take care of needs. But not all that is required of us. iv. So what about us, in our current place, time, and culture, how can we accomplish the vision to be a devoted community of Christ-Like Disciple Makers? c. [Slide 7] We have seen three aspects that differentiate us from other ministries in different situations. i. Expository Preaching – In some sense this is certainly not something that can be absent from any church. Unfortunately, it sets us apart from many other churches in our area and nation. We approach scriptures as God’s message to us – mostly to correct our view of the world to His view. It is His inspired Word that we must come to and be nourished by. It is not something to validate our own opinions. Instead, it is something that helps to form our worldview around God. ii. An Enduring Community – Even now we see the writing on the wall. 50-100 years ago, such a component for a mission in a church in America would not have been necessary. But for us, living in the time we do, it is only a matter of time before true persecution starts. Before the worship of Christ alone as King is torn down and we will be forced to choose between bowing to Christ or to some other false god. So part of our mission is to begin building our ministry to survive, even when it is illegal to worship. iii. Fathers and Family – as a related component of being an enduring community, we see it as absolutely essential that Fathers take their God-given role as Spiritual leaders of their home. Becoming pastors of their family. When this is true of every home – and when male leadership of every kind is strengthened – we will be able to withstand true persecution. As each family unit grows under the leadership of the fathers, grandfathers, or male leaders – so the body of Christ is strengthened. d. [Slide 8] How are we doing? i. Expositorily I believe my preaching is just that. Not saying that in a braggy way, but I think we do an ok job across the board in sifting and digging to find what God has said and what He has meant by what He has said. ii. Enduring Community – I believe this year we were pushed to see what a church truly is. That made it abundantly clear that the way we do church now – may not be tenable in the near future. We have been given all the more reason to push our ministry even further toward an enduring ministry. e. [Slide 9] How could we do better? i. My preaching could be better in regard to application. I think I don’t always go deep enough in applying the text to our current situation. If you feel the same, I strongly encourage you to attend Wednesday Night Bible Study. There we end up going deeper than the time on Sunday Allows. And I think we do a good job answering the tough questions of putting the rubber of the scripture down on the road of our lives. ii. There is still much to be done to further secure our church in the event of a sudden persecution. Some of this will come with converting to an Elder Led church. But overall we still have a ways to go before we are ready. iii. Finally, I think we could be doing a lot better encouraging fathers to be the pastors of their families. I confess, that I am not sure how to do that. I can teach father’s the scriptures, but without going home with you and showing you how to engage your children and spouses with spiritual leadership and direction, I am unsure how to do that. Perhaps Fathers, grandfathers, and male leaders in the family can meet the leadership and I halfway? III.) What is the Purpose of CBC? a. [Slide 10] What is Purpose? i. Purpose answers the question “Why must we complete our mission and vision?” ii. Why are we the way that we are? Why must we do the things we do? Why do we exist in this state? b. Is it biblical? i. Indeed God gives the purpose of all mankind, let alone His church. ii. Certainly the church would be part of that purpose. iii. So what is the purpose of all mankind? iv. To glorify God. Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. v. Isaiah 43:7 – Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made. c. [Slide 11] We exist to glorify God. How? i. To know Him – in the devotions from our vision, in the passions of our mission, through His word, doctrine, fellowship, prayer, love, unity and all else. We strive to know Him and to be like Him. ii. To make Him known – We declare His fame among the nations. We make much of His Glorious decrees. He is the exalted one and we the inheritors of a gift we could never earn. iii. In praise and devotion, in worship and witness – we glorify God. d. [Slide 12] How are we doing? i. I do think we have a genuine thirst to know God and to be like Him in this church ii. More so than many churches I’ve seen, this church desires to be what God wants them to be, and to know God. e. [Slide 13] How can we do better? i. I do feel that we could be doing a better job making Him known. But when I look for evidence of that, I’m not sure exactly how to quantify it. ii. I just have to look at my life. What am I doing to make Christ and His Kingdom known among the nations? I know I could be doing better. I’d wager you could too. iii. Since I have been your pastor there really haven’t been any professions of faith and only 1 baptism. As I mentioned in the fire-side-chat last week – much of this we have no control over. Perhaps God has us as seed casters and waterers… maybe we are tree pruners and fruit cultivators? And maybe the increase, we will never see. iv. Still – My prayer is that God would allow us to be part of His work of regeneration in the hearts of people in this area, and even in this church. v. The Lord knows that we have many young people in the church who have not made professions of faith. Perhaps they are our primary ministry for now? vi. But please be praying with me that we are being ambassadors. Making His Kingdom known in the earth. Conclusion: [Slide 14(end)] Overall, I think we are doing ok as a church – but we also have plenty of room for growth and improvement. May God stretch us this year. May He give us grace to be more like His Son. May God allow us to see people come to Christ! May God allow us to be humble and bold witnesses in our world.