Wangaratta Wesleyan Methodist Church Sunday 20 th September 2015 Strong Marriages and Strong Churches

Transcription

1 1 Wangaratta Wesleyan Methodist Church Sunday 20 th September 2015 Strong Marriages and Strong Churches Bible Passages: Ephesians 5:21-33, Matthew 16:13-20 Intro: Castles I saw in the UK Corfe Castle, Dorset in the south west Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh, Scotland Blair Castle, Southern Highlands, Scotland I was so impressed with these castles. What struck me was the energy that went into producing a fortress for the sake of protection. This morning I want to speak about two things that are or will be at some stage very dear to all of us: strong marriages and strong churches. It has been Marriage Week this past week and Alan delivered a wonderful message about the blessings of Christian marriage last Sunday and I want to share some more thoughts. Just like castles which need thick walls and suitable topography to be effective and strong 1. Strong marriages require Certain things also. Our passage from Ephesians 5 was used last week also but it is so foundational for marriage that I m using it again. Here we see that strong marriages require a. Love and respect For marriage to be strong it needs the husband and wife to inject into that relationship a unique quality. These qualities are similar but also uniquely different. Refer to passage. Note: Passage is preceded by this statement, Submit to one another. o Submission = giving up own rights, selflessness V 24: As the church submits to Christ, wives submit to husbands (respect in v.33) V.25: Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church Husband you get to die first! Complete selflessness. One of the strongest compelling biblical arguments for marriage as solely between a man and women is verse 31. Read and expand using Araldite as an example. Strong marriages also require b. A strong wall Just like our castle with its 2 metre thick walls marriage needs think walls. i. For the couple When two people marry the bible says they are to leave and cleave. They move from one safe place to another safe place. They are to build their own fortress o No one else has the right to enter

2 2 o They must protect the walls of the marriage from any intruder o You must see that your relationship is sacred to you two only Protect against thinking that there is someone else out there who could satisfy you better than your own spouse can: The grass is never greener on the other side! The fortress of your marriage cannot afford to have attacks from the outside and neither can it afford to have treason from the inside. Get rid of all fantasies and thoughts of past relationships and dwell only upon the person God has given you. There is only room for one other person in the castle of your marriage. We also need a strong wall around ii. (For) the institution We are witnessing marriage as an institution, created and blessed by God, under direct attack. We must do all we can to protect it, as it is the very foundation of our families, churches and our nation. Can I suggest that one way you can protect this institution is by having strong marriages yourself, and by promoting strong marriages. Do all you can to protect your marriage: Invest in it, time out together etc. Do all you can to encourage marriages around you If you are single looking to become married one day then set your sights for God s best. Youth group doing Search for Intimacy. If you are single and feel that marriage is not for you then support and encourage marriages around you. Strong marriages need a stable church to flourish in and a church is made stronger by the maturity and strength of the Christians who attend including strong marriages. Transition If we look around at the church scene in Australia you would have to admit that, generally speaking, is not very healthy. Institutional/traditional churches are declining rapidly as their mean age rises and many churches are almost beyond physical redemption. Many of the smaller churches in our own denomination are barely holding their own. Even contemporary churches are struggling with the many Sunday options thrown at today s families and the competition for their available time. Not many country churches have children and youth programs. In fact in Wangaratta I observe the following: Outside of our youth group there is very little in youth ministry in the other churches. Only a few would have a children s ministry Many of the churches have an aging congregation with few young families. This is not a criticism but a fact and I m certainly not wanting to boast about what we have here. These facts make me sad and one of the things that I would love to see us do is encourage and foster children s and youth ministry across the other churches. I see it as

3 3 part of our responsibility as the largest evangelical church in our region. For the Church to be strong in Wangaratta we need all churches doing well. What causes a church to be strong? Well 2. Strong Churches require Proactive input. A church cannot rest on yesterday s blessings, programs and numbers. It must be continually on the front foot seeking to be relevant in its environment. It must continue to seek the blessing and empowering of the Holy Spirit for ministry and changed lives. This morning I want to mention a few things that churches require if they are to be strong. But firstly do they need a. Strong walls? Show 2 slides of old church. Talk about this church. It s physically strong, probably 250 years old It s become a liability o Can t move the walls! o Needs up keep o Messy church not in the church but in the school hall. Drouin Presbyterian could not expand their church because of a heritage listing on the building. How sad! Sorry, you can t expand and grow your church because your building is too nice and the public, who don t go to your church, like looking at the outside of it. Likewise the strong traditions that we inherit, as much as they serve to guide us, can become a stumbling block. I like the fact that our church building is not a sacred thing to us, that we can expand our walls without offending anyone and that we can take a wall down without the rest of the structure falling apart. Isn t it exciting seeing our kitchen grow in size? The first thing I did when I walk in the building after being away for two weeks was check out the kitchen. Hasn t Graeme done a fantastic job! If we get excited over a bigger kitchen imagine how exciting it will be to see the new auditorium go up. I can t wait! So a strong building doesn t equate to a strong church, what makes a church strong is b. Strong Christians Ephesians 6 talks about putting on the full armour of God so that we can stand against the devil s schemes. It says, Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. This is talking

4 4 about being strong Christians and it has nothing to do with the size or the strength of our building. Every time we invest in discipleship, in marriage, in encouragement, in intercessory prayer, in releasing people from bondage and every time we celebrate someone s testimony we are making our church stronger. I heard someone s testimony yesterday from our church and it thrilled my heart because I could see that that person and their relationships had become stronger as a result of God s healing and blessing. VM program strengthens our church. Expand Congratulate the men who participated in the VM Thanks to the facilitators: Owen, Michael, Graham and Brian Baptism is a stepping stone in a Christians walk with Jesus. It is an outward visual representation of what is happening spiritually in someone s life as they yield to Jesus. I really admire Tom who in essence today is standing up and saying, I believe in Jesus, I trust him with my life and I die to my old way of living and rise afresh as a new man in Christ, forgiven and restored to the very image of God. Tom s testimony and baptism will strengthen his walk with Jesus and will help to make our church stronger. Praise God for that! May I encourage you if you have not been baptised to not put it off any longer but step out in obedience for Jesus. You will be blessed and so will we. Strong churches require c. A strong foundation stone I couldn t help being impressed with the age of some of those building we saw in the UK. They are still standing and in good use because they are made of stone. Stone or rock has often been used to represent God or Jesus throughout the bible. Jesus asked his disciples a very good question in Matt 16, who do you say I am? Now Peter absolutely nails the question saying, You are the Christ the Son of the living God. Jesus was impressed and told Peter his answer was supernaturally inspired by God. Peter s answer was more correct than Peter had understanding at the time. At that stage in the disciples understanding of Jesus they simply didn t understand the full scope of who Jesus was not by a longshot. Then Jesus makes a statement that is vital to our discussion this morning, And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

5 5 Jesus changed Simon s name to Peter meaning rock. It is a bit hard to know what Jesus meant here; did he mean that the church would be built on Peter or did he mean that it would be built on Peter s confession of who Jesus was, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Or still did he mean that the church would be built on all the teachings and revelations of the apostles? Maybe all were implied to a certain extent but the rest of the NT would reveal that Jesus is the foundation stone and that by proclaiming his name and the salvation that comes we are building the church. When I was considering this passage I was struck by the revelation that Jesus was giving them: The church would have a rock solid foundation Jesus himself would personally see that his church would be built Such is the power of the church that Jesus builds that the gates of Hell will be no match for it. I love this! If we let Jesus build our church then we are smashing the gates of Hell! Or in other words we are defeating death and all its implications. Cor 15 says that, death has been swallowed up in victory. Expand this. Every time another person receives Jesus and crosses from death to life the gates of Hell receive another battering and are forced back. Our enemy is not the government, it s not the gay-rights movement, it s not Islam, and it s not other churches or even each other. Our enemy is the evil one causing death and destruction. Finally a strong church requires d. A determined mission A church cannot afford to be side tracked from its real mission given by Jesus. I love our mission statement: Following Jesus Growing God s people Reaching our world Expand on each. Conclusion: Don t give up! Our church has an exciting future if we continue doing the things that we know are right and are honouring to God. Building strong marriages, worshipping God, making disciples and reaching out to the lonely and lost. Tell the story of climbing Ben Nevis in Scotland: So many obstacles and reasons why we shouldn t make it.

6 6 Let nothing stop us from building strong marriages and building a healthy, strong and vibrant church. Message by Pastor David Lloyd