So today I want to paint you a picture of what the church COULD look like. We are going to do some imagining and visioning today

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1 [5] Church of the Spirit Ephesians 2:11-22 Introduction Have you ever stopped to ask yourself the question: is there more to church than what I have experienced so far? Now it may not be that things are bad necessarily, but have you ever wondered whether God had more in store for the church than what we have made church to be? This is what Paul writes to the church in Ephesus: o And in Christ you too are being built together to become a holy temple, a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Ephesians 2:22) o This is huge! Paul is saying that the HQ of God s Holy Spirit on earth is not a place, but a people. Tells us that the church which is the gathering of the people of God is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. o From what we have learnt about the Holy Spirit over the past few weeks what does that tell you about the house? You can tell what the house is going to be like based on who lives there So today I want to paint you a picture of what the church COULD look like. We are going to do some imagining and visioning today Characteristics of a Spirit-Filled Church 8 characteristics four from the reading and four from elsewhere in the Bible And in Christ you too are being built together to become a holy temple, a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. Ephesians 2:22

2 Jesus Centred/Christ Centred The spiritual temple is created in Christ The Holy Spirit s role within the Trinity is always and only to honour Jesus by taking what belongs to Jesus and making it known to us. True Holy Spirit activity always leads to Jesus being made to look good o But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you John 14:26 o When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father he will testify about me John 15:26 o But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes he will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you. (John 16:13, 15) Tim Keller comments in a sermon, The Spirit has Jesus pinned up all over His wall A first and most important thing about a Spirit-filled church is that it is all about Jesus o At every level of interaction with the church you should be left with the after taste of Jesus o If you re new here do you feel that? Not just from the Sunday service but from connect group, dinner, meeting with someone from our church? Holy Paul describes the Spirit-filled church as one that is holy

3 The root idea of holiness is that of separation. Does this mean that we are not to associate with non-christians or that we should be weird? I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. (John 17:14-15) Do you see what Jesus is saying? He s saying to God, hey don t take them out of here sure they don t belong to this place but while they are here protect them in the MIDST of it Being separate is not primarily about a physical thing as it is about an inner, spiritual thing o It s not about wearing Christian t-shirts, having Christian wristbands, listening to Christian radio or having a Jesus bumper sticker on your car o When people interact with you I want them to go wow on the outside this person is really relatable. There s nothing particularly different or weird about them. But when I start getting to know them, man there is something WITHIN them that is compelling, unique, special, attractive, intriguing their values, worldview, dreams, ambitions and foundation in life are so DIFFERENT and so SEPARATE to everyone else I ve met. Whatever they have I want some of that o You don t have those external barriers up preventing people from coming closer to see what is IN you So be IN the world but not OF the world o Too many Christians are the WORST of both worlds not in the world but of the world. Cut themselves off from non-christians but they are made of the same substance as everyone else this is a tragedy! Values the presence of God A dwelling in which God lives by His spirit God lives in us by his Spirit

4 Presence is everything. You can have the best experiences and be in the best places but if the people who mean the most to you are not present it feels hollow, incomplete and almost pointless o My mum is flight attendant Moses is the same. He says to God, If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with us? What else would distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the Earth? (Exodus 33:14-16) o Clearly, for Moses the reality of God s presence was huge. o How about for our church? Do we prize that aspect of our togetherness? Every time we gather together, do you expect to encounter God s presence? As you are preparing to come to church do you get that feeling of excitement and anticipation God is amongst us. Do you recognise his presence? Anticipate it? Honour it? Prize it above all else? Gathered in unity Fostering togetherness in the church is one of the major works of the Holy Spirit o Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all Ephesians 4:2-6 How do we do this? Answer is in Ephesians 4:2-3 be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace o Involves humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another

5 o None of these things are easy! But that is how we grow not in isolation but in the context of community How do you grow in patience? When God puts someone in your church who annoys the heck out of you How do you grow out of your selfishness? Get married or have a kid nothing kills your selfishness faster. Or when God puts someone in your church who is so needy o This is difficult, right? Paul recognises that, which is why he says make every effort. This takes work. It s costly. But the Holy Spirit supernaturally empowers us and enables us to do this So the question is, are we allowing the Holy Spirit to build us together or are we resisting His work and instead growing apart? Some diagnostic questions o Are you working in cooperation with the Spirit to get to know more people here? For those of you going on Retreat that s going to be an awesome opportunity to do so o Are you catching a vision of the part that you have to play here at Epping Church of Christ? Recall our talk on spiritual gifts what are yours and how can you actively use them in the context of our community? o Are you reorganising your life (money, schedule etc.) so that you can be more together with other people? No easier and more direct way to apply this than through connect groups. Sorry I keep banging on about connect groups but I m also kind of not sorry Scattered on mission You are the salt of the Earth Matthew 5:13

6 o Church gathered is the saltshaker all the salt in one place. I love the church gathered But salt was not created to clump together in a saltshaker. Or to clump together anywhere for that matter. It was created to be spread out. If you dump a whole saltshaker s worth of salt onto a piece of steak it is utterly unpalatable and you spit it out. Instead you are supposed to spread it out Indeed the Spirit filled church was not only created to GATHER in unity but also to SCATTER on mission Francis Chan said it like this Christians are like manure spread them out and they help everything grow better, but keep them in one big pile and they stink horribly Remember that verse from before about being in the world but not of the world? What came right after it? o They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world (John 17:16-18) o We are the sent ones commissioned by God the Son and filled with God the Spirit to tell the world about Him Holy Spirit in the church will compel you to look OUTSIDE the gathering, focussing not just on who IS here but also on who IS NOT here. o Remember, the church without the Holy Spirit was afraid and huddled together in one place. But the moment the Holy Spirit came into the church, what happened? The gospel went viral. The Holy Spirit was given to the church so that she could be Jesus witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8) The most Holy Spirit filled churches are also the most missional sometimes this is not the case Alive in worship

7 As a little boy sat in church, his eyes were drawn to a large, old wooden board mounted on the wall with a long list of men s names on it. He whispered to his dad, what is that for? His dad replied, to remind us of all the people in our church who died in service. The boy thought about it for a second and then whispered back, did they die in the morning service or the evening service? o While that may be funny, the story hits painfully close to home, doesn t it? All of us have been in church services where if someone were to take a photo during the singing, you could have mistaken it for a funeral. The people are standing there motionless with arms folded, staring blankly at the words projected onto the screen, or staring out the window, or staring at their watches to see how much longer they have to sit through this. There is so enthusiasm, passion, joy or zeal o If a visitor were to come in would they conclude that anything significant was going on? Would they deduce, wow, based on how these guys are responding, their God must be a God of great joy!? Or would they wonder why such apathetic people even bother going to church at all, since they seem so bored by the whole affair? Encourage we are going GREAT especially compared to what we once was! But can we go further? Because The picture that the Bible paints for us of a church that is filled with the Holy Spirit is very different. It s not a funeral march. It s a picture of a people not dead but ALIVE in worship. It tells us that singing flows out of being filled with the Holy Spirit o Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:18-19) o Tells us three things about worship in a spirit-filled church From the heart

8 As opposed to singing with your mouth but you don t mean it or feel it I know sometimes we get a bit iffy when it comes to emotions in worship. But somebody questioned our scepticism or reservations in this way Why is it if a comedy produces laughter, the film is regarded as successful ; a theatre tragedy brings tears to the audience the production is regarded as touching ; a football match thrills the spectators to a near frenzy and the game is reviewed as exciting ; but if a congregation is moved by the glory and goodness of God in worship, they are accused of emotionalism? Remember, emotions are not from the devil they are a good gift from God to be expressed about the right things! To the Lord It s God centred and Christ-centred This brings us back to the presence of God do we worship with a view to Him hearing it and seeing it, with a desire that God receives it with approval and delight? Do we present our worship to God as a gift to him? Is our worship a response to who God is and what God has done and what God is doing and what God has promised to do? To one another One of the clearest mandates for corporate worship you can t obey this in solitude. I m not saying that you shouldn t worship in private do it, it s awesome. But don t let it stop there!

9 Can be done at services but also at connect groups too, or just anytime you gather with other Christians actually! Why not let worship permeate all of our one another time? Powerful in prayer In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God s people in accordance with the will of God (Romans 8:26-27) This verse tells us that the Holy Spirit help and works with the church in prayer. As the church and its people labour in prayer the Holy Spirit comes alongside us to help How so? By interceding for us as an advocate think of it as a lawyer o Pleads on behalf of their client this is Jesus job o Tells the client what to say this it the Holy Spirit s role. When we do not know what to pray, we have the great promise that the Holy Spirit will teach us. He teaches us what to pray in two ways: o By bringing to our remembrance our needs and the needs of others o By quickening to us faith, fervency, humility etc. putting us in the posture of prayer When a church is in cooperation with the spirit there is powerful prayer. And this is not just restricted to the formal parameters we sometimes place around prayer during the allocated prayer time in the service, once a month, beginning and end of a Bible study etc. Are we a church of prayer, a people of prayer does it saturate everything that we do? Full of both the Word and the Spirit

10 Let me give you three reasons why the Word and the Spirit go hand in hand. Close parallel between Ephesians 5:18 and Colossians 3:16 o Both texts are followed by joyful singing, thankfulness to God and instructions about wives and husbands, children and parents, slaves and masters. But in Colossians 3:16, rather than saying, be filled with the Spirit, Paul says, let the Word of Christ dwell richly within you o So to be a Spirit-filled Christian you must be growing in your understanding and application of God s word One of the first things that the brand new Spirit-filled Christians of the early did was that they met up every day to study the apostle s teaching (Acts 2:42). They also devoted themselves to the public reading of scripture (1 Timothy 4:13). We only learn about the Spirit of God through the Word of God. I hope that that is what you have been experiencing over the past few weeks of this journey together through Love the Dove! We ve been saturated in the Word of God but as we do that we have learnt more about the Spirit of God. So remember, don t believe what people say, it s not either or! It s both and. What God has joined together let man not separate. Word and Spirit they go well together like: Batman and Robin Tom and Jerry Ben & Jerry Fish and chips Surf and turf K-Ci and Jojo Simon & Garfunkel

11 Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre Fresh Prince and Jazzy Jeff Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan Matt Damon and Ben Affleck Conclusion This church that we have imagined together today who wouldn t want to be a part of that kind of church? o Christ centred o Holy o Values the presence of God o Gathered in unity, but o Scattered on mission o Alive in worship o Powerful in prayer o Full of the Word and Spirit It sounds amazing. I want this church to be that kind of church. Let me encourage and commend you church we are well on our way. We have progressed and grown so much even in the short time that I have been here. But let s not stop pursuing for more. So let s build it together give it everything we ve got and then some and as we do that let s ask for the Holy Spirit to empower us in this task. No more spectators This is what I am called to. This is what I want to give my life to. Who s in?