BRIAN C. YOUNT TRINITY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, PENSACOLA, FL 7 JANUARY 2018 2 THESSALONIANS 1:11-12 RESOLUTIONS FOR US PART I INTRODUCING MINISTRY ARCHITECTS This morning the sermon is going to be a bit different. Kinda makes you nervous, doesn t it? Well, actually, I get to address something that Pastor Hugh and I have discussed in depth with the Welcome and Discipleship Team and prayed about with the Session. It s an endeavor that our church will undertake at the beginning of February. As some of you read in this month s Tidings, the Session has approved an effort that will help us better fulfill the wonderful the ministry God has prepared for us. It s more than just looking relevant. It s intentional and focused effort to develop a church-wide vision and plan to help us live out the mission Christ has called us to. I ve learned that Trinity did something similar about ten years ago. But it was an in-house effort, and as many have told me the results didn t match the expectations. What happened was what most churches encounter when trying to do these mission/ministry realignments: high expectations are set, but it becomes extremely difficult to generate buy-in and follow through. That is why the Session has contracted with a national church consulting firm, MINISTRY ARCHITECTS. They ll bring fresh eyes and ears and vast experience to help us clear the hurdles that keep congregations from moving in the desired direction. So, let me say a bit about MINISTRY ARCHITECTS. They have a phenomenal track record. They have worked with many churches within our denomination, and are eager to partner with us. So, here s what s going to happen: Beginning on Monday February 5 and going through Wednesday February 7, two consultants from MINISTRY ARCHITECTS will be onsite to conduct Listening Sessions with different demographics within the church. Beginning next Sunday (14 th ) and then the following Sunday (21 st ), you ll be able to sign up for the demographic you most identify or carry the strongest passion for. I won t list all the different groups or time slots, since they re posted in the TIDINGS and will be posted on the signup sheets. After the services we ll have volunteers to help you find your slot. What s unique and really got our attention is that MINISTRY ARCHITECTS believes that the whole church (not just the visible leadership) needs to provide their insight, input, and voice for consulting work to be successful. Be clear, MINISTRY ARCHITECTS is going to develop a plan that is specifically in tune with our congregation. They re goal isn t to make us look like the latest trend. Their mission is to help us gain clarity about our mission, right here at 3400 Bayou Blvd. Pastor Hugh wrote this in the Tidings article: Your input is vital as our entire congregation is integral to the consulting process. The congregation will be instrumental in the 1
implementation of the recommendations. Implementation is not a top-down process, but one that encourages cooperation, listening, and an abundance of prayer. Here s what we ll get from them: The consultants will combine some basic demographical data that we ll supply beforehand with all the material they gather in Listening Sessions and compile a report that will lay out detailed, concrete recommendations for how to bolster our ministries and focus our energies, resources, and time. The report will run between 25-30 pages and will include a detailed implementation timeline. The key word there is detailed. The consultants won t leave us with unspecific recommendations. Everything will be actionoriented. Meaning we ll know when it is completed. And importantly, the timeline is for 12-18 months. It s doable. It isn t meant to consume our time and energy for next 5 years. By holding ourselves accountable to the timeline, we ll see the fruit of this work in the immediate future. And what gives us confidence is that we re doing this upon the foundation of many, many year of faithful ministry from this congregation. So, what do you need to do? (1) Sign up for a Listening Session. (2) Attend the Wednesday Night Supper on February 7 th. That night the consultant(s) will present the report. (3) Pray about the ministry this church, and asking God to use this consulting work to bring about the ministry God desires. PART II THE FRAMEWORK FOR OUR RESOLUTIONS AND WORK I would field questions, but I ve only been doing this for about six months, so I m going to stick to my script. When the Session approved the request to partner with MINISTRY ARCHITECTS I began thinking about this text from 2 Thessalonians. So, let me read it, and offer why I believe this text ought to guide us through this process. *Give short introduction: This comes at the end of Paul s opening greeting. To this end we always pray for you, asking that our God will make you worthy of his call and will fulfill by his power every good resolve and work of faith, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thess. 1:11-12). It s easy to miss what Paul is saying here. But notice, he intended that the Thessalonians would make resolutions. Every good resolve, he says. And those resolutions, which are internal, would become external works of faith. With MINISTRY ARCHITECTS we will make resolutions, and over the course of the next 12-18 months those resolutions will become works of faith. 2
But notice what comes before this talk about resolutions. Look at Paul s prayer. He prays that God will make them worthy of God s call. That s Paul s way of saying to live in a way that shows the importance or value of this call. Here s why I think that is helpful. Paul s point is that our resolutions and the work that flows from those resolutions are determined, or given shape by the preeminent call that God has placed upon our lives. Some of you might be Seinfeld fans. And if you are, perhaps you remember the episode where Jerry s rental car reservation is not held. And in his exchange with the employee he says that anyone can make reservations, but the key is to hold the reservation. The same for us. We can make resolutions upon resolutions, but the key is that those resolutions are in line with God s call. So, what is that call? Well, if you turn back to Paul s first letter to the Thessalonians (2:12), he reminds them that they ve been called by God into his kingdom and glory. So, when Paul prays for them for them to be made worthy of God s call, he s praying that everything they do will testify to the surpassing worth of God s kingdom. Paul wanted them to live as citizens of God s eternal kingdom in the present moment. But, what we ask, what does that look like? Well, if you read through the two letters, three points become quite clear. And these remind us, as the church, who we are and how we go about our work together. First, listen to these different verses: 1. We always given thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love (1Th. 1:1-2). 2. Timothy has just now come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love (1Th. 3:6). 3. And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all (1Th. 3:12). 4. Now concerning love of the brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anyone write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another (1Th. 4:9). 5. But since we belong to the day let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love (1Th. 5:8). 6. Respect those who labor among you, and have charge of you in the Lord and admonish you; esteem them very highly in love (1Th. 5:12-13). 7. We must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for another is increasing (2Th. 1:3). 8. May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God (2Th. 3:5). 3
God s call into His kingdom is a call into a life of love. MINISTRY ARCHITECTS can help lay out a great vision for us. We can become more efficient, tech-savvy, and streamlined. All beneficial things. But, they can t make us love one another. And the danger for the church, especially in our technological age, is to believe, at least implicitly, that its mission is more about productivity than self-effacing, self-sacrificing, Christ-shaped love. And when that happens, people become obstacles or a means-to-an-end. But that s never how God s love operates. People are always the objects of God s love: We know love by this, that [Jesus] laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for one another (1 John 3:16). This means that our love is never for the idea of some future church. Our love is always directed to the community we have right now. Next, Paul envisions this calling as a calling to holiness. Now, we re probably inclined to think of holiness as NO FUN. But, that s unfortunate, because holiness was a big deal for Jesus, and as Paul makes clear in these two letters, holiness was to be a distinguishing and nonnegotiable quality of living into God s call. 1 But, what exactly is it? I think it is helpful to remember that our best expression of holiness is seen in the life of Christ and his teachings. And his life and his teachings are the best and fullest expression of what it means to be human, an imager-bearer of God. So, holiness isn t simply abstaining from certain things or behaviors. It means we re living a fully, robust human life. A book I ve been reading puts it like this: Hard as it may be to believe in the midst of our sinful thoughts and fleshly struggles, we were made to be perfect. Brokenness may feel more natural, but holiness is actually the more human state. Our image-of-god wiring is for Christlikeness, not devil-likeness. 2 Or, as C.S. Lewis put it, The more we get what we now call ourselves out of the way and let Him take us over, the more truly ourselves we become. 3 Our consulting work is going to leave us with things to do and build. But it s never separated from holiness. And we need to remember, Paul s vision is for this to be done corporately, together. We need one another; we need accountability; we need to invest in each other s lives for purpose of pursuing holiness together. This can be messy, awkward, an annoying intrusion into our desire for privacy and autonomy. But, God didn t say, Be efficient, for I am efficient. God said, Be holy, for I am holy. Last. This call into God s kingdom, toward his glory it s all dependent on grace. Look at the end of our text, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. It s not according to your ingenuity, or according to your acumen. Everything that Paul prays for their love, their holiness it is all dependent upon the grace of God. That changes everything. We can be honest, ministry and church life is hard. We have different tastes, different passions and ideas, different backgrounds, different wounds, different personalities. Put all those together and things 1 See 1Th. 1:20; 2:10; 3:13 (x2); 4:3, 4, 7; 5:23; 2Th. 2:13 2 McCracken, Uncomfortable, 66. 3 C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001), 225. 4
get difficult. But we live by grace. And that means we re never working to earn the kingdom. Jesus put it like this: Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father s good pleasure to give you the kingdom (Luke 12:32). Listen to that again: it is your Father s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Which means that everything we do, whether it is the work from MINISTRY ARCHITECTS or anything else, is, above all else, a response to grace. A grace purchased by the body and blood of our Lord. If you re stressed by ministry; if you feel overwhelmed; if you re nervous about the future, come to this table and taste again the grace that defines our lives. *Invite the Elders. 5
Bibliography McCracken, Brett. Uncomfortable: The Awkward and Essential Challenge of Christian Community. Wheaton: Crossway, 2017. Johnson, Andy. 1 & 2 Thessalonians. The Two Horizons New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2016. Rowe, C. Kavin. World Upside Down: Reading Acts in the Graeco-Roman Age. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. 6