“Don’t Settle For Status Quo”
From The Church That God Blesses, by Jim Cymbala
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Revelation 1:9-16
Introduction: In the book “The Church that God Blesses,” Pastor Jim Cymbala, the pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle says this: “Every advancement in the way people live has come about because someone saw what could be and was no longer willing to accept what is.”
If you think about it, virtually every invention that has come about has come into being because someone imagined something that was not yet visible, something that could impact our lives, and then they created it. These people were not necessarily geniuses, but they all had one thing in common: vision. They refused to yield to the idea that there was/ no better way to do things, and so they pressed on toward something better, even though the process often required years of hard work and many failures along the way. Consequently, countless people in the generations to follow benefited from their vision.
I. Don’t Settle for the Status Quo- (Matthew 28:19; John 15:8; Rev. 1:11)
a. Individuals who believe- So the starting point for advancement in
anything is to not settle for the status quo. You need to believe that there is something different, something better that can exist. This is true in the spiritual realm as well. Every revival in church history has been started by a pastor, or evangelist, or Christian, who was dissatisfied with the moral and spiritual climate around them. They knew from Scripture that God had something better for His people. From the great commission, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” in Matthew 28:19, to Jesus’ words in John 15:8, “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples,” it is evident that God wants us to be effective in our work all in our lives.
Along with that, all the great missionary movements have been spawned by men and women who became desperate to see God’s kingdom extended into new regions and to new people’s; to those who had not yet heard about Jesus. In fact, every time people really pray they are believing that God, by His divine power, can change what is, into something better!
Example- A number of years ago Peter Jenkins, of Walk Across America fame, searched all over for the perfect place to relocate. He wanted to get away from
the noise and from the pollution of urban life. He finally chose the quiet com-
munity of Spring Hill, Tennessee, near Nashville. However, not too long after he relocated, General Motors announced that it was building a brand new automobile plant for the new Saturn automobile. Where do you think they built the plant? ……In Spring Hill, Tennessee! (Amusing Grace, p. 450, #1702)
Life is full of change. The world is constantly changing. If we want to do ministry in this changing world, we have to not be satisfied with the status quo. The Bible is full of declarations about God’s desire to bring about dramatic change when his children are missing out on his promised blessings.
In the Old Testament, God’s ability to overcome all obstacles and help his people is illustrated time and time again through individuals such as Abraham, Joseph, Moses, and David. These are just a few of many that stand out because they had faith and believed that God could do great things in times when others had unbelief.
b. Churches who believe- In the New Testament, however, the focus changes
from individuals to churches, and to the ministers who serve within them. Starting with the birth of the church in Jerusalem, which we see mentioned in the book of Acts, chapter 2, the gospel is preached (sharing about how God loves His people and died for them), and consequently lives are transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit, and congregations are formed, and then these congregations are given shepherds who are put over them to guide them and feed them. This same spiritual sequence is repeated in city after city in the New Testament.
Through these local churches filled with spiritually transformed people, God works further change in ever-widening circles throughout the world. The book of Acts recounts these wonderful stories as the Lord’s message and power is spread throughout the Roman Empire.
Now, as I said before, the focus in the New Testament is on the churches. So even though individual lives are being changed by the message and power of God’s love, God’s special concern is always focused on the local churches. Why? Because it is the church that is called to spread the good news of God’s love and to bring new believers into God’s kingdom, and help to guide, teach and nurture these new believers. That is why the New Testament is filled with mostly letters sent to these local churches or to the ministers who exercise spiritual leadership.
In the book of Revelation, Jesus told John to write 7 letters to churches in various areas, which were to be from Jesus Himself! Revelation 1:11- “.. ‘Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.” It is evident that nothing is more important to the Lord than the spiritual state of the local churches that bear His name.
Heaven’s great concern is not about the United Nations, or global warming, or the financial markets struggling; heaven’s great concern is for the extension of God’s kingdom, the spreading of the good news of God’s love, the world coming to understand who he really is; and all of this depends on local Christian churches to represent God, and to do God’s work, and to be God’s voice. He has chosen to work here on earth through His church.
II. The Condition of the Church- (1 Corinthians 3:1; Galatians 1:6; Revelation 3:20)
a. Spiritual condition- Now it’s important to understand that not all
Christian churches are in a healthy spiritual condition. And herein lies the problem. Some churches are mere infants, not ready for solid spiritual food as the apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 3:1: “And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.”
A church is an infant when they are still trying to understand their spiritual purpose; when they still have many people who aren’t mature Christians; when they are not seeking to really do the will of God and reach out beyond themselves, when there is infighting and people are having trouble loving one another.
A church can also be in its infant stage when they are susceptible to following a false truth, a false gospel.
Example- “Your Hidden Potential,” Illus. Unlimited, p. 344- There is a story of an American Indian who found an eagle’s egg and put it into the nest of a prairie chicken. The eaglet hatched and grew up with the chickens. All his life he grew up thinking he was a prairie chicken, and did what prairie chickens do. He scratched in the dirt for seeds and insects; he clucked; he cackled; and he only flew in brief/ thrashing his wings around no more than a few feet off the ground; just as Prairie chickens are supposed to fly. Many years passed and the eagle grew very old. One day he saw a magnificent bird flying in the sky above him. He was quite taken by the way the bird soared. “What a beautiful bird,” he thought. He asked his neighbor, “What is it?” The neighbor responded: “That’s an eagle—the chief of the birds. But don’t give it a second thought. You could never be like him.” So the eagle never gave it another thought and died thinking he was a prairie chicken.
Paul says to us in Galatians 1:6, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.” Following a false gospel is not just following a different religion. It isn’t just about being Buddhist, or Mormon, or Universalist. It also can be giving yourself over to worldly ways and not living out the teachings of Jesus. It can also be not believing you could ever be like Christ, and so you don’t try.
Even more, a church can be an infant by struggling when she faces the challenge of being in a hostile spiritual territory; struggling to stay faithful.
The Bible is always reminding us that things don’t have to remain the way they are. If God is given the opportunity, His blessings can bring about dramatic change no matter what our circumstances are. Negative situations, hostile environment, or shortage of people cannot keep the power of Jesus Christ from working in the church that is faithful to God and seeks to change for the better.
b. Ministry condition- Whatever the situation a church finds itself in, it can
always become better; it can always be more faithful and more fruitful. So when we tell ourselves “I can never change,” or “I don’t want to change,” WE PRESUME TOO MUCH AND BELIEVE TOO LITTLE. In Jesus Christ, God renders all of our preconceptions meaningless, because God can open all doors and liberate us to do great things.
Even to the church in the book of Revelations/ that God said He would vomit out of His mouth, He said to them later in Revelation 3, verse 20: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”
God is tender, and compassionate, and patient, and faithful….. wanting to make us the best church we can be. He desires for our church to do good things, because it is really His church, and His name that is being glorified when we do good ministry. He wants us to seek Him and ask: “Lord, what are we to be doing?”
It is up to us to open the door so that Jesus can come in and be with us. But
to open the door, we have to be willing to not accept that everything is fine around us. We have to understand that we need to share the message of Jesus Christ with all who don’t know Him. We have to reach out to our community and care for the sick, the homeless, and those who are struggling. We have to add people to our church as the church of the first century did, by being a giving people. We have to have the attitude that we exist because the Lord needs us.
This is the message every church needs to hear: “The Lord needs you.” We have a choice, will we accept this call from Jesus and follow Him and seek Him and be faithful to Him, or will we seek to get lost in the status quo? Let us not get overwhelmed by the thought of change. Let us not get complacent and leave everything the same.
Conclusion: I hope and pray that the Lord ignites in us a desire to see this church be all that God desires. I pray that we believe that we can soar like an eagle, instead of cluck like a chicken. I pray that our church can become a thriving multi-ethnic, community church that is a beacon of hope for all around. I pray that we will live in a way that is evident to all that we love the Lord!
The Lord is eager to make spiritual changes among us and shower us with his blessings. He wants us—His people—to experience the greatness of His power and the depth of His love in a new way. All He needs from us is a listening ear, and a heart that believes that with God all things are possible. I hope you will join with me
in this endeavor, because it will take all of us working together. If we can do this, then we can do great things for the Lord! Amen.
From The Church That God Blesses, by Jim Cymbala
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Revelation 1:9-16
Introduction: In the book “The Church that God Blesses,” Pastor Jim Cymbala, the pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle says this: “Every advancement in the way people live has come about because someone saw what could be and was no longer willing to accept what is.”
If you think about it, virtually every invention that has come about has come into being because someone imagined something that was not yet visible, something that could impact our lives, and then they created it. These people were not necessarily geniuses, but they all had one thing in common: vision. They refused to yield to the idea that there was/ no better way to do things, and so they pressed on toward something better, even though the process often required years of hard work and many failures along the way. Consequently, countless people in the generations to follow benefited from their vision.
I. Don’t Settle for the Status Quo- (Matthew 28:19; John 15:8; Rev. 1:11)
a. Individuals who believe- So the starting point for advancement in
anything is to not settle for the status quo. You need to believe that there is something different, something better that can exist. This is true in the spiritual realm as well. Every revival in church history has been started by a pastor, or evangelist, or Christian, who was dissatisfied with the moral and spiritual climate around them. They knew from Scripture that God had something better for His people. From the great commission, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” in Matthew 28:19, to Jesus’ words in John 15:8, “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples,” it is evident that God wants us to be effective in our work all in our lives.
Along with that, all the great missionary movements have been spawned by men and women who became desperate to see God’s kingdom extended into new regions and to new people’s; to those who had not yet heard about Jesus. In fact, every time people really pray they are believing that God, by His divine power, can change what is, into something better!
Example- A number of years ago Peter Jenkins, of Walk Across America fame, searched all over for the perfect place to relocate. He wanted to get away from
the noise and from the pollution of urban life. He finally chose the quiet com-
munity of Spring Hill, Tennessee, near Nashville. However, not too long after he relocated, General Motors announced that it was building a brand new automobile plant for the new Saturn automobile. Where do you think they built the plant? ……In Spring Hill, Tennessee! (Amusing Grace, p. 450, #1702)
Life is full of change. The world is constantly changing. If we want to do ministry in this changing world, we have to not be satisfied with the status quo. The Bible is full of declarations about God’s desire to bring about dramatic change when his children are missing out on his promised blessings.
In the Old Testament, God’s ability to overcome all obstacles and help his people is illustrated time and time again through individuals such as Abraham, Joseph, Moses, and David. These are just a few of many that stand out because they had faith and believed that God could do great things in times when others had unbelief.
b. Churches who believe- In the New Testament, however, the focus changes
from individuals to churches, and to the ministers who serve within them. Starting with the birth of the church in Jerusalem, which we see mentioned in the book of Acts, chapter 2, the gospel is preached (sharing about how God loves His people and died for them), and consequently lives are transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit, and congregations are formed, and then these congregations are given shepherds who are put over them to guide them and feed them. This same spiritual sequence is repeated in city after city in the New Testament.
Through these local churches filled with spiritually transformed people, God works further change in ever-widening circles throughout the world. The book of Acts recounts these wonderful stories as the Lord’s message and power is spread throughout the Roman Empire.
Now, as I said before, the focus in the New Testament is on the churches. So even though individual lives are being changed by the message and power of God’s love, God’s special concern is always focused on the local churches. Why? Because it is the church that is called to spread the good news of God’s love and to bring new believers into God’s kingdom, and help to guide, teach and nurture these new believers. That is why the New Testament is filled with mostly letters sent to these local churches or to the ministers who exercise spiritual leadership.
In the book of Revelation, Jesus told John to write 7 letters to churches in various areas, which were to be from Jesus Himself! Revelation 1:11- “.. ‘Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.” It is evident that nothing is more important to the Lord than the spiritual state of the local churches that bear His name.
Heaven’s great concern is not about the United Nations, or global warming, or the financial markets struggling; heaven’s great concern is for the extension of God’s kingdom, the spreading of the good news of God’s love, the world coming to understand who he really is; and all of this depends on local Christian churches to represent God, and to do God’s work, and to be God’s voice. He has chosen to work here on earth through His church.
II. The Condition of the Church- (1 Corinthians 3:1; Galatians 1:6; Revelation 3:20)
a. Spiritual condition- Now it’s important to understand that not all
Christian churches are in a healthy spiritual condition. And herein lies the problem. Some churches are mere infants, not ready for solid spiritual food as the apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 3:1: “And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.”
A church is an infant when they are still trying to understand their spiritual purpose; when they still have many people who aren’t mature Christians; when they are not seeking to really do the will of God and reach out beyond themselves, when there is infighting and people are having trouble loving one another.
A church can also be in its infant stage when they are susceptible to following a false truth, a false gospel.
Example- “Your Hidden Potential,” Illus. Unlimited, p. 344- There is a story of an American Indian who found an eagle’s egg and put it into the nest of a prairie chicken. The eaglet hatched and grew up with the chickens. All his life he grew up thinking he was a prairie chicken, and did what prairie chickens do. He scratched in the dirt for seeds and insects; he clucked; he cackled; and he only flew in brief/ thrashing his wings around no more than a few feet off the ground; just as Prairie chickens are supposed to fly. Many years passed and the eagle grew very old. One day he saw a magnificent bird flying in the sky above him. He was quite taken by the way the bird soared. “What a beautiful bird,” he thought. He asked his neighbor, “What is it?” The neighbor responded: “That’s an eagle—the chief of the birds. But don’t give it a second thought. You could never be like him.” So the eagle never gave it another thought and died thinking he was a prairie chicken.
Paul says to us in Galatians 1:6, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.” Following a false gospel is not just following a different religion. It isn’t just about being Buddhist, or Mormon, or Universalist. It also can be giving yourself over to worldly ways and not living out the teachings of Jesus. It can also be not believing you could ever be like Christ, and so you don’t try.
Even more, a church can be an infant by struggling when she faces the challenge of being in a hostile spiritual territory; struggling to stay faithful.
The Bible is always reminding us that things don’t have to remain the way they are. If God is given the opportunity, His blessings can bring about dramatic change no matter what our circumstances are. Negative situations, hostile environment, or shortage of people cannot keep the power of Jesus Christ from working in the church that is faithful to God and seeks to change for the better.
b. Ministry condition- Whatever the situation a church finds itself in, it can
always become better; it can always be more faithful and more fruitful. So when we tell ourselves “I can never change,” or “I don’t want to change,” WE PRESUME TOO MUCH AND BELIEVE TOO LITTLE. In Jesus Christ, God renders all of our preconceptions meaningless, because God can open all doors and liberate us to do great things.
Even to the church in the book of Revelations/ that God said He would vomit out of His mouth, He said to them later in Revelation 3, verse 20: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”
God is tender, and compassionate, and patient, and faithful….. wanting to make us the best church we can be. He desires for our church to do good things, because it is really His church, and His name that is being glorified when we do good ministry. He wants us to seek Him and ask: “Lord, what are we to be doing?”
It is up to us to open the door so that Jesus can come in and be with us. But
to open the door, we have to be willing to not accept that everything is fine around us. We have to understand that we need to share the message of Jesus Christ with all who don’t know Him. We have to reach out to our community and care for the sick, the homeless, and those who are struggling. We have to add people to our church as the church of the first century did, by being a giving people. We have to have the attitude that we exist because the Lord needs us.
This is the message every church needs to hear: “The Lord needs you.” We have a choice, will we accept this call from Jesus and follow Him and seek Him and be faithful to Him, or will we seek to get lost in the status quo? Let us not get overwhelmed by the thought of change. Let us not get complacent and leave everything the same.
Conclusion: I hope and pray that the Lord ignites in us a desire to see this church be all that God desires. I pray that we believe that we can soar like an eagle, instead of cluck like a chicken. I pray that our church can become a thriving multi-ethnic, community church that is a beacon of hope for all around. I pray that we will live in a way that is evident to all that we love the Lord!
The Lord is eager to make spiritual changes among us and shower us with his blessings. He wants us—His people—to experience the greatness of His power and the depth of His love in a new way. All He needs from us is a listening ear, and a heart that believes that with God all things are possible. I hope you will join with me
in this endeavor, because it will take all of us working together. If we can do this, then we can do great things for the Lord! Amen.
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