Romans 15.4-13 Matthew 3.1-12
Question – ‘what on earth is
the Church for, what is its function and purpose?’
“Second, the Church exists to make new disciples of Jesus Christ.”
He went on to say…
“Everything else is
decoration. Some of it may be very necessary, useful, or wonderful decoration –
but it’s decoration.”
This morning, this Second
Sunday in Advent, I would like us to consider the second of these – ‘making new
disciples.’
We heard in our Gospel about
John the Baptist as the one who seeks to make a clear path for Jesus and then
points people to Jesus – ‘behold the Lamb of God.’ The Gospel we heard this morning comes near to the beginning of Matthews Gospel.
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Can I invite you to turn to your neighbour and tell them the best and most important decision you have made in your life?
In his 2015 Lambeth Lecture
Justin Welby went on to say…
“The best decision anyone
can ever make, at any point in life, in any circumstances, whoever they are,
wherever they are, whatever they are, is to become a disciple of Jesus Christ.
There is no better decision for a human being in this life, any human being.”
Do you agree with that?
Turn again to your neighbour
and tell them why you do or why you do not agree with that statement.
(Anyone willing to tell us
very briefly whether they agreed or disagreed and perhaps why)
Another three part question
and I would invite you to put up your hand if;
a) You feel confident
sharing your faith story.
b) You feel confident in
being able to give an outline of the Gospel.
c) You feel confident that
you could lead someone to Christ and help them to make a prayer confessing
faith.
Now at the risk of making
this all sound like a structured formula let me offer you one Gospel outline
with verses all taken from the Letter to the Romans, sometimes called ‘The
Roman Road to New Life.’
(If you have a Bible to
hand, you might like to check out the verses)
All
verses are from Paul ’s letter to the
Romans ~ seven steps to salvation.
3:10
As
it is written, there is no one righteous, not even one. 3:23 Since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
5:12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man and death spread to all because all have sinned
5:8
But
God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for
us.
6:23
For
the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ
Jesus our Lord
10:13
For,
‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved’
10:
9-10 Because, if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the
mouth and so is saved.
Two final questions that we
need to consider but which we cannot properly engage with this morning but
something to be discussed at all levels of the Church’s life.
How are we as the people of
God in Doxey going to make sure that there are no barriers in the way that
hinder people coming to Faith in Jesus.
How are we as the people of
God in Doxey going to point people to Jesus?
On the 1st
January 1975 at the age of 24, I made the best and most important decision of
my life.
I made a New Year’s
resolution to become a Christian.
Therefore, here is my
challenge to you.We have 28 days of 2016 left. Will you amongst all that is going on within that period, set time aside to ponder, discuss and pray about how you can emulate John the Baptist in 2017.
Then ask, is this helping or hindering people to come to a personal living faith in Jesus?
January 1st 2017
is on Sunday.
Can I challenge you to come
as God’s people called to bear faithful witness to Christ in this place and at
this moment in history, when you gather on that 1st January 2017
that you make a joint declared New Year’s Resolution?
That you might offer to
those who like Thomas express doubts, a living experience of Jesus to the point
where they fall on their knees and declare, my Lord and my God.
To follow the good example
of Andrew who according to John’s Gospel was a disciple of John the Baptist.
John pointed out Jesus to him as the ‘Lamb of God.’ Andrew became a disciple of Jesus and one of
the first things Andrew did was to go and tell his brother, Peter. Therefore,
if we are disciple of Jesus who are we going to tell?
In short, in answer to my
first question, ‘what on earth is the Church for’, it is worship God and make
disciples, and everything else is decoration!
Let me begin to draw to a
close with some words from Pope Benedict XV1.
We are not some casual
and meaningless product of evolution.
Each of us is the result
of a thought of God.
Each of us is willed,
Each of us is loved,
Each of us is necessary.
There is nothing more
beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel,
By the encounter with
Christ.
There is nothing more
beautiful than to know him and to speak to others of our friendship with Him. Would you like to see this congregation double by this time next year? That could be achieved if everyone brought one other person to faith in 2017…
‘Everyone another one every year.’
Let us pray;
O Saviour Christ, in whose way of love lays the secret
of all life, and the hope of all people, we pray for quiet courage to match
this hour. We did not choose to be born or to live in such an age; but let its
problems challenge us, its discoveries exhilarate us, its injustices anger us,
its possibilities inspire us, and its vigour renew us. Pour out upon us a fresh
indwelling of the Holy Spirit; make us bold and courageous in sharing faith in
both word and deed for your Kingdom’s we ask sake. Amen
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