Church Missions

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. And the title I've given to sort of the rest of the time that I spend with you is Church Planting in a Hostile World. I will weave into this various themes of education as you'll hear as we go along, perhaps not so much tonight, but on another evening or maybe tomorrow morning. [00:00:39] We'll see how that goes. But for this evening, I would like to begin with a passage and an example and give you a little idea where we want to head here. Mark chapter 4 in verse 26 first church planting in a hostile world but let's look here at a few words from the Lord in Mark as far as I know this Mark is the only one who records this particular parable in this way goes like this and he said so is the kingdom of God [00:01:17] is if a man should cast seed into the ground and should sleep and rise night and day and the seed should spring up and grow up, spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself, first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come. [00:01:58] And now an example, and then I'll tell you where we're headed. Stephen Covey tells the story, not the story, but it gives us some insight into the Chinese bamboo plant. This is how he tells it. I didn't know this about bamboo plants until I read this and then did a little research and discovered he is basically right. However, I could not verify every detail of this. This is how he tells the story about the bamboo plant in China. [00:02:34] The Chinese farmer, when he is going to plant bamboo, buys, purchases, picks up something like a bulb, a little bit like a tulip bulb, takes it out into the field and plants it in the area that he has prepared. and after he plants it he lets it be I suppose he may go out and water some I don't know how he does exactly for sure [00:03:05] but after the first year one year has elapsed since he's planted he goes out and looks where he has planted it doesn't see a thing on year two 365 days have passed again he goes out to his field and he looks and sure enough there still isn't a thing and year three now this is what you call [00:03:37] a farmer who really trusts in what he's doing he goes out and he looks where he has planted his bamboo bulbs and there still is not a thing and year four goes by and still not anything and year five but he goes out in the sixth year and checks almost daily [00:04:07] and by and by he sees peeping out of the ground just a little blade and then within five or six weeks that thing leaps up and grows into the air 80 feet in a mere five to six weeks. Let's read again. And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground [00:04:37] and should sleep and rise night and day and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself, first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. Now come back to the passage in just a moment. What is happening in year one, year two, year three, four, and five to that bulb that the Chinese farmer has planted into the soil? [00:05:20] Well, this is what is happening. There is a special kind of root that is putting itself down into the ground. If you know anything about mushrooms, mushrooms do not have true roots. They have what they call mycelium and it spreads itself all throughout the earth, feeding on just a dead matter and debris in the soil and so does the bamboo plant and it spreads its so-called roots, its false roots, all throughout the soil. [00:05:53] It is building, remember I gave you this word last night, infrastructure. It is building the structures that will one day support the very rapid growth of something that will spring up out of the ground and people can see and say, well, after all, Farmer Bill didn't know what he was doing. Look there. Do you see that 80-foot bamboo plant that has sprung up? [00:06:27] I'm starting here to give you some encouragement tonight. This business that we call church planting is not easy. In fact, anybody who has set out to do this knows that you run into an endless number of all kinds of difficulties. and it takes a lot of building of infrastructure [00:06:58] and beyond that I want you to see something here. It groweth up, he knoweth not how. Let me make it very clear to you. I don't have any formulas to give you. If you have one, I'd like to see it. The truth of the matter is the kingdom of God And what God is doing on the face of the earth defies human imagination and quantification and categorization and all of that. [00:07:33] It just simply does. I am forever surprised. What I thought would work doesn't work. And what looked like it was going to be hopeless suddenly was not hopeless. But God began to do a work. And I'll give a few examples of this as we go along. In fact, probably an example that I should give you here since I might give this to you twice because it fits into my notes at another place. But an example of what I'm talking about. [00:08:05] Remember John, Jan, Amos, Comenius that I mentioned to you? There's a tremendous story about him that I'll reference later, but I'm going to give you at least a piece of it right now. Now, remember I told you that he grew up and ministered in what is today the Czech Republic. If you would look at a map, you would see that the Czech Republic and Poland and Germany today, [00:08:35] or the part of Germany called Moravia or Silesia, come together at a point in the Carpathian Mountains. That's all one juncture, like three farms coming together at one point. While under the intensity of persecution and with the Unitas Fratrum all but done for, he packed up his bags and walked out over the Carpathian Mountains where he did not know. [00:09:07] But as he and his three companions crossed the mountains in snowy weather, they stopped as soon as they had gotten out of Catholic territory into Protestant territory where they were safe. and they fell on their knees and they prayed and John Amos Comenius' prayer was Lord preserve a hidden seed raise up a hidden seed in this place that your name may be known again here [00:09:38] part of the answer to his prayer was the Moravian church I don't know So if you're familiar with Count von Zinzendorf and many of the, and David Zeisberger and people like this, these were people, these were Moravians. As a result of John Amos Comenius' walk across that mountain, he himself was hounded all over Europe, ended up in England, as I recall, wrote several books from there, never saw the thing come to fruition that he prayed about. [00:10:15] But as you follow the strand of events, you find out that eventually that unitus fratrum took root in the land of Moravia. They found a home on Count von Zinzendorf's estate. And there they began to form themselves into a congregation. And it's a fabulous, fabulous story. If you've never read it, you need to read it. Tell you what happened. Those brethren almost fell to pieces. [00:10:49] Did you ever hear of such a thing as bickering in church? That's what they did. Mind you, they bickered and they fought and they went on and it looked like that thing was going to collapse smack on his face. And Count von Zinzendorf, as the story goes, traveled around throughout the community and he himself was a Lutheran preacher. Mind you, yes, he was an ordained Lutheran, and he tried very hard to get these brothers to work together, and it didn't seem to be working out so well. And so one of them finally said, you know what, let's start a prayer meeting. [00:11:22] Let's start a prayer meeting, and I'll tell you what we're going to do. We're going to set this thing up to be a prayer meeting around the clock. We will have somebody in the community praying all the time. I don't know how they worked out the details of that, but that's what began. And you know how long that prayer meeting lasted? One hundred years. Here's what I want to say to you. Is it any surprise that it was the Moravian church that put out missionaries all over the world, [00:11:59] a number of years before the modern so-called missionary movement, And they had brothers from their community who would literally sell themselves into slavery in the West Indies and places like that so that they could minister the gospel. It was a group of people who put missionaries out all over the world way, way, way out of proportion to their numbers in respect to the other groups of people who were doing work in those days. [00:12:29] A hundred year prayer meeting. I've always wondered why it ended. That was the Moravian church. It grows. We don't know how. It grows on the basis of commitment. And I'm starting here so that you understand that the things that I have to share with you are not formulaic. They are not. I think successful church planting is like a tree [00:13:03] You see a tree somewhere and it's bearing fruit Just a month or so ago my wife and I were walking We like to take walks And we're walking on the back roads there around Guy's Mills And came across an orchard just out in nowhere There were these trees just laden with apples Almost breaking off And I stopped and I got into one of my meditative poses. I don't know if this ever happens to you or not, but when the lady of the household says, what are you thinking about? [00:13:39] And so I'm there looking at these trees. She says, you know what, I'm thinking about the person, the people. Who was it who planted this old orchard? Here I am. I'm looking at these trees, old and noble as it were, laden with fruit, producing and producing. That's what I see visibly. But you know, there is way more to this story than meets the eye. Who was it who came in here and first chopped down the trees and tilled the soil and planted these trees [00:14:15] and made a proper choice so that there would be trees that would stand this kind of environment, this kind of, and would grow in this soil and do, who was it? Almost guaranteed it grew, he knew not how. But there it was. And I'm telling you all over the world, you see, when this happens, churches spring up. Somebody planted. And God help us to have the courage to plant. I hope after I'm finished this evening that you will see why I believe that we need to continue to plant. [00:14:53] The burden of what I want to say here, at least in the beginning this evening, has to do with what we think of church. I have in my notes somewhere, and I'm not going to turn to them, but I'm just going to point it out to you. November the 9th, 1989 was the day in which the Berlin Wall came down. And with the collapse of the Berlin Wall and with the collapse of the so-called Iron Curtain, [00:15:25] suddenly all the doors were flung open that had been closed for some 70 years It's like as if they had a steel lock on them to Western Christian influence. And I remember of walking into the classroom that morning at Anchor Christian School and or the next morning or whatever it was and saying to my students, you know what, students, suddenly the doors are open in front of us and we are so tight on our seats and so unprepared that I'm afraid they'll go shut before we ever walk through them. [00:16:02] My question is why? Well, I have begun to wonder sometimes if we really believe in ourselves. What do I mean by that? Do we just play church or is it for real? You know, if it is actually for real, if we really believe the kinds of things we say, then pray tell. Why don't we stand up and do the work of the Lord? I have three questions that I think need to be answered before you ever set out on a church planting venture. [00:16:41] I'm already telling you ahead of time that there's no formula here. I can't tell you how to go out and do things and this will work in every case, but I can tell you some of the important questions. Actually, this grew out of what I shared at Meadville Mennonite Chapel here over about the last six months because we're trying to plant a church there. And as we've struggled with that, three questions that you have to answer. They're going to sound trite to you at first, but I hope I can demonstrate to you that they're more than just trite. [00:17:16] First is, excuse me, what is the church? Now, perhaps you already know, but I'm surprised the number of people who don't. If you ask them for a good solid definition of the church. I mean, after all, if I sent you out to plant Macintosh apple trees, you'd better know what Macintosh apple trees are. Or I don't know what you'll plant. Or if you ask me to plant some kind of tree that I know nothing about, well, who knows what you'll get. [00:17:51] You might come several years later when you instructed me to plant this delicious apple tree and find a pear tree. You'd say, Brother Melvin, what's the deal here? Well, the problem is I didn't know what an apple tree was, and so I planted the wrong thing. The question is, what is the church? The second question is, who are its members? This is very, very practical because I'm going to tell you what, if you've ever, ever been in the field somewhere, I'm talking about outside of Beechy Amish churches, outside of Mennonite churches, we're over there in Poland, and I'm telling you, these are difficult. Who are its members? How do you make a decision? How do you discern this? How do you know it? [00:18:29] And the third one is the worst question of all. Who says so? This is a very, very important question. Who says so? Where is the seat of authority anyway? Or maybe in our day, even a better question is, is there authority in existence? I'll not talk about all of these questions, but I will address a number of them as we go along. [00:19:08] On the first question, what is the church? First thing I have to say about this is in our day, most people think of the church on a contemporary basis and not an historical basis. Let me ask you a question. Over here on this side to the sisters. If you visit Chicago and you walk downtown Chicago, do you feel a little bit out of place? [00:19:40] You don't have to raise your hand. I kind of know how this is. Yeah, just a little bit. You feel like you are almost so different, probably, that how, you know, I think I know a little bit about the feeling. I've talked with my wife enough about this to know how it is. I have said wherever I get the chance to say this That's because we think in contemporary terms of the church Let me give you a little mind experiment [00:20:11] Let's go back to the very first century And let's just find a picture of a typical Christian family And post it right up here behind me Let's go to the second century and let's find a picture of a typical, I didn't say everyone, I said a typical Christian family and put it there. In the 3rd century, in the 4th, in the 5th, all the way up until the 21st century. [00:20:43] I have a question for you sisters. Would you fit in that series of pictures? In truth, you would fit far better than almost anybody walking the streets of Chicago. This is what I mean when I say we tend to think in terms of the contemporary church. Contemporary means now. What it's like now. Oh, no, no, no. [00:21:14] I want to tell you one thing. Many of the old fangled ways are quite at home in the historical church. And we have to remember something. We are not just representing Christ. We are not just representing Christ. Yeah, I don't want to say this. We cannot represent Christ outside of the historical flow of his church. I urge you, brothers. I urge you, sisters, take the time to study church history. [00:21:46] I've always said this, and here's the Christian education I'm going to just circle back here a minute You know I told you last night about the changes that happened in the 1960s and 1970s And the birth of the Christian day school movement There was something in that movement that was not anticipated It actually spawned, at least in the communities I grew up in, a mini-Renaissance A Renaissance among conservative Mennonites Now, why did it? I'll tell you what happened We didn't have teachers, right? So all of a sudden, we knew that we needed teachers, and so for years, some studies that had been neglected now began to happen. [00:22:26] It happened to me. John Martin told me about my third year of teaching, you're going to teach church history this year. That's okay. So I began to study and I began to teach. It was revolutionary. I started to teach that and I said, So that's why it's this way Oh, so that's why it's that way It just simply took the scales off my eyes And I began to see things I had never seen before [00:22:58] Even though I'd heard people talking about this And preachers saying this and saying that But I never really, it never got down into my heart That, just my teaching of church history that year Revolutionized my life It really did And I began to see what I had never seen before. And if you don't have a chance to teach church history, well, you find the nearest place where you can have a church history course and take it. You need to become historical Christians, not contemporary Christians. [00:23:32] And I'm telling you, it's a very different world. It's very different. Very different. I'll take my stand alongside Paul. I'll take my stand alongside Menno Simons I'll take my stand alongside the reformers who had their heads on right Those who went through the persecution and went through the fire and stood the test And I'm telling you, most of you sitting in this room, both in appearance and in practice, are far closer there [00:24:02] Than the contemporary Christianity that has become so popular out there I'm not lying to you, that's the truth What is the church? Be careful not to interpret it in terms or define it in terms of the contemporary world. It is a false view. I am quite certain of that. This is the reason that I don't make too much of an apology when we head off to Poland and people say, [00:24:36] I mean you're going to have to adapt this and adapt that and I do understand cultures are different and there is some adaptation that needs to be made I'm not arguing principles never change they are timeless they were timeless in the historical church and I want to pass that on to the next generation and if we do plant if there's actually a plant springs up in Poland I want it to be in the flow of the historical church Not the contemporary church [00:25:08] Let me let you in a little bit on this When we first went over to Poland The first time I was there was in 1998 Most of the ladies in the evangelical churches over there Were some kind of prayer veiling That was because they were shielded from the rapid westernization of the church For some 50, 70 years And so their assumption was that this was pretty typical of Christians to wear some kind of prayer veiling. [00:25:41] That ought to tell us something. They just simply were following along in the flow of the historical church. That's the practice it had always been, as Paul said. In ten years when evangelical, western evangelical Christianity hit them, I saw this with my own eyes. Off they went because they left the historical church and its understandings and interpretations [00:26:13] and adopted what was contemporary and what could be seen and what seemed to be immediately at their fingertips. Fortunately, some of them are rethinking just a little bit. It's just the contemporary church all but swept them off their feet. In the very town where we hold services, in Minsk Mazowiecki in Poland, we rented a building and up in the one apartment we have our services and right across the wall, somehow or another it ended up that the Baptist church rented that and they hold their services there. [00:26:53] We have to go over periodically and ask them to tone down their drums. Bought into the contemporary thing. Brothers and sisters, learn to think historically. And I really want to encourage you sisters. Yes, in the contemporary world, you look out of place. In the historical world, it's not true. It really is not true. You would fit. So God bless you when the last trumpet sounds and the curtains are drawn and we all stand [00:27:25] I certainly want to fit with the historical church But discernment is not so easy So what is the church? It reminds me of grain fields My boys, I grew up on a farm For a number of years my boys and I when I taught school in the summer I remember what we did was we harvested grain, my older sons. But my younger sons, when we drive down the fields, they'll say, Dad, is that a wheat field or is that a barley field or what kind of field is that? [00:27:58] And I'm talking about where the blades are up about four inches. And those of you who are farmers know that if you have a good eye for this, yeah, you can tell the difference between wheat and barley. But you better have a good discerning eye or you don't know the difference, at least not until it gets a little bit bigger. And I agree, I would not pull any punches here. It's difficult sometimes. You have to ask yourself, is that the real thing? There is a great need for discernment. But let's go to a word when we answer the question, what is the church? [00:28:31] The word is ekklesia. That's a Greek word. And I'm not trying to fool you. I'm not a Greek scholar. Just a little bit of here and there. A few things that I've been taught along the way. Ekklesia is the term for church. Wherever you find church in the New Testament, typically the Greek word is Ekklesia. E-K-K-L-E-S-I-A. Ekklesia literally means the rule of God. You'll find it interpreted, though, most of the times, the called-out ones. [00:29:06] Those who have, somebody has beckoned to and said, come out. I have a special purpose for you. This is the ecclesia, the church. And more about that in a few moments. What is it that calls them out? I'd like for you to turn to Matthew chapter 16. I consider this the great charter passage for the church. Matthew chapter 16, looking at verses 13 and on, very familiar passage again. [00:29:48] But remember, what I'm kind of trying to focus on here is, so what's under the ground? What are the roots that produce a tree that truly is representation of the historical church? Let's read. When Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist. Some Elias and others Jeremias are one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. [00:30:37] and Jesus answered and said unto him Blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jonah for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my Father which is in heaven and verse 18 is very significant and I say also unto thee that thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind it shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose in earth shall be loosed in heaven. [00:31:11] I ask you, what rock? That thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church. All over the world upon this basis there springs up the church. What is it? It is the confession that he makes. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Now, I'll just be very fair with you. [00:31:41] Going to Poland does raise all the questions about the cultural changes and cultural adaptations and all of that. But this point never changes. Never, never, never changes. What kind of confession is this? Thou art the Christ. Listen, that word Christ, Messiah, Lord, Master, Jesus Christ, you are Lord That is the primary confession that must undergird everything else [00:32:12] Must be central and it must be core Any Israelite who heard that comment would have known that Peter was saying a mouthful And so today the church is built upon that confession. Now, I have a great appreciation for the conservative traditional practices. [00:32:45] I won't make any bones about that. I do. I see value in them and I teach them. But I do want to tell you this. It's not the basis upon which churches are built The basis upon which churches are built is this confession Jesus Christ is Lord So when you're thinking about church planting in a very practical way I want to know in Poland As a Polish native person stands up and says [00:33:16] Jesus is Lord I want to know what that means How will that work itself out? You know what it means, really. It means I accept the authority of Jesus Christ in my life to have everything lock, stock, and barrel. So, of course, it does include the way he combs his hair, the way he dresses himself in his pocketbook, and all of the other things that we know are important issues, but it is on the basis of that confession. You do not get the guy's pocketbook straight so he makes a confession. [00:33:48] You get his pocketbook straight because of his confession. You don't get his hairstyle straightened out and by that get his confession right. You get his confession right and that is what determines his hairstyle. And see, in my opinion, as we go into Minsk Mazowiecki and people come to know the Lord, What we are waiting for is to see what the Lord says to those who have made this confession. [00:34:20] What will that look like? And I'll be fair with you, it's probably going to look a little different than what it looks like in Shipshawana, Indiana or in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. In principle, it will be no different. This is the basis. What is the church? The church are the called out ones that have taken up the confession with seriousness. Jesus Christ is Lord. And demonstrate that in daily life, in the way they live, the way they practice, the decisions they make, the places they go, the songs they sing, the books they read, that whole gamut of things. [00:35:02] The way life is lived is lived under the lordship of Christ. Find me a body of believers who have taken that seriously and are trying their best to live that way and I'll say, there's the church. There's the church. There's the church. Wherever this is happening all over the earth, there's the church. Oh, and just a comment. I read recently, and this was not a Mennonite writer at all, this was another writer, very, very fascinating, [00:35:33] in fact, from Texas, a fellow by the name of Richie, Mark Ritchie, I believe a Baptist perhaps. He was writing on the church and this is what he said. He said, you know, before the Reformation, nobody talked about the invisible church. You know, that's a contemporary notion. Now, do I believe in the worldwide body of believers? Yes, I do. But what he was pointing out, he said, before the Reformation, everybody thought in terms of coming to salvation in the church. [00:36:11] True, the Catholics got it out of whack and began to have salvation through and in the church. But he said nobody thought about the kinds of things that we think about today Individual, personal salvation outside of a visible body of believers Nobody thought of it I said boy that's strange because I hear that all the time nowadays And he actually, he was writing on the Anabaptist He said it was the Anabaptist who never gave up the idea [00:36:42] that Jesus Christ intended to raise up a body of believers all over the face of the earth in little congregations that you could actually see and participate in and work out the lordship of Christ in that body of believers. He said they were the ones who kept that idea alive. Much of Protestantism has given in almost entirely to the invisible church and personal salvation and hence there's no accountability to church, to the visible church at all. That is mistaken. I don't mean to be derogatory toward them, but listen my brothers and sisters. I think we need to counter this notion that, and I'm going to be really bold here, that formal membership is not important. [00:37:29] I disagree with that position, I really do The fact of the matter is, maybe there are better ways to do it But as of today, the best way we know how to actually work at building visible bodies of believers around the earth Who are accountable to each other is through what is typically called formal membership And I know that can go all kinds of bad places I do know that, I'm aware of that But the truth of the matter is, wherever it has been tried in some other way, the visible church, the visible disciplined church soon disappears. [00:38:06] And for that reason, I just say, well, it's important to have a sense of who are the members. And please hear me right. I know that there have been many abuses in this area, and I wish and pray to God that we would learn to set those aside. But the idea of a body of believers is the right idea. Let me give you an example here. It's easy for me to say that I love Chiang Kai-shek. [00:38:37] I can't think of any other Chinese name right now. He's 15,000 miles away. And I love him dearly. Well, of course I do. Because what difference does it really make? I believe he's my brother. Listen, I'm going to tell you something. Don't measure your love for the brotherhood by Chiang Kai-shek in China. Measure him by the brother who's sitting right by your side right now. In the visible body of believers where you can see and feel and touch and you have the opportunity to actually communicate love verbally, physically and in other ways, this is where it really counts. [00:39:19] And this is why wherever the Ekklesia is spoken of in the New Testament, Paul is always addressing the believers at Ephesus, the believers at Corinth, wherever it is. He's talking to a local body of believers and giving them instructions. If he were just talking about some general nebulous something sticking out there, it wouldn't mean nothing. It only means something where you can actually work it out and it actually happens. And that's the reason we've had it right over these years. [00:39:53] Let's not give up on this. It is the right thing to think about visible bodies of believers that are disciplining and caring and holding each other accountable to live under the Lordship of Christ. I thoroughly believe that. And I will admit to you that there are faith builders as people come and go. So I recognize that this is not really a very popular position these days, but that's where I'm at, and I don't make any bones about it. We had better not leave off of that, or I don't think it will go well with us. [00:40:28] If it's okay with you, I'm going to try to, rather than take a break, I'm going to try not to be lengthy. This is Saturday night. We won't take a break and I'll try to quit shortly after 830. So if I could go to question number three in particular, I think this is a big question today. Who say so? Now, hear me out before you declare that I'm a heretic. When the Reformation, from which our own Anabaptist roots are rooted in, [00:41:04] When the Reformation was underway, the opponents in the Catholic Church, this is what they said. They said, but gentlemen, we are going to predict what is going to happen if you have your way. If you have your way, there will be no end to interpretations of the Bible. And not only will there be no end to interpretations, there will be no end to applications. They didn't know the word denomination then, but if they'd have known it, they would have said there'll be no end to denominations. [00:41:40] I have a question for you. Were they right? Absolutely. I didn't tell you the Reformation should not have happened. I'm only telling you that their evaluation of where that thing was headed up front was a correct evaluation. Now, let me tell you what the difficulty was. If you trace the question of church authority historically through the church, here's what you find. [00:42:11] In the very early church, the apostles held authority. They had the last word. They were the ones who had been taught by Christ, and as a result, if there was a dispute in the end, these were the men who seemed to have the authority to say, this is what we're going to do. They were followed by the church fathers. The church fathers were those who had, I'm sorry, the apostolic fathers, they were the ones who had been taught by the apostles. And they sort of were ones who held kind of the final say, so to speak. [00:42:47] And of course, eventually, it became the church fathers, but with the coming of Constantine, church authority now was nested in civil authority. Okay, I know this is maybe just a little too theological for us here tonight, but the fact of the matter is much of this question, of the question down through the ages has been who says so? Almost all Christians agree that this, here's the, you know, the Bible is what we have. [00:43:22] But when it got to the interpretations, well then who says what's right and what's wrong? Now, big question. Come back to the authority of Christ. So Jesus is Lord, right? Almost all Christians, you can get almost any Christian around the world to say that. I want to know how is that experienced on earth? What actually happens? Well, I'm telling you, Christ exercises his authority through the church. [00:43:54] And in my opinion, we have to come to terms with that. We really do. Well, let me continue the line of thought. Here's where you're going to declare me a heretic. In the Reformation, they were tired of church authority. And I understand why. There was so much abuse. So their cry was sola scriptura Scripture alone, the Bible is final authority Well, you know, I actually agree with that [00:44:25] But look what happened As soon as that declaration was made That meant that the Catholics were right Because now it was however you interpreted it Just in the last two You know, the last three months, I sat down with a young man from a solid Mennonite home, conservative home, and he had made the decision to marry a divorced lady. I sat down with him and I said, well, he wasn't under my jurisdiction directly, but I had enough interaction with him that I thought it my responsibility to at least share with him what I some perspective. [00:45:08] So I sat down and I talked to him about what the scriptures say. We read some scriptures. And I said, what do you make of those? Well, he didn't say much. And I said, well, I need to tell you there's a problem here. And this was his comment. That's just your interpretation. It's a foolproof statement. You can't lose on it. So if in fact that's what sola scriptura means, we're no further ahead than we were before. [00:45:40] If what it means is everybody can take the Bible and they can just, verse by verse, they can say, well, that's what it means to you, but this is what it means to me. So you interpret it that way, I interpret it this way, and we all live happily forever after. He goes and marries a divorced lady and I say at my church we're not going to have divorced people because that's the way I see it. On we go. No wonder we have an endless panorama of practices and ideas and notions all over the place. [00:46:13] I'm afraid we have stripped the church of its authority. Even though, and I want you to hear me right, I believe it was time for something to change in respect to the Roman Catholic Church Certainly do, so the reformation I'm in step with in that sense But I think there was loss there And again, Mark Ritchie argues, he says, the Anabaptists, in spite of all of their problems, they tried to still say there is a real church authority [00:46:44] That you are responsible to They tried to work it out on brotherhood levels and so forth and so on. And by the way, you can go check this for yourself. Check this out yourself. It was never the by the vote. It was never go back and check the Anabaptist records. You didn't just take decisions and say, OK, we're going to vote on it. Fifty one percent decides. I'll tell you why. There is a tyranny of the majority. Even the founding fathers of the American nation knew this. [00:47:18] Those of you who have studied American history, you'll know that Thomas Jefferson, when the Constitution was written, he said, I will not sign that thing until there's a Bill of Rights. Why did he want a Bill of Rights? He said there are certain things, I'd call these absolutes in the world of Christianity, he said there are certain things that are non-negotiable. It doesn't matter if out of 100 people, 99 people vote for it. It doesn't make any difference. A man should be able to worship as his conviction teaches him to. We call that freedom of religion. [00:47:52] My point is, even our nation, our founding fathers knew better than to put everything to the vote. That's a mistaken view of the historical church's sense of how you call the shots, how you make decisions. Now, I want to be very, very careful. I realize I'm a church leader, and I'm not here to say, look, everybody just bows to church leaders. But somewhere or another, we have some recovery to do here. [00:48:25] We really need, we have to recover somewhere. What's happened in our day is it seems as though with the emphasis from the contemporary church, it feels as though nobody is allowed to say so. That really needs to change, I think. I just want to say as gently as I know how to the rising generation, think carefully about this point. If we don't know who says so, we are a loose cannon. [00:48:58] You just don't know where it's going to end up. And so for my part, I've been working hard in the churches I belong to. By the way, I should flesh out for you just a little bit further the Anabaptist concept of this. The Anabaptist concept was a brotherhood concept. It certainly was not the idea that leaders just go off and make their decisions and they just do them however they feel like it and everybody else just bows to them. That was never the idea and of course we've seen that happen and that is mistaken. It's not the right thing. [00:49:30] The opposite is just as bad. And that is we strip the leaders of any responsibility. We don't give them the tools that they need to actually lead in the church. That's as wrong. And as it is, just to give them a blanket statement, they can do whatever they want. Now, believe me, I don't have the answers here, but I'll just tell you a little bit where we've gotten to as we have struggled through this issue. At Meadville Mennonite Chapel, what we do is we sit together as the heads of homes, and when decisions need to be made, I work with them. [00:50:05] I get their input. I get their thoughts. Then we as a ministry, we work together to say, okay, that looks to us as though this is where we need to head and we're comfortable. If we are not, you might call it as a leader, I maintain veto power. Now look, there's quite a bit of difference between veto power and legislative power. Legislative power means I can make law at will. Veto power means I can say to the brothers, you know, look, I have questions about this [00:50:41] You are the ones that need to make the decisions You and I together are going to make that We're not making this decision apart But you're going to have to go back to the drawing board because that decision is not going to work And we need to rethink this Now you see the difference? If I were legislative, I would just say this is what we're doing Okay, but to maintain leadership, what I can do is say, brothers, are you thinking of this passage and this passage and this idea and this idea? [00:51:13] You know, I am just uncomfortable with this. Can we come back and talk about this again? In other words, if you can just stumble over top the objection of a leader, then you may as well not have a leader. really now you think about that for a while and I already told you I don't have all the answers here but it's important in church planting to answer the question who says so I'll give you those three questions again they're very very very important [00:51:45] write them down, mull over them for a while and consider them what is the church, who are its members and who says so And now I want to go to a passage and give you some great encouragement. I am going to explain to you in the next few minutes why I am a convinced Christian and why I, well, I don't know why I'm Mennonite, but why I'm a convinced Christian. I'd like for you to turn to Ephesians chapter 3. [00:52:17] The subject always warms me up, so I'll need to take my coat off. Ephesians chapter 3. Maybe just a little background here. When I was probably 20 years old, I never seriously considered leaving the church, But I had very serious questions about the whole thing called Christianity. [00:52:50] I said to myself, and I said to my wife, I was married by 20, I said, Mrs. Lehman, either this thing is for real or it's not for real. And if it's for real, then I'm going to give my whole life to it, and I hope you're going along. And if it's not for real, then I'm not doing it. I never had the temptation to become a drunkard or something like that but I will admit I had a bit of a temptation for jaguars and things like this which, you know, class [00:53:22] I could have gone that, I mean I'm not saying I had the ability I'm just saying that I could have been attracted that direction and I didn't see any sense, if this thing called Christianity wasn't for real I didn't see any sense why I should be strapped down from that. On the other hand, my dear friends, if the claims of Christianity, of the scripture, are real, then there is no reason but to give ourselves wholly to it, [00:53:56] and not because I need to escape hell, but because it has to be the finest way to live that there was ever presented. Now let me say that to you here in the book of Ephesians. This was a passage that really, really convinced me. Ephesians chapter 3 and I'm looking at well I should read this entire passage but I'm not going to I'm going to cut in at verse 14 for this cause and if we read ahead of that we would see that Jesus Christ is breaking down the middle wall of partition and so on. [00:54:29] For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man. whereof I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God [00:55:00] given unto me by the effectual working of his power unto me who am blessed in the least of all saints is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God who created all things by Jesus Christ and he's speaking here of the church bringing Jew and Gentile together in Christ [00:55:32] to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God and I want to stop there for a moment I don't know how you feel about this body of believers. I really don't. I don't know if it's where you attend. But let me tell you something. If this verse is anywhere close to right, you're at the right place tonight. It is in the fellowship of believers that you will find the manifold wisdom of God. I have a question for you. I know the Detroit car manufacturers are not very far from where you're at right here. [00:56:24] Would a GMC executive call one of these men into his office who was in trouble with his wife, was not getting along and say, brother, friend, do you know there is an eternal principle which you are violating? Do you know that it is one of the most unwise things you would ever do to divorce that lady whom you married 30 years ago? Are you aware that you're throwing your life away? [00:56:59] Anyway, do you think a GMC executive, the very best they have, would take the time out of his busy day to try to convince one of these brothers to stay with his wife who was struggling? I'm telling you right now, no. The answer is no. In fact, he would send you quickly to one of their personnel managers, and one of those personnel managers, If they thought that you were a very important person in their organization, and they knew that your role there in GMC was going to be hindered by staying with this lady, they would tell you to divorce her. [00:57:38] I'm not saying just that lightly, but they would not hesitate. Young man, I want to tell you something. You will find some of the best advice for your life seated right in this room. I'm serious you will find some of the best advice for your life seated right in this room I literally believe this God who made the earth [00:58:10] and the heavens and the worlds and all that is in chose in the last days to bring together all under Christ and in that body of believers to make the manifold wisdom, his wisdom, known to the entire earth. It says in another place that we ought to conduct ourselves in such a way so that when people walked in that door back there and sat down here, they would say, of a truth, God is here. What is this? Now, I've been astounded at how many times this has actually been manifested in my life. [00:58:46] Let me go back, take you back for a story to Poland again. Introduce you to Luke In Polish you would say Łukasz Luke, university trained, journalist in Poland Through our mission over there, came to know Christ He didn't come to know Christ, I mean He came to know, be exposed to the evangelical message Got to know some of our people a bit [00:59:16] And began to ask some questions He actually was agnostic, if not atheistic, grew up under, as a youngster in the communist regime, and so had been thoroughly taught these kinds of things, socialist, as a political position. So one time when I was over there, he knew that I was a teacher, and he can speak English pretty well, and so he said, say, let's go out for coffee. And so we went out for coffee, and we sat down, and did we ever have quite the discussion. [00:59:47] it was all over political philosophy and a whole load of things and one of his first statements is President Bush should go to jail, he should go straight to jail now, straight to jail okay, okay, why, so we talked about this and I began to explain to him that actually in the United States why there's a lot of people who give away money and do this and do that And I said, you know, as a Mennonite church, we believe in voluntary socialism, if you please. [01:00:20] Now, you know, when you're speaking to them, you have to use their language. I said, what you're talking about is government enforced socialism. I said, what we espouse and teach regularly and preach from our pulpits and in our Sunday school classes and in our families is that if our brother is in need and we have the means to meet that need, that is get in your back pocket and meet that need. He said, really? He said, but you don't really do that. [01:00:53] Well, I said, now, Luke, unfortunately, there are times when it doesn't happen the way it should. But in truth, I could take you to America today and probably find somewhere across the Amish Mennonite community where a barn had burned or had been blown down or something. and in two days or maybe even in one day, that thing would be up and that guy would be going again. And it would all be done free gratis. He said, really? And you teach that regularly? I said, well, look, it's in the Bible. It's what all Christian brothers and sisters have taught for all these years. [01:01:30] I didn't think I had gotten anywhere. We kind of went around various things and talked about this issue and that issue. The next day, I didn't intend to do this, I just happened to be walking down one of the streets, and Luke, this very highly educated Polish man, was coming the other way, oh, I don't know, up the block a little ways, and suddenly he spied me. Ron and Melvin, Ron and Melvin, he said, the Mennonites, the hope of the world. Oh, it's kind of a little bit broken English and I found it so, well, it blew me away. [01:02:10] Now, he obviously was overplaying his own words, I think. But by the way, he has come to know the Lord. My son, Shannon, was over there for a period of time and by and by he gave his heart to the Lord. He still is not a baptized member of the church there. I just talked to him three weeks ago. He's married, has a daughter, and is just seriously considering what life is about and where he should put his feet down. [01:02:41] I really do want to join your group. I really want to be a part of the believers there. But he said, there's some things I need to work through. Understood. And we're trying to help with that. I want to tell you, I really believe this. This is where the manifold wisdom of God is found. We need a high view of scripture. And we need a high view of church. I know there are troubles. I'm aware of that. I know that there are abuses. I know there are difficulties. [01:03:13] But I challenge you, where else in the world would you find that kind of teaching? Where else? You find it in the church of Christ. That's where you find it. And it's high time that what we do is stop our church bashing and begin to support and bless. I don't mean overlook evil. I don't mean overlook what's wrong. I don't mean any of that. [01:03:43] but there's a big difference between the brother and sister who come alongside a leader and say you know brother here's something I wish you would consider and could I help you consider could I help you think about it there's a big difference between that and going out all around the community and talking about all the bad things that are going on at church and and how this is this and that is that and so forth and so on there's a huge difference between those two And I call us, I'm telling you, God has brought a group of people some 400 years out of the Reformation [01:04:20] And we sit here and I stand here tonight a product of that I don't think we should lightly throw that to the wind I don't think we should lightly throw that to the wind It has been bought at the price of blood not only the blood of Christ but the blood of people who stood firm for what we're talking about tonight and I would that all of us would stand firm there too to the intent, oh by the way, look at verse 10 again [01:04:51] to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places let me read that in the NIV His intent was that now through the church the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms. Principalities and powers. Listen, this always gives me a little bit of an eerie feeling. This very night as we are seated here, as we are gathered together, this very moment, [01:05:24] If I understand this passage at all, the angels, the devils themselves look on and say, what is it that God is doing? It is a marvelous thing when a body of believers come together in unity under the authority of Christ. It draws the attention of the spiritual powers from the far reaches of the heavens. They say, what is that? Oh, they understand very well if it's a bunch of people who get together and they aren't any different to anybody else. [01:05:57] They fight, they bicker, they carry on, they do this and they understand that very well. But when they see a body of believers gathered under the authority of Christ, this passage says, that attracts their attention. That gets their attention. And they say, what can we learn about this great God who we serve? Let's go down there to, let's go down there to Indiana. That body of believers is gaping. Look at them, they're praying. What is this? And they learn something about the manifold wisdom of God. [01:06:30] That's why I'm a Christian. That's why I'm serving the Lord. That's why when I can, when I get a chance, I want to encourage people to serve God faithfully. Now, I need to wrap up here. I told you I'd finish by 8.30. I've got just a few minutes. We're talking about church planting. And my point to you is if we are careful in our congregations and if we are diligent to follow this and we experience it in our church life, [01:07:08] then it's true that when we go into Chicago or we go to Poland or we go to somewhere else and we begin to dig in the soil, we plant the seed. we're church planting we know what we're planting this is what we've experienced this is what life has been for us and there we are planting I think the reason the energy has gone out of missions is because we've lost a vision for the church and this is why I call us back to a vision of what God is doing [01:07:41] in the historical church this evening remember the lesson of the Chinese bamboo tree both in your personal life and in your congregational efforts and in your church planting efforts when the seed is sown when the seed is sown it grows let's go to Mark 4 and I'll close with that verse again we've already read it we know not how [01:08:11] We water it with our tears, we water it with our prayers. Chapter 4 of Mark. Oh, I'm sorry, I'm in the wrong place. Chapter 4 and verse 26. And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground, and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. [01:08:52] For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself, first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come. And may God grant this congregation a mighty harvest. Let's pray.