The Body: Prologue

THE BODY: PROLOGUE
Introduction:
Let’s start with a scripture…. 2 Corinthians 1:3-7

Do you ever wonder, “Why Gateway Baptist Church?” In fact, why church at all? Do we have this building and this property and all the administration, just so we can meet once a week for two hours? When we leave here are we any different? Has anything changed in our lives or the world around us? Why not just shut it all down, give the money to the poor and live our lives apart- pastor Rick could get a real job…. After all, most of us spend more time with our non-Christian friends, neighbours, family, and coworkers than we do with each other and our lives seem to be more affected by them than they are by our church family.

Over the next few weeks I want to introduce the doctrine of fellowship. But just do you don’t assume that fellowship doesn’t matter, let me give you a sample of some of responses to the question, “why church?”:

1. Fellowship is the product of Evangelism: 1 Jn 1:3 says, “We declare the gospel to you so that you may have fellowship with us because our fellowship is with God” (my paraphrase). So when you come into the presence of this church family, you come into the presence of God.

2. Fellowship pleases God and results in a reward: Mal 3:16 says, “those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened to them and a book of remembrance was written to record their names” (my paraphrase).

3. Fellowship means being connected to Christ: Being part of the Body of Christ is essential to Christian living. In fact, it is a rare occasion that one can be considered a Christian in isolation[1] because being a Christian means being under the headship of Christ, and being under the headship of Christ is impossible without being in the Body of Christ- you cannot be connected to head, without being connected to the Body.

I. The Year In Review:
Looking back on 2006, I am encouraged and edified by the knowledge that our church has accomplished so many things… things, hopefully, that make our fellowship meaningful, not to us, but to God!

· -We paid off some major debts last year. That’s a good thing because it is better that your tithe money should go to ministry rather then to debts.
· -We raised money for prisoners last February at our Valentine’s concert.
· -We had several baptisms and the gospel seed was planted all over our community with mission teams going out to several thousand people with the gospel.
· -There was the ordination service last spring.
· -VBS and Basketball camps brought us into contact with many families in our community.
· -We’ve provided outreach and ministry to the poor in our city.
· -The Ladies had a tea at the church last Christmas that really helped encourage the women in our church.
· -We expanded our eldership and added Joseph, whose wisdom and godliness will be of great benefit to our ministry.
· -We’ve also had many wonderful people join our church.

But not everything is rosey. I dislike it when churches and Christian groups put positive spins on everything and hide their heads in the sand when anything bad happens. But I would rather take chances an risk great things for the Kingdom of God and fail at it, rather then do nothing.
· -We’ve had some families who moved away and that really hurt us because we loved them and they loved us- they were like family.
· There are many things that we planned and hoped for, that did not come to fruition- I wish we could have seen more conversions; more people attending our revival services, more kids come into our Sunday School, more money go into missions and ministry; more fellowship and discipleship and prayer among our members….
· We also had some people leave us badly- because they didn’t like something or someone- a lot of times it was because of me: I am either too liberal to some or too conservative to others, and it really hurts when I become the lightning rod for people’s frustrations and unresolved issues.[2]

That brings me to my text. I don’t have time to exegete the entire passage this morning- but let me point out the key principle that Paul is encouraging us by here: v. 4 Paul says that God comforts us in our tribulations, in our hard times, whether it be financial loss, emotional distress, physical afflictions, the loss of loved ones, the hurt caused to us by others… or whatever else- insert your affliction here- God comforts us in it.

How does he do it? He does it through fellowship- He’s doing it right now, since you arrived here. He does it during the week when we come into contact with each other either by phone, email or in person over coffee or at a prayer meeting, or Bible study. The more you have fellowship, the more you receive comfort. Conversely, the less fellowship you experience, the more you deprive yourself of the comfort God has for you.

The second principle in v. 4 is that he comforts us in our tribulation so that we may be able to comfort those who are in trouble. In other words, we are comforted by fellowship with other believers so that we can bring comfort to them. It’s a symbiotic relationship- it’s like the trees which are sustained by Carbon dioxide and turn it into oxygen so that we can be sustained and in turn our lungs turn the oxygen back into carbon dioxide. When we have fellowship with each other, we breathe in comfort for ourselves and we exhale comfort for others. We do this in serving one-another according to our gifts.

And this interchange of comfort isn’t just done when things are good, it’s done best when things are bad- when a member suffers. When the church goes through a hard time is not time to leave and find a ‘better’ church. People who jump from church to church every time the new church goes through a struggle or has a setback deprive themselves of comfort when the day comes that they go through tribulations because they have not invested themselves in their church by sharing in the fellowship of its suffering sufficiently enough to make a comfort withdrawal; You can’t be part of the church for the good times and not the bad, or else when things get bad for you, there’s no comfort. You get what you give!

II. Look Forward to 2007:
I have a vision for our church for 2007; here are some things I don’t want people to say about Gateway. Things like:
· Gateway’s a ‘traditional’ church
· Gateway’s a ‘contemporary’ church
o Instead I want them to say something like, “Gateway is a biblical church.”
· Their theology is good, but they’re cold;
· Their theology is good, but it doesn’t show in their worship
o Instead, I want them to say, “They don’t just preach dry doctrine, but their theology produces heartfelt affections towards God and the things of the spirit.”
· Their worship appeals to the intellect, but it does nothing for me emotionally
· Their worship is very emotional, but it lacks any depth
o Instead, I hope they say, “These people worship God in Spirit and Truth.”
· They talk a lot about evangelism, but I never see anyone getting saved
· They make a lot of ‘converts’ but they have no plan for discipleship
o This is a church that is growing by making disciples because they preach the gospel boldly and in the power of the Holy Spirit.
· This church appeals to the old, but young people are better off at the church down the road
· This church appeals to the young, but older people will feel lonely.
o This is a church that honors the elderly who in turn serve the young with the wisdom that only their years can attract
· This Church talks about missions, but they don’t support any missionaries or church planters
· This church doesn’t even talk about missions- they think the great commission is optional.
o This is a world Christian church whose missionary work covers their Jerusalem and Judea as well as Samaria and the ends of the world.
· You see them all together for two hours on Sunday, but they have more fellowship with the world the rest of the week then they do with each other.
· They’re so cliquey it’s hard to break into their fellowship and feel like you belong.
o “These people love each other like family; they serve each other and they’re very inclusive of new people.”

Conclusion:
That’s my vision for 2007. That’s why we’ve chosen Fellowship as our theme for 2007, because fellowship is where all that happens. Fellowship is where we accomplish the task of evangelism; it is where we accomplish the mandate to worship in spirit and truth, to agree together in prayer, to disciple one another, and to comfort and be comforted by God through each other.

To paraphrase Paul, “For as the sufferings of Christ abound to (Gateway Baptist Church and its individual members), so our consolation also abounds to us. …as you are partakers of the sufferings (that we will share as a church and as individuals) so also you will be partakers of the consolation (that we will share with each other as a church).”

Notes:
[1] That does happen to shut-ins and prisoners, as well as converts in distant lands where it is illegal to become a Christian. But those are exceptions and even in those cases, there may be some contact with other Christians.
[2] (I’m just glad that I have had such a supportive leadership and membership to help carry me through those times of discouragement). This church will never become a famous mega-church because of me- I’m just not charismatic enough. But if this church becomes anything, it will be because of its members and that’s a good thing because charismatic leaders come and go, but the church will always be here.