Introduction - Knowing our Purpose
Many of you are familiar with the abundance of writings about leadership and corporate life. Everywhere we are learning that to succeed in life just as to succeed in business we must have clarity about our real purpose. A few years ago, a group of corporate leaders identified the top ten requirements for successful leadership. The number 1 requirement they unanimously identified was the need for every person to discover that fundamental goal, the achievement of which was the most important thing they could do with their lives.
They were not just talking about business. They were intentionally talking about life. They were saying that the most important thing a business person, a student, a teacher, a nurse, a manager, a homemaker or anyone else for that matter, needed to do to be a success in their field was to identify the single, most fundamental goal of their living.
The Saints - They Knew Their Purpose
St. Paul had a similar insight. He was one of the most successful religious leaders in his day, a man marked for advancement and expected to be influential among the great political leaders of his day. Yet he says: “I regard everything as just so much rubbish, compared to the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil. 3:8).
At this time of the year the Church celebrates "All Saint's Day"; indeed for this reason we sang the traditional song "For all the Saints" at the start of this service. The saints were people who lived ordinary lives but who took their task of being disciples of Jesus seriously. They knew that the fundamental goal of their lives was to serve God in this world because they were created by God to be happy with God in the next. The saints new the single defining purpose of their lives.
We Are Called To Be Saints
Sometimes we forget that the saints were ordinary people who did extra-ordinary things. Sometimes we forget that we are also called to be saints. We are called to follow Jesus into the mission field of our world and to know the purpose for which we were created.
The Church too, has to come to the same realisation that it exists for a purpose. We have to clearly and enthusiastically identify our purpose ..... the reason for living that is “to die for”. Sometimes we find this difficult, or we find churches that have statements of purpose that, like ours, are so long that no one can remember it!
Finding our Purpose as a Church
Without finding our God-given purpose we will die. No matter how friendly a church is, it will die unless it is able to help people understand and enthusiastically identify the most fundamental goal of living - to help people understand and fulfil the call they have to serve God in this world and be happy with God in the next.
People will ask us and we need to ask ourselves: “What is the point? What is your fundamental purpose as a church? Where are you going? What is “to die for” here? What is so important about your church that nothing...can take the place of this church in my life? What is so important about what you are about in this church that deserves the sacrifice of all that time and money you keep asking me for?”
We need to ask these questions of ourselves and have answers for them.
Finding our Vision
In order to help us do this I have prepared both this sermon and a set of materials to use over the next week or so to help us find our vision, to help us discern God's ideas and vision for this church. This is not an exercise to find my vision for the church, not an exercise to find the Board's or to find the men's vision, or the women's vision, or any single groups' vision, but an exercise we all need to take part in, so that we can find God's vision together. We will ask those who come here a lot, and those who come here less frequently and we will find ways of asking those outside of the church too, those on the edge of the congregation.
Sometimes we get sidetracked and think odd things about what our purpose and our vision is.
All these things are important. Hopefully we do serve great coffee, hopefully we do offer friendly conversation, hopefully we do give opportunities to build relationships and hopefully we do give a chance for us to engage in deeds of charitable service, and of course we offer the chance to have someone stand beside us when we go through the trials of life - but none of these things are central to our vision and purpose - they all spring from it.
What is it about our church that is “to die for?” People in growing churches have a deep, shared under-standing that something about their church involvement is as important to them as eating, sleeping, and working. Something about their church involvement is as essential for life as vitamins. Something about their church experience leads them to prioritise it among the top three activities of their week .... right up there with sex, television, and Alcoholics Anonymous. It is “to die for”. It is essential. It is the purpose of life. The motivating vision of a congregation may vary one from another, but the one Great, Big, Hairy Audacious Goal always remains the same. It is the experience of Christ, for Christ’s sake!. “I want to know Christ,” Paul says, “and to share in his sufferings, and to know the power of his resurrection.”
There is a group out there that can meet every one of our most important physical, emotional, intellectual, and, yes, even spiritual needs ..... except one. Only the Church can help me experience Jesus. Only the church can make my most meaningless sufferings matter for eternity. Only the church can help me be truly victorious over addiction and death.
The Process
Usually finding our exact purpose requires a good deal of prayer and thought. We will follow a process of discernment which will:
Core Values
First, we need clarity and consensus about our core values.
A core value is the choice or preference you make spontaneously in daily living. When you honk your horn and shake your fist at a commuter who cut you up on the road, you reveal your core values .... no matter what you profess in church on Sunday about caring for humanity.
And when you readily abandon your expensive shopping to run to the aid of someone who has slipped on the ice, you reveal your core values ..... no matter how penny-pinching you may seem.
We need to recognise and celebrate the core values that bind them together in a positive relationship. Some years ago we invited one of our elders to come and work with us to define our Core Values. These are printed in our material for you to reflect on this week. Ask yourselves if these really are the values which bind us together, or if we have missed something.
Bedrock Beliefs
Next, we need clarity and consensus about our bedrock beliefs.
A bedrock belief is the principle, symbol, or truth to which you habitually return in times of stress or confusion. When you buy a lottery ticket the day after losing your job, you reveal your bedrock beliefs .... no matter how much you talk about grace in church. And when you enter surgery babbling over and over again “The Lord is my Shepherd ..... The Lord is My Shepherd ...”, you reveal your bedrock beliefs ..... no matter how forgetful you are about the Christian Year.
We need to recognize and celebrate our bedrock beliefs which give us strength in times of stress and part of our reading will help us define these.
The Vision
Only now can people expect to receive authentic, Biblical visions. A vision is the “song in the heart” that will motivate your every moment of living. It is the nugget of hope, the pearl of great worth, that revitalizes you the instant it is brought back to consciousness. When the first thing you do after a long day’s work is reach for the scotch and soda, you reveal your vision ..... no matter what the mission statement of our church might say. And when the first thing you do is hug your spouse, you reveal your vision ...... no matter how big an argument you had the night before.
We need to be “grasped” by a vision, and “carried away” by the purposes of God.
Having Done this…..
Conclusion
I believe that we as a congregation that has been to Hell and back this year can become ready to receive a Biblical vision. It means setting aside all the rubbish that we have been through in our lives and in our life together. It means surrendering everything that was merely secondary. It means clarifying our core values and bedrock beliefs. It means asking for God to reveal God’s vision.
Having discerned God's vision for our congregation every one of us needs to commit our whole lifestyle so that it is aimed to connect Jesus to the spiritually hungry. Every one of us needs to be committed to a spiritual discipline, and to develop entrepreneurial ministries which will bear lush fruit in unexpected places. People will say, “If you want to be really alive, go there!” We will be known as a “Summer in the Soul” church.
And everything we will try to do in this church will speak of being with Jesus. Everything we try to do will be about serving God in this world and being happy with God in the next. Our next song speaks of the happiness we will find with God. Please rise, as you are able, to sing Paul Oakley's song 'There's a place (Because of you)'
This sermon was first preached in the Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester. Click here for further information.