Living on Mission
Tom Shrader calls believers to honest self-examination, asking two questions: where does God fit in your life, and where do you fit in God's plan? Drawing on the 'I Am' declaration of Exodus 3, Isaiah's vision of God's glory in Isaiah 6, and James's warning against being hearers only, he argues that a genuine vertical relationship with God must overflow into horizontal action — loving neighbors, proclaiming the gospel, and being the church rather than merely doing church. The teaching concludes with a direct appeal for East Valley Bible Church members to engage in area ministry, connecting their everyday lives to God's redemptive work in the world.
“God saved you for a reason and for a purpose. When I understand who He is and He gets bigger and bigger and bigger, I begin to understand that God's doing something incredible in this earth, and He invites us to be part of it.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Standalone Teachings
Recorded: 2007 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 57 min
Themes: mission, evangelism, self-examination, obedience, gospel, community, purpose, neighboring, feeling spiritually stagnant, new believer, church member, struggling with complacency, young adult, searching for purpose, longtime churchgoer, community volunteer
Scripture: Exodus 3:6, Exodus 3:13-15, Isaiah 6:1-4, Romans 5:6-8, Romans 12:1-2, Ephesians 2:1-5, James 1:22, James 2:14-16, Hebrews 10:24-25, Revelation 2:1-4, Philippians 2, Revelation 1:8, Psalm 23
Theological Themes: missio dei, reconciliation, incarnational ministry, ecclesiology, being the church, divine calling, great commission, sanctification
Full Transcript
Opening Prayer
We can, because of Your grace and mercy, have a point in our life when we are reconciled with You through Jesus. And God, after You have brought us into that relationship, You have in turn given us a ministry of reconciliation — to take this message to the world. God, we pray that we would do that in a way that would be glorifying to You, and that in the midst of all we say and do, You would receive the honor and the glory. We pray to You in Jesus' name, amen.
Welcome and Announcements
Good morning. Great to see you this morning. Please grab the bulletin, and let's take a second — especially those of you here with us for the first time — we want to welcome you and extend to you our greetings. We ask you, if you would be so kind, to complete that guest registry card. We would love to talk with you and meet you personally, and that card will start that process.
Next week is the next Connect to EVBC class, and you'll see it there in the bulletin. If you want to join us for that class, it will give you an opportunity to meet some of the staff, talk about core values and all sorts of things, and help you understand who we are — and us to meet you. I will come over at the end of that, after this service, and we'll have lunch together. I'll spend an hour or an hour and a half — however long it takes — to be with you. Our time together is driven not by a presentation that I make, but by your questions, and it is a wonderful time, so I look forward to that. Please register so that we can have lunch prepared for you, and if you have children you'll be bringing, we want to make sure that we have a place for them as well.
There are a lot of things in the bulletin, and I want to trust you to work your way through them. One thing I noticed that is particularly noteworthy is the women's ministry events, so please take a look at those. I want to draw your attention especially to the Hints Gathering scheduled for October 13th. That is the good part of a Saturday, and it is a tradition here on campus. If you've been around, you know how significant that time is. If not, you can begin a new tradition — it is a great time to exchange practical ideas, there are classes available, and lunch is included. Ladies love it, so please register and take advantage of that.
Also, there is an insert in the bulletin on M25, which is our monthly outreach where we bring provisions here and then take them out into the community. Last month, the volunteers were saying it was incredibly light — meaning far fewer contributions than normal. That is understandable; it gets lost in September. But you need to know that when we don't step up, there is a hole in the community, and the community is counting on us. Please take that seriously. It is a wonderful, simple habit — just put the insert on your refrigerator, collect things throughout the week, and then bring the bag with you when you come on Sunday. What you bring does not stay on campus; it goes right into the community in a very targeted, directed way. Please take advantage of that.
Let me also mention that there is a tour to Israel that has been set, with the date right after the first of the year — I believe January 1st. There are four or five spots left due to some cancellations. Jerry and Joey Smith are heading that up as a team from the church, so if you are interested, contact the church office and Mary will give you Jerry's number so you can reach him directly.
A Little College Football
What a wonderful day yesterday for college football. If you like underdogs, they were winning like mad. Susan and I were in the car earlier in the week, and she asked what I thought about that Saturday in college football. I told her that every year there is a Saturday with a bunch of upsets, but I said I knew it would not be this particular Saturday — which tells you exactly how much I know about college football. I thought some of these teams were going to have something close to a bye, and to watch them all fall was something. Notre Dame is 0 and 5 — can it get any better? The Devils won and the Cats won, so that is good.
I have decided on a new tradition this year: the Sunday after Rivalry Sunday, we will play a little bit of the fight song of the winning team. My sense is that six or seven years from now, you may hear Bear Down — but I do not care. I hope you understand that — I genuinely do not care. But I know you all do, and that is what makes it so much fun for me personally.
Introduction: Living on Mission
Next Sunday, we begin an in-depth examination of the 23rd Psalm. We will take as much time as we need. Somebody asked the other day how long I think that will take. I know it is not one week, but I doubt it is a year — somewhere in between. We will take as long as it takes to work our way through the 23rd Psalm. I want to get that in front of you so that you can begin reading and rereading it, come along with me, meditate on it, and make some notes. There will be things I talk about with you, and things God will reveal to you through His Spirit, as we really permeate ourselves with the 23rd Psalm. We will start that next week.
Today, I want to put a bow on these four weeks we have spent talking about area ministry. Area ministry is so important to East Valley Bible Church, and if you do not already see that, I hope by the end of today you begin to see why it matters so much to us.
Recapping the Series
I began the first week by talking about how busy we are. I think we can stipulate that most of us are not just busy but too busy. Then secondly, in talking about church, I really hope you understand that I understand how most of you live. I have been there. I have had kids, raised kids, and had kids in different endeavors. My girls were cheerleaders, so I went to game after game. I was the only guy at basketball games saying, "Somebody take a timeout — they have been working on a new cheer and we need to hear it. I do not care about the score. I care about what these girls worked hard on." I have been to all of that, and I understand how demanding it is. And yet, in the midst of that, it is really an obligation on our part to not be too busy.
I have great respect for you — I do not know if I express it or if you feel it, but I have great respect for all of you who are serious followers of Christ and who have chosen to make East Valley Bible Church your home. You work eight, nine, ten hours a day, five or six days a week. Maybe on Saturday you take care of chores around the house. Sunday is a free day, and many of you — in fact, if you did not, we could not exist — decide to spend half a day with us, either both services in the morning or in the afternoon.
Then you hear us talk about area ministry and think, "Wait a minute. They just talked about how busy we are, and now they are piling all this other stuff on top of us too." That is not our design. Our design is to say to you: look at your life. Remove the things that are taking time unnecessarily and pulling you away from what God might have you do. Then with what is left, let us see how we can live that life in a more deliberate way. That is what area ministry is all about.
The Purpose Statement of Area Ministry
We have decided to use these last two weeks to focus on the purpose statement: area ministry exists to glorify God by equipping believers of East Valley Bible Church who live in close proximity to each other to minister to one another. That is what we talked about last week, though I think these next two elements are inseparable. The second part of the purpose statement is to relationally reach out to the lost who live around them.
I want to bring that together today, and I have decided to do it with two questions. These are probably questions some of you have already thought about. Your instinct will be to give some sort of answer — to yourself, frankly — that you would expect to be the right answer or know to be the right answer. I do not want you to do that. I want you to think about these honestly, truthfully, sincerely, thoughtfully, and deliberately.
Two Questions
Here is the first question: Where does God fit in your life? What is His place? What priority is He? What value does He hold in your life?
The second question flows from the first, which is why this sequence matters to me. Where do you fit into God's plan? God is at work in this world doing something significant, and He is using His people — men, women, students — in that plan. Where do you fit into it?
I think the first question is the more significant of the two, in the sense that it answers the second, or at least gives it a level of perspective.
Moses and the Call of God
Open your Bibles, please, to the book of Exodus. I want to look at a section in the life of Moses. If you do not have a Bible with you, I encourage you to head over to the Commons, to the bookstore, and have them help you find the Bible that fits for you. For now, you can grab the pew Bible in front of you — that is page 42.
Here is what has happened. In Exodus chapter 3, verse 6, God said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. And the Lord said, "I have seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their suffering. So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians."
God said, "I hear their cry. I understand that cry. I understand your pain, and I am ready to move." And He tells Moses that Moses is the one who is going to do this — that he is a key figure in all of it. There is a lot of history there. Moses is now 80 years old. For the first 40 years he thought he could do it all on his own, and the last 40 years he spent in the wilderness.
God's Name and What It Means
Moses said to God, "Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you.' Now they may say to me, 'What is His name?' What shall I say to them?" And God said to Moses, "I am who I am. Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I Am has sent me to you.'" God furthermore said to Moses, "Thus shall you say to the sons of Israel, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me to you,' and My name is forever."
God had a task for Moses. Moses said, how will these people ever believe that I am part of what You have decided to do? And God says, you go to them and tell them I Am. You go to them and you declare My name, and that name represents all that He is and all that He is about.
A Word from the Men's Conference
I was gone last week at Cannon Beach, Oregon, doing a men's conference. What I have discovered, having done hundreds of these literally, is that most often at men's conferences, what men expect you to talk about is marriage, kids, and that kind of thing. I told them in the very first session that I did not want to talk about marriage and kids and all of that — not because it is not important, but there is a bookstore right there. Go buy a book. Plus, most of you already know what to do.
We had the same experience the previous spring when my topic for the ladies was what a husband needs from a wife. I asked the women the question, and they answered it themselves. I said, then there is no point in me spending forty-five minutes telling you what you already know. The more important question is: if he is not getting that, why is he not getting it from you?
I said to those husbands at the conference, here is what the Bible says — you have been around long enough to know it: love your wife as Christ loved the church. Knowing that is my responsibility. That is not my problem. My problem is doing it. What I have discovered is that for me to be the husband Susan would want me to be, and to be the dad that Sarah and Haley would want me to be — the grandpa and all of that — it almost automatically takes place when I am in right relationship with my Lord. That is why I start with the question: where does God fit into your life?
The Danger of the Vertical Without the Horizontal
We have talked a great deal over these last weeks about how we should live in the one-anothers, and we are going to talk about more of it today. But it all begins with this understanding of God and who He is. In preparation for that, I have been reading extensively over the last six weeks, including rereading a book we have discussed often here: *I Am Not But I Know I Am* by Louie Giglio. I thought of it as I was reflecting on this whole idea of Moses.
Giglio makes this point, and he writes the following. He is talking about God coming to Moses and saying, I have this thing to do, and Moses asking, what should I say to them? Giglio picks it up here: "God was in no way obligated to answer, yet without hesitation He did. To this aging shepherd, God revealed His name, saying, 'I am who I am. Tell them, I Am sent me.' I am pretty sure Moses did not get it right away. In fact, he was probably thinking, that is what I am asking You. Who are You? It is almost like, who's on first? The reply came back: I Am. That is who I am. Your name is I Am? That is right, Moses. I am who I am. My name is I Am."
Giglio continues: "I wonder how long it took for God's name to register in Moses' brain. In English, the name I Am is translated into the verb to be, or simply be. God knew it was imperative for Moses to know who He was — that He was I Am. I Am is the present tense, active form of the verb to be. As God's name, it declares that He is unchanging."
Did you catch that? Exodus 3: My name is forever. It is unchanging. It is constant. It is unending. Always present. So what God was telling Moses was: I am the center of everything. I am running the show. I am the same every day forever. I am the owner of everything. I am the Lord of everything. I am the creator and sustainer of life. I am the Savior. I am more than enough. I am inexhaustible. I am immeasurable. I am God.
The Point of Understanding Who He Is
Now that is imperative for us to understand. We can pile a whole lot of religion on people — a whole lot of do this or do not do that — but you are not prepared for real-life ministry, hands-on ministry, until you get this right. Someone I know well, respect, and care for was in my office this week and suggested that perhaps there is a change in emphasis taking place at East Valley Bible Church, and wondered whether it was a good thing.
The point they raised was this: we have historically focused on the vertical relationship — us to God, understanding that there is a horizontal dimension as well, but really centering on the vertical and preaching the Word. It is such a thrill. I cannot tell you how many pastors would love to trade places with me and come into a church where people are saying, preach the Word, preach the Word, because you do not hear that very often.
But I want to make sure we understand the point of this vertical relationship and this understanding of who He is: it is so that we are now prepared to live out the horizontal relationship. This is really important. If all we do is the vertical, we have missed it. If all I do is pursue God — have my quiet time with Him, my devotion with Him, study His Word — and I miss the horizontal, I have missed it. If as a church all we do is study the Word and study the Word and study the Word, and we miss living it out, we have missed it.
Being the Church, Not Doing Church
We need to be very careful that we become so focused on this horizontal relationship that, as James says it, we become a hearer of the Word and not a doer — that we can begin to check boxes and be so excited. I hope you hear what I am saying. I rejoice that we come together and say the Word of God is important. A gentleman was making a point to me recently: he said he comes to church and people have Bibles and notebooks, and how exciting that is, and he does not see it as much anymore. That may simply be because of the topic and where we are, or it may be because there are more and more new people here who have not quite learned the drill yet, or we have not really emphasized that to you.
What I do know is that the vertical study and the importance of God will never go away. But this horizontal relationship is really essential to us living the Christian life. What we are really talking about — and I did not write it until this morning — what we are really talking about, with area ministry and all of that, is being the church, not doing church. My fear is that we can fall into the trap of doing church. I am not talking about doing church; I am talking about being church. And all of that flows from this vertical understanding.
The Great "I Am"
Let me read it again. "I am this God. I am the center of everything. I am running the show. I am the same every day. I am the owner of everything. I am the Lord. I am the creator, the sustainer of life. I am the Savior. I am more than enough. I am inexhaustible, immeasurable. I am God." What Moses is hearing from God is: as you go and begin to be about this work that I have selected for you, I want you to remember — and I want you to tell everybody else — this all flows from "I am who I am."
Isaiah's Vision of God's Glory
Turn to the right. This is a pretty familiar passage. It is page 490 in the Pew Bible — Isaiah chapter 6. The Old Testament may flap open to that for some of you because we have been there so many times, but it is a beautiful picture of this. Page 490, Isaiah chapter 6, verse 1:
*"In the year of King Uzziah's death, I saw the Lord sitting on the throne, lofty, exalted. The train of His robe filled the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings. With two they covered their face, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is filled with His glory.' And the foundations of the threshold tremble at the voice of Him who called out, while the temple is filled with smoke."*
This is the vision of Isaiah seeing the pre-incarnate Christ. So when Paul tells us in Philippians 2 that Jesus emptied Himself, He emptied Himself not of His deity — this is what He emptied Himself of: His glory, His position. For a moment in time, He became man and dwelt among us, fully God and fully man.
It is the same thought that John gives us in the book of Revelation, where Jesus said to him, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last." Jesus is communicating to him that He is omniscient, all-knowing, and transcendent — that His perspective is eternal, that He is not confined to space and time, to an event, to a moment. He is God.
Dwelling on Who God Is
Those of you in the chapel sang a few minutes ago: "Our God is an awesome God, He reigns in heaven and earth with wisdom, power, and love. Our God is an awesome God." I am convinced in my own life that for me to be the man God calls me to be, I need to understand that He is an awesome God. Not just sing it, though it is important to sing it. Not just read it, not just declare it, but to dwell on God and who He is.
Is that too philosophical, too removed? I do not think so. I have been having a terrible time sleeping lately. I used to say to my dad, "I do not get it — how can you not sleep? Sleep is just a great thing." But it has eluded me lately. The other night I was lying there at two o'clock in the morning, and I had not been asleep yet. I had gone to bed at eight-thirty — and that could be part of the problem. I went to bed Thursday night at six twenty-two, so that could be part of it as well.
It was two o'clock and I had on talk radio. I was contemplating quitting this and doing talk radio at night, because apparently anybody can do talk radio and nobody actually listens. Other than Jim Bohannon, it is really bad. They were talking about whether there is life on another planet — life in our solar system. A physicist said, "I do not think we will find life as we understand it in the solar system, and perhaps not even in the universe."
The Universe Declares His Majesty
I want you to think about this carefully. I would not be surprised if we never find life anywhere else in the universe. Because God created this universe to show us His power and His majesty. To see something this vast — ever-expanding, moving, growing — and yet it is just this little marble that we are on, and that is all there is in it. Why would He do that? Why did He fill all that space out there? Think of all the opportunity for development and all the things that make life beautiful.
God's Greatness and Glory
Giglio writes, "Our God is more massive than our wildest imagination, bigger than the biggest words we have to describe Him. And He's doing today, sustaining the galaxies, holding the stars in place, stewarding the seemingly chaotic events of earth to His conclusion within His great story. He is constant. He blinks and a lifetime comes and goes. To Him, one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day. All of human history could be written on His fingernail with plenty of room left over."
"And God is doing well today, thank you. He has no dilemmas, no quandaries, no counselors, no shortages, no rivals, no fears, no cracks, no worries. He's self-existent, self-contained, self-perpetuated, self-powered, self-aware. In other words, He's God and He knows it."
"When God made the universe, His goal was not to make a habitat for man, but rather to make a statement about Himself. As He fashioned earth, God was not simply acting as man's interior or exterior decorator, creating a global environment we would all really love and enjoy. He was thinking mostly about Himself. When He initiated the first ocean wave and carved out the earth's deepest canyons, forming the very dirt we call home, God intended that everything about it would point us back to Him."
"When He created the first man and woman, God wasn't obsessed with the glory of the human race, but with His own glory. And it's there everywhere, mysteriously woven into our DNA, the image stamp of the Creator allowing us to share a unique intimacy with the Almighty and reflecting His glory. God does everything He does for His own glory. He approaches every decision with the question, what will bring the most attention and honor to me in this situation? What will glorify me and make me look the very best? And then He does whatever that is."
That is the God we are talking about. I don't want you to simply note that He is at the very top and move on. I want you to own this. I want you to think deeply about Him — about the universe and its expanse, about Him holding it all together, and about all that He is.
What This God Has Done for Us
Now let's take it one step further and go back to the book of Romans. For those using the pew Bible, the New Testament begins fresh numbering at page 122. Turn to Romans chapter 5.
Some of you in this room are followers of Christ — this God who created all of this and spoke it into existence, who holds everything together, who declared, "I am everything." In the midst of all that, Romans chapter 5, verse 6 says: "While we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly." Paul is writing to believers here, but we can make it even more personal: while I was still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for me, the ungodly. "And God demonstrated His own love toward me, in that while I was yet a sinner, Christ died for me." This marvelous, infinite God decided in His wisdom to save some — to send Jesus to die so that we could have eternal life.
Now turn to the book of Ephesians, chapter 2, page 151 in the pew Bible. Again, Paul is writing to believers. "While you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked according to the course of the world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience — among them we, too, all formerly lived in the lusts of the flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the rest." This is as lost as everyone else. While we were in that condition, verse 4: "But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved."
By grace — unmerited favor — you have a right relationship with Him. This begins to make sense because of who God is and what He has done in your life.
Owning What We Claim to Believe
Now push all of that out further and further this week. Think about it, return to it again and again, and let it shape this question: where does God actually fit in your life? When I begin to think about who He is and who He says He is, I have to ask myself — I say I'm a follower of Christ, I say I'm a Christian, I say I'm a Christ-follower — what place does He actually take in my life?
If I tie all these weeks together, I have to look at my busyness and ask how much of it is genuinely driven by the conviction that He is the most important thing in my life. When we sing those wonderful songs — and Gary does a wonderful job of putting together an incredible worship service — he will often select a song and say, "We're about to sing 'I Surrender All.'" But do we really mean it? The honest answer is somewhere between yes and no. I really doubt that I have surrendered all for a full week, for seven days, or even for a full day, or even for an hour.
While I was away, one of the songs the congregation sang was "Jesus, You're All I Need." It coincided with a section I was reading in a book where the author makes this observation: you don't know if Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have. As long as there is something else in which you can place even one ounce of confidence, you are never really going to get there. But when everything else is stripped away and you say, "Jesus, You're All I Need," then you begin to understand what that fully means.
Like the Apostle Paul, you can speak of being perplexed, crushed, surrounded, with no way out — and then...
Where Does God Fit in Your Life?
You see God work. It's one of the marvelous things God does through suffering and pain in our life. He allows us to see His grace and His majesty in the middle of all of this. So that's question one: where does God fit in your life? Don't give the Sunday school answer. Be honest with yourself. He may be a six in your life when He's supposed to be a ten.
The second question flows directly from the first. What part does God play in my life will also determine where I fit into God's plan.
Doers of the Word
Look at the book of James. Go to the right from Ephesians — past Hebrews, you get to James. In the Pew Bible, that's page 177. James is talking about life, and he gives us this admonition in verse 22: "But prove yourselves doers of the word, not merely hearers who delude themselves."
That's why I come back to that comment. The vertical — Bible study, breaking God's Word apart — that is really important. That's the basis of it. But if all we do is study, if all we do is the vertical and we never get to the horizontal, we haven't done the vertical right.
God is working His way through history, through your life, through your community, through this world. James warns these scattered believers: don't just be a hearer. Don't just study. Going chapter by chapter, verse by verse, making notes — all of that is good. But it's not good if you make those notes and do nothing with them.
Let me say it again, because I don't want you to misunderstand. I love being part of a church where people say, "Preach the Word, preach the Word, let's do it." But we can become rock solid in our doctrine and still miss it.
The Church at Ephesus
Keep your finger in James, because I want to come back to it. Go to the right to the book of Revelation. Some of you feel your heart begin to beat quickly just hearing those words, thinking we're going to get into some great end-times discussion. We're not. We're only going to chapter 2.
Right now in Priority Living we are working through the seven churches. Jesus is the one who speaks here, and He speaks to the angel of the church at Ephesus. "Angel" can also mean messenger, so this is likely the one reading the letter to the church there in Ephesus. Jesus identifies Himself as the one who holds the seven stars and walks among the seven lampstands. Then He says, "I know your deeds."
Let me stop right there. "I know your deeds." That can be a terrifying and comforting statement at the same time. What Jesus is saying is: I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I'm God. I know everything you've done, everything you've thought, everything you're going to do. I know your past sin, your present sin, your future sin. You can't fool Me. And while that may be terrifying, it is also very comforting, because even in that context He says, "I love you and I'll never leave you or forsake you."
So here is what He says to this church: "I know your deeds and your toil and your perseverance." The word "toil" means they are literally working to the point of exhaustion. He continues: "and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false." When people came in, they studied the Word and measured what was being said against it — and when it didn't hold up, they put those people out. "And you have perseverance and have endured for My name's sake, and have not grown weary."
Now, picture that moment. The elder reads this letter aloud, and from Jesus the congregation hears: "I know all about you. You work really hard. You persevere. You have discernment." At that point these people are thinking, this is great. We're a great church. We toil to the point of exhaustion. This is really good.
But there's always a "but" in there. I had a meeting with someone the other day, and they spent ten minutes telling me how great I was. It was so powerful I was beginning to embrace it as truth. Then, in the middle of a sentence, I said, "Please tell me there's not a 'but' coming." And he said, "No, there's no 'but' at all. I just wanted to communicate this to you. I assume you hear it all the time, and I wanted to add my voice to the chorus of people telling you how significant the church has been." So that was a good meeting.
You Left Your First Love
Jesus, however, does go on: "But this I have against you, you left your first love." That first love most likely refers to their love for God and for Christ, their love for one another, and their love for the lost.
Here is what I want you to see. That church was vertically sound. They worked hard, they had discernment, they persevered. But they had lost their first love. It had become all academic. They were working and enduring, and that was part of it — but only part of it. It is that vertical relationship that must flow out into the horizontal.
The Danger of Doctrine Without Love
You lost your first love. You have all the doctrine nailed down, you work hard, Sunday school is fully staffed, all the classes are running, everything's going great, no false doctrine to be seen — but there's no love. The doctrine is hard and sound, but the love just isn't there. I'm not saying that describes a valid Bible church. But I am saying that's often something that corresponds with an overemphasis on the vertical.
The Christian life is not an either-or. It's not this or that — it's both. If I'm really understanding God and who He is and what He's done in my life, then the outflow of that in my life, His desire, is what you have in front of you in James 1:22 — that I'm not just a hearer, I'm a doer of the Word.
Faith Without Works Is Dead
He goes on in chapter 2 and says faith without works is dead. Let me just read it to you. James chapter 2, verse 14: "What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith and no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in daily need of food, and one of you says to them, go in peace and be warm and filled, and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?"
God saved you for a reason and for a purpose. When I understand who He is and He gets bigger and bigger and bigger, I begin to understand that God is doing something incredible in this earth. God is doing something powerful in this earth, and He invites us to be part of it.
Fixing Our Attention on God
Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2 says to present your bodies as a living sacrifice and not to be conformed to this world. Eugene Peterson paraphrases it this way: "So here's what I want you to do, God helping you. Take your everyday, ordinary life — your sleeping, eating, going to work, walking around — and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him. Don't become so well adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God."
There's the vertical. My attention is on Him and who He is, and out of that expression I begin to understand how to live. Fix your attention on God, and you'll be changed from the inside out.
I cannot love Susan from the outside in. I can't do it. My sin, my selfishness, my laziness — all of that gets in the way. When God saved me, Susan got the man that she wanted. I don't get there all the time, but at least now I have an awareness of where my shortcomings are and the power to do something about them. That power comes from the strength of this vertical relationship — from God and His majesty and His power and His might and His desire for me to glorify Him in all that I do. I love that phrase from Eugene Peterson: everything I do — sleeping, eating, going to work, walking around — all of it I place before Him.
The Church as God's Plan
At its core, God's plan for us is the church — the church universal and the church local. When we talk about area ministry, what we're really talking about is how we're going to act as a body of believers together, how we're going to encourage and help one another, and how the watching world is going to see what happens among us.
Chuck Colson writes this: "A local church is a visible, tangible, real-world expression of the body of Christ. Of course, every believer is part of the universal church, but for any Christian who's made a choice in that matter, failure to cleave to a particular church is failure to obey Christ." In other words, we need to be together. Why? Because it is the manifestation of Christ to the world. Obviously we act independently, and obviously I represent Christ as an ambassador individually — but we are also placed in the body of Christ collectively.
Joshua Harris writes this: "The longer I'm a Christian, the more aware I become that I can't live the Christian life on my own. My individual and direct relationship with God through Jesus is the greatest privilege, and He is truly all I need. Yet God in His wisdom has created us to need each other, too."
Stirring One Another On
Turn to Hebrews chapter 10, verses 24 and 25. The author of Hebrews writes: "Let us consider how to stir one another to love and good works, not neglecting the meeting together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day" — the day of Christ's return — "drawing near."
Eugene Peterson paraphrases it this way: "Let us see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worship together as some do, but spurring one another on, especially as we see the big day approaching."
This whole idea of living the Christian life is that we cannot live it individually. We need to live it corporately, and that becomes the church.
The "One Another" Commands
Let me read you a partial list of what you already know. Here is what Scripture tells us: we are to love one another, be devoted to one another, honor one another, rejoice with one another, serve one another, carry one another's burdens, forgive one another, encourage one another, offer hospitality to one another, confess our sins to one another, and pray for one another. We are all in this whole thing together.
The Church Being the Church
That debate is intramural. On the external side, one of the things a local church does best is to show our non-Christian neighbors that the new life made available through Christ on the cross is the foundation of this new society.
I made a comment two weeks ago that I thought East Valley Bible Church was in the best condition we had ever been in, and I have had a couple of people say, "How did you get there? I don't know that I would agree with that. I don't know how you arrived at that conclusion." Here is how I arrived at it. It is not based on buildings. It is not based on money. It is not based on people who are here or people who have left.
We have been at it now sixteen years, so we are starting to enter that time where there are transitions in life, change, people moving, and all sorts of things. Attendance is not the measurement. Are those things important? I tend to think they are. If a church is five thousand and goes to five hundred, you have to stop and think. Or if it is five hundred and goes to five thousand, you might say God is doing something special — although the fastest-growing religion in the country would be Islam, so I would not get too excited about numbers alone.
Ministry Happening From the Ground Up
Here is how I arrived at that conclusion. I have never in the sixteen-year history of East Valley Bible Church seen more ministry going on apart from anything that is programmed, anything coming from the top down. The area ministry groups are holding baptism services here — five of them — with about a thousand people in attendance and twenty to twenty-five people being baptized. We have never had anything like that. We have been able to get five hundred people together for a barbecue.
I am hearing story after story of people saying, "There was a woman in my neighborhood. I went to my small group and said this lady is really in trouble — her husband has deserted her and her house is a mess — and we came and fixed the house, put it up for sale, moved the kids around, and took care of everything." I love this story for two reasons.
Number one, the woman did not end up at East Valley Bible Church — and that is okay. We do not feed the hungry or clothe the naked or give a drink to the thirsty hoping we can slide them into the kingdom of God. That is God's work. We feed hungry people because they are hungry. That is why. We do it in the name of Christ, we want to proclaim the gospel, but if they do not respond, that is in God's hands.
Here is the second thing that is so encouraging about that story. That small group came together, did a Bible study, and concluded it was their privilege and responsibility to go and meet that person's needs. That is great. And that is happening all over. That is why I say I have never seen — in my time here, and I understand my view is limited — I have never seen the church respond and simply be the church. Not do it, but be it, the way you have been. It does not mean we have arrived. It does not mean anything definitive. But it is genuinely encouraging.
Area Ministries and Living as Neighbors
A key part of that has been area ministries. Let me answer a really important question: if you are not in an area ministry, will you go to hell? No. I do not say that to be funny, but I want you to understand — this is not us saying you need to do this. We are simply trying to be the church and trying to help you do the same.
Somebody said today, "I saw Sarah and Timmy out walking Gracie the other day. I did not know they were in my neighborhood, and they did not know we lived there." That is all we are saying. Neighbors who are living right next door to each other begin to connect, and a synergy happens as we live life together — going to the same games, kids in the same Cub Scouts, golfing at the same place, eating at the same restaurants. We begin to let a watching world see what it means to be a follower of Christ and to live life before the world.
From the Vertical to the Horizontal
I want to go back to Isaiah 6, because I love the way this connects. You do not need to turn there. After Isaiah has that incredible view of God and who He is — a real view of Christ — he says, "Woe to me, for I am undone." God moves, He forgives him, and then God says, in my paraphrase, "I have a great deal of work to do and a great deal that has to get done. Who will I send to get it done?" And Isaiah says, "Here I am, send me."
Isaiah was not ready until the vertical was in place — but once it was, he understood that he did not live only in the vertical. He lives in the horizontal. He gets to be the church. He gets to do all the one-anothers, and it is messy and it is sloppy. He gets to help and encourage, to lift people up rather than drain them, and then he gets to go to the world and let the world see what God is doing in his life.
A Hard Question About Proclamation
Let me ask you a couple of really hard questions. How many times in the last ninety days — let us give you a grace period — how many times in the last ninety days have you sat with somebody and proclaimed the gospel to them? I did not say led them to Christ, because that is God's job. God is the one who does that. I am simply asking how many times, because I guarantee you have had the opportunity. I know that.
I still do it myself. I am still engaged in priority living. People ask me all the time why I do priority living, and the reason is this: I keep telling you that you need to be out in the world, and so do I. I could sit inside the Christian world where everyone I encounter is already a believer, and there is nothing wrong with that — but that is not the whole call.
Living on Mission
Part of it is great, but I can get insular — reading the same Christian books with Christian people facing the same problems. I need to be out there encountering the same things you are encountering. So when I say to you, "Hey, this is what we have got to be about — isn't it something?" — it is not always the easiest thing in the world, and it is not always the most fun thing in the world. But when you begin to see God use you, even if that person does not respond — and if the person does respond, it is a whole new deal, isn't it?
As you proclaim the gospel, if that is not happening in your life, I do not care how much vertical you have — if it did not happen in the horizontal, you do not have the vertical. You are deluding yourself. James 1:22. That is the third time I have said it now. I love that we love the Word, but we love the Word so that it begins to transform our lives.
An Invitation to Area Ministry
So what am I asking you to do? I am asking you to consider, if East Valley Bible Church is your home, being a part of area ministry. You may say, "Well, how is area ministry going to serve me?" And the answer might be: maybe you serve it.
As soon as we say amen, I would love to see you head over to the commons to meet your pastor. If you have already done that, go over to the commons and figure out what opportunities are there for you to be engaged in area ministry. There are some significant needs that can easily be met as you begin to live life.
Maybe you are here saying, "That is way too much — I am not sure, this is all new to me." A Taste of Community is for you. In a couple of weeks, we are going to start a whole new set of small groups. They are designed to meet for four weeks so you can get a taste of what this is like. You need to head over into the commons and be part of that.
A Lesson from College Football
I love college football, and I am absolutely useless on a Saturday like yesterday. Game day started at seven, and I was still watching and drifting and listening to Jeff and Healy do the ASU game somewhere after ten. That is a long day, and I am exhausted coming in here on a Sunday. Now it is even better because there is college football on Thursday night, and this week there was college football on Friday night — South Florida beat West Virginia. If that does not mean anything to you, you have real serious issues I cannot help you with.
West Virginia was really good. They thought they would be undefeated for the year. South Florida is a young program — they have only existed for eleven years — and they came and handled West Virginia with ease. Yesterday, they interviewed the South Florida coach, and the interviewer asked, "You are in Florida — granted, there is a lot of talent there, but you have the University of Miami, Florida, and Florida State. How do you recruit?" His answer was incredible. I could not get my legal pad fast enough to write it down.
He said, "We tell the kids they can stay at home, they can be part of history, and they can be part of something that has never been done before." I thought, that is exactly how I want to close this series.
You Can Be Part of Something That Has Never Been Done Before
Here is the deal. You can stay at home. Now, some of you God may be calling elsewhere — I was talking to Jerry today, who just got back from India, and I said, "The one thing I learned when I was there is if you are not called to that, do not go. You cannot do it." But most of you are called right where God has placed you. You can stay at home.
You can be part of history, because God is doing something extraordinary and something amazing. And you can be part of something that has never been done before. Are there other great churches out there? Sure there are. But there are not many churches that have existed as long as we have — and I can barely believe I am saying this — that have been this focused on the vertical and have been able to make the transition to say, "We want vertical and horizontal," because we were wrong to have only the vertical. Just as you are wrong if all you have is the horizontal — then all you have is a church with no doctrine.
The Heart of It All
Let me give you the end of this. God was saying to Moses: I am the center of everything. I am running the show. I am the same every day. I am the owner of everything. I am the Lord. I am the Creator and Sustainer of life. I am the Savior. I am more than enough. I am inexhaustible and immeasurable. I am God.
And in a heartbeat, He was also saying to Moses: You, Moses — you are not the center of everything. You are not in control. You are not the solution. You are not all-powerful. You are not calling the shots. You are not the owner of anything. You are not the Lord.
But God is. And He invites you into what He is doing. A key part of that in your life is the local church, and a key part of this local church is area ministry. Take a look at that.
Looking Ahead
Next week we begin an in-depth study in Psalm 23 — a familiar passage of Scripture. Luke mentioned this week that he came across a song that connects this series together well. We want to be known for our love, and there is a song called "T-Shirts" that asks the question: what should we be known for? As you leave, if you have time, take a look — we will put some of the lyrics up on the screen. Just take a listen, and be free as you go.
Father, thank You for this place. Thank You that You love us. Let us love one another. We pray to You in Jesus' name. Amen. Have a great week — we will see you next week.