LOCAL & GLOBAL IMPACT
Series: Commitment Series 2014
Speaker: Steve Jeffrey
Date: 22nd November 2014
00:00:00 --> 00:00:05 Gracious Father, we thank you for the work that you have done
00:00:05 --> 00:00:08 through the Lord Jesus Christ coming into this world,
00:00:09 --> 00:00:11 dying on the cross, rising again,
00:00:11 --> 00:00:15 dealing with the sin that separates us from you
00:00:15 --> 00:00:18 and that you, through the Lord Jesus, reconciled us to yourself.
00:00:18 --> 00:00:23 We thank you for your work in sending your spirit into our hearts,
00:00:24 --> 00:00:29 illuminating our darkness so that we could see the glory of Christ.
00:00:31 --> 00:00:37 Father, we pray that your work of drawing people to yourself would be our work,
00:00:38 --> 00:00:40 that we would be committed to that, it would be our focus,
00:00:40 --> 00:00:44 that we'd have a razor-sharp focus on your mission to draw people to yourself.
00:00:46 --> 00:00:50 Lord, we pray that you would continue to reform our heart, our structures,
00:00:50 --> 00:00:56 our practices, everything we do, so that our agenda might be aligned with yours.
00:00:56 --> 00:00:57 And we ask it for your glory. Amen.
00:01:00 --> 00:01:03 Chris Jones used an illustration some time ago.
00:01:04 --> 00:01:07 I thought it was a great one, so I decided to steal it and redo it.
00:01:08 --> 00:01:10 It's one of those illustrations that I think you shouldn't just tell once.
00:01:10 --> 00:01:17 It's called The Parable of the Lighthouse, The Lifehouse, Life-Saving Station.
00:01:18 --> 00:01:19 Parable of the Life-Saving Station.
00:01:20 --> 00:01:20 It goes,
00:01:20 --> 00:01:50
00:01:50 --> 00:02:02 Now the Life-Saving Station became a popular gathering plant.
00:02:02 --> 00:02:08 happy that the building was so crude and so poorly equipped. They felt the more comfortable place
00:02:08 --> 00:02:13 should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea. They replaced the emergency
00:02:13 --> 00:02:19 stretchers with beds and put better furniture in the enlarged building. Now the life-saving station
00:02:19 --> 00:02:24 became a popular gathering place for its members and they redecorated it beautifully and furnished
00:02:24 --> 00:02:30 it sort of like a club. Less of the members were now interested in going to sea on life-saving
00:02:30 --> 00:02:36 missions and so they hired lifeboats crews to do that work for them. The mission of life-saving
00:02:36 --> 00:02:43 was still given lip service but most were too busy or lacked the necessary commitment to take part in
00:02:43 --> 00:02:48 life-saving activities personally. At the next meeting there was a split in the club membership.
00:02:49 --> 00:02:54 Most of the members wanted to stop the club's life-saving activities as being unpleasant and a
00:02:54 --> 00:03:00 hindrance to the normal pattern of club life. Some members insisted that life-saving was their
00:03:00 --> 00:03:05 primary purpose and pointed out that in fact they were still called a life-saving station
00:03:05 --> 00:03:11 but they were finally voted down and told that if they wanted to save the life of all various kinds
00:03:11 --> 00:03:16 of people who were shipwrecked on their shores they could begin their own life-saving station just down
00:03:16 --> 00:03:24 the coast and so they did. As the years went by the new station experienced the same changes that
00:03:24 --> 00:03:30 occurred with the old. They evolved into a club and yet another life-saving station was found
00:03:30 --> 00:03:36 and if you visit the seacoast today you will find a number of exclusive clubs along the shore.
00:03:37 --> 00:03:43 Shipwrecks are frequent in the waters but now most of the people don't get rescued.
00:03:45 --> 00:03:54 It's not hard to lose sight of your original purpose. A multitude of little decisions, even good decisions,
00:03:54 --> 00:03:58 for right reasons, if not put within a greater context of greater purpose,
00:03:58 --> 00:04:02 you can lead you down to a different path than was originally intended.
00:04:03 --> 00:04:09 And this parable is a parable of the church on mission. It's easy for a church to lose
00:04:09 --> 00:04:18 its original purpose. It's easy for a church commissioned by the Lord Jesus to make disciples
00:04:18 --> 00:04:27 of all nations to lose sight of its purpose. And this brings us to our core value here at St. Paul's.
00:04:27 --> 00:04:33 Like all our core values, our core value of local and global impact, that is global impact and local
00:04:33 --> 00:04:39 impact for the gospel, is to shape our behaviour, our attitude, our structures, our practices.
00:04:39 --> 00:04:50 That is, it needs to be explicit that God's agenda is our agenda as a church. So we're going to take a few
00:04:50 --> 00:04:56 moments just to see what God's agenda is, just very broadly, very briefly. So far in this commitment
00:04:56 --> 00:05:01 series, in the first four sermons I used Isaiah for three of them and so now we're going to make it
00:05:01 --> 00:05:09 four out of five. It's a great book. The book of Isaiah taken as a whole is majestic. It's sort of
00:05:09 --> 00:05:17 like the Bible squashed into one book. It asks us to imagine right at the beginning of Isaiah,
00:05:18 --> 00:05:24 the creation and then the recreation of the entire world. It begins in verse two, chapter one,
00:05:24 --> 00:05:32 with heaven and earth called to bear witness. It says, hear, O heavens, listen, O earth. And it
00:05:32 --> 00:05:39 finishes, the last verse of Isaiah finishes with a new heaven and a new earth. As the new heavens and
00:05:39 --> 00:05:44 the new earth that I will make endure before me, declares the Lord, so will your name and descendants
00:05:44 --> 00:05:50 endure. And so Isaiah takes us, if you like, from the beginning of history to the end of all things,
00:05:50 --> 00:05:55 from creation to new creation, which in fact is what the whole Bible does from Genesis to the
00:05:55 --> 00:06:01 Revelation. It takes you from creation to new creation. And so Isaiah does that in a smaller
00:06:01 --> 00:06:10 period. Isaiah insists that God is doing something throughout all of time and eternity, throughout
00:06:10 --> 00:06:19 history, for which even the ends of the earth wait. God has an all-encompassing purpose.
00:06:20 --> 00:06:27 And it unravels for us page after page in Isaiah in the same way that it unravels for us page after
00:06:27 --> 00:06:34 page in the Bible. And of course, in unraveling God's great plans and purposes, we get a picture
00:06:34 --> 00:06:41 of the magnificence of God. And we saw that in the first of these sermons on Christ and the Bible
00:06:41 --> 00:06:50 saturation in Isaiah chapter six, the glory of God in display. And we get another one here in verse two
00:06:50 --> 00:07:00 of Isaiah 66. This is what the Lord says, heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool.
00:07:01 --> 00:07:07 It's the only place in the Bible where the earth, the thing that we're sitting on right now, you know,
00:07:07 --> 00:07:15 apart from your chairs, and is described as God's footstool. This building is built on God's footstool.
00:07:15 --> 00:07:25 But the significance of this is the enormity of God's footstool. It gives you a picture of who God is,
00:07:25 --> 00:07:29 the enormity of who God is. The earth, which is God's footstool, is six and a half thousand
00:07:29 --> 00:07:39 kilometres straight through. It's 40 kilometres if you go around the outside. It weighs something like,
00:07:39 --> 00:07:47 guesstimate here, 60 million trillion tonnes. That's a whole lot of zeros there, I think.
00:07:48 --> 00:07:56 Has a surface area of 510 million square kilometres, a volume of around 10 trillion cubic kilometres.
00:07:56 --> 00:08:01 It spins at 1 kilometres an hour, and God says, this is where I rest my feet.
00:08:01 --> 00:08:08 It gives you a picture of the majesty of God. And again, what we're meant to get here from the
00:08:08 --> 00:08:15 beginning of Isaiah is that we're small, he's big. Because my footstool that I'll go to tonight,
00:08:15 --> 00:08:20 and I'll click up when I turn on the TV, is about this big. And you know, I can throw this thing.
00:08:20 --> 00:08:26 It's not that big. God's footstool is this world in which we sit on. We're meant to get a picture
00:08:26 --> 00:08:34 of the magnificence of the God that we have come to worship here tonight. He sits on a throne,
00:08:35 --> 00:08:40 which we saw from Isaiah 6, is his right to rule, because it's the throne in the heavens,
00:08:40 --> 00:08:48 it's his right to rule all the universe that he has created. And he touches the earth with his feet.
00:08:49 --> 00:08:53 The doctrine of God is given further clarity in verse 2.
00:08:53 --> 00:09:00 Has not my hand made all of these things? And so they came into being. His footstool was made by him.
00:09:00 --> 00:09:06 The heavenly realms made by him. Everything made by him. And so what that means is,
00:09:06 --> 00:09:14 because he is supreme over all things, it's his agenda, his purpose, that matters more than anything else.
00:09:14 --> 00:09:21 And the last verse of Isaiah gives us his purpose.
00:09:23 --> 00:09:28 As the new heavens and the new earth that I make endure before me, so will your name and descendants endure.
00:09:29 --> 00:09:37 From one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me.
00:09:37 --> 00:09:44 God's grand design is worship.
00:09:46 --> 00:09:49 His grand design for his world is worship.
00:09:49 --> 00:09:57 God's plan is for the world that he made, that is his footstool, would see his glory, would bow at his feet in humble submission.
00:09:57 --> 00:10:08 Throughout all time, all of history and eternity to come, God's design is for people to worship him with humble and contrite hearts.
00:10:09 --> 00:10:18 God says in the new heavens and the new earth, the redeemed of the entire human race will offer unending worship at the feet of their creator.
00:10:18 --> 00:10:18 Isaiah.
00:10:22 --> 00:10:35 And Isaiah, as you go through, we're not going to see this right now, but as you go through, Isaiah leaves us in no doubt that the key to this new world and this true worship
00:10:35 --> 00:10:45 is God's perfect suffering servant king, who we know to be the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:10:45 --> 00:11:00 The invincible purpose of God is that the gospel of the glory of Christ spread to all the peoples of the world so that they might come down and bow in worship of him.
00:11:00 --> 00:11:02 Worship is his goal.
00:11:02 --> 00:11:05 It's not a means to something else.
00:11:06 --> 00:11:07 It is his goal.
00:11:07 --> 00:11:16 It's made explicit for us that Jesus is the centre of it in the promise of Philippians chapter 2.
00:11:17 --> 00:11:21 Who being in very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped.
00:11:21 --> 00:11:23 This is talking about Jesus.
00:11:23 --> 00:11:25 But he made himself nothing.
00:11:25 --> 00:11:30 Taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man,
00:11:30 --> 00:11:34 he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on the cross.
00:11:34 --> 00:11:41 Therefore God has exalted him to the highest place and has given him the name that is above every name,
00:11:41 --> 00:11:52 that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
00:11:53 --> 00:11:58 Jesus is at the centre of God's purposes of worship.
00:11:58 --> 00:12:09 And the final command of the crucified, risen, all authority of Saviour Christ is that his people deliver on his purpose.
00:12:12 --> 00:12:15 While he was here, he bore witness to himself.
00:12:15 --> 00:12:18 When he leaves, he said, your job is to bear witness to me.
00:12:18 --> 00:12:22 He says this in Matthew 28,
00:12:22 --> 00:12:27 Then Jesus came to us and all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
00:12:27 --> 00:12:29 We just read that from Philippians 2.
00:12:30 --> 00:12:34 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit,
00:12:34 --> 00:12:38 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.
00:12:38 --> 00:12:41 And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.
00:12:41 --> 00:12:46 It was the very reason that God sent the Holy Spirit.
00:12:46 --> 00:12:48 Acts chapter 1 verse 8,
00:12:48 --> 00:12:50 But you receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you,
00:12:50 --> 00:12:56 and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
00:12:57 --> 00:13:05 The invincible purpose of God is that the gospel of the glory of Christ spread to all the peoples of the world
00:13:05 --> 00:13:08 so they might see the glory of God in the face of Christ,
00:13:08 --> 00:13:11 and that they might know he's never changing,
00:13:12 --> 00:13:14 he's ever-present love,
00:13:16 --> 00:13:20 and that that would motivate them to bow in humble contrition
00:13:20 --> 00:13:23 and offer their lives as living sacrifices.
00:13:23 --> 00:13:26 That's God's grand design for his world.
00:13:27 --> 00:13:32 And if it's God's grand design for his world and for people,
00:13:32 --> 00:13:36 then I would suggest that it's his design for your life,
00:13:36 --> 00:13:38 and it's designed for St. Paul's Chatswood.
00:13:38 --> 00:13:43 That we would fulfil what he has called us to fulfil.
00:13:48 --> 00:13:50 What is slightly more difficult?
00:13:51 --> 00:13:56 Because I think overall, as Christians, we'd sit here and we would go,
00:13:57 --> 00:13:59 yep, no problem with that.
00:13:59 --> 00:14:00 Mission's what we do.
00:14:01 --> 00:14:02 We give money to mission.
00:14:03 --> 00:14:05 That's why we're signing these cards next week and things like that.
00:14:05 --> 00:14:10 Slightly more difficult is that more and more,
00:14:10 --> 00:14:12 I am persuaded from the scriptures
00:14:12 --> 00:14:17 that God's design for the completion of his global plan
00:14:17 --> 00:14:20 and the consummation of all of his purposes
00:14:20 --> 00:14:24 includes the suffering and the sacrifice of his people.
00:14:24 --> 00:14:32 God's plan is that his purpose triumph through the suffering and sacrifice of his people.
00:14:33 --> 00:14:40 Now, I don't just mean that suffering is the consequence of being obedient to God's mission.
00:14:40 --> 00:14:48 I mean that suffering and sacrifice is one of his strategies for the success of his mission.
00:14:48 --> 00:14:53 Jesus said to his disciples as he sent them out in Matthew 10,
00:14:54 --> 00:14:58 I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.
00:14:58 --> 00:15:03 And there ought to be no doubt in our minds what happens when sheep go in amongst wolves.
00:15:03 --> 00:15:08 And in case there is, the Apostle Paul confirms the reality for us in Romans chapter 8
00:15:08 --> 00:15:10 when he says, as it is written,
00:15:10 --> 00:15:13 for your sake we face death all day long.
00:15:14 --> 00:15:17 We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
00:15:18 --> 00:15:26 Suffering and sacrifice are not just a consequence of our obedience to the Lord's mission.
00:15:27 --> 00:15:30 It is the central strategy of his mission.
00:15:32 --> 00:15:36 Jesus calls us to join him on the Calvary Road.
00:15:36 --> 00:15:41 He calls us to take up our cross, die to ourself and come and follow him.
00:15:41 --> 00:15:43 We are not above our master.
00:15:44 --> 00:15:45 And it's a very sobering word here.
00:15:46 --> 00:15:54 God's plan is that his gospel spreading purposes triumph through the sacrifice and suffering of his people.
00:15:54 --> 00:15:59 At the heart of true biblical mission, both for those who are on the front line of it
00:15:59 --> 00:16:01 and those who are supporting it,
00:16:01 --> 00:16:09 is the eagerness to live simply, to give lavishly and to joyfully sacrifice much
00:16:09 --> 00:16:12 because he has loved us much
00:16:12 --> 00:16:14 and he promises us much.
00:16:17 --> 00:16:21 At the heart of true biblical mission is sacrifice and suffering,
00:16:21 --> 00:16:24 not merely as a result of our proclamation of the gospel,
00:16:24 --> 00:16:28 but as a means of the proclamation of the gospel.
00:16:33 --> 00:16:35 So we know what God's purposes are.
00:16:35 --> 00:16:37 We know how he achieves that purposes
00:16:37 --> 00:16:40 through the suffering and sacrifice of his people.
00:16:40 --> 00:16:41 What gets in the way?
00:16:41 --> 00:16:48 And this is where I think there's some idiosyncrasies
00:16:48 --> 00:16:50 and potentially even idolatries in the Western church
00:16:50 --> 00:16:56 that results in a breakdown between us, God's people, pursuing his purposes.
00:16:57 --> 00:17:01 Paul Borden is an American church ministry consultant.
00:17:01 --> 00:17:03 Sydney Diocese has brought him out.
00:17:03 --> 00:17:05 Our Anglican church has brought him out a number of times
00:17:05 --> 00:17:08 to help us to grow cities,
00:17:08 --> 00:17:10 to think about how to grow cities in this church.
00:17:11 --> 00:17:13 Sorry, grow churches in this city.
00:17:14 --> 00:17:17 And his primary focus is to help those churches,
00:17:17 --> 00:17:20 whatever church he goes to and does a consultation with,
00:17:20 --> 00:17:25 to see that they structure everything they do
00:17:25 --> 00:17:29 to ensure that they are actively pursuing the Great Commission.
00:17:31 --> 00:17:35 And he suggests that churches exist for the not yet Christian,
00:17:35 --> 00:17:38 we ought to consistently,
00:17:39 --> 00:17:41 not just be running a few mission programs,
00:17:41 --> 00:17:45 but everything we do has to have an eye outward, outward, outward,
00:17:45 --> 00:17:46 think it outwardly.
00:17:49 --> 00:17:52 And he says when a church loses sight
00:17:52 --> 00:17:55 of what it's meant to be doing, its purpose,
00:17:55 --> 00:17:57 what it does is by default it looks inwardly,
00:17:57 --> 00:17:59 thinks about itself,
00:17:59 --> 00:18:02 spends time on its maintenance programs
00:18:02 --> 00:18:04 and preservation of its history.
00:18:05 --> 00:18:06 And so we slowly die,
00:18:07 --> 00:18:09 which is what happens to, in America,
00:18:09 --> 00:18:11 3 churches in America every year.
00:18:13 --> 00:18:15 In the introduction to his book, Assaulting the Gates,
00:18:15 --> 00:18:18 he writes, and I'm going to quote extensively from him
00:18:18 --> 00:18:19 at various points here.
00:18:20 --> 00:18:20 He says,
00:18:20 --> 00:18:42 And he goes on to give perspective,
00:18:42 --> 00:18:43 his perspective,
00:18:44 --> 00:18:49 as to why the church has lost its focus on mission.
00:18:50 --> 00:18:51 And he gives three reasons.
00:18:53 --> 00:18:57 And I think these three reasons have got a lot of validity to them,
00:18:58 --> 00:19:00 and we need to be constantly keeping an eye on them
00:19:00 --> 00:19:07 to ensure that we are obediently seeking the Great Commission here in St. Paul's.
00:19:07 --> 00:19:08 He says,
00:19:08 --> 00:19:09 First of all,
00:19:09 --> 00:19:12 if I was requested to find just one word that would describe our culture,
00:19:12 --> 00:19:14 he talks about the church culture,
00:19:15 --> 00:19:17 the word would be consumerism.
00:19:19 --> 00:19:21 Consumerism results in a church filled with people
00:19:21 --> 00:19:25 who are proud to be identified with Jesus Christ,
00:19:25 --> 00:19:28 and yet who in their behaviours are far more concerned
00:19:28 --> 00:19:30 with having their needs
00:19:30 --> 00:19:34 and those of their family met
00:19:34 --> 00:19:37 than reaching those who are spiritually lost and separated from God.
00:19:38 --> 00:19:39 Time after time,
00:19:40 --> 00:19:41 I and many others have taught
00:19:41 --> 00:19:44 that the turnaround in the congregations of our region,
00:19:44 --> 00:19:46 now what he's referring to there in his region,
00:19:47 --> 00:19:51 he was in charge of 200 and something churches
00:19:51 --> 00:19:53 on the west coast of America.
00:19:54 --> 00:19:55 All of them, or the vast majority,
00:19:56 --> 00:19:57 except a very small minority of them,
00:19:57 --> 00:19:59 were actually in decline.
00:19:59 --> 00:20:01 And his goal was to get those churches,
00:20:01 --> 00:20:02 200 and something churches,
00:20:02 --> 00:20:03 focused on mission,
00:20:04 --> 00:20:05 thinking outwardly,
00:20:05 --> 00:20:06 rather than just preservation,
00:20:07 --> 00:20:08 and within 10 years,
00:20:08 --> 00:20:10 70% of them were actually growing.
00:20:10 --> 00:20:11 That's what he's talking about here.
00:20:12 --> 00:20:13 Time after time,
00:20:14 --> 00:20:15 I have, in many others,
00:20:15 --> 00:20:16 have taught that the turnaround
00:20:16 --> 00:20:17 in the congregations of our region
00:20:17 --> 00:20:18 only happened
00:20:18 --> 00:20:21 as we began to focus more on others
00:20:21 --> 00:20:22 than on ourselves.
00:20:23 --> 00:20:25 And every time I teach this truth,
00:20:25 --> 00:20:27 I hear, but what about us?
00:20:27 --> 00:20:28 What about our needs?
00:20:28 --> 00:20:29 What are you doing to help the Christians?
00:20:31 --> 00:20:33 I've come to learn that we American Christians
00:20:33 --> 00:20:35 will reflexively make sure
00:20:35 --> 00:20:36 that our needs are met.
00:20:37 --> 00:20:38 Because after all,
00:20:39 --> 00:20:40 at our very core,
00:20:40 --> 00:20:42 we are all consumers.
00:20:42 --> 00:20:45 I want to suggest
00:20:45 --> 00:20:46 that consumerism,
00:20:47 --> 00:20:48 having my needs met,
00:20:48 --> 00:20:49 is the exact opposite
00:20:49 --> 00:20:51 of what God's strategy is
00:20:51 --> 00:20:52 to achieve his global agenda
00:20:52 --> 00:20:54 in the sacrificing and suffering
00:20:54 --> 00:20:54 of his people.
00:20:57 --> 00:20:58 He says,
00:20:58 --> 00:21:00 consumerism in our congregations
00:21:00 --> 00:21:02 know no generational differences.
00:21:02 --> 00:21:03 The only differences
00:21:03 --> 00:21:06 are what the respective generations
00:21:06 --> 00:21:08 demand congregations to be
00:21:08 --> 00:21:08 or to do
00:21:08 --> 00:21:09 in order to fulfil
00:21:09 --> 00:21:11 their consumer requirements.
00:21:11 --> 00:21:12 Often, older Christians
00:21:12 --> 00:21:13 are more concerned
00:21:13 --> 00:21:14 about their music
00:21:14 --> 00:21:15 and the issues
00:21:15 --> 00:21:16 of congregational structure
00:21:16 --> 00:21:17 that allow them
00:21:17 --> 00:21:18 to keep control
00:21:18 --> 00:21:19 of what is happening.
00:21:19 --> 00:21:20 The baby boomers
00:21:20 --> 00:21:21 also want to maintain
00:21:21 --> 00:21:22 the forms of worship,
00:21:22 --> 00:21:23 the buildings,
00:21:23 --> 00:21:24 and the ministries
00:21:24 --> 00:21:25 that they created
00:21:25 --> 00:21:26 in order to feel comfortable
00:21:26 --> 00:21:27 in their settings.
00:21:27 --> 00:21:29 The emerging generations
00:21:29 --> 00:21:31 want their expectations
00:21:31 --> 00:21:32 for size and groups
00:21:32 --> 00:21:33 and media to be met
00:21:33 --> 00:21:34 in order for them
00:21:34 --> 00:21:35 to be happy.
00:21:35 --> 00:21:37 In most congregations,
00:21:37 --> 00:21:38 regardless of size,
00:21:38 --> 00:21:39 age, or backgrounds,
00:21:39 --> 00:21:40 it is all about me
00:21:40 --> 00:21:41 and my needs.
00:21:43 --> 00:21:44 And so if we say
00:21:44 --> 00:21:46 that we value this value
00:21:46 --> 00:21:49 of local and global impact,
00:21:49 --> 00:21:51 it means laying aside
00:21:51 --> 00:21:52 personal preferences
00:21:52 --> 00:21:53 and in fact actually
00:21:53 --> 00:21:54 becoming uncomfortable
00:21:54 --> 00:21:56 for the sake of others
00:21:56 --> 00:21:57 worshipping Jesus.
00:21:57 --> 00:22:00 Secondly, he says
00:22:00 --> 00:22:01 this consumer mindset
00:22:01 --> 00:22:04 has created another phenomenon
00:22:04 --> 00:22:05 which has its roots
00:22:05 --> 00:22:06 in the fuzziness
00:22:06 --> 00:22:07 of modern theology
00:22:07 --> 00:22:09 while playing into the hands
00:22:09 --> 00:22:11 of the consumer Christ followers.
00:22:11 --> 00:22:12 That phenomenon
00:22:12 --> 00:22:13 is the pacification
00:22:13 --> 00:22:14 of the church.
00:22:15 --> 00:22:16 The church,
00:22:16 --> 00:22:17 as an institution
00:22:17 --> 00:22:18 designed to meet
00:22:18 --> 00:22:19 consumer needs,
00:22:19 --> 00:22:21 will not tolerate dissension,
00:22:21 --> 00:22:23 even if that dissension
00:22:23 --> 00:22:23 is to point out
00:22:23 --> 00:22:24 that the church
00:22:24 --> 00:22:25 has lost its way
00:22:25 --> 00:22:27 in relation to mission.
00:22:27 --> 00:22:29 We have lost the idea
00:22:29 --> 00:22:29 of being soldiers
00:22:29 --> 00:22:30 for the cross,
00:22:30 --> 00:22:31 an army marching
00:22:31 --> 00:22:32 for the salvation of people,
00:22:32 --> 00:22:33 and lightboat captains
00:22:33 --> 00:22:34 rescuing the perishing.
00:22:35 --> 00:22:36 Consumer Christians
00:22:36 --> 00:22:38 desire a wonderful place
00:22:38 --> 00:22:39 to worship each Sunday
00:22:39 --> 00:22:41 that meets the needs
00:22:41 --> 00:22:42 of myself and my family
00:22:42 --> 00:22:43 without upsetting
00:22:43 --> 00:22:45 the temporary camelot
00:22:45 --> 00:22:46 that they call
00:22:46 --> 00:22:47 their congregations.
00:22:47 --> 00:22:48 In other words,
00:22:48 --> 00:22:49 what he says is
00:22:49 --> 00:22:51 that what is a core value
00:22:51 --> 00:22:53 in so many churches
00:22:53 --> 00:22:54 in the West
00:22:54 --> 00:22:56 is surface peace.
00:22:57 --> 00:22:58 Don't disrupt the peace.
00:23:00 --> 00:23:01 Keep everything calm.
00:23:03 --> 00:23:04 It's like this great cartoon
00:23:04 --> 00:23:06 I saw many, many years ago.
00:23:06 --> 00:23:08 It's a picture of the,
00:23:09 --> 00:23:11 the cartoon is the Apostle Peter
00:23:11 --> 00:23:13 on Lake Galilee
00:23:13 --> 00:23:14 with the disciples
00:23:14 --> 00:23:14 in the boat.
00:23:14 --> 00:23:16 Jesus is walking
00:23:16 --> 00:23:17 on the water towards them.
00:23:17 --> 00:23:17 Peter got,
00:23:18 --> 00:23:18 he's got one foot
00:23:18 --> 00:23:19 on the side of the boat
00:23:19 --> 00:23:20 and he's about to step out
00:23:20 --> 00:23:22 because Jesus is calling him
00:23:22 --> 00:23:22 to come
00:23:22 --> 00:23:23 and the rest of the disciples
00:23:23 --> 00:23:24 grabbed the boat
00:23:24 --> 00:23:24 and said,
00:23:24 --> 00:23:25 Peter, don't get out,
00:23:25 --> 00:23:26 you'll rock the boat.
00:23:28 --> 00:23:29 And, and,
00:23:29 --> 00:23:30 and that's a value
00:23:30 --> 00:23:31 is what Paul says.
00:23:31 --> 00:23:32 The value is
00:23:32 --> 00:23:33 don't rock the boat.
00:23:35 --> 00:23:35 Peace.
00:23:35 --> 00:23:36 Let's be calm,
00:23:37 --> 00:23:37 comfortable,
00:23:38 --> 00:23:38 coast along.
00:23:39 --> 00:23:40 No one should be encouraging us
00:23:40 --> 00:23:41 to give more
00:23:41 --> 00:23:42 or do more
00:23:42 --> 00:23:42 or anything.
00:23:42 --> 00:23:42 Just,
00:23:43 --> 00:23:43 just calm.
00:23:44 --> 00:23:47 The third reason
00:23:47 --> 00:23:48 for decline,
00:23:48 --> 00:23:49 and these are all connected
00:23:49 --> 00:23:50 in one way or another,
00:23:50 --> 00:23:51 is what he calls
00:23:51 --> 00:23:53 role clarifications.
00:23:53 --> 00:23:54 He says,
00:23:54 --> 00:23:55 pastors are called
00:23:55 --> 00:23:56 to lead sheep
00:23:56 --> 00:23:57 on a mission
00:23:57 --> 00:23:58 to attack the forces
00:23:58 --> 00:23:58 of evil.
00:23:59 --> 00:24:00 God calls upon sheep
00:24:00 --> 00:24:01 to attack roaring lions
00:24:01 --> 00:24:03 and expects them
00:24:03 --> 00:24:04 with his help
00:24:04 --> 00:24:05 to win far more
00:24:05 --> 00:24:06 than they lose.
00:24:07 --> 00:24:07 Caregivers
00:24:07 --> 00:24:08 are those people
00:24:08 --> 00:24:09 God has called
00:24:09 --> 00:24:10 and gifted
00:24:10 --> 00:24:12 to employ mercy,
00:24:12 --> 00:24:12 compassion,
00:24:13 --> 00:24:13 tenderness,
00:24:13 --> 00:24:14 and other attributes
00:24:14 --> 00:24:15 to help those
00:24:15 --> 00:24:16 who are hurting
00:24:16 --> 00:24:17 and desperately
00:24:17 --> 00:24:17 need the help
00:24:17 --> 00:24:19 caregivers can provide.
00:24:19 --> 00:24:21 The Church of Jesus Christ
00:24:21 --> 00:24:21 is declining
00:24:21 --> 00:24:22 in our
00:24:22 --> 00:24:23 and similar nations
00:24:23 --> 00:24:24 because we have
00:24:24 --> 00:24:25 confused the role
00:24:25 --> 00:24:26 of pastor
00:24:26 --> 00:24:27 and caregiver.
00:24:28 --> 00:24:29 Congregations
00:24:29 --> 00:24:30 have allowed
00:24:30 --> 00:24:30 the caregivers
00:24:30 --> 00:24:31 to fulfil the role
00:24:31 --> 00:24:32 of pastor
00:24:32 --> 00:24:33 in most congregations.
00:24:34 --> 00:24:34 We lift up
00:24:34 --> 00:24:35 the stories
00:24:35 --> 00:24:36 of how a faithful
00:24:36 --> 00:24:36 caregiver
00:24:36 --> 00:24:37 has helped
00:24:37 --> 00:24:38 one person
00:24:38 --> 00:24:38 because of
00:24:38 --> 00:24:39 an unending
00:24:39 --> 00:24:40 commitment
00:24:40 --> 00:24:40 of time
00:24:40 --> 00:24:41 and energy
00:24:41 --> 00:24:42 as the epitome
00:24:42 --> 00:24:43 of faithful service
00:24:43 --> 00:24:46 while also
00:24:46 --> 00:24:48 underappreciating
00:24:48 --> 00:24:49 those who have
00:24:49 --> 00:24:50 created effective
00:24:50 --> 00:24:51 systems
00:24:51 --> 00:24:51 to reach
00:24:51 --> 00:24:52 many people
00:24:52 --> 00:24:53 with the same
00:24:53 --> 00:24:54 kind of help
00:24:54 --> 00:24:55 during the same
00:24:55 --> 00:24:56 amount of time.
00:24:59 --> 00:25:00 The constant
00:25:00 --> 00:25:01 message seems
00:25:01 --> 00:25:01 to be that
00:25:01 --> 00:25:02 the smaller
00:25:02 --> 00:25:03 the congregation
00:25:03 --> 00:25:04 the more spiritual
00:25:04 --> 00:25:05 the pastor
00:25:05 --> 00:25:06 must be.
00:25:06 --> 00:25:09 Now there are
00:25:09 --> 00:25:10 many reasons
00:25:10 --> 00:25:11 for decline
00:25:11 --> 00:25:14 in the effectiveness
00:25:14 --> 00:25:15 of the mission
00:25:15 --> 00:25:17 in the church
00:25:17 --> 00:25:19 but he suggests
00:25:19 --> 00:25:19 these are the
00:25:19 --> 00:25:20 three major ones.
00:25:21 --> 00:25:21 Many others
00:25:21 --> 00:25:22 these are the
00:25:22 --> 00:25:23 three major ones.
00:25:24 --> 00:25:25 What is interesting
00:25:25 --> 00:25:26 is that each one
00:25:26 --> 00:25:26 of those things
00:25:26 --> 00:25:28 the role of the pastor
00:25:28 --> 00:25:29 peace in the church
00:25:29 --> 00:25:32 meeting my needs
00:25:32 --> 00:25:33 are all
00:25:33 --> 00:25:33 unwritten
00:25:33 --> 00:25:34 core values.
00:25:36 --> 00:25:37 And so when you
00:25:37 --> 00:25:38 have a stated
00:25:38 --> 00:25:39 core value
00:25:39 --> 00:25:40 coming up against
00:25:40 --> 00:25:41 unwritten
00:25:41 --> 00:25:42 core values
00:25:42 --> 00:25:43 it will impact
00:25:43 --> 00:25:44 the effectiveness
00:25:44 --> 00:25:44 of the stated
00:25:44 --> 00:25:45 core value.
00:25:47 --> 00:25:48 So here's where
00:25:48 --> 00:25:49 it gets a little
00:25:49 --> 00:25:49 bit hard for me
00:25:49 --> 00:25:50 personally.
00:25:51 --> 00:25:52 St Paul's is a
00:25:52 --> 00:25:53 church that has
00:25:53 --> 00:25:54 a good and
00:25:54 --> 00:25:56 honourable history
00:25:56 --> 00:25:57 in its mission
00:25:57 --> 00:25:57 support.
00:25:57 --> 00:25:58 At one point
00:25:58 --> 00:25:59 this church
00:25:59 --> 00:26:01 led the
00:26:01 --> 00:26:02 Sydney Anglican
00:26:02 --> 00:26:02 Diocese in
00:26:02 --> 00:26:03 its mission
00:26:03 --> 00:26:04 in terms of
00:26:04 --> 00:26:04 giving to
00:26:04 --> 00:26:05 global mission.
00:26:06 --> 00:26:07 That was a
00:26:07 --> 00:26:08 while ago now
00:26:08 --> 00:26:09 but it did
00:26:09 --> 00:26:09 at one point.
00:26:09 --> 00:26:10 It's had a
00:26:10 --> 00:26:11 long history
00:26:11 --> 00:26:11 of mission
00:26:11 --> 00:26:11 support.
00:26:13 --> 00:26:13 And yet
00:26:13 --> 00:26:14 for some
00:26:14 --> 00:26:15 reason
00:26:15 --> 00:26:15 and I'll
00:26:15 --> 00:26:16 tell you why
00:26:16 --> 00:26:17 I found
00:26:17 --> 00:26:17 this message
00:26:17 --> 00:26:18 on local
00:26:18 --> 00:26:18 and global
00:26:18 --> 00:26:19 impact
00:26:19 --> 00:26:21 the hardest
00:26:21 --> 00:26:21 one to
00:26:21 --> 00:26:22 prepare.
00:26:24 --> 00:26:25 Not because
00:26:25 --> 00:26:26 of me needing
00:26:26 --> 00:26:26 to convince
00:26:26 --> 00:26:27 that this
00:26:27 --> 00:26:27 ought to be
00:26:27 --> 00:26:28 a core value
00:26:28 --> 00:26:30 but because
00:26:30 --> 00:26:31 it has been
00:26:31 --> 00:26:32 in one way
00:26:32 --> 00:26:32 or another
00:26:32 --> 00:26:33 in our history.
00:26:33 --> 00:26:33 history.
00:26:34 --> 00:26:35 The issue
00:26:35 --> 00:26:35 is not
00:26:35 --> 00:26:36 that we
00:26:36 --> 00:26:36 don't agree
00:26:36 --> 00:26:37 with it.
00:26:38 --> 00:26:38 The issue
00:26:38 --> 00:26:39 is that there
00:26:39 --> 00:26:40 are other
00:26:40 --> 00:26:40 unwritten
00:26:40 --> 00:26:42 core values
00:26:42 --> 00:26:43 such as the
00:26:43 --> 00:26:43 three that I've
00:26:43 --> 00:26:44 just mentioned
00:26:44 --> 00:26:44 from Paul
00:26:44 --> 00:26:45 Borden
00:26:45 --> 00:26:46 that actually
00:26:46 --> 00:26:47 undermine our
00:26:47 --> 00:26:48 effectiveness
00:26:48 --> 00:26:51 in local
00:26:51 --> 00:26:51 mission.
00:26:54 --> 00:26:54 By the time
00:26:54 --> 00:26:55 I arrived
00:26:55 --> 00:26:55 here about
00:26:55 --> 00:26:56 five and a
00:26:56 --> 00:26:56 half years
00:26:56 --> 00:26:57 ago by
00:26:57 --> 00:26:57 and large
00:26:57 --> 00:26:58 St Paul's
00:26:58 --> 00:26:59 agreed that
00:26:59 --> 00:27:00 it needed to
00:27:00 --> 00:27:00 be a church
00:27:00 --> 00:27:01 of gospel
00:27:01 --> 00:27:01 light in
00:27:01 --> 00:27:03 a spiritually
00:27:03 --> 00:27:04 dark world.
00:27:04 --> 00:27:05 That was a
00:27:05 --> 00:27:06 core value.
00:27:07 --> 00:27:08 We are a
00:27:08 --> 00:27:08 light on a
00:27:08 --> 00:27:09 hill if you
00:27:09 --> 00:27:09 like.
00:27:10 --> 00:27:11 My perception
00:27:11 --> 00:27:12 of things
00:27:12 --> 00:27:13 were more
00:27:13 --> 00:27:14 that we
00:27:14 --> 00:27:15 operated like
00:27:15 --> 00:27:15 a lighthouse
00:27:15 --> 00:27:16 rather than
00:27:16 --> 00:27:16 a lantern.
00:27:17 --> 00:27:17 That is
00:27:17 --> 00:27:19 core value
00:27:19 --> 00:27:20 is global
00:27:20 --> 00:27:22 mission was
00:27:22 --> 00:27:23 the highest
00:27:23 --> 00:27:23 value thing.
00:27:23 --> 00:27:24 The people
00:27:24 --> 00:27:24 that we raise
00:27:24 --> 00:27:26 up as being
00:27:26 --> 00:27:27 the height
00:27:27 --> 00:27:28 of spirituality
00:27:28 --> 00:27:29 are those
00:27:29 --> 00:27:30 who leave
00:27:30 --> 00:27:30 our shores
00:27:30 --> 00:27:31 and go
00:27:31 --> 00:27:31 elsewhere.
00:27:35 --> 00:27:36 They're the
00:27:36 --> 00:27:37 most important
00:27:37 --> 00:27:38 Christians.
00:27:39 --> 00:27:39 And so we
00:27:39 --> 00:27:40 operate like a
00:27:40 --> 00:27:40 lighthouse.
00:27:41 --> 00:27:42 We illuminate
00:27:42 --> 00:27:43 off in the
00:27:43 --> 00:27:44 far distances
00:27:44 --> 00:27:45 Europe,
00:27:45 --> 00:27:45 Africa,
00:27:45 --> 00:27:46 Asia.
00:27:47 --> 00:27:47 And like a
00:27:47 --> 00:27:49 lighthouse that's
00:27:49 --> 00:27:49 got a strong
00:27:49 --> 00:27:50 bream out there
00:27:50 --> 00:27:51 in the distance
00:27:51 --> 00:27:52 its own
00:27:52 --> 00:27:53 foundation
00:27:53 --> 00:27:55 is plunged
00:27:55 --> 00:27:55 in darkness.
00:27:57 --> 00:27:57 Its own base
00:27:57 --> 00:27:58 is plunged
00:27:58 --> 00:27:58 in darkness.
00:28:02 --> 00:28:03 And my
00:28:03 --> 00:28:04 perception was
00:28:04 --> 00:28:04 that the
00:28:04 --> 00:28:04 core value
00:28:04 --> 00:28:05 of God's
00:28:05 --> 00:28:06 global agenda
00:28:06 --> 00:28:06 out there
00:28:06 --> 00:28:07 was coming
00:28:07 --> 00:28:08 into conflict
00:28:08 --> 00:28:09 with the
00:28:09 --> 00:28:09 unwritten
00:28:09 --> 00:28:10 core values
00:28:10 --> 00:28:10 of what we
00:28:10 --> 00:28:11 expect the
00:28:11 --> 00:28:11 church to
00:28:11 --> 00:28:12 be like
00:28:12 --> 00:28:12 here.
00:28:15 --> 00:28:16 That is
00:28:16 --> 00:28:16 we want to
00:28:16 --> 00:28:17 support global
00:28:17 --> 00:28:18 mission but
00:28:18 --> 00:28:18 right here
00:28:18 --> 00:28:20 you need to
00:28:20 --> 00:28:21 meet my
00:28:21 --> 00:28:21 needs.
00:28:21 --> 00:28:26 now I
00:28:26 --> 00:28:27 firmly believe
00:28:27 --> 00:28:27 that the
00:28:27 --> 00:28:28 effectiveness of
00:28:28 --> 00:28:29 global mission
00:28:29 --> 00:28:31 is reliant
00:28:31 --> 00:28:31 upon the
00:28:31 --> 00:28:33 health of
00:28:33 --> 00:28:34 mission in
00:28:34 --> 00:28:35 the local
00:28:35 --> 00:28:35 church.
00:28:35 --> 00:28:35 It's reliant
00:28:35 --> 00:28:36 upon the
00:28:36 --> 00:28:36 health of
00:28:36 --> 00:28:36 the local
00:28:36 --> 00:28:37 church.
00:28:37 --> 00:28:38 A church
00:28:38 --> 00:28:38 that is
00:28:38 --> 00:28:39 unhealthy and
00:28:39 --> 00:28:40 slowly dying
00:28:40 --> 00:28:41 ultimately will
00:28:41 --> 00:28:42 not be giving
00:28:42 --> 00:28:42 money to
00:28:42 --> 00:28:43 global mission.
00:28:43 --> 00:28:44 Will not be
00:28:44 --> 00:28:45 prayerfully
00:28:45 --> 00:28:45 supporting global
00:28:45 --> 00:28:46 mission.
00:28:47 --> 00:28:48 That is what I'm
00:28:48 --> 00:28:48 saying is caring
00:28:48 --> 00:28:49 about God
00:28:49 --> 00:28:50 winning people
00:28:50 --> 00:28:51 to himself on
00:28:51 --> 00:28:51 the other
00:28:51 --> 00:28:52 side of the
00:28:52 --> 00:28:53 world but
00:28:53 --> 00:28:53 not actually
00:28:53 --> 00:28:54 caring about
00:28:54 --> 00:28:55 my neighbours
00:28:55 --> 00:28:55 being drawn
00:28:55 --> 00:28:56 into fellowship
00:28:56 --> 00:28:57 in the local
00:28:57 --> 00:28:58 church to
00:28:58 --> 00:28:59 me appears
00:28:59 --> 00:29:02 to be sort
00:29:02 --> 00:29:02 of like lip
00:29:02 --> 00:29:03 service.
00:29:03 --> 00:29:04 And it's a
00:29:04 --> 00:29:04 lip service
00:29:04 --> 00:29:05 that I myself
00:29:05 --> 00:29:06 have paid.
00:29:08 --> 00:29:09 I give money
00:29:09 --> 00:29:10 to mission,
00:29:10 --> 00:29:11 I talk with
00:29:11 --> 00:29:11 our link
00:29:11 --> 00:29:12 missionaries,
00:29:12 --> 00:29:13 I pray for
00:29:13 --> 00:29:13 our link
00:29:13 --> 00:29:14 missionaries
00:29:14 --> 00:29:16 and yet
00:29:16 --> 00:29:18 except for
00:29:18 --> 00:29:18 today,
00:29:18 --> 00:29:19 I don't
00:29:19 --> 00:29:20 know the
00:29:20 --> 00:29:21 names of
00:29:21 --> 00:29:21 my neighbours
00:29:21 --> 00:29:22 in View
00:29:22 --> 00:29:22 Street.
00:29:28 --> 00:29:28 That's
00:29:28 --> 00:29:29 because I
00:29:29 --> 00:29:29 think it's
00:29:29 --> 00:29:30 harder getting
00:29:30 --> 00:29:31 entangled in
00:29:31 --> 00:29:32 the relationships
00:29:32 --> 00:29:33 that are close
00:29:33 --> 00:29:33 than it is in
00:29:33 --> 00:29:34 the relationships
00:29:34 --> 00:29:35 that are distant.
00:29:35 --> 00:29:36 It's much
00:29:36 --> 00:29:37 easier to
00:29:37 --> 00:29:38 deal with
00:29:38 --> 00:29:39 stuff at a
00:29:39 --> 00:29:40 distance than
00:29:40 --> 00:29:40 it is to be
00:29:40 --> 00:29:42 close with
00:29:42 --> 00:29:43 people.
00:29:44 --> 00:29:45 And that
00:29:45 --> 00:29:46 explains something
00:29:46 --> 00:29:47 of the pendulum
00:29:47 --> 00:29:48 swing that I've
00:29:48 --> 00:29:48 been trying to
00:29:48 --> 00:29:49 lead us through
00:29:49 --> 00:29:50 in all its
00:29:50 --> 00:29:51 messiness for
00:29:51 --> 00:29:51 the past
00:29:51 --> 00:29:52 five years.
00:29:52 --> 00:29:53 My focus
00:29:53 --> 00:29:54 has been and
00:29:54 --> 00:29:55 it will
00:29:55 --> 00:29:55 continue to
00:29:55 --> 00:29:56 be to lead
00:29:56 --> 00:29:57 us to be an
00:29:57 --> 00:29:58 effective
00:29:58 --> 00:29:58 life-saving
00:29:58 --> 00:30:00 station in
00:30:00 --> 00:30:00 Chatswood.
00:30:02 --> 00:30:03 And part of
00:30:03 --> 00:30:03 those things are
00:30:03 --> 00:30:04 ensuring things
00:30:04 --> 00:30:06 like we are
00:30:06 --> 00:30:07 constantly thinking
00:30:07 --> 00:30:09 outward and
00:30:09 --> 00:30:09 that our
00:30:09 --> 00:30:10 pastors are
00:30:10 --> 00:30:12 viewed and
00:30:12 --> 00:30:13 operate as
00:30:13 --> 00:30:13 mission leaders
00:30:13 --> 00:30:14 and not as
00:30:14 --> 00:30:15 masseurs,
00:30:15 --> 00:30:17 for instance.
00:30:17 --> 00:30:18 Not that we
00:30:18 --> 00:30:18 do that.
00:30:20 --> 00:30:21 What tends to
00:30:21 --> 00:30:22 happen though
00:30:22 --> 00:30:23 when I believe
00:30:23 --> 00:30:24 that we keep
00:30:24 --> 00:30:25 our eye on
00:30:25 --> 00:30:26 God's global
00:30:26 --> 00:30:26 plan, God's
00:30:26 --> 00:30:27 global agenda,
00:30:27 --> 00:30:28 what he's doing,
00:30:28 --> 00:30:29 when we get
00:30:29 --> 00:30:30 such a vision of
00:30:30 --> 00:30:31 the majesty of
00:30:31 --> 00:30:33 God, what
00:30:33 --> 00:30:34 happens is
00:30:34 --> 00:30:34 mission.
00:30:35 --> 00:30:36 What flows out
00:30:36 --> 00:30:36 of that is
00:30:36 --> 00:30:37 mission.
00:30:37 --> 00:30:38 That is the
00:30:38 --> 00:30:39 way to raise
00:30:39 --> 00:30:40 the profile of
00:30:40 --> 00:30:41 mission in the
00:30:41 --> 00:30:42 local church is
00:30:42 --> 00:30:42 to talk about
00:30:42 --> 00:30:45 God, not to
00:30:45 --> 00:30:45 talk about
00:30:45 --> 00:30:46 mission agencies.
00:30:48 --> 00:30:48 It's to give
00:30:48 --> 00:30:49 people a picture
00:30:49 --> 00:30:50 of the majesty
00:30:50 --> 00:30:50 of God.
00:30:52 --> 00:30:53 And so I
00:30:53 --> 00:30:54 believe that's
00:30:54 --> 00:30:54 what's been
00:30:54 --> 00:30:55 happening bit
00:30:55 --> 00:30:56 by bit, as
00:30:56 --> 00:30:56 imperfect as it
00:30:56 --> 00:30:57 is.
00:30:58 --> 00:30:59 Our giving to
00:30:59 --> 00:31:00 global mission
00:31:00 --> 00:31:00 has increased
00:31:00 --> 00:31:02 from $66 in
00:31:02 --> 00:31:04 2008 to over
00:31:04 --> 00:31:05 $100 last
00:31:05 --> 00:31:05 year.
00:31:05 --> 00:31:06 We have grown
00:31:06 --> 00:31:07 by 10% a year
00:31:07 --> 00:31:09 consistently for
00:31:09 --> 00:31:10 the last five,
00:31:10 --> 00:31:11 six years,
00:31:11 --> 00:31:11 something like
00:31:11 --> 00:31:12 that.
00:31:13 --> 00:31:13 Now I know
00:31:13 --> 00:31:14 that's not
00:31:14 --> 00:31:14 enough.
00:31:14 --> 00:31:15 I believe that
00:31:15 --> 00:31:15 we ought to be
00:31:15 --> 00:31:16 able to be
00:31:16 --> 00:31:16 doing more.
00:31:17 --> 00:31:18 But my aim is
00:31:18 --> 00:31:18 for us to
00:31:18 --> 00:31:19 continue to
00:31:19 --> 00:31:19 keep going.
00:31:19 --> 00:31:20 Maybe we
00:31:20 --> 00:31:20 should be
00:31:20 --> 00:31:20 shooting for
00:31:20 --> 00:31:21 something like
00:31:21 --> 00:31:22 $115 this
00:31:22 --> 00:31:22 year.
00:31:23 --> 00:31:24 Now I'm fully
00:31:24 --> 00:31:24 aware that we've
00:31:24 --> 00:31:25 got a long way
00:31:25 --> 00:31:25 to go, but I
00:31:25 --> 00:31:26 am encouraged.
00:31:27 --> 00:31:27 What I'm
00:31:27 --> 00:31:28 particularly
00:31:28 --> 00:31:29 encouraged by
00:31:29 --> 00:31:31 is things like
00:31:31 --> 00:31:33 the establishment
00:31:33 --> 00:31:34 of the
00:31:34 --> 00:31:34 International
00:31:34 --> 00:31:35 Chinese School.
00:31:36 --> 00:31:37 That's about
00:31:37 --> 00:31:37 mission in our
00:31:37 --> 00:31:38 local area.
00:31:39 --> 00:31:39 That's what that
00:31:39 --> 00:31:39 is.
00:31:40 --> 00:31:40 And this church
00:31:40 --> 00:31:41 has put a
00:31:41 --> 00:31:42 phenomenal amount
00:31:42 --> 00:31:43 of money into
00:31:43 --> 00:31:46 taking a risk to
00:31:46 --> 00:31:47 do something
00:31:47 --> 00:31:48 different for the
00:31:48 --> 00:31:48 glory of God in
00:31:48 --> 00:31:49 this place.
00:31:50 --> 00:31:51 That's astounding
00:31:51 --> 00:31:52 in my mind.
00:31:52 --> 00:31:53 What is really
00:31:53 --> 00:31:54 astounding is other
00:31:54 --> 00:31:55 things like there's a
00:31:55 --> 00:31:56 group of ladies from
00:31:56 --> 00:31:57 St. Paul's from
00:31:57 --> 00:31:58 different congregations
00:31:58 --> 00:31:59 right now attempting
00:31:59 --> 00:32:01 to do mission work
00:32:01 --> 00:32:02 amongst sex workers
00:32:02 --> 00:32:03 in our area.
00:32:04 --> 00:32:05 Friends, I don't know
00:32:05 --> 00:32:06 if you realise this,
00:32:06 --> 00:32:06 but there are people
00:32:06 --> 00:32:07 hurting in Chatswood.
00:32:07 --> 00:32:08 There are women
00:32:08 --> 00:32:10 within hundreds of
00:32:10 --> 00:32:11 metres of this
00:32:11 --> 00:32:12 building who are in
00:32:12 --> 00:32:13 sex slavery right
00:32:13 --> 00:32:14 now.
00:32:14 --> 00:32:15 And there is a group
00:32:15 --> 00:32:16 of women who are
00:32:16 --> 00:32:17 just trying to work
00:32:17 --> 00:32:17 out how do we
00:32:17 --> 00:32:20 minister, how do we
00:32:20 --> 00:32:21 bring the gospel to
00:32:21 --> 00:32:21 bear on those people
00:32:21 --> 00:32:22 in our local area.
00:32:22 --> 00:32:23 I'm excited about
00:32:23 --> 00:32:23 that.
00:32:23 --> 00:32:25 I've heard someone,
00:32:25 --> 00:32:26 one of our younger
00:32:26 --> 00:32:27 people is interested
00:32:27 --> 00:32:28 in working out how
00:32:28 --> 00:32:29 to do some ministry
00:32:29 --> 00:32:30 in the nursing home
00:32:30 --> 00:32:31 just over the road
00:32:31 --> 00:32:32 in View Street,
00:32:33 --> 00:32:34 you know, just down
00:32:34 --> 00:32:34 there.
00:32:35 --> 00:32:37 I'm excited about
00:32:37 --> 00:32:38 grassroots initiative
00:32:38 --> 00:32:39 of people who've
00:32:39 --> 00:32:40 got a vision of
00:32:40 --> 00:32:41 God's global agenda
00:32:41 --> 00:32:42 for people to
00:32:42 --> 00:32:43 joyfully bow at the
00:32:43 --> 00:32:44 feet of the Lord
00:32:44 --> 00:32:46 Jesus and worship
00:32:46 --> 00:32:46 him for all of
00:32:46 --> 00:32:47 eternity.
00:32:47 --> 00:32:48 I'm excited that
00:32:48 --> 00:32:50 people are looking
00:32:50 --> 00:32:51 to do that.
00:32:52 --> 00:32:53 And I want to
00:32:53 --> 00:32:53 encourage you to do
00:32:53 --> 00:32:54 that.
00:32:55 --> 00:32:56 Find something you
00:32:56 --> 00:32:56 want to do and go
00:32:56 --> 00:32:57 and do it that people
00:32:57 --> 00:32:58 might worship Christ.
00:32:59 --> 00:33:02 So next week on
00:33:02 --> 00:33:02 Commitment Sunday,
00:33:02 --> 00:33:04 I'm calling you
00:33:04 --> 00:33:05 to joyfully
00:33:05 --> 00:33:07 sacrifice and
00:33:07 --> 00:33:08 suffer a little
00:33:08 --> 00:33:09 bit more.
00:33:10 --> 00:33:11 To joyfully die
00:33:11 --> 00:33:13 a little bit more.
00:33:14 --> 00:33:15 To joyfully suffer
00:33:15 --> 00:33:15 a little bit more.
00:33:15 --> 00:33:16 To joyfully sacrifice
00:33:16 --> 00:33:17 a little bit more
00:33:17 --> 00:33:18 by taking up your
00:33:18 --> 00:33:19 cross, following
00:33:19 --> 00:33:20 the Lord Jesus
00:33:20 --> 00:33:22 and giving your
00:33:22 --> 00:33:23 life and your
00:33:23 --> 00:33:24 resources and your
00:33:24 --> 00:33:26 time to God's
00:33:26 --> 00:33:29 agenda to be
00:33:29 --> 00:33:29 fulfilled in the
00:33:29 --> 00:33:30 lives of people
00:33:30 --> 00:33:31 that you know and
00:33:31 --> 00:33:31 those that you
00:33:31 --> 00:33:32 don't.
00:33:34 --> 00:33:35 I want to
00:33:35 --> 00:33:36 continue to
00:33:36 --> 00:33:37 encourage us as a
00:33:37 --> 00:33:38 church to joyfully
00:33:38 --> 00:33:39 embrace the
00:33:39 --> 00:33:40 sacrifice that is
00:33:40 --> 00:33:42 needed to see
00:33:42 --> 00:33:44 St. Paul's stay
00:33:44 --> 00:33:45 razor sharp in its
00:33:45 --> 00:33:48 focus on its
00:33:48 --> 00:33:50 purpose as a
00:33:50 --> 00:33:51 life-saving station
00:33:51 --> 00:33:52 in Chatswood.
00:33:52 --> 00:33:53 Amen.
00:33:53 --> 00:33:54 Amen.
00:33:55 --> 00:34:05 To joyfully
00:34:05 --> 00:34:08 to joyfully