Title: THE CHURCH’S PROJECT

Focus: The Scriptures call us to live authentically, doing our liturgy or works of service.

Function: To move the people to be and to do what God calls us to be and do.

Text: I Peter 2:1-12

What does God want our newest member (Ethan Philip Hoekman) to be and to do as he grows up? As a church we maintain in our vision statement that our collective task is to lead people to a growing and committed relationship with Christ and his church. Together with you, I stand behind that mission statement, because it has solid, Biblical footing.

Collectively, we may agree with the church’s project to lead people to a growing and committed relationship with Christ and his church. Individually, however, there are many different minds when it comes to the project of the Christian church. For example, the mission statements of mega churches tend to vary greatly; and the tasks of many rural churches seem to be quite different from those in the cities.

Many Christians recognize the evangelistic task of the church; we live in the age during which the Holy Spirit is gathering people from all tribes and nations into one body—the church. In order for that to happen, there must be gospel proclamation; there must be missions preparations; there must be unified efforts, world-wide to let our light shine to bring to bear the influence of Christ in every sphere of life.

Sometimes we get so caught up in “doing” things that we forget to work on “being,” on coming to grips with who and what we are in Christ. That’s why I say today—in light of the Scripture reading—that God’s two-fold project for all Christians is to live authentically, doing our liturgy or works of service.

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When you listen carefully to the instructions given by the Apostle Peter to these dispersed and persecuted Christians in Asia Minor, you’ll notice that Peter emphasizes 4 things in the passage we read. For example,

· In vs. 1-3 Peter wants us to “clear the rubble of sin.” Listen: “…rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.” In other words, we are to grow up in faith and take the garbage of sin out of our daily lives.

· In vs. 4-6 Peter reminds us that Christians are being built into a spiritual house with Christ as the capstone. In other words, Christians are under construction. The Spirit of God is at work in us and through us, shaping and molding us into the image of Christ.

· In vs. 7-8 Peter tells us that we should not be surprised about the reactions of others toward Jesus; for some people Jesus is precious, a treasure; for others, Jesus is a pest, a nuisance, a stumbling block.

· Then, in vs. 9-12 Peter calls us to not only take out the garbage of sin in our lives, but also to be busy with the project that Christ has given us. In verse 9 and 10 Peter emphasizes our identity in Christ; in vs. 11 he urges us to live detached from our culture’s worldly lifestyle. And in verse 12, Peter points to our posture or daily lives in the midst of the world: “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”

We could summarize this passage and say that the Apostle Peter brings to our attention what the church is, and what the church is called to do. Let me “unpack” this passage with you. First, we shall consider a number of images that help us understand who we are in Christ. We must come to grips with “being.” So what is the church?

1. The church is a spiritual house: Listen: “As you come to (Jesus), the living Stone…you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house.” In other words, members of the church together make up the temple of God. The church is the dwelling place of God’s Spirit. Part of the church’s task is to be that temple—a place of worship and biblical instructions to serve the living God. What is the church?

2. The church is a holy, royal priesthood. (Listen, vs. 5) “(you are to be) a holy priesthood…” (vs. 9) “You are a “royal priesthood…” In other words, members of the church together make up a company of priests and priestesses, men and women made holy and ruled by the ascended Lord Jesus Christ. Our project is to offer spiritual sacrifices as Christ rules in us and sanctifies us. Be that holy, royal priesthood. What is the church?

3. The church is God’s chosen, holy people. (Listen, vs. 9) “But you are a chosen people…a holy nation, a people belonging to God….” In other words, God calls Christians to form a community that is distinctly the people of God. We must live with the awareness that God calls us and has chosen us for a task; we must live pure, holy lives, reflecting God’s purity as found in his Word. Clearly, the church is world-wide, set apart, and owned and ruled by the Spirit of God. Part of the church’s task is to be that kind of people.

When we summarize these images of the church, it becomes clear that the project of the church is, in a nutshell, to be authentic—to be shaped into a spiritual house, to be a holy, royal priesthood, and to be God’s set apart, chosen people. This is our project, our task of being. So, let’s be authentic and be the church!

Before we explore what the Scripture calls the church to do, let me confront us all with a serious threat. One of the greatest threats we face today in being authentic or living as God’s people is our emphasis on individualism. The church today suffers from the prevailing notion that says that all of life centers on “I, me, and myself.”

As church members—like the rest of society—we tend to think in terms of “I.” What’s in it for me? What can the church do for me? If I don’t get my way, then I’ll go the highway, to somewhere else. If I don’t like something, I throw my weight around; I kick and scream, or I threaten to withhold my monies, or I will leave.

This spirit of individualism threatens the church of Jesus. The spirit of individualism breaks community. That spirit is on the side of the spirit of the anti-Christ. We must counter that spirit by being the church and by living as a community of priests and priestesses, of people ruled by God and sanctified by his Spirit. We need to repent from the spirit of individualism and insist that we be what God calls us to be: a community—not a cluster of islands of “I’s” and “Me’s”. God dwells in the church. And the church is community. This is the project of the church—to be authentic—to BE the church.

Now according to the text from I Peter 2:1-12, what is the church to do? What is its project? The project of the church is liturgy, doing works of service. This may sound strange, but listen to what the inspired apostle calls the church to do: (vs.5). “You are a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

Now spiritual sacrifices are part of worshiping God. We worship God, for example, on Sundays by coming together, singing, praying, meditating, hearing and responding to God’s Word, receiving the sacraments, bringing our gifts and encouraging each other to faith and faithfulness. Such worship flows from the sanctuary into our homes and workplaces and schools throughout the rest of the week.

The project of the church is to do liturgy on Sundays and throughout the week. Paul says in Romans 12:1-2 “…I urge you…in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your (liturgy), that is, your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

The church’s project, then, is not only to be authentically the community of Christ, but also to do liturgy or works of service. So, when you wash those dishes, plant those flowers, pick those tomatoes, drive that truck, study those lessons, fix that car, examine that patient, run those computer programs, or play that game of soccer or baseball (and you do it unto God)—you are doing liturgy. By offering up to God your work and play, you are engaged in the church’s project.

Oh, it’s true. Much more can be said (and I hope to do so next week) about the church’s project. We must, for example, also “declare the praises of him who calls us out of darkness into his wonderful light.” That’s a call to speak favorably of the triune God. Some call it evangelism; others call it foreign or home missions. Others call it preaching, and again others may refer to it as “giving account of the hope that is within us.” Either way, declaring God’s praise to the world is part of our liturgy.

Historically, Reformed Christians have always maintained that all of life is liturgy, that all of life is our spiritual act of worship. One of the greatest threats to the Christian church here in North America is the insipient notion that divides life into two parts: the secular and the sacred, the public and the private. The secular world is eager to keep faith out of daily life, Christian ethics out of policy making, and Christian teaching out of the sphere of public education.

It’s that notion that says: “If you want to be religious, then go to church. If you want to pray, then do that at home or at church. If you want to practice Christian morality, then do so at home, but not in the ‘dog-eat-dog’ world of business or in the ‘cut-throat’ world of politics.”

Too many Christians buy this notion of the great divide between sacred and secular, between private and public. But the project of the church is not limited to our homes and building called Calvary Church. The two-fold project of the church concerns all of life. It comes down to being authentically the church, and doing our liturgy or works of service every day of our lives.

In this, as in all things, glory be to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Both now and forevermore! Amen.