The Trouble With Our Jerusalems 36 The Trouble With Our Jerusalems

Six Big Hindrances The Jerusalem Pattern

Contentious distractions The church had to confront fairness in the face of diversity The Greek-speaking widows The Holy Spirit provided the answer: broadening the leadership pool Including leaders from another ethnicity

Inward Focus The Jerusalem church focused on reaching other Jerusalem Jews They didn’t think about moving out to other places There was plenty to do right there The Lord allowed persecution to move them out into the rest of the world

Scrutiny not Spirituality Philip’s success in Samaria brought scrutiny, not celebration Peter had to account for his ministry to Cornelius Jewish elitism persisted to the time when Paul and Barnabas had to give an account of their missionary journey

Worship not Witness The church worshipping in the temple Why didn’t they see the Ethiopian eunuch? Was he ignored out of preoccupation, or fear, or what? If all we think about is our Jerusalem, then our Jerusalem is all we will reach.

Suspicion of Outsiders The Jerusalem church had a hard time with outsiders accepting Saul/Paul because of his reputation Rioting when they thought Paul had brought a gentile into the temple courts We have to examine our own attitudes toward people of other cultures Toward Canadian sub-cultures unlike us

Legalism not Protection We sometimes want the church to be a safe haven from a wicked world Paul and Barnabas found their mission report met with suspicion, questioning, doubt; finally a welcome letter to these new churches – as long as they kept a few Jewish-friendly rules Legalism and self-protection go hand-in-hand We still do this today – encouraging new believers to become like us, rather than looking at what makes sense in their context

A Practical Call to Witness Five Important Practices A Practical Call to Witness

Rediscovering God’s Mission It begins in God’s heart, not ours We don’t innovate, we emmulate. The Holy Spirit empowers our witness We can’t stay stuck in the past and move with God into His future So step one is to wait together for the empowering and directing of the Holy Spirit That’s what the Jerusalem church did at first

Learning from History A radical realignment of God’s people toward the mission of God has usually resulted in a politicized power struggle. Churches have worked together much more smoothly in an environment of persecution There is constant battle between the body of Christ and the “worldly” church . We can never expect to accomplish God’s mission through human power plays We cannot expect the church to be perfect We can’t expect God’s people to always agree; nor can we selfishly “go it alone” The church must be humble and willing to serve the Lord behind the scenes

Centering on the Gospel The church has often forgotten the gospel Focusing on social justice Focused on self-righteousness Focused on fellowship The center of our message and mission Jesus Christ: crucified, buried, raised, exalted The gospel, alone, can keep us humble and worshipful ; can keep us working together

Finding Our Place There is great diversity in the ways God uses his people Each of us marching with our various discipleship communities in the same overall direction Be quick to learn from one another Be open to innovation, and be devoted to prayer Follow the Lord as disciples, not as consultants

Working through the Church We have the privilege of working together We serve, linked to the patchwork of efforts that is the church through history Now is our day to advance the Kingdom by the power of God’s Spirit We have received an inheritance of those who have gone before We will leave a legacy to those who come after