Mountainview International Church

I was hearing this week about a Monastery that had once been an important place providing spiritual life for large area, but over the years its influence had waned, until only five, forlorn, monks remained.

In the large woods surrounding the monastery lived a Rabbi and so the monks decided, that even though he was not “one of them” they would send along the Abbot to pay him a visit. See if he could come up with some suggestions to turn things around! The Abbot went and explained to the Rabbi that their order of monks was dying. What did they need to do to turn things around? The old Rabbi finally spoke. “I don’t have any advice! The only thing that I can tell you is that one of you is the Messiah!”

When the Abbott returned to the monastery the other four monks gathered around him and asked the Abbot, “What did he say?” “Not a lot really! The only thing he said was that one of us is the Messiah. “Did he say who?” “No, just that one of us was the Messiah!” Who could it be? Was it Brother Thomas? Perhaps it was Father Alfred?

As they began to contemplate which of them might be the Messiah they began to treat each other with an extraordinary love and respect, in the off chance that their friend might just be the Messiah. Those who visited the monastery began to notice and were drawn to this vibrant atmosphere of love. They told their family and friends and gradually more and more people began to visit the Monastery. The Rabbi’s words brought life to the monastery and a thriving order was born out of death.

The New Testament gives the church a very significant place. It’s not just a gathering of people to remember their founder. It’s a vibrant community where the living Christ, God himself, dwells by his Spirit. The Messiah lives amongst us and, within our brothers and sisters. Because Jesus is amongst us how we treat those around us and how we serve our living Lord takes on immense significance.

Luther said the following about the church:

God has placed his Church in the midst of the world among countless undertakings and callings in order that Christians should not be monks but live with one another in social fellowship and manifest among men the works and practices of faith.

Greg Ogden in his book, Unfinished Business - Returning the ministry to the people of God, has much to say about the messiah that lives among us. He says that:

The church in its most fundamental essence is nothing less than an interdependent, life-pulsating people who are indwelled by the presence of a resurrected and reigning Christ… The church and the resurrected, reigning, and living Jesus are inseparable. Jesus mediates his life through the church.

Just to recap about this series. We’ve been looking at the early church in the book of Acts and we have been asking ourselves this question: What does it look like for us in Madrid, 2010, to live for Jesus 24 hours a day, seven days a week? We began our series with a look at the centrality of Christ and worship. The belief in Jesus as Lord did not develop over the centuries, as is popularly claimed, but from its inception the church was declaring to the world that Jesus is Lord, Jesus is God, and worthy of our complete devotion.

Last week we saw how mission flows from worshipping Jesus as Lord. Worship draws us to begin praying and working towards Christ’s Lordship in our world. We ended with a challenge that we be living proof of the reality of Christ as we seek to make the world around us just-like-it is in heaven. And that we pray for the extension of the gospel in our world and, when called upon, we are able to explain the good news, in a clear, compelling and gracious manner.

This morning we turn our attention to the subject of community and service.

[name] is going to read the passage for us. In fact it’s the same version that we read last week The Contemporary English version draws out this idea that the early church were like family.

Acts 2:42-47 (Contemporary English Version)

42They spent their time learning from the apostles, and they were like family to each other. They also broke bread and prayed together. 43Everyone was amazed by the many miracles and wonders that the apostles worked. 44All the Lord's followers often met together, and they shared everything they had. 45They would sell their property and possessions and give the money to whoever needed it. 46Day after day they met together in the temple. They broke bread together in different homes and shared their food happily and freely, 47while praising God. Everyone liked them, and each day the Lord added to their group others who were being saved.

Community: Like family!

I think that this idea that they were like family is a great way of describing community. The loved and respected each other greatly because they understood that the risen Christ was uniting them as a church – his family.

I wonder how many people here today were part of Mountainview back when we first re-launched in January 2006? The good old days when we were 20 adults and 20 kids! If you remember we used to have a monthly social. Everyone from the church was invited to go over to somebody’s house. We had a lovely Mexican lunch at the Pianos home. We enjoyed a great Italian lunch at our house. A few weeks later we went over to the Braniff’s and enjoyed a liquid lunch – actually I think it was barbecue! We were like one family together! Mountainview grew a bit, but we could still fit everyone in a home and we were like one family together.

In September 2008 we had a big influx of new people; the Macaluso’s, the Seybold’s, the Watts’, the Risley’s and many others. It rapidly became impossible to know everybody!

A bestseller many people read was, The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. It has a great section on social capacity. The neo-cortex of our brain controls social function. Scientists compared the size of the neo cortex of different monkey species with the average numbers of monkey’s in the family group. They developed a formula that related the volume of neo cortex with the size of family group. Then they applied the formula to humans. Very interesting! The answer came back that we can handle just under 150 relationships! Max! The people conducting the research went on to do some anthropological studies on tribal people around the world. The size of tribes, the world over, was 148.4 or less!

Before Christmas I read a book called, “Taking Your Church to the Next Level - what got you here won’t get you there! Gary McIntosh, is a church growth consultant, and he points out that in the early stages the church is small and like a family. Everybody knows everybody! If you want to communicate something important we tell somebody in the church (like a Rob), and they share it with everybody else in the church.

As a church grows larger some systems, like communication, need to become more formal. But McIntosh points out that as a church grows larger, for its continued success, internally it has to grow smaller; developing leaders, ministries and small groups. So we all feel connected and cared for! Places where we can feel like we really are family!

It’s highly significant that Luke tells us in our passage that the early church, numbering several thousand, met together at the temple. But they also met together in their homes, where they were small enough and personal enough to really be family to one another!

This coming year one of our gaols at Mountainview is that we will see the development of more small groups. Jim Macaluso told me over Christmas how his small group has make a big difference in his life and I have invited him to come and share more about his experience.

[Jim Macaluso share]

I want to take a minute and have the different group leaders stand up and briefly share for 30 seconds where and when your group meets, the format of your group, and any other information that may be important…like what you are studying right now. It would also be a great that when a group is introduced, if everybody else from the group would stand too, so we can have an idea of who is in the group. So, if we’re interested in the group but can’t track down the group leader after the service we might at least be able to talk with someone from the group for more details.

English Community Groups
Madrid Young Adults - (David and Holly)
Aravaca - (Chase)
City - (Gillian)
Boadilla - Alpha marriage Course (Stefano and Sandra)

Spanish Community Groups:
Villalba - (Marcos)
Madrid - (Sam, Alex)

Women’s Groups:
Pozuelo - (Barbara)
Boadilla del Monte - (Riekje)

Highlight a couple of groups starting soon.
Group up A1 – Burgos Road (Jan 31)
Spanish Women’s group - (Xochitl?)

Thanks!!!

A call to Serve:

One of the challenges with modern living is that we can tend to put huge amounts pressure to become these multi-talented and thoroughly well-rounded individuals. If we’re somewhat normal (and don’t have too may narcissistic tendencies lurking away in there) it will quickly become obvious that we are quite limited in what we can do. The great news is that Christ never intended us to be a tower of self sufficiency.

We don’t have it all together but together we have it all!

Let me say it again

We don’t have it all together, but together (as the church) we have it all.

Pretty good...borrowed it from someone else!

The observant will note that our Acts passage does not have much to say about their service to Christ and one another. However, if we read the New Testament as a whole we quickly see the early believers served the church like they were serving Christ himself. I Corinthians 12, is an extended passage about our call to serve the church.

Paul writes:

4There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men…27Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. (1 Corinthians 12:4-6 & 27)

One of the reasons that I like this verse is that it’s a key section supporting Trinitarian belief. But another and perhaps more important reason is this! If we read the complete chapter, Paul is driving home that it’s each person of the Trinity is involved in gifting the believer for the good of the whole church. Sometimes the New Testament suggests a specific role for a member of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit, Romans tells us, helps us call God our Father. Jesus, Hebrews informs, intercedes for the believer in heaven. The Father, the Gospels declare, is the one who alone knows the end of time.

But when it comes to gifting the believer, they are all involved. The Father, the Son and the Spirit are all at work to gift us and to assign a place of service in the church. This passage is not whispering “get involved”. Paul’s screaming at the top of his lungs “get involved!”

As we get older we begin to notice that body parts cease to function optimally. If you haven’t discovered this you are probably not old enough! It’s amazing how the smallest blip in the body can affect so much of the rest of life. Each of us is gifted by God, and called by God to play a part in His church. What this passage is telling us is that if you’re not playing our part, you are missing out on something incredible God wants to do through our lives. But of even greater tragedy - the whole church is missing out. All of us seated here are missing out on the blessings of your participation.

Gordon Crosby writes:

Christ makes each of us something unlike any other creation fashioned by God-something wonderful, exciting, unique; something specifically needed in the total body of Christ. This uniqueness, this very self that is so hard to describe, this charismatic person is the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is the primary gift we bring to the body and without it the body is immeasurably impoverished.

In May 2006 a producer from BBC’s News 24 studio went to fetch Guy Kewney from the reception area. He was to be interviewed about the Apple and Beatle Record Label, logo debate. However in a case of mistaken identity he fetched Guy Goma, originally from the Republic of Congo, who was at the BBC for a job interview (yes they look alike!). Initially Guy thought the makeup they were putting on him was part of the interview process, however moments later he found himself on live BBC TV.

Paul writes:

8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2: 8-10)

God has something specific that he has prepared for us to do! It’s not a question of doing anything – it’s a question of discovering what God has called us to do. Otherwise we’ll end up like Guy Goma – with that uncomfortable feeling that I ‘m the wrong person for the job.

Half Time:
One of the books has made a huge impact on my life is the book, Half Time by Bob Buford. I’ve mentioned the book a number of times of Mountainview. I gave Gustavo a copy and he felt challenged to write a theological paper during his coffee breaks at work. His paper was recently published by the Theological Journal of the Vatican. I gave a copy of the book to Belinda and she found it way too “corporate America”!

Bob Buford says it we should view life in two parts. Part one is a journey of discovery under theme of “success”. The second part of a life is about focusing on what God is has called us to do under the theme of “significance”. He recommends that in the middle of life (around the 40 mark) we take time to discover what it is that God has made us to do. The significant contribution that God wants us to make! The good works that he has prepared in advance for you to do! Buford says that we will know what those things are because they are the things that we will do for no money. They are the things that when we do them, they make us come alive like no other activity.

How do we find our place of service in the church community?

Ask God: Backtracking to I Corinthians 12. Paul says that it’s God who assigns our position in the church. A great place to start discovering what God has called us to do – is to ask God to show us.

Visit the Ministry Fair, after this service

Test out the waters: Try something, we can always change if it doesn’t work.

Start something new: Mountainview desires to help people run with their calling!

Later in Ephesians Paul says:

11It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4: 11-13)

This verses must guide our leadership at Mountainview. The task of leadership is not to do the work, but to equip the church to serve church. In October 2008 Riekje and I went to a leaders retreat and on the way back we talked in the car how we felt that our doing of church planting was slowing down and that we needed to start increasing the developing of leaders so Mountainview could grow and impact our world indefinitely

I was delighted to see that when I mentioned to Chris Lederman that we should move from a doer to a developer mindset at Mountainview she went out and started recruiting and training worship leaders. Mountainview will soon have 5 worship leaders! Then she went out and encouraged the worship team to discover their song writing talents. Tamara’s brilliant song this morning is a good example of the fruit of that is flowing from our desire to see God bring to life the gifts that he has placed within our community.

But the verse goes further. The driving force of our service to the church is not that we might feel good, or make a CD, or end life having made a significant contribution in life. The driving force is that we are helping the church, Christ’s living body here on earth, to reach full maturity in Jesus Christ. The driving force is that the saviour of our world, who dwells in our midst, might become more visible to us and to the world.

These verses bring us back to Jesus. I hope that throughout the series were see that everything has its origin in Christ and flows back to Christ.

Greg Ogden writes:

The church is nothing less than the living extension of Jesus here on earth. The life of Jesus is still being manifest among people, but now no longer through an individual physical body, limited to one place on earth, but through a complex, corporate body called the church.

Mountainview, let us love one another because we are the family of God! Let us serve with passion for our king stands amongst us. May our love for one another and joyful service to God’s church, manifest Christ amongst us and to the world!

[Let us pray]