Purposeful People

Having a purpose statement is only the first step towards living in a purposeful way. Hopefully by now you have considered the draft statement that has adorned our notices sheet, and come to a conclusion as to whether you feel it truly encapsulates the purposes given us in scripture. This is vital. It is not good enough for us to merely accept the draft, or even the eventual final version. What matters is that each of us are convinced that this is what we, the church, are here for. If we aren’t convinced, nothing will change in our lives. If we are convinced, we will start trying to live it out.

So, we have a purpose, and a reasonable summary that helps us to express our purpose clearly, and we are personally convinced about it. But now we have to recognise that right here and now, Christ is judging our church on the basis of what we are doing about fulfilling our purpose. (Check out Revelations 2:1,5 if you don’t believe that Jesus is continually judging the churches.) How do you think we have been doing? Membership? Maturity? Ministry? Mission? Magnify? How do we rate ourselves?

So what can we do about moving on? Do we have to wait for the next church meeting before we can do anything or is there something we can do now as individuals to make a change? In Christ’s letters to the churches He presents each church with a way forward from their situations, most of which were very negative situations. Why not read through Revelation chapters 2 and 3 to see if any are helpful to us as a fellowship and you as an individual. Just to keep you on your toes while reading, see if you can pick out the church that’s still got work to do, the church that’s full of pride and complacency, the church with motivational problems, the church tolerating an evil power-base, the church that is self-pitying, the church that is too liberal.

The last church of all is one where God’s people have lost sight of their purpose and are so wishy-washy that they are about to be spat out by Jesus. Looks like we’d better get a move on! But even here Jesus offers a solution. As with all failure situations they firstly need to repent, but the way to get their vision back, the way to gain a solid conviction, the way to go forward is by spending time in fellowship with Christ. He is the head of the church, He is the source of our vision, our purpose (Rev 3:15-17,20). Wouldn’t it be tragic if we spent our time debating the purpose statement, debating strategy, when outside, Jesus is knocking on the door, and we don’t let Him into our discussions. You can be doing something now, you can be opening that door and spending time talking to Jesus, and listening to what our Lord and Master has to say.