Jesus At The Center Of The Church
Repentance • Message 1
Bryan Jones
August 13, 2023
People have been asking me… what’s my vision for Brookwood, what’s my strategy for Brookwood, what are the plans for Brookwood, what’s the staffing structure for Brookwood, What’s Brookwood’s next step?
And today right now… I’m going to tell you… are you ready for it?
Here’s the vision… wait for it… Jesus at the center of it all… and I couldn’t be more excited…
You go, why? Because what I want is the same thing that’s always been true of Brookwood…
At the center of this church, it’s not strategy, at the center of Brookwood isn’t staffing structure, it’s not vision, it’s not mission, it’s not plans… it’s Jesus at the center… That’s what we are going all in for…
My son the other day, “So, Dad, so, are you going to be the boss of the church?” And I said, “No son, Jesus is the boss of the church.” And so, he looked at me and said, “Oh, so you are kind of like His sidekick.” I love that…. Isn’t that amazing… because Jesus is at the center…
So much so, that we are going to put our money where our mouth is… and we are going to spend a year in this theme Jesus at the Center… so we are going to be spending a year looking at Jesus in the Bible…
So today kicks off an 8-week series called Jesus at the Center of the Church…
And what we are doing is looking at the 7 letters Jesus writes to the 7 churches in Revelation…
And the 7 churches you will see on the screen were really a part of the mail route and so we are going to spend some time looking at each one and then unpack another church on week 8…
Now as we kick off this series let me ask you a question… How many of you have been blessed or deeply encouraged by someone in the church?
Now how many of you have ever been disappointed or hurt by someone in the church…
But isn’t it so true that some of our greatest blessings and wounds come from the church…
Philip Yancey said it like this:
When the church is functioning at its best, there is simply no community on earth that can rival it. But when the church is functioning at its worst, there is no community on earth that can do as much damage. History itself proves the point. The church has served untold millions, as evidenced by the number of churches, hospitals, orphanages, schools and relief agencies that Christians have founded and operated. But the church has brutalized untold millions, as the medieval inquisition and the religious wars of the seventeenth century also demonstrate.
We do not give up on the institution of family because of its imperfections-why give up on the church?
And if we went around and asked everyone what their opinions of the church are, everyone would have them… but what Jesus wants is what matters most…
And so doesn’t matter if you are brand new to church, or if you have been in church your whole life, if you are in a great spot in your faith, or if you are questioning things… you’ve come at the perfect time as we take a look at what Jesus has to say to the church…
And the first church we are going to look at is the Church in Ephesus.
Background…
Now let me give you some background on this book of Revelation. The Book of Revelation was written by the Apostle John who’s on an island known as Patmos, which would be in modern-day Turkey. It’s about 13 sq miles and has about 3,000 inhabitants.
-Purpose of these letters was twofold, to commend and correct.
This was a famous city in the ancient world [Ephesus], with an equally famous church. The Church of Ephesus was founded by the Apostle Paul and it’s the oldest of all the churches Jesus is going to speak to.
It was world-famous as a religious, cultural, and economic center of the region.
It was a port city, so there was a lot of trade, and people coming and going…
Revelation 2:1 (NLT)
“Write this letter to the angel of the church in Ephesus. This is the message from the One Who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One Who walks among the seven gold lampstands:”
First, each letter starts talking about a message to Angels. Don’t let this confuse you. It can mean messenger, leader, or pastor…
Lampstands here refer to the churches and 7 stars are the pastors or leaders again…
But He goes on to commend them and says…
Revelation 2:2-3 (NLT)
“I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don’t tolerate evil people. You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars. You have patiently suffered for Me without quitting.”
B. Commend
1. Hard working.
This Greek word for hard work means to work to the point of exhaustion.
I know your deeds, your hard work. It’s hard work pastoring a church. That’s why I admire Pastors like Perry who have been faithful for 30 years.
2. Perseverance.
Greek word hoopa- munia which is remaining under something hard. Remember this church has been around for 40 years and it had experienced serious persecution. Nero and Domitian hated Christians and would do horrible things to the disciples of Jesus. They were dipped in tar and lit on fire.
3. Holiness.
You don’t tolerate wicked or evil people. You don’t tolerate sin. This was a port city so tons of brothels. In fact, today if you visit you can still see ancient signs pointing in the direction of brothels. Not to mention there was a temple of Artemis, which was a Greek goddess that was one of the seven wonders of the world. They had several practices that involved prostitution and perverse acts.
You imagine everyone is going, “This is great. Keep it going! Don’t stop Jesus.”
Then all of a sudden Jesus says BUT…. I hold this against you…. Jesus has something against the church.
Revelation 2:4 (NIV)
“Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.”
Notice He doesn’t say you don’t love… they still love but not like they did… Jesus goes, your love for Me isn’t at the center like it used to be…
Now when I said Jesus at the center is the most important thing… let me show you why I said that…
What a great church needs at the center…
- Pastor [Pastor circle] – listen, I will take a super pastor over a bad pastor… I do believe leadership matters. But Paul is the founding pastor… Aquila/Priscilla… Timothy was a pastor/ the apostle John…
- Miraculous [Miraculous circle] — the parting of the Red Sea - Grumble in the wilderness. Acts 19:11-12 Paul’s handkerchief heals people, this is the church. After all, you still lost your first love …
- Cultural Impact [Cultural Impact circle] - Acts 19:17-20. The Gospel does a radical thing and yet they still lost passion over 40 years.
- Mission [Mission circle] - School of Tyrannus for people who want to go deep. Over two years the entirety of the region here’s the Gospel... people are being sent all over the world… I see this with people. Hey, the issue is we just have too many consumers, so we need to go deeper. Plant more churches. Do more prayer meetings. More leaders. More disciple training… all good stuff but here’s the thing the churches that were planted in Asia are the churches Jesus has issue with. We can’t just weed everyone out that’s on the fence. Just find these missions. They met at all hours of the night.
- Doctrine [Doctrine circle] - book of Ephesians… have you ever read a book with better theology than Ephesians… but this great doctrine was not enough to cause them to keep going and not lose their love…
They were doing many great things… but Jesus is saying that I’m not at the center… Interesting, He’s not saying you don’t love Me… He’s asking, am I the center of your life?
Let me ask you a question is Jesus the center of your life or is He a part of it?
Two things that often keep me from making Jesus the center of church… Schedule and Apathy…
Apathy…I just really believe God wants to take our apathy and awaken us… I have never believed more deeply that the fire of God can awaken even the coldest of hearts… My kid was standing outside saying I’m cold… come inside… When you draw near to God… and put Jesus at the center He will awaken your heart…
Schedule- We’ve got so many things going on… extra activities, remember the story of Martha in the Bible she was doing a lot… but Jesus wasn’t at the center…
Some are really good like this church… but we need to put Jesus back in the center…
One of the things my wife and I have said is the most difficult thing is to have a conversation with our kids around… because every parent knows when it’s quiet that’s not a good thing… [what Selah wrote on the wall] But I remember what a mentor/pastor of mine, Jon Tyson said…
As a parent, you have a kid because it’s an extension of your love, but it’s funny, that fruit then robs you of your intimacy.
And people when they fall in love with God, they get fruit and start to serve, and give, but sometimes that fruit robs them of intimacy.
So, essentially what the Church of Ephesus is saying is, “You know what, we are working hard, we’re faithful, holy, a lot of programs…”
Something happened where they dismissed Jesus not from being a part of but being at the center… Ephesus had become a Martha church, in their schedule they had moved Jesus out of schedule…
The problem with this church is they were trying to live for God without the love of God…
Jesus tells them two things…
C. Correct
1. Repent.
Revelation 2:5a (NIV)
Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.
That word fallen is the same word used for Adam and Eve in Genesis 3 where Adam and Eve had fallen. It’s the same word used for Satan to describe when he’s cast out and falls from heaven.
God is calling the church to repent from a lack of love…
For years, even working in the church, do you know what was at the center of my life? Success [Success circle].
What I realized was I actually felt empty. When you are right with Jesus, your food tastes better, the sun feels a little brighter, and kids cry a little less loudly… everything just seems to be different.
Repentance isn’t some churchy word… it’s something we should all do regularly. Most weeks I do it daily. Repentance is about putting Jesus back at the center… it’s not a feeling… it’s about turning to Him.
Revelation 2:5b (NIV)
“If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.”
If you get a teacher who doesn’t teach, what do you do? Remove them. A police officer who doesn’t uphold the law? You remove them…
What if you get a church that doesn’t love Jesus? You remove them.
Maybe the church isn’t dying… maybe it’s being removed because it doesn’t love Jesus anymore.
2. Remember.
See, the more comfortable and familiar with God’s love we are, the further away we are from it… Paul mentioned his story 3 times in the book of Acts partly because I don’t think he ever left the Damascus Road.
Story of Steph…
Jesus is saying, “Do you remember what was like when you found out you were loving and pleasing to Me? Do you remember when you first beheld grace? Do you remember what it was like when your life was swept up in the enteral story of Jesus? Lost enter all perspective you get swept in the day-to-day grind. Forgot eternal salvation and all God has done.
Remember where we have been raised from…
Devotionals… [Picture with single phone] [Picture with three phones] Remember daily… something will always compete for your affection.
Ephesus harbor - 3.7 miles. Now there is mud, silt, clog it up… if you went today, you wouldn’t know it’s a seaport. They had to remove and dredge out all the stuff…
You have to guard the source of your intimacy, or your heart will get stranded.
Some of you just feel like your passion has been gone for so long and you’re so far from God and He’s going “I can reconnect…” He will tear down whatever separates you… nothing, nothing can separate you from the love of God.
It’s amazing what technology can do but it doesn’t compare to what God of the universe can do…