First Presbyterian Church                                                           Rev. Dr. Michael J. Imperiale

Salt Lake City, Utah                                                                       September 24, 2006

“Christ-Centered Ways: Pattern for Mission and Ministry”

Colossians 1: 15-20

Introduction

This month and next, the sermon scriptures and themes come from a biblical theology of ministry that comes from my post-graduate studies as a pastor. For Christians and the church, it is so important to stick to God’s vision and will for life and ministry. “Rooted in the nature of God, serving together with Christ, and having a kingdom mentality” have been the themes over the past few weeks. Today, our scripture reading teaches about having Christ-centered ways, finding our pattern for being a church in Jesus himself.

In the past year or so, we have been trying to promote three essential commands of Christ to shape our life together as a church. “Love God, love neighbor, go and make disciples.” How we spend our time and resources should always be evaluated by who Jesus is, what he said and what he did.

In other words, our Christology (what we believe about Jesus Christ) leads to what we do as the church, his followers. The apostle Paul begins all of his letters to the early church with teachings on the person and work of the Lord Jesus. Colossians 1 is one of the great Christological expressions in the New Testament. Read Colossians 1:15-20. 

I. Our Church and Its Ministry

The church is meant to be a community of believers who worship the Lord together, grow in our understanding of God’s word, share in friendship, provide support and encouragement in life and faith, and reach out with the love of Christ to a lonely, lost and hurting world. Each of these aspects of the church’s life is equally important. Each holds priority interacting with the others. To the extent that the organized church, our policies and provisions, enhance the establishment and continuing support of this community of faith and its gospel purposes, the church is to be loved, appreciated, and supported. However, if and when the institution gets in the way of this biblical vision and purpose of the church, things need to be changed or abandoned. In Presbyterian circles, this is embodied in the phrase Reformata semper reformanda. Reformed, always reforming according to the Word of God.

As First Presbyterian Church lives in the twenty-first century, it also begins its second century in this beautiful, historic building on South Temple. In 2003, we saw the complete restoration and renovation of the sanctuary as well as fellowship hall, classrooms, library, kitchen, gymnasium, and offices. Happening at the same time is the on-going renewal of the purpose and nature of our congregation and its ministry through the Healthy Church Initiative. With the leadership of its pastors, staff, elders, deacons, and members, worship services in both contemporary and traditional forms hopefully are vibrant, vital, and relevant for today’s world. Christian education and discipleship groups for adults, youth, and children, the WELL and Open Door are meant to help us live as Christians here in Salt Lake City as well as in the USA and in the world today. Specific programs are aimed at enabling personal friendships to begin and grow among the members, families, and guests of the church. Being an historic, downtown church continues to offer unique opportunities for sharing Christ and the gospel with people throughout Salt Lake. In each of these ministries, the leadership of the church is focusing on the needs of those in our community not yet experiencing and knowing the good news of Christ. Longtime members and friends in the church also are being challenged and encouraged to look outside themselves for sharing this gospel in good word and good deed. We want to be a Christ-centered church.

II. Christ-Centered Ministry

Almighty God is wholly other than us human beings. He always was and always will be. The human mind cannot fathom the realities of God, eternity, infinity, etc. And yet, all human beings and cultures have sought to understand them. The multiplicity of religions, philosophies and belief systems demonstrate the human need and desire to have a framework larger than themselves to make sense out of life.

Christians believe that the one and only God who ever was and ever will be has revealed himself to us in a way that human beings can come to understand. That revelation was finally and fully made in the person and work of Jesus. “In him all things hold together.” Take away Jesus Christ and there would be no clue about the nature of God or his plan and purpose for life. In her classic book What the Bible is All About, Henrietta Mears articulates how Jesus is portrayed in every book of the Bible, Old and New Testaments.

The Presbyterian Church (USA) begins its Book of Order with this preliminary principle. “All power in heaven and on earth is given to Jesus Christ by Almighty God, who raised Christ from the dead and set him above all rule and authority, all power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. God has put all things under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and has made Christ Head of the Church, which is his body.” Our church and its ministry must be Christ-centered if it is to be faithful to its reason for being.

Listen to what Pastor Dallas Willard writes about the church. “The assumption of Jesus’ program for his people on earth was that they would live their lives as his students and co-laborers. They would find him so admirable in every respect – wise, beautiful, powerful, and good – that they would constantly seek to be in his presence and be guided, instructed, and helped by him in every aspect of their lives. For he is indeed the living head of the community of prayerful love across all space and time.”

Whenever you consider a particular church like First Pres, an approach to worship, the message of the preacher, the programs for education, fellowship and service, you should always look for Jesus. Is the message Christ-centered? Do the person, teachings, commandments, and work of Jesus Christ inform and direct the ministry or mission? Are the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus both explicitly and implicitly present in the lives of those ministering in his name? These are crucial questions to be addressed and answered directly as the church lives out its life and purpose.

After all, the incarnation proclaims that “God entered human history in a personal way, and made it unmistakably clear that he is on our side, doing everything possible to save us.” Jesus’ death on the cross gives people complete confidence in the forgiveness of God for our sins. As Christ-followers we can then give of ourselves in ministry knowing the extent of God’s love and support toward us. Jesus’ resurrection from the grave gives certainty in the promise of life that the Lord offers to all who trust in him. As we find this everyday renewal in Christ, we can love and minister to others with the full assurance of the outcome. And the ascension of Jesus demonstrates the Lordship of Christ now as the new rules of God’s kingdom prevail over and against the rules of this fallen world.

The Confession of 1967 of the Presbyterian Church put it this way: “The life, death, resurrection, and promised coming of Jesus Christ have set the pattern for the church’s mission. His life as a human being involves the church in the common life of all men and women. His service to people commits the church to work for every form of human well-being. His suffering makes the church sensitive to all the sufferings of humankind so that it sees the face of Christ in the faces of people in every kind of need. His crucifixion discloses to the church God’s judgment on people’s inhumanity to one another and the awful consequences of its own complicity in injustice. In the power of the risen Christ and the hope of his coming, the church sees the promise of God’s renewal of life for women and men in society and God’s victory over all wrong. The church follows this pattern in the form of its life and in the method of its action. So to live and serve is to confess Christ as Lord.”

It is critically important for the church’s corporate mission and the believer’s personal ministry to be centered in the person and work of Jesus Christ. After all, this is what makes Christian ministry Christian.

Conclusion

In Colossians 1, God’s word reminds us of all we find in Christ. “We look at this Son and we see the God who cannot otherwise be seen. We see God’s original purpose in everything created. Everything got started in Christ and finds its purpose in him. Jesus holds it all together right up to this very moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes it and holds it together. He is the head of the body. We ourselves are a case study of what he does.” So let us be the church that the Lord Jesus desires.

Let us pray together.