WHAT WOULD IT TAKE?

“...your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.” (from Romans 1:8)

My sermon yesterday morning was mainly taken from Romans chapter 1. Last week, as I prepared the sermon and studied Romans chapter 1, verse 8 sort of LEAPED off the page at me. I found myself really THINKING about it. It says the faith of the Roman church was “spoken of throughout the whole world”. The first-century church at Rome made such an impact that by around the late 50s or early 60s A.D. when Paul wrote it, they were essentially world famous! Wow!

Now, I realize you’ve got to understand the culture and the context in order to properly understand “whole world” in that verse. Was the Roman church known and discussed by the Native Americans living in present day Massachusetts at that time? Was it known and discussed in Japan? I think it’s obvious that the answer to each question is “no”. Paul is surely referring to the Mediterranean World...to the Roman empire and its immediate environs. Even so, that was still quite an accomplishment for the little church at Rome in the very earliest days of Christianity!

During part of my sermon, I posed the question, “Would it be possible for our little church- First Assembly of God of Framingham - to be known throughout the whole world? If so, what would or could bring that about?”

Today, totally unknown people become instant celebrities on youtube. Remember the college kid in Florida who yelled, “Don’t taze me, bro!” for instance? Sadly some churches become famous for very bad reasons such as children being molested by a perverted clergyperson...a “wolf in sheep’s clothing”. Yes, that’s fame, but a church certainly doesn’t want or need THAT kind of fame! There are the churches who become famous because their buildings burn to the ground and their pastors are interviewed on the 11 o’clock news, “vowing to rebuild”. There are the churches who experience devastating tragedies such as the terrible accident involving a Kentucky church’s school bus returning from an amusement park trip at least twenty years ago in which many were killed in the awful fire that ensued. No, I wouldn’t want our church to become world famous that way.

But, assuming we’re talking about something POSITIVE, what would it take for a church to become world famous?

....a bunch of miraculous healings happening in their services?

....some famous person like Sarah Palin being booked as a guest speaker and making some gaffe that goes out all over the media?

....some Christian multimillionaire showing up and passing out hundred dollar bills to everybody?

I don’t know.

A very famous and moving book is Charles Sheldon’s, “In His Steps”. It was first published in the 1890s and is the fictional story of a Kansas church in which most of its members take a pledge that for one year before they make ANY decision or take and decisive action, they will FIRST ask the question, “What would Jesus do?” and act accordingly. (Yes, unfortunately all the “WWJD” religious junk of the last twenty years is based on that book and I’m sure Charles Sheldon would be rolling over in his grave if he knew his fine book had been trivialized in that manner!) In the book, the effect of that church’s actions on society is RADICAL and REVOLUTIONARY.

Our church is small and is frankly struggling at this time; but I challenged our church yesterday that I’d love us to be famous for a reason like the church in Sheldon’s novel. Listen, churches CAN’T get people to show up for midweek prayer meeting. I stressed to our church that I’d like to see midweek prayer be the best attended event of the week... and not just some so-so,boring time of prayer, but a real “Holy Ghost” prayer meeting in which we are infused with the power of the Holy Spirit and “do business for God”! I also said I’d love to see people showing up for church so early on Sunday that they’re standing and waiting for me to open the doors when I arrive (early) on Sundays. I’d like to see our church be much more involved in the Framingham community. I am purposing to do that myself in the coming year more than ever before, but I hope others follow my lead. FINALLY, I challenged our people that we ought to be committed to Missions more than ever before...whether it’s missions across the street or halfway around the world. We ought to be giving financially to missions; praying for missionaries, and OURSELVES sharing the Gospel to those around us.

Will our little church become world famous for the above reasons? Could yours? In this critical day in which we live I PRAY THE ANSWER IS “YES”!

I’d honestly love to hear your thoughts on this one! Please don’t hesitate to post a comment or to e-mail me!