Last week we identified our first plumb line: The church is measured by what we do once we leave the building. We are indeed called to be a sending church, just like the church in the book of Acts!
We are challenged to BE the church and not just COME to church.
Yet, week after week it seems that the excitement of going and making disciples gets drowned out by so many other things in our lives. Our excitement of the call of God seems not to last very long. Why is it that we have to be prodded and guilted into serving Jesus and living out our faith?
The church in the book of Acts had no such problem. No one had to tell them to share their faith. No one had to beg them to meet with the church body. No one had to make them feel guilty for not giving or serving or living out their faith.
It’s very simple: They really believed the gospel they were called to share.
They believed it because they had experienced it, and they never forgot what Jesus had done for them. J.D. Greear said, “What your church does best grows out of what it loves most. To send effectively, we must love the glory of God and the lost more than we love anything else. Then, sending comes naturally.” That leads to plumb line #2: The gospel alone produces the passion that sustains our mission. When we are overwhelmed at what Jesus has done for us, we cannot help but pass it on!