Gospel Living

But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent...

Acts 6:1

This morning Matt preached a message titled "Gospel Living."  He shared from Acts 6 where, as Matt said, "A Gospel issue develops."  The background in Acts 6 is that there are two groups of widows and one group feels like they are being overlooked.  Well, this is an affront to the Gospel and the Apostles immediately put together a plan to make sure no one is overlooked.  (It is worth noting what they don't do:  they don't take sides.)

Now, I don't sense any type of rumblings of discontent, but, as Matt rightly pointed out, a Gospel issue has developed.  (Really, when is there not a "Gospel issue" in our life?  That's kind of the point.  The Kingdom of God creates constant tension in our life.  It constantly forces us to rethink things.)  We are faced with selling our building which presents a nice variety of Gospel issues.  When will it sell?  Where do we go next?  How will it happen?  And so on and so forth.

Really the only Gospel issue we are faced with is becoming the people that He has called us to be.  Our desire is to be an authentic expression of His Kingdom and you don't need a building to do that.  In the Kingdom of God what matters is our behavior not our building.  Our primary concern is that together we would have a growing, vibrant, and visible relationship with Jesus Christ.  A building is a peripheral issue - it's not central.

This is why Matt's encouragement to us is so critical.  When we face any Gospel tension in our lives, Matt's encouragement is:

1. Pray.  He added (and I think you need to hear this), "And its going to take little bit longer than you think."  Yes.  Whatever "it" is in your life.  Pray.  But don't be surprised when it take a bit longer than you think to work it out.  God is faithful.  Patience is a virtue.
2. Every conversation is a Gospel conversation.  Not just our Sunday morning conversations.  No, every conversation with your boss, your co-workers, your spouse, your kids, your neighbors, strangers, or whoever.  "Witness" is one of those Christian characteristics you can't turn "on" and "off."  There's no switch.  It's always on.  You're always witnessing; you're always representing.  The question is:  are you a good witness or a bad witness?  Does your mouth or your actions betray you?  Others should be able to tell by the way you speak and your behavior that you are different.
3. Finally, invite.  Invite people into your life.  Note what he didn't say.  He didn't say, "Invite people to our church building."  No, invite people into your life; into your living room and to your table.  Let them see the good and the not-so-good.  Let them see how you celebrate and how you work through the terrors of this world.  Let them see you laugh and let them see you cry.  As people get to know you, my guess is, you will have more than one opportunity to tell them about the King you bent your knee to follow for the rest of your life.

Matt's right on here.  And we can do all of this with or without a building.  Jesus is more concerned about our behavior not our building.  Wherever God leads, the point is not that we get there; the point is that we get there as a certain type of person.  Or, as I like to say, how you get there matters.