“You Are Here”

(Sermon Series and Winter/Spring 2022 Emphasis)

 
 

Where We’ve Been

Over the past few years at North Sub, we’ve been on the following journey:

  1. We’ve identified the mission of North Suburban Church as follows: to bring people from the Well to the Word to the World. We aim to “meet people at the Well,” to “disciple them in the Word,” and to “send them out as empowered disciples to transform the World.”

  2. We’ve noted that the hinge of that mission is discipleship in the Word, the making of intentional followers of Jesus who are forever becoming more like Him.

  3. Then we asked: What would our church look like (individually and collectively) if we were discipling effectively? We answered that individuals would be increasingly characterized by our Marks of a Disciple, and the church collectively would be increasingly characterized by our Core Values.

  4. The next question follows from that one: If that’s our target, how can a church like ours disciple people in that direction? That’s the plan we laid out in Fall 2021, including four “vehicles” for discipleship.

So now that the plan is in place and being executed, how do we know if our discipleship work is bearing fruit?

That’s where we turn next as a church.

Are we doing well? Are we carrying out the mission? Are we deficient in any ways?

Where We’re Going

We’ve marked out the early months of 2022 as a time to take inventory. Think of it like a good, thorough checkup at the doctor’s office. However, assessing ourselves may be easier said than done!

After all, consider the seven churches addressed in Revelation 2-3. Some get a warm hug from the risen Jesus, others a kick in the pants. And it’s not just the letters to the Revelation churches that exhibit this variety! Paul’s letter to the Philippians reads like a tender arm around the shoulder while Galatians reads like a stern rebuke.

So what is the risen Jesus saying through his Spirit to North Suburban Church at the start of 2022? There may not be a more important question for any church to ask. And the answer has massive implications for where we ought to go next! Consider the following:

  • If we’re way off course (according to Jesus’ assessment), drastic measures need to be taken. In fact, if such were the case, it would be sinful for us to maintain the status quo by continuing on our current trajectory.

  • On the flipside, if God sees us more like the church at Philadelphia (in Rev. 3), and he’s saying to us something like, “You’re doing great, hang in there and hold on to what you’ve got!” then far be it from us to make any drastic changes!

So where are we?

“You are Here”

We’re entitling our upcoming sermon series “You Are Here.” Like such a marker on a trail map, we want the upcoming months to be a time of clarity regarding where we currently stand before God as individuals and as a church. In other words, let’s “define our reality!”

  • To what degree are we healthy? To what degree is there unhealth that needs to be addressed?

  • What is God’s assessment of us, and as such, what’s the tone of His message to us?

  • To what degree do the Marks of a Disciple and Core Values characterize us as a congregation… and are those measures increasing over time?

The best way I know to embark on such a project is to look at what God has said in His Word to other professing Christians. By immersing ourselves in His messages to other individuals and churches, we learn what His voice sounds like in such a way that, in prayer and in community, we might better sense His Spirit’s assessment of us today.

So between now and Easter, we’ll look at some passages that do that.

  • We’ll start out the series with a few one-off passages that set the framework for this discussion.

  • Then we’ll look at Revelation 1-4, which includes letters from the risen Christ to seven churches in modern-day Turkey.

  • After Easter, we’re considering getting into 1 John, which deals with these themes extensively.

Along the way, we’ll be prayerfully seeking the Lord’s help in discerning just where we are as a church, just how He sees us.

So What’s the Answer?

Although I (Tim) have been prepping for this series for months, and although I have more clarity now than I did a few months ago, I don’t actually know what’s going to come of this. That is, I’m not totally sure what God’s assessment of North Sub is at this stage in her story!

What I do hope is:

  • that those in our church family who truly belong to Christ will leave this series more assured than ever about their status, that they will hear the Lord singing over them with gladness and eagerly anticipate hearing His voice say “well done, good and faithful servant!”

  • that those in our church family whose lives don’t match their professions of faith will realize that disconnect, will repent, and will enjoy a depth of assurance that they haven’t had before as they hear the Lord’s rebuke and decisively turn from their sin.

Two Ditches

After all, there are two major ditches to avoid in an exploration like the one we’re about to engage in.

  • Unhealthy Introspection: it’s possible that we can become so focused on the fruit of obedience that we are filled with anxiety, unsure of our standing before God because our experience of His love for us rises and falls with our obedience or disobedience.

  • Presumption: it’s possible that we can so ignore the importance of the fruit of obedience that we treat our standing before God in a cavalier fashion, never examining ourselves or seeking correction.

Both ditches have in common that they misunderstand the true nature of assurance, the confidence with which God wants us to walk the Christian life.

Greg Gilbert points out that, according to scripture, our assurance is supposed to come from (in this order!):

  1. The gospel

  2. The promises of God

  3. The witness of the Spirit

  4. Fruits of obedience

But that order is so crucial! The gospel and the promises are the driving sources of assurance! Fruits of obedience – those are only a confirming source of assurance (to use Gilbert’s language).

  • In other words, if we make “fruits of obedience” the driving source of our assurance, we end up in the ditch of unhealthy introspection!

  • And if we pretend like “fruits of obedience” don’t matter for assurance, we end up in the opposite ditch of presumption.

We’re going to do our best to walk this path of gospel assurance.

If you fear that a sermon series about self-evaluation will be “beat-down time,” please hear that I pray (and expect) this series won’t feel harsh or demanding.

But as we press harder than ever on the “accelerator" of the gospel and the promises of God, I do think we ordinarily will see, like a speedometer reading, that the fruits of our obedience will grow.

And we’ll be assured. Not flippantly, but more deeply than ever. Because like a “you are here” marker on a map, we’ll be able to state clearly both where we are… and thus, where we’re called to go next.

Further Exploration

Here are some resources we’ll be drawing on as we embark on this series:

TGC Essay on Assurance (note: see also the excellent bibliography at the end of this essay): https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/assurance/

Don Carson on the Ground of Our Assurance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJRz5fLCmM8

Greg Gilbert, Assured: Discover Grace, Let Go of Guilt, and Rest in Your Salvation