Images of the Church Social Club or Flock?

80% of Churches are Fellowship Churches which can become nothing more than a social club Because of this focus God centered worship, other oriented ministry, Christ focused discipleship, and genuine evangelism go undeveloped or underdeveloped.

What is Fellowship? Fellowship refers to our connection to people that share the same interest, aim, feeling, friendship, relatedness, or purpose. It is the people that you spend time with.

Reflective Questions: Who do you spend time with and why do you spend time with them? How do you choose whom you invest your time in? What does God want to have happen when we invest our time with others?

God Is Purposeful in Fellowship: God is purposeful in His fellowship. He knows who He is spending time with and why He is with them.

Genesis 3:8 God wanted to spend time with them and He wanted them to choose to spend time with Him. Sin broke that fellowship.

Fellowship Can Be Restored: Complete, intimate, fellowship with God and man will not be restored until after the second coming of Jesus but it is through the work of Jesus; His life, death, burial, and resurrection that fellowship with God can be restored.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Fellowship with Family: We need to invest time in our families, other believers, and outsiders to show them who the Lord is and help one another put the word of God within our hearts.

God Centered: God wants us to be in fellowship with Him and to take that relationship into our families, other believers, and unbelievers. In these relationships Gods intent is that He be a part of it all.

People Need People: People need people and people come to the Lord through other people. Most of us are here because someone, or many some ones, invested time with us getting to know us and sharing the love of God with us.

Thinking It Through: Is your fellowship On Purpose fellowship? How can you adjust your investment of time with people so that it is more purposeful and aligned with Gods intent for fellowship? Who do you spend time with and why do you invest your time with them?

Consider Your Investments: Consider who you are investing in and who is investing in you? Are you developing the relationships that are needed for God to grow you and for Him to grow others through you? How healthy is your relational input and output? Do you have a mixed group of new people, peers, more mature believers, and unbelievers? Where do you need more balance?

The Other Image: The other image that we are looking at today is the image of the church as a flock of sheep with Jesus as our shepherd.

Sheep and Shepherd: An image that connects. Israel, New Zealand…

Jesus the shepherd As we consider the church as a flock we think of Jesus as the Shepherd who protects the flock, leads the flock, and cares for the flock.

Flock Passages Acts 20:28 Page 1729 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. Vs 29!

Flock Passages 1 Peter 5:2 be shepherds of Gods flock that is under your care… Hebrews 13:20 Page 1879 Our Lord Jesus is the great Shepherd of the sheep.

John 10:11-18 Page 1666 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

The Good Shepherd 14 "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me-- 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father--and I lay down my life for the sheep.

John 10:16 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. The inclusive and growing nature of the church is brought forth as is the truth that we all must listen to His voice. One shepherd, one flock!

John 10: The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life--only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father."

What is Your View? Social Club or Flock? Seeing ourselves as a flock helps us to focus on Jesus as our Shepherd who leads us, protects us, and cares for us. This image also reminds us to listen to his voice and to live obedient lives.

This Week: 1.Enjoy the fellowship. 2.Consider how you spend Gods time. 3.Consider how you are listening to his voice and living how he says. 4.Pay attention to your prayers and schedule.

Summary! Our images of the church as a hospital or as a social club keep us in control whereas Jesus view of the church family and flock show us that He is the head and that we are led by Him. Next Week: Military (Evangelism) or Vine (John 15:1-17 Connection).