Thriving Together
Jim Clements · Tidal Church Moncton · September 10, 2023 · Is Your Faith Growing? series
Jim Clements draws on Hebrews 10, 1 Corinthians 12 and Exodus 17 to show that a growing faith is lived together. He invites the church to welcome guests with care, make room for God in busy lives, and join a small group.
More from Jim Clements · The Is Your Faith Growing? series
Topics: Relationships, Mission & Outreach, Discipleship
Transcript
[0:01] Well, when I think of church and I think about our faith, I think about how do we thrive together? And I was with the staff on Monday, and we all got together and as I was arriving to be with them, I began to reflect and realize that in the three years that I've been here, 2021 was kind of a nothing, right? I'm not, and a lot was going on, but there was a lot from a church perspective that wasn't happening. And in '21-'22 was kind of a repeat, like a do-over. And in '22-'23 we got introduced to leadership transition. And so this year, this ministry year is a new day.
[0:51] We don't have anything in our way, in our, on our horizon that's gonna stop us from becoming the church that we want to be and what God's calling us to be. So in those seasons we had our balance removed. All of us were put off balance. I don't, I don't care how strong you think you are or whatever you were processing or how cool you think you are. We lost our balance when it came to passion and creativity and our worth, even. We lost our balance when it came to activities or celebrations. We lost our balance when it came to hope with joy and faith. Those are all represented when we look at small groups as life, small groups, when we think about life, small groups, there's family, there's friends, there's workplace, there's sports and recreation and there's church, and the balance kind of all got thrown out that helps bring balance when we have all of those things in our lives.
[1:59] We were done and sitting back due to circumstances, being told to be still. When we don't serve a God that says to be still, we serve a God that says go. And so as a church starting from this point, we will be a church that now goes. We will go because God's called us to go. And even in this first year, when I thought about in the spring the things that we need to accomplish, by the time we got to this week or even last week, we decided we were gonna build four new classrooms downstairs, and everybody thought we were nuts, including myself. And we were gonna build a new worship space for 456 and youth.
[2:44] And they were like, "You're crazy. You're not gonna get that all done, like epoxy floor, ceiling, like all like that." And I'm here to tell you that school started it, and those four classrooms are being used. And in two weeks' time that new youth and 456 space is gonna be used because God's called us to be a church that goes. God's called us a church that goes because we got together as a people and made sure that it happens. Over the last three years prior, four of those five groups within our life got removed. And today, if you haven't already, is a day to recalibrate your life, to recalibrate and to claim back the work that God wants you to do that has been put on pause or you've been hesitant about. Because God is calling us to be a great church, to follow His Spirit and allow His Spirit to move in and through us and in and through the church, so it moves in and through the community.
[3:40] And the only way that we can do that is to do it together. But I'm gonna ask you to push beyond the limits because the day of thinking like traditional church and how we're gonna reach people doesn't necessarily work in the same way anymore. We've gotta be willing to take risks and look at how are we gonna reach a certain group of people, because the same thing over and over and over. It has a nice flash to it. It's exciting, but is it yielding the same results? In 1960, there was a gentleman named Joseph Kittinger who did this. He fell from 30 kilometers in space.
[4:25] That's a long jump to get back down to space. That's pretty incredible. And in 2012, a guy by the name of Felix Baumgartner said, "I can do that from 40 kilometers." So from 1960 to 2012, it's the same thing. It's no different. They both landed on their feet. And in 2014, a guy by the name of Alan Eustace did it from 41 kilometers. Y'all thinking, "I don't wanna sign up for that if that's what he's saying." I'm not saying that we have to jump from space, but as you can see, the effect of seeing something the same way, the same time loses effect very quickly. And just showing you 5, 3, 5, or 6-second spots. Wow, the first guy that was cool, 1960, he looked like he had a Glad garbage bag on. Right, then everything improved from there. But it's the exact same thing.
[5:31] It's just somebody fallen from space that's all planned, lands on their feet, and everybody thinks it's a big to-do. But I'm telling you, as a church we can't keep doing the same thing and expecting the same results, because as I said once before, there's only one way to God. But there's thousands of ways to Jesus, and we've gotta figure out what those thousands of ways are. And each one of you in here, excuse me, each one of you in here represent one of those ways. Each thing we think about ministry wise is one of those ways that Jesus, we've gotta help people discover who Jesus is.
[6:19] Did you know that in 2021-22, Moncton was one of the fastest growing cities in our country, but in July of 2022, Moncton became the fastest growing city in our country? With that comes a lot of responsibility. That means that God is putting more people in the midst of where our church is. And He's never called us to be on task ministry wise more than ever before as He floods people into our city. What are we doing to reach those people for Jesus? We can't sit back and go, "Moncton is growing. Yay!" Is the church of God growing in the city of Moncton and surrounding communities? That's what we want to celebrate.
[7:12] I'm gonna ask you this morning to do five things, five things. Some of them you're not gonna like. I'm just gonna tell you that out front. So don't send me an email, don't text me. You can email Joyce all you want, but don't send it to me. But I want to tell you a story first. There was a gentleman I came across in one of my previous churches. His name was Orville, not like popcorn, I guess, but that's not what he did. Orville was 86 years old. We were getting ready to plant another campus in his community. He was making the drive every 25 minutes to the main campus. And so we kind of had this launch gathering and celebration and asked everybody to come, and everybody was there and they were playing and having food, and Orville was there sitting by himself. And I went over to Orville.
[8:07] I said, "Orville, what are you doing here?" He goes, "Well, you said we're planting a campus in my community, and I should be here." I said, "Good on you." I said, "What do you think about it?" He goes, "It was gonna be a video campus." He goes, "I don't like having to watch the message on video. I don't like having to go to a new building. I don't like not having to go over to the main campus." And I said, "Orville, why are you here?" Then he said, "Because you said more people would come to Jesus if I came here." That's why we do it. It's not about us. It's not about our personal preferences. It's about what can happen as a result of Jesus' move in our life. So if we're gonna hit the bullseye, here's the first four, seating, where you sit in this room matters.
[9:04] If we wanna be friendly to guests and we want to be open to those that we are receiving. And I understand there are people with physical issues who sit where they sit, and that's okay. But we've gotta think about guests when they come in for the first time. Where am I sitting? The best spots for them are the back rows. It's the end of the aisles. I'm an aisle dweller, I'll admit to it. I like sitting on the end too. Where do we sit? I'm here to tell you, I've sat all over this celebration center, and every chair in here is a comfy chair. So there's not one different from the other. The other thing I want you to consider is who are you talking to?
[9:53] Are you talking to the same group of people that you see on Wednesday as you do on Sunday, as you work with during the week? Or do you see a group of people that you haven't talked to yet? You know absolutely nothing about them? God has brought the world to Moncton. God has brought the world to MWC. We have so many cultures to celebrate within our own family of God that we need to begin learning and sharing and talking about those cultures. And that way we become this beautiful mosaic that everybody looks at and sees the love of Christ emanating from this mosaic that will change our community. Oh, here's the hard one. Joyce is gonna get the emails for this, and I don't know how to say it other than if you've met me, you talk to me. I'm just a straight up guy. You gotta be on time.
[10:53] If you were to book a flight and arrive at the airport at the time the flight took off, none of you would be on the plane, right? You don't show up late the most every other thing when you come here. I want you to pray before you come. And I want you to be here ready to receive what God has in store for you. And when you arrive late, you make it about you because it distracts others. And I don't want you to not come back. I just want you to be on time. That's not a lot to ask. I don't know about, like my wife tells me it's time for dinner. Like, I don't go.
[11:43] I'll be there in a minute. Like, I'm getting up to the table, right? Like, I'm there, I'm ready. Where is it? And if you knew how I cooked, you'd know that you wouldn't want me cooking. That's why Gisèle cooks. But I'm just asking you to be on time. It will make an incredible experience together or to be together. That's all I'm asking you. The other thing I want to ask you, you probably already stopped listening, but the other thing I want to ask you, this one is really important for me. They're all important, but this one is vitally important for me. I want you to pick the furthest parking spot away when you arrive and park in it. No more parking up close to the doors. No more parking.
[12:36] I understand physical ailments. I get all that. I'm not gonna make you mark your car or anything. I'm just gonna trust you. But when guests come, guests are looking for a parking spot. If it's hard for guests to find a parking spot, guess what? They go for breakfast. They don't stay. I'm just telling you, for us to be a church, that's a church call of action. We've gotta be thinking of all these things and we've gotta be ready. God doesn't just show up 15 minutes in the service. God shows up way before that, before you even are started to arrive. God has showed up so that all spells stop. Not because it's a hard word. I want you, when you arrive on campus, to just stop and think about these things. I'm not gonna police it.
[13:26] And I know winter's coming, and you know what? It's a lot longer walk from the back of Costco's parking lot than it is from the back of our parking lot. And I've seen some of you all, if you need a grocery cart to put your Bible in, the park out there to push in here, I'll get you a grocery cart, right? If that's the difference, I don't know what the difference is, but winter's coming. I want next Sunday to be the first Sunday that is no more than normal routine around here, that we begin thinking of who's not here versus who's here and what my preference is or what I like, because people matter. Our guests matter.
[14:11] Seeing and experiencing the love of Jesus and the work of Him in and through our church and our lives starts at the very beginning of when you arrive for service here. We're designed to do life together. We are designed to be a community together. We are designed to be in those small groups I've listed, plus the small groups within churches. If you want to know why churches in America and Canada are struggling, they're struggling because small group attendance is on the decline. And here's a graph that shows it to you. And if we're gonna be a transformational church making a difference in the lives of people within our community, then we need to be in small groups.
[14:58] So I was in a small group before. I'm in a small group now, I'll tell you to get to there. But the small group that I was in, I'm gonna pause for a second, sorry. The small group I was in, I was in for 13 years before I moved here. We shared stuff in that small group that grew every one of us spiritually, that made every one of us stronger in life, and to the point that we are bonded and welded together like never before to this point. One of 'em were on a cruise. A couple of them were on a cruise to Atlantic. Did you know that you can cruise to Atlantic Canada? I didn't know that. And they got off in the whaling city of Saint John. I'm like, I didn't even know Saint John was a whaling city.
[15:44] I thought they didn't know the Bay of Fundy. They did a whaling out of there. But I guess that's what they tell the people on the cruise. They contacted us and said, we'd love to spend the day with you. That's what we did, because that's what small group builds, those kind of relationships that last forever. And then I get a phone call later on that same week. It's like, God knew what I was gonna talk about. And a call from a family that in our small group, we prayed about what the next step was for their family, and that next step was for them to move, and they were struggling with it. And they moved, and they called us to tell us. We got on Zoom, and we talked about how glorious and uplifting their new life is in their new place with their family. How God has just blessed them and blessed them and blessed them.
[16:32] That's what life in small group does. It keeps those connected, but it helps you navigate life. You are not to do it alone. Hebrews, and now the group I'm in now, they're just a bunch of crazy people I'm trying to get to learn. They all know who they are, so I won't point 'em out. Get me in trouble. No, it's been tremendous to do stuff together, to share together, to learn together. And we're just growing right now after just a one year. And I don't want you all in a small group. Hebrews 10:24-25 says, let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds. Not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day approaching.
[17:19] Research shows us that people that spend time alone, they increase their body, increases the release of stress hormones while you're alone. Mental and physical health problems like depression and anxiety and care for your body increases when you're alone, being isolated. You stop doing things you like to do. The only one who wins is the enemy when he isolates you. We are meant to be in small groups together. We are meant to be a church of small groups. You are meant to find your way into a small group at MW. You finding your way into a small group at MW makes us a transformational church, not just for you but for our community.
[18:08] 1 Corinthians 12:12-14. Just as a body, though one, has many parts, not all its parts form one body. So it is with Christ. For we are all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free, we were all given one Spirit to drink. Even so, the body is not made up of one part but is made up of many. We are meant to share life together. We are meant to be together. There's nothing more incredible than seeing a circle of friends who are gathered together. I was one time at a conference and I was away and had a family in our church whose spouse was dying.
[19:00] And the picture that was sent to me wasn't from inside the house. It was from outside of people in their small group who got other small groups and circled their home and prayed while that time happened. That's what small groups do. You pray together, you put your hands together and you pray together. There's nothing more incredible than a circle of hands that are holding tight, praying together for what God has to come. When we put a bid on a house to come here, it was our fourth house and we lost it. And we called our small group and said, if we're getting to Moncton, you need to pray for a house for us to put the stuff in, 'cause we can't live outta that tractor trailer. I'm pretty sure the next morning I woke up and it was messages saying, you need to call me right away.
[19:49] And when I called the house that we didn't win the day before, God gave to us the next morning, 'cause that's what God does. It's the power of small group to pray together. You carry life's heavy loads together. Exodus 17:11-13, as long as Moses held his arms up, the Israelites won. But when he put his arms down, the Amalekites started winning. When Moses' arms grew tired, Aaron and Hur brought a stone for him to sit on while they stood beside him and held his arms up, holding them steady until the sun went down. In this way, Joshua totally defeated the Amalekites, holding each other's arms up. We are not meant to go through life alone.
[20:35] We are not meant to carry those burdens alone. We are meant that when it is tough and we get down, that someone else holds our arms up for us. We come together because tough times won't survive. Tough. Small groups who battle together, lifting up each other's arms no matter what the situation is or what time of day it happens, tough small groups win every time. Proverbs 13:20, walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm. Part of the small groups is that your relationship with God would grow and your relationship with others would grow. Being here on is not enough.
[21:26] If you're checking this box for your discipleship, this is not enough. This should make you thirsty for more. This should make you thirsty to be in a small group and grow. We had and it nurtures authenticity. You're able to share beneath the surface. You're not gonna do that day one. Maybe some of you will, but it takes time. It takes trust. But you know what? Small groups also helps. It also helps heal the scars that have happened over the years. It helps claim the victories together and celebrate them together. That's what small groups do. Romans 12: 4-5, for just as each of us has one body with many members.
[22:14] And these members do not all have the same function. So in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to the other. Each one of you have different experiences. We talked earlier, but each one of you have different cultures. God has put us together for a reason. It's not just by chance. And each one of us is gifted uniquely, uniquely for the cause of the kingdom that He has called you to here at Tidal. As you navigate the way for being involved in the life of this church, which involves small groups that you need to be in. That's the fifth thing. If you haven't picked it up, I'm asking you is, I need you to get in small group.
[23:04] If you're not already in one. If you're already in one, great. We need to have those shared experiences, those shared giftings, those shared burdens together. We need to now work, play, and continue to grow our faith because we're called to go. We're called to go into the workplace. We're called to go to recreation. We're called to go to family. We're called to go into friends. We're called to go in the neighborhoods. We're called to go into the city. We're called to go into the world. Can you do it alone? No. You're part of Christ's body and of the church. You need to be in a small group. It's time to get off the bench and get involved in the game.
[23:55] We can't keep sitting on the bench. We have to come together as one body and be strong. See, there's two simple words my dad mentioned to me when I was young. He said, there's the word I-N and T-O. He said, there's a whole different level of involvement in a baseball game. If you want to go to the baseball game, you can just buy a ticket. If you wanna be in the baseball game, sure of being arrested requires a lot of years of dedication and sacrifice. So I want to ask you, are you coming to church or are you in church?
[24:53] So many of us take the time to look at our life. We look at our life in a straight line and we think about what we give time to. 'Cause right now you're sitting there, you're going, Pastor Jim, I ain't got time for small group. And I know that. And you know what? One of the things you do most is you sleep. I get that. That takes a lot of time. For some of you, when you add to your lifeline, there's work and that takes up a lot of time. For others, it's TV. The average Canadian watches four hours and 20 minutes of TV a day.
[25:40] The average Canadian, not American, when it comes to digital, doesn't include TV. The average Canadian spends over six hours a day engaged digitally on platforms. Start adding sports to it. This is starting to become your lifeline. Start adding travel to it. I love to travel and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with any of these. Start adding, just, I don't know what it'll be. We just add a question mark. There's so many things that it can be for you.
[26:26] Just so many things that eat up your time that you talk about. I don't have time for small group. You know the other thing you don't have time for? And this shows you don't have time for God, 'cause if this is your lifeline, the one thing I want you to notice is that there is no space in between any of these that allow a space for you to contemplate and spend with the Holy Spirit to direct and show you in your life. There's no space for God to move in and through any of these. If you're involved in sports, where's the space outside of going to the sports that allows God to move in and through it using you for it? Oh, you say, okay, I'll create some space.
[27:19] And it very quickly becomes, there are some good things that will keep you from the greatness that God has planned for you. There's a book called Good to Great, and it says, the enemy of great is good. You need to create a lifeline that leaves space in between all the aspects of your life that allows room for God through the Holy Spirit to move and realize in your life the gifts, things that He has given you, are incredible, incredible transformational gifts for those that are yet to know Jesus Christ. And if Moncton is the largest growing city in Canada, we've gotta be the largest growing community of believers. I don't mean Tidal, I mean all the churches. In Moncton, we have a responsibility to show the love of Christ to people.
[28:16] We have a responsibility to help meet the needs within our community. We got a responsibility to stand up and say, Jesus matters, I matter. You matter. And there's nothing any different that's gonna change because that's who I serve. I don't serve a person. I don't serve a government. I don't serve a system. I serve the one and only living King today. And as a church, we're gonna be that. I told you, we're gonna be a praying church. We're gonna be a church about people too because people matter. People matter where you sit. People matter where you park. People matter where you talk. People matter. When they see what time you come in, how valuable it is.
[29:06] What I want you to do, that's a lot to take in. I've asked you five things, the four to go, to stop, and to join a small group, you wanna be transformational. Start taking the steps towards it. What I want you to do is in the next little while, I just want us to remain quiet like this. Look at what's here on the table. Fill in the boxes yourself of what's taking up your time, what's filling your lifeline? Think about what are the, where do I create the spaces? So in this next little, just reflect. If it helps to look at these, great. If not, just bow your head and ask God, God, what is it You want me to do?
[29:57] In a time of quiet reflection.