In metallurgy, a mold is injected with molten metal, the metal cooled and then removed from the mold. Then they rinse the mould and repeat the process. It is a form of mass production. When you "break the mold," you are preventing something from being made the same way again. In other words, it means that you are going to do things differently than you have been doing them.
In our churches today it’s very difficult to “break the mold” without upsetting people and creating conflict. People get use to church being done a certain way and settle into a comfort zone. When someone tries to make changes (“break the mold”), you inevitably hear a stir beneath the surface as the grumbling begins.
But, if we’re going to make our churches effective in reaching new people we must be willing to “break the mold.” Never is that more true than when a church is trying to move closer to the New Testament model for doing church.
One of the fallacies that has become prevalent in modern American Christian thinking has to do with the extreme distinction too often made between the clergy and laity. Too many people believe that the church hires clergy to do the work of the ministry and the laity’s role is primarily to “consume” that ministry. The average church member thinks this is the New Testament model established by Christ, but it isn’t. Actually its an unbiblical model precisely because it creates this extreme distinction between clergy and laity.
If we’re going to get/keep God’s church moving we have to “break the mould” in at least four specific areas.
We have to move from...
1. Independence To Dependence
- We place a high value on independence in American Culture.
- You might think we would want to create independent Christians, not dependent ones.
- And, we do want Christians to be able to function within the body of Christ without having to always hold their hand, but not until they’ve learned dependence on God!
- This text tells us that God is the One that gives spiritual gifts (4:7).
- There’s more gifts than just the five mentioned here.
- He is sovereign in the giving of your gift.
- Spiritual gifts are similar and unique at the same time. Christians all receive the same basic gifts, but they function uniquely to each person.
- With your gift comes the promise of His enabling power to function in a place of service...”grace” (4:7).
- Service to God is not first and foremost about natural talents, learned abilities, personal strength, or imitating others.
- It’s about the “grace” (4:7) that God gives to serve Him with effectiveness and fulfillment.
- It’s about learning to depend on Him rather than on yourself or anyone else.
- We must become a people that recognize our spiritual dependence on God!
- People become too dependent on leadership when they should be dependent on the Lord.
- David “...strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” ( 1 Samuel 30:6)
- Do you have to be strengthened by someone else or can you strengthen yourself in the Lord?
- Some people are needy and clingy because they’ve never learned to be strong in the Lord for themselves.
We have to move from...
2. Performance To Preparation
- Discuss the question of punctuation in Ephesians 4:12 and how it affects the understanding of the passage.
- God has given to the church gifted leaders not to perform the work of the ministry, but to prepare OTHERS TO DO the work of ministry.
- One of the great mistakes in our churches is in believing that God has created a hard distinction between the laity and the clergy.
- The truth is that all of us are to be ministers of Christ and not just a select, professional few.
- For too long we have evaluated pastors by how they “perform” rather than by how they “prepare” us to minister.
- The average pastor feels as if he’s giving a trial sermon every Sunday and his future depends on how well he performs.
- Pastors are being evaluated by the wrong standard and according to the wrong measure.
- When I came to the church I was involved in many different tasks just to keep things moving forward. But, God didn’t intend for me to continue doing all those tasks myself. He expected me to train others to do some of those tasks and then to hand off that ministry to them.
- Actually, the job of the pastors is to prepare you to do the work of the ministry so that you can succeed at God’s calling on your life.
- Rick Warren made famous the saying, “Every member a minister.”
We have to move from...
3. Consuming To Contributing
- There are too many spectators and not enough participants in our churches.
- Too many are asking what’s in it for me? We shop for churches like we do the latest product on the store shelves. It’s all about consuming not contributing.
- “...by what EVERY joint supplies” and “by which EVERY part does its share” (4:16).
- “What did I get out of church?” ...is the wrong question to be asking when you leave on Sunday. The real question is, “What did I contribute to church?”
Illustration:
A pastor by the name of Tom Nelson has identified four distorted images of the church.
First, some people see the church as a gas station. He says, “the church is a place where you fill up your spiritual gas tank when you’re running low. Get a good sermon, and it will keep you going for the week.”
Second, some people see the church as a movie theater. He says that, “for many people, the church is a place that offers entertainment. Go for an hour of escape, hopefully in comfortable seats. Leave your problems at the door and come out smiling and feeling better than when you entered.”
Third, some people see the church as a drug store. He says that, “for other people, church is the place where you can fill the prescription that will deal with your pain. For many the church is therapeutic.”
Fourth, some people see the church as a big box retailer. He says that, “people see the church as the place that offers the best products in a clean and safe environment for you and your family. The church offers great service at a low price—an all in one stop. For many people, the church is a producer of programs for children and young people.”
The one thing that all of these have in common is that none of them are found in scripture. Pastor Nelson says, “all of them are distortions of the way we’re supposed to be doing church and they all have one thing in common—they’re all about ‘me.’”
He goes on...”Fill me up! Entertain me! Take away my pain! Give me the programs my family and I are looking for! It’s pure consumerism. This isn’t surprising. This mindset is pervasive in our culture.”
Illustration:
An illustration of how one man learned teamwork came from his military career in the Army. He tells how they would line up 20 soldiers laid on their backs on the ground and then place a heavy log on the outstretched arms of the men. If even one man failed to carry his weight of the log, the other nineteen would feel the pain of his failure.
There is a lot of pain in some churches because everyone isn’t carrying their weight in the ministry.
- You don’t become like Christ by sitting and singing in the pew. You become like Christ when you begin serving.
- John Maxwell said, “When we receive without giving, we become fat. When we give without receiving, we become faint. When we receive and give, we become faithful.”
We have to move from...
4. Immaturity To Influence
- One of the main problems with the extreme distinction of a professional clergy and a non-professional laity is that it perpetuates spiritual immaturity in the individual, as well as in the church body.
- The goal is that we should “no longer be children” (4:14) and “grow up in all things into Him” (4:15).
- When the body functions properly it causes maturity and builds up the church. It says, “for the edifying of the body of Christ” (4:12) and “the edifying of itself in love” (4:16).
- God wants us to grow up so we can INFLUENCE others by “speaking the truth in love” (4:15).
- At best, when the pastors are not “preparing” as Christ commands, he may be maturing in his own faith, but the church remains in spiritual infancy. At worse, the pastors burn themselves out and the church remains in spiritual infancy.
- Either way, the only way for the church to mature is for them to “break the mold” and do church God’s way.
Application:
- Learn to embrace change, not criticize it when it’s for the cause of advancing the Gospel.
- Grow up into being a low maintenance, not high maintenance member of His church. (cf. 1 Samuel 30:6)
- Develop a teachable spirit, not a resistent spirit so you can learn the work of the ministry.
- Christ’s work can be done out there, not just in here when the church meets together. (This is primary reason we've named this series of messages, "Every Member A Missionary." The work of the ministry can be done outside the church, as well as inside the church.)
