Coram Deo Video Transcript

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Lesson 8: The Church as a Window

Video 3 of 4: The Church as a Window

Presenter: Bob Moffitt

I would like this diagram to represent God's intentions for the present. You see in the center of the diagram obedience equals demonstrations of God's Love. That's really what God's will is. God's will is that we demonstrate his character. We demonstrate who he is. He loves broken men, and our broken humanities. He wants us to reflect that love. How do we do that? We do that through obedience to God's will, by doing what He asked us to do, living the way that He asked us to. That's what this diagram is going to represent.

Now let's put those three together. On the left-hand side, we have broken man. To the right, we see that he's looking out in the future, and God's intentions are that broken man see what God intends for him in the future, as well as the present. Not just the future, but the future and the present. The good news is the present. What is that good news? I'll bet you suspect. I hope you do.

Next slide. What happens? There's a wall in between broken man and God's good intentions for that broken man in the future, as well as the present. What is that wall? It's sin, but you know what? It's not the sin of the world. It's my sin. It's our sin. It's our disobedience. It's our not doing the will of God. That's what we talked about earlier in some of these sessions, is that why does the church seem to be losing America today. I believe it's for this very reason. It's not because of the sin of the non-believers around us. It's our sin. It's our not demonstrating what God's intentions are for broken man. That sin the world looks at, and says, "I cannot see God's intentions for the future, or for now, because of you."

If you were God, what would you do to that wall? When I teach this lesson I hear people in the aisle said, "Break it down." I say, "Be careful. You're talking about yourself." No, God didn't break it down. Actually, the Bible tells us that we will struggle with sin until Jesus returns, but God did do something to the wall. Look at the diagram. He put a window in the wall. Wow. When there's a window in the wall, broken people can see what God's intentions are for the future, and the present.

How many panes does the window have? Four. Can you guess what they might represent, from that earlier lesson? Yes, they represent the four areas of Jesus' growth - physical, social, wisdom, and spiritual. These are the four areas that Luke 2:52 tells us that Jesus grew in. These are God's concern, not only for his baby, but for us, as we demonstrate God's love to the broken people of our community. God intends that as people look through the window of the church, basically the church is a wall of sinful people, in whom God placed a window, so that broken people in the community can look through that wall, and see His good intentions for them.

There's a problem. The problem is that some churches … Look at the slide. Some churches cover the physical area, and they say, "Nuh-uh. No. Not for us. That's for the NGOs. That's for the government. We've got to focus on the spiritual." When the broken people of the community look through the church, they don't see God's intentions for them in the physical area.

Some other churches, they cover up the social area. Same thing. "Mm-mm. Not us. We're not a social gospel church. We're …" What happens? The people who look though that church don't see God's concern for them in the social arena.

Then some other churches, they say, "Wisdom? Uh-uh. Now, yes, we know that we need to proclaim the wisdom of God, but the people outside the wall, they, you know … If they come inside, or if they come on the other side of the wall, we'll be more than happy to share with them what God's intentions are, for all of life. But they've got to come in first." The broken people outside the wall, they look through the church, and they don't see God's goodness for them, in wisdom, in the social arena, or in the physical arena.

Look at the next slide. "Spiritual? Ah, yes. That's our calling. We're here to proclaim God's spiritual intentions. We're here to help people get saved, and boy, do we do that well." Those broken people outside the wall look through the church, what do they see? "Oh, God cares about my future when I … When I die." Not many come on the other side of the wall, because they say, "I'm hungry now. I'm without a job now. My son's a drug addict now. My husband's an alcoholic who comes home, and beats me at night, now. Does God have any good new for me now?"

What do we need to do? We need to wash the window. How do we wash the window? How do we clean it? We become active as God's people in demonstrating His love, in every area. Now, by doing His will in every area - in our personal lives, in our family, in our relationship to our brothers and sisters in. We do God's will in relationship to the people in our community, government, servants, employers, etcetera, even including our enemies. This is God's will. I have a question that I'd like you to ask. The question is this – which of the four areas of God's concern do you think the people of your community can clearly see as they look through the window of your church?