Declaring Chapter 11: A 10th Anniversary Message

 “Declaring Chapter 11”

 Message @ Jericho Ridge Community Church –Sunday, June 14, 2015

Text: I Corinthians 13:13 // 10^th Anniversary Sunday

Friends, what a morning already!  My heart is full with joy of thinking of what God has done over the years.  I want to remind us that this morning is not about nostalgia over what has been.  It is all about celebrating God’s faithfulness to us.  Our Bible Memory Challenge verse for this week is Psalm 100:5 “For the Lord is good.  His unfailing love continues forever, and His faithfulness continues to each generation.”

I was telling a friend that it was our church’s 10^th anniversary.  So as we round this corner, my sense is that we are going into a new chapter.  I told him how excited I was that as a church, we are closing chapter 10 and I am declaring that we are entering chapter 11.  He looked at me and said “Brad, I’m from the States.  You do know what entering chapter 11 means don’t you?”  I couldn’t think of it off hand so he refreshed my memory.  Under US Federal Law, when you enter chapter 11, that means you are declaring bankruptcy.  You enter a state where your assets are under the control of another individual, a higher authority, one who calls the shots.       

We both had a good laugh about my misuse of the phrase entering Chapter 11, but I began to think more about that phrase, not in a financial sense, but in a spiritual sense.  Chapter 11 might just be the best and only place for Jericho Ridge to live.  Because in some sense, every single church, big or small, 10 days old, 10 years old or 100 + years old should be in a chapter 11 posture.  Because when you go into bankruptcy you take a stance says “I am here to declare that everything I have, everything we own is not mine to manage.  I willingly submit to the plan that you lay out for me!”  And in a spiritual sense, if the individuals in a church and collectively, the church as a gathered community doesn’t do that day by day and week by week, we can have all the money in the bank and all the ministry roles filled with busy people, but we don’t stand a chance of seeing lives transformed in this community & around the world for eternity.  The church is called, you & I are called before God, to submit to chapter 11 

We’ve been in a teaching series here at Jericho in I Corinthians where we have been exploring a letter that Paul wrote to the Christians in the first century city of Corinth.  And I wondered what it might sound like if I Cor 13 was personalized for us here at Jericho on this anniversary Sunday.  Because I Corinthians 13 really is about declaring bankruptcy – bankruptcy on things that would keep us from understanding and living out a true and deep and wide and high love that God has for us & others.    

So I’ve taken the structure of the first several verses of I Cor 13 and applied it to our context at JRCC to invite us to declare bankruptcy on several items that might keep us from following God and submitting to Him.  This morning, we are stepping into a chapter 11 posture by…   

Declaring Bankruptcy on Mission Drift

“If Jericho sends out missionaries to the ends of the earth, but we don’t love each other and neighbours well; we might have lots of great stories but we will have missed opportunities God expects us to seize here in Langley

Stepping into chapter 11 means asking God to stir up a heart for the lost and for people who are seeking all around you and I.  Our mission, our reason for existence as a church is very simple, finding its roots in the word of Jesus in Matthew 28.  Our mission is to become and make disciples of Jesus.  Not just over there or out there somewhere, but asking God to begin with me.  With my heart. Am I submitting myself to a process of being discipled and am I praying daily that God would use me to call people He places in my path to repentance and faith and a life of discipleship?  God isn’t going to do out there somewhere what I am unwilling for Him to do in here.  Declare bankruptcy on non-discipleship.     

We are also stepping in chapter 11 by…

Declaring Bankruptcy on Empty Strategy because even if  

If Jericho has the best laid strategic plans, we understand ethnographies, can predict & meet all needs but we don’t do it in love, we gain nothing

Last year we spent time together seeking God and asking for a fresh picture of his heart for us.  The phrase that became our vision statement has been lost in the muddle of this past year.  What does obedience to God look like? We said “we see a community of people depending deeply on God, caring radically for each other, extending hope to the seeking and seeing lives transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit”.  That, friends, isn’t a strategy so much as a posture.  Don’t hear me saying that strategy is not important.  But what I am asking is where we are placing our primary trust and confidence: in our carefully laid plans or are we depending deeply and moving in the power of the Holy Spirit?  This week on Wed, we are meeting for prayer.  Ali is going to lead us and I want to see lots you out there, church, on our knees seeking God together

We are stepping into chapter 11 by…

Declaring Bankruptcy on Sunday Shows

If Jericho had faith and resources to buy the whole of the LEC and fill the arena bowl every weekend with concert-quality worship & lights, but we didn’t do it from a heart of love, it could be cool & fresh, but it wouldn’t change a single life for eternity

I love the way we have put this in our strategic outcome statements.  We say we want to “measure properly” by which we mean, “we see people responding to the situations of everyday life with appropriate definitions of success, measuring their accomplishment by Kingdom metrics not suburban expectations.”  I kinda thought that going into year 10, we would have more people at Sunday morning gatherings than we have.  But that’s a suburban expectation – me comparing Jericho in my mind to other churches planted at the same time, expectations and questions from people “are you guys ever going to get it together and own your own building?”.  If we measure properly, we begin to ask not about our Sunday capacity, but our sending capacity.  We thank God for the 10 families we have sent as mission partners nationally and internationally in 10 years.  Thank God for the 18 people we have had on staff over these years, many of whom have been equipped and raised up and sent out to pastor or lead other churches or agencies.  As we enter chapter 11, we re-evaluate what success looks like, not for a church that is 10, but for Jericho Ridge.  Are we being faithful to God’s unique call for us here in Willoughby Clayton?  Are we growing in generosity, in faith, in service, in authentic community in ways that God would have for us?  I believe there is lots of work to be done in these areas, but I am also convinced that we can’t do it on our own strength.  Maybe we’ve been trying.  If so, It’s time to enter chapter 11 and Declaring Bankruptcy on Human Effort

If every person at Jericho spent every weekend serving and loving every person who is poor in Langley-Surrey till every need was met, we could brag about it, but if it was done in our own strength, we would have accomplished nothing of lasting value

There’s a new stirring here at Jericho, a new heart that God is birthing in us and through us.  It’s still emerging and so we as elders are taking this season slowly to pray and discern and listen to God.  Because we are deeply committed to move into year 11 and beyond in Ch. 11 posture.  

Paul says this well at the very end of I Corinthians 13:13 where he says “three things remain”

FAITH – confident trust in God’s goodness & His saving mercies

Our faith has and will be tested again, but God has proven himself faithful.

HOPE – conviction God is leading us into His plans for JRCC’s future

This has been a hard year.  There is a sense of grief and loss and pruning.  But one of the things that I am convinced of is that God is leading and guiding Jericho into the future that He has designed and prepared for us. 

LOVE – compelling encounter with God that overflows to others

Undergirding all of this is love.  Knowing deeply love God has for you and for His church but not just keeping that to ourselves.  Sharing it with those who God has placed us in contact with. 

So church, we stand here today at a crossroad.  An anniversary Sunday is a time to look back, but it is also a time to look forward.  With faith that God is at work, with a sense of hope that He will sustain and guide us and a deep & healing love that He wants to pour out on His church.  Are you willing and ready to step into Chapter 11 with me?  Let’s pray

Father God, we are so grateful for your faithfulness to us here at Jericho.  And as we step into chapter 11 and beyond, I’m here today at this anniversary moment to declare bankruptcy on self-reliance, on things done in our own strength and to say again to you Lord, “everything Jericho has, everything we are, anything we have accomplished in this past decade, we give it to you again and ask you, Holy Spirit, to have full control.  Over our decision making, over the leadership, over relationships, over evangelism, over worship, over teaching, over equipping, over finances, over every area of ministry… We declare chapter 11 and we say collectively to you God and to each other “We need You”. We are ready to depend deeply on you, even though that may scare us or feel unfamiliar to some.  We are ready to walk out into the great unknown of what you have for us.  It might be overwhelming, but we trust that you have been faithful to us in the past.  That you are good.  That your unfailing love continues forever and that your faithfulness to us will continue into Chapter 11 and beyond.”

Ron and the team will be leading us in a medley of 3 songs declaring these truths.  I want to remind you of the prayer posters.  Move there at any point during this time of worship response.  If God gives you a word of encouragement or vision, write it down so we can pray into it together.  Make a chapter 11 commitment in your own life today as we respond to God.