April 25, 2015 - Church at Worship

Sermon: "Why Can’t the Church Be More Like a Neighborhood Bar?" - Part 1 of 4: Why Can’t the Church Be More Like the World? - Randy Roberts

Pastoral Welcome: Marvin Ponder

Scripture Reading: Romans 12:9–16, TNIV - Regina Reyes

Sermon Notes:

For most of my life, I have heard preachers and teachers say, “We should not be like
the world. There is to be a clear line of demarcation between the world and the church.
The world and the church are foes.”
I understand why they say that. There are many passages in the Bible that lead us
to that conclusion. To the church in Corinth, the apostle Paul wrote: “Do not be yoked
together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common?”
(2 Cor. 6:14, TNIV). Or what about these words, spoken by Jesus? “If the world
hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love
you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the
world. That is why the world hates you” (John 15:18–19, TNIV). And there are more! So
I understand why we say what we do about the church and the world.
However, today we begin a new four-part sermon series entitled, Why Can’t the Church
Be More Like the World? Could it be that the church can actually learn important lessons
from the world around us? Is it possible for us to learn more about our God-given
mission from organizations in the world?
It is our intent to find out! Through a consideration of four disparate entities in the world
around us, we might just learn some timely (even eternally important) lessons.
So today we begin, of all places, at the neighborhood bar.
Randy Roberts
Senior Pastor