Main Idea: Fulfilling God’s mission for First Baptist Church will mean breaking out of places where complacency has become acceptable.

There’s a story we tell in our church about one of our most trusted and devoted servants, Jean Staggs. Jean has been the Pastor’s Secretary at First Baptist Church for forty-two years. If any one of us has given themselves for First Baptist it is Jean Staggs. Her value to me and to our church is without measure. A few years ago Jean was teaching preschool children in Vacation Bible School as well as trying to keep up with all the happenings in the office. Things got a bit hectic one morning and Jean was trying to answer the phone while trying to prepare for her class. In the commotion, she answered the phone in her most professional voice, "First Baptist. This is Jesus." Church work can become so hectic sometimes that you forget who you are!

Church work and activities can also become so accelerated and time consuming that you forget not only who you are but also why you are here. There’s a saying I have when things seem to be shifting to a level of busyness or business or burdensome and it is this, "Tell me this is about Jesus." I say that because a church can get so caught up in its activities and its actions that we forget that all we are and all we do is about Jesus. It really is finally, primarily, and ultimately about Jesus. There comes a time when we need reminding that in all we do "this is about Jesus." That’s what I want to talk to you about today.

Two weeks ago I was reading a book by Bill Hybels that stirred me once again as to the reason and purpose for the church of Jesus Christ and the reason and purpose of First Baptist Church of Jonesboro. He said, "The local church is the hope of the world…That means that in a very real way the future of the world rests in the hands of local congregations like yours and mine. It’s the church or it’s lights out. Without churches so filled with the power of God that they can’t help but spill goodness and peace and love and joy into the world, depravity will win the day; evil will flood the world. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Strong, growing communities of faith can turn the tide of history. They can! Don’t bother looking elsewhere. The church is it."

He goes to say, "There is nothing like the local church when it’s working right. Its beauty is indescribable. Its power is breathtaking. Its potential is unlimited. It comforts the grieving and heals the broken in the context of community. It builds bridges to seekers and offers truth to the confused. It provides resources for those in need and opens its arms to the forgotten, the downtrodden, the disillusioned. It breaks the chains of addictions, frees the oppressed, and offers belonging to the marginalized of this world. Whatever the capacity for human suffering, the church has a greater capacity for healing and wholeness. Still to this day, the potential of the local church is almost more than I can grasp. No other organization on earth is like the church. Nothing even comes close." (Courageous Leadership, p. 21-23).

After reading those statements I wrote in the margin of the book, "Jonesboro needs First Baptist Church." Over 152 years ago God used some very faithful followers of His to establish this body of believers that we call First Baptist. For those 152 years, through times of both blessing and adversity there has been a body of devoted Christ followers who have given their lives to serve others through First Baptist. While having a history and heritage of 152 years provides us with a solid foundation on which to stand, it can also become an excuse for becoming complacent about the future. Webster’s dictionary defines complacency as "self-satisfaction accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies." What we are going to talk about today is that our ability to fulfill the mission that God has given to First Baptist Church will depend upon our willingness to break out of places where complacency has become acceptable.

Living with "acceptable complacency" is nothing new. In fact within only a few years of the early church’s establishment they grew complacent about the mission that Jesus gave them. It took the crisis of persecution to compel them to break out of their complacency. Those who did break out carried with them the conviction to complete the mission to which Jesus called them. Because they did break out of their complacency, the Good News moved westward and the place you and I call First Baptist Jonesboro is the result.

For a little over a month after Jesus was resurrected he spent valuable time teaching his disciples about their role and purpose after he went back to heaven. On one final occasion he gathered those followers together and gave them in one sentence what their task or mission was to be: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8 (NLT). It was short. It was exact and it was all they needed to remember for the rest of their life when they wondered, "Why are we here?"

The disciples began fulfilling those words immediately. God’s Holy Spirit was poured out on them and thousands began being saved. Acts 2:41 tells of 3000 being saved and baptized in one day. Later in Acts 4:4 the Bible records that number growing to 5000, not including women and children. There was unprecedented and unhindered blessing and growth. Acts 5:16 records crowds of people pouring into Jerusalem in order to find healing and life. Acts 5:42 tells how the Temple in Jerusalem was their home base for spreading the Good News about Jesus so that it went out into the homes of people in Jerusalem. In fact, after a brief diversion of priorities Acts 6:7 records just how effective the disciple’s ministry was in Jerusalem, "God's message was preached in ever-widening circles. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too." (Acts 6:7)

Jesus said they were to be his witnesses in Jerusalem and they were doing that with reckless devotion and commitment! There was only one problem – they had only fulfilled 25% of what Jesus asked them to do! They were doing 25% of Jesus’ mission with absolute intensity but there was the other 75% that wasn’t even in their vision. Over time I believe the church became satisfied that because they were doing 25% with 100% commitment that somehow the other 75% would be taken care of in the future. In a word, they became complacent – they were self-satisfied and were unaware of the dangers of not completing the other 75% of going to "Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth." Twenty-five percent done with 100% intensity is still 75% short.

God knew that the only way for the church to break out of its levels of acceptable complacency was for something to happen that would compel them to finish the job. That’s what happened when the Jewish leadership executed a key leader named Stephen, which is recorded in Acts 7. Acts 8:1 records a persecution of Christians that resulted in all the believers—likely thousands—leaving Jerusalem in fear for their lives. Notice, though, where they went: Judea and Samaria! Then it says in Acts 8:4, "But the believers who had fled Jerusalem went everywhere preaching the Good News about Jesus. "

What is interesting here is that this was not the result of the direct work of the Holy Spirit telling them to go out to Judea and Samaria. No, it was because the crisis of persecution left them with no choice! The crisis caused them to break out of their complacency and take on 50% more of the mission that Jesus had given them! The crisis of persecution caused them to take their witness to a new level and to a new location. Everywhere they went in the towns and villages of Judea and Samaria they preached the Good News about Jesus! They were 75% of the way toward completion but doing 75% at 100% intensity is still 25% short!

Now look at Acts 11:19-21. What this tells us is that some of the thousands who fled Jerusalem because of the crisis saw an opportunity to complete the remaining 25% -- "to the ends of the earth." They went beyond the places that were familiar – they went north by land to areas we know as Lebanon and Syria today. They went west by sea to the island of Cyprus. There they preached again the Good News but only to Jews. After a time—and we don’t know how long—some of the believers who had gone to Cyprus went back to Syria but instead of preaching only to Jews, this time they began preaching to Gentiles! Acts 11:21 says, " The power of the Lord was upon them, and large numbers of these Gentiles believed and turned to the Lord." What happened? They had completed with 100% intensity 100% of the goal! Jerusalem – done! Judea and Samaria – done! "The ends of the earth" –Jews and Gentiles – done! One hundred percent of 100% completed!

How did they do it? They fulfilled the mission Jesus gave to them when a crisis compelled them to break out of places where complacency had become acceptable! What was true for them is true for us. If we are to fulfill the mission God has given to First Baptist Church, we must constantly break out of places where complacency has become acceptable!

What is the mission of First Baptist Church? We have a mission statement that was developed in 1998. Regardless of our mission statement of 1998, Jesus himself gave our mission to us over 2000 years ago when he said, " Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matt. 28:19). The process was defined for us in Acts 1:8 that we re called to be his witnesses in our Jerusalem, our Judea, our Samaria and wherever the ends of the earth might find us. That is and always will be our mission and we are 100% responsible for fulfilling 100% of that mission!

So, how are we doing? I can say that for 152 years this church has sought to fulfill that mission. There are churches today that are vibrant, growing, dynamic and exciting that find the roots of their spiritual DNA here in this place. There have been over 100 people a year added by baptism or becoming a part of our family since I have been your pastor. Ongoing ministries like the Care Center reach tens of thousands of people every year with food and clothing. Current ministries like Celebrate Recovery provide a place of refuge for the hurting. First Hope Counseling has been used mightily to transform the hopeless. The Hispanic ministry just celebrated three years of life as a touch point for Spanish speaking people in our area as 200 people crowded into the chapel! The Huntington Mission Ministry will soon complete two years of ministry to the most desperate segment of our city’s population. Our Collegiate Ministry began "Breakaway" this past Tuesday night and had over 100 students and twenty-something’s in order to impact a demographic that is rapidly dropping out of church. Each of these ministries has the roots of its DNA here in this place and is unapologetically proclaiming the Good News of the Lord Jesus in all it does. Each of them is a result of someone breaking out of a place where complacency was not acceptable.

Another place where we have broken out has been the offering of two distinctly different worship opportunities on Sunday morning. Admittedly, that change was not always comfortable but nearly one year later we are seeing the joy of people worshipping God in a manner that connects with their own preference. Our contemporary service meets one preference and our classic service continues to satisfy the soul of others. Breaking out of that place of complacency wasn’t easy but deep down we know that God is pleased that more people worship Him in spirit and in truth.

But – remember the definition of complacency: "self-satisfaction accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies." The thing about complacency that makes it so dangerous is that you can assume that doing 25% or 75% at 100% of your energy is 100% of the goal when you are still 75% or 25% short! We can assume that because we are 152 years old and alive and well that it will always be this way. We can assume that people are going to come because of what we have been, not for what we are. We can assume that the traditions we value will be the traditions that others will value. We can assume because we are reaching the hungry, hurting, hopeless, others of a different language, and 18-29 year olds that we are fulfilling 100% of our mission. That is not true for there are thousands of people who do not fall into any of those categories who just simply need to hear and believe the Good News of Jesus Christ!

Has our complacency become so acceptable where it will take a crisis to cause us to break out to complete our mission? That is something only God can judge. My point is, though, why do we need to take the risk? Why be complacent that we had around 900 in Sunday School on Promotion Sunday just like we had in 2004 and 2003 and 2002? Do you see a pattern? We only rise to the level of our complacency so if 900 works for us, then why bother with 1000 or 1100 or 1200? Because it is not fulfilling the mission! Sooner or later if we don’t break out, then 900 will become 800 then 700 then 600 and then we will say, "What happened?" What happened was self-satisfaction accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies. It’s called complacency!

This fall we are breaking ground for a facility that is the result of our willingness to break out of the complacency of self-satisfaction. This new building is a statement of confidence in the belief that Jonesboro needs a vibrant, vision-expanding First Baptist Church! That opportunity has been a catalyst for us to say with our lives and our resources we will "break out" to fulfill the mission God has given to First Baptist Church. The construction phase of that building will take approximately 17 months. Where do we need to break out between now and December 2006?

First, we must break out in Sunday School by developing our membership with a new level of intensity. To do that there are four things that we will be asking our ministerial staff and Sunday School leadership to focus on for the next 17 months:

Content: Teaching the Bible with excellence

Community: Building fellowship within each class

Compassion: Caring for the hurting

Contact: Connecting with those who come or do not come. Every Sunday School needs to think of itself as a small church!

It is imperative that we break out here with an intensity that is unparalleled in our history!

Second, we must break out in evangelism by investing in peer relationships and inviting them to come with us to church. We have got to stop being satisfied that we are reaching our children and the desperate when our peers are going to go to hell! We will be offering training in how to do this but it’s just simply up to us to build a relationship with someone we know and bring them to church!

Third, we need to break out in discipleship by investing in our neighborhoods through small groups. I have a dream or vision of pockets of First Baptist members gathering weekly with their neighbors for Bible study and fellowship all over the city of Jonesboro on various nights of the week. We have begun getting our feet wet in this area with some groups meeting in homes and here at our downtown campus. Yet it is our neighbors as well as our peers who can be the next level of growth – explosive growth for our church.

Lastly, we need to break out in fellowship by gathering regularly to celebrate what God is doing in the Body of Christ. I want us to intentionally come together (doing this logistically will not be easy) to tell, hear, share and rejoice together as the church. We need to share this on Sunday mornings but we need other times that we just celebrate together. We may be able to do it only four times or three times a year but we need to gather and celebrate together what God is doing in and through us!

Those four areas will be the focus of my heart for the next 17 months as we break out of place where complacency has become acceptable!

Jonesboro needs First Baptist Church. Jonesboro doesn’t need a complacent First Baptist Church. The mission of Jesus is clear: Be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Jonesboro needs us to fulfill that mission, not at a 25% level or 75% level, but at a 100% level! Breaking out of places where complacency has become acceptable is the only way that will happen! Breaking out begins with you and with me today!

Can you imagine what will happen as we break out? Wouldn’t it be amazing that people would call and contact this church and they would be able to say, "First Baptist Church is all about Jesus!"

Sunday, August 28, 2005 a.m.

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org