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Thoughts on the Mission of
The Mentone Church and
The Seventh-day Adventist Church
A short sermon by Pastor Larry Kirkpatrick delivered on the occasion of the rededication of the Mentone Seventh-day Adventist Church on January 17, 2004
[NOTE: The following short talk was delivered with the president of our Church's Conference sitting right behind me. That does not mean he does or does not sustain every thought or word below uttered, but some of what follows is put fairly strong, and I just want conservative Adventists to realize that if we labor in the Gospel we will often find that our Conferences—sometimes even a Conference perceived as unconservative—will support us and encourage us. In the sermon that immediately followed mine, our Conference President urged the church to be evangelistic in giving the third angel's message. —LK]
Today, as we gather to rededicate this church, we have paused to ask, Why are we Seventh-day Adventists? We have heard the testimony of brothers and sisters why they are. Now let the church ponder the same question. Why was this building here erected? Why build the Mentone Church at all? Is it important today? Is there anything different about the Seventh-day Adventist Church or the Mentone church in particular, is there any reason for it to exist today? Why shouldn't we close the doors and drive to the closest non-Adventist mega-church and put in our memberships there?
The Seventh-day Adventist Church has a mission statement. Here is what it says: “The mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is to proclaim to all peoples the everlasting gospel in the context of the three angel's messages of Revelation 14:6-12, leading them to accept Jesus as personal Savior and to unite with His church, and nurturing them in preparation for His soon return.” (General Conference Working Policy A 05 05).
You see, we cannot go down the street and join any non-Adventist mega-church for a variety of reasons, among them that no such church exists today with a purpose to fulfill the same mission. Our mission is to live and give the everlasting gospel—what?—in the context of the three angel's messages of Revelation 14:6-12. That is not being done elsewhere. Indeed, sometimes it has not been done by us! But it is no lazy, business-as-usual day. We must do our heavenly Father's work. We must rise above the doubts and ideological toxins that threaten to engulf us as a people, and aggressively pursue Heaven's agenda.
The Mentone Church does not exist for the purpose of echoing the fads and fallacies of denominations, congregations, or religious groups that do not understand the third angel's message. We have no ill-feeling towards such, but we simply recognize at the level of realistic appraisal that they do not share the same burning mission that we do. The Mentone Church is a Seventh-day Adventist Church. Its purpose is clear, its mission, unambiguous. We are to be a family of people who follow Jesus, who reverence His Word, who accept His guidance through the gifts to the church. We are to live and give the faith of Jesus. We are a people called into existence to restore the breach, to build up the waste-places, to stand as guardians of truth—not because we are mighty (for definitely we are not!), but because Jesus is Lord. The Seventh-day Adventist Church was raised up to sustain God's law and gospel in an hour when gross apostasy has enveloped the Christian world. God raised us up as a people for such an hour as this. Through His empowerment, we are that people, and nothing will stop us from following the Lamb wherever He goes. Nothing.
God did not raise up the Seventh-day Adventist church in order for it to become culturally accommodating, to fall in line with postmodernist trends, or to move from word-based worship to feeling-based worship. We are at risk as a people of becoming mere noisy brass and tinkling cymbal. To put it in specific terms, we were not raised up to introduce theatrics, drums, or dramas, the gospel of Philip Yancey, percussion just before the close of probation, or electric guitars and aping of the world's music. Some of us came out from that. We were not raised up to echo the latest market-driven desperations of fallen churches.
The culture that surrounds us is not just afflicted with moral confusion at the light, mild, or medium levels. Yesterday, an alleged child molester left the courthouse and climbed onto the roof of his SUV in order to receive the adulation of hundreds if not thousands of people. No tiny iota of shame was manifested. The people are in a desperate state, and our Father has sent—us. Not us as a solution, but us to point to Jesus who is the solution. He gave the three angel's messages. Why? Because God sends strong solutions for strong delusions. We need not sift through the garbage bin of desperate social measures used by these churches that have not God's blessing, in order to find a means of interesting people in the remnant church. Truth sets free. Error and sin enslaves. Every religious group must decide whether it will cleave to liberty or cleave to bondage.
Mentone Church has made her choice. We know what gospel we preach. We look to Jesus, our Savior and Lord, our Mediator, our Restorer, our great Physician. His grace is sufficient for us. We trust and obey because He strengthens us to trust and obey.
We thank God that we are part of God's people in Southeastern California. We thank Him for the opportunity to work this way in this portion of our Lord's vineyard as a Conference church. We want to work with our Conference. We are not Seventh-day Anarchists; we are Seventh-day Adventists. We are thankful for the good working relationship we have with our Conference, the Southeastern California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. This Conference supported this congregation in its search for present-truth-oriented leadership, and has actively supported us with insurance, property, discipline, and various and sundry issues.
It is the expectation of this congregation that it will continue to be a vibrant part of the life of this Conference, and do its vigorous work with the blessing of this Conference. This denomination and this local church, in all her frailty and fallibility, remains still the object of God's supreme regard. She, if she is faithful, need not fail in her journey and may indeed reach the safe haven of Heaven. God grant this Conference and this local church, a love for Jesus, His truth, and a lovely manner of faithfully sharing it.
