Hello, and welcome to this
message from Skip Heitzig of Calvary Church. We pray this message
encourages you. And if it does, we'd
love to hear about it. Email us at
mystory@calvaryabq.org. And if you'd like to support
this ministry financially, you can give online securely
at calvaryabq.org/give. In the New Testament
the church is often called the body of Christ. Like a human body has
many parts and function, in the message Anatomy
of a Healthy Church, Skip considers five necessary
components of a healthy church. Now, please open your
Bible to Phillipians, chapter 4, as he begins. Turn in your Bibles to the book
of Philippians, and guess what? Chapter 4. We made it through chapter 3
so we're in the homestretch. Philippians, chapter 4. If you did not bring one, there
is probably one close to you. Or someone next to you
who wouldn't mind sharing. Philippians, chapter 4. So over the years I've
had an interesting journey with the church. I grew up having
to go to church. I had to go. My parents made me go. And they even called it
my Sunday obligation. And they gave me that term
because my church talked about the Sunday obligation. You may not want to
go, but you have to go. And so I grew up
having to go to church. Well, when I was
18 years of age I had a real encounter with
the Lord Jesus Christ, and something changed. I didn't have to
go to church now-- I wanted to go to church. Albeit, a completely
different church, but I wanted to go there. So I went from having
to go to church, to wanting to go to church. And then as I grew in my faith,
I wanted to plant a church. So I moved back east-- that's
what I told all my friends and family in California-- I'm moving east to Albuquerque. Because, on the West
Coast, everything's east. So I moved 800 miles
east to plant a church. And I've had the
distinct privilege of pastoring for over 30 years. And though I love
His church, and I believe that, as
Paul said to Timothy, the church is the pillar and
the ground of the truth-- I believe that-- I also have come to know
that sometimes the church can get weird. Am I right? We can get wonky. So we, as church people,
can have a tendency to have all sorts
of disagreements over trivial issues. There can be personality
disagreements and leadership quarrels. I heard about a church who
had a huge argument over which picture they would agree to
put of Jesus in the foyer. Now I don't know
why anybody would argue about that,
since we really do not have an accurate picture or
rendition of what Jesus really looked like. Some artists just make stuff up. But it was a huge
division in the church over which picture we're
going to put in the bulletin. Another church sent a petition
around to the congregation to have all of the church
staff clean-shaven. Apparently, they didn't
like facial hair. Again, they wouldn't do too well
in the Old or the New Testament times. But they wanted to
make sure their church staff was clean-shaven. And then there
was another church that I read about that had an
argument if the church should allow deviled eggs at
their potluck suppers. Now come on, really? You're going to go that far? Deviled eggs? Like, if they're demon-possessed
eggs or something. There's a magazine that's
been around for years called Leadership
Magazine-- great magazine, and it has very
helpful articles. And Leadership Magazine,
a Christian publication, always has cartoons
about church life. And in one cartoon they
showed a little cartoon of a grim-faced pastor
behind his pulpit. And he had stopped in
the middle of the sermon and was reading a note. And he said-- in
the cartoon-- we interrupt this sermon to inform
you that the fourth grade boys are now in complete control
of their Sunday school class and are holding
Ms. Mosby hostage. Now, we have never had any of
our teachers taken hostage yet. But over the years, we've had
some very interesting times as a church. The ministry of a church is
always the ministry of people. It's never about brick and
mortar, or carpet and pews. It's never about property. It's really about people. That's what a church is--
it's a group of people that are called out to be together. So if a church lives, it's
because the people in it are alive-- they're vibrant, they're
vital, they're involved. If a church withers and dies,
it's because the people in it have withered and died. I heard a story
about a pastor who went to a little town in
Oklahoma to take over a church. It was a troubled church. He'd heard about it,
but he was a young man, and he had stars in his
eyes, much optimism, and he believed he
had what it would take to turn this church around. So he went and had all sorts
of fresh ideas to no avail. They wanted none of it. They didn't want to change. All of his ideas were shot down. All of his attempts
were pushed away. So he was very frustrated. And he had one final idea. He decided he would take out-- in the local paper
on a Saturday-- an ad that read, the church
that I pastor has died. The church has died. Tomorrow afternoon--
Sunday afternoon-- please come for its
funeral service. We're going to give
it a proper burial. Well, this got
everybody's interest, not only in the church,
but in the community. So that afternoon for
the first time in years the church was packed-- packed to the gills,
standing room only, people were on the
outside looking in, trying to listen through the windows. And they noticed that it
looked like a funeral service. There was a casket up front. There were flowers
draped over the casket. The pastor got up at this
afternoon funeral service, gave a eulogy, gave the
history of the Church, where it's come from,
but, he said, it died. And we're going to bury it. And then afterwards the flowers
were taken off the casket. The casket was opened up,
and he invited everyone to come down and pay their
respects to the dearly beloved. As people walked down
to that open casket, and they looked inside
of it, they were shocked. And they turned their face away. Because the pastor had placed
a large mirror in the casket, so that as people
walked by, they could see the church
that had died. He made his point
very, very vividly. Well, as we read our text,
in the fourth chapter of Philippians, you will notice
the hint of a problem that is threatening the church. Verse 1, Philippians,
chapter 4, "Therefore", or furthermore, "my beloved
and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand
fast in the Lord, beloved. I implore you
Euodia and I implore Syntyche to be of the
same mind in the Lord. And I urge you also,
true companion, help these women who labored
with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest
of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness
be known to all men. The Lord is at hand." You'll notice right off the
bat a series of exhortations, refrains, obviously
written by somebody who has a deep concern for
this church at Philippi. You'll notice in verse
1, the words, stand fast. In verse 2, I implore,
that is, I beg. Verse 3, I urge. And verse 4, the
command, rejoice. We can, by reading
this, infer that there must have been some
disagreement, some argument, some spat, some wrangling
between two women that are mentioned
here in the text. And their argument is affecting
the whole church at Philippi. So I have outlined for
you what I am calling, the anatomy of a healthy church. We're going to look at it
in an anatomical formation. And I want to give
you five components of a healthy, vigorous,
strong church. I'll begin with the
first, in verse 1-- a healthy church
has a big heart. As we read verse 1, I want
you to notice something. It's very rare,
because Paul-- what he does, he just sort
of piles on these tender phrases toward this church. Therefore, my beloved
and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so
stand fast in the Lord. Then he repeats himself-- beloved. This is the big heart
of a loving leader. In one sentence he
is able to express his gracious pastoral
heart toward this group. Now, in affirming
them, he provides an example of what is
needed in every church. A big heart-- people
with big hearts. Don't you love that he
refers to them, my beloved? Maybe I should just start
calling you my beloved. I love that because it
means my loved ones. Loved ones-- you
are loved by God. You are loved by me. This is Paul's way of saying
I love you to this church. And we all know that, according
to Jesus Christ, the mark-- the mark-- the hallmark of
the Church should be love. Not truth, though
that's super important. Not holiness, though
that's super important. But the one that takes
precedence over all is love. Jesus said, "By
this all men will know that you are my disciples
if you love one another." Now why is that? Why is that the singular
most important attribute. Well, it stands to reason. How will you ever preach the
gospel of the love of God, if you don't practice the
gospel of the love of God? You can't just exhort people to
love, you have to exhibit love. So that becomes preeminent. And we have another problem. And that is that our
God is invisible. And the unbelieving world
loves to point that out. Oh, you talk to me about God. Prove God to me. Let me see God. That's just a way
that weak people have of getting through a
difficult life-- believing in a higher power. So what love does, it
takes the invisible God and makes him visible. 1 John, chapter 4, verse 12-- "No one has ever seen God. But if we love each
other, God lives in us, and his love is brought
to full expression in us." So you see, if the
world could possibly see a community of
nurturing, caring, loving, forgiving people,
that love each other across the barriers of race
and rank and age and sex, they might listen. A big heart. So he says, "My beloved." And he says it twice in verse 1. But he didn't stop there. He didn't say, now, my beloved-- now that I've gotten past that,
let me slam you with this. He didn't stop there. Notice he pours it on. "Therefore, my beloved
and longed-for brethren." Now, I was thinking about
this little phrase-- my longed-for brethren. And I was thinking that Paul
had known this group at Philippi about 10 years. I tried to figure it out. I'm thinking between 10 and
11 years he had known them. It had been that long since he
first went there and founded the Church at Philippi. So he'd known them for at
least 10 years-- a decade. But he had not seen them
for about five years. So now he's in prison in
Rome-- you know the story. And he's thinking back to
when the church started, the people he knew and met. And he starts longing for them. He misses them. He wants to be with them. And though I certainly don't
compare myself to Paul, I would say I understand
that, at least a little bit. Because about 13
years ago I left here for about 2 and 1/2 years,
and I went out West again for a number of reasons. But I was absent
from this church. And when I was alone, I would
find myself thinking back and greatly missing New Mexico. And it wasn't just the
green and red chili, either, although that does
rank high on the list-- on anybody's list. It wasn't like Dion's
Pizza or something. What it was for me is my mind
took me back to all the people that I had counseled,
or prayed with, or prayed for, or married,
or dedicated their children. And this enormous longing
for them-- for you-- developed in the heart. So I understand when Paul says,
my beloved, my longed-for. And then he didn't stop there. He calls them my joy. Now here's why this
is significant, because what's the
theme of this book? Joy-- Technicolor joy. 18 times he mentions
either joy, or rejoicing, or rejoice in this book. So the theme is joy. But now, in saying this, we
understand a part of his joy was wrapped up in them-- in people. So this is a healthy,
tender relationship. It wasn't a toxic
relationship like the pastor putting a mirror in a casket. This was a healthy, tender one. So my beloved, my longed-for
brethren, my joy-- but he didn't stop there. He calls them my crown-- my crown. Now this word, crown, is
the Greek word stephanos. It is the crown of an athlete. It's a little laurel
wreath that is put on the head of somebody who
runs a race in an Olympic event and wins. So it's not the crown of a
ruler who rules over something. It's the crown of a
runner, of an athlete, and who gets a reward. So when Paul says, you're
my crown, he's not saying, I'm ruler over you. He's saying, you're
all the reward I need. Knowing you in this relationship
of love that we have, that is reward enough. You are the icing on my cake. So I'm pointing all these out
because this first shows us what a big heart the
founder of this church had toward the
flock at Philippi. And that's an ingredient. That's a component of a healthy,
vigorous, strong, church-- a big heart. But that's not all. A big heart needs to be
balanced out by a firm stance. So, verse 1-- "Therefore, my beloved
and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand
fast in the Lord, beloved." All right, now he's
asking them to take a firm stand in the context
here over an issue that is dividing them by
these two gals mentioned in the next couple verses. He's asking them to take a stand
in healing the division that has gotten out of hand. So what does that tell me? It tells me that a
church isn't just a nice place to get
a pat on the back, and feel good about
yourself, and feel affirmed, and feel loved-- though
that's important. But it's also a place
filled with people who have deep convictions that
keep them rooted and grounded in a world that is
hostile to them. The words, stand fast,
is a command, by the way. [GREEK] is the Greek word. It means stand in one place. Immovable. Be stationary. Persevere. It's a military term for a
soldier standing in a battle and not retreating. Now, this happens to be a
theme throughout the New Testament, this idea
of spiritual stability or perseverance. 14 times in the New Testament
we are told to stand fast. Or we are told to be steadfast. So evidently, as
a Christian, there are tendencies to make us
not want to hold our ground, but retreat, or hide, or go
away, or quit following Christ. In Acts, chapter 11, a new
church starts up in Antioch, up in Syria. People in Jerusalem hear about
that-- they send Barnabas up. It says, "When
Barnabas got there, when he came and had
seen the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them
all that with purpose of heart they should continue
with the Lord." Why would he tell them that? Because he knew that in the
opposition that they face, they're going to want to
not continue in the Lord. They're going to want to
sort of drop off the map and stop following. 1 Corinthians, 15 Paul
writes, "My beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord,
knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." So if you want any
strength in a church, you need a big heart
and a firm stance-- spiritual stability. Because spiritual
instability leads to doubt, discouragement, disappointment. Unstable people are
crushed by trials, overwhelmed by circumstances,
overtaken by temptations. As James said, a
double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. So with a big-hearted love, we
need a firm stance that says, I'm going to follow
Jesus no matter what. Sometimes when people
come to me for counseling, depending on the
issue, I ask them a question that surprises them. I will say, what
would it take for you to stop following Jesus. They go, what? What do you mean? I say, well is there some kind
of event you can think of? Some catastrophic event that
if God crosses that line, or he takes that person
away from me, I quit. What would it take to get
you to stop following Jesus? Or, are you like the
song that is sung, I have decided to follow
Jesus, no turning back, no turning back. I'm standing firm. I'm standing fast. An African pastor
in Zimbabwe died. He was martyred for his faith
in Christ by persecutors. After he died, among his papers
was found something he wrote. And it turns out this was
his philosophy of life. But it's noteworthy. Listen to what he wrote. He said, "My face is set. My gait is fast. My goal is heaven. My road is narrow. My way is rough. My companions are few. But my guide is reliable. My mission is clear. I cannot be bought, compromised,
detoured, lured away, turned back,
diluted, or delayed. I will not flinch in
the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the
presence of adversity, negotiate at the
table of the enemy, ponder at the pool
of popularity, or meander in a
maze of mediocrity. I won't give up,
shut up, let up, or slow up, until I've preached
up, prayed up, paid up, stored up, and stayed up for Christ." That's steadfastness,
and it got him killed. I think he was OK with that. I think right now he's going,
yeah, I made the right choice. So a big heart, a firm stance-- there's a third component,
and that is a warm embrace. A warm embrace,
that is, the ability to take two parties that are
in disagreement, to embrace both of them and helping
them to resolve the conflict. Verse 2-- I implore Euodia
and I implore Syntyche-- aren't you glad you have
the name that you have? And pardon me if I offended
anyone here named Syntyche, but I doubt that is the case. But I implore these"
two gals "to be of the same mind in the Lord. "And I urge you
also, true companion, help these women who labored
with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the
rest of my fellow workers whose names are in
the book of life." Now, we don't know anything
about who these ladies really are. We don't know any details
about their argument. They are not mentioned anywhere
else in the New Testament. We just know that something
between them happened. We do know what
their names mean. Euodia is a word that
means "good journey" or "have a good trip." The word, syntyche,
is a Greek word that means "fortunate" or "lucky." So, forgive me, but I'm going
to give them these names. I'm going to call one Mrs.
Goodtrip, and the other Miss Lucky. So Mrs. Goodtrip and Miss
Lucky loved each other, and were part of this church,
and fellowshipped together, and probably brought
deviled eggs to the potluck. But something happened between
Mrs. Goodtrip and Miss Lucky. And the disagreement
got to be so advanced that it polarized the
church, and groups developed around both opinions. And Paul writes about it. And he's had enough of it, and
he needs to get it resolved. Something about
these women we do know-- they were
prominent women. They weren't just any women,
they were prominent women. How do know that? Because verse 3-- Paul said, "they labored
with me in the gospel." That's significant I'm guessing-- I
can't prove it-- I'm guessing that they were
among the first women who were at the first prayer
meeting in Philippi. Remember the story? Acts, chapter 16-- I'll refresh your memory. Paul goes to Philippi. There is no Jewish
synagogue there. The law required
at least 10 males-- 10 men-- to form a synagogue. There weren't any. So it says, on
the Sabbath day we went outside the
city to a riverside where prayer was
customarily made, and we spoke to the women. There were praying women-- Jewish women-- at a riverside. That was the first
meeting Paul attended. I'm guessing these women,
Euodia and Syntyche, were part of that first group. I love the idea that a
church was birthed out of a group of praying women. We talk about the
founding fathers-- these are the founding
mothers of the church. But a personal
conflict has erupted into two antagonistic groups,
so Paul wants this stopped. And here's what I
want you to think of. The only time their names
are mentioned in the Bible is over an argument they had,
and now it's immortalized. For the next 2000 years, people
are going to read the Bible and go, oh, those are the
two gals in Philippi who had a disagreement. Wouldn't you hate that? And so Michael Bentley
asked this-- if in 100 years time your name was
to be discovered in an old document,
what one thing would you like the finder of that
document to learn about you? It's a good question, because
these two women at Philippi go down in history being
remembered for a disagreement. Now, notice the solution. I think the solution
is found here. The solution to
their disagreement is found in a phrase-- don't overlook this phrase-- in the Lord. Look at it. "I implore,"-- verse 2-- "Euodia and I implore
Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord." Now this is not Paul throwing
in a spiritual phrase so it'll sound good. This is really the
solution to the problem. It's the same thing
as in verse 1. Notice he says, stand
fast in the Lord. Verse 4-- rejoice
in the Lord always. The solution is
always in the Lord, because he's usually
the one people forget. When they have an
argument with each other, when they don't disagree,
they have a viewpoint, you have a viewpoint,
you go at it, you have forgotten
the Lord's viewpoint. So what Paul does is brilliant. It's clever. He takes a social issue, and he
moves it onto spiritual ground. So it becomes a
spiritual issue now. Settle the disagreement
in the Lord. In other words,
focus on God's glory. Aim at his glory. Focus on what he wants. This is all tied up with the New
Testament concept of unity, not uniformity. It doesn't mean you can't
have your own opinions and your own ideas-- but unity in the church. Unity among Christians is
what proves the veracity of the Christian message. If there is no
unity in the church, people aren't going to listen to
much else that we have to say. So I found something
very interesting from-- it's called the American
Psychological Association. They studied an orchestra. And an orchestra is fascinating. You have all these
different instruments in an orchestra pit, and it's
like one harmonious sound. Well, this Psychological
Association decided to ask the
different people in the orchestra what they
thought of the other people in the orchestra. And they discovered
percussionists were seen as insensitive,
unintelligent, and hard of hearing-- yet fun-loving. String players were seen
as arrogant, stuffy, and unathletic. The orchestra members
overwhelmingly chose the word loud as
the primary adjective to describe brass players. Woodwind players seem to be held
in highest esteem, described as quiet and meticulous,
though very egotistical. I have a question, given
what you just heard. How on earth can people with
such different perceptions of one another and
different personality quirks make beautiful music together? The answer-- they subordinate
their feelings and their biases to the leadership
of a conductor. Once they get in
the pit, and they get the music in front of
them, and they're about ready to play they don't think
about what the personality differences are,
the opinions are, or the political differences
are, or stances are. They're there to make music. They subordinate all of that
to what a conductor wants. They follow the conductor. So that's wrapped up in
the idea-- in the Lord. He's the conductor. That's the solution. A big heart, a firm
stance, a warm embrace-- those are three of
the five components. Let me give you a fourth-- a merry soul. Verse 4-- "Rejoice
in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice." There it is again. This guy in jail
keeps getting happier. Rejoice in the Lord always,
and I'll say it again, rejoice. Now that sounds like a command-- kind of like stand fast. Rejoice. It sounds kind of weird to
walk up to a grumpy person and go, hey you-- rejoice. Really? You're telling me as
a command to do that? Why does it come
off as a command? Well, for the same
reason he says it twice. He says, rejoice
in the Lord always. And just in case you
forgot what I just said, I'll say it again, rejoice. And I think the reason
he says it twice-- the reason it comes
off as a command-- is because it ain't
easy to always rejoice. It's hard to be joyful. But what this tells
me is that joy is a choice more than a feeling. That joy is a decision much
more than it is a sensation. That joy is an outlook
that is based on an uplook. And how often are we to rejoice? Well, it says rejoice
in the Lord, sometimes. Oh, did I read that wrong? I'm sorry. Rejoice in the Lord
most of the time. I still blew it. Rejoice in the Lord on
Sunday at 12:30 in church. No, rejoice in the Lord always. How can a man say that? Here's why. Joy is a personal choice to
react to life's uncertainties with faith. That's my definition of joy. Joy is a personal choice
to react or respond to life's uncertainties
with faith. So he says, rejoice in the Lord. He didn't just say rejoice. He qualifies it--
rejoice in the Lord. Let me translate that my way. Life is tough, but God is good. Life is tough, but God is good. Rejoice in the Lord, always. Now, Paul did this. He testified of this in
his own personal life. 2 Corinthians, 6, he writes,
"being sorrowful yet always rejoicing." Doesn't that sound weird? You can have both. You can be filled with
sorrow and grief and pain at the same time
your soul rejoices. You're experiencing both. You're experiencing
one, but you're making that choice for the other. You're responding that way. Paul and Silas were put
in jail in Philippi. You know the story. They were beaten--
beaten up pretty hard. They were put in
chains and stocks, and fastened to the wall. They were bleeding. And it says, at midnight
Paul and Silas-- what did they do? They sang hymns. It's the darkest
time of the night. It's the darkest dungeon
they've been in for a while. They're bleeding, blood's
coming down their arms, they're fastened in stocks. And Paul turns to his
buddy, Silas, and says, hey, do you know a song? Yeah, how about this one? Good, you start. I'll do harmony. And they sang hymns
to God at night. Being sorrowful, yet
always rejoicing. Proverbs 15, verse 15, says,
"He who is of a merry heart has a continual feast." And when you find people like
that, you're attracted to them. They're a great
advertisement for the church. God deliver us from
grumpy Christians. Get more of the light
bulb ones out there. As Ben Franklin said, you
catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. You'll catch more
souls that way, too. So a big heart, a firm stance,
a warm embrace, a merry soul all constitute a healthy,
vibrant church filled with individuals like that. Here's a final
one, a soft touch. We'll close with this, verse 5-- "Let your gentleness
be known to all men. The Lord is at hand." Whenever there's a conflict,
like this conflict at Philippi, it's that gracious, gentle,
diplomatic touch that will make all the difference. The word, gentleness, could
be better translated-- sweet reasonableness. I love that. Let your sweet reasonableness
be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Now this is the
person who carries around a big bucket of mercy. And when that person
finds failures and faults and shortcoming,
that just starts pouring that bucket of
mercy that direction. That's sweet reasonableness. Now let me say a word
to so many of you who are mature believers. I know you're out there. Some of you have grown in
your faith, admirably so. You've become leaders. You know the Bible. You're Bible experts. You serve in a mature
leadership capacity. And as wonderful as that
is, the danger with that is the older and
the more advanced you grow in the Christian
faith, sometimes we can forget what it's
like to be newly born. In a fresh off the slave market,
and liberated into Christ-- we forget that. And so what happens is
arrogance begins to creep in. And a snobbery-- a spiritual
snobbery-- starts creeping in. And people don't feel
relaxed around us. Because we're so [SINGING] Ah. But let me remind
you of something. You weren't always this awesome. You weren't always
this knowledgeable. You weren't always so
mature as you are now. So keep that in mind, and
give them a little slack. And be softer in your
touch, gentle in your touch toward them. It says in Proverbs 15--
you know this well-- "A soft answer
turns away wrath." It's that soft touch. When there is conflict in any
group, home, church, whatever-- that soft touch. Remember, you follow
the Savior who said, I am gentle and humble in heart. You follow that guy. And that guy is humble,
and that guy is gentle. So if we follow him, some
of that ought to rub off. Now, I have the hunch
that some people here have a real battle with anger. Could be that you battle
a critical nature. That's just been
a part of who you are for a number of reasons. Bitter feelings
are a part of that. Some of you even
battle outright rage. What Paul is saying
in this verse is you need to get
a new reputation. You need to be known
for something else. So if you want to
reset your life? Here's a good place to start. Let your gentleness
be known to all men. In other words, start being
famous for your gentleness. Let that be your reputation. And why should we? Well, it says, the
Lord is at hand. Now I think most people
read this and go, Jesus is coming back,
you better straighten up. He's right around the corner. You better watch it,
because he's coming back. Now, when it says
the Lord is at hand, that can refer to nearness
in space or in time. Most people think it means time. The Lord, chronologically
speaking, is coming soon. And I believe that he is. But I think the context
suggests nearness in space. He is saying to the church at
Philippi, God is among you. God is present. God goes to your church, too. So he's with you. He's present. Be gentle because the
Lord is present with you. He's near. So back to where we started. I said the ministry of a
church is a ministry of people. If the church lives, it's
because its people are alive. If the church withers
and dies, it's because its people are
doing that, personally. So there was a guy
named Tim, and he wrote something very honest. Tim was a Christian. Tim was a mature Christian. Tim was a leader. But Tim found himself
having conversations with people who were other
believers, and invariably, in the conversation it would
go negative toward the church. He found himself talking
smack about the church-- his church, the
church, all churches. Christians are like this--
he just found himself on that negative roll. So as he was doing
that one day he said a mental image flashed
in his mind of a bride and groom on their wedding day. And in the mental
image he saw himself walking up to the groom
on the wedding day, and leaning in and saying,
your bride is ugly. You can't imagine
doing that, right? And he said, I
would never do that. I mean, no matter how
unattractive a bride might seem to somebody else, to
the groom she's gorgeous, she's radiant. But he said, the Lord used that. It was as if he was
saying, Tim, every time you criticize my church you're
telling me my bride is ugly. So we have to be
very careful how we talk about what Jesus
said is the only thing he came to build, and
that is His church. I will build my church,
and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. So deviled eggs at
a potluck will not prevail against the church,
or anything better or worse. It's His bride. I finally just want to say
a word to those of you who have been hurt by the church. I don't know your
background, but I could guess that in
this group some of you have bad experiences
in your past. You left the church. You have not fond memories
of its leadership. They did something to
you or your family. You're still holding on to that. And I just want to
say to you, on behalf of the church as a
representative, how sorry I am. I'm sorry that
whatever church it was, whatever city you came from,
whatever happened to you, would you just accept that apology
from a representative of His church. I'm sorry. But now, I quickly
want to say this. Jesus never said,
follow my people. He said, follow me. He never said,
follow my pastors. He said, follow me. He never said, follow my church. He said, follow me. So don't take it out
on Jesus for having some bad representatives. Because, here's the deal. He's the only perfect one. We follow a perfect
Savior, imperfectly. We're all imperfect. And if you're pushing Jesus
away at arm's length-- if you decide I'm going to
follow Jesus, the perfect one, you're going to be surrounded
with a lot of people like you-- imperfect. You know the old joke-- if you ever find
a perfect church, don't join it because
you'll spoil it. Because we're all imperfect. We get that. We're called to pursue
the perfect Savior. And as we look to Him, and
we look at all the people who are around him following
him imperfectly, at some point you need to overlook
them, and keep looking to the perfect one. Because he can, and will,
change your life if you let him. Let's pray together. Father, thank you
for Paul's letter of joy to the Philippians. We have learned,
we have gleaned, we have grown so much
just from these few weeks pondering this short
letter from a Roman prison to a congregation experiencing
a number of issues, including division. Through it all, Lord,
we have seen your plan for this imperfect group
you call the church. But that's what
you came to build. You said, upon this rock
I will build my church. And so we thank you, Lord. For as imperfect as we are,
as failure ridden as we are, that you still love us, and
you still have a plan for us. And you still want us
to love one another, and still work together
with a big heart, a firm stance, a warm embrace, a
merry soul, and a soft touch. Some of these principles we're
good at, others we're lame at. We confess that. Would you just help
balance us all out? And remind us,
like you did today, of how important every
one of these things are. Because we are your
representatives. As much as we fail in that,
we are your representatives. So help us. And I do pray for anyone who
doesn't know Jesus yet here. Lord, you know who they are. They know who they are. I pray, Lord, that you would
compel them to follow you, to make you their Savior. And to, at some point,
overlook the misrepresentation, the bad players that have
been on the chess board. And to look to
you, and to decide, I'm going to follow that Jesus. I'm going to follow
him right into heaven. And right now, our heads are
bowed, our eyes are closed. I just want to give you an
opportunity if you have not made a decision yet, personally,
to follow Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior-- know this, imperfect
one, he died for you. He bled for you. He rose from the dead for you. He loves you. And he'll never
force himself on you, but he does invite you
to come and follow him. And he said, I stand
at the door and knock. And if you'll open it, I'll
come in and fellowship with you. So he's knocking. And some of you can feel that. You have heard that voice
and that knock for some time, but you haven't opened
your heart, yet. You've even sat
through altar calls, but you haven't
opened your heart yet. You've heard invitations,
but you haven't opened the door of your heart. Some of you need
to give your life to Christ for the first time. Some of you need to come home
after straying into whatever it is you are into. Just come home and be forgiven. And know that your name can be
written in his book of life. And if you want to do that,
as our heads are bowed, and our eyes are closed--
mine will be open to register and acknowledge you-- I want you to raise your hand. I want to pray for you. I need to know who
I'm praying for. Just raise your hand up. And then you're raising it-- God bless you towards the back. You're saying, I'm going
to give my life to Jesus. I want to follow him. I'm going to give my life to
Christ today and be forgiven. God bless you-- right up here
to my right, in the front, and right in the middle. Anybody else? Would you just
raise that hand up? Say yes to Him-- in the
balcony, in the back. Anyone else? A couple of you in that
family room-- awesome. Thank you, Lord, for
each one of these. These are raised hands
I have just seen. But these are humans. These are people that
you made, that you love, that you have a plan for. And how thankful we are
that they're here among us. We don't know their background. We don't know their baggage. And thank you, Lord,
they don't know ours. But we know you love them. And I pray you'd
convince them of that, and strengthen
them to follow you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Would you stand to
your feet please? I'm going to ask those
of you who raised your hands to do something. I bet you thought I
was going to do this. You're right, I am. If you raised your
hand, I'm going to ask you now to get up
from where you're standing. If you're in the
family room or balcony, we're going to wait for you. We want you come down,
come in this building, walk down the aisle
if you're in here, and just stand right up here. I'm going to lead you in a
prayer in just a moment-- your own personal prayer
of receiving Christ. You'll hear us encourage
you as you come. But you please come. Can you do that? Let yourself be known. Let yourself be encouraged. Let yourself be loved
through all this. God bless you. Come stand right up here. Awesome. Thank you. That's so good. [SINGING] Wanderer come home. If you're in that balcony, would
you just come down those steps? Come down the aisle if
you're in the family room. Just come through the door,
which is up to the front, to the right. Come stand right here. We'll wait for you as you come. But we want you to
be a part of this. We want you to walk away
knowing this is the day I gave my life to Christ. This was the moment that
changed everything for me. [MUSIC PLAYING] [SINGING] So lay down your
burdens, lay down your shame. Lay it down. Lay it down. [SINGING] All who are
broken lift up your face. Wanderer come home you're not
too far So lay down your hurt, lay down your heart,
and come as you are. As you are. Come as you are, as
you are, as you are. Wanderer come home
you're not too far. Lay down your hurt,
lay down your heart, and come as you are. Now those of you who
have come, a thought just came into my
mind at how pleasing you are to the Lord right
now, for just making that step of obedience
and saying, yes. And how happy it makes the Lord. And I had another thought. You just ticked off the
devil, which gives me great joy and pleasure. It's always good to
do what God wants you to do, and to obey him. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to lead
you in a prayer. I'm going to pray it out loud. I'm going to ask you to say
these words out loud after me. Say them from your heart. Mean them, as you are
telling God to come and take control of your life. OK? So let's pray. Lord, I give you my life-- Lord, I give you my life. I know that I'm a sinner-- I know that I'm a sinner. Please forgive me--
Please forgive me. I believe in Jesus-- I believe in Jesus. That he came to earth--
that he came to earth, that he shed his
blood for my sin-- that he shed his
blood for my sin, and that he rose
again from the dead-- and that he rose
again from the dead, and that he's alive right now--
and that he's alive right now. I turn from my sin-- I turn from my sin. I leave my past behind-- I leave my past behind. I turn to Jesus as my Savior-- I turn to Jesus as my Savior. Help me to follow him-- Help me to follow him. As my Lord-- As my Lord. Every day-- Every day. In Jesus' name-- In Jesus' name. Amen-- Amen. [APPLAUSE] Just like a physical
body, growth in the church often comes with growing pains. Did this message give
you insight on how to manage those kinds of pains? We'd love to hear about it. Email us at
mystory@calvaryabq.org. And just a reminder, you can
give financially to this work at calvaryabq.org/give. Thank you for joining us for
this teaching from Calvary Church.
