“Measure Twice, Cut Once”

Carefully Building a Loving Church

Mike Steiner, September 14, 2014

(SLIDE) How about this for technology gone bad: Thank you for calling 911. In order to serve you better, your call is being routed to the police department, fire department, hospital, or mortuary best able to help you. If your home was broken into, press 1. If the intruder is armed, press 2. If the intruder is in the room from which you are making this call, press 4. If you are attempting to avoid detection and have turned off the lights, press 2339200976, followed by the pound sign.

I’m sorry, that is not a valid number. Please try again.

I’m sure every one of you have had more than a few experiences trying to get assistance with something in your home or with your mobile devices – you reach that point when you just want to talk to someone instead of a machine – you want that personal contact, connection – a personal touch. That’s important to us. Yet, in our age of computers, IPads, and cell phones we’re beginning to lose that personal touch, and relationships are suffering. Our relational, loving God made us for relationship – loving relationship – when that’s missing, people are hurt – in my estimation, there are far too many lonely, disaffected, detached people in the world.

And in my estimation, the church has a valuable, perhaps vital, role to play in giving people that personal touch – in providing an environment for loving and caring relationships. But, alas, it seems that’s not always the case. In the first message of this series, I shared the troubling stats on the number of churches closing their doors and the number of people leaving the church every day. Obviously, the fellowship of the church isn’t what it used to be – apparently it isn’t high on the wish list of so many people.

One can point to a lot of societal factors for this exodus from the fellowship of the church. Post-modern, even post-Christian trends are upon us – people are questioning the existence of God; commitment to church isn’t a high priority for many; some simply don’t see any relevance to church. The words of one man that really cut deep: “I can go on a 40-mile bike ride and get as much as I can from going to church!” In Search of Faith (USA Today back in 1999): “For many people, God has been detached from “religion”. Where once a community of believers shared a common vocabulary, many feel free to define God by their own lights. The survey finds a largely Christian nation partaking of the feasts of faith – its challenge, inspiration, and comfort – a la carte. Denominational lines are blurring and church-free “spirituality” is on the rise.” Let’s face it – folks can simply turn on their TV and watch and hear incredible worship services, nationally-known, talented preachers, all in the comfort of their lazy boy chair in their living room.

(SLIDE) What’s the problem? While the church seems a bit helpless in the face of some societal trends, I also fear that the church is to some degree (perhaps a large degree) responsible for its own demise. The church has often earned a bad reputation - many of those who have fled or ignored the church point to things people have complained about regarding the established church for a long time – rightly or wrongly, negative perceptions of the church are hardly uncommon – listen to these complaints:

-  Church leaders are often control freaks or power hungry.

-  Worship songs and services are boring.

-  Churches are more concerned about getting larger than they are about the lives of individuals.

-  People aren’t involved in ministry.

-  Money isn’t being used wisely (or - all they talk about is money).

-  Church people are always fighting.

-  Church people are hypocrites.

One person commented: “I’m turned off by the hypocrisy of organized religion. I have deep moral beliefs about what is right and wrong. I try to live my life with integrity. I don’t feel that I need to belong to any organized religion at all.”

No denying it – all these things are to some extent true about the church – any church for that matter. As a people, we tend to dwell on the negative and overlook the positive – it’s no surprise then that people develop negative perceptions of the church. A psychologist claiming to be a Zen Buddhist bragged: “People say they want ABC (anything but church).”

So, yes, organized church all too often has had a tarnished reputation. But what I want to assert to you today is the idea that the church has something special to offer far beyond any other entity in society – something that is I’m afraid too often missing in the organized church, but is an absolute essential, and when a church does it well, it can be powerful and life-changing beyond anything we can experience. What is it? (SLIDE) It is the opportunity for building sacrificial love relationships. A quality church that measures twice and cuts once is one where we not only glorify God in worship, but we love one another as He loved us – it’s a priority for carefully building the church – building on the foundation of Christ’s love for us. (SLIDE) John 13:34-35 - “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.” Jesus declared that LOVE is expected to be evident in the lives of His disciples (then and now) and in a carefully built church. Two key points: 1) We are to love others like Jesus loved us, and 2) our love for others indicates the level of our love for God.

I want to take a page from Paul in 1 Corinthian 13 (the great love chapter) when Paul emphasizes the priority of love for the Christian. Let me apply it to the church this way: You can have the most elaborate and beautiful building; you can have the most spectacular worship service; you can have wonderful programs and activities; you can have the best and most accurate proclamation of scripture; you can have the greatest outreach focus in your community; but if you have not LOVE, you have nothing. Now Paul was not saying prophecy, knowledge, strong faith, sacrificial giving aren’t important; I’m not saying quality buildings, good worship, strong preaching and teaching, and outreach are not important. What Paul was saying and I’m now asserting is that sacrificial love is the first priority – God’s type of love has to be the basis for everything we do.

What must we do to love as He loved – to have that quality church that truly loves? In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul gives some clues about building bridges of love. For background, there wasn’t a whole lot of love going around in Corinth among believers. Conflict was a clear characteristic – divisions, lawsuits – you name it. The church was gaining a bad reputation, and Paul’s determined to turn things around. Here are Paul’s principles for life and love:

(SLIDE) Surrender your rights. Listen to Paul’s words about himself in 1 Corinthians 9:3-5 – “This is my defense to those who sit in judgment on me. Don’t we have the right to food and drink? Don’t we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas. 1 Corinthians 9:11-12 – If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? If others have this right of support from you, shouldn’t we have it all the more? But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the Gospel of Christ. The cause of Christ is so compelling, so important that Paul would give up his rights – and it should be the same for us as well. The first step in building relationships in our church and in our spheres of influence is having that willingness to give up our rights. How can we communicate God’s care and God’s love to others when we focus so much on demanding our rights – our rights as a church leader, a church volunteer, church member, or even as a Christian?

(SLIDE) Accept your responsibility. The Bible emphasizes the concept of responsibility. Some have called it “Basin Theology”. Jesus washed other people’s feet. In John 13 as He washed the disciples’ feet, we are seeing Jesus giving up His right and amazingly accepting personal responsibility – He used the basin to accept responsibility. Pilate stands in contrast – he washed his hands we learn in Matthew 27:24 – he used the basin to avoid responsibility. Paul willingly accepted his responsibility – 1 Corinthians 9:16-17 – Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! This was Paul’s calling – he was compelled to do it – it was his responsibility – he accepted wholeheartedly. Certainly, disciples of Christ must do the same whatever that calling is, but there is one calling all believers have, and we must take responsibility for: God created us and called us to fellowship! To say, “I don’t need the church” is to completely miss the purpose of the church. You need the fellowship of all believers to grow and be held accountable, and other Christians need you! Paul asserts in 1 Corinthians12:21 – “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” When you attach yourself to the head, that makes you part of the body! The body may have scars, blemishes, and inadequacies – but you can’t live apart from the body. We are to practice “The One Anothers of Fellowship”. How can we possibly obey the one-another commands of the Bible if we aren’t regularly fellowshipping with one another and building relationships with each other? We are called to do our part in creating and fostering a loving fellowship if we are to be a loving church – serving the interests of others and serving the church.

(SLIDE) Let go of your ego. In 1 Corinthians 9:19 Paul makes this often quoted statement: “I make myself a slave to everyone.” Paul put proclaiming the Gospel his first priority, and that meant putting people first to spread the Gospel – and for him, putting people first meant doing things that he may not have liked to do but had to do for the betterment of others and the church.

(SLIDE) Adjust your attitude. Paul continues in 1 Corinthians 9:20-22 about identifying with others – Jews, Gentiles, the weak – and in verse 22 he says: I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. This was a major adjustment for the one who called himself the “Jew of Jews” – the persecutor of Christians and now a missionary for Christ. But Paul had to be thinking about the ultimate adjustment made by Christ who left heaven to come to earth! THE SON OF GOD BECAME THE SON OF MAN SO THAT WE WHO ARE SONS OF MEN COULD BECOME SONS OF GOD! Paul said as much in Galatians 3:25-28 – I like the Message paraphrase of this passage: (SLIDE) But you have arrived at your destination: By faith in Christ you are in direct relationship with God. Your baptism in Christ was not just washing you up for a fresh start. It also involved dressing you in an adult wardrobe – Christ’s life, the fulfillment of God’s original promise. In Christ’s family there can be no division into Jew or non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ.

Attitude drives actions. As we carefully build a loving church, we must do our best to deal as severely with bad attitudes as we do with wrong actions. Never underestimate the power of a positive, cooperative, loving attitude! Remember: we’ve been dressed in an “adult faith wardrobe” so we ought to act like it.

What must we do? – we must be flexible and patient with others – our focus is to win others to Christ – and mentor others in Christ – that requires a constant awareness of our attitudes and adjusting them in building loving and strong bonds with others.

(SLIDE) Don’t ever give up. In 1 Corinthians 9:24 Paul says: “Run in such a way as to get the prize.” God expects us to run the race – Paul was concerned about the Corinthian believers persevering in their faith and in their work for the kingdom. Persevering is a key universal teaching of the Bible, and in the context of loving others and building a loving church, we love and keep on loving – no matter what!! It’s hard – people hurt us, reject us, turn their backs on us – but we’re to love them anyway. So we must persevere in surrendering our rights, accepting our responsibility, letting go of our ego, and adjusting our attitude – the key: remembering that God loves us even though we sin against Him – that He sent His Son to die for us even though we didn’t deserve it – that Christ was willing to endure humiliation and rejection and persevere all the way to the cross – all because He persevered in His love for us. Surely we can persevere in our love for Him and for others.

CONCLUSION: Back to where I started: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.” Acts 2:47 tells us that the early believers enjoyed the favor of all the people – I think what the “people” saw was the believers’ love for the Lord and for each other – that made a statement to those around them – and when we do the same as individuals and as the church, the same thing will happen – and people will be “saved”. Let us be known – above and beyond anything else – as the “loving” church!