Sermon for Sunday April 20th, 2008

PASTOR - FLOCK - CHURCH by Bruce Ball

Matthew 5:14-5:16


The story is told of how they used to make the masts for the old sailing ships of the past. They would go into a forest and select a tree that was tall and straight. Then, they would cut all the surrounding trees down, leaving that large tree standing by itself to endure the winds of time for several years.

How many of you know that when the wind blows a tree, that tree bends, and it is when it bends that it grows the strength to keep it upright in the future.

Well, when that tree had withstood the winds and storms for several years, they would then cut it down, since it was now strong enough to withstand the storms of the sea, too. But it is funny how it would never have gained that strength had it been left among all the other trees. It had to be separated from the others so it could actually grow stronger so it could be used properly.

Christians are the same way. If we remain in the same mindset as those around us, we could never mature enough to be strong in the Lord Jesus, or faithful enough to do His work. It is only when we have been set apart, can we then learn the things of God so we can be changed from the inside out – to make us stronger and more resilient to the storms around us.

And churches are much the same, too. There are many churches in our communities, and not all of them are preaching the sacred, holy, and true word of God. Many churches have ended up focusing on how to keep people in the church rather than how to change the hearts of those in the church.

A preacher friend of mine in Arizona told me once that his church had grown so large they had to build new buildings to handle it all. He was very proud of the fact that his church was so successful. But in so doing, he ended having to soften his message a bit so as not to drive people away. It seems they wanted to hear the words that made them feel good about themselves.

I lost a friendship because I told him that his church really wasn’t successful. I told him he might have a very successful social club, but as for a church that teaches and preaches Jesus Christ, it was a dismal failure if he had to soften the word of God, or not talk about some of the word of God.

And so, today, I want to talk to you about the church. Now, a few years ago, I preached a message about what it takes to build a church. Today, I would like to take that one step further and explain what we are supposed to with them once they are built.

Let’s start by talking about -


1. THE PASTOR

Every church needs a spiritual leader. He should be a man of integrity and one that is accessible to every member of the church, especially during times of hardship or illness.

The church must be very, very careful whom it chooses to have as their pastor. The right pastor can take the church very close to the Lord, but the wrong pastor can take it further away from Jesus than anyone ever expected to be.

Let me give you an example of a what I am talking about.

A church needed a pastor because the pastor they had for many years retired. While discussing what they wanted and needed, it seemed everyone had a different opinion, and nobody could agree with anyone else.

Knowing this confusion could destroy the church, an elder wrote a letter that would look like it was from a man who was applying for the job. It read:

“Sirs:

I would like to apply to fill your vacant pastor position. I am qualified to preach the Good News with anointed power and would like the chance to preach in your church. Let me give you a little of my background.

I have been a very outspoken leader everywhere I have gone, and some even say I am a very good organizer and church planter.

I am over 50, and I have never preached more than three years in one place because I have always been called to go elsewhere. There have been times when after just a few months; they have demanded that I leave. In some places, I have caused great dissension and have even been beaten on occasion for what I preached. Also, I will have to be honest and tell you I have been thrown in jail on more than one occasion, but it was not my fault or because I did anything wrong.

I have rarely gotten along with any of the church leaders and know that they will not give me a good recommendation. In fact, some have even threatened to have me arrested if I showed my face around their church again.

I do not keep very good records, and I have even forgotten who I have baptized. But if you will consider me to be your pastor, I promise to do all I can to bring you closer to Jesus Christ.”

The elder read that letter to the congregation, and there was no hesitation at all before it was a unanimous vote to reject this man as their pastor. They said he was an old troublemaker who was a jailbird and the community would never go for him. It was clear they had no liking for this man at all.

When all comments had been given and all votes had been cast, the elder said, “Oh, I forgot to tell you who sent this. He signs his name, ‘the Apostle Paul.’

We judge a person based upon what we can see of his past, don’t we? But every time we make decisions affecting the future without obtaining all the facts of the past, we do an injustice to God’s will for the church.

When I say that a church must be very careful on who they hire as their pastor, most people think of a man who is not qualified to lead them … “the way they want to be led.”

So, churches must be careful that the pastor is qualified to lead a congregation closer to Jesus and teach them the ways of righteousness. But those qualifications need to be Godly-based and not man-based because he is the foreman of the job God wants to do in His church.

Qualifications are very important in a spiritual leader. Some churches, however, take it to the ridiculous. Case in point are those churches that not only demand a certain type of college degree, but they demand that it be from a certain college.

I am not saying people shouldn’t have a college education, but I think that as important as it is, we should look at something that is even more important in our spiritual leaders; and that is a true calling by God for them to be leaders.

And the church must also be just as selective when voting for elders and deacons. We must be sure that these men are willing to serve so that the church can grow for Jesus, not so they can have positions of authority.

I have said before, and I will say again; if any elder thinks he is the pastor’s boss, he needs to vacate his position as elder and walk off because he is out of the will of God. Likewise, when any pastor thinks that he is the boss of the church, he needs to do likewise, because he is outside the will of God.

Neither should ever view the other as someone they can ‘get rid of’, because this makes them enemies of each other, and God will not approve of that in His house. They are a team, working together for the same purpose: Having a place that will help more souls come to Jesus Christ – period.

Now, let’s talk a little about ….


2. THE FLOCK

The question comes to mind; “Does attending church really make a difference, and if so, to whom?”

Attending church makes a very real difference to everyone. It makes a difference to the individual involved; to the church that could use more of their talents; and to the community whom they could become another shining light to.

Many people go to church once a week, and claim they are committed to the church. In my opinion, a person’s commitment level is directly related to the time they spend doing whatever it is they are committed to.

A fellow in Arizona prided himself on how devoted he was to his church. But this man would miss church about once a month during the summer so he could go to the boat races. I think I am correct in saying that he was interested in church, but devoted to the races.

You cannot enjoy coming over to my home for dinner if you don’t like coming to my home, can you? And anyone who does not attend their church services with regularity cannot really want a close relationship with Jesus Christ. When people are lukewarm about their church attendance, they will automatically be lukewarm about their devotion to Christ.

We must remember what Jesus told us about our being lukewarm – that He would spit us out of his mouth. Now, when church isn’t viewed as a necessity to a person, and when worshiping with other believers isn’t seen as compulsory, that person is lukewarm.

If we are serious about Christ, we should also be serious about the place He instituted, and that would be His church. In the same way, how could you claim to be a very good friend to me if you rarely try to be around me?

An elder at another church told me that he never used to go to church, but would go to the lake every weekend and go fishing. He said he had convinced himself that communing with nature was as close to God as any worship service. I asked him why he didn’t do that anymore. He told me he finally realized that his boat only had one person on it, but it was the church who had other Christians in it, and they were all waiting for him to be there.

Does Jesus want us to go to church regularly? Yes.

HEBREWS 10:25 –

‘Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.’

It all comes down to sacrifice. How much of your time are you willing to sacrifice for the Lord? It isn’t about how much time you have to give to the church – it is about how much time you are willing to give to the church. And some people aren’t even willing to spend two hours a week at God’s house.

Have you ever noticed how long one hour in church is, but how short it is when watching your favorite movie? And how thrilling it is when a ballgame goes into extra innings, but how agitating it is when the service goes five minutes longer than usual?

I have always been amazed at the amount of enthusiasm people have for different things in their lives. For instance, a person can go to a ballgame and take their shirts off, dance up and down, paint their faces silly colors, yell at the top of their voices and feel very good about doing so. But put that same person in church, and he is terrified to even raise on arm a little bit and holler out a weak, “Amen!”

Did you know that most people who have fallen away from going to church have done so, not because they were let down or hurt while going to church, but because they gradually started missing services until they finally saw it too difficult to go at all?

How would you feel if God told you He was too busy to pay attention to you, and that He was more interested in other people than He was in you? Really think about that. How would you feel? That is how God feels when you tell Him the same thing by the amount of time in your life that you are refusing to dedicate to Him.

People have all kinds of problems, and many are very difficult problems. But there are really very few real problems that are so important as to make us miss church except on a very rare basis.

In MATTHEW 6:33, He tells us to seek first the kingdom of God and then everything else will be given to you. Where in your life are you going to be able to do that except church?

Please don’t tell me you don’t have to be in church to know God. I will agree with you on that, but will disagree that you are in His will, because He began the church for us, and we need to be in it for Him.

One Sunday morning, a woman tried to get her husband out of bed so they could go to church. He told her he didn’t want to go, all he wanted to do was stay in bed and sleep. She told him he had to get up and go to church. He asked why, and she said because he was the pastor!

Every one of us, at one time or another, have felt the same way as that pastor did; we wanted to stay home instead of getting up and getting ready for church. But how did you feel once you were there? You were glad you went, weren’t you? Remember that the next time you want to stay home.

We all like being a part of the church, but if everyone had the attitude that their attendance wasn’t important to the church, we wouldn’t have any churches.

Your attendance will sometimes allow others to encourage or help you, and it will also allow you to be there so you can encourage and help others when they need it.

And it will allow you to learn what God’s will is for you life. For most of us, the church is our main avenue of getting God’s word. Without it, we are like a tire that has no air in it, or a car that has no gas.

We get fed God’s Word when we are in Sunday school. We get fed God’s Word when we hear the sermons in church, and we get fed the Spirit of God when we associate with other Christians. Even the songs are designed to teach us to praise the Lord.

The Lord’s Supper helps to bring our hearts closer to Jesus, and the collection of tithes and offerings teach us to be obedient to the Lord’s command. Everything in church was designed to grow you spiritually.

Diana told me I need to get in shape, and I told her I already am in shape. After all, round is a shape, isn’t it? If you eat like I do, you will be bigger than if you eat healthy like Diana does. Our physical growth is dependent upon how much we eat, right?

Likewise, if you feed on the Word of God, you will grow spiritually, and the more you feed yourself, the more you will grow. Of course, if you do not feed yourself the Word of God, you won’t do much spiritually growing, will you? Those people who do not attend regularly end up with spiritual malnutrition, and that leaves them targets for temptation and sin.

I have never personally known any person who was a strong, faithful, and committed Christian who only attended church when they felt like it. To my experience, these people look at attendance as an inconvenience rather than a need. Of course, there are those who have legitimate reasons for not being in church, but all of us would have to agree that these reasons are few and far between.

Now let’s talk about …


3. THE CHURCH

EPHESIANS 4:15 says,

‘Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will, in all things, grow up into Him who is the Head, that is Christ.’

We are being told to speak the truth of God’s word; not watered down and not skipped over, but the entire truth of God, as presented to us in the Bible. But we have to do it in a Godly way; through love.

Let me once again remind you what Godly love is. It is not a romantic or physical love. It is when you care enough about a person’s soul that you would rather die than see their soul go to hell. You care so much that you tell them what God has said; all of it.

VERSE 16 says,

’From Him, the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up, in love, as each part does its work.’

This tells us that we are all different parts of the same body. Just as your arm and your toe are different things made for different purposes, they all belong to the one body. Without the arm or the toe, the body will not function as it was made to, will it?

You are a Christian. I am a Christian. The church body needs both of us to be here and be accountable to do God’s work. If either of us are missing, the body cannot do what it was made to do.

There are many ways in which to help a church grow, both wide and deep. I say wide and deep, because a healthy church will grow in both directions at the same time. It will grow wide, as new members come into the church, and it will grow deep as those new members become mature in the Word, going from milk to meat.

In the hills of North Carolina, many years ago, there was a small country church that desperately needed a new roof. They had a small congregation and most did not have much money, except one older man who owned the local bank.

He always made sure to be among the first to arrive at church so he could pick his spot on the very back pew. He did this so he could be the very first out the door when the sermon was over.

One day he was late because he had a flat tire. By the time he got to church, the only place for him to sit was on the front pew. Well, like I said, it was a small church and they needed a new roof, so during the prayer time, they started praying that God would supply a new roof. Right at the end of the prayer, a piece of the old roof fell and hit the banker on top the head. He immediately yelled out, “I’ll give a thousand dollars!” There could be a voice heard from the back that yelled out, “Hit him again, Lord!”

One of the ways the church needs help is in the area of tithes and offerings. And sometimes it takes a piece of the roof to fall on our heads to get our attention to this matter. After all, a hundred dollars looks so small when you take it to the mall, but seems so very big when the offering plate comes by.

People don’t realize it, but churches have utility bills just like we do at home. Churches have other bills too, like insurance bills, repairs, and much, much more. And if we wait until one person can give a lot, the church suffers. It is only when everyone gives their fair share that the church can prosper for our benefit without hurting any single giver among us.

I have heard it said that since Jesus came to fulfill the law, we are not under the law to give 10% any longer. My answer is that since Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, the spirit of giving to Him has never changed. But we need to keep in mind the condition of our hearts when we do give.

We all know the story where Jesus saw an older poor lady give two mites into the collection box. He blessed her over the Pharisees who were rich and gave much. Why? Because she gave from her heart.

When we give from our hearts, we don’t mind making a sacrifice. And it is when we give out of our sacrifices that God sits up and takes notice. When we are willing to do without, for His name’s sake, He begins to reward us beyond our original offerings.

If you can give $1,000 per week, give more. If all you can give is $1.00, give more. If that one-dollar is truly all you can afford, God will love you for giving it, and He will also love you for giving anything over that amount. Why? Because when you give what you can afford, there is little sacrifice involved, but when you give above what you can afford, you are sacrificing your need for Him.

To function properly, a church must offer both physical and spiritual services. We must have those people who delight in taking care of the mowing of grass; and the repairing of things as they come up. That is their personal ministry to the Lord.

A church also must have those who delight in giving spiritually by teaching classes; watching over our young ones; singing; and many other areas. And, to have all of these needs met, we must have people in regular attendance to serve for the Lord.

Generally speaking, members who attend infrequently do little for the church. So, attending church will build your commitment to the church, thereby building your desire to serve others within the church, and that helps the church.

1 TIMOTHY 4:12 calls us to be an example for other Christians.

MATTHEW 5:14 says we are to be an example to the whole world.

Faithful church attendance has other benefits, too. It lets you set a very good example for newer Christians, visitors and your own family.

1 PETER 2:12 admonishes us,

’Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.’

The world around us holds us accountable for what we tell them. If we say we are Christians, they keep us under a microscope to make sure we are living the life of a Christian. The biggest way we can hurt our testimony is to live or speak in such a way as to look like a hypocrite.

If you tell the world that you are a Christian, the worlds expects you to be in church like a Christian.

How many of you believe Jesus will someday come back for us? How many of you believe that when He does, we are either going to be ready, or we are going to be left? How many of you think that He won’t come back for a long time, thereby giving you all kinds of time to get ready?

Jesus said nobody but God knows when He will return. It will happen so suddenly nobody will have a chance to do anything but go with Him. There will be no ‘do-overs’ or ‘wait a minutes.’ Knowing this, doesn’t it seem more intelligent to get ready today in case He comes tonight?

MATTHEW 24:44 warns us,

’So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him.’

That warning is repeated for us in MATTHEW 25:13.

’Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.’

So, attending church is an absolute necessity for getting our souls ready to meet Jesus. And therein lies the knowledge of what we are to use the church for once we build it. We use it to get people ready to meet Jesus. And everything we do in the church should be wrapped around that once reason.

But that leads into a personal question. Are you ready to meet Jesus right now? I mean right this second, if you were to hear a loud clap of thunder and see Jesus standing before you, would you really be ready to go with Him?

PSALM 122:1 says –

’I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go into the house of the Lord."’

Are you glad to be in the house of the Lord this morning? Now don’t you think you should use this time in His house to prepare for His Second Coming? I am going to give you that opportunity right now as we go into our time of invitation.

This is a time for you to get ready, and to make sure you are ready – in case Jesus were to come back tonight.