Rev. David Holwick E The Church You've Longed For (intro)
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
February 4, 2007
Revelation 3:14-22
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I. How bad can it get?
A. [unnamed] Baptist explosion.
Exactly two months ago I preached at their dedication service.
Two congregations, a tiny "Anglo" one and an aggressive Korean
one, had joined together.
The Korean congregation had poured money and sweat into
renovating the old sanctuary.
Everyone was happy. Everyone praised Jesus.
About a week ago I received a letter from the Korean pastor.
They had showed up for church, but the doors were locked.
They were able to get the old pastor to open the church, but
he wouldn't let them in the sanctuary.
The Koreans had to worship in the basement.
Apparently the Anglo congregation, all three members, didn't
like the way the Koreans were dominating things.
(And the Koreans liked to taunt them for their small numbers).
The Anglo pastor claimed the Korean pastor had lied to him.
So now the Korean pastor was considering suing him for libel.
To his credit, the Korean pastor tried to get the state office
to arbitrate the matter, but the Anglo pastor refused to
meet with it.
Nobody was going to steal his church from him.
The world loves these kind of stories.
But not as much as Satan does.
B. Organized religion turns off a lot of people.
Erwin McManus says he has never felt much attraction to
religion.
But he longs for spirituality, the possibility of connecting
with God.
Maybe that's why few movies affected him as much as
THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION.
The story revolves around Andy Dufresne, who was wrongly
convicted of his wife's murder.
He is the one genuinely innocent person in the vile prison
known as Shawshank.
Andy teams up with a convict named Red who is the only prisoner
who actually claims to be guilty.
Nothing seems to stop Andy from both rising above the inhumanity
of prison life and eventually finding a way to escape.
The tagline of Shawshank is, "Fear can hold you prisoner, hope
can set you free."
The most important point though is that the warden is a
Bible-thumping Christian.
You know, a God-fearing man.
Stephen King is hinting what a lot of people feel: Christianity
can be a prison that holds us captive through fear and
condemnation.
And if that wasn't bad enough, the powerbrokers who wield their
self-righteous judgments over us are violent, corrupt
hypocrites.
They are simply using religion to advance their own greed and
hatred.
But if you don't give up, if you don't lose hope, you might be
able to break free from them.
THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION is a harsh reminder that Christianity
as a religion has often been a part of the problem and not
the solution.
Way too many things have been done in the name of Christ that
Jesus has had no part in.
And while you and I may bear no personal responsibility for
the Crusades or the Inquisition, we are entirely responsible
for how our faith is lived out through this church.
Jesus intends us to be a community of faith, hope and love but
too often we may be known for our self-righteousness,
judgmentalism and hypocrisy.
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE did not invent the church lady, the church
did.
Dana Carvey just borrowed her from us.
#33224
II. Rotten churches are nothing new -- read the New Testament.
A. Uncaring attitudes.
1) In James, we find that rich people were given choice
seats, but poor people were put on the floor.
2) Widows of one ethnic group felt they were being neglected.
Acts 6:1
3) Epitome: selfishness before communion. 1 Cor 11:20-22
a) People hoarding food at the love feasts (=potlucks),
cutting in line.
1> Can you imagine that?
B. Outsiders excluded.
1) Gentiles had a tough time getting into the church.
a) Special visions were required to open their eyes.
2) Peter himself finally accepted Gentiles, then shunned them.
a) Jewish believers from Palestine convinced him to
pull away from non-kosher Gentile converts.
b) His hypocrisy was contagious. (Barnabas) Gal 2:12-13
c) Paul had to rebuke Peter to his face.
C. Power hoarded.
1) Lots of power plays are evident in the early church.
2) Began with the apostles -- even at the Last Supper.
3) Then notice how many men tried to steal Paul's thunder.
a) He calls them "super-apostles".
b) Numerous personality cults within one church. 1 Cor 1
D. Hypocrisy displayed.
1) Ananias and Sapphira, lying about a donation. Acts 6:1
2) Preaching for the wrong motives. Phil 1
III. Churches are blind to their own problems.
A. Self-satisfaction of the Laodiceans. Rev 3
1) They think they are rich.
2) They think they have great insight.
3) They can't see any areas to improve in.
B. God's assessment.
1) They are pathetic, poor, blind and naked.
a) They see everything as materialistic.
2) Neither hot nor cold, just lukewarm - vomitable.
C. God's advice.
1) Buy refined gold from him, that they can be truly rich.
2) Cover their nakedness with white clothes (=moral purity).
3) Put medicine in their eyes that they can see. (insight)
D. God's rebuke shows love.
1) Repent! Open the door to Jesus.
2) Implied alternative: church's lamp will be removed.
IV. God knows.
A. He knows the strengths and weaknesses of our church.
1) What do you think they are?
2) We are certainly a satisfied church. Self-satisfied?
B. He also knows you.
1) Do you think you are fine, when you are not?
Joe Carter has a confession to make: he doesn't like church.
He's been a Christian since he was six years old.
He has attended churches that were Southern Baptist, Independent
Baptist, United Methodist, Free Methodist, Presbyterian,
Pentecostal, Assembly of God, and some that don't even
have labels.
But Joe would rather sleep in on Sunday mornings.
Because no matter where he goes, there is always one idiot who
ruins the experience for him.
They think they know more theology than the pastor.
Or they believe they would do a better job leading worship than
the music minister.
They are invariably unfriendly, judgmental, hypocritical, and
more than a little bit smug.
Every church he goes to, he finds a fool like that, and so he
shops around trying to find one that won't let someone like
that join their ranks.
But the jerk is always there.
No matter what Joe does, he can't shake him.
Because that jerk is Joe Carter.
Like it or not, churches are made to be filled with jerks.
But hopefully, after some refining by the Holy Spirit, we will
end up less jerky.
God has a ways to go yet.
#34126
2) What advice would God give to you?
a) Open the door of your heart to Christ.
b) Make some basic changes in your attitude. (clothes)
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
#33224 "On the Barbarian Way," by Erwin Raphael McManus,
www.sermoncentral.com newsletter, July 17, 2006.
#34126 "I Don't Like Church," by Joe Carter,
http://www.evangelicaloutpost.com/ archives/001217.html,
February 28, 2005.
These and 30,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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