A Critical Age - Numbers 11-4-25 the Message Bible
It is strange for me today to be a guest speaker in what is my home church. I can’t help but think of St. Paul who planted churches and then when he had opportunity or God’s calling he would visit them to look in on their progress.
Here are some of the things St. Paul saw:
In Rome Paul talked of the power of the cross of Christ vs. secular/pagan society.
In Corinth – He put down division, murmuring, backsliding.
On his second trip to Corinth he reviewed the credentials of the Pastor(s)
To the Galatians Paul dispelled error in doctrine.
To the church in Ephesus Paul communicated how we the church are the body of Christ.
In Philippi Paul told them to 2:12 work out your salvation with fear and trembling
To the Colossians Paul taught that there is no other secret knowledge only Christ.
In Thessalonica Paul warned of the last days; its signs & to be ready & encouraged
To Timothy and Titus – Paul instructed them how to organize church leadership.
If you were counting there were seven churches that Paul visited and instructed. I have only planted one church in my lifetime so far and that is this church. I did not do it by myself but some of you here also had a hand in it.
We did this not for our own sake but to honor God and provide a place where people could worship freely and independently. We are not tied to a national denomination or association. We are an independent Bible believing church and if we are tied to any thing it is the cross of Christ.
But as I play the role of St. Paul today and look in on you do you wonder what I see and hear from this twenty year old?
I hear a few voices of the Corinthians in your midst. There are some complaining about this thing or that thing and some complaining about this person or that person. Even though I am often at my charge at New St. Andrews church I can still hear you here. Not only do I hear you but I can feel your discontent and for that I offer you Jesus. If you spent more time with your Savior and less time looking for reasons to complain you would find your joy in the Lord returning to you. If the roles were reversed you would give me the same advice.
Philippians 2:12-16 NIV
12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. 14 Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe 16 as you hold out the word of life--in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.
That is not all that I am aware of there are some from Ephesus here. I see a church that is precious and dear to the heart of God forgetting that you are members of one body and that Christ is the head. If we decapitate the church the body will die. Let us put Jesus back on the throne of our hearts as the head of this church and in doing so the body will be whole again.
Taking a second look I see some Corinthians who would challenge the Pastors credentials. You do not like what he preaches or how he preaches and you think someone else might do a better job. Sorry but the Pastor is only the messenger set apart by God to bring you the good news. Your choice is simple open your heart to the message and stop criticizing with you mouths.
Romans 10:10
For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
My friends, Leadership in the church is a shared responsibility that is why we have a Deacons Board and a Property Board and a Finance Committee and a Sunday school superintendent. Stop laying it all on the Pastor or his wife. Lead in the ministry that you have undertaken and serve as if to the Lord.
My brothers and sisters in Christ we like the children of Israel are on a journey to the Promised Land. It may be that we are only twenty years along our way across this wilderness we call earth.
Maybe just like those in Moses care some of you are tired of eating the same old manna every week? Well the good news is that God hears you and is more than happy to give you meat instead.
Could it be that you are tired of hearing the Pastor call you to Holy living, and a God fearing lifestyle. Yes, he has preached that many times but so has the previous Pastor and so do I today.
Some of you are like the child that refuses to eat their vegetables or says they are full but then is later found taking cookies from the cookie jar. Should the Pastor make you sit and eat cookies until you are sick of them and learn the consequences of your complaining? Maybe then you will learn that your complaining only brings injury and shame to yourself.
No - at twenty years of age you should be past the cookie only diet and able to eat like a grown up.
1 Corinthians 3:1-3 NKJV
1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?
You are growing in Christ as a church but need to leave off the things that are childish.
You have accomplished much as a church and should focus on that which helps you grow and bring others to a saving knowledge of the Lord.
Faith Baptist has great ministries that need your attention do not leave it off for someone else to do if God is calling you to serve.
Your Sunday school program is excellent and a model for other churches.
Matthew 21:16 NIV
16 Do you hear what these children are saying? they asked him. Yes, replied Jesus, have you never read, From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise?
Bless you for you have laid a foundation in these children – a foundation of praise. That is a wonderful achievement in these days.
We have a Deacons Board that is more than capable of leading if you will encourage them and pray for them. When I think of our first Deacons Board I am reminded how dull our edge was. But you have had men of the sharpest sort serve you after each successive Board.
Proverbs 27:17 NIV
17 As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.
We have an international ministry in Kids Alive that saves the lives of hundreds of abandoned and orphaned children. This is marvelous and exciting I only hope more of you make the effort to see it for yourselves as I have and encourage our brothers and sisters over there.
James 1:27
27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
The Bible says that kind of work is pure and faultless and that is what you are doing there. Who will be on the next team to Zambia? Trevor went when he was still a boy! Take the trip expose yourself to missions and let God set a fire in your heart. You will not come back the same.
We have a beautiful building that could be used for fellowship and singing and movie nights but lately only a few of you have supported these events. I remember when all we had was a living room but we filled it with laughter and song and prayer.
There is a community outside these doors in need of love, hope, forgiveness and acceptance. We as a church need to reach out beyond our four walls to them.
You may have a ministry on your heart not yet initiated. Tell us about it.
The Pastor tried to engage you months ago with a visitation ministry. We are all getting older my friends and it gets lonely when you’re all alone in a nursing home or living on your own. All it takes is a little effort you can brighten someone’s day with just a visit.
But there are many, many wonderful things that I see that you have been growing in.
You are a loving church from the handshakes at the front door to the hugs at the foot of the sanctuary you know how to express love. Express it all the more.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 speak of the love that you demonstrate….
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails.
My friends let me share with you the words of Dr. Billy Graham.
I have a friend who lost his job, a fortune, his wife, and his home. But he tenaciously held on to his faith in Christ – the only thing he had left. Like Job in the Old Testament, he would not abandon God, no matter what happened. And yet, like Job he couldn’t help but wonder why.
One day he stopped to watch some men doing stone-work on a huge church. One of them was chiseling a triangular piece of stone. What are you doing with that? asked my friend. The workman said, See that little opening away up there near the spire? Well, I’m shaping this down here so it will fit in up there.
Tears filled my friend’s eyes as he walked away, for it seemed that God had spoken through the workman to explain the ordeal through which he was passing: I’m shaping you down here so you will fit in up there.
Billy Graham – Hope for each day Morning and Evening devotions – Thomas Nelson Publishing 2002, 2012
Friends from time to time God will lay His hands upon this church to knock off some of our rough edges, shaping us down here so that we will fit in up there. Let us thank God that He loves us enough to discipline us as dear children, protecting us so that we can grow and have productive lives as mature Christians.
Pray that we will have another twenty years to serve Him as His church let us make the next twenty years a glorious offering of service and praise for our king. - Amen
