Introduction
Over the past month and a half, I guess the best one-word description as to how I have been feeling is “uncomfortable.” Covid 19 has made me feel uncomfortable. Anne and I enjoyed going out to eat after church, but recently we have been confided to eating in our car. That is not nearly as comfortable as dining in. I have been pretty much confined to the house because of my health conditions. Staying home all day long when you are used to blowing and going, certainly makes a person feel uncomfortable.
But Covid 19 certainly is not the only thing in life that makes us feel uncomfortable. There are other things in life that make us uncomfortable. Going to the dentist, to get a root canal, will make most people feel uncomfortable as they wait for the doctor to begin. A high school senior taking the A.C.T. to get acceptance to the college of their choice, will generally feel uncomfortable right before they sit down to take the test. A person sitting in front of an I.R.S. auditor having his or her taxes reviewed will make that person feel uncomfortable.
And there are some things in life that are supposed to make us feel uncomfortable but do not. And over the next several weeks, we are going to look at those places and things that should make us feel uncomfortable. The first one may surprise you, but it is the church. Church ought to make us feel uncomfortable.
Think about this. Once a year, the high priest in the Old Testament would enter the holy of holies on the Day of Atonement. But another priest would have to tie a rope around his leg because if he was found unworthy to enter, he would die and had to be dragged out of the holy of holies. If you were a high priest, you would had to feel uncomfortable as the other priest tied the rope to your leg.
But think about the church in this day and time, we have done everything to make the church as comfortable a place as possible. We have padded pews, coffee shops, family rec centers, daycare and easy to swallow sermons.
So, I want to show you why from the Bible the church should be an uncomfortable place. Turn with me in your Bible to 1 Peter 2:1-5.
Scripture
1 Peter 2:1-5 (NIV)
1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.
2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,
3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
4 As you come to him, the living Stone--rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him--
5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Point #1
THE CHURCH IS NOT A PLACE OF COMFORT BECAUSE IT NEEDS TO EXPOSE THOSE THINGS IN OUR LIVES THAT ARE NOT CHRIST-LIKE AND CHALLENGE YOU AND ME TO REMOVE THOSE THINGS OUT OF OUR LIVES.
1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.
Let me ask you when is the last time you heard a sermon that you don’t need to return evil with evil? That is what malice is- it is being spiteful. You hurt me so I hurt you. When is the last time you have been told from the pulpit when someone does you evil, you do them good?
When is the last you heard a sermon about removing all misconceptions, untruthfulness, in our dealing in our business, in our family life and our dealings with others? Think back have you ever heard this Scripture? Proverbs 16:11 (NIV) 11 Honest scales and balances are from the LORD. God is honest and we ought to be honest in our dealings.
And I know I have not heard much preaching about hypocrisy, envy and slander.
If we fail to preach against those negative qualities in our lives, then we fail to preach what it takes for you and me to move closer to God. You see our God is Holy and we are to thrive to be Holy like him. And that means we must be told to remove some things from our life and add other things to our life. And if the church is talking about what you must remove from your life, you are going to feel uncomfortable.
But if I focus my preaching on only what you need to add to your life, none of us would feel uncomfortable. We would probably all agree we need those things. 2 Peter 1:5-7 (NIV)
5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;
6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;
7 and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.
The problem is that if we neglect preaching the things, we need to remove, we may keep you comfortable, but we are not moving you any closer to God. Because if we are going to be holy like our God is, we need to remove some things from our lives and add other things to our life. It is not either /or but rather both/and. To do that sometimes you have to be uncomfortable in the church house.
Point #2
THE CHURCH IS NOT A PLACE OF COMFORT BECAUSE A WALK WITH CHRIST IS NOT COMFORTABLE BECAUSE WE DON’T HAVE A SAY SO IN HOW GOD WANTS TO USE ME.
5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house
Think back to the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Jesus made it very clear that Jesus was here to do the will of the Father. It was not about His comfort; it was about doing what His Father wanted Him to do even if it made Jesus uncomfortable. John 6:38 (NIV)
38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.
And that got really uncomfortable for Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. As he was sweating drops of blood, He says Luke 22:42 (NIV) 42 "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done."
God says: you are a living stone, I fit you in the place where I want you to be because I am the stone layer. I cannot imagine that any stone layer ever had a time that the stone spoke to him and said that I do not want to go there. Listen I would be better suited on the other side of the wall. Put me over there.
But you and I are living stones that want to talk back to the Stone Layer and tell him where we want to be, or what we want to do or how we want to live. God, I want to be in that big church because it has everything; I don’t want to be in that small church because they struggle with their children program. Maybe the stone layer wants you in the small church to improve the children ministry.
Wednesday night church services in most churches have about 10 to 20 percent of the regular Sunday morning crowd. Some people must work late on Wednesday, I understand that. Some may have other circumstances that might prevent them from attending. I understand that too. Listen, but the majority don’t attend because it is uncomfortable to attend Wednesday night.
Which makes me realize this: sometimes my disobedience, my sin, to God is the result that I do not want to be made uncomfortable.
Praise Jesus that in His discomfort, He was still obedient to the Father and died on the cross for my sins. If Jesus would have remained comfortable, hell would have swallowed me up!
Point #3
THE CHURCH IS NOT A PLACE OF COMFORT BECAUSE IF I AM TO BE OFFERING SPIRITUAL SACRIFIES, AS WRITTEN IN THE SCRIPTURES, THEN CHURCH BECOMES ABOUT WHAT PLEASES GOD AND NOT ABOUT WHAT PLEASES ME.
5 offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
You don’t come to church because it is a place to make you feel comfortable. You don’t come to church because after you leave you feel better about yourself. That may happen, but that is not the purpose. You come to church because we jointly want to fulfill God’s purpose in establishing the church. Church is not about us; it is about Jesus.
God’s purpose, Peter tells us a few verses further down in our passage. 1 Peter 2:9 (NIV)
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
There is nothing in God’s purpose of how He wants to meet all the things I need to feel comfortable. Church is not about the pastor, deacons, or some rich folks who are generous to the local church. Church is about Jesus, and about what He has been doing in my life that He can do in someone else’s life. Church is about getting confident in the work of God so that you can declare (tell others about Jesus.)
And talking about Jesus for most people is uncomfortable. Let me show you the facts. In 1950, one person was brought to Christ for every 19 members of SBC churches. In 1978, the ratio increased to 36 to 1, and by 2003 the number had climbed to 43 to 1. It takes 43 Southern Baptist to lead one person to Christ. That tells me there are a whole bunch of Southern Baptist not comfortable talking about Christ.
So, you come to church not to get comfortable but rather to get bold in declaring the greatness of our Savior.
Let us pray!
