This morning, I’d like to offer some thoughts on where we’ve been, where we are now, and where we go from here. I don’t claim that this is a comprehensive summary of our history as a church; nor do I present this as the final, authoritative word on what we’ve suffered and accomplished. For one thing, I wasn’t anticipating ever giving this sermon, and so I haven’t spent a lot of time ruminating on the meaning of it all. And for another, I know that the ultimate judgment, the only one that really matters, is the one God will render on the last day. He is the one we are seeking to please and honor, and next to that the opinions of men have no significance whatsoever. As Paul wrote,
"Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ." – Galatians 1:10, NIV
". . . Our purpose is to please God, not people. He is the one who examines the motives of our hearts. . . As for praise, we have never asked for it from you or anyone else." – 1 Thessalonians 2:4, 5 NLT
So in a very real sense, it simply doesn’t matter what I think, or what you think, or what anyone else thinks. God knows the truth, he sees with absolute clarity, and his judgements are altogether wise and holy. Nevertheless, I would like to share with you my reflections on our life together as a body of believers in Jesus Christ. My hope is that this will help you, as you make your own evaluations and draw your own conclusions; and as you seek to use your experiences in this church as a source of insight and spiritual growth in the days to come. So here goes.
To begin, I want to address a fundamental question, which is: have we failed? Has this undertaking, this effort to plant a church been a failure? To some, it may seem obvious that the answer is "yes". After all, we intended to establish a church which would continue for many years. We hoped, when we began, that our numbers would continue to increase, to the point that we would become financially self-supporting. Those things didn’t happen. And so, a superficial evaluation would call this a failed church plant. But I would like to suggest the opposite: that, although we didn’t accomplish all that we set out to do, this work has been a glorious success, one that we can all be proud of and thankful for.
Why do I think that? Because I know that God doesn’t judge success and failure the way we do. The Bible is full of examples of men and women who appeared to fail, who appeared to fall short of the mark, but which God honored as great successes. Jesus Christ is the supreme example. He died a young man, in his early thirties. At the time of his death, he had only a few followers, and all of those deserted him. He was attacked, and slandered, and rejected by the religious establishment; regarded as a madman, a heretic, and worse. And in the end, he was executed in the most shameful way possible, as a common criminal. His closest friends considered him a failure; undoubtedly they regretted having wasted three years of their lives following him around. Even Peter disowned him; he swore that he’d never even met Jesus. They were all judging by human standards; judging according to appearances. But Jesus warns us not to do that, saying, "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgement." (John 7:24, NASB)
Certainly Stephen would have been judged a failure by many. In Acts chapters 6-7, we read that he was a powerful preacher who was arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council. There, he spoke eloquently and passionately about Christ. And what was the result? Did they repent, as thousands had repented and believed in Christ on the day of Pentecost in response to Peter’s preaching? No. They rejected his message. He was stoned to death. Does that mean he failed, where Peter had succeeded? Not at all. In God’s eyes, both were successful because both were faithful. The apostle Paul was repeatedly arrested and beaten; his message rejected again and again. But he was no failure. Many of the prophets in the Old Testament were killed, and their warnings went unheeded, bringing God’s judgement upon Israel. Yet in God’s eyes they were successful, because they obeyed him and did what he had called them to do. That’s God’s standard of success.
The question then is, have we obeyed God? Have we done what he called us to do? And in my view, the answer is yes. Not perfectly. Not flawlessly. No human work can ever be free from sin or errors of judgement. But on the whole, I believe that we have been faithful to follow God.
Then why hasn’t he blessed us as we had hoped? The key phrase in that question is, "as we had hoped". It isn’t that God didn’t bless us, or that he didn’t work among us. It’s just that it didn’t take the form we were looking for. We were hoping to plant a redwood tree; one that would rise to a great height, and live for hundreds of years. But God decided to plant a rosebush instead; something smaller and much shorter-lived. We hoped for something that would reveal the power, and might, and glory of God the Creator in unmistakable terms. But God chose instead to make something less striking and impressive; something that could easily be overlooked. The critical thing for us to remember is that in God’s eyes, a redwood and a rosebush are equally beautiful and equally desirable. Both reveal his glory equally. God created rosebushes to be a certain size, and to last a certain number of years, because that’s the way he wanted it. He didn’t want 200-foot rosebushes that live for centuries; nor did he want redwoods the size of miniature Bonsai trees. In his wisdom and power, he created each one for its own purpose; each one revealing his character and displaying his wisdom and power in its own way. It’s the same with churches. And with people, for that matter. God has formed each of us, and gifted each of us, for a particular purpose. Some of us will live longer than others. Some of us will be more honored and recognized than others. But to God it’s all the same. What pleases and glorifies God to the greatest extent is when each of us strives to be the best "us" that we can possibly be, rather than wishing we could be something different.
Does that mean we always understand, or agree with, the way God has made us? Do we always see the wisdom and goodness of his plans? Certainly not. As he reminds us in Isaiah,
". . . my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." – Isaiah 55:10-11, NIV
It’s natural to be disappointed when things don’t turn out as we had hoped. It’s natural to wish for a different outcome. But in the end, we need to remember that what seems disappointing to us may look very different to God. Do you remember what Jesus said on the cross, after only three years of ministry? He said, "It is finished." [John 19:30]. And as he prayed with the disciples, immediately before his arrest and crucifixion, Christ said to the Father, "I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do." [John 17:4]. To the world’s point of view, it seemed that Jesus was defeated by death; that his life had come to a premature end. It seemed that he had failed. But according to Christ, in those three years he had accomplished everything God had called him to do. His work on earth was not incomplete, nor was it a failure; rather, it was finished.
So what do we do now? Where do we go from here? I suggest that the first thing we should do is give thanks. Because we have a great deal to be thankful for. God has provided the resources to sustain us for over three years. We’ve had many wonderful times of worship and fellowship together. Through this church, dozens of people have had an opportunity to serve God and express their devotion to Christ, by giving of their time and talents. Loading and unloading the trailer week after week. Singing or playing an instrument on the worship team. Caring for the children in the nursery. We’ve had opportunities to minister to one another, and develop relationships and friendships that we treasure. We’ve seen men, and women, and children come to faith in Christ and be baptized. People growing in their understanding of the faith, through sermons and small group Bible studies and Sunday School lessons, and witnessing to the love of Christ through various outreach and servant evangelism events. Through this church, God has been at work continually to draw us closer to himself and to one another. He has given us the strength and faith to persevere in all kinds of circumstances. He has brought us together, protected us, provided for our needs, and answered our prayers time and time again. For all that, and much more, we should give thanks.
Second, as you look to the future, remember that God’s work in your life will continue, uninterrupted, with or without this church, and with or without me as your pastor. I hope that my preaching, and teaching, and counseling have been helpful to you. And I’m sure that our fellowship has been a source of encouragement and strength to you, as it has to me. But as much as we love and value these things, no church is indispensable, no pastor is indispensable, and no person is indispensable. The apostle Paul wrote to the church at Philippi that he was,
"confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." – Philippians 1:6, NIV
When Paul wrote that, he was sitting in a jail cell in Rome. Paul founded the Philippian church on his second missionary journey. But he was there only a short time before he was forced to move on. He visited them briefly on his third missionary journey, and as far as we know that’s the only contact he had with them. Yet he is "confident" that they will continue to grow and mature in the faith. How could he be so confident, having had so little opportunity to instruct them? How could he be so confident, after being separated from them for so long? Because he knew it was God’s work, and not his. He was only the instrument. God had begun the work in their lives, and God would bring it to completion, even if Paul could no longer minister to them himself.
Again, in his first letter to the church at Corinth, Paul makes the same point. He became aware that factions had arisen in the church, and that the congregation was dividing into different parties – some identified themselves as followers of Paul, and some as followers of Apollos. You might say that this is the first recorded instance of denominations being formed. And Paul is quick to condemn this party spirit; this factionalism. Why? Because it had two destructive effects: it exalted men, and it divided the church. Paul and Apollos were merely instruments used by God to accomplish his purposes. Although Paul and Apollos labored with all their might to bring the Corinthians to maturity in Christ, ultimately the work was God’s, not theirs. As Paul writes in chapter three of First Corinthians,
"What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe – as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building." – 1 Corinthians 3:5-9, NIV
What Paul is saying is that we shouldn’t make any pastor, or any church, or any denomination the focus of our loyalty and trust. Because this is not any man’s work. It’s God’s work, and we are only his servants. In heaven, there will be no Methodist section, or Presbyterian section, or Baptist section (with the Baptist section divided into thirty-five subsections). There will only be Christians. And we will not identify ourselves as members of this church or that church, but only as members of Christ. Therefore, we should be careful now, not to divide ourselves into "us" and "them" categories, because that takes our focus off God and places our focus on our group. It takes our loyalty away from Christ and attaches it to a man, or a church, or an organization. So watch your heart. And remember that God’s work in your life will continue no matter what, because it’s his work, not man’s work. He began it, he will continue it, and he will bring it to completion.
Third and finally, we need to place our trust in God. As we look back at all we’ve been through,
we will inevitably feel a kaleidoscope of emotions – sadness, regret, joy, disappointment, thankfulness, hope. Each of us will respond in our own way. But at the end of all that, we need to rest in God’s wisdom and love, and trust in his sovereignty over all things. His sovereignty, that includes both this outcome today and also all of the events that brought us here. His sovereignty that includes good and bad, wisdom and folly, obedience and sin. We need to trust that it was according to his plan and purpose that this church was brought into existence, and also according to his plan and purpose that it should now come to an end. We need to trust that all of it, from April of 1999 until now, has been under his control at all times. And we need to trust that he knows what he is doing. As the Preacher of Ecclesiastes reminds us:
"There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace." – Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, NIV
There’s a time for everything, including both planting and uprooting, both building and tearing down. That’s not fatalism. It’s not just shrugging our shoulders and saying, "Que sera, sera". It’s a statement of trust and confidence in the One who holds all of these things in his hands; the One who controls times, and seasons, and epochs. He loves us; he knows what is best; and he is working to accomplish what is best for us in the midst of every circumstance. As the apostle Paul assures us in Romans 8:28 (NIV), "we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him". We know that. It is a certainty. We may not understand it; we may not be able to see how all things are working toward our good, but we believe that they are.
That’s all I have to say this morning. Of course, I will always be available to any of you for counseling, and please feel free to call on me to help you in any way I can. But for now, I thank you for your support and encouragement over the past three years. And I ask that you would please pray for me and for our family, as we will pray for you.
(For an .rtf file of this and other sermons, see www.journeychurchonline.org/messages.htm)
