Turn to Joshua 22. One chapter. One passage. One story. One point to the message. A few practical steps we can take.
(Touched on the importance of finding the stories in the midst of dry texts: such as geneologies, territory boundaries, etc. For example, Joshua 22.)
- Narrated/Story Told background leading up to, and the story of Joshua 22.
I said there was one point to the message. The point – we have to defeat distrust in the church. There are two sides to this coin. After more than 40 years together, having observed each others behavior, these tribes had pretty good reasons to distrust each other. Let’s face it. They were a wining, conniving, deceitful group of people. And when one person did something wrong, it often carried drastic ramifications for the rest of the nation.
On the flip side of the coin, they have been in battle together. They suffered losses, and victories. They saw family members and friends die as they fought together to take the land. One might ask, what could build greater trust amongst people than that? Putting your life in a neighbor’s hands?
The same can be said of most churches. After years serving together, discovering each others warts and shortcomings. Serving on committees and in ministries together. From the worlds stand point there might be some pretty good reasons to distrust each other.
On the other hand, being the body of Christ, engaging in battle together against the enemy, serving God side-by-side for the kingdom. One might ask, what could build greater trust among people? Who should pastors trust more than other pastors? Who should Christians trust more than other Christians? Who should SWC family members trust more than other SWC family members? Unfortunately, life in the church often looks like life within the 12 tribes.
For example, this week I came across “The Top Ten Ways to Know It’s a Bad Church Meeting.” Kind of directed at pastors, but I think you’ll get the idea.
10. The 60 Minutes film crew shows up.
9. Your picture ends up on a milk carton.
8. People arrive at the meeting clutching copies of books about "spiritual abuse."
7. The little blue-haired lady who’s in charge of the nursery pounds the lectern with her shoe and screams, "We will bury you!"
6. The next day your spouse books a one-way flight to South America and doesn’t invite you to come along.
5. Your neighbors hear about the meeting on their police scanners.
4. A loyal supporter presses a moving company business card into your hands.
3. Another loyal supporter presses Jack Kevorkian’s business card into your hands.
2. You’re asked to try on a pair of bloody gloves.
1. People begin referring to you as "our former pastor."
Those are good signs it’s been a bad church meeting. And good signs that there are some problems of “distrust” in the church.
Now. . .let’s clear one thing up. I’m not preaching this message because I think it relates to what is going on at Porter Memorial Baptist Church. Okay? I’m not having us take a look at issues of trust within the body because I’m concerned about how the church is getting along down the street at Clays Mill Baptist.
God has pressed this passage on my heart because I have had events, conversations, opportunities to observe that there is room for growth in this area, within our own body. (Weekly generic examples)
And for us to move forward as a healthy body, a vibrant body, a successful church body, we are going to have to learn to defeat the spirit of distrust in our midst. So let’s look at a couple practical steps we can take.
1. IGNORE THE WORDS OF “SOMEONE”
Did you see what it said in verse 11? (re-read). Who even knows who said this?
Do you know how many times in my life I have heard someone say, “I heard that. . .”? Or, “Someone suggested. . .” Or, “It seems that someone might be upset about. . .”
Most pastors would tell you that the largest section of their pictorial directory is the “S”s, because there are tons of “someone”s in their church.
This whole event in the life of Joshua’s leadership began because “someone” heard “someone” say.
There was a gentleman who went to an estate sale and noticed that one of the items for sale was a large parrot. He had always wanted a talking bird, so when it comes up for bid he offers $50.
The bidding becomes hot and heavy, with someone always bidding ten dollars more than he until the parrot is finally sold to him for $1,500.
When he goes to get the bird, he asks the auctioneer, "Can the bird talk?"
The auctioneer replied, "Who do you think was bidding against you?"
If you don’t know who is talking, don’t listen. . .and by all means. . .don’t repeat it.
Which leads us to number 2. . .
2. STOP THE “SOMEONE”
Did you see verse 12? (re-read). This went from someone hearing someone say something, to the whole congregation getting up in arms and ready to go to war. Literally ready to die, and kill two and a half of their own tribes just based on a rumor!
Another someone, somewhere should have stopped the spread of this rumor. But in the tribes, as is often the case in the church, there aren’t very many someone stoppers.
Coming out of church, Mrs. Smith asked her husband, "Do you think that Johnson girl is tinting her hair?"
"I didn’t even see her," admitted Mr. Smith.
"And that dress Mrs. Davis was wearing," continued Mrs. Smith, "Really, don’t tell me you think that’s the proper outfit for a mother of two."
"I’m afraid I didn’t notice that either," said Mr. Smith.
"Oh, for heaven’s sake," snapped Mrs. Smith. "A lot of good it does you to go to church."
Well shame on Mrs. Smith for gossiping, but shame on Mr. Smith for not stifling Mrs. Smith. When you begin to hear rumors, gossip, the spirit of distrust begins to move from one mouth to another, don’t be a “someone” spreader, be a “someone” stopper.
3. HEAR THE WHOLE STORY BEFORE MAKING THE ACCUSATION
Look again at verse 16. There is no, “Hey guys, what’s going on?” It is straight to the accusation.
It appears there was a hospital with regulations that required a wheelchair for patients being discharged, but a particular student nurse found one elderly gentleman, already dressed and sitting on the bed with a suitcase at his feet, who insisted he didn’t need her help to leave the hospital.
After a chat about rules being rules, he reluctantly let the nurse wheel him to the elevator. On the way down she asked him if his wife was meeting him.
"I don’t know," he said. "She’s still upstairs in the bathroom changing out of her hospital gown."
Get the facts before taking your stance. We can be quick to jump the gun when we hear something that doesn’t sit well with us. And when we jump the gun, we usually assume the negative. We assume the lesser scenario. We usually, assume the worst.
I do it. You do it. We all do it. If we don’t know the reason why something is happening, we often assume the worst possible motivation or reason as to why it is happening. Or at the very least, a negative one.
Why did those people leave the church? Must be something so and so did or said. Why did she step down from that ministry position? Must be something so and so did or said. Why didn’t we sing this, announce that, or have these? Must be something so and so did or said.
This is maybe the biggest key to defeating distrust. We have to be willing to hear out the story, not only before we verbally draw conclusions, but even before we mentally begin to draw conclusions. Before we begin to let the negative and disparaging thoughts even creep into our heads. Why assume the worst of people we are supposed to love the most?
If you do not know what is going on, why someone is behaving a certain way, or why things appear as they do. . .rather than moving forward with accusations or spreading rumors, find the right people, go directly to the person involved, and ask, “What’s going on?” Hear the story before making the accusation. Don’t assume the worst.
4. DON’T OPERATE FROM A POSTURE OF COMPETITION
Now this one is hard for me. I’m a highly competitive person. Didn’t know that, did you? I like competition. And within arenas such as sports and games, there is nothing wrong with being competitive.
But I’m learning, and working on reminding myself that we. . .us. . .the body of Christ. . .including all of us. . .and all of them at Southland. . .and all of them at Broadway Baptist. . .and people of my generation. . .and people older than me. . .and people younger than me. . .and people who like hymns. . .and people who like drums. . .and people who like ties. . .and people who like shorts. . .and people who like the Wildcats. . .and people who like the Cardinals (Well, let’s not get crazy). . .but the entire body of Christ is not in competition with each other. We are not the enemy. So we don’t need to operate from a posture of competition.
The spirit of distrust in a church, is a spirit that sees every board room decision, every generational decision, every group decision as an us versus them scenario. It is a spirit that desires for us to see everything from the view point of someone is going to win and someone is going to lose. You don’t want to be the loser do you? Neither do I. So we make it about a competition, even though we are all supposed to be on the same team!
Another great chapter in Richard Foster’s book is the chapter on the Discipline of Submission. The freedom found in not always having to have your own way. I’m breaking those chains. I’m getting free from that. And I have to tell you, it feels great.
Don’t let the spirit of distrust consume you to the point of always operating within the church from a posture of competition. The enemy should not be seen in our body, but outside the body of Christ. That is who we are warring against.
And finally. . .
5. FIGHT PAST FEAR
As bad as the motives and attitudes of the first group of tribes were, the second group’s motives and attitudes weren’t a whole lot better. Look at what they thought of their tribal brothers and sisters. “Some day, they won’t let our children worship. Our children won’t be able to access God.” Which by the way, isn’t giving the other tribes much credit, but it also isn’t giving God a whole lot either.
If we posture ourselves to fear the motives and deception of those in our body. . .we will never move forward. And many of us operate this way, because we have been hurt in the church. Trust me. . .we know. Debbie and I have been hurt within the body, and hurt bad. We have been deceived, and that can really make you fear and distrust the motives of others.
There was a young man who was walking through a supermarket to pick up a few things when he noticed an old lady following him around. Thinking nothing of it, he ignored her and continued on. Finally he went to the checkout line, but she got in front of him.
"Pardon me," she said, "I’m sorry if my staring at you has made you feel uncomfortable. It’s just that you look just like my son, who I haven’t seen in a long time."
"That’s a shame," replied the young man, "is there anything I can do for you?"
"Yes," she said, "as I’m leaving, can you say ’Good bye, Mother!’ It would make me feel so much better."
"Sure," answered the young man. As the old woman was leaving, he called out, "Good bye, Mother!" As he stepped up to the checkout counter, he saw that his total was $127.50. "How can that be?" he asked, "I only purchased a few things!"
"Your mother said that you would pay for her," said the clerk.
That kind of deception can make you kind of gun shy. If you have been hurt in the church, you might think you have reason to be afraid. But you have to fight past that fear, and defeat the distrust that Satan would want to drive between us.
Why is this important? Why today? 12 hours left to go in this conference year. A new one ready to launch at midnight. So why today to focus on defeating distrust?
It’s like this. This is how Gary McIntosh puts it, “Murphy’s Symmetry Principle says, ‘Things go wrong all at once, but things go right gradually.’ Revitalizing a church is a good example of this principle. A church may decline rapidly, but it normally takes a long process to bring it back to life. Leading a church toward revitalization requires hardy leaders who keep praying, planning and dreaming. They hold tight to Paul’s encouraging words, ‘Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that our toil is not in vain in the Lord (1 Cor. 15:58).’
This process of revitalizing Stonewall that we are engaged in will not be a rapid one. It will take persistence, staying the course, persevering, and maybe most of all. . .trusting each other. Trusting each other’s hearts, each other’s motives, and each other’s desire to see God guide us into the future He has for us.
I hope we can turn a new page in our history as a church, and that the pages will be filled with trust, a spirit of teamwork, and truthful, healthy relationships together.
Let’s pray.
