Time flies by so fast. The Bible says “Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow (Psalm 144:4).
What is your definition of a church? First of all, the church is not the place or the building – a week ago we had our family camp and we had a worship service there with Bro. Sarcee preaching the Word of God and the church was there. The church is a venue – technically, you don’t really go to church. You are either part of the church or you´re not. The church is an association of very unique people. It is the only association whose membership is based on a single qualification. Do you know what qualification is that? To qualify for a church membership, the applicant must be unqualified for membership. The applicant must be unworthy of being a member of the church and the reason for that is because we are all imperfect, unworthy sinners. Therefore, every local church is basically a congregation of sinners who have been saved by God's grace alone, through faith in Christ. And you and I are among them. We are not qualified to be here but because of God´s grace, we are here and we are starting a new church here in this wonderful city of Maple Ridge.
Because of this reality, it should come as no surprise everyone that there are quite a number of problem people in the church. These people are called by many names: difficult people, EGRs (or extra-grace required) people, high maintenance people, these are people “with attitudes” – negative attitudes! They are present in every church, sometimes even present in your home groups.
When you were still the Maple Ridge Home Group, I want you to think, who is giving you the most problem (aside from your pastor)? As far as you´re concerned, who is the EGR in Maple Ridge. If you cannot identify at least one problematic person in this group, it´s probably you.
You are probably the one giving problem to others!
In the world we live in today, there are a lot of negative things going on. People fighting each other. Couples breaking up, getting a divorce. Terrorist attacks – just weeks ago in Barcelona. Floods and typhoons. Even church splits. Therefore…
Any person with too much negativities in life should be able to seek refuge in the church. And we cannot give what we don’t have.
The church is more than just a hospital because here, we admit people who are:
(a) physically sick so we can pray healing for them;
(b) emotionally sick because we give each other moral support, we share each other´s burdens, and
(c) most importantly people who are spiritually sick so we can be vessel in which God can use -- for them to come to Christ. In fact, people who are spiritually dead can be born again in the church. God does not only heal people in the church, He can bring the spiritually dead back to life.
I believe in my heart that God has big plans for Maple Ridge church. But I also believe that before He starts bringing in new families to this church, He wants to us to be F.A.T.! With FAT, I meant i.e. faithful, available and teachable. We have to have the right positive attitude in order to make WCCC Maple Ridge a healthy church. Do you have your Bible?
You see, the Bible is God´s Word. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the Word of God stands forever. Please stand and let us read our Scripture for this morning which can be found in 1st Thessalonians 5:12-15
STUDYING THE CONTEXT:
Before we proceed, let me give you some background of this book 1st Thessalonians:
What makes 1st Thessalonians a very important part of the Bible is because of its discussion of end time events. Everyone would like to have some insight as to what the future holds. an event that commences the seven-year tribulation.
1st Thessalonians has one of the most profound explanation of rapture which can be found in Chapter 4 This book assures us that during the rapture, Jesus will return for His people. The dead in Christ shall rise first, while those still living will follow soon after. All believers will meet Jesus in the air to begin spending eternity with the Lord in their glorified bodies.
So Paul was telling the Thessalonians, ok guys, this is how it´s going to end! The Lord promises that He will come back for each of His children. And this is how it´s going to happen and he discussed this in Chapter 4.
But in the mean time since we are all here on Earth, for now, while waiting for the coming of the Lord, for the time being… let´s do these things, in Chapter 5. Paul focuses on relationship and he was telling his readers to basically think and act positive. To focus on what is important, not to be distracted by negative things, negative people and negative circumstances.
If I will divide the passages that we read, I would group these passages into three:
LESSONS:
We have to be positive in the church. The world, as it is, is already filled with pain and challenges and negative attitudes. The first step that Paul wants to address is our attitude towards church leaders. He was very specific when he said “those who work hard, those who care for you and those who admonish you.”
It was Paul who also said “The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.”
From Paul´s statement, we can say that there two kinds of leaders in the church –
- Those who work hard and those who don’t work hard
- Those who care and those who don’t care
- Those who admonish, reprimand or rebuke you & those who don’t
Unfortunately, not all church leaders deserve this treatment, why? Because not all of them are working hard, not all of them is caring enough and not all of them are able to rebuke others.
But I assure you that the pastors and leaders of WCCC work hard, they are caring and they will rebuke you when necessary.
But here´s the problem -- our response to a pastor who rebukes us is usually the opposite. Instead of holding the person in high regard, we hold a grudge on them because we don’t want to hear their rebuke. Remember the Bible tells us that it is better to be rebuked by a godly person than to be admired by fools.
On the other hand, if you are the church leader, respect is not something you can just force on others. You have to earn it. You have to work hard, you have to show that you care, you have to give the church members Godly advice and instructions.
Paul also said in verse 13 to “live in peace with each other.”
In Tagalog, huwag daw ninyong aawayin ang inyong pastor or your church leaders. Don´t quarrel with them. Don’t be a negative person. You see, I am not the one telling you this, it´s the Lord through Paul. If you don’t agree, when you get to heaven, ask him ok?
The Bible commands us to love the church leaders and workers. Most of us don’t see the hard work that goes on in church. We come here on Sunday, we think things just happen, just like that. But they don’t.
• People have come early to open the building, they arrange the chairs, they prepare the communion for our services, they buy cutleries in Costco
• Sunday school teachers have worked hard to prepare Bible lessons
• Music teams have been practicing since the previous week,
• Sunday Bulletin is being prepared 5 days before
• The preacher has been meditating on his message for weeks
• All these things that your leaders and workers are doing day after day is like a production in
Broadway to be shown week after week with an audience of one, i.e. our Lord Jesus Christ.
God wants us to keep on doing this because today, and every coming Sunday, there are people who will come here who are in need of what Jesus is offering – they need forgiveness of their sins, a fresh start in life, and the fellowship of a church family who is willing to love and care for them. Are you with me?
Sunday after Sunday there will be people visiting Maple Ridge church. These people will form their first impressions about us - based on what they see, what they hear and what they experience. The first Bible they will read are not the ones we give away. The first Bible they will read is “US,” our lives, our attitudes. When they enter our building they won´t be at ease. “What is it like on the inside? What are the people like, will they even notice me? Questions in their minds go on and on..
I hope and pray that from the moment they enter this place, they´ll say: “This is such a warm and friendly place. The people are nice. I like the music, everyone is singing, the smiles on the people’s faces. It’s all so alive, its worshipful. My kids are treated well in Sunday school. When people come here, I want them to hear God´s word – I want them to hear a sermon that touches their lives, a well-crafted, biblical sermon.” But most of all, I want them to know Jesus in a personal way, here in Maple Ridge church. Are you with me?
As far as our attitudes towards other church members, I want you to remember three Rs:
1. Rebuke - warn those who are idle and disruptive
2. Remind – remind people why you are in the church, remind them of the love of God, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone.
3. Reconcile – Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for everyone.
There are at least three different group of people in the church:
1. Those who are idle and disruptive
2. Those who are disheartened
3. Those who are weak
Paul said " warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone.” Huwag po kayong magaaway away. Do not quarrel especially on trivial things. Minsan, maliit na bagay, hindi na kayo nagpapansinan. I hate to say this - you cannot minister to others if there will be animosities within. God has something big for this church, let´s not get caught up with internal issues. There are people outside of our circle who needs to be ministered. If we want our church to grow, we must minister to these individuals. Going to church is not just showing up on Sunday morning. The Lord wants you to use the gifts He gave you to minister and serve others. When you do, you'll be blessed to see how God uses you to help others change. And it will be your greatest joy to see helping others themselves. We minister to these people so that one day, they can minister to others.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Paul wants us to develop positive attitudes in the church and even outside the church. He wants us to recognize, receive and respect our church leaders. He wants us to rebuke, remind and reconcile with our fellow church members.
Illustration: The Second Grader
I read a story of a second grader named Mike. On the way to school Mike’s arm bumped against a seat on the bus and it made a big cut and his blood got all over his clothes. In school, he forgot to put his homework paper in his book bag so he got an F. During recess he was accidently hit by a classmate in the mouth and he lost two teeth. On his way home, he slipped on the ice, fell onto the ground and broke his wrist. On the way to the hospital he reached into his pocket with his good hand pulled something out. His father asked him what it was. He said, “It’s a dollar coin! I found it on the ground when I fell down on the ice. It’s the first dollar I ever found. This is the best day of my life!”
Some people can see almost the positive side of every situation. Paul wants us to develop that kind of positive spirit in all areas of our lives.
If you read verses 16 to 18, it says there – and I want you to memorize this --
It means that --
We should have a positive attitude in all of our circumstances in life… always!
But Paul says "in all circumstances," regardless of what’s happening in our lives, we’re to be joyful, we´re to pray, and we´re to give thanks. That’s an important lesson to learn.
So what is our problem? “Not enough money? You don’t feel well today? Your kids don’t obey? You´re not happy with your job? Can´t send enough money to the Philippines?” Maybe you need to rethink your attitude, maybe instead of focusing on the things you don’t have, we start focusing on the things that God has blessed us with. You got hot water when you got up this morning. You drove a nice car. We have lots of food later, we even have lechon today. Later you´ll watch TV in your lazy boy. Later you´ll sleep in your comfy bed. You have everything you really need, and an awful lot of stuff that you don’t need. When Paul wrote this letter, he was probably in house arrest, with very limited resources.
So we ought to be thankful, we ought to be joyful, & we ought to pray and have that positive attitude toward others.
It´s hard to rejoice always, to pray continually, to give thanks in all circumstances. I KNOW! That´s why Paul said … this is God´s will for each one of us IN CHRIST JESUS! On our own, we can´t do this. It´s impossible to rejoice with all the problems around us. But Paul said.. IN CHRIST JESUS! Paul said “I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME.” Not some things… not just the things that are easy. Paul said ALL THINGS. Jesus said “apart from ME, you can do nothing.”
Jesus is the only one who can change our negative attitude. He can change us inside and out.
So do you have a problem with a negative attitude this morning? If you do, Jesus is the only One who can really change you. He can change you inside and out. He can give you new words to speak, He can give a new relationships that will work. He can make you into a person who experiences the fullness of life. In fact, He can give you a new life!
If you’re already a Christian and you need a church where you can experience positive things, we invite you to come and join with us here in WCCC Maple Ridge. We know that Jesus can meet all your needs, so we offer Him to you. We´ll try our best, by God´s grace, to let you personally experience the love of Jesus in this church.
If you’re here and have not surrendered your life to Jesus. I invite you to join me in prayer, confessing your faith in Him. LET US PRAY.
Prayer:
Wherever you are, whatever you situation you may be -- you need the love of Jesus in your life. Please say this prayer sincerely from your heart:
Father God, I confess all my sins to you today. Please forgive me. Today, I open my heart to your Son Jesus Christ. I accept Him in my life as my Saviour and as my Lord. May the Holy Spirit come to my life and make me the kind of person you want me to be. In Jesus Name, I pray. Amen.
The above article is an excerpt from a sermon delivered at WCCC Maple Ridge during its first service on Sunday, September 3, 2017
I apologise if there are grammatical and spelling errors.
I also apologise if I have missed acknowledging or making proper references to my sources, if any, as it is purely unintentional.
If you are looking for a church in British Columbia, Canada please visit our website at:
www.wordchristiancommunity.com
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