Trinity Baptist Church

The Anatomy of the Church

The Internal Systems #2

         

It is an humbling and inspiring thing to reflect on how God has blessed this church.  To think that the infinite and matchless Creator and Sustainer of the Universe would choose to pour out His goodness and blessing is hard to comprehend. 

 

But on the other side of that thought is a companion thought.  There are some reasons why He blesses churches.  It doesn’t just happen in a vacuum.  It is not random and arbitrary. 

 

Certainly God is Sovereign and can do what He wishes, but He always acts in accordance with His Word.  And one of the reasons a church, or an individual for that matter, knows the blessing of God is because of their commitment to the right things. 

 

That’s why I wanted us to take a few weeks this summer to reaffirm some things.  I think it important for those of us who may have forgotten or for those of us who are new, to re-establish where we find our strength and our blessing.

 

To that end, we are considering "The Anatomy of a Church." We are borrowing the Biblical analogy of a body and looking at four primary components of its anatomy. 

 

A body has a skeleton and we talked about that in our first study together.  There are some things that frame and form the church without which it would be a shapeless blob.

 

And again, just to repeat and refresh, I mentioned five of them:

 

We must have

 

So that is the skeleton.  Then we began looking at the internal systems. A body has to have internal systems. You can't just have a skeleton and muscles, flesh. You wouldn't have life. There has to be a flowing through of all the systems of the body, and I believe that's true in the church.

 

Now for the sake of our study, we are calling the internal systems the attitudes of the church.  The spiritual battle is a battle for the mind because as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.

 

Paul said to his hearers, "Think on these things." He encouraged them to “renew their mind”.  He talked to them about having “the mind of Christ.”  They were to be “spiritually minded”.  They were to “set their minds on things above”.

 

The focus of all of that is thinking right.  So last week and for the next three weeks we are going to look at the internal systems by concentrating on sixteen attitudes that church ought to have.   

 

We started last week with four.  Chief and foremost we are to have the attitude of obedience. It is the attitude that says, "I will obey God at any cost."  That is the attitude found in Christ when He says, “I have come to do the will of Him that sent Me”.

 

The second attitude we talked about was humility. That is the attitude that considers others to be more important than self.  And if you're more important than I am, then your needs are more important than my needs. It is the selflessness of the Lord Jesus Christ who humbled Himself and went to the cross. 

 

Thirdly, we talked about the attitude of love.  Love is simply humility in action. Jesus not only humbled Himself and was obedient to the cross, He did it because He loved us. 

 

And then, fourthly, we talked about unity. When you have people committed to obedience, humility and love, the result will be unity. Jesus was in ablsoute unity with God, and He prayed that we experience the same unity as They enjoy. 

 

So those are the first four.  Let me give you four more today.  Next comes  

 

5.  The Attitude of Service

 

A church must have a willingness to serve. Do you see the flow?  The most natural expression of obedience, love and humility will be a willingness to serve.  And it is done more effectively and efficiently when we do it corporately in unity.

 

Listen:  the real ministry of the church is not found in its programs. The only reason we need the Sunday School or teaching ministries is because that allows us to get involved with one another.  

 

That’s why a lot of people are never really satisfied with their church experience.  They merely come to church on Sunday and sing some songs and listen to a sermon, but they never get involved in the life of the body of believers.  You will never enjoy your salvation until you have a willingness to serve. 

 

Many of you can honestly say, “We go to the Trinity Baptist Church.”  But if pressed, you would have to say, “But we don't do anything. We don't sing in the choir or teach a class or sweep the floor or do whatever. We don't do anything. We just let others do all the service.”

 

And yet all around you are needs that someone needs to help with.  Do you have a servant’s heart? 

 

Notice 1 Corinthians 4:1

 

In other words, when it comes to rendering a judgment about us, when it comes to saying, "Who are these people", when it comes to writing my epitaph, if you will, when it comes to evaluating our ministry, what ought to be said is, “they are servants of Christ.”

 

And by the way, the Greek language uses about a half-dozen different words to speak of servants, and the one Paul chooses is the lowest rung on the ladder.  In fact, it’s a very interesting word study.  The word he uses speaks of “one who rows”.  Literally it is an under rower.

 

 

 

 

You’ve seen that pictured.  They had those huge wooden ships and they had three tiers or levels of slaves chained to their oars, and they were what powered those ships through the seas. The least desired position, the lowest guys in the group, were those in the very belly of the ship.  They were the under rowers.

 

And Paul says, "Look, when it comes time to evaluate the Apostle Paul, don't name cathedrals after me. Don't name a city in Minnesota after me. Don't name school after me. Don't give me an honorary doctorate. Just say, 'He was a third-level galley slave; and bless his heart, he pulled his oar."

 

Churches today are full of people who want to be the hotshot.  They want to be in charge.  They like having the power and the command,, but God wants people who pull the oar.

 

Then notice verse 2

 

The key to this whole thing is that a man be found faithful.  The ship doesn’t need a clever rower who's got a new way to do it and messes with the process.  He just needs to get in his place and be faithful. 

 

verse 3

 

Paul is saying, “I'm not in this deal for your opinion. I'm not doing this to get accolades. I'm not serving the Lord Jesus Christ to be judged by you. I don’t put a lot of stock in your opinion of me whether good or bad.”

 

And I understand that. 

You see, people don't always know what's going on inside. They may praise you, and you may have corrupt motives. They may curse you, and you may have the purest motives in the world, and you're struggling to get through your own humanness.

 

There are times when I preach my heart out, and get through knowing it was just awful.  As one of my old pastors said, “There are times when you’ll just go home and want to get in the bed.  In fact, I did that once, and my wife asked what I was doing I told her not to ask any questions .  I started to get under it.”

 

I mean there are times when you just know you blew it. And some precious saint of God dear soul will say, "Thank you for that.  It was just what I needed".  And you smile and shake their hand and say, "Thank you." And you know, they don't know.

 

And other times, man, you're just flying like an eagle, and when it’s all over, someone says, "You're not feeling well today, are you?"  “You didn't seem like yourself. Kinda fumbled around.".

 

We’re like the old boy that finished preaching one day.  He was feeling rather smug and asked his wife, “I wonder how many really great preachers there are in the world? “  She replied, “One less than you think.”

 

Listen:  when people criticize you and evaluate you, praise you, blame you, bless you, curse you, it really doesn’t matter.  Paul says, "I’m not playing that game. I’m just going to pull my oar and I'm really not interested in what people say because they don't know the facts."

And I especially like what he says at the end of verse 3 through 5.

 

"And I'm not even judging my own self.”  I can't even trust my own judgment. I may not be uncovering all the rocks in my life. I may think I'm doing good. That doesn't justify me. He that judges me is the Lord so I'm not going to judge anything before that day when He comes and reveals the attitudes and motives of the heart.  But what I want Him to discover at that time is a servant's heart."

 

Listen:  you don’t have to have some fancy title or important position.  It doesn’t have to be some church-elected responsibility.  Just serve.  Have the heart of Christ.  And if no one knows about it, that’s all the better.  It doesn’t have to have the limelight.  It doesn’t have to have the glory.  Just find an oar in the galley and get busy.  The attitude of Service

 

Let me give you another one.

 

6.  The Attitude of Joy

 

Now joy is one of those misunderstood or misrepresented expressions of our faith.  What do we mean by joy? Generally we think of some kind of external exuberance.  We have to jump up and down and shout and raise our hands and show our joy.  But at its core, that really isn’t what joy is all about. 

 

Joy is more of the response of the heart, the soul, the mind, the body, the whole person to the relationship to Jesus Christ. 

 

 

There's a great seriousness in struggling through the terrible pressures and anxieties of life and death and all that humanness brings to bear upon us. There are lots of things that pain us; but, at the same time, we are filled with joy; and that is a deep soul enthusiasm that all is well and ultimately all will be glorious.

 

And at its very core is the Word of God. As we study and obey the Word of God, we develop joy. 

 

That’s what we hear John saying in 1 John 1:4. 

 

"These things I write unto you that your joy may be full."

 

In fact, joy is at the very heart of our relationship with God.  Romans 14:17 tells us that “the Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit."

 

Jesus said that He came to give us joy.

 

Paul reminds us to, "Rejoice always, again, I say rejoice."

 

Now I’m going to make an observation from my years as a Christian and particularly as a pastor.  There is a direct connection between a person’s joy and their willingness to serve. 

 

And notice I didn’t say their service, but their willingness to serve.  You see there are a lot of Christians who serve but they do it mad or resentful or even grudgingly.  They really don’t want to but it’s what they are supposed to do, therefore, they do it. 

Others just don’t do it at all.  They never give any time or energy or even thought to doing anything at the church or in the name of the Lord. 

 

And I will say to you that those who don’t serve and those who don’t serve willingly are some of the grouchiest, hard-to-get along with people in the church.  And the reason they are is because they are miserable in their Christian experience. 

 

If you aren’t serving, then you are out of the will fo God.  How could you ever expect to be joyful when you are in rebellion against God?  And every time you go to church you encounter people who just love the Lord and they’re so happy, and it just kind of makes you sick. 

 

On the other hand, I see people getting involved in the things of the Lord and doing things and using their gifts; and there is joy. Why? Because the joy comes in giving yourself away.

 

It's the people who throw their lives away that are filled with joy. Don’t let anybody or anything steal your joy!  You ought to fight to maintain joy.  And when you’re down and frustrated and mad, go serve someone.  Find something to do in the name of the Lord. 

 

You can lose your joy. You can start looking for the manure pile in every meadow if you want. You can live life that way. It's a choice you make. I choose to be joyful. I choose to be happy. I choose to be enthusiastic. I choose to be excited about what God's doing; and I don't care what you tell me.

 

Every so often we have to deal with problems.  It’s a reality.  But every problem is just an opportunity to put God on display.  It’s kind of exciting when problems come.  Listen:  Problem’s ain’t no problem if you know the problem-solver.

 

And just because there are problems doesn’t mean I have to be joyless.  The Bible commands me to rejoice always.  So I just try to remind myself, “How Jack, “Remember, the Bible commands you to rejoice.” 

 

So I seek to rejoice in the God who redeemed me and loves me and cares for me.  I can rejoice that someday I’m going to heaven. Sure you have problems, but they don’t have to rob you of your joy. 

 

I can promise you if you don't have the joy of the Lord, it's because you're looking at the wrong stuff. Joy's available. We can rejoice in anything. The attitude of joy. 

 

Here’s the next one.   

 

7.  The Attitude of Peace

 

Peace, that's a beautiful word, isn't it?

 

So much is said about peace in the Bible, I hardly know where to start.  Jesus said, “My peace I leave with you, let not your heart be troubled. Neither let it be afraid." Jesus gave us His peace.

 

First Corinthians 7:15 says, "God has called us to peace."

"Let the peace of God rule in your hearts," Philippians 4 says.

"Live in peace," we are told in 2 Corinthians 13:11. "Be at peace among yourselves," 1 Thessalonians 5:13.

 

The attitude of peace.

 

Now, if joy is the outward expression of our relationship with Jesus, then peace is the inward reassurance of it. 

 

It is that inward contentment that says, "Everything is under control." And only one thing can disturb your peace and that is sin. 

 

If there is sin in your life, you will not have peace.  But when you're dealing with sin, and you're walking in the Spirit, no matter what happens, you can enjoy the peace of God that passes understanding. 

 

That’s why Paul encouraged the Philippians to, "Don’t be anxious about anything. Instead let the peace of God rule your soul."

 

Now all of us are tested at this point.  Bad news comes, a tragedy strikes, something unexpected catches us off guard, and we get anxious.  But the attitude of peace will put all of that in perspective and ultimately come to the settled conclusion that we will trust God. 

 

Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 5:9 in the Sermon on the Mount?  “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”.

 

Now that’s one of the Beatitudes, the attitudes that ought to “be” in our life.  

 

Christians should be peacemakers. You and I couldn't do anything more beneficial for the Kingdom of God, the church of Jesus Christ, than to be a peacemaker.

 

Human nature tends toward conflict.  Job said, "Man is born into trouble as the sparks fly upward." I mean life just sparks as people rub against each other. Conflict.  It just happens.

 

It happens in personalities. It happens at the workplace.  It happens in families.  It happens at church.  Boy does the devil like to use it at church!

 

And Jesus said, If you want to demonstrate you are a child of God, just be a peacemaker.  Don't stir things up!  Don’t agitate the anxiety.  Instead, soothe it.

 

It’s amazing to me how some people just don’t seem to be happy unless something is stirred up.  And generally the farther it goes the bigger it gets.  It doesn’t matter what the truth is.  And instead of somebody along the line being a peacemaker, those who get involved are all too often troublemakers rather than peacemakers. 

 

And somewhere in our hearts there has to be a commitment to the attitude that says, "I am at peace. All is well. God is in control. He's still on His throne, therefore I'll be a peacemaker."

 

Be a peacemaker. Be a peacemaker. Every time you get an opportunity to come into a conflict, make peace. Bring two parties together, so that they can embrace each other. Be a peacemaker. Don't take a side over here against this person over here.

Try to find what's good about this person, good about this person. Eliminate the things that are bad; and, on the basis of what you can see that's right about that thing, cultivate proper relationships and be a peacemaker.

 

And a good place to start is your own family.  Now today is Father’s Day, so let me just give a little encouragement to the men and dads who are here.

 

You know guys, there are some things, that you can say that'll send your wife into orbit, and you know it.  Am I right?  Why would you do that? Are you an outright imbecile? 

 

Now I will tell you there are some times at our house when I’m right.  Lisa thinks I'm wrong sometimes, but I'm right.

 

Every so often I’m mistaken or confused, but very seldom am I just outright wrong.  And yet there are some times when she thinks I am wrong, and I am right.  Now God and I may be the only two in the world that know I’m right, but I’m right. 

 

Now at that point, I have a choice.  I can press that and make a big deal of it, or I can be a peacemaker.  It just depends on whether or not I want to be obedient to God or sleep on the couch.  I’m right either way, but some things aren’t really that big of a deal.    

 

Listen, whether it is in the family or the church or at work or neighbors, whatever the situation, we must develop the attitude that there is something more important to us than being right and that is being right with God.

We must be peacemakers. And gentlemen, the quicker you come to understand these things, the better you life will be.

 

One more.

 

8.  The Attitude of  Thankfulness

 

1 Thessalonians 5:18

 

Do you ever get confused and doubtful about the will of God?  Let me make it real simple for you.  Her it is in four words. 

 

“In everything, give thanks”

 

Just be thankful. People say, "Oh, if I had a better job, I had a better wife, had a better husband, had a better family, had a better situation, better car, better this, better that, didn't have all these problems, all..." Be thankful.

 

Thanksgiving is one of the most powerful forces in your life.  If you can ever cultivate a thankful heart, you can solve so many problems. All you have to do is just keep offering God thanks and praise, and it'll eliminate all your problems. You say, “How so?” 

 

You just won't see them anymore.

 

That's what the David did. Read his testimony int he Psalms.  He'd get in a problem. You’ll find him He'd be hiding somewhere under a rock, because his son Absalom is going to kill him. He's got nobody to defend him. He's out in the desert all by himself. Absalom's trying to take the throne away from him.

And now he’s chased his own father out in the wilderness, and here's David sitting under a rock, and he's crying, "Oh, God, oh, God, why do the wicked prosper? And why are You doing this? How long, oh, Lord, am I going to be here? Why don't You go in there and destroy them," and on and on.

 

And then finally he starts to think about what God's done, and he begins to recite everything he’s experienced from God, "Oh, Lord, You did this. Oh, Lord, You did that. Oh, You're so high. Oh, You're so mighty. Oh, You're so glorious. Oh, I thank You for this. I thank You for that."

 

And by the time you get to the end fo the Psalm, the Lord is great and mighty and praise the Lord!

 

Now David’s under the same rock; Absalom's still in pursuit; and yet every thing has changed in David’s perception of the circumstances.  What mad e the difference? 

 

Thanksgiving and praise. 

 

Listen:  if you’ve got trouble and you're grumbling and griping all the time, it has nothing to do with your circumstances. It has everything to do with your inability to be thankful for the things God's already done for you and you are an ingrate of all ingrates to receive what you have and not be thankful for it.  Learn to cultivate a spirit of  thankfulness. Let your lips be filled with praise.

 

In Psalm 30 verse 4, it says, “Be thankful when you remember God's holiness."

 

In Psalm 106:1, "We are to be thankful for the goodness and mercy that He gives us."

 

In Daniel 2:23, Daniel was "thankful for wisdom and strength."

 

In Romans 1:8, "We oughta be thankful for the faith exhibited by others as Paul was."

 

In Romans 6:17, "We oughta be thankful for the conversion of other people."

 

In Romans 7:23 to 25, "We ought to be thankful for the fact that Christ has delivered us from the power of indwelling sin."

 

In 1 Corinthians 1:4, "He was thankful for grace bestowed on others."

 

In 1 Corinthians 15:57, "We are to be filled with thanksgiving that we have been promised victory over death and resurrection."

 

In 2 Corinthians 2:14, "We should be thankful for the triumph of the Gospel."

 

He was thankful in 2 Corinthians 8:16, "For the zeal for Christ that he saw in the lives of others

 

In 2 Corinthians 9:15, "We are to give thanks for the gift of Christ."

 

In 1 Thessalonians 2:13, "We ought to be thankful for the the Word of God."

 

And in 2 Thessalonians 1:3, "He was thankful for the love that he saw in other believers, for their hard work for the Kingdom's sake."

 

In Revelation 11:17, "We ought to be thankful for Christ's power and coming Kingdom."

 

“Oh give thanks to the Lord for He is good and His mercy endures forever! 

 

Hey, it’s not that hard to find something for which to be thankful.  Be thankful!  Cultivate that attitude instead of going around moaning about how bad things are and complaining about the circumstances. 

 

Do you know the reason you're not thankful?

 

You don't think you're getting what you deserve.

 

Let me just put that in perspective for you:  If you got what you deserved, you'd be in hell.  So anything you’ve got, no matter how bad it is, is better than you deserve.  So just get that thought ought of your head. 

 

Mark Lowery tells the story of going to d a banquet at a little church where they didn’t give him any honorarium.  He complained to God about it and God responded, “Mark sure beats hell doesn’t it?

 

Be thankful. It'll take all the sourness out of your life.

 

These are simple things, aren't they? Thankfulness, peace, joy, willingness to serve, unity, love, humility, and obedience.

 

Let me show you something. I’ve given you eight attitudes of the church.  We have eight more to go, but let’s just think about these eight. 

 

Take any one of them, and if that one thing were reigning supreme in your life, all the rest would still be there, too.

 

For instance, think about obedience.  If you have the attitude of obedience, that takes care of all the others. 

 

 

How so?  If I am obedient, I will be loving and humble and I’m going to get along with others.  I will be filled with peace and joy and thanks. 

 

What about humility? If you're truly humble, then you're going to be loving, which will develop unity and that will lead to service and from that service will come joy and the peace of knowing you’re serving God.  So obviously when all that is going on you will be thankful. 

 

Think about love.  If we love God we keep His commandments.  So there is the obedience and the cycle just starts over again. 

 

It’s like all these attitudes run in a circle and youo can break into that circle anywhere you want and get in aon the totality of them all.  It’s almost as if the

Lord is saying, "Look, I'm giving you every opportunity to let me bless and bring fulfillment in your life.  Jump in somewhere and get in on it!

 

Now here’s the kicker:  the opposite is true as well.

 

Bail out on one and you forfeit all.  You get all or none.  If you forfeit obedience, you forfeit everything else. 

 

You might say, “Well I’m going to serve, but I’m not going to be thankful.”  No it doesn’t work that way. 

 

You can't say, "Well, I love God but I’m just miserable and have no joy or peace.”

 

No, a life filled with love is going to filled with joy and peace and gentleness and goodness and all the rest. 

 

Let me leave you with a little poem I learned a long time ago:

 

What kind of church would my church be if every member were just like me? 

 

What kind of a church can make an impact in the world?  A church that has the right attitudes: obedience, love, humility, unity, service, joy, peace, thankfulness. Those are the things that change a church, and a church like that is the thing that changes a world.

 

 

Let's pray.