Becoming a Church that Cares

I return this morning from my holiday with mixed feelings

they’re mixed because I enjoyed sleeping in, swimming, tubing, and other summer activities, and I’m sad that summer is over

and yet I return with a sense of enthusiasm over returning to this church, a church I love greatly

I’m excited too because I believe some exciting things lie ahead

I wonder how many people share my enthusiasm about the church?

I wonder if we handed out bumper stickers that said, "Honk if you love the church," how noisy would it be on the street?

no matter what happens, I can’t get past the fact that the church is the bride of Christ, purchased with his blood, and his chosen people, the objects of his love

the church is the very institution ordained by God to be a vehicle of his love until Christ returns

no matter what happens, no matter how humble it might appear, no matter how troubled it at times may be, I can honestly say that I love the church

this morning we could list some problems with churches in general and with our church in particular

but anyone can identify problems

what we’re going to do is to identify solutions

I’m not exaggerating when I say that I love the church so much I would give my life to see her increase in strength and vigor

my dream is that the church would be a vibrant community of God’s people worshiping him, caring for each other, growing in faith, serving God using their gifts, and winning other people to Christ

one of the keys to this, I believe, is that the church – not just our church but every church – become a place where loving, authentic relationships permeate every aspect of church life

where honest, loving, authentic, and caring relationships become the norm

where people come in and say, "Wow, that’s love!"

one of the startling things that Jesus said is found in John 13:

(John 13:34) "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

(John 13:35) By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

Jesus commands us to love one another, just as he has loved us

now think about it: Jesus has lavished his love on us indiscriminately, and he says we are to love one another in just the same way

so prominent is this love to be that Jesus says it will be the identifying mark of his followers: they love one another

now think about it: Jesus didn’t say we would be identified by our buildings or steeples; he didn’t say we would be known by the Bibles we carried or our public prayers; we wouldn’t even be identified by theology

he said that people would know that we are his disciples if we love one another

one of my dreams is that the church would be known as a place of love, a place that cares

my dream is that every person who comes into a worship service at any true church would immediately sense the warmth of fellowship that exists there

my dream is that people who otherwise would have nothing in common would be bound together with a love that can only be explained in supernatural terms

just imagine how attractive such a fellowship could be!

this morning we’re beginning a 50-Day spiritual adventure called "The Church You’ve Always Longed For: What You Can Do to Make It Happen"

our theme this morning is "Work at becoming a caring family"

I think the choice of this theme as the first one is correct

if we’re going to be the church we’ve all longed for, one of the most important things we can do is to develop our capacity to care for each other

in Philippians 2, Paul gives the people in the church family at Philippi some advice on how this can happen

what Paul wrote to Philippi equally applies to us

we are God’s family as well

[UNDERSTANDING OUR PRIVILEGED POSITION]

Paul assumes some things about the church at Philippi that I think we can assume about our church as well

first, he assumes that they would find encouragement in the fact that they were united with Christ

"2:1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ"

Christ is the glue that holds us together

also, as believers, they were at the receiving end of God’s love; this is a great comfort to God’s people, knowing that Christ loves us

"if any comfort from his love"

this is especially important for those of us who are lacking love in other areas of our lives

we’re greatly comforted by the fact that no matter who else may not love us, Jesus loves us

third, Paul assumes that because of the indwelling Spirit within each of God’s children, they had a fellowship or bond that held them together

"if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion"

he just assumes that there’s already a sense of fellowship and compassion between us, because we have the Spirit within us, and because we’re part of the same family

if this is true of us, the apostle Paul writes in verse 2:

(Philippians 2:2) then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.

Paul urges them to become a loving, caring community of believers; the family that God wants us to be

"If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care," Paul writes, "then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends" (The Message)

[LIFE-CHANGING, FAMILY TRANSFORMING PRINCIPLES]

let’s look at some life-changing, family-transforming principles

Philippians 2:3 says:

(Philippians 2:3) Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

it’s amazing how easy it is to get caught up with ourselves and the things we want to do

from time to time we need a reminder to focus on others more than ourselves, and to stop being so self-absorbed

Paul says that two things get in the way of caring for others: selfishness, and trying to make a good impression on others

these are the mortal enemies of unity and harmony in the church

the first, selfishness, is listed as one of the "acts of the sinful nature" in Galatians 5:20

it’s putting our interests ahead of the interests of other people

does anyone here struggle with selfishness?

too often we can get sidetracked with trying to make a good impression on others

we’re concerned with how we appear and how we sound

this is our natural tendency

now, put together a number of people who, as one person says, are pushing their way to the front and sweet-talking their way to the top, and what do you have?

the very opposite of what Christ intended for the church

instead, Paul says in verse 3: "in humility consider others better than yourselves"

this is a life-changing, family-transforming principle

imagine what would happen in our homes and churches if for one day we all thought of everybody else as better than ourselves

imagine if we all start trying to do more for each other than anyone is doing for us

imagine if at home we started fighting, in a healthy way, for the privilege of cooking the meals, setting and clearing the table, and so forth

imagine if at church we forgot about trying to make an impression and getting our own way, and instead focused on others and how to serve them

the irony is that when people are like this to us, they make a huge difference in our lives

when we come across a person who is free of pride and selfishness, and is focused on serving us, we are literally humbled and impacted by that person

you can probably think of someone who has had this type of power in your life – someone who had a positive, significant influence on you

they respected you as a person, they loved you, they were caring and encouraging – and they caused you to grow

this is what we are to be to others within the body of Christ

verse four gives us another principle:

(Philippians 2:4) Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

we have no problems looking after our own interests

it’s obvious sometimes we don’t even have the foggiest idea what the interests of others might be!

we need to listen to others and find out what the interests of others might be

in the church, it means trying to understand others, and deferring to their needs

it’s refusing to be obsessed with getting our own way, and forgetting ourselves long enough to focus on others

it’s listening and deferring to others

it’s easy to say we love other people, or that we’re a caring church, but it’s another thing to think of others as better than ourselves and to put their interests ahead of our own

imagine a church that fulfilled this commandment to love one another, to honor one another above ourselves, to live in harmony with one another, and to be willing to associate with people of lower position

that’s what the Bible describes as a caring church

that’s the sort of church that I dream about

the real key to all of this is to have the attitude of Jesus

the verses that follow in Philippians 2:5-11 describe that wonderful, familiar truth of how God as Jesus humbled himself in obedience to become one of us

and then as we all know, he became sin for us and died for us

now, if Christ was willing to do all that for us, shouldn’t we at least be willing to care for the others who are our brothers and sisters in Christ?

that’s the way it was in the early church

read about it this week as you do your adventure journals and look at Acts 2:42-47 and 4:32-35

they weren’t perfect, but they were characterized as a group that loved each other

that’s how it has been in my life as well

I wouldn’t be here this morning if it hadn’t been for the influence of a number of people who loved me in the way I described

a Sunday school teacher who taught me for years – every time I graduated to a new class, he graduated too

he had a lot of problems in his life, but he loved me and he cared for me

a youth group leader who taught great lessons, but whose greatest contribution to my life was one-on-one

he took me out and treated me as an object of his love

he cared for me in a godly way

a seminary teacher who encouraged me, a pastor-friend who has shown me what true friendship is about, and I could go on to name some of you – these are the people who have shown me what Christian love is

and that is how we are to love one another

we’re going to close with a prayer that is found in your bulletins and in the adventure journal

the prayer is part of the action step that goes with this week’s theme in the 50-Day adventure

the prayer is appropriate, I think, in our efforts to become a caring church

would you open your bulletins and pray it with me?

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Becoming a Church that Cares (Philippians 2:1-11)