Church is messy. It just is.

Steve Brown:
Church is messy. It just is. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
The deepest message of Jesus and the Bible is the radical grace of God to sinners and sufferers. That’s what Key Life is all about. So, if you’re hungry for the hopeful truth that God isn’t mad at you, keep listening. Steve Brown is a professor and our teacher on Key Life.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. If you’re just joining us, we’re studying Philippians. And we’re looking at a very short text, just two verses in the fourth chapter of Philippians about two ladies who had an argument. And we’re talking about what do you do when there’s division in the church? How do you win arguments for Jesus and not yourself? How do you fix the complications of porcupines hugging each other in the middle of a storm? It’s hard. It’s always been hard, and it always will be until Jesus comes back. And I don’t think it’s an accident that the apostle Paul, in the midst of the great theological themes, the teaching on grace and mercy and forgiveness, the amazing words he has spoken in this letter. He brings up an argument between two ladies in the church. One time Paul Reese, the missionary statesman, told about a church in Korea that had gotten into a church squabble. It got so bad that they were fighting and the police had to be called. He said, this really happened. And above the den and the shouting, a policeman who was not a believer was heard yelling, will you people act like Christians? I love that. Wesley said, about top lady, Mr. Augustus, I know well, but I do not fight with chimney sweepers. He is too dirty a rider for me to meddle with. I would not foul my fingers. And Top Lady said to Wesley, Wesley is insidious and incapable of blushing. Oh my, let me give you a principle. If you have a book in your library of famous Christians and they don’t tell you the dark side. Burn those books because they’re not helpful. Everybody you know is a sinner and everybody you know who is a Christian is a part of the church. And every church you know is messy and every time you become a part of a church, you have the possibility of getting hurt. And I think that Paul included this under the power and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Okay, let me say something at the beginning. I’ve got seven points. And you say, Steve, two verses, you can’t get seven points out of two verses. Just watch me and I’ll show you. The first thing you ought to note about this particular text, that when Paul brings it up, he knows the potential of what’s going on in the church. We may not always get along, but there is the potential, and we’re going to see how you go about it. There is the potential of getting along. In other words, it can work. In Philippians 4:2a.

I plead with you Euodia. And I plead with Syntyche.

Now, he doesn’t take sides. He doesn’t point out the faults that each have made. He doesn’t count the votes in the church to see who’s right and who’s wrong. He just says, I plead with these ladies. What does that suggest? That suggests that Paul is an optimist. That suggests that Paul knows that you can do something about division. That Paul knows that Jesus loves the church, and he prayed, and his prayers are effective, that we all must be one, or might be one. And that’s John 17. And so, before you begin to deal with division in the church, the first thing you’ve got to understand is that there is help. There are ways it gets fixable. There are ways the arguments are won for Jesus and not for yourself. You can hear the conversation. Euodia would say, Paul, you don’t know her. She is a bad, bad lady. I can’t be around her anymore. And then Syntyche would say to Paul, every time I turn my back, she puts a knife in it. I simply can’t do it. And then Paul would say.

You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.

And so, there’s a sense that if you’re a part of the church, you’re a part of a powerhouse of love. A place where things can happen. The greatest evangelistic program in the world is not the Four Laws, or Evangelism Explosion, or the Roman Road. It is the love of believers for each other. I didn’t say it, jesus said it.

They will know that you’re Christians by your love.

I served a particular church for almost 20 years. And it almost killed me when I left that church, I love those people. And it felt like Camelot to me because that was a weird bunch of people. And there were so many disagreements you wouldn’t believe it. They voted unanimously on an ecclesiastical matter. And my late friend Ben Hayden said, You couldn’t get that bunch to vote unanimously on the second coming of Christ, and that’s true. But there was love there, and it was an amazing place of love there. And do you know what the evangelistic program of the church was? There was love there. We used to have classes in evangelism, which I never understood. I mean, the gospel is simple.

Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.

And he’ll love you too and forgive you because of the blood of Christ. That’s it. Doesn’t take a brain surgeon to tell people that, but we did week long training sessions in evangelism, but we stopped. And we decided let’s love each other and see what happens. And there wasn’t a week in that church when somebody didn’t come to know Christ. How did that happen? Because they were cold, and they got warm by our fire. And so, and we’re going to look at these next week. And so, when you’re looking at the church, you’re looking at a powerhouse. And the thing that is so important about the church is that the church is the bride of Christ, and Christ resides in the center of the church. And because He does, there is hope for love. And if love happens, evangelism happens. If evangelism happens, then the world is impacted and is changed. I pray every day of my life for revival and awakening in America. And for you guys in Canada, I pray the same thing for you. Do you know how that will happen? It won’t happen because we’re pure or good, or because we’re right, or because we have the right program, or we voted for the right people, or we have a pathway to Washington. That won’t bring revival, the thing that will bring revival and awakening is when we love each other. I didn’t say it, I told you Jesus said it. So, if you want to win an argument with somebody you disagree with in the church, listen up. Let Jesus love you. If you want to see God do something in your city, let Jesus love you. If you want to see God moving in unbelievable ways, let God love you. Why is that? Because you can’t love, until you’ve been loved. And then you can only love to the degree to which you have been loved. And so, I go back to the first point of how to win an argument for Jesus, and not for yourself. I want you to note, potentiality. The apostle said, I plead with you. Why did he plead? Because he knew there was stuff going on in the church that was real and powerful and life changing. And you can call that love. Now, we’re going to talk about this next week a lot more. But for now, go back to your church and say, Jesus, some of these people drive me nuts, could you fix it? And if you do, I’ll tell people that you did. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thanks Steve. Well, that’s it for this week of teaching on Philippians, but guess what? Next week, Pete will join Steve for a full week of teaching about men. So, if you’re a man, or you know one, you’ve got to tune in. But listen, you don’t have to wait till Monday to hear Steve and Pete. Just tune in tomorrow for Friday Q&A, when they will tackle this question. Where in the world did Cain get his wife? That’s a good one.

Distractions can usher in sudden, unexpected beauty, or they can bring a productive life to a screeching halt. If you’re paying attention to life, you’ll allow the good distractions to be just what they are. You’ll savor them, straining out every last drop that they have to offer because it is precisely in those moments God’s stoking the flames of joy and wonder within you, outside of the local church.

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