Building the Church #1
Attitude
Retired Bishop Roy Nichols tells the story of the summer resort in Nantucket. Among the thousands of tourists swarms of young people walk both the beaches and streets in their bare feet. Because bare feet track sand and dirt throughout the local stores, merchants put up signs reading, “No shoes, no admission.” You’ve seen them at our shore, “No shoes, no shirt, no service.” In Nantucket, however, there is one store with a sign that reads, “Bare feet welcome!” That sign hangs in the door front of the local sandal maker. He loves bare feet because every set of bare feet presents not a problem, but a possibility, an opportunity, a potential sale. He is the one store that wants what no other store wants—bare feet.
Every church puts up a sign on their front lawn. Like other churches we have road signs around our community directing people to our church. But I often wonder: what other signs do we put up here at SUMC? Those invisible signs that quickly become visible to newcomers, outsiders and even those on the fringes of our church. Some churches have invisible signs that say, “If you have a different skin color you are not welcome here,” or “If you don’t drive a certain kind of car or live in a certain neighborhood, you are not welcome here,” or “People with problems not wanted here,” or “No trespassing by strangers—violators will be ignored.”
But there are also other invisible signs that say just the opposite, “You are wanted here,” and “We are glad you came,” “This place is filled with friends you just haven’t met yet,” and “This is an exciting place to be because God is doing some awesome things.” Whether we know it our not, we are sending out signals to our community. You may recall that 93% of communication is non-verbal while only 7% is in words. That’s why St. Francis of Assisi once said, “Preach the gospel at all times and, if necessary, use words.” A more contemporary version of this quote would be, “I can’t hear what you are saying because your actions are drowning out your words.” We have to be very careful that we are not using the right words—orthodox, friendly, growing, Biblical, evangelical—but our body language may often times communicate apathy, indifference, and ‘unfriendly.’ Did you know that there is not one church in America that doesn’t describe itself as friendly? I have been in a few of those and I was confused by what ‘friendly’ meant to them!
I am talking about building and growing the church of Jesus Christ right here in Sicklerville. For the 3rd time as your pastor we are talking about building our church. A couple years ago, we began a journey to fulfill the 3 phase vision for our church that began in the late 80s. The first phase was the sanctuary (you are seated in it), the second phase was for more classrooms and that was built in 2000, and now we have embarked on the 3rd phase—a Family Life Center. We purchased an acre of land from our neighbor, have preliminary architectural plans, the building committee has interviewed various building contractors, and embarked on our “Following the Vision” capital campaign to raise the monies to build this 3rd phase of our building. While the physical building is important to the work of God’s Kingdom, the greater importance is the people—who we are as God’s church here at Sicklerville Church. The brick and mortar is really of secondary importance. Building people in Christ and growing them up to spiritual maturity is the real core mission of the Church. You can have a beautiful building and have a dead and dying church. Conversely you can have a warehouse for a building and have an alive, vibrant, exciting and growing church. And you can have an alive, vibrant, exciting and growing church in a beautiful, functional building that fulfills God’s purposes for His people.
The bottom line is the attitude of those who claim the name of Jesus.
1. The reality is that quite often, Christian people can get bad attitudes. Charles Stanley tells the story of one man who came into his office complaining of everything that was wrong in and with the church. After acknowledging these imperfections, Dr. Stanley proceeded to outline for this man all the wonderful ministries of the church. He gave this man a laundry list of the good, positive, faith-creating and faith-building programs and ministries in the church. He then invited this man with the extreme negative attitude to find another church that was better suited to his liking.
The Bible teaches us that without God’s grace, attitudes easily turn sour, dark, negative and destructive. Even positive expressions can be veiled expressions of ulterior motives like the love letter a young woman sent that read, “Dear John, Words cannot express the deep regret I feel at having broken our engagement. Will you please come back to me? Your absence from me leaves an emptiness, which no one can ever fill. Please forgive me, and let us start again. I love you. I love you. I love you. Your adoring Sally. PS Congratulations on winning the lottery!
Bad attitudes develop into negative realities. We become what we pursue. Fearful, resentful, hateful attitudes move us deeper into the very thing we fear and resent. A bad attitude is like a piece of spoiled meat that has been left out of the freezer and forgotten. It creates a stench that fills the whole house and it attracts a variety of creatures you don’t want as houseguests. Not matter how much Febreeze your spray, or how many matches you light, the odor won’t go away until you get rid of that rotting piece of meat.
In ancient Israel there once lived a young man--wealthy, handsome, charismatic, articulate, a born leader who was head and shoulders above everyone else. His influence so profound, and his popularity so great, he was destined for greatness.
His name was Saul. Chosen by God and anointed by the prophet Samuel, Saul became the very first King of Israel. He ruled well until his son, Jonathan, became best friends with a shepherd boy by the name of David. We read in 1 Samuel how David did everything that his king asked him to do and he did it very well, and Saul gave him a high rank in the Israeli army. But the people began to sing, “Saul has slain his thousands and David has tens of thousands [of the enemy].”
Verse 8 is very telling, “Saul was very angry.” That anger turned to jealousy, “What more can he (David) get but the kingdom?” Vs 9 is even more telling, “And from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David.” One day Saul called for David to play his harp for him. During the concert Saul threw his spear at David attempting to kill him. Saul’s jealousy saw David taking his crown rather than seeing David’s fierce loyalty. After being wounded in battle, Saul took his own life. The Philistines displayed his body as a victory trophy in the temple of their goddess, Ashteroth, and then they nailed Saul’s body to the wall of the city of Bethsham. An ignoble end to one who had enjoyed God’s favor, all because of an attitude that ultimately destroyed him.
Attitudes are not neutral. They have great power. In Matthew 6:22-23 Jesus said, “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” Jesus is talking about attitudes here. The Biblical warning is clear—negative attitudes lead to negative realities, which lead to eternal separation from God. Jesus also said, “If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.” I praise God that we are a church where the presence of Jesus reigns and where the Holy Spirit uplifts us with an effervescent joy, a warm love and a gentle, sweet spirit. Some time ago I was with friends who had a young child who was not having a good day. Finally the father took the child into a private area, applied the ‘corrective measures’ and returned saying, “Excuse me, that behavior needed an attitude adjustment.” There are those times when individually and corporately we are not having a good today and God, our Father, has to give us an ‘attitude adjustment.’
There are positive attitudes that Scripture sets forth for us who claim the name of Jesus that God is building in us.
The first is a trusting openness to God Himself. It was in the Garden of Eden that the serpent successfully distorted our attitude toward God by suggesting that God really the enemy. The voice of the Serpent and the world seeks to destroy any trust and confidence in God. Jesus came to restore that trust, to give people a new outlook and a new attitude. Jesus shows us a Father who forgives and heals and encourages. On the cross Jesus reveals a God who suffers and dies for us. AT the empty tomb, Jesus reveals God as the power over sin and death and offers us the same victory. At Pentecost Jesus reveals God as present here and now. Jesus’ whole life proclaims that God can be trusted.
A second attitude is that God is building in us is that of worship. Ps 92:1 declares, “It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to thy name, O Most high.” Psalm 100:2, “Come into His presence with singing.” Psalm 95:1 “O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.” How we doing with the attitude of worship thing? Is it one of dread and boredom and detachment, or one of joy, anticipation and engagement? I can see God building in us more and more a positive, enthusiastic attitude toward God’s presence during worship.
Third, God is building in us a new attitude of eagerness to know His Word the Bible. We are offering more Bible studies and small groups and people are responding. There is evidence of growing personal, Bible study.
A fourth area in which God is working is in the area of family and family life. We are taking family commitments with a new seriousness. God had brought into our church family some great role models of family life. There is also a growing sense of church as family. The tension is that as we receive new members to keep that sense of caring and warmth that many of us experience. More and more people are doing that on their own without it being a ‘program of the church,’ but rather as a natural by-product of their relationship with Christ. There is an enthusiasm for Christ and SUMC that is infectious and exciting. Outside speakers and District Superintendents over the years have picked that up very quickly about our church.
God is also building a new attitude toward our world. Several years ago we as a church decided to tithe 10% of our church income, ie your offerings, to worldwide, national and local mission efforts. Since that time our understanding that “God so loved the world…” not just Sicklerville and South Jersey has grown. Our first work mission sent out 6 people to La Pena de Horeb Camp in Aunon, Spain. This year we have 16 people going to Guatemala, 12 going to West Virginia, our youth are going to Nashville for urban ministry, and Sharptown Church has invited us to join them this fall to build houses in New Orleans. Through this steady building and growing understanding that “the world is our parish” as John Wesley taught, some have questioned why are we spending money overseas when we need it here at home….Camden, Sicklerville, our Family Life Center. The answer is quite simple: because it is not an either/or proposition but a both/and endeavor. I dare say that churches who spend all their resources—money, time and talents—on themselves become self serving, ineffective and die a slow death. They are legion. Remember Jesus said, “Give and it will be given to you.” (Luke 6:38) Our God is building up is us an attitude of giving beyond ourselves.
I praise God that we don’t have signs around our church that say “No sinners allowed” and “Strangers not welcomed.” If we did you wouldn’t be here, I wouldn’t be here, and no one would be here because at one time we were all sinners and strangers to God. Like that little shop in Nantucket we have the courage to put up a sign that says loud and clear—“All sinners and strangers welcome.”
God is at work in us building His church—a church not made of brick and mortar, or lumber and drywall—but a people after God’s own heart, a people who are trusting in Jesus, who praise and worship Him, who are hiding His Word in their hearts, who care for the least and the lost and are willing to go to Camden, to West Virginia, to the Apache Indians, to Spain and to Guatemala, who have a sense of belonging to the family of God, and who are willing to allow that family to grow, increase and love other strangers into the family of God.
Our God is building His church right here in and through us. There is no better place to be!