Church: A love, a call & a burden // DB Hauptfleisch

It was wonderful for me what happened this morning and how the Lord ministered because I'm going to preach into the way we see church and the way we engage church and the way we can understand and should understand church. And so often when we speak about that it's a horizontal conversation. It feels like it's a horizontal conversation between us about church and church things. And I believe God is reminding us this morning that it's a vertical conversation. The way we see church, the way we engage church is about Him and it's because of Him and it's for Him and it's He that firstly engaged the church and He's engaging the church and that we would have the right perspective on it. We should have the vertical in there, not just the horizontal conversation about it. I thank God for that. The word church can invoke many different emotions in many of us and I think a lot of those emotions at the same time. It can be a wonderful place where you've found healing and hope and purpose and community and it's been that for me 100% but it also be a place where you've encountered some of the greatest hurts and disappointments in life and it's been that for me 100% and that's church. And so will you allow the Holy Spirit to minister to you today? Will you receive this as whatever the word of God wants to bring to you? Will you receive Him today and what He wants to bring to you and not just see what is going to be shared as another piece of content that is around that you can engage with? But if God would speak to you today, would your heart be open? Would you? Would you open your heart? I pray, Father, that you would work mightily through me to speak your word to us and I pray it would land on fruitful soil in Jesus' mighty name, amen. I would want to capture something today of God's heart for His church and I'm trusting that engaging with God's heart for His church will awaken your heart to the way that God wants to align each one of us. To the church we will expand on three main topics and it's about loving the church as Christ loves her, it's about bearing the burden of her brokenness and about entring the quality to serve her. If I would see all of the weakness and sinfulness that is hidden in Evaldi, Jakku, that is hidden in Amy, he's in, hidden in Friedel in Enrico. If I would see all of the things, that's all of the stuff that's there, all of the brokenness and the sinfulness that's in your wife and I would criticize that in front of you and others publicly and hear me speak about how I really think that she should be better and how I don't enjoy spending time with her and how I'm upset and how what would your reaction be towards me? Enrico is wanting to tackle me immediately already, isn't he? You look rather controlled, okay? Not much to talk about. Are we going to be friends? We're not going to be friends. But are you aware that there are some things that Amy and Friedel and Evaldi would like to work on in their lives? They've been married two months, but it's down over here. And often, we forget that Jesus calls the church, He's bright, He calls it, He's bright. That's how He relates to us, not us individually, but us as a collective, He's bright. Nothing can be closer to you and nothing, you can't be more protective of Him. Anything, than your bride. But the way we often engage with the church, not always, not all of you, but the church world sometimes engages with the church, engages in a way that, if I was Jesus, hearing how you would speak about how they would speak about He's bright, I wouldn't want to engage with you that much, but keep my distance. It's clear to me that our attitude towards His church directly impacts our intimacy with Him, as my attitude towards Evaldi directly impacts my friendship with Yaka. I wanted to make that link this morning, it's His bride, He's very precious over her. But He knows this God weakness and brokenness, He knows it, He knows what you see. He knows when you go like, "Oh my goodness, this affines me so much, which we could just do this better." But leave me. Someone said, "No." You're allowed to say no. Your attitude towards His church directly impacts our intimacy with Him. And I believe He loves you dearly, regardless, but He might withhold a lot from you if there is a problem in the way that you relate to His church in front of Him, if it's His precious bride. Let us be glad and rejoice and give glory to Him for the winning of the Lamb as come and His bride has made Himself already the big day when that will happen and He will finally receive the reward for all of His suffering and His bride will be united in perfection with Him forevermore. And He loves her now and He's loved her before the world began and He's loved her ever since and He died while she didn't love Him for her and redeems to Himself and restores each one of us patiently towards Himself. He loves her like that. And God placed all things under His feet and appointed Him as the head of, over all things for the church which is His body, the fullness of Him who falls everything in every way. He also says, "The church is His body." What is closer to you than your body? What are you care for more than your own body? Well, maybe you're bride, between being your bride, someone being your bride and your own body. I don't think there's anything you care for more and should care for more. And that's what it calls the church. And if we would align with that and engage Him when we engage church, understanding how precious this is to Him, we would do, "Well, if you're in a marriage and you're in a marriage and the wife or the bride would tell the husband, "I like your face, but I don't want the body." The marriage will not work. Oh Peter, it's not going to work. But often, like sometimes we see Christians loving Jesus, but they don't want anything to do with their body and it cannot work like that. You will miss your intimacy with Jesus because of your unwillingness to engage fully with the body because he's one with her in that way. Your bride also, scripture, your bride is your body. You guys have done marriage prep, it's not yours anymore, but you belong to her and she belongs to you. So bride and body is the same thing, isn't it? Your body, your bride is your body and that's how closely Jesus relates to the church. Now in individualistic Western culture, there's a common misunderstanding that you, individual, you are His bride, which is a false theology. You are not His bride, individualistic Western culture. No way in scripture where you find that you are His bride. In Old Testament it's Israel, in the New Testament it's the church. That's all the metaphors about that. are not the church. You are also not the church. You are a part of the church, a part of the body, a part of the bride, and that's important to think of it in that way. Therefore, you should love Christ as the unique member that you are, because you can love Him in the way that you can love Him. You can do your little part as a body part towards Him that the others cannot do. And within your local church, you are called to provide assistance and love in care to the other parts of the same body so that they would be loved and so that they can operate well and so that they could give glory to God also. So you're all as a part of the body and a part of the bride is to God to Him and also to each other so that we can give maximum glory to God, but it's us. It's a us thing. It's a us thing. It's not a me thing. So the invitation here to love her, to imagine the love he would have for her, and to accept the invitation to celebrating the church's successes. And for some of you just using the word church in that context, the church's successes, you immediately feel slightly distant because it feels like an organization that you're part of. But if you could realign to view the way that Christ does, and when you say the word church that you could feel what he feels, I think, and he would then accept an invitation to celebrate her successes, to mourn her losses, towards her softness, towards her weaknesses, towards a decisiveness when she is sinful, towards defending her when she is attacked, a closeness, a warmth, loving her unconditionally, which means it doesn't matter what she gives you, but you loving her, as he does, as we call to imitate Christ, to love as he loves, also for his church. I believe he's extending that invitation to us to start off with this morning. Will you love what I love? There we go. We're back. I believe he's extending this invitation to us asking us, will you love what I love? Will you embrace my heart for my people? If you say yes to this this morning, because I want you to say something in your heart, will you embrace that? Will you ask him to do that in you too? For some of you, you have a love for the church, but imagine it could be the love that Jesus has for it. Imagine it could sink to that depths, and maybe there is a distance in your heart between how you relate to it, and you realize this morning maybe it's a bit individualistic or maybe just not really seeing it in that way, but the reality of the matter is pretty clear. And then do you want to say yes, Lord, I want to love the way that you love. Just say something in your heart. Because in 1 Corinthians 12, 27, we read that now it says that now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. So from the moment you're born again, for all eternity, you are a part of this body and of this bride. It's a fundamental part of your identity. You're part of this body and you're part of this bride. It's a fundamental part of who you are, of who the born again believer is, that the one that's not born again is not. You are part of it. So something that you will be part of for the rest of history, and that something is very dear to Jesus, whom you love with your whole life, should in my view be as dear to you as what it is to Him, and would make eternal sense if it is. And it would be healthy for all of us if we would accept this eternal reality that it is indeed part of my identity. I am a part of the body. If you say I am, that also leads to saying, well, then, then, of course, somehow I need to take ownership of it. Like, somehow if it is mine, if it's my form that I've inherited, then not. Surely I have to work it. Surely I'd want to work it, especially if I inherited from my father who loves me and who freely given me all things. I have a call to work it. I embrace that it's mine. I embrace that as part of who I am for eternity. And then Ephesians 4/16 that says, from Him, the whole body joined in hell together by every supporting ligament, grows and build itself up in love as each part does its work, possible, using the analogy of the body in one Corinthians 12 and here in Ephesians 4 also to explain what it is like. And he breaks it down even to a small ligament. Sometimes we want to think I'm in hand or I'm a foot or I'm in head or I'm in something, but maybe it's more helpful, maybe for us to just understand that we are, maybe, ligaments. We're little muscles that are just a little part of a muscle or a little something that helps something else to work well. But if any part of your body just stops working, there's a profound impact on the whole body, profound impact, the smallest thing that just goes. So not only is this yours, not only is part of your identity and your inheritance, but you are called to it, you are called to fulfill a purpose in it. And without you fulfilling that purpose in it, the body of Christ will suffer loss. And with you fulfilling that other members would be encouraged, invigorated and glory will flow to God. So I always think of it this way, each believer is called, you are called to the church. So you've got a purpose of fulfilling the local church, you cannot reach Scripture otherwise because how can you be a body part with a function as the Bible says, but then think my calling is outside the church. And each one has a call outside. We are Salt and Light and God has called us to be witnesses to Him. So each one of you develop your calling, what is it that God wants me to do with my life? Well, I don't know if it's 50, 50, 50, but let's say off of it's going to be to the church and off of it is going to be outside. And it's not the one or the other, he is always both. And the healthy church always looks to both. The holiness of the bride and the loss that must be found. You're called to both. So a part of your call will always be loved out in a local church. What is that call? How has God gifted you? How do you rock up a small group or a church? Like someone who has inherited this as part of who they are fundamentally part with the same attitude you rock up at work with like I need to own this or just something that someone else owns. Because you own this more than what you own your role at work. This is yours. This is yours where you've got a part to play in. And fulfillment in life and fulfillment in Christ and closeness with Him. So many things are locked up in that because He's busy in that space. He's heart burning. He purposed you for something. And slotting in with that unlocks a lot of what many of us yearns. If you feel inadequate or unworthy, well, so did the apostles, but He sent His Holy Spirit. And so you are not unworthy in Christ and with His Spirit in you and Him saying that His strength is made perfect in weakness. Don't accept that lie and say, "Well, soon maybe if I get a little bit better. If I drop that bad habit then maybe." No. I'm as your own, serve the church. And lots of the time we say, "Well, maybe not this season. Maybe it's not the season now for me to serve in churches. This season now for me for something else." That never makes sense to me reading scripture. I don't have time. It's not the season or it's here that's optional or only for some, it's not seasonal. A body pot cannot stop working for the season. It's just nice for you to have a break but the rest of the body suffers because like you can't just say I don't work now. I'm sorry for the season. No, that's not from God. It's optional, no, it's not optional if you want to be a follower of Christ, it's not optional. That's part of what it is and it's not only for some and for others to attend. It is for all of us and the racial with God and to find what that means. And yes, it takes heart and action. You cannot do the action without the heart but you should take action even if you don't feel it in your heart. But it does take both heart and action, like aligning your heart and then bringing it to action. Your pot is indispensable. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you," says the Bible. "We need everything to go pot and you are a part of what the Church of Jesus Christ really, really need." So are you willing to embrace your call to her whom he loves? Are you willing to firstly love her like he does? And are you willing to embrace your call to her? So I realize like often people say, "Well, I just don't know, I'm now, work is too hectic." I can't be a small group because I have to work late every time, like sure that can happen once. But I don't think you've got the faintest idea of the value of the body of Christ. If you're attitude is that, "If I work late and so be it, then of course I can't do a small group." It's almost like when it's not the same but it's when Jesus called these disciples, he called people and they won't say, "Let me go bury my father." And then in that moment Jesus realized that this God doesn't understand who I am. "I'm the author of life, you cannot compare me with the earthly duty, like burying your father, but for some it's like, of course I can." You're just Jesus and that's my father, of course I'll bury my father. And we have a war perspective of the glory of God, the sovereignty of God, and the love of God, and everything of God we don't understand. And in that place Jesus makes that distinction saying, "I don't think you understand." And that's the same almost when work is just always more important than something like small group for instance. That's the same, it's like you don't understand. It would be the right thing to go to your workplace and say, "Winstays, I ended five because I go to small group at seven, non-negotiable." That would make a lot of sense if you would see the weight of that meeting. If you see the weight of, and I'm just zoning in on small group as a very practical example, but church is not the small, small thing that you also involved with. No, it's not a part of your life like I do this and this and also I like church, what, what, no, no, no. It's bright and the body of Jesus Christ that is given to you as an inheritance and part of your identity, that you are called to serve now into all eternity and to yoke with Him. So that looks different then. That looks different then. Zephaniah 3 verse 18. We know that the church is not perfect and Jesus sometimes there's a lot of divisions and worldliness and scandals. It's not always the most beautiful thing if you put a bunch of random people that had an encounter with Jesus in the same room. Because they're not homogenous, apart from the fact that they love Jesus. And so they have to figure out each other and different levels of sanctification. It's a beautiful mess to be very honest. I'm also a beautiful mess, but I praise Jesus. He saved me and he saved you. How do we relate to these things? How do we relate to these failings, these heartbreaking failings? Often I'm standing in front here and I'm hurt and offended about something or someone. I'm not working or that's not happening or that's I can't believe. I remind myself in that moment, in this little skill for you, in that moment where you're hurt and offended because of something at church. You can't believe the worship team X. You can't believe the sound guy Y. You can't believe the pastor Z. Not Z. Z. Then I stand there and I go, okay, I can choose hurting the fence. Or I can see it the way Jesus sees it and accept this brokenness as a burden to pray for. The same thing with a different attitude. I can walk away because of this thing or I can say, Jesus, I would love to see life from this. And I want to contend with you for this, Zephaniah 318. I will gather those who sorrow over their pointed assembly who are among you, to whom it's reproach is a burden. I'm drawing from a sermon that has had a massive impact on my life from David Wilkeson and how we explained the Scripture. I will gather those. I will gather those. That's the sense of God saying, I will bring close to me and you will be closer to each other, those of you. You will see who they are. But there are some people that God says, I will bring you close. Almost in the same sense as Jesus said to Jerusalem that how long have I often have I longed to gather you, your children together as a in-gatherer, as a chicks under her wings, but you are not willing. It's God saying, I want to gather close to me, the warmth and the love under the wing of God. And the fellowship of those with you, that's brought close. Because gathering is coming together with others that God is holding close to his heart. They are some whom he's speaking to right here say, I will bring, I will gather those. I will bring close to myself and to others, those who sorrow over their pointed assembly, those who sorrow. That word is a word, it means both to grieve and to toil to exhaustion. That's what it means. To grieve for and to toil to exhaustion. I will hold those very close who is willing to grieve for and toil to exhaustion for what? Over my appointed assembly, the word ecclesiast means church is best translated as the word assembly, the gathering of the saints, the church, the local church, the church. I will gather close to me and have a special place. And there will be special fellowship too for those who are willing to grieve and to toil to the point of exhaustion for my church. Who are among you? So it seems it's always the case that it's always just some who embrace it. But the message is to everyone who are among you. So who is you? You is everyone that he's speaking to, who are among you. But there are some among you who would embrace this. And some among you whose hearts would burn and yearning would say yes to the grieving and to the burden. To whom it's reproach, that word means it's shame, it's disgrace. Is there shame and there's grace in the body of Christ a plenty? To whom it's reproach is a burden? That burden means that something that you carry as a offering to God. It's like carrying your lamb and your grain and things in the Old Testament is an offering to God. Your burden that you are willing to bear to glorify God with. It's a burden that you willingly put on. He keeps those close who would weep over his church and toil for her if he would be willing to accept it. Those who when they see the shame and the disgrace that unpointed fingers at it think. Weep over it, and they bear it on themselves to do something about it, as are offering to God. I remember times in previous congregations, and this one, a specific memory from a previous congregation, where we would be in worship and I'd just see the people not and not engaging with worship, standing around on their phones at the back of the church, still talking to each other while worship happening and summer worshipping. And my heart would break. I would think, Lord, like if we would just understand your holiness and your glory and the grace that we operate in, that causes us to be struck down in that moment because we've got to complete disregard for your presence. I would stand there overwhelmed by it and realize, I can either walk out and say, I am too holy for this church. Let me find one way God is worshiped well. Or I can go into the back room on my knees and I can weep and say, God, would you please rest your worship here because this cannot continue. And I believe that's the heart that he's after. That's the heart that says, this is mine, I'm part of this. It's broken. God, we need to fix it. He keeps those close to his heart. And then you also find the others who feel the same. And you will find close fellowship with them that will heap over it also and who are willing to toil to the point of exhaustion. It's also an interesting concept that we don't want to toil and church to the point of the exhaustion because then we call it works. But that's not works. Dead work is not toiling to exhaustion. It's toiling to earn your salvation. That's dead works. But after that, to read what the Apostle Paul did and the other guys, they toil to exhaustion, not to earn salvation but because they're so thankful for salvation because God is to be glorified. And we are to give ourselves as loving sacrifices because that is our reasonable service. Are you willing to accept the reproach and to bear the burden of the grieve and to toil to the point of weariness? If I would paraphrase that difficult text, I'd say something like, I would gather together and hold close to my heart those agree for my church and labor for its sake, those who shame my heart for my church and are willing to bear the weight of its shame and brokenness as an offering to me. Psalm 69 verse 9 says, "Zil for your houses eaten me up." That's what God is calling us to. You would embrace it. "Zil for your house has eaten me up." "Zil that drives us to our knees, to intercession, and to sacrifice." Are you willing? Are you willing? Let's love the church like Christ loves her. Which means we deal with her very sensitively. We accept her weaknesses. In a way different than what we would if it could be an institution we could point fingers to all people that would make mistakes and we could point, it just speaks to a different attitude. The way I would engage your bride if I know that she's good weaknesses. And the way you, as a husband, would appreciate me, if I, what way would you appreciate me to do that? To pray for her, to grieve with you before God, if you would so share that with me, to love her and see what God is seeing prophetically and to celebrate that and to, like, that would be better. And then, to find your place, to say, "Oh, God, I'll sign up to serve. I will find my place. I want to serve because it's part of my identity." And I know that I'm called to it. Your words, it makes it very clear so how can this little ligament work? And are we willing to bear her brokenness? Chris, it is our own brokenness. Chris, it is our own body that we are a part of. Are you willing to bear that and to experience the closeness of God? And all of this relates a lot to intimacy with Jesus. It relates a lot to him and his closeness to you. It does. Is that closeness there and maybe, is this maybe an obstacle for that closeness? Let's close our eyes. Father, I want to pray for all of us who have experienced hurt in your church and who needs healing from that hurt so that we can do what we should and what you've called us to do. I also pray for against an obsession with our hurt and a fence and I pray that we'd be able to see that it does, you are the one who died for it. And if we pray for the grace to see differently, to see how we can turn those things into burdens that we could bear for your glory and for the sanctification of your church, change it in our eyes and call our hearts close to what your heart is being for when it comes to church. God, I pray that we would not wash out our mouths about other churches or our own, but that we deal with it sensitively as it is your bride, that we speak to you about her and to the other people that you have, that you are keeping close to those who also grieve and deweep for her, that we would share with them and with you, I pray for that. As we sit this morning, if you realize that you just, you need to respond to this message somehow. Just, let's all close our eyes. I just want to create a moment where we just take a knowledge of this and we don't let it pass. Because sometimes when we have to deal with very important things, it's easy for us to just kind of let it pass. And our soul that doesn't want to engage with it, just as blah, blah, blah, blah until the service is over and then we forget about it as soon as we can. But let's make a moment right now. If you know in your heart of heart that there's something, you need to respond to that I've shared. Do help yourself and raise your hand as a sign of that with every eye close. It's not about anything at the ICU or anyone else. It's just you recognizing a moment. Are you grieving for her? Do you love her? You're willing to bear where you serve her? (silence) Father, I thank You for each one of us, Father, who just, for raising our hands, just made it clear, just responded to You, and said, "Lord, I recognize there's something. I pray, Father, that Your Word would have its full effect on each one of our hearts in this space. Show us Your heart, if You will. Show us how You've gifted us to botake. Heal us where we are, hurt and offended by things. And Father, accept our repentance where we might have become familiar with Your church. Think that we've been here for so long, we know all the ins and outs, and we can become familiar with Your bride. Pray that You would accept our repentance, Lord. You would hold us close once again as we embrace her." If the worship team can come to the front I would love to just create a moment for us to each one of us just to engage God, we're going to worship but I need you to engage God on this. Just talk it out with them, if you sing along with us that's great, if you're just with God on your own that's wonderful also. If you did raise your hand and you realized there's something in your heart you want to pray through, you want to ask leaders, small group leaders, you guys would please be at the back there where we do the ministry and as we worship please go there, don't just sit with yourself but if you know that you need to respond to something, go and confess it, go and talk to some just say this is the thing and pray a prayer of agreement with someone, please do that, don't just sit like that first they've been praying with someone prayer of agreement and say Lord this is what I want to say to you repent of and align towards whatever that might be.