Maintaining Sound Doctrine

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. Read each one in Jesus' name this evening. It is good to see you gathered together here again. And trust that the Lord will have His way as we have met together. But if there's one thing that I would like to especially impress upon you, it's some of the things we looked at the first evening with regard to how we interact with truth, principle, and application. [00:00:41] Let's always remember to begin with truth and go from there to principle and on to application. We use that as something of a foundation for the weekend And then last night we looked at some of the challenges that we're facing in our individual congregations Particularly related to the idea of individualism without brotherhood [00:01:11] Please turn with me in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 4 Last night we read the first six verses, and I think they were so fitting. However, tonight we're going to read those verses again, and we're going to keep on going a little longer. Ephesians chapter 4, verses 1 through 16. And I have to admit that I don't think that I can... [00:01:41] I've read this passage different times publicly, And I don't think I can ever read this passage without feeling a sort of sense of a tingling sensation when I understand anew or when I'm reading God's plan for His body, God's plan for His church. It is glorious. [00:02:12] And I hope none of us go from this place without at least a reminder of the beauty and the glory that God has vested in His people. And so, listen, and we'll make some comments afterwards. Paul writing here, he says, I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all loathiness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. [00:02:50] There is one body and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore, he says, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. [00:03:26] Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill all things. And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men. [00:04:16] and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things which is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working and the measure of every part, Make an increase of the body into the edifying of itself in love [00:04:47] Praise the Lord We won't be terribly thorough with this passage But there are some things I really do want to mention and highlight We talked about the importance in the life of the believer Of the grand unifying truth And that truth being, God is. God is. And verses 4, 5, and 6, there is one of a whole bunch of things. [00:05:22] There is one body, one spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father who is above all and through all and in you all. There's one. There's one. And it is in that one that God's children find unity. There is one. But I take note in verse 7. It says, in spite of there being one God, but unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. [00:06:07] And you and I probably don't understand exactly how much grace we need. I don't, I don't think. But the one who's in the dispensing business, he's got it all figured out. Unto every one of us is given grace. To what degree? According to the measure of the gift of Christ. Christ, sufficient grace to be who God wants us to be, who Christ wants us to be. [00:06:45] And now skipping down to verse 11 and following, and he gave some. First of all, I would like to ask, who did he give these gifts to? And maybe to call them gifts is a little bit of a misnomer, but I don't think so in the broad sense of the word. Maybe we're not talking about spiritual gifts per se, but certainly these are gifts. [00:07:18] Each person has received the gift in verse 7, but then gifts are given severally. Now, I was at an ordination one time when, after the brother was ordained, the presiding elder had the brother, I think it was after everything was done and everybody was seated, he said, Okay, you brothers stand up again. And he spoke to the congregation and he said, Church, receive your gift. And I thought, that's helpful. [00:07:56] God gives gifts to the church. For the Edahun, we'll see that. But these gifts are given to the body of Christ. And there's different ones mentioned. Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastor teachers. And why did he give these gifts to the body? Why did he give these gifts to the church? For the perfecting of the saints. And that perfecting, again, is an implication of completeness. [00:08:31] To complete the pieces that are needed. He gives these gifts to the body to make it complete. For the perfecting of the saints, to what end? So that they're attractive museum pieces? No. No, for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry and ministry, you know, means service. So these gifts are given to the church so that his people become equipped and complete and able to serve. Isn't that neat? [00:09:15] so that we can serve. He didn't give these gifts to make people look good or to make some people more important. But He did it so His people would be serving people. To equip us for service. Why? For the work of the ministry or for the work of service for the edifying of the body of Christ. [00:09:49] God, you know, this idea of His body, the church, it was His to start with. And He knows that when we serve each other, when we serve others, then the body is built up. It's just the way it works. For the edifying of the body of Christ. And this is where my spine tingles. You heard Glenn talk about we should bear the, we want to bear the image of our Maker. We want to bear the image of Christ. [00:10:20] What does it say in verse 13? Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto what? Unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Now, I don't know, brothers and sisters, how you understand that verse. But I used to think that it's talking about something that I'm not sure I can quite get to. [00:10:51] We're talking about a perfect man. But you know, let's not lose sight of that first phrase, because when I understood that, I understood it in a different way. Till we all come. Do you suppose, brothers and sisters, that what he's actually talking about is when God gives brother A a gift and sister B a gift, and brother C another gift, and each person brings what God has given to the brotherhood, then the brotherhood till we all come. [00:11:25] Now, the brotherhood can experience a measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ that none of us can by ourselves. Isn't that what it's talking about? When you bring what God has given you to the brotherhood, and I bring what God has given, We can, as a corporate entity, represent Christ in a fuller measure than any of us can by ourselves. [00:11:59] And I'm so glad I can be a part of that. Till we all come in the unity of the faith. and we as a body give a measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ in a way that none of us can do by ourselves. And of course, it's pretty important that we move beyond, at least individually, [00:12:30] and I hope as groups as well, But we move on to a level of stability, to a measure of stability where we aren't immature children that are tossed about and tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine. When God gifts, it is to the end that his children mature. That brotherhoods that we're a part of, there's going to be variety in our brotherhoods as far as personal maturity. [00:13:07] But even that brotherhoods mature. And frankly, don't you think that one of the beautiful designs of brotherhood, the security and safety of a body of Christ, To fellowship with and to be accountable with Is a safeguard from deception False doctrine, false teaching The things that are talked about in verse 14 See, God doesn't want us to be carried around [00:13:39] With these, with these He doesn't want us to wallow in instability So he's given us congregations to help safeguard us from some of those pressures. Obviously, there's limits to this. But I believe that his church, those congregations he's placed us in, is part of the picture, part of his plan for offering us stability so that we become mature and aren't carried around. [00:14:14] And so that when we all work together, we're able to experience, in verse 16, a fluid, effectual, and by effectual I mean a successful, something that works, a fluid and effectual joint effort. and it's, you know, it's kind of hard to improve actually on what it said in verse 16. This type of growth and increase happens in the context of love. [00:14:47] From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted or held together by that which every joint supplieth according to the effectual or effective working in the measure of every part. everyone doing his job and his part that maketh increase or growth maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself edifying is building up again of itself in love I'm just, I'm profoundly grateful [00:15:19] that the Lord in his providence and his goodness saw fit to provide me with a congregation that I can call home. My salvation isn't being a part of Cornerstone Mennonite Church. No way. But you see, there's some brothers in the church that I belong to who are observant and more sensitive to some types of dangers than I am. And you know, probably to be fair, [00:15:52] I'm a little more sensitive to some other types of dangers than others are. But when we bring what God has given us to the body, there's tremendous blessing. Tremendous blessing. Now, how should you and I relate to other congregations? You have a different situation here than I'm familiar with. [00:16:23] And for those of you who don't know, I might just give you a little bit of where I'm coming from. We live in southeast Kansas. Within the last six months there were two weddings in our church. The first weddings in the history of the congregation. It was an exciting time for us. And both of those weddings constituted the establishing of a new home in our church. [00:17:00] And so now there are eight households in our church. And we're happy about that. The Lord has blessed us. When we moved to southeast Kansas between six and seven years ago, We were the only Anabaptist group for about, we had to go about 45 minutes to an hour to find any other Anabaptist group. There's a Holoman group about an hour west of us, and about 45 minutes to an hour southeast of us is Fairland, Oklahoma, where there's a Bethel Fellowship congregation. [00:17:39] So, we felt sort of alone and the situation is such that any time that we as a congregation did anything with any other congregation, it meant that we were doing something with a non-Mennonite, non-Anabaptist group. And so the people there, the churches were very open, very welcoming to us And we cultivated some level of interaction [00:18:11] We felt sort of like we were finding our way It still does in some ways I think we've been able to understand some things But it's different than it is here with seven congregations within Somewhat reasonable proximity And so, I'm not sure if I'm qualified the best to tell you how you ought to be relating to other congregations of similar persuasion [00:18:44] Or of other congregations maybe who might be different than you But we'd like to look at a few things I will say that since we moved there, there's been two Amish settlements that have moved in One about 20 or 25 miles northwest of us and one about 10 miles south of us. And so we aren't the only Anabaptist people around anymore. I'm going to be making some comments that apply, I think, generally to personal relationships. [00:19:20] And I think some of them apply to relationships within congregations. and sometimes these things apply to relationships between congregations. People are individuals and people have strengths and weaknesses. I just do not talk about my weaknesses, but I got plenty. We all have strengths and weaknesses. You know, I think our congregations do too. Thank you. I've learned to, I believe, appreciate some of the blessings of a small congregation since we moved. There's some strength there. But it's not all romantic. It's not all thrills and chills. There's some hard work that goes along with that kind of close relationship. [00:20:12] And so I'm just here to say I think there's some weaknesses too. I'm not offering to trade with any of you, but I just think we need to be honest enough to say that, and I was just talking about size, but that our churches have personalities and our churches do have strengths and weaknesses. And whereas people benefit in some measure from relating to others, I think there can be some benefit when some churches relate with each other. [00:20:48] Now I would like to, as I understand correctly, and it's not clear that in Ephesians 4, that passage that I read, That he is only talking about the local body. There may be areas that applies to the greater body of Christ. However, I understand that God in his providence has placed in our little congregation all that I need to live a godly life. [00:21:31] And I would like to suggest that it is the extreme exception, if that's not your case too, that God is in his goodness, in his sovereignty, has placed those gifts in the congregation you attend that are necessary for his program to go on there. He knows what we need more than we know what we need. [00:22:06] And so in spite of the strengths and weaknesses, what is necessary for the furtherance of His program, generally speaking, is necessary there. Now, sometimes you and I, or congregations like ours, I should say, sometimes we tend to operate with a little bit of an inferiority complex. Like we're sort of apologetic for who we are and what we stand for, etc., etc. But I would like to remind us that I do believe that we, in terms of non-Mennonite people, in terms of the Church of America, the church in our communities, certainly do have a lot to offer. [00:22:48] And while there's much we can learn from others, we do have a lot to offer. If I'm not mistaken, I believe that the concept of the separation of church and state That is something that our country holds fairly near and dear But that was basically is something that we owe to the Anabaptists You see, the reformers that broke away from the Catholic Church in the early 1500s [00:23:19] Anabaptists did not make a clean break from the state church. And the Anabaptists felt that they didn't go far enough. Maybe an overstatement, but not very much. So I do believe that our stream of faith does have something to offer. It was, I believe, a year and a half ago that some of us people attended a conference at Heston College. One weekend, and actually we were, some of us from, some of us beachies were asked to participate. [00:23:58] David Yoder had a workshop, and this was an Anabaptist vision and discipleship series. And he had a workshop, and the title of his workshop was Brotherhood Discernment. And so, interesting, fascinating, this workshop, the several times it ran, was packed by Heston College students, and Heston College is a Mennonite college with a lot of similarities to Goshen College, I believe, but it was packed with students and community people. [00:24:35] And this idea of a brotherhood being able to sit together and process issues together and come to a position, a united position, come to a position where we will stand together on this issue. Brotherhood discernment. That whole idea was a novel concept there. And the people, this class, this room was filled with Bontraggers and Millers and Schrocks and all those good Mennonite names. [00:25:12] But somehow, and many of them one or two generations removed from a group that's sitting here today. But this idea that a brotherhood can sit together and work together and process that God speaks His will through the body, not just through individuals, was kind of a novel concept. And I took note of that. I believe that you and I, you and I have, certainly we have things we can learn from our neighbors. [00:25:48] But we have something to offer. Sometimes our congregations experience peer pressure. Sometimes our congregations exert peer pressure. The one kind of Amish church that moved in about 10 miles south of us, we really appreciate them. They're a real asset to the community. And as far as we can tell, have high values and are a real blessing. Our school children one time decided, or some of the ones in charge decided that our school children should go on a field trip. [00:26:27] And so that field trip, we went down to Glenn Yutze's farm and watched him shoe horses. And it was an educational experience. After the horse was shod, the children got a ride on his wagon and it was a good time. And in making arrangements for this field trip, one of the things that we inquired about Now, would it be okay if after we're done at Lanyutsis, if the children and the moms that are with them, if they would go over to the Amish school and eat lunch with the children? [00:27:09] And so we asked about that and said, well, we'll get back to you on that point. And they came back and said, yes, that would be fine. Now, we're not necessarily eager that that happens often. It doesn't have to happen every year, but once in a while that's fine. You know, there's something that just didn't occur to me, to some of us, is that they were, I think, just a little bit nervous about peer pressure. [00:27:45] And I'm not sure that it was entirely inappropriate. We might sort of smile, but I thought of my own experience. I went to a public school growing up, and when I looked at a yearbook in the last year and a half or two years, there were I think a hundred and dozen or fifteen students in this school, and I counted, and I think three of the students, if I remember right, three of the students were not in the public school. [00:28:17] Either Amish, Meachie, or conservative Mennonite. So they were almost all Anabaptist students at this public school. And as I remember, as I reflect on my time at school, I felt zero peer pressure from my Amish classmates and friends. We got along fine, but I felt zero peer pressure from them. But there were times that I went home for the night with some of my conservative friends and classmates [00:28:52] And I kind of got into things I wasn't supposed to do I experienced some peer pressure I didn't handle it the best, quite frankly Not aware that there were any gross moral violations But I certainly did things I knew I wasn't supposed to do So, I understand that peer pressure generally pulls just about only one direction. See, our dear Amish neighbors understood, I think, that it wasn't going to be threatening to us to interact with them, but it might feel a little different to them. [00:29:34] So I think we as churches do well when we draw the line at different places and we interact together to, at the very least, cultivate an awareness of some of these dynamics. To cultivate an awareness of some of these dynamics. Now, I had, as I mentioned, I had zero reservations about relating to our Amish neighbors. either growing up or now [00:30:05] but that's not the way I feel about some of our area churches the Oswego, Oswego is the name of the town we live in the Oswego Ministerial Alliance meets regularly and that's simply the pastors in town pastors of the churches in town get together and they talk about things that we want to do together They talk about, they talk about, well there are some things that get done together and it's just been a little tough for me to know exactly how to understand what the best level is to relate to those people. [00:30:46] Because we're not interested in not having anything to do with them We understand that there's things we can learn from them And I think there's things they can learn from us And probably the best way to be salt and light is not to stay in the shaker all the time And not to stay hidden behind the lampshade all the time So there's some level of interaction I think is okay But just for an example, well I'll just say this. We help with a joint Thanksgiving service. We participate in that with the other churches. But most of the things we don't, for instance, during the summertime it's tough for these churches to get a crowd on Sunday evening. [00:31:36] It seems like there's just too many, too much competition. And so, somebody came up with the idea, why don't we all get together and have church in the park together Sunday evening? That's kind of a nice idea. And, well, hmm, what's the best way for us to think about something like that? Tell you the truth, we don't even have church Sunday evening. So we couldn't use that as an excuse that we got our own program. [00:32:12] That's something we've kept from our Amish heritage is we don't have church Sunday evenings. Well, we started talking about how this was all going to be. And so, well, there's about eight or nine churches. And let's do this for the months of June and July. And let's have each church take turns planning an evening. Well, you know, if we could be in charge of an evening, that might be okay. But you know, Stan and I, fellow pastors, we felt a little check in our spirit. We just weren't quite sure. And so we said, you know, we're going to pass this year. We might come sometimes, but we're going to pass. [00:32:48] And, but then, probably the thing that confirmed to us in the most clear way that we probably wouldn't be participating was when we understood that the one time that they had church in the park, and this church is kind of, I admit that having church in the park is a little bit of a using some editorial license I think for what goes on [00:33:18] because they get together and somebody might read a scripture and have a few comments and then we have refreshments and then we etc. etc. But the Christian church decided that when they have church in the park the way that they will have it is we'll get together and anybody that wants to especially the children can go swimming in the pool and then we can have devotions around the pool afterwards for church in the park. So, just that much to say that there comes a time when we just somehow can't go there. [00:33:57] We can't go there. So I do have some reservations about the peer pressure that we may be experiencing with too much interaction on that level. Now, another principle that I think is good for us to keep in mind, and some of these aren't maybe very closely connected, but I don't know if the scripture rings a bell for you or not, but John 21, verses 21 and 2, Peter, he turned around and he saw John and he asked Jesus, [00:34:31] Now, what's John supposed to be doing? And do you remember how Jesus answered him? He said, now, and this is my word, don't worry about him, you follow me. And so I believe that that's a worthwhile principle for us to consider. That we do have primary responsibility and we have primary loyalty. And that is with us and ourselves and our congregations. [00:35:03] You don't worry about him. Your job is to follow me. Okay? I'm going to read a few verses in 1 Timothy chapter 6. Just to highlight, I'm going to mention another couple of scriptures as well. But 1 Timothy 6 verses 3 through 6 Let's talk about false teachers. 1 Timothy 6 verse 3 says, If any man teach otherwise, and by the way, the way that they should be taught, I'm skipping and that's maybe not the best, so I'm jumping in here, mid-thought. [00:35:41] But if any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness he is proud knowing nothing but doting about questions and strifes of words whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth supposing that gain is godliness from such withdraw thyself [00:36:12] but godliness with contentment is great gain See, Paul's talking about a situation where false teaching happens. There's a lot of bad stuff goes on. Perverse disputings and etc. and etc. Strife, envy, railings, evil surmisings. A lot of bad things happen. And one of the hallmarks of these false teachers is supposing that gain is godliness. [00:36:44] Does that sound familiar to you? Does that sound like the prosperity gospel? And what are we supposed to do about these teachers? From such, withdraw thyself. Matthew 18 talks about the erring brother. The unrepentant brother should be treated like a heathen man and a publican. And I'm not a Jew, so I probably don't understand the full import, impact of those words. [00:37:18] But I know the Jews weren't real fond of either one. The common Jews, the publicans were Jews actually. Now wait a minute, I think I said that wrong. They weren't fond of either one. 1 Corinthians 5, the exhortation is to remove the leaven of sin from the body. And I'm just citing these scriptures to point out that there is a clear principle that at some point we remove ourselves and may I add that probably the level of our response when we're encountering these things correlates at least somewhat to our level of responsibility. [00:37:59] So we respond a little differently to these things if they're present within our own congregation than if they're someone who makes no profession of Christianity. And we probably respond a little differently if they're in our own congregation than if they're in a neighboring congregation. I don't know. But probably there is some difference in our response based on our level of accountability, level of responsibility. See, there's different levels of interaction that we experience among congregations, at least a couple of different levels. [00:38:32] And I talked the other evening, I think, about the fact that it's pretty easy for us, it's pretty easy for us to experience fellowship with many different professing Christians. that agreeing on some basic ideas of truth having a little something in common is often enough for fellowship and we do experience some degree of fellowship with our neighboring churches in Oswego, Kansas not a huge lot [00:39:03] but there is some fellowship and we appreciate them in some ways we do however there's another level of fellowship that where we as congregations among congregations We reach for guidance. We reach for direction. We reach for accountability. And that's a different level of relating. It goes beyond fellowship. That involves give and take. That involves some investment. That involves more than simply getting together and fellowshipping. [00:39:40] And so I think that our level of, I think we'd agree that our level of interaction with other groups of believers will depend on, you know, where we find ourselves on that continuum will find ourselves, will depend on a number of things as well. One of those is, this I think applies in personal relationships and I think it applies in congregational situations. But it has to do partly with the cost of the relationship. You heard me say, those of you who are here, you heard me say that deference builds brotherhood. [00:40:18] Relationships that cost me something are those that I value the most. Sometimes that cost is in time. I think that can be true on a congregational level. There's a young man, this isn't a congregational example, but it's a personal example. There's a young man coming to church, he's about my age, age 44, he's divorced, and he's, I think he's, I don't know exactly the condition of his heart, [00:40:49] but I believe he's trying to respond to the knowledge that he has. He's been attending for about a year now, and he told me not too long ago, he said, you know, I feel kind of jealous of you folks, because he said, we sit in Sunday school and we talk, and different of the men, they cite scriptures from other parts of the Bible, and I don't know what you're talking about. I feel like I need some orientation. I feel like I need some, I need to know how to study the Bible. [00:41:34] And so after talking about it some more, I offered to him that we could go through together, we could go through firm foundations. And I'm not sure if any of you have heard of that Bible study, it's put out by New Tribes Missions. Some things really good about it, some things that are good, some things that are really good. It's a 50 course lesson that studies the Bible chronologically, begins in Genesis, spends a lot of time laying the foundation of Genesis and goes on through Christ. [00:42:13] In fact, I taught it in Spanish in El Salvador to the school students when I was there. And so I have a lot of appreciation for the material. Anyhow, he said, yeah, let's do that. Let's do that. Well, next thing is let's find a time. Well, when's a good time? And the best time for Jay and I to meet, for him, is Saturday morning. I don't know how it goes with you, but Saturday mornings are sort of prime time for me. [00:42:50] Sometimes Brenda and I like to go on a coffee date on Saturday morning. Leave the children in bed and go to the coffee shop and drink coffee and have a good time. But that's when it works for Jay to have Bible study. So that's what we've done. We've only met three or four times yet. You know, I told Brenda, you know, Jay doesn't feel like a project. He's a friend. And you know why? It's because there's been some, the cultivation of the relationship has come at some cost. I'll just admit that. [00:43:23] But that's the way it is with us as congregations, isn't it? As individuals, that those relationships that require an investment from you and I are the ones that we tend to value the most. The level of saying our interaction will also depend on how much we have in common with other congregations. With the level of community that we cultivate, If there's not much sense of community, there probably won't be a huge level of interaction, a huge level of commonality. [00:44:04] But community assumes at least four things, I would like to propose. And it implies that we share four things. It implies that we share proximity. And by the way, but for this reason, virtual community isn't. Virtual community is more virtual than it is community and listen, community implies four things. It implies proximity. It implies that we share some space. That we live close together. And close is a relative term. [00:44:41] But it implies proximity. Community implies that we share a vision, a common vision for the future. Community implies that we share a common experience. And community implies that we share context. Those are the essentials for community to exist. And so, I believe that the level of community that we experience as sister churches is going to, in some measure, determine the level of interaction that we have. [00:45:19] And we talked the first evening about how we begin with truth, and we go to principle, and we go on to application. and the further we can go along on that continuum and stay together the more we have in common and the more our relating together will be a the more we will tend to relate together. I think it just stands to reason the more, the stronger the relationship the more that there can be in common in terms of truth [00:45:51] principle and application the more useful that relationship will be to give guidance, direction, and accountability. Jesus told a story I might just mention I'm only going to mention because we won't be going there but I do think that a huge resource that we have in our brotherhoods, number one And in a community of congregations like this, we have huge resources at our disposal for conflict resolution. [00:46:34] And if any of you would like to see, I have a document here that I adapted entitled Agreeing and Disagreeing in Love that I think is really key. I actually am going to just run down here real quick. Making every effort to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. Ephesians 4 that I just read. Ephesians 4.3 As members of the body of Christ, we by His grace will accept conflict. And we talked about conflict last night in reading Romans chapter 14. [00:47:07] Differences in opinion, differences in understanding. You should forbear. You should defer. Those are what we call conflicts. We will accept conflict. We will acknowledge together that conflict is a normal part of life in the church. We will affirm hope. We will affirm that as God walks with us in conflict, we can work through to growth. We will give ourselves to prayer and there are scriptures with each one of these. We will go to the other in the spirit of humility We will own our own part in the conflict instead of pointing out others [00:47:40] We will be quick to listen We will be slow to judge We will be willing to negotiate We will be steadfast in love We will be open to mediation We will trust the community We trust the community and if we cannot reach agreement or experience reconciliation We will turn the decision over to others in the congregation or from the broader church. We will be the body of Christ. We will believe in and rely on the solidarity of the body of Christ [00:48:12] and its responsibility to live in peace rather than resort to the courts of law. Brothers and sisters, when you and I experience disagreements in our congregation, our neighbors who are watching us expect us to do different than them. They don't expect us to fight. They don't expect us to wind up in the courts to settle our disagreements. They don't expect us to act that way. They don't expect us to act like they do. [00:48:44] May you and I not neglect the tremendous blessing that God has given us by being part of congregations. Jesus told a story about a man who gave talents to some of his servants. Some got more and some got less. But what determined the success of those servants wasn't how many they got or how few they got. [00:49:16] The success was simply what they did with what they had. And I hope, brothers and sisters, that tonight you have been impressed with the blessing and the treasure that is yours to belong to a congregation where God has given gifts for your maturity. To the good stewards, Jesus said, well done, well done thou given faithful servant. [00:49:50] Enter into the joy of my Lord. Let's pray. Oh Father, you've been so good to us. You've blessed us with many, many, many spiritual blessings. And part of those blessings is that we have the opportunity to go together with other believers who are concerned about following you. You have given gifts to others in the church for the perfecting of your body [00:50:21] so that we as a group can reflect your likeness in a way that none of us can do on our own. And it makes us feel inadequate in some way to be a part of that grand design. But we just say thank you for your plan. Thank you for the resources that you have invested in the congregation that I belong to. in the congregation that each person here belongs to. And, Lord, we want to be appropriate stewards of those blessings and those riches [00:50:59] that you've so graciously bestowed on us. We're looking forward to that day when we'll be invited into your kingdom. We just want to live today in a way that enables us to hear those summons. Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of thy Lord. It's in his name we pray. Amen.