For Love of the Church #2

0:00Welcome to the Truth Pulp It with Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Hello again, I'm Bill Wright. It is our joy to continue our commitment to teaching God's people, God's Word. Today, Don is continuing with the second part of a message we started last time. So let's get right to it. Open your Bible as we join Don now in the Truth Pulp It. Look, the longer I go in preaching, the more I repeat myself, the more I want to emphasize similar themes again and again, because I just really believe that that's how they get down into our hearts for us, and they start to change us and define our very character. And so some of this isn't going to be new at all. The Christ taught the preeminence of love in his own words. What did he say the greatest commandment was? Mark chapter 12 verse 30, you can also see it in Matthew 22.

1:05You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. Now, just in light of that beloved, just in light of that great commandment focusing specifically on the second one, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, just from that general principle. It should be obvious to us that we should not be choosing a church that's simply based on who caters to us with the best coffee with the best Wi-Fi with the best light show. And what makes me happy and what do I want? Do you see how when that is the presupposition, the approach, and what am I going to get out of this? Beloved, what you see in that is that it is the exact antithesis of what the Spirit of Christ and his church is, and what led to it.

2:13Christ gave Himself, and now we have cultivated and we have conditioned people over decades to come to the church saying, what have you got for me? There is nothing that could be a greater reversal of the Spirit of what the body of Christ is supposed to be like than that. People coming with selfish motivations for what they can get out of it. It's entirely mixed up. Jesus set the priority on love amongst His disciples in the gospel of John chapter 13. Turn there with me if you would. John chapter 13 verses 34 and 35. And Jesus just lays it out. He says in verse 34,

3:14Even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. The context in which Jesus is saying these words is what is known as the Last Supper. In this context, He washes humbly His disciples feet. He leaves from there to go knowingly to hand Himself over to Roman authorities, knowing that Judas was betraying Him, knowing that He was on the verge of going to the cross. And in that context of humble sacrifice, giving Himself for love of His disciples, Jesus says, you love each other like I've shown you how to do it. With humility, with the other person's interests in mind. Look over it, John 15 verse 12.

4:15This wasn't a one time isolated out of context passage here. And John 15 verse 12, you see how urgently important this is to Christ. And I just read what He's saying here in light of what was on His mind and what was immediately in His future. And it just becomes even more poignant, even more pressing upon in its demands upon our conscience, realizing that in the midst of the greatest self-active self-sacrifice, this is what He is speaking to His disciples. John 15 verse 12, He says, this is my commandment that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, greater love has no one than this that one lay down his life for his friends.

5:15He's giving his life, he's laying it down. He said, you're my friends, if you do what I command you, no longer do I call you slaves for the slave does not know what his master is doing. But I've called you friends for all things that I've heard from my father I've made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit and that your fruit would remain so that whatever you ask of the father in my name, He may give to you. And then He circles back and He concludes that section saying, this I command you that you love one another. You see, beloved, when we talk about love for each other within the body of Christ, we're not trying to manipulate people to do something that they don't want to do. We're not interested in that at all. What we're trying to be faithful to is the fact that Christ says this is the way it is with my people. And we can't diminish that, qualify it, excuse the lack of it without being disobedient to Christ because He said, this is my commandment.

6:25I command you to love one another. It's there, there for place and around not only of understanding, but in the volitional obedience in response to the one who gave Himself for us. His example and His teaching, His death, His life, the whole package of Christ shows us that there is to be this giving of ourselves in the context of the church. The New Testament epistles, Romans through Jude. The New Testament epistles confirm what we're saying here, illustrate it, and command this love with the famous, what are called the one and others. The one and others. And so it would be a very right and fair question at this time for you to say, okay, I get it.

7:31Love and giving of ourselves, what does that look like, what does that mean? Well, far better than me trying to illustrate it with human examples from the 21st century, far better to see what the Spirit of God who recorded all of Scripture for us, how He takes and applies that in the context of relationships within a local church. And so what does love in the church look like? Here's five to start with. Love one another. Live in harmony with one another. Welcome one another. Instruct one another. Care for one another. Romans 12, 10, verse 16, Romans 15, 7, and 14, 1 Corinthians 12, verse 25. And what you see is that there is this mutuality that takes place in the context of relationships that assumes that there is interaction and presence with one another.

8:41And this is what is happening in the context of relationships within the body of Christ. This is how we do it with one another. This is what it looks like. The great J.C. Ryle said this. And I love the practical tender nature of this man's words. He said and I quote, and listen carefully beloved, those of you especially that might be prone to being critical of the failures of people that you see in a local church. Hear what he says. Those of you that perhaps are tempted to have a superior attitude toward others that haven't attained your elevated level of sanctification. Hear what this man says. This pastor from the 19th century.

9:42He said and I quote, Our Lord has many weak children in his family. Many doll students in his school. Many raw soldiers in his army. Many lame sheep in his flock. Yet Christ bears with them all and casts none away. Happy is that Christian who has learned to do likewise with his brethren. But there's more. There's more. As you go on in these one and others, you see Scripture telling us to serve one another, Galatians 5.13. To bear one another's burdens, Galatians 6.2. To bear with one another in love Ephesians 4.2. To be kind to one another, Ephesians 4.32.

10:46To forgive one another, Ephesians 4.32. Relationships, presupposing that you get wronged and nicked along the way. Love, be kind, be forgiving. Bear with each other in your weaknesses and in your faults. What does it mean to love one another? John MacArthur says this about the one and others. He said by putting these directives into practice, God's people edify the body of Christ and exemplify the love of Christ to a watching world. Close quote. It's relational. It's a giving of yourself. But there's more. There's more. It goes on to say, Scripture does address one another in songs Ephesians 5.19.

11:49Count others as more significant than yourself Philippians 2.3. By the way, these quotations are from the English standard version for the sake of some consistency. Do not lie to one another, Colossians 3.9. Encourage one another for Celestialonians 4.18, 5.11. Seek to do good to one another for Celestialonians 5, verse 15. What does it mean to love one another in the context of the body of Christ? You're starting to see from Scripture how multifaceted and various colors the painting is. This is profound. And it is profoundly relational. And it assumes commitment to one another over the course of time. The Theologian Bruce Mell says this.

12:53He says the unity of life in Christ should express itself in genuine and tangible care for and commitment to one another. But there's still more. Just the extensive number of these has a collective impact on us that goes beyond the individual statements. And so there's still more. I have just read 15 and there's still more. Somehow this must be important to God and important to Christ. You get it? This must be important because it's said in these ways so many times. I'm not angry. I'm just being emphatic for the sake of Christ. It goes on and says Scripture does stir up one another to love and good works. Hebrews 10.24.

13:59Confess your sins to one another. James 5.16. Pray for one another. James 5.16. But there's more. Keep loving one another. First Peter 4.8. Show hospitality to one another. First Peter 4.9. Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another. First Peter 5.5. That's 21. I'll stop there. What does it mean to love one another in the context of the body of Christ? Charles Spurgeon says this. He says the church is not perfect but woe to the man who finds pleasure in pointing out her imperfections. Christ loved his church and let us do the same.

15:05As I was preparing all of these things I thought back to when I was back in California in a much different kind of position. We lived a quite a ways from the church. It was not convenient to get there morning service, evening service. Time for an evening service came and I did not want to go. I had an idea of what was going to be preached. That's not going to be relevant to me. I don't want to go and tire. It's been a long day. It's a drive down and a drive back and I just want to stay home. I know that none of you have ever felt that way about coming to church. But I have. You're all ahead of me I guess. But we went. And as we're driving down my attitude hadn't gotten any better along the way. We got there and I'll never forget what happened that particular night and probably happened on more than one occasion.

16:09But I remember there's this sweet woman widow in her 80s probably at the time sitting alone. She knew me. She had heard me teach. She appreciated me. And I went over and I sat down and I just talked to her. She was really encouraged by that. She responded to it. She told me you know words to the effect of I'm just so glad you came. This really meant a lot for me for you to spend the time with me. A few minutes there and you know went back to my seat. That was so convicting. I had framed the whole night about what was in it for me had decided nothing was and nearly didn't go. And then I realized that the whole point of me going that night was not for my sake. It was for hers. I needed to give of myself to her. There was an aspect of encouragement to her and that point in her life that God had appointed me to do.

17:14Such a shame that I won't get any return or any eternal reward for that. Because my attitude was so rotten about it. But there you go. And in that little microscopic microcosm of it beloved that's part of what I'm trying to say. You see our whole attitude of what's going to be in this for me today is entirely misguided and entirely contrary to the spirit of the New Testament and to what Christ did for us. There's this giving of self and maybe even if you don't want to be here, maybe there's something that you have to give to somebody else who does. And then I'm not just talking about whether you come to one service or not. That's not my point at all. It's about a whole mindset about how do I think about the church? And that becomes even more specific in application when we think about church membership.

18:14Now beloved, let me make a couple of things really clear at the start. You need to understand everything I'm about to say from here on out through this prism. Church membership is voluntary. Church membership is voluntary. We don't compel people to become members. In fact, the truth of the matter is, it's good for you to know this, that many, many, many times people have come to our church initially excited about it. Say, I want to become a member right now. And my attitude and my counsel to them all the time in that is, is friend, you need to wait. Take your time. Get to know us. Let us get to know you. Don't be in a hurry here because church membership is serious. And you might find after the initial enthusiasm wears off that maybe you find out that you don't think our church is for you. A lot of times they move on to other places and that's fine.

19:14That's fine. We don't want anyone here that doesn't truly want to be here. Okay, it's so important for you to understand that. Church membership is voluntary and it's certainly not compulsory from the elders, not at all. But beloved wants church membership has been embraced once you have given yourself to a church. The biblical requirement is that you love that church. You give of yourself to that church. And somehow beloved. And this is why I felt like I needed to say this, what I'm going to say over these next couple of minutes. Somehow people miss this. They miss the most fundamental basic idea of things. In fact, many people miss it. And I'm speaking about principles here, not people in what I'm about to say.

20:15We're talking about principles for your upbuilding, not to criticize decisions that other people have made in past times. We're talking about the future spirit of our church going forward in a position of understanding, understanding it by the positive precepts of Scripture and reinforcing that by some places where it's been missed. And so this is what happens over the course of years in a local church, seen it with my own eyes. People become members and then literally leave the church a few weeks later. Where is love in that? Perhaps they stay for a while, but then they leave without warning. They send an email in the middle of the night. I'm out of here.

21:15And you look at that and you say, but I thought we loved each other. I thought we loved each other. And you're just walking away and you didn't say anything beforehand. That there was a problem or that there was some dissatisfaction. Where's the love in that? Wow. I thought we loved each other. Some will run at the first sign of accountability. Others flat out say, no. When you ask for a meeting for reconciliation, friends here today. Do you see how those kinds of things and more violate biblical love? Not for me if you see that. Do you see it? Do you see how that is a violation of biblical love? The love that gives of self?

22:15Look, it's not that people can't leave once they become members. People retire, people relocate. You know, it's not about that at all. It's not that you come in and you can't go out. People will come and go. My point here is not about leaving at all. My point here is about loving. It's about giving yourself to the people of Christ, whom you publicly promised in the presence of God that you would love. That's what we're talking about. I have to say these things for the sake of Christ. It's His Church. Somebody has to say it. Now, just to be real clear in terms of where I'm coming from with you that are here this morning. If those people had stayed, you know what they would have done?

23:15They would have learned love from many of you. They would have learned it from you by the way that you are living your life in the context of truth community church. Absolutely. Maybe they don't see it from me. They'd see it from you. They could have learned love of the church from you who consistently attend, despite the personal difficulties of all of the traveling convenience. They'd learned the love of Christ. They'd learned the love of the church from people like you. They'd learn from you. They'd learn from the woman who consistently shows up with meals for the sick and insists on no recognition in return. They'd learn about the love of the church from you.

24:15They would learn from you who give of your earthly resources for the anonymous gifting to the private needs within the body. They'd learn from that. They'd say, oh, that's what the love of the church looks like. I get it. They'd learn from the internationally recognized scientist who freely gives his sparse time to pastoral care in the local body. They'd learn from him. They'd learn from a man like that what love of the church looks like. They'd learn from the young families that consistently bring their children to be with us on a consistent basis at our most inconvenient meeting times. They'd learn what love of the church looks like from you. They would learn from you. They would learn from our outstanding musicians,

25:18loaded choir members who refuse to take even a week off. They'd learn what love of the church looks like. They'd learn from you the men who have physically demanding jobs, working all day, worn out, and then come and initiate conversations with new people to show them welcome and concern for their well-being. They'd learn the love of the church from you. I have. And I'm pretty dull and stupid. They'd learn from the tender-hearted women with unbelieving husbands who long to be with God's people, to hear God's word. They'd come, they'd stay as long as they can, and then they hustle back to tend to those family responsibilities with mates who are not on the same page with them spiritually.

26:22They'd learn the love of the church from you. They would learn from you. The parents who come to worship the God who has still not answered. There are many prayers for the salvation of their wayward children. They would learn from you what love of the church looks like. You see, they would learn from you who came long distances, even relocated your families, relocated your house to be with a people who thought you could be with believers who shared in your convictions about the word of God. They'd learn what the love of the church looks like from you. You're teaching and you don't even know it. You're living this out and you're not even aware of it.

27:24That's the beauty of it. That's what happens when God's people love the church. They're lives testify to the great value of the people of God. They'd learn from you who establish hospitality again and again and again. And every new request is just a welcome opportunity to serve with gladness. They'd learn from you. Yeah, you see, you're living illustrations of the love I'm talking about. I could go on with those illustrations but you get my point. You give yourself. That's what we do in church membership. That's what we do with each other. We give of ourselves. Some have less time, less resources, less abilities to give than others who have a lot.

28:28Each one according to their means. It's not that there's a great at scale and the more time you spend, the more godly are. That's not the way it works at all. That's not it. There's this giving of yourself that I believe. Mark's life at truth community church. And I just want you to know I love you for it. What's the spirit of it all? How could we measure this? Well, let me end on this illustration from the life of Martin Lloyd Jones. That I've quoted in other contexts before. Some people are surprised to learn that Martin Lloyd Jones had risen to prominence as a medical doctor in London before he left the practice to enter Christian ministry. His decision to leave medicine was not lightly made.

29:29In fact, he later said it was a great struggle. There was a degree of attachment that he had to a doctor's lifestyle that he first had to lay aside. And in the midst of the struggle, Martin Lloyd Jones went to a theater performance with some of his friends. The glamour of the play, the theater and the surrounding city sites left many of them enchanted with the spectacular evening that they had shared together. But on that night, there was a different kind of attraction that captivated Martin Lloyd Jones' attention. When he left the theater after the conclusion of the performance in his own words. He said, a salvation army band came along playing some hymn tunes. And I knew that these were my people. I suppose I had enjoyed the play. But when I heard this band and the hymns, I said, these are my people.

30:34These are the people I belong to. And I'm going to belong to them, in quote. And what came on the heels of that was four decades of some of the best preaching since the times of the Apostle Paul. Because he gave himself to the people of God and to the Word of God. That supremely gifted man gave himself to God's people. And so, friends, I simply ask what about you? Do you give of yourself to God's people? Will you give of yourself to God's people? May God help us all to examine our hearts and respond righteously. Well, my friend, if today's broadcast has helped you,

31:37can I ask you for a simple favor in return? It's more important than you can in possibly a truth community. Please just go to our website, the truth.com. And tell us where you heard the broadcast. As we continue on, simple, I know, but it's really important for us. You can do that at the website under our contact us link. You may wonder whether such a simple act really matters, but I assure you that it does, because it helps us know that our resources are rightly placed to reach you in ministry. Thank you in advance for that little act of service to us. And again, that website is the truthpulpit.com. That's Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Thank you so much, friend, for listening to the truthpulpit. Join us again next time, as Don begins a new message. As we continue teaching God's people, God's Word on the truthpulpit.