NO PAIN NO CHURCH
I
continually stay committed to running and working out. I know that it is good
for me physically and psychologically. It gives me energy and builds endurance,
but it just hurts and reminds me I am not a 17 year old cross-country runner
anymore. Most of us have heard the old adage “No Pain, No Gain.” If I am to stay
in optimal running shape, there will be a certain level of pain. That adage is
true about most areas of life. If you want a great marriage, there will be
seasons of relational pain. If you want to raise godly kids, you will need to
lean into appropriate discipline and healthy boundaries. If you desire to excel
in your job, there will be some level of pain associated with getting the best
education and incorporating the best principles into your life. No Pain No Gain
is generally true.
Any
time you gather a group of people together, you are going to have a high
potential for pain. All of us have very different backgrounds,
personalities, preferences, genetic wiring, and spiritual understanding. We are
male and female. We are young and old. All this creates great opportunity, but
also great pain. Church hurts because conflict is always part of community on
this side of eternity; when you get a bunch of different people together, there
will be pain.
I WANT US TO BE
LIKE THE EARLY CHURCH
Do
you ever sit back and dream about the Good Old Days? When gas was only $1.00 a
gallon. You couldn’t be reached 24/7. We tend to have a skewed picture of the
past. If we could only go back to how church used to be, we would have no pain,
no struggles, and no conflict. The good old days of the church in biblical
times must have been some utopian experience. Was it? No, what we discover is
that Paul wrote a vast portion of the New Testament letters to the church to
help them resolve the pain, the conflict of church.
1
Corinthians 1:10-11
“I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be
no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and
thought. My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there
are quarrels among you.”
Galatians
1:6-7
“I
am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the
grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no
gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are
trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.”
Titus
1:10-11
“For
there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those
of the circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are ruining
whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach — and that for the
sake of dishonest gain.”
1
Thessalonians 5:12-13
“Now
we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over
you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love
because of their work. Live in peace with each other.”
These
are just a few of many verses that indicate conflict in the early church. It
ranges from personality conflicts, preferences over what preacher people liked,
theological and financial issues, to honesty, and issues over membership, to
name a few. The fact that church hurts has always and will always be true,
because church is a community, and authentic community is crazy hard.
WHY
NOT JUST FLEE FROM COMMUNITY?
If
church has always been so painful and messed up, why not just flee church? In
fact, one of the largest segments of Christians, growing every day in the
United States consists of those people who say they know and love Jesus, but
have given up on the church thing. Again, fleeing church is not a new thing. This
is addressed in Hebrews 10:24-25.
“And
let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good
deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of
doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day
approaching.”
For
multiple reasons, some believers had been wavering on gathering together as the
church. The author of Hebrews is clear in verse 25 that we must not give up
meeting together. You don’t give up on something unless it has become hard, and
for various reasons, from internal conflict to external persecution, some had
begun to flee the church. But fleeing the church is not an option, because you
can’t fulfill the mandate in the verses of spurring each other on toward love
and good deeds alone. You need community to have church. We flee way too easily.
For many, church becomes no different than shopping at Lowe’s. If you have a
bad experience at Lowe’s, you can always drive to Home Depot, and if that
becomes a painful reality you can drive to Menard’s. But church is different.
When
pain emerges in church, don’t flee, because if you do, you will miss out on the
true wonder, joy, intimacy and power of what Christ intended church to be. If
you flee, you miss out on church as community. Pain in church can be a reason
to get out of, dodge, become negative, participate in gossip, create an
undercurrent of bitterness, become disillusioned, or go church shopping. Or
pain in church can be an opportunity for personal and corporate growth. Communal
pain allows us to learn forgiveness, engage the ministry of reconciliation and
grow in humility.
The
bottom line is that if you stay at this or any church for a given amount of time,
you will experience pain. The pastor will disappoint you. One of our other
leaders will disappoint you. You won’t agree with every decision that is made. A
program that you love and think is core to the church will end. The music will
change. The church will get bigger or smaller. A close friend will leave the
church. Someone will offend you. A friendship will be broken. You won’t get the
call back. All your expectations won’t be met. This kind of thing will happen
because we are broken people on the pilgrimage called Christianity existing in
this community called church, and we are constantly leaking out the truth of
who we must be as Christians. Church will always have some level of emotional
and relational pain. Yet Jesus compels us to be unified even in the middle of
the pain of church.
JESUS PRAYED FOR YOU!
In
John, Jesus prayed for us, “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for
those who will believe in me through their message”! Never forget that Jesus prayed for you. That
is amazing. Jesus knew we would get upset in church community; he knew we would
be discouraged and so he prayed for us. He prayed that we would see the pain
through and be unified. Is there a greater encouragement! Think about your life.
Did you ever have a coach you respected encourage you on the field, or a boss
give you some props, or a person you respect breathe hope into your life? Those
are key moments in our lives. Jesus, the fully God, fully man, Son of God. Jesus,
the central figure in all of human history. Jesus, who always was and will
always be. Jesus, who died for us, who conquered death and established his
church. Jesus, who will someday usher in the end inviting all followers to
exist in a new heaven and new earth. Jesus Christ prayed that you would be
unified, knowing the challenges of biblical church community. That’s
encouragement!
Paul
knew pain in church but he also knew of the power of Christ in church, and so
we end with his words to the church:
“Here
there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian,
slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. Therefore, as God's chosen
people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness,
humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever
grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And
over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect
unity.”
Jason
Esposito
Lead
Pastor
CrossWay
Church
www.crosswaygt.org
