A Messy Church

Introduction

As proclaimers of God’s word, Greg and I understand that we are to speak to everyone. It should be usually a message that should be directed at everyone’s heart and everyone’s life. But reality and practicality is that sometimes we have to speak to a smaller portion of the audience. We may have a lesson just on marriage, or a lesson to just the young people, or just to the older people. And on the rarest of occasions, that audience gets much, much narrower. Like this morning’s lesson. Today’s lesson, I’m talking to one person in this building. And before you sweat, that one person is me. This lesson is for me. And I’m just going to let you listen.

But this morning’s lesson is just to me. In overcoming some struggles I have and trying to be the Christian that I ought to be.

One of those things about me that you may or may not know is that I have a condition known as C D O. If you’re not familiar with C D O, C D O is O C D, but in alphabetical order like it should be. I like things neat and in order. My desk stays neat. My side of the closet stays neat. Much to Deedra’s chagrin, I have certain closet rules. All of my hangers match. They have one color, one brand, one style of hanger that all of my clothes hang on. All of the pants are together, all of the shirts are together. All of the empty hangers have a spot in the closet. First time I went overseas on a preaching trip, two of the members of the congregation that I preached for in Florence went over to my house and messed up my closet.

To add to the cruelty, they took pictures and sent them to me thousands of miles away, knowing that I couldn’t stand it.

But I like things neat, buttoned up the way they ought to be. I’m not messy, and I don’t like messy things. And so this lesson is for me. Because sometimes life is messy, isn’t it? And not only is life in general messy, but sometimes the things that mean the most to us and should devote most of our time, attention, love, and care are messy. Sometimes that includes the church. Sometimes the church is messy. In fact, I’m going to argue this morning that not only is it that way sometimes, but that’s the way it ought to be. And so I want to talk to you about the New Testament church, lived out practically and real in our lives as being a messy church. And so let’s talk about this mess that we have as a local church.

1. What Is the Church?

Let’s start with this and just talking about what is the church, because I think understanding what the church is in New Testament terms will help us to recognize why it is messy and how it is messy. Turn with me to the book of Ephesians, chapter one. A very familiar passage of scripture, possibly to you, is Ephesians chapter one. When the inspired writer tells us what this church is, Ephesians 1. Look at those familiar verses, the last two verses of chapter 1, verses 22 and 23. It says, He put all things under his feet. That is, the Father, put all things under the Son’s feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

There’s the ideal. There’s the picturesque. This church is the body of Christ. It is the fullness of him who fills all in all. But I want you to keep reading. Because that chapter break is a little bit unfortunate because he goes on to say, after saying, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all, the very next words are this, and you were dead in trespasses and sins, and which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the powers of the air, the Spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

There’s the messy part. In the mind of God, this church, which is his body, the fullness of him who falls all in all, is everything perfect. But you’re what makes this messy. And I’m what makes this messy. Because he says you were dead in your trespasses and sins, you once walked. And so what is the church? It’s a body of men and women. A body of men and women who’ve been called from our sinful lives into a relationship with God.

Who are trying to call others to come with us? And by its very nature, that’s going to be messy. And we need to understand that there is no real antidote to that. No acceptable antidote to that. Because not only is this church by its very inherent nature going to be messy. But we compound that messiness when we decide to be a growing church.

And to how to make a church an unmessy church. To make it the OCD person’s dream.

Phase one is to not let anybody else in who might be in problems and uncomfortable and things. But phase two, you’re not going to like this, and some of y’all got to leave.

All the toddlers who stick gum under the seats, that’s gotta go. Don’t get me started on the teenagers or the millennials. You gotta go. All of the men who don’t know how to coordinate a tie with a jacket gotta go. The women who wear too much perfume, you gotta go. The song leaders who drag the songs and the ones who sing them too fast and we can’t keep up, they’ve got to go. And all of you who sit around me who sing off key, you’ve got to go with them. And I’m gonna keep going until we down to a church of one. And to be honest, that guy gets on my nerves too. But if we’re going to evangelize, we’re gonna have to go out into the world to do that.

And what’s in the world? Or who’s in the world? The desires of the flesh and of the mind? Children of wrath, Paul says. And so what’s this group of reformed, or maybe we should say reforming group of sinners going to look like? Yes, we admit that those who come to Christ should put off the old man of sin and should be made anew in the image of God and of Christ Jesus his Son. But what are we going to look at while that process is ongoing? And while we’re on that journey, at different stages of our lives. What are we going to look like? You know, if we do it right, we’re going to be made up of a collection of people who are on different phases of that journey.

2. The Messy Church at Corinth

Different stages of struggling with sin and putting off sin and putting off the old man, all coming from different past and different backgrounds of sin. And all at various stages of struggling to put to death that old man and that old woman of sin. And I’m going to tell you, that’s going to be messy. Look with me in the book of Acts, chapter 18 as an example of this. It’s really unavoidable if we think about it. And we need to remove from our mind the idea that, well, yeah, it’s messy now, but in the first century, in New Testament times, oh, it was perfect. They didn’t have these problems. It wasn’t messy then, but we’ve kind of fallen off the pattern. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The Apostle Paul goes on his missionary journey to the city of Corinth and preaches the gospel, and people become obedient to that gospel, and guess what that’s going to form? A church. But notice who this church is made up of. In Acts chapter 18, begin with me in verse 4. He reasoned, he’s in the city of Corinth. He reasons in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded both Jews and Greeks. Let’s pause there. If you know anything about New Testament times, you know already that’s a recipe for a mess. Both Jews and Greeks. But keep reading. Verse 7. Among those who were converted, he departed from there and entered the house of a certain man named Justice. One who worshiped God, and whose house was next door to the synagogue.

If we understand the language of this justice, one who worshiped God, if we understand that language correctly, he would have been a Gentile who at some point in his life converted to either converted to Judaism or in some other way sought to please God. And so we’ve got a Gentile who has converted to Judaism and is trying to serve God, who’s among this group. Verse 8. Then Chrispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household. So we’ve got Jews and Greeks, we’ve got a Gentile who’s been converted to Judaism among the mix, and now we’ve got someone who is a ruler of the synagogue. Don’t you imagine what he was like? He was a Jew among Jews, probably, maybe a stickler for the law, maybe a we don’t know, maybe a Pharisee, maybe even hypocritical in his approach to God.

And so we’ve got these people all coming together. And we’re not through. Finish verse 8. And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed, and were baptized. Many of the Corinthians. Now, who were these Corinthian people? Turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter 6, and let’s introduce ourselves to that messy bunch. And so we’ve got Jews and Greeks. 1 Corinthians 6. We’ve got a Gentile who’s converted to Judaism. We’ve got a ruler of the synagogue, a leader among the Jews. And then we’ve got these people. 1 Corinthians 6, beginning in verse 9, do you not know? 1 Corinthians 6, verse 9. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God, and such were some of you.

And so in Acts 18, when it says in many of the Corinthians, that’s who it’s talking about. What’s that church going to look like? Jews and Greeks, not just Jews and Greeks, but Jews, one of them the ruler of the synagogue. One of the Greeks was a Gentile that had been converted to Judaism. The rest of them were reformed drunks, homosexuals, idolaters, thieves. And they’re coming together on the Lord’s Day. What’s that church going to look like? It’s going to look messy, isn’t it? In fact, if you’ve ever even read the book of 1 Corinthians, you know what that church is going to look like. But turn back to the beginning of the book of 1 Corinthians. What does the inspired writer, or more properly, what does the Holy Spirit of God say about this messy church in Corinth?

1 Corinthians 1, look at verse 2. To the church of God, which is at Corinth. Those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints. Skip down to verse 4. I thank my God always concerning you. Verse 8, speaking of Jesus Christ who will confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. The end of verse 9, you who were called into the fellowship of his son. What does the Holy Spirit say about this messy group of people? Says, I thank God for you. You’re called to be saints. You’re the church of our God. And so we see the reality of what this is going to look like. And how messy it can be.

People who’ve come from broken homes may be broken because of what they themselves did. People have come out of denominationalism. They’re trying to put off the shackles and sometimes even the language of that. And so they’re going to say things that are going to make us cringe at times. And there are going to be people who’ve come from a religious background, the most stringent traditional religious background. And they could teach the Pharisees a thing or two about hypocrisy.

In the local church? Sure. And that’s where we want them.

Growing and working and struggling. And being reproved, rebuked, and admonished in the Word of God.

3. Assemblies of People Who Don’t Look Like I Do

Its assemblies are going to be filled with people that don’t look like I do. And don’t look like I think they should. But what’s the New Testament say about that? Look over in James chapter 2. What are our assemblies going to look like sometimes, and what are we to do about that? James chapter 2, verse 1 says, My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of God, with partiality. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings and fine apparel, and there should come also a poor man in filthy clothes. And you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, sit here in this good place, and you say to the poor man, you stand over there, or you sit here at my footstool.

Have you not shown partiality among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brethren. Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom of God which he promised to those who love him? But you’ve dishonored the poor. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into courts? Do they not blaspheme the noble name by which you’re called? If you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. You do well. But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. And so what do we do with this mess? With people who are struggling with worldliness, who are struggling to put that off with varying degrees of success.

4. Let’s Rejoice

What do we do? What do we do with a messy church? Please understand that my original suggestion does not work. Will not work. And it’s not what God wanted to begin with. So what do we do? I offer three suggestions. First of all, let’s rejoice. It’s a good thing. It’s a good thing. Someone once said that the church would be perfect if it weren’t for the people. That’s true. But the church is a body. A body of saved people who have been called out of the world who are calling other people to come with us. And that’s going to be messy. And we rejoice in that mess. Let’s be like the grandparents. Who, after the grandchildren have spent a weekend, look around at the stain on the expensive couch from the burst juice box.

The burnt hole in the carpet where fireworks were set off in the middle of the living room. The broken hinges on every cabinet door and refrigerator door in the kitchen. The broken figurines that used to be viewed as priceless. Look at that mess and be thankful.

For those who blessed your lives with a mess. Rejoice. Rejoice that there’s a place for all of us. Now, this requires some humility. It requires me to admit that I contribute to this mess as well. That I’m struggling. That I’m striving, but I’m struggling to become more and more Christlike in my life. That I’m trying to encourage you to grow in your spirituality, to become more and more of what Christ would have you to be. And I’m praying that you’re patient with me while I’m doing it as well. And I’m so thankful that we have one another. That I’ll put up with your flaws while urging you to have fewer of them. If you’ll promise to continue to put up with my flaws while you’re encouraging me to be better.

5. Be Patient

But look at the sequel, Romans chapter 15. What do we do with people with whom we disagree and have conflicts and struggles? Romans chapter 15 says this, beginning in verse 1, we then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak and not to please ourselves. Let each one of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification. For even Christ did not please himself as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me. For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that through the patience and comfort of the scriptures we might have hope. Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I have to be patient. And pray that you’re patient with me as we rejoice in this glorious mess.

And so, as difficult as it is, I have to tamper down the OCD and rejoice and be patient. And realize there’s a place for everyone. There’s a place for the millennials and the teenagers.

6. Keep Working

We rejoice at the sound of crying infants and squawking toddlers. So although they may be a distraction, where else do I want them to be? I rejoice with the people who are struggling with their addictions and with their sin and their struggles, and those who bring their denominational baggage and even language into this building. Because where else do I want them to be? But lastly, lest you misunderstand anything I’ve said in this lesson. The third thing we need to do is keep working. That doesn’t mean we have to sit still in this mess. This is a mess, remember, because it’s a work in progress. It’s growth in progress, which is going to be messy, but it must be growth. It must be work. We’re going to work to encourage one another, to edify one another, and even admonish and discipline one another.

Because it’s not about just coming just as I am and staying just as I am. It’s about coming to Christ just as I am and growing to be like him. And that takes work. Oh, it takes patience. But it also takes work. We encourage one another to put off the old man of sin and to be made over and over into the image of his blessed soul.

Conclusion

I’m glad to be a part of this mess. And I’m glad you let me be a part of this mess. But more importantly, I’m thankful that God put us together, called us out of the world, and told us to go and call others. Would you be a part of this? You don’t have to be perfect. You just have to try. And say, I’m going to put off the old man of sin. I’m going to come to him believing, repenting of my sins, confessing my faith, and be baptized this morning and be a part of this messy group of people who are trying to live their lives right in accordance to the will of God. And I’m going to let them help me and encourage me. And maybe by my coming and being a part of this, I can encourage and help them.

Would you come to Christ with your messy life this morning? Do you put off sin and try to be better? Try to live a more godly, righteous life. We’ll help you. But most importantly, God will forgive and save you. If we can help you in any spiritual way this morning, let it be known right now, as together we stand and as we sing.