Bloom Where You Are Planted

Colossians 3:23–24 ESV

23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

Let me encourage you today, to bloom where God has planted you.

When Allison and I moved to Duffield, we were looking for a church to worship at. We settled on a church and when we first started attending we thought it was a great church. Plenty of programs, good Godly teachers, a good pastor, friendly people, but there was a problem. We were going to church, people around us talked to us, but we felt lost. Like we were attending, but not “getting” anything in return. All these programs were well oiled, well managed, and it had the feeling that they didn’t need or want anyone else involved.

It was as though we were standing at the platform of a train station and the train kept whizzing by without ever stopping to let new passengers on (and existing passengers off). It was aggravating to us, and after a while we started wondering if this was where we needed to be. We prayed, that if God wanted us to stay, that He would provide something for us to do.

Spoiler alert… Don’t ask God for something you don’t truly want.

The next Sunday, as the service was concluding, the couple that sat in front of us turned around and said they wanted to talk to us. They, too, had been praying. They were the AWANA leaders and their son was aging out and they felt as though God was calling them to do something else. Their prayer was that God would send someone to step into that role and be the next Commander and secretary, and God had laid us on their hearts.

Talk about a God moment! We were able to share our prayers with them and knew God was calling us to AWANA. Amazingly, we spent 8 years with the AWANA program. Now, what we found out the longer we stayed was pretty simple. Not everything went the way we planned, not everyone was on board with our vision, sometimes we even had people who were in opposition.

People were self-centered. People had blinders that prevented them from seeing the big picture. People were not Christ-like. People made serving hard. But, we were not there for the “people”, we were there to work where God had placed us. You see, we (at least I) lost sight of that fact at times. That we should be happy and content where God places us. It’s easy to give up and go elsewhere, but would it be pleasing to God?

That’s a message we all need today. Landrum Leavell stated that the average tenure of a Baptist pastor is twenty months. Current statistics say pastors will stay at a church around 3-4 years now - basically until the new wears off. Preachers are like football coaches. They’re comers and goers. The Baptist Courier states the average tenure of a church member is around 13-14 years (People who are 55 or older are particularly likely to be longtime participants in the same church, with a median length of attendance of 15 years), with the majority in the 6.5 year range at their particular church. Now, my question is why are there so many changes? Why do pastor’s and congregants not bond together to do the work of the Lord?

Whatever the reason, it’s hard to win the world to Christ when you are either loading or unloading a moving van. As one pastor expressed, “If you want to have a successful ministry, set your mailbox in concrete.” To the congregation, I would say set in your seat until it fits and then stay there.

But to do that, we need to be realistic and discover where discontentment comes, and how we protect against it.

Discontentment

Philippians 4:2 ESV

2 I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord.

Hey, if church members thousands of years ago couldn’t get along, what makes it think it will be any different today? But, is that the way it should be?

According to multiple resources, one of the first reasons people are leaving the church is because the church is not welcoming. Why would anyone say we are not welcoming? Have you ever heard “They’re in my seat”?

How about, “Someone needs to tell them how to dress for church”?

How about the suggestion that a parent take their child to the nursery because they were “too loud and distracting”?

What if someone were to look at us and say we don’t own any particular pew, it’s all God’s? What if we were to hear “Be thankful they’re in church and not our on the street”? Hey, what if someone were to look at us and say “Must be nice to be able to sit there and not feel the Holy Spirit or be convicted”!

There are others who are looking for places to work, but can’t ever seem to find a “fit”. So many cogs, gears, pulleys, wheels, and not the first person to explain how they all fit together, and people get overwhelmed, discouraged, and wind up leaving. Remember, we can’t do anything that would interfere with our “well oiled” machine.

Others say they’re not “being fed”. Now, if someone is in a church that is not teaching and preaching biblically that is one thing. If we don’t come to the Master’s table ready to eat, that’s another.

First, we need a realistic view of the church. A lot of discontentment today is due to the illusion within the church that “their” church is the perfect church where everyone is loving, caring, connected, and would never criticize them.

I don’t want to be too blunt, but the church at best is a mixture of the human and the divine. The church is divine because Jesus founded it, indwells it, and He is its head.

On the human side, it is comprised of imperfect and immature people. At best, they are in the process of being made perfect, and they are on the road to maturity. But in the meantime, they are awfully human. Until we realize that, we are in for a sad disappointment.

I might add, if we start a thought with “I think”, “I’d rather”, or “I feel”, we might ought to weigh those against what the Lord would think is right. Have you prayed about your thoughts, opinions, and feelings? Has God TRULY given you this, or have you just run it by God in a prayer and since He didn’t audibly speak or strike you down it’s okay? You see, our actions and our attitudes can affect others feelings about the church. We tend to forget we are to be the image of Christ!

We Are the Image of Christ!

Philippians 3:9–10 ESV

9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

Paul is speaking to the church of Philippi about the need to check self-righteousness and realize true righteousness comes through faith in Christ. When we walk into the church we should be looking to receive the gospel and not receive personal accolades and gain. Too many people today think way too highly of their own opinion. As my grandparents would say “I’d like to buy them for what they’re worth, and sell them for what they think they’re worth.”

This attitude can come from the pastor, or the congregation. Too many pastors today are looking for visibility, status, and recognition instead of seeking the lost, loving those in need, preaching and teaching a gospel that points everyone to Jesus. It is not mystery that I do not like hearing “and if you buy my book, or if you give to my ministry you will receive knowledge or a blessing”. Again, anytime we insert “I, me, my” into something in the church, we are setting ourselves up for disappointment or failure.

In the same manner, we have people who will either 1) critique and/or challenge anything that is happening in the church because “we don’t do things that way” 2) come in thinking they know better than everyone else 3) think they can do “anything” better than anyone else, but will flee like Jonah from Ninevah if asked to help. These things do not go unnoticed and can cause people to be discontent and ultimately leave.

Yet, they will stand and say how they love the Lord, forgetting that Paul described Jesus as one who emptied Himself and took on the form of a servant.

Jesus lived out His servanthood with His actions, and if we are to be like Christ, then should we not live out a servants heart in our actions, too? Remember, He washed feet, and did not condemn or whip the saints into shape. Are we serving self, or others?

Serving Self or Others

Philippians 2:4 ESV

4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Have you ever thought, that sometimes we don’t realize that we have developed an inappropriate attitude? It’s easy, though, to get in a routine and the routine turns into a rut, and the rut becomes the rule.

“It’s always been that way”. Tradition certainly can be a beautiful thing, but it can become a hindrance.

What music should we sing? Traditional hymns or contemporary songs? Everyone should carry a physical bible it’s sacrilegious to use an electronic device or rely on the TVs. Should a tie and jacket be worn on Sunday mornings, or is anything okay? We could go on and on about personal preferences, but when do our preferences end and another persons preferences start? At what time do we have to acknowledge and respect others?

I think Paul is plain that if we are looking out for the best interests of others, we won’t have time to be worried about our own opinions.

People say things and do things, sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally, that hurt us. And, they hurt us deeply. If we aren’t careful, we will allow those hurts to canker into bitterness and resentment.

Everyone should expect that some people will not like them—and that they will say so. But it still hurts. I think I understand why Frederick the Great said, “The more I know people, the more I like my dog.”

But, no matter how hurting or unjustified it may be, we must not harbor anger and bitterness. That anger and bitterness can turn you and others away from God’s purpose and plan for our lives. We can’t forget to bloom where we are planted.

Closing

Who is in charge of ensuring our own peace and contentment? Can we allow the opinions of others to cause our peace and contentment to leave? Do we then let others cause us to uproot and go elsewhere?

I think at times we do, but we have to be careful to not leave where God has planted us. But, just like a plant there must be regular watering, feeding, the soil has to be fertile, the sunlight right… There are plenty of variables in what makes a plant grow. Just like us - we must be willing to take in regular feedings of God’s Word, we must allow ourselves to take in the water of life, we must be willing to see if where we are planted is fertile and what we need to grow and bloom where God has planted us.

Hey, if we think of a mighty sequoia, it starts as a small seed, it takes water, sunlight, and nutrients to grow, but it doesn’t get re-transplanted every few years. It learns to adapt to its surroundings and the environment around it so it can become like those western trees that tower over all.

A worthy goal for a church and a Christian should be to get the maximum yield from our field. It doesn’t mean the weather will always be optimal, but the plant finds a way to survive.

The Lord expects us to bloom where we are!

But what happens when the church forgets that connecting with EVERYONE is just as important as the Sunday School curriculum selection? We must invest in each other! We must make others feel welcome! We are called the family of Christ, so we have to make sure we don’t treat others like the devil! And risk losing people over our attitudes and actions. We are to help others bloom where God has planted them!