What do I do when ...?

Introduction

Good morning church …

Series on Belonging

So far we’ve looked at:

What does it mean to belong?

You belong

What does it look like to belong?

Unity: the only way belonging happens

What do I do when … ?

This morning we are going to be looking at three questions … as well as the passage that we heard from Revelation 2

Questions:

What do I do when I don’t feel I belong?

What do I do when the church disappoints me?

What do I do if the church hurts me?

What do I do when I don’t feel I belong?

Preferences - your likes and your dislikes

What are your preferences about church?

Does your preference reflect a biblical priority or is it selfserving?

Is your preference an expression of fear, desire for control, or closed-mindedness?

We can attach moral value to things that we have a preference for … i.e. things become ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ depending on whether we like them or not

Toilet paper … how you load the dishwasher

Can you set aside your preference for the sake of unity in the church?

Philippians 2:3 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,”

What do I do when the church disappoints me?

Expectations - things that you expect to happen or be there

Interestingly, we may have many expectations but we may have never articulated them …

Can I specifically articulate my expectations for the church?

What are your expectations?

Are my expectations driven more by preferences or biblical values?

Are my expectations self-serving or selfless?

Setting aside preferences for the sake of unity vs. things which are non-negotiables

What do I do if the church hurts me?

Being hurt in church - someone sins against someone else - this is very common - because we are a community of broken and sinful people … we get things wrong

Being hurt by the church - systemic and cultural breakdown

Speak the Truth in Love, Even to Power

Don’t Give Up on the Church Because You’ve Been Hurt by a Church

Passage

Revelation 2:1–7 ““To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.”

A church that has worked hard and persevered under trial

Revelation 2:2–3 “I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance ... You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.”

Worked hard and persevered … committed themselves to the work of the gospel … sharing the faith, encouraging one another, serving their community, witnessing to others, regularly worshipping … they have worked hard, they have laboured … there’s a sense that it has not been easy but they have done it faithfully

Persevered and endured hardships for my name, and not grown weary … sounds like it’s been particularly difficult, they have endured hardships … possibly faced persecution for their faith, some form of opposition … it’s been a challenging road … but they have not grown weary … they have pressed on despite the challenges

Revelation 2:2 “I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.”

Revelation 2:6 “But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.”

Experienced false-apostles - tested them - discerned - not of the 12, but wider term - leaders with oversight over multiple churches, church-planters, teachers bringing the good news of Jesus Christ - meant to be encouraging churches and not damaging them, but they taught things that were not correct and caused damage in the church

Hate the practices of the Nicolaitans - nothing else in Scripture about them apart from here - could be that they are followers of a Nicholas. It sounds like they are not people from outside the church but a group from within. They have practices that must be quite controversial or strong to result in the language of hate. But it seems that the Ephesian church has discerned that they are not good practices and so have decided to not go near those practices, and they have discerned well.

Potentially part of the hardships they have faced is being challenged by false teachers … and maybe these were the Nicolaitans, but I’m inclined to think not … so there may have been at least two different types of challenging influences they had to discern

Revelation 2:4–5 “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.”

Forsaken your first love - repent - is it the love for God, for his word, for prayer, the love for God’s people, the love for the people outside of the community of faith - not completely sure. Often these loves are tied together.

Interesting when it talks about the love that they had at first. When you were a young Christian, you might have been passionate about Jesus, wanting to share him with others, captivated by him, learning new things everyday, your devotional life may have been so rich and on fire - but over time that energy can be hard to maintain, and it’s probably not something to be aimed at - but is the love still the same?

Conclusion

Want to continue to work hard and persevere as the Ephesian church did

Pray for humility and discernment

Eschew gossip and complaining

Forgive others as God has forgiven you in Christ

Don’t want to forsake the love that we had at first