If you're looking for the perfect church, you're in the wrong place!

 

“You don't manage the truth. You tell the truth.” John M. Barry

 

One of the most amazing facets of the Bible is the lack of spin. Scripture is truly a “no spin zone.” Name nearly any hero or heroine in God’s Word and as you check the biblical records, you’re shocked that their history is never sanitized. The good, the bad, and the ugly are recorded. 

  The Bible is much like a true story from the life of Oliver Cromwell. When the Lord Protector was presented with his official portrait in 1656, he angrily rejected it. Thinking it would please him, the court painter had omitted Cromwell’s unsightly facial warts. “Take it away,” Cromwell demanded, “and paint me as I am, warts and all.” 

  Today we’re celebrating our 3^rd anniversary in this building. It’s an event that we believe is important to celebrate each year. God has been so good to us! It’s important that we remember and review God’s hand on our church and His blessings! What has happened here is truly of God and He deserves all of the glory. 

  Periodically, someone will say something foolish like, “I wish our church was like the early church” or “the New Testament church” (a lot of pastors say this) as if that was some perfect ideal. Read the New Testament and you will find back then, what we find today in the local church – failures, fights, disagreements, division, etc. Take for example the church at Corinth. There was division, problems with immorality, abuse of the Lord’s Table, misunderstanding the spiritual gifts, distorted view of marriage, squabbles over minute issues, etc. 

  Every church, even the best ones, has “history.” Ours does. We serve a perfect Savior yet our church is composed of redeemed sinners. With the power of God and transformation of the gospel, the “redeemed” side needs to shine, but sometimes it’s the “sinner” side that’s more predominant. 

  Sometimes it’s a sin problem. Sometimes it’s a matter of perspective or personal tastes. Every church though has some “warts.” Every church if they want to grow spiritually must work through biblical problem-solving. This is so vital to us that you can’t be a member of Grace unless you take the New Member’s class and there is an entire lesson on working through biblical problem-solving. Biblical problem-solving is part of our DNA. 

  Satan is the great divider. He first divided Adam and Eve from God, then from each other and the creation. His strategy has not changed. He loves to divide Christians and churches. 

  Shortly after I became the pastor of our church, I began looking back over the church’s history. Our church was started in 1955. I had the privilege of meeting the founding pastor, Dr. Reuben Kile and his wife, Sandy, and had him preach at my installation service in 1988. He was a godly man who loved the Lord. There was great commitment and excitement during those early days. Yet, no doubt there were issues when Dr. Kile was the pastor because people are people and sinners are sinners. 

  Dr. Kile moved on to pastor another church. But during the time with the pastor who followed him, a division flared up and people left the church. Who was at fault? I don’t know. If we could talk to those who were in the church, there, there would be various perspectives. When it comes to division, there are no innocent parties. That pastor was also a friend of mine and I greatly respected him (he’s now Home with the Lord). No doubt, he looked back with regret at decisions that he’d made. Probably, some of those involved who were so angry with him that they left the church also looked back later with regret at decisions that they made. Time has a way of healing wounds and giving us greater perspective. 

  Why am I sharing this? We all need to understand that while we’re so blessed and it’s exciting to see what God is doing in our church, we have problems and will have more in the future. When God works, Satan attacks. Our Enemy doesn’t put dead churches in his crosshairs but he loves churchianity. He loves it when a church is more interested in being a religious social club than a beachhead for the Kingdom. He hates churches who love Jesus and are serious about the gospel. 

  While I believe that we have great days ahead, we would be naïve if we were not on the alert for Satan’s attacks. In 2 Corinthians 2:11 we’re admonished to “not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.” Like a married couple who finds that they can squabble about the silliest things, that’s often Satan’s strategy and attack of the church. How can we have victory and protect ourselves and our church? 

  We must first be humbly dependent. The Bible is clear that anything good in us is of God and the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives. If we begin to think that we have spiritually arrived or get comfortable with a spiritual status quo, we’re foolish and setting ourselves up for failure. 

  When there’s a disagreement, suspect first the sinner that you know best. In 1 Timothy 1:15 the Apostle Paul wrote, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.” So am I…so are you. I’m continually shocked by the wickedness of my own heart, yet we shouldn’t be surprised at sin in our hearts or in our brothers and sisters. We must commit to showing grace to other sinners as our Savior has shown to us. 

  We must commit to biblical problem-solving. Two processes should never be started prematurely, embalming and church division. Most are committed to fighting for our families. We must be committed to fighting for our spiritual family, and its unity and health. The Bible compares a local church to a body. You don’t start amputating parts haphazardly. 
  We must thank God for church problems. Problems, confronting sin in our lives and in our church are opportunities for spiritual growth. God uses the fire to melt away the dross. It’s in the trials, that as we submit to Him and His Word, we become more like Jesus. 

  God has great things ahead for Grace Church! Know this though that where there are mountains, there will be valleys. It’s why we must be committed to Him and to each other! 

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address.