A Church Without Walls

Ephesians 2:11-22

 

At first it seems like a nightmare, a Stephen King religious novel

  -about six weeks ago I had a strange thought—what if we suddenly

     did not have a church building?

       --what if it were a loss not covered by our insurance carrier?

       --or what if we could not repay the note?

       --or what if it were taken from us through immanent domain?

 

Consider for a moment...all of this is gone...no more bricks,

  parking lots, carpet, pews, offices, washrooms, baptistery...

 

What would happen to First Baptist?

  -would we be a “page 2” story in the Word & Way?

     --would First Baptist become a faint memory...a brief entry in the

          annals of Livingston County?

     --would we scatter...boost the membership numbers of other

          congregations in town?

     --would some of us drift away from each other...and some even

          drift away from God?

 

As bad as all that sounds, the more I thought, the more I excited I

  got...not because I dislike this building, but because it led me to a

  fresh realization of what church is all about

    -if we were to survive as a congregation, how could that happen?

 

Without a piano, organ, praise team, or choir, could we still sing?

  -would we still have a song to sing?

 

Without a pulpit, could we still proclaim the gospel?

  -would we still have good news to share?

 

Without an altar, could we still pray?

  -would we still have a sense of the presence of God?

 

Without a sanctuary, could we still be still and know God is God?

  -would we still maintain a genuine awe and reverence for the Lord?

 

 

Without a van, could we still go on mission trips?

  -would we still have a heart for the lost and hurting around us?

 

Without a library, could we still read?

  -would we still have a desire to know more and to be challenged?

 

Without a kitchen, could we still share a meal?

  -would we still have reason to sit down with friends and family...and

     to talk and to laugh and to cry?

 

Without tables and chairs, could we still instill a heart for missions in

  our children?

    -would we still tell them about those who have surrendered their

       lives to Christ...and how we are all called to do the same?

 

Without a building, could we still have a ministry presence in this

  community?

    -would we still have a passion for meeting needs around us?

 

Without Sunday School rooms, could we still teach the Bible?

  -would we still possess an irrepressible need to know more about

    the mysteries of the faith and to discuss them with other believers?

 

Without a fellowship hall, could we still have fellowship?

  -would we still desire to be connected by more than formality?

 

Without a sign out front, could we still have an identity?

  -would we still be recognizable as children of God because of our

     faith, hope, and love?

 

Without a Baptist label, could we still have “certain definite doctrines

  that Baptists believe, cherish, and with which [we] have been and

  are now closely identified.”?

    -would we miss the unscriptural lawsuits...the backroom politics...

       the non-hockey-related power plays...and the childish,

       playground-like name-calling?

 

Without a building, could we still be a church?

  -would we still worship, still be involved in the disciple-making

     process, still serve, still be salt and light in a dying and dark world?

Again, am I critiquing church buildings, in and of themselves?

  -no...it’s a critique of a dangerous, deadly element found in every

     building...including this one

 

Every building, by definition, has walls...two kinds, actually...

  -first, there are walls that enclose building

     --walls to prevent the outside from coming inside (and to prevent

          the inside from getting out)

  -those exterior walls are a sermon of their own...but we wouldn’t

     come close to finishing that one before sunset

       --we’ll focus on the other kind, the interior walls...walls built not to

           support or to strengthen, but rather walls built to divide

       --they are walls we build...and they are subtly, but definitely sinful

 

Go with me to the ancient world of the 1st century when there may

 have been no division as significant as that between Gentile and Jew

   -sadly, we are all still indirectly aware of how profound that hatred

      remains today

        --imagine, then, the conflicts that occurred in the early church

            when Gentile Christians and Jewish Christians began to live

            out their faith side by side

   -Paul understood this struggle better than anyone—before he

      came to faith in Christ, Paul considered even the word “Gentile”

      to be vile and obscene...and his impression of Gentile people

      was even worse

        --but God’s ways are funny sometimes...after Paul became a

            Christian, God made it his life’s mission to take the gospel

            to the Gentiles...and Paul’s unwavering obedience to God’s

            call that caused him to be imprisoned countless times,

            beaten with rods, scourged, and eventually martyred

              ---so when Paul speaks about Gentile-Jewish relations,

                    we’d better pay attention...I have a feeling we’re going to

                    be tested on this later

 

Read Ephesians 2:11-22 in The Message

             

Gordon MacDonald à  After a lecture, I once met a Nigerian woman who introduced herself using an American name.  “What's your

African name?” I asked.  She told me.  It was several syllables long with a beautiful, musical sound to it.

“What does the name mean?” I wondered.  She replied, “It means ‘Child who takes the anger away.’”

 

She went on to explain:  “My parents had been forbidden by their parents to marry.  But they loved each other so much that they defied the family opinions and married anyway.  For several years they were ostracized from both their families.  Then my mother became pregnant with me.  And when my grandparents held me in their arms for the first time, the walls of hostility came down. I became the one who swept the anger away. And that's the name my mother and father gave me."

 

Hmmm...sounds a lot like Jesus...

 

I don’t know...is it just me...or do you think that if Christ has already

  obliterated the wall separating Jewish and Gentile believers...then

  He probably took care of all the other walls in the church, as well?

    -and if Jesus laid down His life to pay for this little demolition

       project...how pleased do you think He is when you and I start

       rebuilding what He has torn down?

 

One reason I said that walls are subtle sin is because they give the

  appearance of being a good thing

    -walls keep down the noise...they give privacy...and they can be

       decorated all nice with pictures of Jesus that prove how spiritual

       we are...and certificates that prove how special we are...and

       diplomas that prove how smart we are

 

Subtle or not, the kind of walls that aren’t built with 2” x 4”s and 5/8”

  sheetrock are still sinful

    -walls are boundaries and they are quite good at what they do

       --they separate...they insulate...and they isolate

       --walls exclude...they determine who’s “in” and who’s left “out”

       --they define what’s mine (or more importantly, what’s not yours)

       --walls tell us what’s right (and who’s right), as well as what and

            and who are wrong

 

And when it comes to wall-building, we who are in the church have

  become quite efficient

    -he doesn’t vote the same way I do and boom!  up goes a wall

    -she didn’t invite me to her party and boom!  up goes another one

    -she disagreed with my interpretation in Sunday School and boom!

    -he’s obnoxious...she doesn’t like my kind of music...she has a

       past...he was in jail...she’s about to end her 3rd marriage...boom!

    -she’s not from around here...she doesn’t dress appropriately...he’s

       unemployed...they homeschool their kids...he’s 33 and never

       married...and boom!...David Copeland can’t build walls that fast

 

Notice that in the big picture none of these things are important

  -when you compare it to the wall between Jew and Gentile, all of our

     walls are ridiculously insignificant

       --yet we treat them as if they were life and death

 

And because walls are so good at doing their job, we end up leaving

  out, shutting out, putting down a whole lot of people

    -people for whom Jesus died

    -people we are commanded to love

    -people who are our brothers and sisters in Christ

 

And you know what we tend to do when someone boom! builds a wall

  in our face?

    -yeah...sadly, we build another wall to exclude someone else in a

       vain attempt to regain some sense of pride and self-worth

         --but pride and self-worth have no place in the church

             ---according to the Bible, pride is clearly sinful

             ---and self-worth isn’t biblical, either—sorry Oprah...we have  

                   worth, no doubt, but it originates with God, not self

                     ----we have worth because we are created imago Dei

                     ----we have worth because the Son of God died for us

                            -----which is exactly why walls of any kind in the

                                     church are inexcusable and just plain wrong

 

God has created us for fellowship with Him, but also with each other

  -He cares deeply about and acts on behalf of those who are alone

     --Psalms 68:5-6a à  [God is] A father to the fatherless, a

         defender of widows...[He] sets the lonely in families...

  -like it or not—admit it or not—we need each other

     --Read Ecclesiastes 4:7-12

  -for believers, that need is met through the church...as imperfect and

     wall-filled as she may be

       --every church could use a few sledgehammer-swinging people

            who are motivated by love for the church and for those on the

            other side of the wall

  -Romans 15:5-7 à  May the God who gives endurance and

     encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you

     follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may

     glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Accept one

     another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise

     to God.

 

In his book, Everybody’s Normal ‘Til You Get to Know Them, John

  Ortberg à  I thought of this tendency we have to divide people the

  last time I was aboard an airplane.  The first-class passengers were

  served gourmet food on china and crystal by their own flight

  attendants; those of us in coach ate snacks served in paper bags

  with plastic wrappers.  The first-class passengers had plenty of

  room to stretch and sleep; those of us in coach were sitting with a

  proximity usually reserved for engaged couples in the back row of a

  movie.  The first-class passengers had flight attendants bring them

  warm, moist towels for their comfort and personal hygiene; those of

  us in coach were left to soak in our collective sweat.

 

On almost every flight, once the plane is under way, a curtain gets

  drawn to separate the two compartments.  It is not to be violated; it

  is like the Berlin Wall or the veil that separated the Court of the

  Gentiles from the Holy of Holies in the temple at Jerusalem. The

  curtain is a reminder throughout the flight that some people are first

  class and some aren't.  Those who aren't first class are not to violate

  the boundary. They can't even see what's going on behind the other

  side of the curtain.

 

On a recent flight, a voice came on the intercom system, telling us

  that because of new security measures, the attendants were not

  allowed to fasten the curtain.  But the airline wanted all of us in the

  Court of the Gentiles to know that we were not allowed to use the

  facilities in the Holy of Holies, even though there was one restroom

  for eight people up there and two restrooms for several hundred of

  us on this side (mostly children under six who had been drinking

  [Mountain Dew] the whole flight).

 

Let the curtain stand for a tendency deep inside the fallen human

  spirit—the tendency to exclude.  In the act of exclusion, we divide

  the world up into "us" and "them."

 

Allow me to make this point perfectly clear

  -“us” and “them” is wrong...wrong...wrong

     --you don’t have to say the words...merely thinking in those terms

          is sinful because it’s an attempt to un-do what Christ has done

            ---and that’s treading on dangerous ground

 

This week I will have a rather unique experience

  -tomorrow, I will fly on Southwest Airlines to Nashville...as you may

     know, they don’t have 1st class and a divider between the mob

       --we’re all lumped in there together

  -then on Friday, I will fly on American Airlines...and to those in 1st

     class, I will be one of “them” on the other side...and I while I eat a

     tiny bag of unsalted peanuts, they’ll probably be enjoying pie

 

I don’t want to have any part of an “American Airlines” church

  -it’s elitist...it’s wrong...it’s sinful...and it ignores the cross

 

But I’ll gladly be a part of a “Southwest Airlines” church

  -a church without prejudice...a church without borders...a church

     without walls

       --not a church without its share of difficulties and struggles, of

           course, but a church who works through them by destroying,

           not building walls

 

Look at your hands

  -are you holding a ticket for Southwest or American?

  -do you have a sledgehammer...or a 2” x 4” and some sheetrock?