Seeing TBC Thru the Eyes of a Visitor, Part 3

The Importance of External Perception and the Church's Three Dimensions

0:04 The following is part three of a guided discussion with Pastor Albert N. Martin held on Sunday morning, February 1st, 1998 in the Adult Sunday School class at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. The topic being discussed is seeing ourselves here at the Trinity Baptist Church through the eyes of a visitor. It was Robert Burns who wrote, not quite in this contemporary American East, but in his own Scottish dialect, Would some power the gift would give us to see ourselves as others see us?

0:45 Well, we know there is one who sees us truly for what we are, and ultimately the people of God have a fixation upon the eye of God. It is their passion, as we shall see when we come to the latter part of 1 Peter 2, chapter 1, that we live out our lives under the eye of our Father and our Savior who has redeemed us, and yet, Peter says, we pass the time of our sojourning in fear. Fear when we have a loving Father and a gracious Savior? Yes, not the cringing fear of the criminal who is afraid he will be apprehended, but of the pardoned sinner who is overwhelmed with the wonder of God's grace and gripped by the awesome majesty of the Lord.

1:29 The God who is now his Father and the Savior who is his Redeemer. But at the same time, having that single eye to the Father's face and smile does not mean we are indifferent to how men perceive us. Those who were with us on Wednesday night will remember I quoted from 2 Corinthians 8 in verse 21 where Paul said, we are careful to provide all things honorable not only in the sight of God, but also in the sight of men. This is the same apostle who said, in nothing giving offense that the ministry be not blamed.

2:05 In everything, commending ourselves as the servants of Christ. And so there is a proper sense in which we can be concerned with how we are perceived by others. So long as that concern does not drive us into hypocrisy, but into becoming by the grace of God what we ought to be so that what we appear to be is indeed well-pleasing unto God. And because we have been pleading with God for a fresh sense of our privilege and obligation to be useful in the extension of the gospel and have mentioned our thankfulness that in recent weeks and several past several months we have seen an unusual influx of visitors, it is critical that we look at some major strands of biblical truth that can be clustered around this rather strange, the topic of seeing ourselves through the eyes of a visitor. And our basic approach has been to think in terms of a visitor who comes among us, not seeking to view us through rose-colored glasses of idealism, or I don't know what we'd say the color is if they were to view us through a narrow-spirited prejudice and ill-will, but coming among us seeking to see us for what and who we really are.

3:27 And once they discern, that we profess to be a people who, albeit imperfectly, are nonetheless seeking to conform our life as a church to the standards of the word of God by the grace and power of Christ and of the Holy Spirit, then we ought to be concerned with how they perceive us, for either we are to some degree accurately reflecting the norms of Scripture, or we are contradicting them. And I've suggested, and there's nothing inspired about this, or exhaustive, nothing set in concrete, but as a helpful organizing principle, to think of our life and our ministry as a church in three circles or directions. First of all, what we are in our Godward perspective and life, what we are as a worshiping body of God's people. And as we wrestled with this subject, we came up with the fact that as to the content of our worship, whatever else it is, it ought to be God-centered, it ought to be Christ-suffused, and it ought to be Bible-based. And then with respect to the manner or the flavor, the characteristics of that God-centered, Christ-suffused, Bible-based worship, that it ought to be,

4:49 whatever else it is, reverent, it ought to be joyful, filial, and it ought to be enthusiastic. Then last week, we looked at what we ought to be and what any perceptive visitor should perceive us to be if we are anything approaching what we ought to be as we think of ourselves as a relating body. That is, as a company of God's people who are not simply bound together by common pieces of wood over our heads and common sheetrock on the walls and common pews beneath our bottoms and common rugs under our feet, but bound together in what the Bible describes as an organic life. Christ is the head, we are members of His body, and therefore, Paul says, members one of another. We do not sustain a merely mechanical relationship. If we do, we have not yet begun to understand the nature of church fellowship. And when we turn to the Scriptures, particularly the Scriptures of the New Testament, that describe the church as a relating body, someone has calculated that there are over fifty passages that speak of one-anothering, exhorting one another, bearing one another's burdens, those one-anothering dimensions of biblical instruction.

The Church as a Confessing, Witnessing, or Communicating Body

6:13 And as we wrestled with this, we came up with at least three things that ought to characterize us as a relating body, and any fair-minded visitor who comes among us for any length of time ought to discern that, in our relating one to another, at least three qualities. And again, these are not exhaustive, I have no inspiration to put them in this order, but we have a plethora of Scriptures coming under these three dominant graces. They ought to be, we ought to be characterized by love, a love that is not a gushy, fuzzy teddy bear feeling, but an active principle in which we seek the good of one another, responding to perceived material needs, responding to spiritual needs, exhorting, admonishing, encouraging one another, etc. We ought to be characterized as a people who manifest principled, biblical love, not the fuzzy, unprincipled, strokey sentiment of the world. They get enough of that in the world. And they ought to be able to see among us what Jesus said, a love that is reflective of His love.

7:21 As I have loved you, you ought also to love one another. By this shall all men know that I love you. I know that you are My disciples if you have loved one to another. Love after the pattern of Christ.

7:32 And His love was not a fuzzy, gushy, unprincipled sentiment. It was a principled, self-giving commitment to procure our redemption at great cost to Himself. And it is that love that is to be manifested among His people. And then we looked at the second dominant quality, unity, and all of the passages that pointed in that direction.

7:55 And then we concluded, by considering the word purity, it ought to be evident to any fair-minded visitor that though there is an intimate relationship of self-giving love, finding many streams of expression, and though there is real unity, that intimacy of love and that unity does not become the occasion to take advantage of one another in a way that would be contrary to the principles of holiness. That we are that chosen generation, that royal priesthood, that holy nation, to show forth the virtues of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Now, so much for that overview and review. And now we come to consider this third category. Again, somewhat arbitrary, but I hope it's helpful in at least stirring you up to think in these terms. And that is to consider ourselves now, not as a worshiping body, our God-ward life, or a relating body, our relationship one to another. And here I've fished for terms and came up with a number, and I'm still not satisfied, but a moment of truth comes when you have to put your notes in a file and underline them and come to a class.

9:13 And so I've used these terms, our life as a confessing, witnessing, or communicating body. And I'm not satisfied with any one of those terms or the combination of them, but I hope together they give some idea of what we are referring to. And as we look into the Scriptures, I hope we will attach scriptural connotations to those words. What should our life and witness and testimony be to any fair-minded observer who comes among us as they would perceive us as a confessing, a witnessing, or a communicating body?

Biblical Principles for Outward Witness: Psalm 67, Salt and Light, and Loving Neighbor

9:52 Now, I have a question. When you think through the Book of Psalms, can you think of one Psalm that, above all others, underscores that whatever blessing God confers upon His people, whether in the Old Covenant or the New, He never confers that blessing that they may store it up and become a stagnant, smelling pool of blessing, but that by bestowing that blessing, they may find conduits of sharing that blessing with others. Whether Israel under the Old Covenant, in which God says He has set her to be a light to the nations, or under the New Covenant, can you think of a Psalm that, perhaps more than any other Psalm, clearly identifies the fact that in God's blessing of His people, it is to the end that that blessing may be dispensed among those who don't have it? Frank? Psalm 67. We often sing it.

10:57 It's in our missions. It's section in our hymn book. Let's turn to Psalm 67. It begins with the earnest entreaty, God be merciful unto us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us.

11:16 That's Old Testament language for pleading for all of the blessing that God has vouchsafed to give to His covenant people. To have God's face shining means to have experiential, communion with God. To have the evident blessing of God. You remember in the Old Testament, the idea of God hiding His face is God withdrawing His blessing.

11:41 God withdrawing from His people in terms of manifesting His gracious dealings with them. So now the Psalmist and the people of God pray, be merciful unto us and bless us and cause His face to shine upon us. To what end? That.

12:01 To this great end. That thy way may be known upon earth, thy salvation among all nations. So there is this thirst and this passionate yearning for God's blessing upon the covenant community. Not that they might hoard up the blessing, but that they might be the instrument to dispense that blessing among the nations.

12:28 And then that passion breaks out in an address to the nations themselves. Let the people praise You, O God. Let all the peoples praise You. O let the nations be glad and sing for joy.

12:41 For You will judge the people with equity and govern the nations upon earth. Let the peoples praise You, O God. Let all the peoples praise You. The earth has yielded its increase.

12:53 God, even our own God. Now it's no longer petition. It has merged into the affirmation, of faith, what was prayed for in the opening verse. Be merciful.

13:05 Cause His face to shine. Now is an affirmation of faith. God will bless us. God, even our own God, will bless us.

13:15 God will bless us. And no longer petition now, but prophetic utterance. And all the ends of the earth shall fear Him. So you see, this psalm is a wonderful distillation of a principle, articulated in many portions of the Word of God, both in the way of positive direction, or in the case, for example, of David.

13:39 When God, through the prophet, is indicting him for his sin, one of the things that was the most stinging strands in that indictment, the prophet said, because of this thing, you've given occasion for the enemies of God to blaspheme. David, you've not been a true Israelite. As the king in Israel, in the nation that is to be a holy nation, what you have done, has given the outsider occasion to have unworthy thoughts of the covenant God, who is your God, and the God of the nation. So that psalm articulates the principle that whatever blessing God confers upon us as a worshipping body, as a relating body, ultimately, it is not only to the satisfaction of God's heart, and that's foundation, never replace the needs of the world, or the needs of your brethren, for the primary responsibility of bringing honor and glory to God. The chief end of man is to glorify God first, foundational, central, and growing out of that, we relate to one another, and we seek to be an instant of blessing to the ends of the earth. Now, question number two. Can you think of any words of our Lord Jesus, in the New Testament, that underscore this principle

15:04 in a very concrete, specific way? He uses two metaphors concerning His people. He says, you are this and you are that, and bound up in both of those things is this whole idea of the church as a witnessing, communicating, we might call it reflecting community. Oh good, I'm batting two for two this morning.

15:34 In the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter 5, I should say, you're batting two for two. I've thrown out the questions and you've given the responses. Matthew chapter 5. And this is what our Lord says of His people.

15:51 His people whose character traits have been described in the Beatitudes. And remember, the Beatitudes are not a map as to how to get to heaven. They're a portrait of those who are on their way to heaven. Now, you don't use your portrait for a road map, or you get in big bad trouble.

16:09 The Beatitudes, the Beatitudes are a composite portrait of the character traits of the true sons and daughters of the kingdom. What are they in their essential character? They are such as are poor in spirit, they mourn, they are meek, they hunger and thirst for righteousness, they are merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, and because they live out such a lifestyle in the context of an ungodly world, that world that loves darkness rather than light can't be neutral toward them. So the last Beatitude is, blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness sake.

16:51 Now, such people living in the world and living particularly in community as the people of God, the Lord Jesus describes them in verse 13. You are the salt of the earth, and the great use of salt, that is in mind in this passage is, it is a preservative. It is to check putrefaction. Yes, it gives flavor, but here our Lord is emphasizing that as the people of God described in the character traits of the Beatitudes, such people are the salt of the earth. And then secondly, in verse 14, you are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. And then he goes on to show that in ordinary human experience, men don't light a candle and then put a bushel basket over it. No, if you light a candle, it's to radiate light, to illuminate to others.

17:55 And so in this passage, the Lord Jesus is underscoring again that whatever he makes his people in his grace that makes them distinctively different from the world, it is not to insulate them from influencing the world, but that they might be both salty. Salt and light in the presence of that world. And he doesn't say you ought to be. He says you are. You are. This is what you are in your essential identity. He does say, yes, be careful that the salt maintains its saltiness and that the light is not obscured. But this is not an exhortation. Be salt and be light. He says you are both salt and you are light.

18:40 Now, a third biblical principle that underscores, we're just trying now to call out some major biblical principles that are sort of watershed passages and concepts so that we're firmly established, not only in the understanding. I doubt there's any of you who would debate the basic idea, but we have the passages at hand that can be used to keep conditioning our own consciences and to use in interaction with others.

19:12 What portion of God's law, either in the Ten Commandments or in what we might call various summaries of the demands of the law, what portion above all others makes it plain that if we are truly the people of God seeking to walk in evangelical law-keeping, we cannot be indifferent as to how we relate to those that we would call outsiders. They are not those who we identify as our brethren within the fellowship. They are those who we identify with in the fellowship of this relating body. They may be those who come among us as visitors.

19:49 They may be those that we have contact with in our neighborhood, in our place of business. Those whom we may be aggressively contacting in some evangelistic endeavor. What is our fundamental relationship to be towards such people that we could call our neighbors, however they become our neighbors? Whether they become a neighbor on a Lord's Day morning, sitting two pews away as visitors among us, our neighbors placed in the providence of God, in our neighborhood where we live, our neighbors, our work associates, our classmates, etc. What portion of the Word of God ought immediately to come to our mind as to our responsibility and relationship to anyone that we can call a neighbor? Chuck? All right, Second Great Commandment. Can you find us a passage where that's found? All

20:47 right, Matthew 22. Matthew 22. You remember the Lord is asked a question in verse 36, Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? And he said unto him, now notice, the Godward dimension is first, foundational, primary. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment and the second. It is second, not first. Never get the order reversed. Any attempt to fulfill the second without the first will either prove futile or will be a distortion of the second. Always take our reference point from supreme allegiance to God himself. But the second is like unto it and is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Now, notice verse 40.

21:47 Matthew 22. Verse 40. Matthew 22. Verse 40.

21:50 Law hangs and the prophets. It's a tremendous statement. Jesus said, on these, the marker's not working this morning. Okay, here we go.

22:02 On these two commandments, love to God supremely and love to one's neighbor, he said you can hang the total content of the ethical demands of the law and the prophets. And that's technical terminology for the whole of the Old Testament. And every ethical demand can either be hung here or hung here. Now, see, that's why it's crucial to get some of these, what the old Southern Presbyterian theologian Dabney called epitomizing texts, texts that distill the wide range of biblical teaching.

22:38 Our Lord says, on these two commandments hang not most or some, but all of the law and the prophets. Now, not the entirety of their content, but in the context, all of the ethical demands can hang upon these two commandments. So that if our dealings with God are genuine in worship and our dealings one with another are born out of evangelical obedience and motives and dynamics, then surely we will want to make conscience of this that constitutes the second commandment. That is to love our neighbor as ourselves.

23:21 For this is one of the two commandments on which hang all the law and the prophets, and you have a similar emphasis in the epistles, and let's just look at that for a moment. For any whose background would be such, they say, well, that's the Lord Jesus. And he's speaking under the framework of the law. Is that still the same ethical perspective under the new covenant and after the death of Christ and the descent of the Holy Spirit?

23:50 Well, If you'll turn to that great treatise on the grace of God in salvation, the book of Romans, you will find in chapter 13 that there is no disjuncture. Owe no man anything, verse 8, save to love one another, for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this you shall not commit adultery, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not covet, if there be any other commandment, it is summed up in this word. And what is that word?

24:26 You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Paul does not advance from Jesus and say, now we have something that is of a higher ethical norm. He doesn't say that. He takes these very words and brings them into the orbit of all of the blessed realities of gospel privilege in Christ that he's been expounding, throughout this marvelous epistle, and says that the ethical demands can be summed in this word, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, and then he gives a bit of a commentary on how that love operates.

25:03 Love does not work ill to his neighbor. Love, therefore, is the fulfilling of the law. So I trust with these three basic passages, Psalm 67, Matthew chapter 5, the second great commandment, we at least, have a fresh feel for how vital is this issue of our relating to any that we can call and designate as our neighbor. Now, I want to move from the general principles and the biblical support of those principles to get to some specifics.

Manifesting Love to the Visitor: Genuine, Sensitive Friendliness

25:41 If the neighbor, whom we are to love as ourselves, is the visitor who comes among us, let's start with that individual. If the neighbor is, that visitor who comes among us, and we are seeking to love that neighbor as ourselves, how will we relate to that neighbor? What ought to characterize the way we, as the people of God, gathered primarily to have dealings with God in our stated meetings, whether our Lord's Day services, or whether our prayer meetings, God is central, not men, but with God being, and in a context where we are seeking to relate to one another according to the norms of Scripture, how should we relate to the neighbor who is the visitor who comes among us? What would be an expression of biblical love in the concrete? And here I'm throwing it out for your help and interaction. I've written some things down.

26:51 All right, Stephen? The greatest concern would be for their soul. Now, how would we manifest that concern? Does that soul float by us so that we can say, I'm concerned for that that is the soul?

27:09 Where is that soul?

27:14 In a body that is a what?

27:17 A physical being? Anything more than a physical being?

27:24 How about an emotional being? A psychological being? A social being? With all of its inherent baggage of past experiences in church, outside, out of church, past experience with people of different cultures and backgrounds, what do we have when we meet a visitor who's come among us?

27:44 We have this complex psychosomatic entity who is a bundle of all of these things. Isn't that what that visitor is? He's not a statistic. A wooden, plastic statistic.

27:59 It's a living, throbbing, real human being with all of his or her distinctive, individuality that is true of you, is true of your neighbor. Now, if you love him with biblical love, how will you, as a member of this church, seek to love that neighbor as yourself? Give me some concrete ways that you do it, or that you know you ought to do it. Pete?

28:36 Mm-hmm.

28:53 Okay. Let's get some of this in the hopper, and then hopefully we can bring it down into some categories that I've written. This gave a good shovel into the wheelbarrow of the stuff here. Someone else had his hand raised here.

29:07 Was it you, Michael? Yes. All right. You're going to say much of what he said.

29:12 All right? Norman?

29:20 Okay. Excellent. Passage in James 2. You remember what James has to say?

29:25 They were welcoming people, but they were very, very selective. And James went after this matter because of this selectivity that was not a reflection of gospel dynamics. In James 2, my brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ with respect of persons. If there come into your synagogue or into your assembly a man with a gold ring in fine clothing, and there come in a poor man in vile clothing, and you have regard to him that wears the fine clothing, and say, sit here in a good place.

29:59 The ushers bring him down to the chief seats. But when this poor fellow comes in looking like maybe he was a homeless man who came in off the street, he shunted off somewhere, so he wouldn't be an embarrassment. You see, here's where I can't help but mention this. The whole concept that lies at the heart of the church growth movement that like attracts like.

30:20 You've got to have a homogeneous assembly. Target the kind of people you want to reach. If you want to reach affluent yuppies, then target them because certainly yuppies will be turned off by homeless people showing up in your assembly. And homeless people will be turned off by the well-dressed yuppie.

30:38 Well, you see, just one passage like this blasts that notion to smithereens. The new humanity in Christ represented in any assembly is to reflect that God is no respecter of persons as to external, social, economic, ethnic background or standing. So James rebukes this and says, do you not make distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? So Norman is given a good contribution.

31:08 Pete, that there should be an aggressive friendliness. Norman has said no respect of persons. What else ought to mark our efforts to love this neighbor as ourselves? Anything else?

31:23 All right. Yes.

31:37 All right. Can you think of any text that even remotely addresses that matter of being friendly to the point of being hospitable and opening our home to relative strangers?

32:22 All right. Hebrews 13. That's right. Hebrews 13.

32:24 Here's an explicit text. And though it had peculiar relevance in a day when there were not motels and hotels and people didn't have RVs that they could plug at a local campsite and get electricity and plumbing for the night. Nonetheless, it has timeless relevance. Verse 1 and 2.

32:48 Let love of the brethren continue. There's the generic duty. Love of the brethren continue. Here's a specific manifestation.

32:55 And do not forget to show love unto strangers. For thereby some have entertained angels unawares. This is probably the closest thing to an explicit text that brings us into this orbit of the responsibility and privilege of an aggressive friendliness that will even open the home and the table to strangers. All right.

33:18 Anything else that would be a manifestation of loving our neighbor as ourselves when that neighbor is the stranger that God brings within the orbit of the life and ministry of our assembly?

33:31 Yes, Kelly? All right. Showing a genuine interest in who they are based on the principle don't look every man upon his own things but upon the things of others. Not being so ready to give our life history and our testimony and where we work and so full of ourselves that they become just a set of ears to listen to us.

33:57 Showing a genuine interest in who they are and where they are coming from. Well, I'm sure we'd get a lot more input. May I suggest, and again, this is not inspired, but I have tried to give thought to it and you can work with it and refine it and I'm sure improve upon it. But as I wrestle with the various words, it seems to me this captures at least some of the major strands of the biblical emphases and things that you have laid out on the table.

The Nature of Genuine, Sensitive Friendliness

34:24 We ought to manifest a genuine, sensitive friendliness. A genuine, sensitive friendliness. And I had at one point even had the word there ought to be among us a genuine, sensitive, manifested friendliness.

34:44 Now by genuine, what do I mean? Well, one of you has already underscored it. Michael has. In Romans 12 and verse 9 he says let love be without hypocrisy.

34:56 You mean it's possible to manifest what looks like love but it's only wearing a mask? Exactly. That's exactly what Paul is speaking against. Let love be without hypocrisy.

35:07 Mask wearing. The etymology of the word hypocrisy means without the mask. You're not in the business of being a salesperson whose friendliness and gregariousness is only a means to get a customer.

35:23 And in a consumerism age people are unusually sensitive to this kind of religious salesmanship. And they are rightly turned off by it. Let love be without hypocrisy. That means, if you do not find yourself under the instincts of an active love which is the fruit of the Spirit when you see out of the corner of your eye that someone's a visitor if you don't instinctively lift up your heart and say, Lord, that looks like a visitor do bless them while they're here.

35:54 Lord, help me to find some way to get to them after the service and express my delight that they're here and to manifest. In other words, whatever we do must be the outgrowth of genuine love. Let love be without hypocrisy. Let it be without the mask wearing.

36:13 So it must be genuine. Then it must be sensitive. And here I'm trying to embody the directives of Matthew 7, 12. Remember what Jesus said?

36:23 As you would that others do unto you, even so do you unto them. Why? For this is the law and the prophets. Well, is that contradicting love your neighbor is yourself on these on this second commandment?

36:37 Hang all the law and the prophets in terms of our horizontal duties as surely as love to God is the one on which we hang all of our vertical duties? No. To love your neighbor is yourself. Here's one of the concrete ways, the golden rule.

36:52 As you would that others do to you, even so do you also unto them. Now, if you go in as a stranger into a new place, Pete has alluded to this. Try to remember what your experience is. How do you feel if 10 people, all of you, 10 people all descend on you with bulging eyeballs and within 30 seconds are you saved?

37:12 Are you born again? I used to have a friend that he felt it was his duty, no matter who he met, in whatever circumstance, in the first 16 seconds of conversation, to say, are you born again? He'd scare the liver out of people. He was a big man, barrel chested, and a little bit sunken chest down here.

37:30 But he would come on like gangbusters. And when people would get irritated with him, he would glory that this was bearing the reproach of Christ. No, it was just a horribly insensitive way of relating to people. When Jesus starts talking with the woman at the well, he doesn't say, woman, you're an impenitent, immoral woman on your way to hell, repent.

37:54 He says, woman, I need some water. You need water? You're a Jew. What do you do in asking that of me, a Samaritan?

38:01 And me, a woman? Then the Lord begins to draw her out lovingly, tactfully. Yes, Nicodemus, who is a religious leader, wants to talk religious law talk, comes in a private situation. The Lord nails him with accept him and be born again.

38:16 Yes, there is what? Sensitivity. That's why we have no sympathy for wooden, canned approaches of dealing with people, whether a visitor who comes amongst or the total stranger that you sit with on the plane. People are real people who need to be loved as real people in terms of who they are.

38:36 They are where they are. And as you would that others do unto you, even so do ye also unto them. That's one end of the spectrum. How do you feel when you go as a stranger to a place?

38:46 You can sit on the second or third pew and make your way all the way to the parking lot and not a person who belongs there stops you and introduces himself. What's your impression? Well, if they're praying that visitors come, for all they know, I could be some unconverted seeing our English friends, the word bloke comes to me. I can't use it over here.

39:07 It has a negative connotation, but I like it. An unconverted bloke comes in off the street. How would they know that I'm not such a bloke? They were praying Wednesday night, oh God, put hunger in the hearts of people, bless the witness of our people, bring people unto the sound of the word.

39:24 How do they know I'm not one of the answers to their prayer? They'd never know. Now between that extreme of people pouncing on a visitor and making them just say, hey, everybody's out here to put me as a scalp on their belt. But, and people perhaps so fearful of offending, there must be a golden mean where each one of us, consistent with who we are, some of you have an unusually gracious social demeanor.

39:53 That's a grace to be sublimated for the cause of the gospel. Some of you are more retiring, less loquacious, find it more difficult to make small talk. We don't put each other into wooden categories. But certainly.

40:08 If the grace of love, which is the fruit of the Spirit, is operative in us, and we're seeking to love our neighbor as ourselves, any visitor who comes among us and does not make a beeline, and as it were, run out as though he's fearful, anyone will. That's his problem. At least he's going to have to, if he comes out my door, he's going to have to hold my hand long enough to say, oh, it's good to see you here, and your name is? And how did you happen to come amongst us?

40:37 And there are visitors here. Who know? You've had that treatment from me. Now, I hope it isn't intimidating, but it is aggressive, and it ought to be.

40:45 Because of the particular place, I've been the one often who's up here leading the service, expressing what seems to be a concern for those who are listening at the word. If I regarded a visitor with total indifference to shook their hand and let them go, it would be a contradiction, and I can't do it. Not because I'm out to get more members to the church, but because I love them. And love will be enterprising, but it will be sensitive.

41:11 And when people send out the signal, well, sometimes the signal is, most churches I've been to, they only have an hour, an hour and 15 minute service. I expected that. It's already been an hour and a half, and I've got a roast that's burning at home. I've got a split.

41:25 Well, they don't need to have you trying to quote witness to them, while all they're thinking about is the roast that's burning at home. And if you sense their little antichrist, it's obvious that you're under a little time constraint. Perhaps we can have an opportunity to talk more fully if you come back again. Love is enterprising, but it is sensitive.

41:47 And then it will also be manifested. First John 3.18, let us love not in word only, but in deed and in truth. That means you can learn, no matter how socially shy you are, to learn how to introduce yourself to people, how to make effective small talk.

42:07 You know what small talk is? Small talk is the bridge to meaningful communication. That's what small talk is. It's the bridge to meaningful communication.

42:19 There's no meaningful communication unless people lock in. Small talk is the bridge to that. It's nice to have you here. Are you from this area?

42:29 I noticed that you're a visitor among us today. How did you happen to come to our church? Do you know someone in the church? Are you related to someone in the church?

42:38 Oh, you have three children. Oh, and what are their ages? You're making small talk. Why?

42:44 As a technique? No. As a genuine expression of as you would that others do unto you, even so do you also unto them. You're relating to a real person.

42:54 That person has children. That person lives somewhere. That person has a background. And so you're seeking to interact in such a way that your love is manifested.

43:05 Then as Peter suggested, and we were talking about this a few weeks ago. I was with one of the members that we know that there are some of you who in the past, I don't know if you're still doing it, husband and wives agree that one Lord's Day a month, a little more water is thrown into the bowl of soup with a view that if on that particular Lord's Day that couple meets any visitor and invites them home, they know there'll be some watered down soup to put on the table. And you as the Lord's people may want to prayerfully consider that kind of an enterprising way that you might manifest your love in a very meaningful way. A genuine, sensitive, manifested friendliness.

Cultivating and Maintaining Outward Concern

43:39 Now that to me is at least pointing in the direction of something of what it would mean for us to love our neighbor as ourselves. And I bless God that for many of you, this is simply review. That's the way you operate. I had a wonderful experience just a couple of weeks ago with someone who was visiting at a prayer meeting.

44:07 And I had to break off. the conversation of that individual with one of our members who was being graciously, sensitively aggressive in welting this individual to a prayer meeting. That ought to go on all the time. And when it's done in a way that is sensitive and godly, it won't be something that is trumpeted down Main Street.

44:30 We won't be doing our righteousnesses to be seen of men or to chalk up some kind of checklist of our own virtue. It will be the outgrowth of our dealings with increasing spiritual and biblical substance with the living God who in turn enables us to relate to one another in such a way that there is a climate in which a visitor coming among us would welcome, unless there's some peculiar problem, that expression of what I have called genuine, sensitive, manifested friendliness. Now we're coming down within eight minutes of the end. And let me, let me try to at least point you in the direction of two other dimensions of this relating to the neighbor.

45:15 This concept of the church as a confessing, witnessing, and what other term did I use in trying to capture this at page number one? Communicating body. As the visitor listens and observes,

45:31 my question was, what should he sense with respect to our relationship to brethren and churches outside of the church? Outside of our own. You see, if we are properly confessing Christ and the influence of the gospel, the reality is that whatever we are as an individual assembly, we are part of the church universal. We are part of the larger expressions of the body of Christ.

45:59 And therefore, as the visitor comes among us, as that person who is brought in conjunction with your own witness or who is flushed out by the radio broadcast, whatever the means may be, they should not only sense that we relate to them personally as part of this outlooking dimension of our life together, but they ought also to sense that we are very conscious that we are not the only church that exists. Now, is it possible for us to express the truth that we believe with all of our hearts that we are one as a church with any true church of the Lord Jesus Christ? That is, any company of people who embrace Christ as their only Savior and Lord and are seeking to walk by the rule of Scripture, whatever their name, denominational tag may be, we recognize them as a true church of the Lord Jesus Christ. We may not be able in good conscience to join every one of those, but it's one thing to say I could not in conscience join that church, be a part of that denomination. It's another thing to unchurch them. You see, there have been some Baptists who unchurch all paedobaptists.

47:16 They say that Presbyterian churches are no true churches because they do not have a true doctrine of baptism. They do not have a true identification of the church and they would unchurch paedobaptist churches. We don't do that. We believe that's wrong.

47:31 Now, could I in good conscience join a Presbyterian church where I would have to say that I supported certain people and practices, etc.? That's another question. But certainly if we have a biblical view of how we are related to the people of God around the world, then any fair-minded visitor should not be among us long before they sense that we are not only aggressive in our love to them, but that we recognize this outward dimension of our communion with the churches of Christ in other places.

48:02 And such passages as Romans 16, 16, where Paul says the churches of Christ greet you, Ephesians 6, 18, we are to pray with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watch thereunto with all perseverance for all the saints. And when Paul greets the Corinthians, he says he greets them in their distinctive identity as a church unto the church of God which is at Corinth, 1 Corinthians 1, 2, even them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus called saints with all that call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. In every place by that little stroke he lets them know that as he writes to them in their distinctive identity as a particular church of Christ that they are part of a larger scheme of things. Now, here I would like to draw you out but because of the time constraints let me just underscore. Do some of you wonder why is it that we've woven into the fabric of our stated public worship systematically praying for other churches? And for the men who go out from here to preach?

49:12 And ordinarily Lord's Day evening pray for the work of God in the Philippines and in Pakistan and in the Caribbean. What lies behind that? Well, it's a biblical duty. Yes, but can't that duty be performed in other circles?

49:29 Well, one of the reasons we do it in our stated worship is we want any visitor who comes among us and is listening at all to realize, hey, this congregation doesn't have its name. It has its nose stuck in its own navel. They exist as a people with vital concerns for churches elsewhere and for gospel endeavors elsewhere. And God knows and many of us know to the pain and grief of our own hearts we have not begun to begin to cultivate and manifest all we ought to manifest of concern outward but surely no one can come among us for two weeks and think we're living unto ourselves in our church life.

50:16 Can't do that. You come to Sunday school as a visitor and what do you hear Pastor Carlson praying for? You hear him praying for the men downstairs answering phones. You hear prayer for the calls of the gospel in the Sunday school rooms.

50:30 You come into the morning service. We pray this morning for our sister churches in and churches in various parts of the country are prayed for. You come Lord's Day evening and the calls, calls of the gospel in our missionary endeavors come to one prayer meeting and what do you hear? Letters from all over the place.

50:48 What is this? It's a manifestation of this reality and folks that didn't just happen. That didn't just happen and not only does it just not happen it won't be maintained unless we passionately believe in the biblical principles that undergird that life and practice.

51:09 And in an age that is a navel gazing age it's going to become increasingly difficult to maintain those biblical perspectives. There's going to be more and more of a cry. Let's draw inward and take care of ourselves. And Jesus said he that would save his life shall lose it.

51:28 But he that will lose his life for my sake and the gospel's the same shall save it.

Historical Commitment to Missions and a Lost World

51:35 Then I'd hope that we could get into a third aspect of this and that is the visitor who listens and observes should sense with respect to our disposition to a lost world that there is an active concern for those outside of Christ. And then I had a whole section of various ways that that should be and could be and ought to be increasingly manifested. But let me close on this note. Many of you are not here in our early days so you've missed the blessing of the struggles that we've gone through in seeking to see the work of God.

52:15 God advance in this place. The building in which you sit now that was dedicated in 1985 there are many people that thought those crazy people will never have a building of their own because when we were just a year and a half out of the womb as a church in 1968 coming up on 1969 meeting in a rented school with no building fund with no land no prospective building. We were foolish enough to commission a whole lot of money a whole missionary to go 120 miles from here and plant a church. And in a short time we were sending thousands of dollars for them to build a building.

52:55 And people said that's crazy. You got a building fund? No. Well what in the world are you doing helping someone else to build a building?

53:04 And the text we kept going back to was this withhold not good from them to whom it is due when it is the power of thy hand to do it. Say not unto thy neighbor go and come again and tomorrow I will give when you have it by you. And we pleaded with God to fulfill the promise that if we give it should be given unto us good measure pressed down and sometime we ought to perhaps outline the history of what God did in validating and vindicating that commitment. And that's been true with regard to the little bit we've been able to do in the missionary enterprise that we carried on for years in the land of Sweden the church planting endeavor in the United Kingdom the church planting endeavor in the Philippines.

53:46 God knows we've struck very few arrows but dear people we have struck a few and if we're going to strike more then we need that God would cultivate in us by the grace and power of the spirit a fresh commitment to this these three circles of our life and ministry in that order ever having central our privilege to worship this glorious God our commitment to relate to one another biblically biblically in love in unity and purity and then by the grace of God to the visitor who comes among us to the people of God in general and to a lost world all around us to manifest that by the enablement of the spirit we do love our neighbor as ourselves and we are committed by the grace of God to give our neighbor what he most desperately needs and that is a valid real spirit filled context that validates the gospel and the communication of that message with accuracy and in the power of the spirit well I trust God will use this for discussion among yourselves to cause you to reflect upon these things in the days to come let's pray and commit these matters to God our father we do thank you for your word that is a lamp unto our feet and a light to our pathway

55:15 the entrance of your words gives light and where light comes it shows up the darkness and our father we acknowledge we have not loved you as we ought we've not loved our neighbor as we ought we pray that you would forgive us for self-centeredness and selfishness and insensitivity and we ask that you would give us grace that we may cultivate more and more a genuine sensitive manifested friendliness to those who come among us give us grace to manifest more and more a genuine selfless concern for your people and your churches in every place and a very increasing spirit wrought concern for those who are outside of Christ those who come among us the children among us the young people our neighbors and even to the ends of the earth oh lord deliver us from romanticizing about the work of the gospel we pray that you would give us those graces that will make us meaningfully relate to the many children all around us many of whom know you not that we may not be deceived that we have a genuine burden for souls when real living souls are at our elbow and we make no effort to draw near to them to befriend them to become instruments in your hands to point them

56:45 to Christ help us we pray in Jesus name Amen Amen