Low Expectations...

Also, we as a church went through Thom Rainer’s book last year, entitled, “I Am A Church Member.” We read and discussed each section AND signed a commitment after each chapter. Here’s a reminder:

I will be a functioning church member.

I will be a unifying church member.

I will not let my church be about my preferences and desires.

I will pray for my church leaders.

I will lead my family to be healthy church members.

I will treasure church membership as a gift.

All of these things are what we would naturally expect from those who are born again AND church members.

Now here is the sad truth: sometimes people attend church and we think they should act like they’re saved when they are not.

The even sadder truth is that there are people who are church members, they may attend each week, or very seldom, it doesn’t matter, and they are lost.

They show no outward signs of an inward change. Their preferences come first. They are not involved, aren’t teachable, and often, if you trace their membership back, they are like a “flash in the pan.” Excited to join the church, then nothing.

So, as a “church member,”

So, as a church, as believers, what do we expect from the lost who attend a local church? Very little. We should expect one thing actually.

We don’t let the lost sidetrack our evangelistic focus.

We don’t let the lost dictate how we should direct kingdom resources.

We don’t intend for the lost to teach, lead, or have any type of influence in the church.

We want those within the church who are separated from a righteous and holy God to be reconciled to Him through repentance and faith.

So today I’d like to briefly look at and see what we should be praying for the one(s) who may attend regularly and are not saved, or those who are actually members and may attend or not, but have no outward evidence of an inward change.

The two truths will be, You are the body of Christ and each of you is a part of it.

1 Corinthians 12:27 NIV84

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

You are the body of Christ

Notice the pronoun “you”

Second person plural

Paul is talking to the local church as a whole here.

The “you” refers to Christians.

Those people whose spirit conforms to that of Christ’s Spirit.

Those who have received the Good News of the Gospel and seek His glory through being active in His representation of His body in the local church.

This idea of “you are” in the text, gives us the idea that, as each member is a part of the whole, in this case the body of Christ, we are all responsible to one another to make sure we are working together to make Him known.

Not only in our little church body, but in our town, state, region, country and the world!

YOU are the body of Christ.

Think about the metaphor “body”

We’ve all heard this metaphor before.

We all need to work together to achieve the goal Christ has set before us.

1 Corinthians 12:12–20 NIV84

12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

I like to think about it like this:

Most of us have 100% of our body parts intact and these parts are natural.

A few have pieces that look natural, but are protheses.

The prothetic arm may look natural under a shirt and do it’s job, but it has to be told what to do. It can’t feel. It doesn’t grow.

We aren’t mad at it. It’s doing performing a needed function.

Follow this line of thinking toward the lost in the church.

Can they serve, give, participate, and so forth? Yes.

What does it mean to them to do so outside of being a child of God?

It may mean nothing. They may think they are getting kingdom credits. They may be doing so out of habit, or obligation, or duty.

But ultimately they aren’t a real part of the body, so there will always be sort of a difficulty between them and others, and most definitely, them and the Lord.

Have an understanding of “Christ”

We have low expectations of non-believers who attend church, or are on the membership roll because they are lost and their understanding of Christ is bad, incomplete, in error, lacking, not right, etc.

To have a partial understanding of Christ and the Gospel is to have no part of Him.

To expect a lost person to find their joy in Christ is like expecting a carnivore to enjoy a vegan lifestyle! Sure, they could do it for a little bit, but they don’t really like it and it’s not going to last long! Usually an hour a week!

Here are a few ways those who are lost view Christ:

How the lost view Christ: #1 “For my benefit”

He is simply a talisman. A good luck charm. A cross around my neck, a sticker on my car, someone I run to when I hear bad news.

How the lost view Christ: #2 “Part of society”

Each of you is a part of it

They view religion as a norm in society and because it’s a cultural norm, and maybe the most normal form of “religion,” they’d better join so others don’t think badly of them.

How the lost view Christ: #3 “Something I don’t deserve”

Each of you is a part of it

They are right, but they’ll usually play the “you don’t know what I’ve done” card, trying to out do you and your sin AND God’s ability to forgive. This is generally a scapegoat argument designed to help them skirt around the fact that they need to deal with their personal sin problem.

How the lost view Christ: #4 “An add-on to their own worldview”

Each of you is a part of it

This is very common, even within the church.

“Tell me about how you came to saving faith in Christ.”

“Well, I my family has been attending Concord for the last 100 years; and I’ve “walked the aisle” when I was 12; AND I was baptized the next week; AND I try to treat other people the way I’d like to be treated; AND I give to those less fortunate.”

“What about the Gospel, the Good News that came through the God-man of Jesus Christ? Have you repented of your sin and put your faith and trust in Christ?”

“Yeah. I’ve done that too.”

Each of you is a part of it

Friends, when we hear the “add-on,” we should be concerned for this person who professes to be a Christian.

It may explain a lot about the way they have behaved within the local church setting.

Concord, it’s okay to have low expectations of those who may be counting themselves among the church.

They are lost and they don’t need us to focus on:

“why aren’t you here each week.” or

“why do you complain more than you help or praise.” or

“they are supposed to help in this class, committee, or be more involved.” when

We should be focusing our attention on being very clear with the Gospel message and encouraging these folks to repent and come to Christ in faith and repentance.

Each of you is a part of it

The NIV renders this half of the verse in this way, but here is how it reads in the original language:

Verse 27: Now you are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

This particular phrase relates back to the “body of Christ.”

We get it all wrong when we call it “our church,” or

place our focus on whether we are “missionary” or simply a Southern Baptist Church, or

if someone hurt our feelings “up at the church.”

The focus is that we are part of the body of Christ, and as such, we place Him in the highest place as King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

We have low expectations of the lost who join us as we fellowship because they are NOT a part of the body of Christ.

In fact, they are separated from His body.

Paul calls those apart from Christ, enemies.

Romans 5:10 NIV84

10 For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

Romans 5:

As a part of Christ, those who abide in Him, desire to work for the good of both their brother in Christ AND their lost friend!

To the Corinthian church, Paul was reminding them that they were to maintain the values of Christ RATHER than those of their nonbelieving friends.

Church, this is where we get so confused!

We listen to the lost! They influence the way we think!

Look at evolution outside of the church: The Bible simply does not teach this, but in an effort to not appear as a moron, we’ve placed an atheistic worldview on top of the Bible and use that as the lense through which we view scripture.

Inside the church, we bow to loudest nonbeliever, because we value people “getting along” and not “making people mad” over doctrinal unity and church discipline.

Carla and I attended an evangelistic event entitled Refocus a few months ago hosted at Little Bethel and the speaker said something I’ll never forget.

He said, “why do we spend so much time listening to the “Christian” who is loud and wants their way when everything else about them says they are lost?”

He likened it to the third string football player who wants to tell the coach how to run the ball, but won’t put in the work to ever run the ball themselves.

It’s okay to have low expectations of the lost who attend our fellowship because they aren’t a part of the body of Christ.

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