Uncomfortable Faith

Uncomfortable  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  31:55
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Intro

Let me describe to you one of the most uncomfortable times in my life...
My first date with Elisa…
This was incredibly uncomfortable … but totally worth it!!
The rewards of discomfort…
American culture is a culture of comfort. It’s being sold to us everywhere we look. We’re encouraged to do what we want, when we want, with whomever we want. If something is uncomfortable, we want to avoid it at all costs. True Christianity, though, is just that: UNCOMFORTABLE!
Uncomfortable: The Awkward and Essential Challenge of Christian Community (Introduction My Dream Church)
This mind-set has infiltrated the way we approach church: as a thing we can design according to our checklist of preferences. And if a church stops catering to our desires or makes us uncomfortable (the pastor says something disagreeable, worship music becomes too saccharine, someone speaks in tongues), we move on. There are dozens of other options in town.

Charles Spurgeon once said:

If I had never joined a church till I had found one that was perfect, I should never have joined one at all; and the moment I did join it, if I had found one, I should have spoiled it, for it would not have been a perfect church after I had become a member of it.

The Awkward and Essential Challenge of Christian Community… Embracing the uncomfortable…
PRAYER
God our Father as we begin our discussion of the awkward challenges of living in community with one another let us focus on the point and the source of this community which is Christ. Show us what it means to live life in the Spirit and not in the flesh. By the power of your Word we pray for your refiners fire that you might cause us to become uncomfortable this morning for your Glory!! Amen

Message

His method is unattractive.
Mark 8:34 ESV
34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Hide not the offense of the cross, lest you make it of none effect. The angles and corners of the gospel are its strength: to pare them off is to deprive it of power. Toning down is not the increase of strength, but the death of it. = Charles H. Spurgeon
The Offense of the Cross
1 On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame; and I love that old cross where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain.
2 O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world, has a wondrous attraction for me; for the dear Lamb of God left his glory above to bear it to dark Calvary. [Refrain]
3 In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine, a wondrous beauty I see, for 'twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died, to pardon and sanctify me. [Refrain]
4 To that old rugged cross I will ever be true, its shame and reproach gladly bear; then he'll call me some day to my home far away, where his glory forever I'll share. [Refrain]
Refrain: So I'll cherish the old rugged cross, till my trophies at last I lay down; I will cling to the old rugged cross, and exchange it some day for a crown.
1 Cor 1.18 “18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
giant let down for the disciples
undermines human logic / wisdom
flies in the face of “survival of the fittest”
visible loss for invisible gain
1 Cor 1.23 “23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,”
1 Cor 1.27 “27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer = “when Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”
The Loss of the Cross
being your own boss
Jesus is LORD and I am not… cheap grace !!
consumer religion
your best life now?… commitment not consumer… Came to serve not be served!!
pride
We Are Equals… Galatians 3:28–29 “28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”
upper middle class college educated wife manager mother / stung out prostitute
cool and cultural
politically “incorrect”
John Stott = “Either we preach that human beings are rebels against God, under his just judgment and (if left to themselves) lost, and that Christ crucified who bore their sin and curse is the only available Savior. Or we emphasize human potential and human ability, with Christ brought in only to boost them, and with no necessity for the cross except to exhibit God’s love and so inspire us to greater endeavor. The former is the way to be faithful, the latter the way to be popular. It is not possible to be faithful and popular simultaneously.
health, wealth, and comfort
comfort - servant
wealth - charity
health - death
The Gain of the Cross
Phil 3.7-9 “7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith”
His Method is Unattractive… Our Message is Offensive!… The Cross is Uncomfortable
His standard is unpopular.
1 Peter 1:15–16 ESV
15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
If you will here stop and ask yourselves why you are not as pious as the primitive Christians were, your own heart will tell you that it is neither through ignorance nor inability, but purely because you never thoroughly intended it. = William Law
What Holiness Implies
You need to change… You need to be better… Your not good enough
“Authentic Self”
judgement… standards… Sin / repentance
Why Holiness Matters
God’s holiness is no joke
who He is / His image bearers
Abraham / Israel / Ark
Witness = salt / light
“we cannot give what we do not have”
Worship
Rom 12.1-2 “1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Why Hypocrisy Hurts - Authenticity…
Who He Is
What He Says
Who we Are
“There’s this idea that to live out of conformity with how I feel is hypocrisy; but that’s a wrong definition of hypocrisy,” Thoennes says. “To live out of conformity to what I believe is hypocrisy. To live in conformity with what I believe, in spite of what I feel, isn’t hypocrisy; it’s integrity.”
Uncomfortable: The Awkward and Essential Challenge of Christian Community (3 Uncomfortable Holiness)
C. S. Lewis puts it this way: “The more we get what we now call ‘ourselves’ out of the way and let Him take us over, the more truly ourselves we become.”13
The Christian life is not a call to be true to yourself. It’s a call to deny yourself, or at least to deny those parts of yourself that are incompatible with the human type we should all aspire to imitate: Jesus Christ. As Stott says, “True self-denial (the denial of our false, fallen self) is not the road to self-destruction but the road to self-discovery.”14
We love talking about how Jesus “meets us where we are at,” and it is true that he does. But he doesn’t want us to stay where we are. Insofar as “authenticity” keeps us in our muck and inhibits growth toward holiness, then authenticity is an enemy of the gospel. And it is also an enemy of hope. As Bogardus notes, “If this is ‘just who I am,’ then what hope is there for me for change? What hope is there for something better? God, save us from mere authenticity.”
His standard is unpopular… not unattainable.... what our call is!!
Uncomfortable: The Awkward and Essential Challenge of Christian Community (3 Uncomfortable Holiness)
By God’s grace we can be “dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:11), crucifying the flesh with its passions and desires (Gal. 5:24). But it is only by God’s grace. We can’t get better on our own. Holiness is a horror if it is entirely up to us. But it isn’t. Thankfully, we have in the Holy Spirit an empowering advocate to help us walk in a new way (Romans 8). It is not us, but the Holy Spirit within us, that allows for change (1 Thess. 5:23; 2 Thess. 2:13). And that’s a relief.
Holiness is Uncomfortable…

Close

This is what you signed up for.
John 12:25 ESV
25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
We must put away our convenient notions of God—the one who always agrees with us, the one who always favors our nation or political agenda, the one who feeds us candy and never vegetables. = Adam McHugh
Praying aloud in public—introverts will understand
Speaking on stage or from any sort of podium, for any reason
That moment in a worship song when everyone is sitting, and then as the song builds to a climax, people start popping up around you and you feel pressured to stand up too
That moment in a life group when the leader asks something followed by an awkward silence, everyone avoids eye contact, and you just KNOW he will call on you
The meet-and-greet portion of church where small talk with strangers is encouraged
Door-to-door or street evangelism (or any sort of evangelism, really)
Holding sweaty hands with strangers during a prayer circle time that never seems to end
So many more....
The Dying-Away of “Cultural” Christianity
shrinking #’s = collapse or clarity
America =/= Christian … “Nones”
“Nominal Christianity and Moralistic Deism will gradually die off. We should expedite their passing.” = McCracken
C. S. Lewis writes: “I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.”
Christianity Should Be Uncomfortable
Russell Moore = “Christianity, founded on belief in the supernatural resurrection of a first-century Jewish carpenter, has been and always will be abnormal.”
Christianity is not about you, its about Him!!
To follow should, does, and will cost you something
Put others first - Phil 2.3-4.
deny self / die to self - Matt 16.24; Gal 2.20.
subject to persecution - Jhn 15.20; 2 Tim 3.12.
give up creature comforts of home - Lk 9.58.
forsake priority of family - Lk 9.59-62.
give up material possessions - Matt 19.21.
embrace the messiness of community and bear with each other in love - Eph 4.2.
bear one another burdens / work toward unity - Gal 3.28; 6.2.

Looking outside of ourselves. Putting aside personal comfort and coming often to the cross. This is what being the church means.

It means worshiping all together without segregating by age or interest (e.g., “contemporary” or “traditional”). It means preaching the whole counsel of God, even the unpopular bits. It means fighting against homogeneity and cultivating diversity as much as possible, even if this makes people uncomfortable. It means prioritizing the values of church membership and tithing, even if it turns people off. It means pushing back against the privatization of relationships by insisting that the health of marriages is the business of the church family. It means sticking around even when the church goes through hard times. It means building a tight-knit community, but not an insular one, that engages the surrounding community and sends out members when mission calls them away. It means bearing with one another in love on matters of debate and yet not shying away from discipline. It means preaching truth and love in tension, even when the culture calls it bigotry.

None of this is easy, and none of it is comfortable. But by the grace of God and with the Holy Spirit’s help, uncomfortable church can become something we treasure.

His Method is Unattractive… Our Message is Offensive!… The Cross is uncomfortable…
His standard is unpopular… not unattainable.... what our call is!!… Holiness is uncomfortable…
This is what we signed up for… Faith is uncomfortable… Therefore let us together embrace the uncomfortable!!
PRAYER
God our Father we would thank you for the gift of discomfort. We have heard it was said “no pain no gain” and while that is true for physical growth and health it is even more true when it comes to our walk with you. You have showed us time and time again in your word that it is not always comfortable to follow you. So by your Spirit we pray, help us to embrace your unattractive method of salvation, your unpopular standard of holiness, and this uncomfortable call to community based on our faith in You. In Your name we pray, Amen.

Group Questions

Share a story with the group of a funny time you were awkwardly uncomfortable… A first date, a school dance, a job interview, etc.
Are the emotions you feel now different than they were then? If so how and why?
How would you describe a “Seeker Sensitive” Church?
What are some benefits from this kind of church? What are some potential dangers?
Why was community so important to the first Christians? Is it the same today? Why?
Read Galatians (yes all of it) and discuss how this relates to this weeks message.
Where does the unattractive method of the cross fit in here?
Where does the unpopular standard of holiness fit in here?
Where does embracing the uncomfortable fit in here?
Where is the danger in neglecting these things fit in here?
How can we help meet the need for authentic christian community at ABC?
As a group come up with some ideas of ways the church as a whole, your group, and you as individuals can help facilitate community here at ABC.
As you brainstorm save your top 5 and give them to the group leader to give to Pastor.
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