WEBVTT 00:00:09.860 --> 00:00:12.679 Hey everyone, this is Josh from Encounter Church 00:00:12.679 --> 00:00:15.279 Henley and thanks so much for tuning into our 00:00:15.279 --> 00:00:19.000 podcast. Our prayer is that through this podcast, 00:00:19.019 --> 00:00:20.839 you can have an encounter with Jesus that'll 00:00:20.839 --> 00:00:24.359 change your life. And now get ready for an inspiring 00:00:24.359 --> 00:00:35.520 message from our preaching team. And it seems 00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:38.280 like people have one of two experiences when 00:00:38.280 --> 00:00:40.740 they do work experience. They say, yeah, you 00:00:40.740 --> 00:00:42.600 know what? I'm actually done with school. I want 00:00:42.600 --> 00:00:46.520 to do that. That was awesome. Or what I experienced, 00:00:46.840 --> 00:00:50.280 which was dear Lord Jesus, I never want to go 00:00:50.280 --> 00:00:53.200 near that profession with a 10 -foot pole again. 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:56.240 See, I love writing. I find that I can say what 00:00:56.240 --> 00:00:57.799 I really mean with a written word. And I find 00:00:57.799 --> 00:01:00.710 a logic and a structure and a beauty. in writing 00:01:00.710 --> 00:01:03.630 that I do not find in just speaking. I write 00:01:03.630 --> 00:01:06.769 my way into a better life. And I knew this as 00:01:06.769 --> 00:01:09.909 a teenager, so I was like, why don't we try and 00:01:09.909 --> 00:01:11.989 get paid to write for a living? That would be 00:01:11.989 --> 00:01:15.609 amazing. That would be a dream job. And so I 00:01:15.609 --> 00:01:19.750 did work experience as a journalist with a local 00:01:19.750 --> 00:01:21.430 paper, because journalists get paid to write, 00:01:21.569 --> 00:01:26.730 right? But it was a living hell. There was almost 00:01:26.730 --> 00:01:29.670 no writing. There was just days of intruding 00:01:29.670 --> 00:01:32.370 into people's lives, trying to get a story, interviewing 00:01:32.370 --> 00:01:34.750 people in their homes so that we could write 00:01:34.750 --> 00:01:37.930 some kind of boring piece about significant birthdays 00:01:37.930 --> 00:01:43.530 in the community. And in the end, they just published 00:01:43.530 --> 00:01:45.189 a piece I threw together in 15 minutes about 00:01:45.189 --> 00:01:50.609 my friend Blake. The ideal that I had, the expectations 00:01:50.609 --> 00:01:52.450 that I had, the dreams that I had of coming into 00:01:52.450 --> 00:01:55.090 work experience, they were shattered by the reality. 00:01:55.230 --> 00:01:58.769 of journalism. We find this in life, don't we? 00:02:00.150 --> 00:02:04.049 We go into things with ideals, with what we think 00:02:04.049 --> 00:02:06.510 they will be like, and they smash up against 00:02:06.510 --> 00:02:10.430 the reality of that thing. See, everyone has 00:02:10.430 --> 00:02:12.349 an ideal about marriage and what their marriage 00:02:12.349 --> 00:02:14.849 will be like before their marriage. And then 00:02:14.849 --> 00:02:17.270 a couple of years in the ideals that we had about 00:02:17.270 --> 00:02:20.469 marriage smash up against the reality of your 00:02:20.469 --> 00:02:23.650 spouse and your relationship. Everyone thinks 00:02:23.650 --> 00:02:25.389 they'll be amazing parents before parenthood, 00:02:25.490 --> 00:02:27.949 and then you're ideals of how you will parent. 00:02:28.370 --> 00:02:30.430 They smash up against the reality of your children, 00:02:30.710 --> 00:02:34.990 of sleep deprivation, and their uncanny ability 00:02:34.990 --> 00:02:38.050 to know exactly what buttons to push to annoy 00:02:38.050 --> 00:02:40.569 you. But I'm not talking about my kids of course, 00:02:40.770 --> 00:02:45.289 they're absolute angels. As Pastor Tex loves 00:02:45.289 --> 00:02:47.229 to say, the best parents in the world are people 00:02:47.229 --> 00:02:50.150 who don't have kids yet. You know, sometimes 00:02:50.150 --> 00:02:53.330 our ideals about what something should be like, 00:02:53.469 --> 00:02:55.930 they fall short of what they are actually like 00:02:55.930 --> 00:03:02.930 in reality. We're in a two -part series called 00:03:02.930 --> 00:03:07.210 City to Beach, which is about the church. And 00:03:07.210 --> 00:03:09.169 as a church here in Encounter Henley, we exist 00:03:09.169 --> 00:03:11.430 so that every person from city to beach can have 00:03:11.430 --> 00:03:14.020 an encounter with Jesus. And so for these next 00:03:14.020 --> 00:03:15.439 two weeks, we're going to be looking at passages 00:03:15.439 --> 00:03:17.580 from scripture that inform our understanding 00:03:17.580 --> 00:03:20.400 of ourselves as a church from city to beach. 00:03:21.340 --> 00:03:24.139 And you might want to take notes because I'm 00:03:24.139 --> 00:03:26.719 going to be throwing a lot of you today. See, 00:03:26.819 --> 00:03:30.139 in our teaching text today, which is Acts 2, 00:03:30.219 --> 00:03:33.159 42 to 47, we see the early church in all its 00:03:33.159 --> 00:03:35.860 glory. Jesus has ascended and as promised, sent 00:03:35.860 --> 00:03:38.830 his spirit at Pentecost. And the church is born 00:03:38.830 --> 00:03:41.330 and we see at the beginning the core pillars 00:03:41.330 --> 00:03:44.189 of what makes this community new and different. 00:03:44.669 --> 00:03:47.930 So this part of Acts 2, it describes the seven 00:03:47.930 --> 00:03:49.729 core pillars of the early church and what we 00:03:49.729 --> 00:03:52.530 see there. What we see is supernatural power. 00:03:52.990 --> 00:03:55.110 There are miraculous signs and wonders done in 00:03:55.110 --> 00:03:57.310 the name of Jesus. What we see is a common life 00:03:57.310 --> 00:04:00.710 and family. They shared everything they had with 00:04:00.710 --> 00:04:03.879 each other. They had a common life. They worshipped 00:04:03.879 --> 00:04:05.960 together at the temple each day, worshipped with 00:04:05.960 --> 00:04:09.659 a key pillar of their life. And they had an orthodoxy 00:04:09.659 --> 00:04:11.219 as well. You see, the early church doesn't devote 00:04:11.219 --> 00:04:13.379 itself just to anyone's teachings about Jesus. 00:04:14.360 --> 00:04:16.420 It says they devoted themselves to the apostles 00:04:16.420 --> 00:04:19.620 teaching about Jesus. They were devoted to an 00:04:19.620 --> 00:04:23.160 orthodoxy, to a correct opinion. There was growth 00:04:23.160 --> 00:04:25.240 each day. The Lord added to their fellowship 00:04:25.240 --> 00:04:28.259 those who were being saved. There was justice. 00:04:28.519 --> 00:04:31.019 They sold their possessions and they shared the 00:04:31.019 --> 00:04:33.860 money with those who were in need. And what we 00:04:33.860 --> 00:04:36.500 see in these seven pillars, behind everything 00:04:36.500 --> 00:04:38.980 in this passage, there's this radical devotion 00:04:38.980 --> 00:04:43.439 to Jesus. This wasn't easy or comfortable. This 00:04:43.439 --> 00:04:46.199 really cost them something to become the church, 00:04:46.699 --> 00:04:49.980 cost them their place in the community. So what 00:04:49.980 --> 00:04:54.040 we see in this passage is what the church looked 00:04:54.040 --> 00:04:57.189 like in its inception. This is the early church. 00:04:57.230 --> 00:04:59.110 This is the church. This is what it's supposed 00:04:59.110 --> 00:05:02.410 to look like. What we see in Acts 2 is the ideal. 00:05:05.029 --> 00:05:08.730 So why does the church in history and today seem 00:05:08.730 --> 00:05:13.329 so often to fall short of Acts 2, of that ideal? 00:05:14.610 --> 00:05:17.509 Because the church we find in Acts 2 is not often 00:05:17.509 --> 00:05:20.990 the full reality of the church today. And I'll 00:05:20.990 --> 00:05:22.870 give you three reasons why that is. And there 00:05:22.870 --> 00:05:26.680 are probably more. The first is this, that when 00:05:26.680 --> 00:05:28.639 you have more people, you have more problems. 00:05:29.339 --> 00:05:30.839 So when you read the rest of the New Testament, 00:05:30.980 --> 00:05:32.639 what you realize is that so much of what's written 00:05:32.639 --> 00:05:35.699 is actually to correct pastoral theological issues 00:05:35.699 --> 00:05:38.579 in an early church. And we see this in the early 00:05:38.579 --> 00:05:41.420 Church of Acts. As the church grows, the problems 00:05:41.420 --> 00:05:44.160 grow, because the church is made up of people, 00:05:44.560 --> 00:05:49.069 and sometimes people suck. Even though we're 00:05:49.069 --> 00:05:51.269 redeemed people, even though we've been brought 00:05:51.269 --> 00:05:53.490 into the kingdom of God from the kingdom of darkness, 00:05:53.610 --> 00:05:55.610 even though we are people who are being made 00:05:55.610 --> 00:05:57.750 to be like Christ, into the image of Christ, 00:05:57.829 --> 00:06:00.470 even though we have been made new creations, 00:06:00.629 --> 00:06:03.470 we struggle, don't we? We struggle. Christians 00:06:03.470 --> 00:06:05.990 struggle. You and I, we struggle to live into 00:06:05.990 --> 00:06:10.089 the life that God has made available to us. We 00:06:10.089 --> 00:06:12.990 are what Michael Broughton calls, susceptible 00:06:12.990 --> 00:06:17.129 saints. We are both set apart in Christ. We are 00:06:17.129 --> 00:06:21.689 on our way. And we are also susceptible. We're 00:06:21.689 --> 00:06:24.509 susceptible to outright stupidity, to sin, to 00:06:24.509 --> 00:06:28.509 perpetuating evil. Part of the reason the church 00:06:28.509 --> 00:06:31.069 doesn't look like it looks in Acts 2 is it's 00:06:31.069 --> 00:06:34.069 bigger, it's global. But it's still to this day, 00:06:34.069 --> 00:06:36.050 it's filled with susceptible saints and it always 00:06:36.050 --> 00:06:41.009 will be. More people, more problems. The second 00:06:41.009 --> 00:06:44.660 reason why the church doesn't always look like 00:06:44.660 --> 00:06:49.339 the Aksu ideal today is that it's being wide 00:06:49.339 --> 00:06:53.100 -ended. It's been eroded within by the ideological 00:06:53.100 --> 00:06:55.040 frameworks we absorb from the culture that we 00:06:55.040 --> 00:06:59.019 swim in. See, naturalism wide -ends the supernatural. 00:06:59.160 --> 00:07:01.600 Naturalism is the pervasive cultural idea that 00:07:01.600 --> 00:07:04.199 all that exists is what we can see, touch, and 00:07:04.199 --> 00:07:06.560 cognitively understand by the laws of nature. 00:07:07.500 --> 00:07:09.759 And this wide -ends the spiritual power available 00:07:09.759 --> 00:07:12.519 to us as the Church through the Holy Spirit. 00:07:13.220 --> 00:07:16.459 If Peter is wide -anted by naturalism, if Peter, 00:07:16.459 --> 00:07:19.540 you know, agrees with naturalism, he doesn't 00:07:19.540 --> 00:07:21.439 get out of the boat and walk on the water with 00:07:21.439 --> 00:07:23.639 Jesus because he knows how the laws of nature 00:07:23.639 --> 00:07:27.060 work. He can't walk on water. He would have missed 00:07:27.060 --> 00:07:30.180 that moment. Naturalism wide -ants the supernatural. 00:07:31.540 --> 00:07:34.319 And then our culture hyper -individualism wide 00:07:34.319 --> 00:07:36.720 -ants the consents of common life and family. 00:07:37.339 --> 00:07:39.600 See hyperindividualism, that idea that my life 00:07:39.600 --> 00:07:42.560 is my own and should be totally autonomous and 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:44.600 that we have no obligation to family group or 00:07:44.600 --> 00:07:47.279 culture, which is pervasive in our culture. It 00:07:47.279 --> 00:07:50.540 warrants this sense of a shared common life of 00:07:50.540 --> 00:07:53.819 the church as a family. So the church becomes 00:07:53.819 --> 00:07:56.939 somewhere we go on Sunday, not an extension of 00:07:56.939 --> 00:08:02.160 our family each and every day of the week. Want 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:03.740 to know how much you're being white handed by 00:08:03.740 --> 00:08:07.180 individualism? Well, ask yourself this. Do you 00:08:07.180 --> 00:08:11.180 see people outside of church on a Sunday or quote 00:08:11.180 --> 00:08:15.800 unquote church sanctioned events? Do the people 00:08:15.800 --> 00:08:18.759 of this church eat at your table? Do you eat 00:08:18.759 --> 00:08:22.100 at theirs? Do they make themselves a cup of tea 00:08:22.100 --> 00:08:24.740 without you having to wait for you to offer them? 00:08:25.600 --> 00:08:28.259 Does someone from the church have a key to your 00:08:28.259 --> 00:08:31.899 house? It might seem extreme, but If the answer 00:08:31.899 --> 00:08:34.639 is no, like individualism is why ending the sense 00:08:34.639 --> 00:08:36.220 of family and common life that we should have 00:08:36.220 --> 00:08:41.320 and should exist within our church. Performance, 00:08:41.720 --> 00:08:45.080 why ants worship? See, when worship becomes about 00:08:45.080 --> 00:08:47.139 technical performance, about platforms, about 00:08:47.139 --> 00:08:49.639 crowds, about the amount of plays a song we've 00:08:49.639 --> 00:08:53.539 written gets on Spotify, it why ants the heart 00:08:53.539 --> 00:08:57.799 of worship, which is towards the one who should 00:08:57.799 --> 00:09:02.200 be worshipped and not the worshippers. We see 00:09:02.200 --> 00:09:06.559 that ideology why ants orthodoxy You know that 00:09:06.559 --> 00:09:08.720 when being devoted to the Apostles teachings 00:09:08.720 --> 00:09:11.259 about the life teachings death and resurrection 00:09:11.259 --> 00:09:15.039 of Jesus Which is our orthodoxy is being widened 00:09:15.039 --> 00:09:19.059 by? Ideology is when what's taught becomes less 00:09:19.059 --> 00:09:21.600 about discerning what God might be saying through 00:09:21.600 --> 00:09:25.139 the scriptures and more about espousing some 00:09:25.139 --> 00:09:28.840 philosophy philosophical or political ideas through 00:09:29.740 --> 00:09:34.820 the teachings of Jesus. We know that self -preservation 00:09:34.820 --> 00:09:40.019 warrants growth when people make decisions to 00:09:40.019 --> 00:09:42.879 protect what is and cater to those that remain 00:09:42.879 --> 00:09:44.980 rather than stepping out in risk for the sake 00:09:44.980 --> 00:09:49.580 of those who are far from God. We know that justice 00:09:49.580 --> 00:09:52.980 is being wide -ended by selfishness when people 00:09:52.980 --> 00:09:54.960 choose not to face the reality of the need of 00:09:54.960 --> 00:09:57.600 a community or a person or a moment. and seek 00:09:57.600 --> 00:10:01.340 to need that made out of a sense of self preservation 00:10:01.340 --> 00:10:06.460 and selfishness and we know when a radical devotion 00:10:06.460 --> 00:10:10.379 to Jesus being wide -ended by occasional therapeutic 00:10:10.379 --> 00:10:13.740 devotion to Jesus because it looks like devotion 00:10:13.740 --> 00:10:16.860 to Jesus when it's easy when it's comfortable 00:10:16.860 --> 00:10:19.159 when it makes me feel better about myself when 00:10:19.159 --> 00:10:22.620 it suits me and when it doesn't disagree with 00:10:22.620 --> 00:10:26.480 me or ask anything of me at all it's just about 00:10:26.649 --> 00:10:29.470 occasionally making me feel better about myself. 00:10:31.429 --> 00:10:34.309 There's all these ways that the culture that 00:10:34.309 --> 00:10:39.129 we swim in and the ideas that permeate that, 00:10:39.370 --> 00:10:42.649 why aren't the ideal and the calling that we 00:10:42.649 --> 00:10:46.970 have as church? That's the second reason why 00:10:46.970 --> 00:10:51.450 we fall short of the X2 ideal. The third is this, 00:10:52.649 --> 00:10:56.840 that at times we hold our ideals those dreams, 00:10:57.379 --> 00:10:59.139 those opinions, those preferences for what the 00:10:59.139 --> 00:11:03.139 church should be, we hold them over our little 00:11:03.139 --> 00:11:06.299 local church filled with susceptible saints and 00:11:06.299 --> 00:11:09.659 demand that our dreams be realized. And this 00:11:09.659 --> 00:11:11.720 is where I want to focus today. People will always 00:11:11.720 --> 00:11:14.799 cause problems. And white ending is so insidious, 00:11:14.840 --> 00:11:18.539 you may not even realize it's there. But what 00:11:18.539 --> 00:11:20.779 we do when the reality of the church doesn't 00:11:20.779 --> 00:11:24.059 meet our idealized version of it, that we have 00:11:24.059 --> 00:11:27.600 some control over. In that, our response is our 00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:30.480 responsibility. In our lives and in the church, 00:11:30.580 --> 00:11:32.980 the gap between the things as we think they should 00:11:32.980 --> 00:11:34.720 be and things as they actually are, it creates 00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:37.480 this disillusionment, creates this disillusionment 00:11:37.480 --> 00:11:39.440 gap, this gap between the things that we think 00:11:39.440 --> 00:11:41.940 they should be and how they actually are. You 00:11:41.940 --> 00:11:43.379 know, people become disillusioned when they're 00:11:43.379 --> 00:11:46.019 marriage, when it's not what they thought it 00:11:46.019 --> 00:11:49.659 would be. People become disillusioned when they're 00:11:49.659 --> 00:11:51.379 parenting, when they realize that, you know, 00:11:51.379 --> 00:11:52.879 they can't live their life the way they lived 00:11:52.879 --> 00:11:56.139 without kids before. People become delusion, 00:11:56.320 --> 00:11:57.679 disillusioned with their careers when they realize 00:11:57.679 --> 00:11:59.259 that they hardly do what they thought they were 00:11:59.259 --> 00:12:01.000 doing and the money's not good enough to make 00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:04.779 up for it. People become disillusioned with church 00:12:04.779 --> 00:12:06.539 when they have these ideas about what church 00:12:06.539 --> 00:12:09.279 should be and then it inevitably falls short 00:12:09.279 --> 00:12:12.179 of them. Our ideals, they smash up against reality 00:12:12.179 --> 00:12:14.399 and it creates disillusionment and people leave. 00:12:15.299 --> 00:12:17.220 Because a different church definitely won't have 00:12:17.220 --> 00:12:19.580 any problems or they get bitter or they begin 00:12:19.580 --> 00:12:21.860 to, you know, maybe unintentionally undermine 00:12:21.860 --> 00:12:24.360 the fabric of the community. And this is what 00:12:24.360 --> 00:12:26.159 happens in careers and marriages and families 00:12:26.159 --> 00:12:29.039 when facing disillusionment if we don't deal 00:12:29.039 --> 00:12:31.740 with it properly. Now let me be clear. I'm not 00:12:31.740 --> 00:12:33.799 talking about situations in family life or the 00:12:33.799 --> 00:12:36.039 church where genuine abuse occurs. I'm talking 00:12:36.039 --> 00:12:40.639 about situations where not dealing with our disillusionment 00:12:40.639 --> 00:12:44.100 ultimately sabotages the thing that needs not 00:12:44.100 --> 00:12:47.559 to be sabotaged. It just doesn't need to be. 00:12:48.980 --> 00:12:51.159 And so what do we do with this disillusionment? 00:12:51.179 --> 00:12:54.149 How do we... work it through in a healthier way. 00:12:55.070 --> 00:12:58.210 But do we throw out our vision in Acts 2 of what 00:12:58.210 --> 00:13:02.090 the church should be? No, we should not do that. 00:13:02.549 --> 00:13:05.470 You see, the Acts 2 pillars are what makes the 00:13:05.470 --> 00:13:10.250 church the church. Power, family, worship, orthodoxy, 00:13:10.350 --> 00:13:13.230 growth, justice, and undergirding it all is a 00:13:13.230 --> 00:13:15.590 radical devotion to Jesus. Throw that out, and 00:13:15.590 --> 00:13:18.429 what you have is a social club, not a church. 00:13:18.610 --> 00:13:21.809 That's what makes the church a church. Do we 00:13:21.809 --> 00:13:23.990 accept a sub -part and why an entered church? 00:13:24.009 --> 00:13:25.509 Do we just go, well, you know, it's going to 00:13:25.509 --> 00:13:28.710 be how it's going to be and accept that? No, 00:13:28.710 --> 00:13:35.009 we don't. We got to deal with it. We don't throw 00:13:35.009 --> 00:13:38.429 out our ideals. We walk towards them. So there's 00:13:38.429 --> 00:13:40.730 three things that we need to do with our disillusionment 00:13:40.730 --> 00:13:44.889 gap. We got to face it. That's number one. Dietrich 00:13:44.889 --> 00:13:48.169 Bonhoeffer says this in his must -read book on 00:13:48.169 --> 00:13:50.029 Christian community. It's called Life Together. 00:13:51.190 --> 00:13:54.669 Says this only fellowship only that fellowship 00:13:54.669 --> 00:13:56.730 which faces such disillusionment with all its 00:13:56.730 --> 00:14:00.049 unhappy and ugly aspects Begins to be what it 00:14:00.049 --> 00:14:03.629 should be in God's sight Begins to grasp in faith 00:14:03.629 --> 00:14:05.610 the promise that is given to it the sooner the 00:14:05.610 --> 00:14:07.529 shock of disillusionment comes to an individual 00:14:07.529 --> 00:14:11.350 and to a community the better for both a community 00:14:11.350 --> 00:14:14.629 which cannot bear and and Cannot survive such 00:14:14.629 --> 00:14:17.690 a crisis which insists upon keeping its illusion 00:14:17.690 --> 00:14:20.659 when it should be shattered permanently loses 00:14:20.659 --> 00:14:22.960 at the moment the promise of Christian community. 00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:27.399 Sooner or later it will collapse. Every, every 00:14:27.399 --> 00:14:29.779 human wish dream that is injected into the Christian 00:14:29.779 --> 00:14:32.700 community is a hindrance to genuine community 00:14:32.700 --> 00:14:35.759 and must be banished if genuine community is 00:14:35.759 --> 00:14:38.820 to survive. He who loves his dream of a community 00:14:38.820 --> 00:14:41.019 more than the Christian community itself becomes 00:14:41.019 --> 00:14:44.460 a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal 00:14:44.460 --> 00:14:47.480 intentions may be ever so honest and earnest 00:14:47.480 --> 00:14:52.759 and sacrificial. Here's the lead. If you love 00:14:52.759 --> 00:14:56.919 your idea of a thing more than the thing itself, 00:14:57.820 --> 00:15:00.120 you will ultimately sabotage and destroy that 00:15:00.120 --> 00:15:03.320 thing. If you love your idea of what your career 00:15:03.320 --> 00:15:05.360 will be like, more than the reality of your job 00:15:05.360 --> 00:15:10.299 actually is, you will sabotage your career. If 00:15:10.299 --> 00:15:12.159 you love your idea of what your marriage will 00:15:12.159 --> 00:15:14.340 be like, more than the reality of who your spouse 00:15:14.340 --> 00:15:18.000 is, you will destroy your marriage in the end. 00:15:18.919 --> 00:15:22.259 You simply cannot truly love someone or something 00:15:22.259 --> 00:15:25.620 you're trying to make fit into your idealized 00:15:25.620 --> 00:15:29.419 dreams or version of. If you love your dreams 00:15:29.419 --> 00:15:31.419 for your kids' lives more than you love your 00:15:31.419 --> 00:15:34.200 kid, if you keep imposing on them your dream 00:15:34.200 --> 00:15:36.320 of them becoming some professional curler or 00:15:36.320 --> 00:15:38.980 something, you will destroy your relationship 00:15:38.980 --> 00:15:41.679 with your kid. Because you can't truly love someone 00:15:41.679 --> 00:15:44.059 as they actually are when what you actually love 00:15:44.059 --> 00:15:48.200 is your idea of them. So until you face the reality 00:15:48.200 --> 00:15:50.100 of your career, the reality of your spouse, the 00:15:50.100 --> 00:15:53.059 reality of who your kid actually is, and you 00:15:53.059 --> 00:15:56.299 face your disillusionment and you let go of your 00:15:56.299 --> 00:15:59.639 idealized wish dream for them, that you are free 00:15:59.639 --> 00:16:05.139 to love them as they actually are. And friends, 00:16:05.139 --> 00:16:09.460 it is the same with the church. If we, if you 00:16:09.460 --> 00:16:11.600 keep trying to make encounter Henry fit your 00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:13.799 dreams for it, you'll never love it for what 00:16:13.799 --> 00:16:17.419 it is. You'll struggle to genuinely love the 00:16:17.419 --> 00:16:20.220 people who call this place home. If you love 00:16:20.220 --> 00:16:22.159 your idea of this church more than the people 00:16:22.159 --> 00:16:24.919 who make up this church, you will, with the best 00:16:24.919 --> 00:16:27.799 of intentions, undermine it, sabotage it, and 00:16:27.799 --> 00:16:30.480 whine in it. Because it's not meeting your needs. 00:16:31.200 --> 00:16:32.480 It's not what you thought it would be. You're 00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:34.639 not being fed, which is the worst Christian needs 00:16:34.639 --> 00:16:37.200 of all time. It's a huge yuck. Like we're grown 00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:40.960 -ups. Can we just feed ourselves, please? You 00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:46.179 know, it's like... We don't sing enough old songs, 00:16:46.200 --> 00:16:47.980 or we don't sing enough new songs, or we don't 00:16:47.980 --> 00:16:49.639 preach the Bible enough, or we preach the Bible 00:16:49.639 --> 00:16:52.980 too much, or we're too community -focused, or 00:16:52.980 --> 00:16:56.720 we're not community -focused enough, or there's 00:16:56.720 --> 00:16:58.399 too much space for the Spirit, or there's not 00:16:58.399 --> 00:17:00.799 enough space for the Spirit. You know, all of 00:17:00.799 --> 00:17:04.359 us, if we all imply and pour our wish dreams 00:17:04.359 --> 00:17:08.160 on the Church, and we all demand that the Church 00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:10.680 meets our dreams, we will, with the best of intentions, 00:17:10.960 --> 00:17:14.980 undermine it and sabotage it. Because if you 00:17:14.980 --> 00:17:17.160 love your idea of this church more than the people 00:17:17.160 --> 00:17:25.579 who make up this church You'll sabotage it Because 00:17:25.579 --> 00:17:27.460 you're demanding that your idealized version 00:17:27.460 --> 00:17:30.359 of this church be brought into being You know, 00:17:30.359 --> 00:17:33.279 we have to face our ideals and face the disillusionment 00:17:33.279 --> 00:17:34.980 we experience because of them We have to face 00:17:34.980 --> 00:17:37.680 the reality of our church. Our church is not 00:17:37.680 --> 00:17:41.640 perfect we fall short of acts to where almost 00:17:41.640 --> 00:17:45.529 a year old and And we haven't nailed it. We will 00:17:45.529 --> 00:17:49.789 disappoint you. And as we grow, God willing, 00:17:49.930 --> 00:17:54.049 so will our problems. And we have our fair share 00:17:54.049 --> 00:17:57.049 of susceptible saints, of which I am the first. 00:17:57.950 --> 00:18:01.309 We will fall short of your ideals or expectations 00:18:01.309 --> 00:18:04.990 or hopes for this church in some way. And if 00:18:04.990 --> 00:18:07.089 you had problems in churches before, you'll probably 00:18:07.089 --> 00:18:10.309 find similar or different problems here. Just 00:18:10.309 --> 00:18:12.930 in case anyone was under any illusions to the 00:18:12.930 --> 00:18:16.930 contrary, we will disappoint you. This is not 00:18:16.930 --> 00:18:18.890 your dream church. Your dream church does not 00:18:18.890 --> 00:18:23.650 exist. And so now that we have got over this 00:18:23.650 --> 00:18:28.769 truly shocking reality, we are free to love and 00:18:28.769 --> 00:18:33.490 encounter Henley as it actually is. So that's 00:18:33.490 --> 00:18:34.769 the first thing we have to do. We have to face 00:18:34.769 --> 00:18:37.490 our disillusionment so we can love our church. 00:18:37.960 --> 00:18:40.299 And this is the second point. Paul gives the 00:18:40.299 --> 00:18:42.339 best analogy for what a church is in reality. 00:18:42.440 --> 00:18:44.339 It's like a body. We've got to love our body. 00:18:45.720 --> 00:18:49.559 It comes from 1 Corinthians 12. What is a body? 00:18:49.680 --> 00:18:53.059 Well, it's unity and diversity. Many parts, but 00:18:53.059 --> 00:18:55.980 they're united. They're one. And every part is 00:18:55.980 --> 00:18:57.619 different. The foot is not the same as an ear. 00:18:58.420 --> 00:19:00.440 And all its parts actually need to be different 00:19:00.440 --> 00:19:03.859 in order for the body to work together. The body 00:19:03.859 --> 00:19:06.539 carries both strength and weakness. There are 00:19:06.539 --> 00:19:08.220 strong parts of the body and there are weak parts 00:19:08.220 --> 00:19:09.460 of the body and the strong parts of the body 00:19:09.460 --> 00:19:11.380 are there to protect and support the weak parts. 00:19:12.279 --> 00:19:14.160 The body is so interconnected that if one part 00:19:14.160 --> 00:19:17.380 is hurting, the whole body is hurting. And a 00:19:17.380 --> 00:19:20.359 body is led by the head, by the brain. The brain 00:19:20.359 --> 00:19:22.259 tells the lungs to breathe and muscles to contract 00:19:22.259 --> 00:19:23.819 so they can walk and we don't even think about 00:19:23.819 --> 00:19:27.019 it. The brain just does it, just leads. See a 00:19:27.019 --> 00:19:29.920 body is imperfect and unique and sometimes frustrating 00:19:29.920 --> 00:19:33.589 when it doesn't do what you want it to do. And 00:19:33.589 --> 00:19:36.390 if Paul's right, and I think he is, the church 00:19:36.390 --> 00:19:40.950 is not just a body, but the body of Christ. When 00:19:40.950 --> 00:19:43.809 we're led by the church, when Jesus is our functional 00:19:43.809 --> 00:19:47.250 leader, then our difference is actually our strength. 00:19:48.650 --> 00:19:50.690 We can't and shouldn't actually try to make everyone 00:19:50.690 --> 00:19:54.450 the same as us. An ear does not exist on its 00:19:54.450 --> 00:19:59.589 own, which means, how do you be a Christian outside 00:19:59.589 --> 00:20:01.329 of Christian community? How do you be an ear? 00:20:02.009 --> 00:20:05.109 outside of the body. An ear can't sustain itself. 00:20:05.289 --> 00:20:10.349 It can't be alive outside of a body. So I can't 00:20:10.349 --> 00:20:12.049 see theologically or logically how a Christian 00:20:12.049 --> 00:20:13.970 can be a Christian outside of Christian community. 00:20:15.089 --> 00:20:16.549 And you know, the stronger and the healthier, 00:20:16.990 --> 00:20:19.529 the more mature of us, we're there to protect 00:20:19.529 --> 00:20:21.690 and support those who are young and growing and 00:20:21.690 --> 00:20:23.609 hurting. You know, if you're a wiser and older 00:20:23.609 --> 00:20:25.430 and more mature person in our church, your job 00:20:25.430 --> 00:20:29.869 here isn't to be served like Jesus, but like 00:20:29.869 --> 00:20:34.099 Jesus. to serve those who need love guidance 00:20:34.099 --> 00:20:37.140 support and the occasional kick up the pants 00:20:37.140 --> 00:20:42.559 because if we have one body made up of different 00:20:42.559 --> 00:20:45.460 parts if one of us is celebrating all of us have 00:20:45.460 --> 00:20:47.240 a reason to celebrate and if one of us is hurting 00:20:47.240 --> 00:20:51.500 we all are hurting as well a body is what the 00:20:51.500 --> 00:20:53.559 church looks like in reality it's diverse it's 00:20:53.559 --> 00:20:55.920 flawed sometimes weak sometimes strong doesn't 00:20:55.920 --> 00:20:58.200 always do what you want it to do that's because 00:20:58.200 --> 00:21:02.480 it's a living organism And sometimes things break 00:21:02.480 --> 00:21:05.819 down or fail and you don't know why. If we can 00:21:05.819 --> 00:21:07.980 face our disillusionment gap and not be surprised 00:21:07.980 --> 00:21:10.160 or even expect the church to be like our own 00:21:10.160 --> 00:21:13.000 bodies, which are achy and annoying at times, 00:21:13.500 --> 00:21:15.339 then we can be free to love the body of Christ 00:21:15.339 --> 00:21:17.099 as it actually is in this place, to love each 00:21:17.099 --> 00:21:20.539 other more than our ideas of each other or what 00:21:20.539 --> 00:21:25.299 we think we can do for each other. Look, I've 00:21:25.299 --> 00:21:28.220 had body image. Issues since the age of 12 like 00:21:28.220 --> 00:21:31.119 I know how hard it can be to love a body But 00:21:31.119 --> 00:21:33.599 learning to love my body had far more to do with 00:21:33.599 --> 00:21:36.839 accepting what my body wasn't Rather than being 00:21:36.839 --> 00:21:40.900 depressed about what my body should be See, I'm 00:21:40.900 --> 00:21:43.180 very tall I stand out I carry all my weight in 00:21:43.180 --> 00:21:46.859 my torso and I I'm 31 now I just don't have the 00:21:46.859 --> 00:21:49.140 metabolism to handle the food that I was eating 00:21:49.140 --> 00:21:51.480 when I was 16 playing basketball six days a week 00:21:51.480 --> 00:21:56.150 like I'm I can't eat like that anymore and I've 00:21:56.150 --> 00:21:58.410 crossed that line where my body is actually now 00:21:58.410 --> 00:22:00.730 slowly dying. You know, this is the reality of 00:22:00.730 --> 00:22:03.769 my body. I will never look like Brad Pitt in 00:22:03.769 --> 00:22:06.970 Fight Club. That would require an ungodly amount 00:22:06.970 --> 00:22:09.069 of starvation, dehydration and time away from 00:22:09.069 --> 00:22:12.069 my family. But get this, it would also require 00:22:12.069 --> 00:22:18.089 Brad Pitt's body. It's his body. He has his body 00:22:18.089 --> 00:22:20.230 and I have mine and facing that reality that 00:22:20.230 --> 00:22:22.789 I am not Brad Pitt. And accepting that I may 00:22:22.789 --> 00:22:24.589 not love everything about my body, but it is 00:22:24.589 --> 00:22:26.289 the only body I'll ever have, and it was given 00:22:26.289 --> 00:22:27.990 to me as a gift from God, that has helped me 00:22:27.990 --> 00:22:31.170 to begin to love my body. And in a similar way, 00:22:31.250 --> 00:22:33.109 facing the reality that you'll never find your 00:22:33.109 --> 00:22:35.809 dream church, and accepting that you may not 00:22:35.809 --> 00:22:38.609 love everything about this church, will help 00:22:38.609 --> 00:22:41.690 us to begin to love this body of Christ here 00:22:41.690 --> 00:22:44.849 in this place. And this is the third thing we 00:22:44.849 --> 00:22:48.009 do with our disillusionment. Because once we've 00:22:48.009 --> 00:22:51.940 faced it, we can begin to love it. And now what? 00:22:52.559 --> 00:22:54.700 Well, as the body of Christ in this place, together 00:22:54.700 --> 00:22:56.319 in our differences, our different skills and 00:22:56.319 --> 00:22:58.259 gifts, our different passions and callings, together 00:22:58.259 --> 00:23:01.880 we run towards the city of God. So your body 00:23:01.880 --> 00:23:04.079 running requires all the parts to work together. 00:23:04.539 --> 00:23:07.380 Even the parts that may seem to us to be unnecessary 00:23:07.380 --> 00:23:10.980 to the action. Have you ever tried to run without 00:23:10.980 --> 00:23:13.720 moving your arms at all? You look very silly 00:23:13.720 --> 00:23:16.380 and it's very inefficient to run. All the parts 00:23:16.380 --> 00:23:19.099 of the body work together. They need to work 00:23:19.099 --> 00:23:23.069 together. And as a church, we need to run together. 00:23:23.069 --> 00:23:25.690 And what are we running towards? What the church 00:23:25.690 --> 00:23:31.549 is and what the church will be. Peter Lighthauer 00:23:31.549 --> 00:23:34.450 says this about the church. The church isn't 00:23:34.450 --> 00:23:37.990 an invisible entity, a supernatural addition 00:23:37.990 --> 00:23:41.430 on top of natural human societies. The church 00:23:41.430 --> 00:23:47.109 is a transformed human society. Instead of thinking 00:23:47.109 --> 00:23:49.599 vertically, We should think horizontally, which 00:23:49.599 --> 00:23:52.859 means thinking the Church is the future city 00:23:52.859 --> 00:23:56.160 of God that is entered into the present. The 00:23:56.160 --> 00:23:59.000 city that we build will be perfected in a new 00:23:59.000 --> 00:24:03.680 heavens and a new earth. See, when we say or 00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:06.099 pray, may God's Kingdom come in Henley as it 00:24:06.099 --> 00:24:08.059 is in heaven, this isn't just a cool saying. 00:24:08.640 --> 00:24:11.460 The Church is in Acts and today the Kingdom of 00:24:11.460 --> 00:24:15.839 God come into the world. It's the future city 00:24:15.839 --> 00:24:18.839 of God we see in Revelation 21 come into handling 00:24:18.839 --> 00:24:20.900 in the present. And that's what we're running 00:24:20.900 --> 00:24:22.599 towards is the body of Christ. That's what we're 00:24:22.599 --> 00:24:24.680 trying to build with. Christ is our head. Not 00:24:24.680 --> 00:24:27.539 a social club, not a religious organization, 00:24:27.920 --> 00:24:30.859 but a transformed society. The future city of 00:24:30.859 --> 00:24:35.079 God come from the future into Henley Beach and 00:24:35.079 --> 00:24:37.460 Grange in the present. And you know what that 00:24:37.460 --> 00:24:41.210 means? It means it all matters. It means power 00:24:41.210 --> 00:24:43.609 matters, family matters, worship matters, orthodoxy 00:24:43.609 --> 00:24:46.069 matters, growth matters, justice matters, and 00:24:46.069 --> 00:24:49.410 a radical devotion to Jesus matters. What we 00:24:49.410 --> 00:24:52.150 build as a church here in this place eternally 00:24:52.150 --> 00:24:56.430 matters. Don't be deceived, my friends. God will 00:24:56.430 --> 00:24:58.630 perfect it in the new heavens and the new earth. 00:24:59.789 --> 00:25:02.210 So what we do in this life really matters. And 00:25:02.210 --> 00:25:04.670 what we do together as part of the body in this 00:25:04.670 --> 00:25:07.920 Christ in this place really matters. And that 00:25:07.920 --> 00:25:11.599 means each of us, every single one of us, you 00:25:11.599 --> 00:25:15.680 have, you have a vital part to play in building 00:25:15.680 --> 00:25:17.880 a transformed society here in the West of Adelaide. 00:25:18.079 --> 00:25:21.160 You just do. Every part of the body is vital 00:25:21.160 --> 00:25:23.420 and necessary. You may not feel like you have 00:25:23.420 --> 00:25:26.160 that much to offer, but we actually need you. 00:25:26.680 --> 00:25:29.400 We need you to be all in on Jesus. We need you 00:25:29.400 --> 00:25:32.640 to be all in on building the body of Christ here 00:25:32.640 --> 00:25:38.920 in this place. So what do we do? How do we actually 00:25:38.920 --> 00:25:40.819 do this running together towards the city of 00:25:40.819 --> 00:25:45.299 God? I think we do what the body of Christ actually 00:25:45.299 --> 00:25:49.259 did. What happened to the body of Christ? Well, 00:25:49.279 --> 00:25:53.039 for the sake of the world, Jesus willingly gave 00:25:53.039 --> 00:25:55.980 up his body to be broken, to be hung on a cross, 00:25:56.220 --> 00:25:59.539 tortured and humiliated. So that one day we, 00:25:59.660 --> 00:26:01.960 you and I, we could see that future city of God 00:26:01.960 --> 00:26:06.089 with our own eyes. Jesus did this with and in 00:26:06.089 --> 00:26:10.650 His body for you and for me. He did this for 00:26:10.650 --> 00:26:15.869 you and He did this for you in not some kind 00:26:15.869 --> 00:26:19.430 of idealized wishful version of you. He didn't 00:26:19.430 --> 00:26:22.549 do it for a rose -colored version of you. He 00:26:22.549 --> 00:26:24.670 didn't do it thinking that you are this really 00:26:24.670 --> 00:26:26.369 great person who does all the right things and 00:26:26.369 --> 00:26:30.839 so you're good enough for Him to die for. He 00:26:30.839 --> 00:26:33.640 did this knowing the reality of your life for 00:26:33.640 --> 00:26:36.220 you knowing the reality of without the cross 00:26:36.220 --> 00:26:38.460 and the resurrection You and I we would be dead 00:26:38.460 --> 00:26:40.619 in our sin We would never be reconciled with 00:26:40.619 --> 00:26:44.740 God never to see the city of God come you see 00:26:44.740 --> 00:26:48.559 God saw the reality of our station of our place 00:26:48.559 --> 00:26:52.180 of our position of our plight of Our circumstance 00:26:52.180 --> 00:26:54.900 and for the joy that was set before him. He went 00:26:54.900 --> 00:26:59.480 to the cross to die for you and for me Can you 00:26:59.480 --> 00:27:02.490 see that How God shows us in the cross that that 00:27:02.490 --> 00:27:06.309 he actually loves us as we actually are He knows 00:27:06.309 --> 00:27:09.849 he's not me under any illusions that we are better 00:27:09.849 --> 00:27:15.250 than we Think we are he's not under any illusions 00:27:15.250 --> 00:27:21.829 and yet he loves us anyway Is Jesus in his body 00:27:21.829 --> 00:27:24.329 he went to the cross in surrender and he was 00:27:24.329 --> 00:27:27.630 made a Spectacle by the powers of the world and 00:27:27.630 --> 00:27:30.109 died So that we could come into relationship 00:27:30.109 --> 00:27:32.950 with God again not in some idealized wish dream, 00:27:33.349 --> 00:27:36.630 but actually in reality And really that's our 00:27:36.630 --> 00:27:38.750 job as the church to be the body of Christ in 00:27:38.750 --> 00:27:41.170 love and care for each other to run towards the 00:27:41.170 --> 00:27:43.849 city of God But also to live as the body of Christ 00:27:43.849 --> 00:27:47.990 lived to to sacrifice and surrender to God To 00:27:47.990 --> 00:27:51.490 be made a spectacle of and to die So those who 00:27:51.490 --> 00:27:53.809 are stumbling around in the dark can find the 00:27:53.809 --> 00:27:57.150 light of Christ and join the future of city the 00:27:57.150 --> 00:28:00.410 future city of God. We as the body of Christ 00:28:00.410 --> 00:28:03.269 in this place need to imitate the body of Christ, 00:28:03.269 --> 00:28:06.589 the actual body of Christ. That's our job. To 00:28:06.589 --> 00:28:10.210 let our idealized dreams for this church die, 00:28:10.710 --> 00:28:13.009 instead, in love for each other in the world, 00:28:13.190 --> 00:28:15.710 surrender to the will of God, let our lives be 00:28:15.710 --> 00:28:17.710 a spectacle, a public display to the world that 00:28:17.710 --> 00:28:20.670 Jesus is King and God is to be glorified and 00:28:20.670 --> 00:28:23.289 to die to our way, die to our dreams, die to 00:28:23.289 --> 00:28:26.250 our preferences, die to our comfort. So those 00:28:26.250 --> 00:28:28.890 who are far from God can discover the good news 00:28:28.890 --> 00:28:33.029 of Jesus You see when we make something what 00:28:33.029 --> 00:28:36.109 we want it to be rather than love it as it actually 00:28:36.109 --> 00:28:40.869 is we make it about us We try to fashion our 00:28:40.869 --> 00:28:42.910 career our marriage our kids our church or whatever 00:28:42.910 --> 00:28:47.470 in our own image. We make it about us And that 00:28:47.470 --> 00:28:49.490 is the deepest and darkest way the church has 00:28:49.490 --> 00:28:52.329 been undermined over the last two thousand years 00:28:52.329 --> 00:28:56.619 You see friends the church does not exist for 00:28:56.619 --> 00:29:00.839 itself. The body does not exist for its own body. 00:29:01.720 --> 00:29:03.920 Doesn't exist to build its own brand, its own 00:29:03.920 --> 00:29:08.680 platform, its nation or literal empire. The church 00:29:08.680 --> 00:29:11.480 exists to spend itself for the life of the world. 00:29:12.440 --> 00:29:15.000 To die with Christ so that the world can live. 00:29:16.700 --> 00:29:18.640 Come back to Bonhoeffer. He has this great line. 00:29:18.819 --> 00:29:20.779 I just can't get it out of my head because it's 00:29:20.779 --> 00:29:25.130 so true. He says the church is only the church 00:29:25.130 --> 00:29:30.529 when it exists for others. Friends, this is not 00:29:30.529 --> 00:29:33.910 your dream church, but we are the body of Christ 00:29:33.910 --> 00:29:37.549 together in this place and we exist to die together 00:29:37.549 --> 00:29:41.910 with Christ out of love so that every person 00:29:41.910 --> 00:29:43.609 from city to beach could have an encounter with 00:29:43.609 --> 00:29:49.950 Jesus. Thanks so much for tuning into this week's 00:29:49.950 --> 00:29:53.259 message. If you've felt challenged or need prayer, 00:29:53.740 --> 00:29:56.480 we'd love to hear from you on Instagram at encounterhenley. 00:29:57.099 --> 00:29:59.400 Or if you're interested in how you can support 00:29:59.400 --> 00:30:03.500 this ministry, please go to our website encounteradelaide 00:30:03.500 --> 00:30:07.519 .com .au. Thanks again for listening. God bless 00:30:07.519 --> 00:30:07.880 you.