him have thrilled the church and encouraged the church for the last 400 years since they
came from the pin of Martin Luther. It is good to remind ourselves that the truth abides,
no thanks to earthly powers, but the truth abides in victory.
Today I'm beginning a short series of messages that I have entitled, Survival a Reality Series.
Obviously I'm playing off of one of the shows that you can watch on television as I use that title,
but I want to talk about realities that are far more important than those that you see on the
television. It is the survival of God's work among us. I acknowledge up front that my perspectives
are the perspectives of one. I do not have 20-20 vision, but what I will share with you today
and in the coming few weeks has been bathed in a lot of prayer. What I want to speak about has
been stirring in my heart for some time. What I will say to you might be called by some the
state of the church. Many churches at the beginning of the year have a message or several messages
dealing with the state of the church. And that's what I want to share with you. While my perspectives
are certainly my own, I believe that I have something of the mind of Christ as I talk about
these things. It is important for us to face reality. Ronald Heifetz, who is one of the
world's leading voices on leadership, who also directs the Leadership Education Project at
Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, has a course at Harvard entitled
Exercising Leadership. It is a wildly popular course for the students. And in the course,
he talks about the role of a leader in today's world. Heifetz says the role of a leader is
changing. He says the new role is to, and I quote him, to help people face reality and
immobilize them to make change. And making change, he says, is painful. Why is that? Well, it goes
on to explain that people are afraid that they will lose something that's worthwhile. They're
afraid that they're going to have to give up something that they're comfortable with. Mustering
the courage to interrogate reality is a central function of a leader. And that requires the
courage to face three realities at once. First, what values do we stand for? And are there
gaps between those values and how we actually behave? Second, what are the skills and talents
of our company? Or in our case, we'd say our church. And are there gaps between those resources
and what the market demands, or we would say, our resources and what the opportunities are?
And third, he says, the third reality we need to confront is what opportunities does the
future hold? And are there gaps between those opportunities and our ability to capitalize
on them? I'm intrigued by the fact that he says that the role of leadership in a church
is to help all of us face reality. Now, sometimes reality is sheer exuberance. It is a kick.
And sometimes reality is a kick in the pants. I can wake up and open the curtains and see,
yes, I'm really here. I'm in this vacation paradise that I've longed to come to. Reality
has arrived and it's exuberance. Or I can wake up and recall why I cried myself to sleep
last night and want to go back to sleep because reality hits so hard. A telephone call, a
doctor's report, a note from your spouse, a financial report that said that chapter
11 may be the only way out. Reality can lift our soul to heaven or it can take it to the
depths of hell. But if we don't face reality, we're living in a state of madness because
that's what insanity is. It's conducting yourself in a world of unreality. One reaction to reality
is to ignore it. But that doesn't work for very long. Another reaction is to avoid it
by living in a fantasy world that you create. That's why people with dangerous diseases
ignore the symptoms sometimes thinking that they're not real or they'll go away. They
find a lump but, oh, it's nothing. Or they see blood and say, that's nothing unusual.
I'll just forget about it. The reality of the symptom is too hard for them to face and
so they ignore it. Or they live in a fantasy that this didn't really happen. I didn't
really feel that. They refused to go to the doctor to live in denial of reality as a serious
mental disorder. And so it is important for us as the people of God to face reality. Reality
never goes away because reality is the truth. And God is a God of truth. He is a God of
reality and He calls us to live in truth and in reality. Part of my responsibility as the
pastor of this church is to articulate a vision and a direction for the Lascaris Christian
Church. That is where we want to be headed in the next period of years. I want that vision
and I'm sure you do as well to be firmly grounded in reality and in truth. Not pieced
together on some sort of fantasy that we have. When we have a vision that is grounded on
reality, then we can respond and act in faith. And God, who is the ultimate reality, will
bless that vision. But reality is not easy. It is not easy to see. Michael Crichton, who
is a well-known author, as you probably know, his novels include Jurassic Park, The Andromeda
Strain, most recently The State of Fear, Michael Crichton, who is also the creator of the television
program ER, who is a famous film director and writer, has a very interesting statement
that he made as part of a speech to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco a couple of years ago.
The title of the speech was Environmentalism as Religion. I wish I had time to read you
the speech. You can find it online. But he begins his speech this way. I've been asked
to talk about what I consider the most important challenge facing mankind. And I have a fundamental
answer. The greatest challenge facing mankind is the challenge of distinguishing reality
from fantasy, truth from propaganda. Perceiving the truth has always been a challenge to mankind,
but in the information age, or as I think of it, the disinformation age, he says, it
takes on a special urgency and importance. Think of that. Here's a man who by no means
is a professing Christian. And yet he says the most pressing challenge facing mankind
today is the ability to distinguish between reality and fantasy, truth from propaganda.
It's hard to face reality. Some of us are like that person who falls out of the tenth
floor of a building. And as that person passes each floor of the building, he says, I'm still
doing fine. I'm still doing fine. But eventually reality is going to catch up. See Everett
Koop, former U.S. surgeon general, said, reality is the leading cause of stress among those
who are in touch with reality. He's absolutely right. Another statement about reality I found
from Gerald and Sandra Tanner, who lead the Utah Lighthouse mission in their book entitled
The Changing World of Mormonism. They say reality is sometimes very hard to face. For
instance, on July 26, 1969, the Salt Lake Tribune reported that members of the International
Flat Earth Research Society still do not believe the Earth is round. They feel that the moon
landing was a part of a great deception by NASA and that the astronauts are hypnotized
into believing they go into space. And so we need to pray for General Duke as he comes,
or he won't be deceived about his trip to the moon, I suppose. It reminds me of the
current President of Iran, who is suggesting that there be a probe into whether or not
the Holocaust really happened, because he denies that it was such a thing. And there
are some people in our world who believe that sort of fantasy. The most pressing challenge,
humanity faces, is to distinguish between what is true and what is false. Perhaps you're
familiar with the concept of SWAT, SWOT. It's an acronym, and it stands for a way of analyzing
an organization, or a church, or a family, or one's own life. It stands for strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Every organization has all four. And it's true about
Los Gatos Christian Church. Los Gatos Christian Church has some wonderful strengths. We have
many hardworking people in our church. We have the opportunity next Saturday night to
say thank you to so many who volunteer in our church. As we set out invitations to people
who volunteer in ministry on a regular basis, we had over 500 names on the list, a variety
of ministries, many different roles, and we're grateful that the 200-plus are coming next
Saturday night so we can say thank you. We have many hardworking people. This is a welcoming
place. You have made it so. You have, if I may say so, changed our reputation from a
church that was rather closed and snobbish to a church that is now known as one that
welcomes people who come here. We hear that repeatedly from people. This is a church that
has a strong doctrinal position. And we are concerned about doctrinal purity. We maintain
that as closely as God enables us. We have within our church some wonderful groups of
fellowship, close-knit groups. It is the close-knitness of some of those groups that has enabled
this church to continue through some difficult years. It's a wonderful strength that we have.
We have a terrific music ministry, if I may say so. My heart is blessed when I am exposed
to what the musicians of our church are doing under our leadership. Thank you, Steve, and
all of you who are a part of our creative arts and music ministry. You bless me. We have
a wonderful strength in our student ministry. And I can go down the line with a number of
our ministries and say thank God for this. I thank God for the opportunities we have
as a church. I think, for example, of the kids' clubs that we have plugged into here
in the last couple of years, these release time clubs, in essence, for public school
children in elementary schools. It's marvelous to see what God is doing through those of
you who volunteer to lead those week after week. The sports ministry of our church, we
currently have over 300 children in our basketball ministry representing lots of families. And
I am told that at least a third of those families are unchurched families. What a tremendous
opportunity that gives to us to reach them. Then I think of our school. Through the school,
where normally you see the student body taper off a little bit because of attrition, as
families move or families can no longer afford tuition or whatever. This year we have seen
just the opposite. Our school continues to grow in population. Now, what, 450, I believe,
students in junior kindergarten through eighth grade who come to our campus here at Los
Gatos Christian Church. What an amazing opportunity that presents to us. We have weaknesses of
church as well, and we face certain threats to our continued existence. One of the fears
that I have, very frankly, is that some of us are living in fantasy when it comes to
our church, however. One sincere member said to me shortly after I arrived here to be the
pastor several years ago, this church is now going to grow quickly, he said. Now we have
somebody who teaches the Bible again, we have a music ministry with a healing that God is
going to do. This church is going to grow quickly. People who have left, he said, will
now want to return when they see that the church has stabilized. That was a sincere statement
made to me, but it was fantasy. Another said to me, if only we would start a Sunday night
service, that would be the key, because I can remember a very sincere statement. We
tried a Sunday night service for a year. It was fantasy. It simply doesn't fit with
today's culture. The fantasy that concerns me today, however, is the one that says, Lost
Gaddus Christian Church will always be here. While the music is great, I like the preaching.
We've become a friendly congregation. Why the future of this church is absolutely secured.
It is assured that Lost Gaddus Christian Church will always be ministering in this community.
And I want to say to you that that is a fantasy. The future of Lost Gaddus Christian Church
is clouded by the presence of cultural toxins in its people. That's you and me. Now the
message I'm going to give as a part of this series, this message could be preached in
almost every church in America. So please don't think that I'm picking on you and saying
that somehow we as a church are unique among the churches. No, no. What I want to talk
about could be preached from the pulpits of many churches, but it does need to be preached
from this pulpit because you see the church of Jesus Christ is polluted and defiled by
a deadly mixture of toxic values and ideas that come into our presence through the popular
culture. Local churches have faced similar threats to their existence throughout the
centuries. It was true in the very first century of the church as much as it is today. That
is why Paul wrote in Colossians chapter 2 in verse 8. This is going to be the key verse
I'm springing from this morning. Read it with me please. Colossians 2, 8. It's there on
the screen. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy
which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.
Paul is writing this only 25 years after Jesus had died, been risen again, been raised again
and ascended back to heaven. He is saying to the followers of Jesus in the city of Colossi,
beware, beware because there are ideas, there are ways of thinking, there are values spun
out there by the evil one in the culture of the world which are hollow and deceptive,
there are fantasy. These things he says depend upon human tradition and the basic principles
of this world which is a difficult phrase probably referring to the work of demonic
elements spinning out constantly new thoughts and new ideas to trick people and ensnare
them. The basic principles he says of this world, beware lest you be taken captive, he
says by these things. The fact that an apostle uttered that warning did not stop the problem.
A few decades later Jesus met with John in the Isle of Patmos and he said, John I want
you to write some things, I want you to write the things that you see. And he is talking
there about what he saw of Jesus himself in Revelation chapter 1, John tells us what he
saw on the Isle of Patmos. It brings you to your face in worship. He said, John secondly
I want you to write about the things that are and third the things that will be after
these things. Interesting, isn't it? John I want you to write about the things that
are and then Jesus begins to dictate to John seven letters to seven churches in Asia Minor
as Jesus wants to tell them reality. He wants to tell them things as they really are, not
what they imagined them to be, not what they wished they were, nor what they used to be,
but the things that are. And each church received an individual letter. Ten times in those seven
letters Jesus says to them, I know, I know. Now you and I know a little bit of the things
that are, but we're so easily caught up, aren't we, in things that may or may not be true.
But when Jesus says, I know, he knows. He's not missing anything. No one's pulling the
wool over Jesus eyes. He's not living in a fantasy world. He says, I know. He says, I
know your strengths. He says, you're hardworking. You're persevering in a pagan culture. He
says to another church, you have suffered courageously. He says you have faith and love.
He outlines their strengths. But then he talks about their weaknesses. He talks about the
threats. He said to one church, despite all of these good things happening, you have lost
the core. You have forsaken your first love, your passionate, intimate love for me. He
says to another church, you have tolerated immorality and you have embraced false ideas.
To another church, he says, you have a reputation of being alive. But the reality is, he says,
you're dead. To another one, he says, you're lukewarm. Oh, I know, you think of yourselves
as rich and without need. But he says, the reality is, you are rectified and pitiful
and poor and blind and naked. The Son of God gave a SWAT analysis to those seven churches.
And when he did that, he was not speaking as a meat inspector. He was not analyzing
them as some quality control manager of an assembly line. No, no. He was speaking to
each of those churches as their heartbroken lover and their exalted judge. Whatever we
may think of ourselves, what we really need is to get Jesus' perspective on reality.
And to an extent that is absolutely alarming, we have succumbed to the diseased values
in our culture. And the future of Lasgadis Christian Church is by no means certain. And
at that point, I'm going to close the message this morning. Because I want to have ample
time to deal with what I see the toxins to be. My introduction to this series this morning
is intended simply to get your attention and to plead with you to join me on this journey
that we may be able to see through Jesus' eyes the truth about us. You see, when we
talk about the future of the church, we're not talking about the future merely of an
institution or an organization. We're talking about us because we're the church. I invite
you to pray with me. I invite you to speak the Lord's face with me, to call out to the
Lord, asking that in these coming weeks, He will help us to see reality. The most important
thing facing humanity today is to see the difference between reality and fantasy. That
is not just true out there in the world. It is true in the Lord's church too. And Jesus
has something He wants to say to the lost goddess Christian church. He wants to say
it to you and to me. And He does not say it because He's angry, because He wants to really
put it on the spot. He says it because His heart is broken and because He wants us to
enjoy Him and He wants us to experience Him fully. And the toxins that we have allowed
into our lives and into our church, these toxins are affixiating us spiritually. That
those are remedy. There is a remedy. While the future is not secured, the future is still
there. It's still possible if we will do what Jesus will tell us to do. Would you pray with
me? Father, my prayer is that you will use this brief introduction this morning to the
series, to intrigue us, perhaps even to threaten us, or to stir us in some reactions so that
we will follow through and hear what you want to say to the church. You have said, He that
has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the church. And so may we have ears to
hear. For Lord, we certainly call out to you and we pray that in the coming weeks you will
speak the truth to us. We do not want to live in fantasy. We want to live in reality. For
you are the God of reality. And we humble ourselves before you and we implore you shut
us away. We call out to you, heal us, deliver us, save us from the world that we may love
you. Love you, it's the same way. In Jesus' name, amen.