In the World, But Not of It

As you all know, our attendance is down from a year ago. I have mentioned this in at least two recent sermons and I wasn’t sure if anyone else noticed or even cared. Now I see that many people do care and have a healthy concern about our lack of growth. I have heard many opinions as to why we are not growing, one of which is due to our less-than-lovely current facility. It’s not pretty and it clearly has some major drawbacks. When I first moved to Viroqua I almost immediately acquired a new sin—coveting church buildings! I never had this problem before because I had never been without a church building. At that time, the old Walmart building was sitting empty. I prayed that we could buy that building and I made several phone calls to track down the owners—they weren’t selling, but we could rent it at an exorbitant rate! 

A genuine concern was raised last week by several people in regard to our lack of growth as it relates to holding worship services here at the Landmark Center. Since there is such a wide array of pagan beliefs represented in this building, some have concluded that holding a worship service here is the same thing as worshipping in a pagan temple. Furthermore, God will not bless such a thing and this has become the primary reason why our church is not growing. Perhaps many hold to this view. I have spoken personally with those who have shared this belief. As I expressed to each of them, I am grateful that this issue was raised. I liken it to walking along a path and uncovering a land mine. As you bend down for a closer look and brush away the dirt and leaves, to your horror you see a land mine sticking part way out of the dirt. What should you do in such a case? Should you sprinkle a few leaves over it and go on your way? No! You must mark the spot and immediately alert the authorities and everyone you know of the danger. This is what happened Monday night. A concern was raised and the alarm was sounded. Based upon their concerns, it was their moral obligation to alert the body and warn us of the present danger. I am grateful for this warning and I applaud their efforts. I love the fact that people are fully engaged and thinking about growth. But right now our task is to discern whether this is truly a land mine that must be avoided at all costs or a harmless hunk of metal protruding from the ground.

Let me give you two reasons why this issue is so important and why I felt a strong leading to address it in a Sunday morning message. First, if the concerns that were raised are valid, then the conclusion is that we are in sin right now. Furthermore, it is also true that we have been sinning for the past 14 months, though we would have done it out of ignorance and not malice. If we are sinning by meeting here, then we must act in immediate obedience and vacate these premises. If this is a sin, then we cannot afford to wait even one more week. By next Sunday we have to be out of here. Even if we have to meet in homes it would be far better than meeting here in blatant disobedience to God.

Second, I had planned to preach on Luke 15 this morning, one of the most powerful passages on the gospel and evangelism in all of Scripture. As you will see, this issue of meeting at the Landmark is intimately tied up in the issue of gospel proclamation and personal witness. I did not feel I would be able to address such an important topic with this other issue hanging over our heads.

Let me also say that I am approaching this topic with fear and trembling because personal opinions are intertwined with the issue at hand. I don’t want anyone to think that if you raise a concern or disagree with the pastor that I will preach a sermon condemning you the following Sunday. First of all, I have never done anything like this before. After 9-11 I broke with my sermon schedule and preached a topic related to terrorism and Christian faith, but I have never in my life decided to preach a sermon in reaction to a personal opinion. Second, I am keenly aware of the danger of using my preaching privilege as a tool for browbeating anyone. Power struggles destroy churches faster than any kind of sexual immorality ever could. I abhor such an attitude and will avoid it at all costs. If it turns out that I am guilty of manipulation and a power play, then I will submit to the appropriate discipline by my fellow elders. Third, those of you that know my heart, know that I don’t operate in the realm of power and prestige. If you don’t know my heart, then I am asking you to trust me and listen to what I have to share with you from Scripture. Again, if meeting here is sin, let’s act now. If not, then let’s reason together about the future.

One more thought by way of introduction. As time permits I will allow for a few questions as I speak. You can also ask any question you want after the service or this coming week. If you know me, you know I welcome healthy and respectful disagreement. In fact, I thrive on such because it challenges me and keeps me sharp. I had a disagreement with someone from another church and this person said to me, “You are wrong, but I don’t want to talk about it.” What can you do with such a person? If either you or I make up our mind and refuse to be teachable, we are in deep trouble. But if we cling to Scripture and speak the truth in love, we will be a much stronger church in the end. Fair enough? OK, let’s jump into several Scriptures.

1. The man of peace

The first principle is the man of peace and is found in Luke 10:5-11. ^ “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ ^6 If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you. ^7 Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house. ^8 “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. ^9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’ ^10 But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, ^11 ‘Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you.” The disciples were engaged in evangelistic ministry and Jesus instructed them to look for a “man of peace” to welcome them. If they found such a person and were welcomed, that was the sign that they should stay and minister for a while. But if no man of peace was found and they were not welcomed, then they had to leave immediately.

So the question for us is, “Do we have a man of peace and are we welcomed here?” I believe the answer is a resounding “yes!” We had our first, advertised public worship service here in this auditorium in April of 2001. We met here just once and after that decided to rent the elementary school. Even at that time, Nancy Rhodes, the owner of this building, was thrilled to have a church meeting here. She tried to talk me into using this for our Sunday morning worship and was disappointed when we chose the elementary school. Then in late 2004 when we felt we were being pushed out of the school, I talked with Nancy about meeting here. Do you know what she did? She decided to let us use this auditorium rent free. Most of you probably were not aware that we don’t pay any rent for this space. Last year we saved about five thousand dollars by meeting here. I believe that Nancy is our “man of peace”. We are very welcomed in this building and have total freedom to worship as we please. Furthermore, you could make a case that we were not very welcome at the elementary school. They did not ask us to leave, but they made it very difficult for us to stay.

2. In the world, but not of it

The second principle is being in the world but not of it and is found in John 17:14-18. ^14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. ^15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. ^16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. ^17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. ^18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. Just like Jesus, we have been sent into the world, but just like Jesus, we are not to be of this world. This is not easy, is it? We are to get involved in the messy lives of sinners without being pulled down by their sin. We are to brush shoulders with pagans but not be led astray by their beliefs. I have titled next week’s message on evangelism, Dinner With a Sinner. We are supposed to eat with sinners; we are supposed to be a friend of sinners; we need to be involved in the lives of lost people because they have no one else to point them to the light of Christ.

Christians make one of two mistakes—either we become legalistic and separate ourselves from the world so much that we have no impact on lost people, or else we immerse ourselves in the world so much you can’t tell we are Christians. Both opposite errors are extremely common among Christians and churches. The middle ground which Jesus is teaching is difficult and messy. I don’t know about you, but I am willing to get a little messy for Jesus’ sake.

Another passage that supports this principle is 1 Cor. 5:9-11. ^9 I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— ^10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. ^11 But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. It could not be more clear—eat with unbelievers, but do not eat with unrepentant believers. But our tendency is just the opposite. We need to decide if we are going to reach out to other Christians and draw them away from their church and into ours, or are we going to reach out to the unbelieving world? If you want to primarily reach out to Christians then I am not interested, but if you want to get messy and have sinners over for dinner, then sign me up!

3. Do not be yoked together with unbelievers

The third principle comes from 2 Cor. 6:14-16. ^14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? ^15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? ^16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? We should be very concerned to obey this principle. Being yoked with an unbeliever is sinful and harmful—like the application from last week about being so careful to choose a Godly husband or wife. Clearly, being married to an unbeliever is the same thing as being yoked together with them. You don’t want to go there. It is a path of heartache and trial and those who knowingly do so are inviting trouble and should not wonder why they have more than their share of trials.

But are we yoked with unbelievers by meeting here? I think we can answer this question by asking a few more questions. Are we yoked with unbelievers by renting office space here? Were we yoked with unbelievers when we rented the elementary school?  The answer to all of these questions is no.

Similar to this passage in 2 Corinthians, the Old Testament contains many commands to be separate from the other nations. One example is found in Ezra 9:1, “Separate yourselves from the peoples around you and from your foreign wives.” The problem with the Israelites in this and similar instances was that they were unequally yoked with unbelievers. As the Israelites settled next to other nations, they quickly began to intermarry with them and mix their worship practices. This was King Solomon’s downfall. He married many foreign wives who turned his heart toward the idolatrous worship of other gods. Intermarriage was forbidden all throughout the OT and Paul continues the prohibition when he instructs all believers not to become unequally yoked. Other commands in the OT to be separate have to do with purity laws. They had regulations against touching dead bodies, about various skin diseases, about a woman’s menstrual cycle—there was a long list of do’s and don’ts that no longer apply to us under the new covenant. I conclude that we are not unequally yoked by holding our worship services in this auditorium.

4. Food sacrificed to idols and pagan feasts

The next principle comes from 1 Cor. 8:4-8. ^4 So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. ^5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), ^6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live. ^7 But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. ^8 But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do. As part of pagan worship in Corinth, animals would be slaughtered and offered as a sacrifice to the idols. Since there was too much meat to be consumed, some of this meat would be sold in the market. Paul’s argument is that buying and eating this meat is absolutely fine. He said that idols are in fact nothing because other gods do not even exist. The demon spirits do not inhabit the meat—that in itself would be a form of pagan animism.

No one in this building practices animal sacrifice, but some think that merely being in the same building make us participants with paganism or demon worship. I don’t see any connection between eating meat sacrificed to idols and holding worship services here. Besides, Paul allowed for eating meat sacrificed to idols, surely he would not have a problem with sharing the same building with unbelievers.

A closely related passage is found in 1 Cor. 10:18-20. ^18 Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? ^19 Do I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? ^20 No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. Some of the Christians in Corinth were not just eating meat sacrificed to idols, which Paul allows, but they were actually attending these pagan feasts. Paul’s argument goes like this: when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper we are worshipping Jesus Christ, it is also true that participating in idolatrous feasts results in worshipping demons. The prohibition is against attending pagan feasts. This is not even an issue for us, because when Grace Church shows up on Sunday mornings, we boldly proclaim that “there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Without apology we declare that “there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Tim. 2:5). There is no pagan worship here. If we want to be concerned about idols, we should be concerned with our idol of materialism and with our idol of self. We are in far more danger of worshipping the created world of luxury, ease and pride than we are of worshipping demons.

If differing beliefs was the issue, then meeting in the Landmark would be no different from meeting at the elementary school. Both are ‘pagan,’ both are public spaces, both have people with wide and divergent beliefs from us, both have people who sin and are lost. What is the difference? Should we fear the pagan environment of the Landmark and not the godless, secular environment of the school? When Moses appeared before the burning bush, what did God say to him? “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Why was that spot holy ground? Moses had probably walked past that same bush numerous times. It had never been a holy place before. It was suddenly transformed into holy ground precisely because the Lord was present. You already see the obvious application, don’t you? This auditorium becomes holy ground when we proclaim our sole allegiance to the Lord. On Saturday night this is not holy ground. On Sunday afternoon this is not holy ground. But on Sunday morning, if we seek the Lord with our heart, soul and mind—if we are not preventing the Spirit’s presence due to obvious neglect of sin, then this is holy ground. What if a murder was committed and the body was buried right beside the bush from where God’s glory blazed to Moses? Would that murder have made the ground any less holy when God’s presence descended upon it? No. It does not matter what happens in this building six days out of the week—it only matters what we do when we call our body to an assembly of worship. This is holy ground.

Conclusion

Based on these Biblical principles, I and the elders have concluded that holding worship services in this auditorium in no way violates any clear commands or Biblical principles. On the contrary, I could make a strong case that it is a good thing to meet here. By being here, we are inserting ourselves into a community of lost people. We are lights shining in a dark place. A few weeks ago there was a woman in the back row that caused a little disturbance. Why was she here? Because she dropped by my office the week prior and I invited her to come. She came and she heard the gospel. I hope you don’t wish people like her to stay away just because they make you uncomfortable. Another guy was leading a nicotine anonymous class downstairs on Sunday mornings. I shared the gospel with him and invited him to come to church. He poked his head in here about 10:00 am but for some reason decided not to stay. This is why we are here!

Is the Landmark a beautiful place to worship? Hardly! Is it handicapped accessible? Sadly, no. Is it cheap and convenient? Yes. Is there a better place to rent until we can build? Do your own research and report back to us. We are always open to new suggestions and we don’t want to stay here forever. I am certain there are some visitors who do not return because of this building. I would like to again thank those who raised these important concerns. You did the right thing by voicing your concerns. If anyone has any remaining questions, please do not hesitate to ask. I want to close with several minutes of corporate prayer.

Rich Maurer

February 19, 2006