Perfectly Imperfect
- Jeff Coleman
- Apr 20, 2008
- Series: The House
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The House Introduction: What do you get when you cross a building inspector, a doctor, a gay rights activist, a college student, a single adult agnostic, a twenty something year old couple living together, a wielder, a senior adult, a divorced middle-aged mailman, a Hispanic family who barely speaks English, a upper-middle class computer analyst, a stay-at-home mom of three, a recovering alcoholic, a Muslim, a first time business owner, and a newly married couple whose already $14,000 in debt? You get the church. If you don’t think that’s an accurate picture of the church of Jesus Christ Open with prayer Body: Quote: Phillip Yancy – “The church fails in its mission and makes serious blunders precisely because the church comprises human beings who will always fall short of the glory of God. That is the risk God took. Anyone who enters the church expecting perfection does not understand the nature of that risk or the nature of humanity. Just as every romantic eventually learns that marriage is the beginning, not the end, of the struggle to make love work, every Christian must learn that church is also only a beginning.” When we look at the church we really see two sides of the same coin. We have the divine side and then we have the human side. The divine side of the church is the side we hope to see, want to see, and hunger to see lived out among the called out people. It’s the side of beauty, grace, acceptance, power, service, unity, maturity, challenge, outreach, vision, and risk all done for the glory of the Kingdom of God The human side of the church, however, is the side we don’t want to see, but oftentimes we find ourselves subjected to. It’s the side the world sees most often and the news pays most attention to. It’s filled with controversy, it’s rocked by scandal, and it’s contentious, augmentative, and divisive. It’s the side of the church that we walk away from shaking our heads and wondering, “Did Jesus die for that?” It’s the side of the church that’s prejudiced, spiritual impotent, maintains the status quo, refuses to change, judgmental, and dare I even use the word,…demonic. It’s oftentimes all done for the glorification of human agenda and has nothing to do with God’s kingdom. In spite of all her imperfections, warts, blemishes and ugliness…I repeat what I said last week. The church of Jesus Christ ILL To help understand this idea of being perfectly imperfect I believe we’ve got to wrestle with a concept of what does it mean to be spiritual? What image comes to mind when you hear the word spiritual? Most people think of this. [Show image: Billy Graham, Mother Teresa, Joel Osteen] Is this what it means to be spiritual? Most people don’t have this in mind when they hear the word spiritual, but I think it may be closer to real life. [Show image: stressed mom, yelling,] When we think about spirituality, we commonly think of people who pray for long periods of time, read their bible consistently, never get angry, or those who always hear the voice of God. For most of us the idea of spirituality has an “otherworldly” ring to it, which brings up the images of nuns, monks, super preacher, or some other lopsided idea. I’m not criticizing those who’ve chosen to be nuns or monks, but what about the rest of us regular people? What does spiritual look like for those of us who work sixty hours a week? What does being spiritual look like for those of us who travel during the week, commute over 45 minutes to work, have a family with activities nearly every night of the week, and have a yard to mow that hasn’t been mowed in a week and half? What does spiritual look like for those of us with mortgages and a family? What does spiritual look like if you’re divorced and still dealing with that pain, or you’re wrestling with addicting behaviors? What does spiritual look like for imperfect people struggling in an imperfect world and trying to be a part of a perfectly imperfect church? I think it looks like the church of Corinth
Perhaps what we need to understand is being apart of God’s church and being spiritual people isn’t a formula. It’s not our ability to check off a religious to do list. [ILL This is one of the great things I love about the bible. It’s doesn’t hide the flaws and failures of the people in the bible. Consider the OT. Adam and Eve had one rule to follow they still screwed it up. Noah? Sure he was called righteous and then built a nice boat and saved his family and the animals, then what happened? He stepped off the boat, let all the animals loose and that night got drunk and passed out butt-naked in the living room. Jacob? He was con-artist. Abraham? He pimped out his wife. Moses? Murderer. Samson? Lust-filled womanizer. Gideon? He was spiritual chicken. King David? Adulterer and a murderer. The overwhelming problem with humanity (and the church) is we’re riddled with inconsistency. Men and women of God who in one moment are just like us they can be forgiving, spiritual mature, strong, passionate defenders of the faith and in the next minute their selfish, insecure, unstable, greedy, unbelieving, deceptive, lying individuals. The NT isn’t any better. Take the disciples for example. While they were committed to Jesus, and were ready to follow him they were constantly bickering and fighting about who was the greatest. They jockeyed for position, were disloyal, impulsive, selfish, and amazingly dense because they didn’t understand half the stuff Jesus was talking about. Peter was a loud mouth and a hypocrite. Judas Iscariot was a traitor, Simon the Zealot was the equivalent to a 1st century terrorist. James and John had anger issues. Please don’t think they’re perfect. “And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted” (Mt 28:17 ESV). Jesus is getting to leave and he’s handing over the future of the church to doubters. Move further into the NT and we find the Apostle Paul who was a persecutor of the early church and had people imprisoned and probably even murdered. Then there are the churches, which is an exercise in depravity and dysfunction if there ever was one. The churches in the region of Galatia and the city of Colossae were falling into false teaching, some of the Philippians were fighting amongst themselves, the Corinthians (oh, good grief)…we don’t even have time to list the struggles and addictions these people wrestled with. Here’s the point. Listen to what God the Holy Spirit says about the churches in spite of their flaws and failures. “I am writing to God’s holy people in Ephesus ILL What makes the church so amazing is that it’s made up of regular people. No monks, no nuns, no super pastors, no tights and capes…just ordinary people. Listen to how Paul described the Corinthians. “Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when God chose you. Not many of you were considered wise by human standards. Not many of you were powerful. Not many of you belonged to important families. Who does God choose to work through? The church. And how were the dysfunctional Corinthians described? Weak, common, scorned, and considered unimportant. Ever felt this way? Sure, we all have. Here’s what’s great: Paul isn’t describing the people in the church this way to belittle them, but to remind them they had no basis for bragging about what God had done in their lives. When they first were called out of the world and into God’s family they didn’t feel superior or have a sense of self-importance and from God’s perspective nothing had changed between that time and the time Paul’s letter was written. There wasn’t any reason to brag, to be divisive, or to argue., which is why he then say this, “As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God” (1 Cor 1:29). The Highlands isn’t loved, favored, or more anointed by God now that we have a facility than the day a small collection of people decided to plant a church. It just means that because God has chosen to bless us with this place and were still less than perfect (no great surprise, right?). God still expects more from us. “When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required” (Lk 12:48b). ILL: Children’s Letters to God, a little boy wrote, “Dear God, I’m doing the best I can. Frank.” Is that your prayer? Yeah, mine too. The psalmist has an equally wonderful way of expressing this sense of being unfinishedness. “I will obey your decrees. Please don’t give up on me” (Ps 119:8). Wouldn’t be great if the church were truly transparent when it comes to our success and failures at growing and reaching for spiritual maturity? What difference would it make if got honest and become real? What difference would that make for both Christ-followers and non-Christ-followers in our midst? Are the dangers of hiding the truth about ourselves and our church? Quote: Henri Nouwen – “He who thinks that he is finished is finished. Those who think that they have arrived, have lost their way. Those who think they have reached their goal, have missed it.” How refreshing and truly helpful would it be if the church were a place that encouraged questions, didn’t gasp and freak out when someone doubted, and we could simply be a place that’s open about the reality of struggling to be God’s person. Can I give you some incredibly good news: It’s okay to be unfinished. It’s okay to be imperfect. As I’ve already said, being a part of God’s church doesn’t mean you’ve got to have your spiritual i’s dotted and t’s crossed. It’s about trusting God and working with God in our unfinishedness.
Here’s a truth that someone needs to hear: Jesus Christ is not repelled by us, no matter how messy we are, and regardless of how incomplete we are. [REPEAT] “Jesus understands every weakness of ours, because he was tempted in every way that we are. But he did not sin! So whenever we are in need, we should come bravely before the throne of our merciful God. There we will be treated with undeserved kindness, and we will find help” (Heb 4:15-16 CEV). Jesus went through the whole human struggle in order to identify with his creation and rather than being repelled by our struggles and failures with temptation, Christ understands and is able to offer us grace and help in our time of need.
Here’s one of the things that I think makes this congregation unique. The vast majority of us are really aware of how deeply depraved, sinful, messy, and flawed we really are and when you finally own that truth and embrace the love, acceptance, and power of God in the midst of it all the Holy Spirit enables you to do the same with others. “Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love” (Eph 4:2). Later in the same chapter the Apostle Paul. “Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you” (Eph 4:32). Isn’t this what we’re trying to get right? Personally, I can vouch for those I serve alongside with most closely. I feel that I know their hearts. I know our leadership team, our ministry team leaders, and our staff takes our roles very seriously, and we are trying to do our best to lead God’s messed up church forward. I know that we don’t do that perfectly and I know we never will, but it’s not because anyone of us doesn’t care. We get better, we’ll grow, and we’ll change, but we’ll also disappoint you, we’ll let you down at times, we’ll frustrate you, we’ll anger you, we won’t do what you always want us to the way you want us to, but we will always strive to love, accept, and empower you to grow and connect with Almighty God. So what do you need to do as it relates to the church: Be patient. Be careful with your judgment, and be gentle with your correction. We need to know if and when we are messing up so that we can do better, but I pray we can have a humble heart that wisely receives constructive criticism because all of us are still “under construction.” God isn’t finished with us yet and because of the fact, God will still work wonders through the church. It doesn’t matter if you have 3,000 on a weekend or 30.
Quote: Mike Yaconelli - “Spiritual growth is more than a procedure; it’s a wild search for God in the tangled jungle of our souls, a search which involves a volatile mix of messy reality, wild freedom, frustrating stuckness, increasing slowness, and a healthy dose of gratitude.”
Conclusion: I close with a story that illustrates the imperfection and yet the beauty of the imperfect church. [Tell story] A church like that is a church that doesn’t have it all together, it isn’t perfect, it doesn’t encourage sinful behavior, but it reaches out to love and accept people right where they are and show them the wonderful grace of God in spite of the unfinished messiness of our lives. Is that your church? Is that The Highlands? I hope so cause I’d join a church like that? Agnes Birthday A few years ago Christian sociologist and author Tony Campolo flew to Hawaii to speak at a conference. The way he tells it, he checks into his hotel and tries to get some sleep. Unfortunately, his internal clock wakes him at 3:00 a.m. The night is dark, the streets are silent, the world is asleep, but Tony is wide awake and his stomach is growling. He gets up and prowls the streets looking for a place to get some bacon and eggs for an early breakfast. Everything is closed except for a grungy dive in an alley. He goes in and sits down at the counter. The fat guy behind the counter comes over and asks, "What d'ya want?" As he sits there munching on his donut and sipping his coffee at 3:30, in walk eight or nine provocative, loud prostitutes just finished with their night's work. They plop down at the counter and Tony finds himself uncomfortably surrounded by this group of chain smoking, cussing hookers. He gulps his coffee, planning to make a quick getaway. Then the woman next to him says to her friend, "You know what? Tomorrow's my birthday. I'm gonna be 39." To which her friend nastily replies, "So what d'ya want from me? A birthday party? Huh? You want me to get a cake, and sing happy birthday to you?" The first woman says, "Aw, come on, why do you have to be so mean? Why do you have to put me down? I'm just sayin' it's my birthday. I don't want anything from you. I mean, why should I have a birthday party? I've never had a birthday party in my whole life. Why should I have one now?" Well, when Tony Campolo heard that, he said he made a decision. He sat and waited until the women left, and then he asked the fat guy at the counter, "Do they come in here every night?" "Yeah," he answered. "The one right next to me," he asked, "she comes in every night?" "Yeah," he said, "that's Agnes. Yeah, she's here every night. She's been comin' here for years. Why do you want to know?" "Because she just said that tomorrow is her birthday. What do you think? Do you think we could maybe throw a little birthday party for her right here in the diner?" A cute kind of smile crept over the fat man's chubby cheeks. "That's great," he says, "yeah, that's great. I like it." He turns to the kitchen and shouts to his wife, "Hey, come on out here. This guy's got a great idea. Tomorrow is Agnes' birthday and he wants to throw a party for her right here." His wife comes out. "That's terrific," she says. "You know, Agnes is really nice. She's always trying to help other people and nobody does anything nice for her." At 3:30 on the dot, the door swings open and in walks Agnes and her friend. Tony has everybody ready. They all shout and scream "Happy Birthday, Agnes!" Agnes is absolutely flabbergasted. She's stunned, her mouth falls open, her knees started to buckle, and she almost falls over. And when the birthday cake with all the candles is carried out, that's when she totally loses it. Now she's sobbing and crying. Harry, who's not used to seeing a prostitute cry, gruffly mumbles, "Blow out the candles, Agnes. Cut the cake." So she pulls herself together and blows them out. Everyone cheers and yells, "Cut the cake, Agnes, cut the cake!" But Agnes looks down at the cake and, without taking her eyes off it, slowly and softly says, "Look, Harry, is it all right with you if...I mean, if I don't...I mean, what I want to ask, is it OK if I keep the cake a little while? Is it all right if we don't eat it right away?" Harry doesn't know what to say so he shrugs and says, "Sure, if that's what you want to do. Keep the cake. Take it home if you want." "Oh, could I?" she asks. Looking at Tony she says, "I live just down the street a couple of doors; I want to take the cake home, is that okay? I'll be right back, honest." She gets off her stool, picks up the cake, and carries it high in front of her like it was the Holy Grail. Everybody watches in stunned silence and when the door closes behind her, nobody seems to know what to do. They look at each other. They look at Tony. So Tony gets up on a chair and says, "What do you say that we pray together?" And there they are in a hole-in-the-wall greasy spoon, half the prostitutes in Honolulu, at 3:30 a.m. listening to Tony Campolo as he prays for Agnes, for her life, her health, and her salvation. Tony recalls, "I prayed that her life would be changed, and that God would be good to her." When he's finished, Harry leans over, and with a trace of hostility in his voice, he says, "Hey, you never told me you was a preacher. What kind of church do you belong to anyway?" Harry thinks for a moment, and in a mocking way says, "No you don't. There ain't no church like that. If there was, I'd join it. Yep, I'd join a church like that." A church like that is a church that doesn’t have it all together, it isn’t perfect, it doesn’t encourage sinful behavior, but it reaches out to love and accept people right where they are and show them the wonderful grace of God inspite of the unfinished messyness of our lives. Is that your church? Is that The Highlands? I hope so cause I’d join a church like that? 
Perhaps what we need to understand is being apart of God’s church and being spiritual people isn’t a formula. It’s not our ability to check off a religious to do list. [
Here’s a truth that someone needs to hear: Jesus Christ is not repelled by us, no matter how messy we are, and regardless of how incomplete we are. [REPEAT] “Jesus understands every weakness of ours, because he was tempted in every way that we are. But he did not sin! So whenever we are in need, we should come bravely before the throne of our merciful God. There we will be treated with undeserved kindness, and we will find help” (Heb 4:15-16 CEV). Jesus went through the whole human struggle in order to identify with his creation and rather than being repelled by our struggles and failures with temptation, Christ understands and is able to offer us grace and help in our time of need.
Here’s one of the things that I think makes this congregation unique. The vast majority of us are really aware of how deeply depraved, sinful, messy, and flawed we really are and when you finally own that truth and embrace the love, acceptance, and power of God in the midst of it all the Holy Spirit enables you to do the same with others. “Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love” (Eph 4:2). Later in the same chapter the Apostle Paul. “Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you” (Eph 4:32).
Quote: Mike Yaconelli - “Spiritual growth is more than a procedure; it’s a wild search for God in the tangled jungle of our souls, a search which involves a volatile mix of messy reality, wild freedom, frustrating stuckness, increasing slowness, and a healthy dose of gratitude.”
Conclusion: I close with a story that illustrates the imperfection and yet the beauty of the imperfect church.