Title: Warning: Don’t Let Conferences Cause You to Despise Your Church Meta: God has sovereignly placed you in your local church and given you the pastors you have. He has given you the people in your fellowship and they have imperfections, just as you do. Yet those weaknesses that you see in your local church can be the very things God is using to conform you to the image of Christ and to teach you to abound in love. So don’t go back from a conference and compare the experience there with that from your local church and begin to despise your local church. Tags: Chrisitan,church,assembly,Dietrich Bonhoeffer, disunity, 1 00:00:00,580 --> 00:00:03,709 Before we go to the text and look at it 2 00:00:03,709 --> 00:00:07,620 I'm compelled to share something. 3 00:00:07,620 --> 00:00:08,620 The fellowship here at this 4 00:00:08,620 --> 00:00:12,059 conference is just wonderful. 5 00:00:12,059 --> 00:00:15,599 I look forward to it every year as a participant. 6 00:00:15,599 --> 00:00:18,740 The preaching, like last night, has always been edifying 7 00:00:18,740 --> 00:00:21,640 stirring, for me personally. 8 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:23,039 But there's a potential danger 9 00:00:23,039 --> 00:00:26,090 that I want us to avoid. 10 00:00:26,090 --> 00:00:33,000 The danger is to hear preaching of these men, 11 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:36,020 to have fellowship with these brothers and sisters, 12 00:00:36,020 --> 00:00:38,750 to hear the testimonies, 13 00:00:38,750 --> 00:00:40,880 and then to leave here 14 00:00:40,880 --> 00:00:44,080 and go home to your local assembly 15 00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:47,870 and begin to compare. 16 00:00:47,870 --> 00:00:50,520 It very easily, if you're not careful beloved, 17 00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:52,620 can lead you to begin to despise 18 00:00:52,620 --> 00:00:57,070 your local assembly. 19 00:00:57,070 --> 00:00:59,680 As wonderful as it is to gather for these few days 20 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:02,270 in worship and fellowship together, 21 00:01:02,270 --> 00:01:06,290 there's an aspect of this that's somewhat misleading. 22 00:01:06,290 --> 00:01:08,510 It's two and a half days. 23 00:01:08,510 --> 00:01:10,830 And we've left most of our normative 24 00:01:10,830 --> 00:01:14,320 responsibilities at home right now. 25 00:01:14,320 --> 00:01:18,490 But what I mean by this is the fellowship here, 26 00:01:18,490 --> 00:01:20,140 the worship here, 27 00:01:20,140 --> 00:01:22,260 the love we share here, it's genuine, 28 00:01:22,260 --> 00:01:24,890 it's real, I'm not implying anything but that. 29 00:01:24,890 --> 00:01:27,910 It is genuine and real. 30 00:01:27,910 --> 00:01:33,120 But if we all just stayed at Camp Copass, 31 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:35,680 and this became our local church, 32 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:38,570 beloved, it would not be long 33 00:01:38,570 --> 00:01:42,450 before we'd begin to find faults with one another. 34 00:01:42,450 --> 00:01:44,770 It wouldn't be very long before 35 00:01:44,770 --> 00:01:46,800 you'd begin to find faults with 36 00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:51,190 the preaching and the preachers. 37 00:01:51,190 --> 00:01:52,909 I guess what I'm trying to say is 38 00:01:52,909 --> 00:01:55,560 our weekend get-togethers like this are wonderful. 39 00:01:55,560 --> 00:01:58,140 I'm thankful for them, they're edifying, 40 00:01:58,140 --> 00:02:00,299 but they should not be compared 41 00:02:00,299 --> 00:02:03,380 to those you live life with. 42 00:02:03,380 --> 00:02:06,400 Week after week, month after month, 43 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:09,970 and year after year in your local assembly. 44 00:02:09,970 --> 00:02:11,800 With all the different local 45 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:13,300 churches represented here, 46 00:02:13,300 --> 00:02:15,230 we should be gleaning from one another 47 00:02:15,230 --> 00:02:18,480 this is a good time to learn from one another. 48 00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:20,310 But we must be careful that we don't 49 00:02:20,310 --> 00:02:22,310 enjoy the blessing here 50 00:02:22,310 --> 00:02:24,500 and then again, measure our experience 51 00:02:24,500 --> 00:02:26,360 in these two and a half days 52 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:28,190 with what we experience back home 53 00:02:28,190 --> 00:02:31,580 week after week with our assemblies. 54 00:02:31,580 --> 00:02:34,820 If you do that 55 00:02:34,820 --> 00:02:36,420 you'll begin to love what your 56 00:02:36,420 --> 00:02:39,870 local church could be, 57 00:02:39,870 --> 00:02:44,300 but you'll despise what they are. 58 00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:45,420 I shared with a brother 59 00:02:45,430 --> 00:02:47,920 earlier this week that I read 60 00:02:47,920 --> 00:02:49,590 Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book 61 00:02:49,590 --> 00:02:55,660 Life Together: An Exploration of Christian Community 62 00:02:55,660 --> 00:02:57,090 And he says, speaking of the 63 00:02:57,090 --> 00:02:59,670 local church in that book, he says this: 64 00:02:59,670 --> 00:03:04,980 "He who loves his dream of a community 65 00:03:04,980 --> 00:03:08,920 more than the Christian community itself, 66 00:03:08,920 --> 00:03:12,400 becomes a destroyer of the latter 67 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:15,420 even though his personal intentions may be 68 00:03:15,420 --> 00:03:18,680 ever so honest, earnest, and sacrificial." 69 00:03:18,680 --> 00:03:21,180 In other words, if I love 70 00:03:21,180 --> 00:03:26,739 what my local church could be, 71 00:03:26,739 --> 00:03:28,459 but I don't love what they are 72 00:03:28,459 --> 00:03:31,910 (the very thing I desire for them 73 00:03:31,910 --> 00:03:34,099 and to be with them) 74 00:03:34,100 --> 00:03:37,200 I begin to destroy. 75 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:39,980 Beloved, God has sovereignly 76 00:03:39,980 --> 00:03:42,770 placed you in your local church. 77 00:03:42,770 --> 00:03:45,050 He's given you your pastors. 78 00:03:45,050 --> 00:03:47,540 He's given you those people 79 00:03:47,540 --> 00:03:51,070 and they're very imperfect. 80 00:03:51,070 --> 00:03:52,590 But those weaknesses that you see 81 00:03:52,590 --> 00:03:55,560 in your local church and your pastors 82 00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:57,660 may be the very thing God is using to 83 00:03:57,660 --> 00:04:00,269 conform you to the image of Christ 84 00:04:00,269 --> 00:04:04,470 and teach you to abound in love. 85 00:04:04,470 --> 00:04:07,580 One last reminder is Jesus Christ identifies with 86 00:04:07,580 --> 00:04:13,060 the weakest of the genuine believers. 87 00:04:13,060 --> 00:04:16,380 He doesn't despise them. 88 00:04:16,380 --> 00:04:18,630 I'm not condoning immaturity or idleness 89 00:04:18,630 --> 00:04:21,699 in any person or any local church. 90 00:04:21,699 --> 00:04:24,629 We should pray for our assemblies to grow. 91 00:04:24,629 --> 00:04:27,870 We should pray for our pastors to grow, 92 00:04:27,870 --> 00:04:30,330 but here's the warning. 93 00:04:30,330 --> 00:04:32,569 Once you begin to think 94 00:04:32,569 --> 00:04:35,520 the problem with my local church 95 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:37,339 not being like what I experienced here 96 00:04:37,339 --> 00:04:39,639 the moment you begin to think the problem 97 00:04:39,639 --> 00:04:42,610 that's keeping us from getting here 98 00:04:42,610 --> 00:04:44,120 are those people and that pastor 99 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:45,710 in my local church, 100 00:04:45,710 --> 00:04:47,849 and you remove yourself from the problem 101 00:04:47,849 --> 00:04:50,009 that keeps you from this, 102 00:04:50,009 --> 00:04:53,499 you're very dangerous to your local church. 103 00:04:53,499 --> 00:04:55,930 So guard your heart. 104 00:04:55,930 --> 00:04:58,479 Enjoy the blessing of the week. 105 00:04:58,479 --> 00:04:59,909 But don't go back and compare the 106 00:04:59,909 --> 00:05:02,569 experience here to your local church, 107 00:05:02,569 --> 00:05:05,650 and begin to despise them. 108 00:05:05,650 --> 00:05:07,979 Let's pray for God's grace upon the Word, 109 00:05:07,980 --> 00:05:10,040 and over that warning.