In the sermon 'Help! My Church is in Crisis,' Scott Brown discusses the importance of love, as outlined in 1 Corinthians 13, in addressing church conflicts. He emphasizes that love is crucial for genuine worship and overcoming crises. Brown identifies various types of crises, including health, financial, and personal loss, but focuses on church crises where confusion, hurt feelings, and disagreements arise. He urges believers to face these challenges authentically by turning away from self-centeredness, entering church with thanksgiving, and expressing tangible love to one another. Parents are encouraged to teach their children to handle trials with joy and resilience, preparing them for the real world. Brown outlines ten ways to navigate church crises, including turning from one's own ways, loving brethren, doing good works, and using scripture for discernment. He stresses the importance of forgiveness and humility, reminding listeners that every trial is meant for good and will eventually end. The sermon concludes with an encouragement to embrace the joy of fellowship and the fruit of the Spirit during challenging times.

If you'd open with me to 1 Corinthians 13, I'm going to read 1 through 8 in preparation for the sermon today. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I have become a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understanding all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I have nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned but have not love it profits me nothing love suffers long and is it kind love does not envy love does not parade itself it is not puffed up does not behave rudely does not seek its own is not provoked things to evil does not rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in the truth bears all things believes all things hopes all things endures all things love never fails but there are prophecies they will fail. Whether there are tongues they will cease.

Whether there is knowledge it will vanish away. Let's pray. Father we thank you for this day we thank you Lord for this text and many other texts that will be provided for the sermon today. Father I do ask that you would open our ears, open our hearts, open our spirits to receive from your word today. We do thank you Lord for the many hours of preparation that have gone into this time.

We thank you Lord for anointing Scott's voice and his words today. In your mighty name we pray. Amen. It's a blessing to be alive in the world, a world where God extends so many kindnesses to us and one of his kindnesses that he has extended to us is that he has promised his elect chosen ones that they will have trials. He's promised it, He's pre-warned us so we should never be surprised when we encounter various trials.

And he even has called us to be joyful in trials because the testing of our faith has a design. And there are many different kinds of trials that we experience. Today I want to focus very specifically on the experiencing of a church trial, a crisis in your church, but there are different kinds of crises that we face. There are crises of health, the loss of health and dangerous medical threats that are upon us. That's one kind of crisis that people face, and we should be prepared for those, and we should also be preparing our children for those kinds of crises.

There are financial crises that people go through that God brings down upon them for his own purposes. And there are crises of loss, the loss of a loved one or the death of a child. A great crises that can just tear at your heart. But God is kind to prepare us for these kinds of things. Today, I really want to focus on this matter of how do you face a crisis in a church and not be fake?

How do you go to church in a time of crisis where there's confusion and hurt feelings? How do you face people who have offended you or perhaps you think they have wronged you or wronged someone else? How do you spend a Sunday with people that you disagree with on some fundamental matters. How do you keep yourself from speculating about who's talking to whom, and what are they saying, and what is it all about, and what will the final outcome be, and who's for who, and who's against who? How are you supposed to take the Lord's Supper and not be fake or worse to find yourself taking condemnation upon yourself by taking the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner?

And how are you supposed to talk to your brother or your sister in the Lord? Without being fake And I think it also brings another very important question to us as God has brought us into this time. How do you teach your children to go through times like this? Do you know how to teach your children to experience trials without becoming despondent, without becoming bitter, without having it negatively marked them for the rest of their life. How do you train your children to prepare really for the real world where there are crises and trials.

And my prayer is that this message today will help us all think about how we prepare our children for trials. It really should be one of the chief concerns of a parent. Fathers and mothers, in the midst of this crisis that you're in right now, let me say it, this is your finest hour for the instruction of your children for times ahead. In the future, they will face storms, and if you teach them early, their storms will be more blessed. And they will be able to agree with James when he says consider it joy when you encounter various trials.

Brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, don't miss the moment. Teach your children how to go through a crisis. It'll do them well and it'll bring a happiness and a subtleness of their souls in the storms that will come upon them ahead. You know, the young people here probably aren't in a big storm right now, but there will be storms in the future. And it's so helpful for children to be taught.

You know, don't let your children leave home without knowing that times of trial are gifts from the Lord that they are they are all designed every single one of them for our good so that we would experience the love of God more deeply that we would we would Understand our sins more profoundly that we would repent more thoroughly God has given trials to us for so many reasons and And we we must not miss this moment. You know God has brought this church to a particular moment Let's don't miss the moment. Let's don't despise it. Let's embrace whatever good God is attempting to accomplish among us during this time. So how do you go through a crisis?

I'm going to give you ten ways here, But I could summarize it in one phrase. Out of the overflow of your love for Jesus Christ, obey the Lord in these situations. Isaiah said that when you walk through the fire, you will not be burned. He's assuming that you will go through the fire. But how do you keep yourself from being burned?

It assumes that there will be fiery trials and there will be raging waters. He said you'll pass through the waters and you won't be overcome. I've had a number of crises in my life where it has seemed like the wheels were coming off and in those crises I've set myself in a particular way toward those crises. And as I said before, there are different kinds of crises. The primary important thing that we must do when we go through crises is to fill our minds with the Word of God and obey those words.

This is the most important issue. And if you don't do this in a time of crisis, then you will find that your time of crisis will overwhelm you. And you'll become bitter. And it won't improve you. It will devolve your whole understanding of yourself and others in the world.

And what you'll find, if you don't separate yourself from the crises and fill your mind with the word of God, what you'll find yourself doing is you'll be constantly playing the same old lines you've heard over and over again, the same old bitter arguments, the same old things, and you'll find you'll just be wasting your life on those kinds of things. But if you stop and remove your mind from the crisis and seek the Lord Jesus Christ and fill your mind with the word of God, you won't be bitter. And the crisis will actually turn out to be a blessing to you. We often become consumed with a trial and the trial consumes us. In this crisis, you will either be consumed by this crisis and become bitter, or you will consume the Word of God and it will be your light, it will be your thought, it will be your words, it will be the things that will guide you.

This is always the greatest challenge that we have in times of crisis. So this morning I want to offer you ten things that a person ought to do to keep themselves in a time of crisis, to keep themselves from being fake. And these responsibilities that we have in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, and if we're able to somehow fulfill them by the grace of God, We won't be fake on this Sabbath day because we will have found ourselves fixing our eyes on Jesus Christ, the author and the perfecter of our faith, and we will be found as obedient sons and daughters. And so you see them here before you, I'm going to work through them one by one. The first is turn from your own way.

If you are going to face a crisis in a church, the very first thing that you must recognize about this crisis is that you must turn away from your own way. And you know going to church without being fake in a time of crisis begins with a fundamental assumption and that is we are not our own. We are bought with a price by a good master and and we can never go anywhere in our own way. We have no right to go anywhere in this world in our own way and particularly we cannot go our own way in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. First Corinthians 10.13, the apostle, 10.31, the apostle Paul tells the Corinthian church, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do in word or deed, do all to the glory of God in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This means that God didn't create anything for you to just go in any way that you want. And God did not create the church so that people would go in and do their own thing. He has given us very specific ways in which we are to enter into the gatherings of the people of God. We must obey the Lord. People come to the church and they're fake because they want to go to church in their own way.

They want to feel what they feel. They want to say what they want to say. They want to do what they feel rather than to put themselves under the authority of God and to go to church God's way. But God has told us how we ought to enter into the gathering of the saints and if we cannot obey that then we will come flustered, frustrated, angry, and fake. And this is no way to enter into the household of God.

God and His kindness to us took us recently to Isaiah chapter 58 verses 13 and 14, which gives us the language to help us to understand that we can't come together in our own way, not for our own words, not for anything of ourselves we come to delight in him and so you know the verses we know the song if you turn away your foot from the Sabbath from doing your pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath a delight the holy day of the Lord honorable, and shall honor him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words. Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father." The mouth of the Lord has spoken. And yes, This is true, particularly in a time of trial, that we must turn from our own way. So the first thing we must do in order to keep from being fake on the Sabbath is to turn from your own ways. So how do you go through a crisis?

Out of the overflow of love for our Lord Jesus Christ, you obey the Lord and you turn from your own way and you learn how not to follow your heart, but you follow God and his truth. The second, enter into his gates with thanksgiving. Psalm 100 verses 1 through 5. It's a very freeing thing to understand that today set before us is a mission and that mission is to give thanks to God to to come together and worship the Lord and delight in him to set our minds upon this to fix your attention in such a way that every song is a banquet every prayer is a feast every word of scripture read is manna from heaven. You know, during this time of crisis, I've had to come to church in very unusual circumstances.

And I'll tell you what has sustained me. I knew what I was supposed to do when I came here. I knew I was here to turn away from my own ways. I knew I was here to praise God. I wanted to soak in every single word that was prayed or sung or spoken or shared to drink it in, to be changed by it, not to despise anyone's testimony at all, but to embrace it, to consume it so that I would not be consumed in a crisis.

And I really have had such delight in our church over the last few weeks. I really have. I've been free. I've been happy to be here. But it's Because I have entered into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise, I did not enter this building bitterly.

I did not enter this building disappointed. I entered this building giving thanks. Because I knew that everything was happening was from God. The psalm reads, make a joyful shout to the Lord all you lands, serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with singing, know that the Lord, he is God.

It is he who has made us and not we ourselves We are his people and the sheep of his pasture Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise Be thankful to him and bless his name, for the Lord is good, his mercy is everlasting, and his truth endures to all generations. Parents, as you instruct your children and as you also gather to instruct your own heart, make sure you understand what the mission is on a day like today. To enter into His gates with thanksgiving, you may not feel like it, but God has called you out of yourself, out of your own hurts, out of your own self-pity, out of your own disappointments, but to rise above yourself. This is the blessing of being the child of the Lord Jesus Christ. He cleanses you from all of your sins and He actually takes you away from yourself.

And He brings you into His kingdom, into His ways. His ways are always pleasant ways. And he's given us such a command. I've always delighted all my life when I had children and now with grandchildren with instructing them in the joys of coming to be among the people of God, particularly which is communicated in Psalm 122 verse 1. I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.

This is a mission that we're on today. Regardless of what threats or difficulties or pains or conflicts or questions you might have, you can do this. You can enter His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. Leave yourself, come to the kingdom of heaven and find yourself resting there in that place and rejoicing the way that he has commanded us. So how do you go through a crisis?

Out of the overflow of love for the Lord Jesus Christ you obey the Lord and you enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and you cannot follow your own heart in the matter. Number three, Love the brethren with tangible expressions of love. I had 1 Corinthians 13, 1 through 8 read at the beginning of this service. There are so many passages of scripture I was going to refer to, it was very difficult for me to know which one to have read. But I chose this one.

And I did so because this passage makes something very, very clear to all of us in all of our activities, whether it's business or whether it's in the church or in anything that we do, And it's this, without love we are nothing. Our gatherings are nothing. Our conversations are worthless without love. They are worse than fake. And so the church always has to remember why she has gathered.

She has gathered for love to fulfill all the laws of God, which are all laws of love. We have no other reason. The Christian Church has no other mission but that to express the love of Jesus Christ in the world in our own relationships in this church and in every other relationship and But what is love and what are the obligations of love? What does it really look like? First Corinthians 13 Romans 12 and other other passages are critical texts on this matter But the apostle Paul speaks of it very clearly, and most people recognize this as some of the most beautiful language that has ever been written.

Even unbelievers look at it and they're astonished at its beauty and its profundity and how practical it is. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, And though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, And though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind.

Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself. Love is not puffed up. Love does not behave rudely. Does not seek its own.

Is not provoked. Thinks no evil. Does not rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. We can never miss in this church the significance of love.

It stands alone. It's the singular mark of victory in your life, regardless of what happens to you. It is the supreme expression of God himself. It's the chief characteristic of God. Love was the reason God sent his Son.

Love is the fulfillment of the law. Minimizing the significance of love in a church is one of the most disastrous things that can happen in a church. And misunderstanding what love is can be one of the most disastrous things that can happen in a church as well. A church should be well instructed in love. I would encourage you to go read about love in the Bible.

What does the Bible say about love? What does it look like? How does it act? Because God has called the people together to be living expressions of His love in the world so that the world would know that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. You know, this is why there are so many really wonderful and amazing things in the Bible about love.

Greet one another with a kiss of love as you read in Romans 16. This is how we're supposed to operate. Now Jason preached a sermon on this a couple weeks ago, but I don't think he was saying that we have to kiss everybody all the time. It's an expression that explains the way that we relate with one another when we come together. It's like a kiss of love when we come together.

And it's so important that we understand that God has given us one another so that love would be expressed in the world, So love wouldn't grow cold in the world. But this cannot happen in the midst of strife and debate. And this is why Isaiah was so clear to speak about the sin of fasting for strife and debate. And you know, you can read scripture for strife and debate. You can preach for strife and debate.

You can sing songs for strife and debate. And when you find yourself slipping back into strife and debate, remember that it's a call, it's a wake-up call to turn to the Lord, to repent of your sins and to refix your attention on God and His glory and His goodness. There are so many ways that you can do good to all men and women and children in the church and to have these expressions of love. The encouragement that we can be to one another, the counseling that can take place here this morning, the thanksgiving, the speaking of Scripture, sharing about particular passages of Scripture that were in the sermon, giving thanks for a song, testifying to the grace of God in your life, smiling at one another, encouraging one another, listening to one another. All these should be engaged in a spirit of loving kindness and long-suffering.

And to whom should we be doing these good things well the Bible makes it very clear that we we do good to both friends and enemies Matthew 5 44 Romans 12 17 through 21 first Thessalonians 5 15 first Peter 3 9 all make it very clear that we have obligations to love even our enemies, even those that we disagree with, and even those who are acting bad. And God's long-suffering in his own nature has caused him to make the Sun to rise on the evil and on the good and so should we You know In this time I've been reading Jonathan Edwards book again, Charity and its Fruits. He says this, the world is full of various kinds of persons, some good and some evil, And we should do good to all We should indeed especially do good to them that are of the household of faith You know, why did he say why did why did he quote that verse about especially those that are of the household of faith. Well because there are times in the household of faith where there are problems with each other. He wouldn't have said it if he hadn't assumed that it would be experienced.

And if you look at the New Testament letters particularly, you'll see that the writers assume that there will be personal fallout in the church. And there are particular ways that you deal with that fallout. There are many, many words that explain how you pour oil and water and how you bring blessing to those times of dislocation in relationships. They're very specific things, many things that you must do in order to do that. And the Bible has all kinds of words to describe it.

Mercy, long-suffering, blessing, forgiving, all kinds of words that explain how these things are to be dealt with. And Edwards, he talks about how you do it too. And he says, you should do it freely, liberally, and bountifully. And then He says something that really struck me. He asked, how do we know if we're doing this?

How do we know if we're doing good to one another? And he answers, The proper and conclusive evidence of our wishing or willing to do good to one another is to do it. This is the hardest part. Isn't it just so much easier to think of it in your mind and let it stay there? This is one of our great flaws as human beings.

We think that if we have thought something it's done, when actually it isn't done it's just been thought. Now good things begin with thoughts, But it's our responsibility in a time of crisis to do good to one another and to try to understand what that looks like. And in this way we end up fulfilling 1 John chapter 3 verse 18 and 19, let us love not in word only. And as we think about doing good to one another, we should also remember a very important fact of being a human being standing before God. And that is that we must remember the Lord blesses those who are merciful.

In Psalm 1825, he tells us to the merciful, he will show himself merciful. It really is wise for us to be merciful, because if you show no mercy, you will receive no mercy from Almighty God. So to withhold good would place us in great danger, particularly in a time like this. So how do you go through a crisis? Out of the overflow of love for our Lord Jesus Christ, we obey the Lord and we love the brethren with tangible expressions of love.

Number four, set yourself to do good works, Matthew 5, 44 through 46. Jesus taught his disciples to do good works no matter what. For example, particularly in our context, if you feel that you have enemies in this church, consider that God has given you very clear instructions on how you ought to treat them. The Lord Jesus Christ went up on a mountain and he began to speak to his disciples. It's recorded in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5.

But he said to his disciples and the people that were gathered, he said but I say to you love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you." And here the Lord Jesus Christ is announcing a great assumption that there will be people who will be your enemies, there are those who will curse you, there are those who will hate you, and there are those who will spitefully use you and persecute you. This is the real world. And this just brings me back to this whole recognition of how important it is that we teach our children how to face the real world. This will happen to them in particular ways. But then he says that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.

For he makes his Son rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, What reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And so here we recognize that God has given us instructions, particularly in dealing with different kinds of people that we encounter. And we should be very careful to remember that God will deal with us in the same way that we deal with others.

And that's why in 2 Samuel 22 verse 27 We read, with the pure you will show yourself pure, and with the devious you will show yourself shrewd. Now there are there are two good works that I'd like to identify. There are so many good works that can be done. It's a blessing to have our church's confession, the Baptist's confession, speaks of what is a good work. I would encourage you to go read it.

What is a good work? And it has a very helpful section about how you do good works in the church. But there are two kinds of good works that I want to identify. And the first one is very important. Now, if you want to know what is the most important good work you can do for your brethren, then ask this question, what has been the most important work that God has done for you as a Christian?

What is it? What is the most important thing he has done? And that is, He's forgiven you of your sins. In Luke chapter 17 there's a discussion that Jesus has with his disciples. And the Lord Jesus Christ said to his disciples it is impossible that no offenses should come but woe to him through whom they come now he's acknowledging that offenses will come And then he says it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he'd be thrown into the sea.

Then he should offend one of these little ones. Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him. And if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day and Seven times in a day returns to you saying I repent you shall forgive him And the apostles said to the Lord, and you can't miss this, the apostles said to the Lord, increase our faith, okay, because they knew it was hard to forgive their brother seven times in a day.

It was very difficult to do that. Now, in a time of a church crisis, it's almost always true that you find yourself in a situation where their sins have been committed. I think many of us have confessed sin during this time. But in this situation, God is providing a wonderful opportunity to empty the church of unforgiveness, to drain the accounts built up against others, to set the captives free, to be imitators of God. Not to ignore sin, but to empty it the way that God has designed it to be emptied in His church.

And forgiveness points to the most powerful force in the universe. It's the power of the cross of Jesus Christ. And God has designed His people so that they would be living demonstrations of the word of the cross in word and in deed. And they proclaim and demonstrate the most fundamental principle of the Kingdom of Heaven, The times of refreshing that come in from repentance and forgiveness. Forgiveness sets captives free.

It acknowledges the mercies of God. It destroys barriers between people. It unravels the plan of the devil as the accuser. Forgiveness incinerates slander in the heart. It destroys backbiting and gossip.

Forgiveness preserves love. Somebody said that unforgiveness is the poison we drink, hoping that others will die. But a Christian with a forgiving heart is a very powerful weapon against the schemes of the devil. And one of the questions that all of us have been considering, all of us have, it's been brought up many times, is, is there latent unforgiveness lurking among us? You know in Matthew chapter 18, which is broken up in two parts First of all when there are fences between brothers and what what is done private first privately and then publicly But the Lord Jesus ends Matthew 18 with the second part and he speaks of how things are handled privately and in the heart and he gives a picture of the ruthlessness of a merciless unforgiver, a servant who is forgiven much, but he could not forgive.

And what we find at the end of Matthew 18 is that the unforgiving becomes the unforgiven. And he's handed over to the torturers, which is why we should be so careful To obey every word of Ephesians 4, 32. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. And what does it mean to forgive? Well, it essentially means to let go to release to pardon to remit.

I'm reading out of a Bible dictionary right now To overlook an offense to treat the offender is not guilty So In doing good works the first work that I want to identify is the work of forgiveness. And the second work is the work of humility, or rather, humbling yourself. These dispositions of love are the single most important matters of going through a crisis. Without love as God has described it, our roles in this crisis will be nothing in God's sight. And God has called us to love.

And love means that we are dear to one another. But the second work that we should be mindful in this crisis is that we should all humble ourselves. And we need to remember that first of all there's such a great distance between us and God. What is the distance between His holiness and yours? It's immeasurably vast.

Our self-righteousness is nothing, and We must remember how much kindness we've been extended. And that should cause us to humble ourselves in the midst of all of this. In Colossians chapter 3, verses 12 and 13, As Paul is speaking to that church there in Colossae, he says that humility is one of the marks of the elect. And he's explaining what obedience looks like in this section, and how does the church love. And it's really the answer to the question, how does the church obey and how does the church love?

And he answers it and he says, therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, bearing with one another and forgiving one another. If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you must also do. But above all these things put on love which is the bond of perfection and let the peace of God rule in your hearts to which you were called in one body and be thankful." This is This is the way that obedience to God is manifested in the church. When these kinds of things are characteristic, Solomon in Proverbs 29-23, warns us about the dangers of our pride, of self-exaltation. And he says, a man's pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit will retain honor." And James says it a little bit different, but very similarly, he says, but he gives more grace, therefore he says, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

And again, this takes us back to Isaiah. You remember when we were in Isaiah 57 and we ran across verse 15. For thus says the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity whose name is holy. I dwell in the high and holy place with him who has a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." And this is why in Romans 12 verse 3 the apostle Paul spends a significant amount of words to explain how they ought to love one another. And to any reader, it would be obvious that there were some problems in the Roman church regarding love.

And so he's addressing it directly in Romans chapter 12. And he says this about those who are thinking too highly of themselves. He says, for I say through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you. Now he's talking to the whole church, to everyone who is among you. And I just want to stand as a mouthpiece for God and to say this to you and to me as well.

This is the word of God for me and for all of us here. Not to think more highly of Himself than he ought to think, but to think soberly as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. So how do you go through a crisis? Out of the overflow of your love for Jesus Christ, obey Him. Set yourself to do good through the works of forgiveness and humbling yourself.

Number five, remind yourself exactly who these people at church are. First Peter 2, 4 through 6, Romans 12, 5, 1 Corinthians 12, really the whole chapter, particularly verse 12. Who are we? What is this gathering? Well, God has ordained that we would be together in this church.

God has ordained that we would be like living stones fitted into His house. Who's here today wasn't choreographed by some grand scheme. People just showed up. They showed up because God brought them here. And we should recognize that that is what has happened.

One of the great tragedies in life is when people show up and then they don't like it, they say, well, obviously God didn't bring me here. This is one of the most harmful things that you can teach your children. Because it's teaching that God is not sovereign, that God hasn't ordained these things, and these people, these specific people. And so Peter says that we're like living stones being built up as a spiritual house, a Holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices Acceptable to God through Jesus Christ not through their own righteousness, but through Jesus Christ Like this gathering isn't the gathering of the righteous. It's the gathering of the righteousness of Jesus That's the only thing that makes any of this make sense.

Paul tells the Roman church that they are members of one another. For we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function. So we being many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. And then further, Paul tells the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 12, 12-27, that they've been formed together in one body But it's deeper than that it isn't just that they're one body because they're gathered together That they are one body with Christ That is the central matter of their unity. It's Jesus Christ in Him crucified.

And it isn't their sameness. It isn't that they agree with one another. That's peripheral. What is central is that their unity is grounded in Jesus Christ. He is the source of their unity.

So the people that are in this church at this time of crisis have been appointed to be here by a sovereign God. You didn't choose these people, God did. They're your people and He put us together to cause us to grow into His likeness. The beauty of the church, at least one of the beauties of the church, is that God places us with people that we didn't necessarily choose, but we necessarily needed for our own sanctification. We should never chafe at the people that God has ordained for us to be with in this life.

And So here's what I'm getting at for in terms of today God is ordained that we would share the Sabbath day with people not of our own choosing warts and all baggage and all sins and all You know the churches in a club where you were birds of a feather flock together. It's a fellowship of the Father and the Son and the Spirit and His people. And you know there are so many ways that God has designed for this to work. There are over 50 one another's in the Bible. Let me just read a few.

I don't think we can ever mature beyond these things. I think that's obvious in the times that we're in now. Galatians 6.2, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 5.15, but if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another. Galatians 5.26, let us not become conceited, provoking one another.

Ephesians 4.2, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love. Ephesians 4.32, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God and Christ forgave you. Mark 950. Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another.

John 13, 14, If I then your Lord and teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. John 13, 34, and 35, a new commandment I give to you that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples If you have love for one another Romans 12 10 be kindly affectionate to one another with a brotherly love in honor giving preference to one another So how do you How do you go through a crisis in a church? As the love of God overflows from your heart through the work of the Holy Spirit, obey the Lord, remember the people in this church and who they really are that God has ordained that we be together. Number six, discover how God means this trial to work for good.

Genesis 50, 18 through 21. This is of course a citation of the story of Joseph and how his brothers harmed him greatly and Joseph is elevated to be in the highest position in Egypt. And his brothers now are afraid, they're terrified of what Joseph will do to them because of what they did. And then Joseph says to them in Genesis 50 19, do not be afraid for I am in the place for am I in the place of God but as for you you meant evil against me but God meant it for good in order to bring it about as it is this day to save many people alive now therefore do not be afraid I will provide for you and your little ones and he comforted them and spoke kindly to them Joseph returned good for evil and they were afraid but the words that I want to extract from this for our focus because It would be such a joy to spend the whole rest of the time on this but these words But God meant it for good But God meant it for good Five words to change your whole life and your whole perspective.

Six words. Change everything in your life. And altering your whole vision of what's happened to you or what might happen to you that you might fear. Does anybody have any fears about the future? Fear not.

God means it for good. And that should change your whole view of the world and everything that has happened and everything that you fear might happen in the future. And you can be free and you can be happy and you can praise God in the sanctuary because you know there is a God in heaven who's ruling everything. God meant it for good. Amen.

God meant it for good. What if this crisis is really not about the crisis? What if it's all about love? What if it is meant to teach us more profoundly what love looks like? What if it's to show us how little love we have?

What if it is to show us how loveless we are and how we ought to repent of our lovelessness and how we've lost a sense of biblical love? What if it is designed to reveal to us that when we are wronged, we do wrong? Rather than returning good for evil, we return evil for evil. What if it's designed to show us poisons that have been lurking in our whole lives, all our lives long? What if it's designed to wean us from the world?

Maybe some of you have thought more highly of your leaders than you ought to have and you You've exalted them beyond their nature What if you were trusting man and God wants to wean you of that What What if every tear shed is designed to teach you that this world is not your home, so that you'd be comforted by the eternal comforts of heaven? Jonathan Edwards said this, heaven is a world of love. I love that statement. How is God using this to mature me? How is God using this to change me?

How is it revealed the wrong use of my tongue? How is it revealed the wrong use of my emotions? How is it revealed the wrong way that I engage even thinking about this church? Is it possible that this crisis isn't even really about the crisis? That God means some greater good as a result of it.

You know, In the few crises that I feel like I've experienced in my life, when I look back, it's very clear to me the crisis, it wasn't about the crisis, it was about something else that God was doing. God works in mysterious ways. His ways are unsearchable. But how do you know what God is doing? Look to yourself.

Don't decide it for anyone else. Ask yourself, what is God doing to mature me? What is God doing to chastise me? What is God doing to rebuke me for my sins? You know, I've probably told this here in a sermon, but forgive me if I have, but I've had one of the great joys of my life is to be on Skype almost every day with my grandchildren in Washington and we're memorizing the book of Proverbs And a ways back we bumped into Proverbs 1 23 and it just stopped me and Proverbs 1 23 says this turn at my rebuke in other words, don't turn away from it, turn at it.

Turn toward my rebuke. Don't run away from it, don't ignore it, don't try to size it, turn at my rebuke. I will pour my spirit out on you. I will make my words known to you. So when you think about this crisis, don't think about the purpose of this crisis for somebody else.

It's unprofitable and there's no way you can know because God's ways are unsearchable. It might be different for different people. So here's what I would encourage us all to do. Look to yourself. Look to no other man in this time.

And ask Why has God brought this into my life? Why is this good for me? How do you go through a crisis? You discover that God means to use this trial for your good. Number seven, sharpen your discernment by using Scripture.

Sharpen your discernment by using Scripture. I've listed a few passages of Scripture here. There are many, many more that could be listed. I'll just read two of them here. Whenever you're in a crisis and you're looking around the room and you wonder what's going on, you're confused.

You're not sure what's happening. The Word of God actually gives you interpretive filters to understand what's happening. And you can use them. One of them was read earlier in the prayer, Philippians 4-8, whatever is true, whatever is pure, whatever is honorable. That's a filter that God has given us to discern what's happening in a room or in your own heart, particularly.

But Galatians 5 19 says, Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like, of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control against such there is no law. You can always tell what's going on in the room by remembering the fruit of the Spirit. You can always tell. And it's often very unflattering to us.

Or James 3, James 3, 13 through 18 contrasts the wisdom of God with demonic wisdom because there really are only two things happening in a room. It's either wisdom from heaven or it's wisdom from God. It's light and darkness. That's what God has given us. There's an interpretive grid in James 3 to help us understand what the wisdom from the world is and what the wisdom from heaven is.

So he says this, who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, Confusion and every evil thing are there But and here's the contrast of the wisdom from heaven, but the wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle willing to yield full of mercy and good fruits without Partiality and without hypocrisy Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace." And so it's, use this time to sharpen your discernment sensitivities, but it's not your own discernment.

It's not your own feeling that you have. Forget that. Forget your feelings about what you think is going on. Go to the Word of God and say, what is the Bible, what words does the Bible use to describe situations? And then how should you judge them?

How should you think about them? Because the Bible gives these things to us for our good You test the spirits You know, I would encourage you to look up the words strife and contention and find what the Bible says about it. Just look it up. Just make your own conclusions of what these things are related to. What is their source?

What do they do? What does it look like? Because the Bible gives you very clear handles on how to detect these kinds of things so that you're not lost without discernment. I would encourage you to read the book of Proverbs this week. It's so remarkably insightful about really practical relational matters.

Read the Corinthian letters. Read Galatians and Ephesians this week. So how do you go through a crisis in a church? Sharpen your discernment by using scripture. Don't follow your own heart.

Don't think about your own sensitivities. Don't think about your own intuition. Forget your intuition. One thing that I've concluded over the years is that my intuition didn't worth very much. Number eight, be strengthened by grace.

Hebrews 13, 9 Speaks of it this way. He says for it is good that the heart be established by grace and he is speaking about the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ here and He and it's very Similar to what the apostle Paul said to Timothy, that young pastor there in Ephesus, he said, be strong in the grace of God. And it's very similar to Paul's prayer where he prays that we would be strengthened in the inner man by the grace of God. Now there are few things more helpful to the soul than to know of the greatness of the grace of God that covers all your sins. That God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to atone for your sins.

That he would sacrifice his life. That he would bear the burden of your sin. That he would take the wrath that you deserved upon his body and that God would literally He would take the punishment that you deserved off of your shoulders And he would lift it off and he would put it on his son and you would be free You would be forgiven That God's anger would be propitiated in other words he would grow soft to you and his anger would be turned away forever. This is unmerited favor. And you can say if you if you love the Lord Jesus Christ, and you've named His name the way that the Bible says, you can say, I'm redeemed.

I'm a child of God. I've been set free. I'm a newborn man. I'm a newborn girl. I'm a newborn woman.

And that means that you're free. You've been born again. No one can reverse that. We did not deserve God's mercy, but He's given us grace for everything. Grace to help in time of need.

And that's why the Apostle Paul said, he said, it's why the Lord said to the Apostle Paul, my grace is sufficient for you for my strength is made perfect in weakness. How do you go through a crisis? Be strengthened by grace. Number nine, recognize that trials will end in due time. I pulled out one passage of scripture in James 5 verses 7 through 11 because James says, be patient brethren until the coming of the Lord.

See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord as at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door.

And then he gives two examples. First the prophets. My brethren, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed, we count them blessed who endure. And then he gives another example.

You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord, that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. This trial will end in the same way that it did with Job. And he looked back And you know what he learned from it? God is compassionate. That's what his racked body and his slander from his friends was all about.

The trial wasn't about the trial. The trial was about the compassion of God, that Job would be driven to a place so that he would see the compassion of God more than any other time in his life. And God brought him to the end of the trial to teach him that. And These tribulations that the people of Hope are experiencing right now are going to come to an end. And there's a time when you'll look back on this trial and you'll see what it was for.

You know, I used to sing a song to my children when they were little that someday they would know what it was all about. Because it's so easy to be deceived that the trial is what it's all about. But that's not what it's all about. It's all about something else. And in the song I say, And one day you'll know just what it was all about.

That's true for this trial that we're in right now. Don't lose heart. God will show you what it's all about. And you'll see how the Lord has been instructing you about various things, whether it's your flaws or something else. You'll look back and you'll see that his ways are good.

And you'll find it true what the apostle Paul said to the Roman church. He said that God causes all things to work together for good, for the called. So if you're going to go through a crisis in a church, recognize the trials will end in due time. And then number 10, Number 10, make sure that you get some of that fruit that Jeff Frittle brings during the fellowship meal. Make sure you get some of that fruit.

It's so delicious. And I love the fruit bowl at the end of the line because it reminds me of more than just fruit. In the same way that trials are not primarily about trials, fruit is not primarily just about fruit. It's about something greater. The verse that I've chosen for this is Nehemiah 8 10 then he said to them go your way eat of the fat drink of the sweet and Send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared for this day is holy to our Lord Do not sorrow for the joy of the Lord is your strength So the Levites quieted all the people saying, be still for the day is holy, do not be grieved.

And all the people went their way to eat and drink, to send portions and rejoice greatly, because they understood the words that were declared to them, Nehemiah chapter 8. Now if you get to the end of the line and there's some fruit left and you like fruit, it'll be impossible to be fake. You'll be reminded of the fruit of the Spirit and you'll love it and it'll smile, make you smile genuinely. So how do you go through a crisis? God has given us very clear instructions.

There are probably more things that could be brought out here. Notice that there's an element in all of them. Repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Because every one of them reveals a flaw in our thinking, in our talking, in our behaving. How do you go through a crisis?

Turn from your own way. Enter his gates with thanksgiving. Love the brethren with tangible actions. Set yourself to do good works. Remind yourself exactly who these people at church are.

Discover how God means to use it for good. Sharpen your discernment using scripture. Be strengthened by grace. Recognize the trials will end in due time, and don't forget to eat the fruit at the end of the line. Would you pray with me?

Oh Lord, we thank you for your word which sets us aright, which corrects us, which exposes our sins, which takes us to a better kingdom, a better city, a better home, a better fellowship, the fellowship of the love of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Lord I pray that you would make our fellowship with you sweet so that our fellowship with one another is sweet. Amen.