Creekside Church Sermon of April 21, 2002 "The Outward Look " Philippians 2:1-11	Rev. David Bibbee
Send this sermon to a friend

I've got it! After months of contemplating what our vision of ministry is calling us to be and do, and after lots of sketches, I now have a preliminary architectural plan for a building which expresses our function as a church. It will be constructed over a deep, steel reinforced cement foundation. The design will emphasize height, and be supported by an elaborate external steel skeleton. It will be the shape of a pyramid. Inside, a great vertical post extending through the pyramid's apex will rise to a height of four stories. Anchored at the top will be a beam through which will pass a 10" diameter woven multiple-strand steel cable.

It probably sounds like a lousy design for a church, but it is not the church. This structure will support the great weight of the church roof suspended at the end of the cable.

My design was inspired by a church on Indiana Avenue called the Church Without Walls. Talk about a name with a message! But the thing I noticed about the Church Without Walls building was walls. This led me to the idea of a church under a suspended roof with no walls at all. Of course it will require some inconspicuous ties to prevent it from swaying during strong winds. And I haven't come up with a climate control system to keep the space beneath the roof cool in the summer and warm in winter. And I don't have a solution for dealing with the birds and bugs that will fly through our facility.

But think of the message a church without walls would convey. People who never set foot in a church much less know what the church is about, could see what we do. Nothing would obstruct their view of us or our view of them. No walls to shield what we would rather not see. No walls would symbolize openness to others and receptivity to the winds of the Holy Spirit.

But this is not the reason behind the design. The absence of walls would not only be an invitation to outsiders to come in, but even more, a summons to get the insiders out. Recall Jesus' farewell to his disciples in Matthew's gospel. Jesus did not say, "Go, therefore, and build a brick colonial church." "Go therefore into the world," is what he said. "Make disciples. Baptize them. Teach them to obey all I have commanded." This is not something we can do with a wall between us and those who haven't heard the story.

Some of you have had a distinctive dining experience in a Chicago establishment called Ed DeBevic's. DeBevic's serves great cheeseburgers and fries smothered in gravy. But the best part is being entertained by waiters and waitresses who serve you and insult you. Throughout the restaurant, printed on sweatshirts, t-shirts, placemats and signs is DeBevic's credo: "Eat and get out!"

Some churches have signs at the entrance to their sanctuary. Coming in it says, "Enter to worship." Going out it says, "Exit to serve." Maybe the DeBevic version would do a better job getting the message across. "Worship and get out! Worship, then get on the other side of the wall. Worship then get out and be seen, be heard and be of service." Having given God the worship due him, we give others the service due them.

Look at Philippians chapter 2. Verses 5-11 are among the most moving words ever written about Jesus, not just by Paul, but by all who have tried to convey the essence of life.

"Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness, and being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-even death on a cross."

Though Jesus could boast in his identity, he refused. He was God's equal and could have used the powers at his disposal to do with as he pleased to persuade the masses and garner a great following, but he refused. Though he could have accomplished great things without it costing him so dearly in the end, he refused. Though rich beyond our capacity to conceive, for our sake, he became poor. Here is the life of Christ summed in a single verse. Here is the standard by which our lives will be judged. "Let the same mind be in you as it was in Christ Jesus."

This verse is the answer to the concern raised by Paul in verse 4. "Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others." This can only be done when our minds are motivated by the mind of Christ. Unlike science, there is no "steady state theory" for the church. Churches are doing one of two things-reaching or receding; standing behind the wall or beyond it; interested in themselves, or interested in those for whom Christ died.

Lots of labor and prayer have been invested over the past months to create a new vision for our future. Our future will be sealed by whether we look after ourselves or reach out to those standing outside the church. In today's bulletin quote Jimmy Carter says, "There is nothing wrong with ministering to the needs of our own congregations." But there is something wrong when we care for ourselves minus the outward look. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of doing ministry from a different vantage point. The standard by which we minister needs to change. Whether we are talking about worship, nurture, or mission, the primary principle by which we decide to do is not the question, "What will it do for us? "How will it affect us?" Or, "Will we like it?"

Detriech Bonhoeffer called Jesus, "The man for others." Renewal is dependent upon making ourselves available to God. Renewal happens when we shift the focus from "what we want" to "what others need." When my son John was born I saw in him a future fishing partner. I dreamed of the day he would come to me and say, "Dad, let's go fishing!" Over the years we've gone on several trips together. He likes fishing, but he doesn't love it…not like me. He doesn't beg me to go fishing…come to think of it, he has never asked me to go. I've done all the asking. When I asked if he wanted to go with me to Ontario in June he said, "No thanks, Dad…that's your thing." He's right. Fishing is my thing, not his.

This reminds me that the church we love is Christ's thing. We make idols of the way we worship, the hymns we sing, the way we do Sunday school. If it works for us, why shouldn't it be fine for everyone else? I want you to know that I love this church. I know you love it, too. I have a dream of what it should and could become. You have dreams of your own. I hold convictions about what is best for the future, and so do you. I have definite attitudes about what must change. You do too, and our attitudes do not all agree.

We fall into traps of our own design. We catch ourselves using the expression, "My church…" "This is my church and I'm going to do what it takes to keep it going." "This is my church, and I'm glad there is a more positive spirit." "This is my church, and I'll see to it that the pastor is stopped before he ruins it." "This is my church and I know what is best for it." When we say such things, alarms should sound. This is not my church. It is not your church, either. It belongs to Christ. It is His thing. It is His interests we serve.

Barry Johnson says it like this-"We are guests in someone else's house." The landlord has not granted us a permit to erect walls where none were intended. The landlord asks us to yield to Him the gifts we have in this time, in this place, for His purposes. Our sight can be changed. The church can grow. Having Jesus' mind in ours, we can become a "church for others" which Christ created the church to be. A magnet of his life-altering love. It is not about us.

My best training for ministry happened during the year I was a seminary intern with Paul Robinson. He taught me skills and life long lessons. He also gave me books from his personal library including autographed books by some of the great preachers, theologians, and Christian leaders of the past century. One is by Samuel Shumaker, who is considered the spiritual founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. I offer you a poem called, "I'll Stay Near the Door." It expresses in a beautiful way the message I have given in a fumbling sort of way. Listen to this:

I stay near the door. I neither go in too far, nor stay too far out,
The door is the most important door in the world-
It is the door through which people walk when they find God.

There is no use my going way inside, and staying there
When so many are still outside and they, as much as I,
Crave to know where the door is. And all that so many ever find
Is only the wall where a door ought to be.
They creep along the wall like they are blind,
With outstretched, groping hands.
Feeling for a door, knowing there must be a door, yet they never find it…

So I stay near the door. The most tremendous thing in the world is for people to find that door-the door to God. The most important thing any person can do is to take hold of one of those blind, groping hands,

And put it on the latch-the latch that only clicks and opens to the person's own touch.

People die outside that door, as starving beggars die,
On cold nights in cruel cities in the dead of winter-
Die for want of what is within their grasp.
They live, on the other side of it-live because they have found it,
Nothing else matters compared to helping them find it,
And open it, and walk in, and find Him.

So I stay near the door. Go in, great saints, go all the way in-
Go way down into the cavernous cellars, and way up into the spacious attics-
It is a vast, roomy house, this house where God is.
Go into the deepest of hidden casements, of withdrawal, of silence, of sainthood.
Some must inhabit those inner rooms,
And know the depths and heights of God,
And call outside to the rest of us how wonderful it is.
Sometimes I take a deeper look in, sometimes venture in a little farther;
But my place seems closer to the opening.

So I stay near the door. I admire the people who go way in.
But I wish they would not forget how it was before they got in.
Then they would be able to help the people who have not yet even found the door,
Or the people who want to run away again from God.
You can go in too deeply, and stay too long,
And forget the people outside the door. As for me, I shall take my old accustomed place, near enough to God to hear him, and know He is there,
But not so far from men as not to hear them.

And remember they are there, too. Where? Outside the door-
Thousands of them, millions of them. But-more important for me-
One of them, two of them, ten of them,
Whose hands I am intended to put on the latch. So I shall stay by the door and wait for those who seek it.
'I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God…'
So I stay near the door.

I shall continue to "refine the design" for a church without walls. Should an architect or structural engineer declare it unfeasible, I will return to the drawing board. I'll try glass walls. Failing that, I will use brick walls with big windows and very large doors. Above each will be a sign saying, "Worship and Get Out!" Throughout the building will be pictures of the Tree of Life rooted by the River of Life reminding us we are people made to be, "ROOTED IN GOD, GROWING IN JESUS, and BEARING FRUIT IN THE SPIRIT."

"Therefore, let us not look to our own interests, but to the interests of others," Elkhart City doesn't belong to you, or me. We're guests in God's house. It's our responsibility to help increase it, so INVITE. Eliminate negative thinking. It murders progress. Accentuate positive thoughts and acts, and INVITE. Change what must be changed to be a winsome, welcoming church and INVITE. Let's start looking beyond our own interests, learn what it takes to make those outside the faith receptive to Christ's love, and for his sake, and the future's sake INVITE! Look the outward look. Let Christ's mind control our minds, and INVITE!

All of the sermons that have appeared in text form on our Web Site since August 1996 are available here in the On-Line version. Use the search engine below to find the sermon you want. You may search by date, sermon title, or content. The sermons are full-text searchable.

Sermon Search:



Exact phrase    All words (AND)    Any word (OR)