Church: Real and Ideal

Church: Real and Ideal

Philippians 4: 2 – 7

Introduction

It is hard for me to imagine this.  I have been serving churches as a minister since 1991.  That is 23 years as a youth minister, college minister, associate pastor or pastor.  I must have started when I was seven years old.

Actually, I started as a sophomore in college.  That year, I was a religion major, received a ministerial scholarship and working as a part time youth minister.

One of my college professors offered a piece of advice for the religion majors who were planning to go on to seminary.  He encouraged us to find non-church jobs (like waiting tables or selling shoes) to work our way through seminary.  I did not follow his advice.  Instead, I took a job as a college minister in a Waco church.

Some of my friends did have non-church jobs through seminary.  But, I felt like I had an advantage over them.  One advantage was that I was able to build up my résumé and gain experience during school.  Another advantage was that (at the time) I thought of my church job as a kind of “lab.”  Just like a biology student takes biology class and biology lab to put into practice what they learn in class, I considered my church job as my “seminary lab.”  I was able to put into practice what I was learning in school.

At the time, I thought of my church job as a seminary lab.  But, now I think of it differently.  At the time, I thought I was putting into practice what I was learning in school.  Now, I realize it was something else.  I was able to learn about the “ideal church” and the “real church.”  The “ideal church” is the church in our minds and in our theories about church.  The “ideal church” is made up of “ideal Christians” with “ideal pastors.”  The “ideal church” does not exist in the “real world.”

Since there is no such thing as an “ideal Christian,” and there is certainly no such thing as an “ideal pastor,” that must mean that there is no such thing as an “ideal church.”  Real churches are made up of real Christians and real pastors—or, we might say imperfect Christians and imperfect pastors.

Of course, we are the only ones to deal with the tension between the “ideal church” and the “real church.”  And, we are certainly not the first Christians to notice a difference between “real” and “ideal.”  In many ways, I think Paul was facing this tension when he wrote the Book of Philippians (and half of the New Testament).

In Philippians 3, Paul made a confession about his personal spiritual life.  He confessed that he had not yet “been made perfect.”  But, he was continuing to press on toward the goal…that one day, Paul would be made perfect…and his life would look like the life of Jesus, his Lord.

In our Scripture today, Paul implies a similar thought about the Christian Church at Philippi.  The church has not yet been made perfect.  But, the church should strive for perfection.  The real church should press on toward the ideal of what a church is supposed to be.

Philippians 4: 2 – 7…  2 I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord. 3 Yes, and I ask you, loyal yokefellow, help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I always get a little nervous when people make statements about the New Testament church.  Sometimes people will leave one church and go looking for a church that better reflects the New Testament church.  Now, I have read the New Testament…and I have never found a perfect church in the New Testament.  The church in Galatia had been taken over by false teachers.  The church at Ephesus was locked in a spiritual battle with the spiritual forces of evil.  The church at Corinth—don’t get me started about the church at Corinth.  And, now we learn that the church at Philippi was not perfect either.

Some people believe this is the primary reason Paul wrote the Book of Philippians.  He needed to settle an argument between two women in the church.  Of course, we don’t really know why Paul wrote Philippians; and we don’t really know how bad the disagreement was between Euodia and Syntyche.  All we know is these women had some sort of disagreement, and their disagreement was big enough that it made it into the Bible!  More than likely, this means it was affecting the entire church.  Therefore, Paul brought the matter before the whole church by mentioning it in his letter.

There are a couple of important things to note about the conflict between Euodia and Syntyche. 

First, notice that Paul never chose a side.  He never told Euodia to get over it.  He never told Syntyche to stop acting like a child.  Instead, he asked them to work out their differences like Christian adults.

Second, notice that Paul actually praises these women and indicates that they were important leaders in the church.  One clue to their importance is the fact that Paul mentioned them by name.  Like a lot of ancient writers, Paul only names his friends in his letters.  He never gives names to his opponents.  Another clue is the fact that Paul specifically describes Euodia and Syntyche as “women who have contended at my side in the cause of the Gospel.”  This means that Euodia and Syntyche had either traveled with Paul, spreading the Gospel around the world or that they had helped Paul spread the Gospel around the city of Philippi.

Even during New Testament times, the “real church” didn’t always look like the “ideal church.”  Real churches have to learn how to deal with conflicts and disagreements.

Agree in the Lord

Ideally church leaders and church members will “agree in the Lord.”

I am not one to believe that every church member is supposed to think exactly alike.  There will always be different opinions among church members.  In fact, one of my favorite jokes about Baptists goes like this…You can always tell a Baptist…But you can’t tell him much.  (In case you need help understanding that joke, Baptists are generally pretty opinionated and are known to express their opinions.)

When a person becomes a member of our church, we don’t ask them to agree with every member of this church on every matter.  No.  Our members have different opinions and different preferences.  Yet, despite our differences, we can find agreement “in the Lord.”  The key to interpreting this kind of agreement is the qualifying statement, “in the Lord.”

We may not agree on the color of carpet for the sanctuary.  We may not agree on the music we sing in worship.  But, we agree “in the Lord.”

It’s probably a little simplistic to compare this to the way a parent relates to a young child.  But, with children, parents have to learn how to pick their battles.  Some things are worth the battle.  Other things are not worth the battle.

Perhaps a better way to think of this is to think in terms of eternity.  Does this difference of opinion or difference of preference have an eternal impact?  We need to agree on eternal matters.  We need to agree that salvation is through Christ alone by his crucifixion and Resurrection.  We need to agree that God is Personal and reveals himself through Scripture.  We need to agree on the reality of Heaven and Hell.  But most of our differences are not about eternal matters.

This is captured in a famous quote about Christian belief.  Surely someone first said this as an original quote, but I have seen it attributed to at least a half-dozen Christian theologians…  “In essentials, unity.  In non-essentials, liberty.  In all things, charity.”

Rejoice in the Lord

Just as the “ideal church” will find agreement “in the Lord,” the “ideal church” will also find a reason to rejoice “in the Lord.”

Notice that Paul does not tell us to rejoice in our circumstances or to rejoice in the way the world treats us.  Sometimes we have a reason to rejoice in our circumstances.  Sometimes we have a reason to rejoice in the way the world treats us.  But, we always have a reason to rejoice “in the Lord.”

In Paul’s theological worldview, the Lord refers to Jesus Christ.  Therefore, Jesus is the source of all our reasons to rejoice.  Paul finds reason to rejoice over the salvation he has received through Jesus…Salvation includes forgiveness of sins and the promise of the Resurrection life.  Paul also rejoices in the presence of Jesus…Paul experienced the presence of Jesus in the good times and especially in the bad times. 

Peace in the Lord (Christ Jesus)

Paul closes out this section with a reference to Peace in the Lord.  Technically, he doesn’t actually use the phrase “in the Lord.”  Instead, he specifically tells us that our Peace is “in Christ Jesus.”  (Again, in Paul’s theological worldview, the Lord is Christ Jesus.  So this phrase basically rounds out our Scripture with three references to “in the Lord.”)

Remember that in Philippians 3, Paul trotted out his theological résumé by describing his Jewish pedigree.  Paul was circumcised on the eighth day; of the people of Israel; of the tribe of Benjamin; a Hebrew of Hebrews; a Pharisee; a persecutor of the church; and faultless in the eyes of the Law.  With this kind of Jewish background, I imagine that Paul thought of the Hebrew word “shalom” when he wrote the Greek word for “peace.”

We typically translate the Hebrew word “shalom” as peace.  But it means much more than our contemporary understanding of peace.  We talk about peace as the absence of conflict.  Shalom comes from the Hebrew word for “whole,” or “complete.”  Therefore, I like to think of Christian Peace as more than the absence of conflict.  Instead, true Christian Peace can only be found in the Presence of God.  The Presence of God makes us whole or complete.  The Presence of God fills up all that we are lacking.  The Presence of God completes us like nothing else this world has to offer.

Conclusion

I wonder if the Presence of God just might be the difference between the “real church” and the “ideal church.”

Don’t get me wrong, I believe that God is everywhere.  At least God is everywhere God’s people are.  The Holy Spirit lives inside each Christian.  To have faith in Jesus is to place your life in God’s hands and under God’s control.  God is present with each of us.  He leads us.  He provides for us.  He comforts us in times of grief.  He gives us reasons to rejoice.  He gives us Peace despite our circumstances.

Oftentimes we ask the wrong question about the Presence of God.  We ask ourselves, “How much of God do I have in my life?”  Perhaps a better question would be, “How much of my life does God have?”  Or, we ask the wrong question about our church.  Instead of “How much of God does our church have?” we should ask, “How much of our church does God have?”

The ideal Christian is a man or woman who is wholly surrendered to God.  The ideal church is a church wholly surrendered to God.