In Search of Company II, Selecting the Company That's Right For You

Father, we thank you today for the perspective. Lord, to just back up a bit from all that we've been given. Lord, to see that we do not stand alone, Lord, but we stand linked in spirit with brothers and sisters around this globe. And Father, we yearn in our spirit today that they would be free. The Lord, that people here beside us would be free as well. To be all that you have us to be. That one day we might stand side by side in that heavenly place and say, praise God, we are free for eternity. Lord, we bless you now and thank you for your word that stands as a rock, a revelation, a foundation upon which we build. In Jesus' name, Lord, lead our steps and open our hearts to hear what you have to say. In Jesus' name, may everyone say, amen. Would you all be seated, please, once again. Turning in your Bibles to Philippians. Philippians chapter 2. This morning is our text for today. Philippians chapter 2, verse 1. I'll be reading. Philippians 2, verse 1. If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete. By being like-minded, having the same love, and being one in spirit and purpose, do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. A very strange company came into town this past weekend. They formed their little encampments at the Civic Arena parking lot, where they, according to police reports and the Pittsburgh Press, slept out in tents, sold trinkets and jewelry, became publicly intoxicated, destroyed property, became abusive and divisive, and eventually required police intervention. Then, of course, the police intervention became a bigger issue than the disruption. We all know the media story of this past week. I'm referring, of course, to the arrival of the followers of the group The Grateful Dead. The followers are named the Deadheads. One aficionado of the Deadhead said this, We love the music and especially the community around the dead. Perhaps this illustrates in a very dramatic way my principal point of last week's message, which was the beginning message in a series, In Search of Company, when I mentioned that people are looking for someone to unite with. They're looking for a company of people. We use the biblical term for group, a company of people that they can identify and feel at home with and feel part of, even if it's a group who espouses a doctrine of irresponsible morality and values that none of us or very few of us would hold as being appropriate. We established last week that the New Testament clearly supports the idea that we are not capable of reaching our full spiritual potential. How many of you this morning want to be all that God wants you to be? I mean, that's the desire of your heart. And we looked last week to see that we will not be there. We won't make it there. Sure, dear ones, lots of people will slide into heaven, perhaps. But I want to be among those that God opens His arm and says, well done, good and faithful servant. And that well done will be spoken to those who realize their need for others in the growth in grace that brings you to the place of spiritual maturity in your personal walk. It's time that we realize that personal Bible study, personal prayer, personal service, all those individual things we do, we will not hack it in the end. We will not be able to stay on course in our spiritual growth. We will not be able to grow enough in the understanding of the things of God on our own. We'll find that we don't have the will to stop sinful habits. We'll find that we won't be able to rise up and face the spiritual challenge unless we learn the privilege of accompanying with others in our spiritual journey. At some point, we have to awaken and see that God brought you, my brother and my sister, alongside of me to share your grace with me, to help me to grow, to be all that God wants me to be. And dear ones, this message is for every age group. I'm thankful today for the youthfulness in one respect, but dear ones, this message of accompanying together is for everyone. Let me say directly to the young people this morning, you better recognize that the friends that you choose will serve to help determine your spiritual destiny. You know, peer pressure, a word that gets bandied about a lot, peer pressure is nothing more than the power of company gone awry. 1 Corinthians 15.33 says, bad company, literally the word, bad company corrupts good morals. And I know so many young people whose lives ended up at a young age in the trash heap of sorrow and addiction and broken relationship because they accompanied with the wrong people in their high school and junior high and college years. On the other hand, if you link yourself up, young people, with those of a like-mindedness in Christ, those with a desire to be what God wants, you'll find your life growing in fulfillment and excitement and happiness and purpose. But don't minimize the power, the influence of that crowd. And don't be among the ones who end up saying, I wish I hadn't gone that way. God, by His mercy, comes along and grabs people out of the fire later on. But if you're a young person today, you came to this weekend and you heard some things, don't let it just end on Friday night or Saturday night. These brothers would love nothing more than to know that you're in a group where you are growing, established, loved and cared for. That's why Jesus didn't say to the disciples, hey, anyone want to come along and follow me? Go ahead. When He chose the 12, what did He do? I mean, He didn't draw a line in the sand and say, anyone who really wants to be serious, just step over that line. What did He say? He said, Lord, Father God, He said, show me the ones. And He was serious about the ones that He chose because He realized that it was important. The ones He put around Him were important, even to His own life and His own faith and His own ministry. Don't allow, young people, don't allow the peer pressure. Peer pressure can be just like the perversion of atomic energy. What's the perversion of atomic energy? An atomic bomb. What's the perversion of helpful medicine to relieve pain and so on? Drug overdoses. And peer pressure can be just the same thing if you allow it to be. Now today, just a few minutes of this message, which I've shortened considerably because I want to hear allies sing their last song this morning. Church, I want to help us see that how we make those choices is very important. How many of you know we wish that we just loved everyone the same? Doesn't the Bible say that we're supposed to do that? And yet, how many of you know we don't like everyone the same? You don't have to hit your neighbor right now, okay? Husband and wife don't do it. Yeah, we have to love, but we don't always find ourselves able. It doesn't happen that way. In my experience, folks, I've had a lot of people that have had a hard time. Have you ever had someone come and say, please forgive me, brother, because I've had all this against you? You ever had that? I really had a hard time with your hard-heartedness and your insensitivity, but forgive me. I've had those kinds of things. And we're not able, necessarily, to find our way into the company of believers that God would have for us easily. I would venture to say there are probably four or maybe a few more groups here today. When it comes to this matter of small group involvement, four different definitions. Number one, some of you are here with the perspective that this is brand-new stuff. Maybe you're just a brand-new Christian. You don't even know what it means to be involved with other people. Maybe you've never even heard about this from a biblical point of view. Some of you here today, and you're a former company member. You're here today as one who used to be involved in a group. Can I tell you right now, I venture to say 25% of the people in this room today are in that category. You know you were once in a group and you had an important relationship, and now it's just fallen away. I want you to hear what I'm going to say today because I'm going to speak to right where you are at. Number three, there are some of you who are frustrated company members. If I were to talk to you or we were to share a conversation, you'd say, well, I'm in a group, but it's not going anywhere. I'm having a hard time getting anything out of it. I don't know where it's going. Those kinds of things. And finally, there are some of you here today who are totally fulfilled. I look down here and see some of my home group leaders. They are excited. They can't wait. They wish they could meet right now. They want me to get off the platform and have their meeting. They're excited about what God's doing in their groups. I met with a group of men yesterday. Eight o'clock Saturday morning. Well, 8.15 for some of them. They come in. They'd love to be sleeping, but they're excited about the chance to share life together, grow in Christ, and enjoy the blessing, the fellowship of being together. And I want to talk for a few minutes how you can find a company that you'll fit in with so you can make this choice in a wise fashion. Number one, God sometimes moves sovereignly to unite you with a company of people. I'm going to use it, this term, the term election. When I went to seminary, the term election basically stood for God's sovereign action of His own free personal choice of us as Christians, as believers, children of Israel, whatever. But I want to use the word election in a little different sense. Have you ever discovered times that you knew God was bringing someone along your path? I mean, you'd go down to Ross Park Mall and there they'd be. They'd be the one person in 10,000 that you'd walk up beside and see. Or you'd come to church and there they are sitting right beside you for the third week in a row. You move over to that side and there they are. That kind of thing happens and you realize God's moving to bring people across your path. Sometimes it's not even someone you want to be with. When the vision appeared to Peter and it said, Peter, go be with Saul, what did Peter say? Whew, not that guy. He's a persecutor. But Peter obeyed. There's a man and his family here in the church this morning. About nine months ago, they heard about North Way. They had come from a burned out church situation. They were discouraged. They were definitely in the former company member status. And they came to North Way one time. The guy basically thought, well, if I go once, my wife will get off my back. It was that kind of thing. How many men are here? You know that. Well, they came and God just began to stir them. And even though he resisted, he began to bump into North Way people and hear about this and that. And as he told the story a few months ago in Discovering the Way, he said, it was like I was Jonah in the belly of the whale. I knew what God wanted me to do, but I didn't want to do it. I didn't want to get involved again. To add to it, folks, they live almost an hour away, about 50 minutes away, so that every time they got in the car, North Way was fuel up time, big deal. And he said, for several weeks, I fought this thing. And he said, finally, I realized that North Way was the beach where God was going to spit me up. And here he is today. And, you know, by his obedience, God has just moved powerfully to unite him, he and his family. And now they're bringing others. Well, they saw God at work. They saw God at work. I've had people say they've come into church and said, I just knew this is where I belong. Now, listen, folks, that's a wonderful experience, but it doesn't end when you walk in the door. Find the company where you know that you belong by God's grace. I might say that a basic key to success in the kingdom at all is what's God doing? Find what he's doing and get into it. Find what he's doing, get into it. Don't fight against it. Don't swim upstream trying to create your own little thing. Number two, and Randy already alluded to this, but I'm going to... Don't be put off by this term. The term is attraction. All the single people, their head just, oh, yeah, I like this term. This is the kind of group that I want. Randy said it correctly. I'm not talking about the physical attraction, but I am talking about the sense of being drawn to a person. You know how sometimes you just click with somebody? You just click. There's an affinity is another good word. You enjoy that person. You like to be with them. You find that when you're with them it brings the best out of you. And this is an important thing. Now listen, I know this doesn't sound spiritual. I know that you could never imagine Jesus having any favorites, but listen to John the Apostle in his epistle says this, chapter 21, verse 7. Let me read it to you. The disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, now he's either very arrogant, you know, Matthew, Mark, and Luke never said, I'm the disciple he loved. Either he's very arrogant or what is he showing here? He's showing a special sense of affinity that Jesus had for John. How many of you would like to be able to say I was the one that Jesus loved? Somehow it just doesn't even sound, doesn't come off the tongue right. And yet, there's an affinity clearly that John sensed. And here today, you know that, sure, we love everyone and that means a sacrifice and serving and a will to care about. But dear ones, we are drawn more to some than to others. I remember so clearly a little over a year ago, Pastor Tom came for his first visit to North Way. And we were interviewing Tom because of a whole series of things that the Lord had done to bring us together. And the position that he was interviewing for, I knew in 10 minutes he wasn't the right guy. Now you can imagine the feeling in a pastor's heart, he said, I have this whole weekend playing with this guy and in 10 minutes I know he's not the right guy. You know, it wasn't an hour later that I realized that I had a real affinity for this man. I really enjoyed being with him. He came over to our home with Sue and as couples we began to share and to get along. It was really exciting to see what God was doing. And what happened was during the course of those hours together we realized, well maybe it wasn't this position, but he was really being called to be our youth pastor. How many of you would say that was the right choice? Well that's great. Now, the only reason that that really was given time to develop was because of the affinity, the attraction that was there as brothers in Christ. And I remember so clearly, we had such a good day and a half together that at the end of it, usually on Sunday evening, I'm wiped out, Sunday evening I asked for the privilege of driving Tom back to the airport just to be together. It was great. And dear ones, that's the kind of thing. I share that affinity with all my staff and it's just wonderful to know that we're drawn together that way. You need that. So go to the people that you just sense bring the best in you and challenge you and encourage you and link yourself up with them. It may not be on the first blush, let me add that. I remember there were some people, first time I looked at them and talked to them, I said, we are like oil and water here folks. And over time I saw God just begin to break down walls and unite us together. Wonderful experience. The third way you can be on track in identifying with a company is to sense a common devotion. Devotion. Folks, this is so important. I believe that most companies of people, most groups dissolve because of unmet expectations. And devotion is talking about how seriously members of that group, members of that small little group, how seriously they are committed to the common purpose of the group. And what I find is more and more and more people have unmet expectations and just like in a marriage when expectations aren't met, that opens a door for struggle and hassle and problems and eventually dissolution. Some members come together, sign on thinking, hey, this is going to be great. We are going to get together, we are going to be real, we are going to be honest, we are going to open up our hearts together, we are going to share. Someone else joins the group and says, I just want to come and I'd like to meet some new friends and maybe talk a little bit. Well, they're not even on the same page. And over time, a little bit of frustration develops and it's not long before the group just begins to splinter over that. Sometimes people want to come in for full contact discipleship. Prayer, worship, hour in the word. I mean, they don't care if their meeting goes to one o'clock in the morning. Another person says, hey, you know, it's a quarter to nine. I've got to get up tomorrow early. Well, those kinds of things, those can erode the dynamics of the group. Be sure that the maturity level and the devotion level is about workable for you. Now, it's not wrong if someone's more mature in that group. It's not wrong. But just be sure that your expectations are the same. In fact, it's good if a new Christian joins with a mature Christian as long as that mature Christian is not saying, oh, come on, don't you understand that 2 Chronicles is a real book of powerful revelation if you really have the spirit of God, you know, those kind of things. Be charitable. I remember just last summer we had an experience that really illustrates this. Our staff met for a retreat out at Lauraville and we got together one evening and we had an all-staff volleyball game. I don't remember who engineered this thing, but it was the end of the day, hot day, and, well, it sounded good. It was a little volleyball game. So, you know, the word came out and Pastor Scott shows up with his elbow pads, knee pads, helmet, full uniform. I'm right there beside him, you know, we're just, we're going to power volleyball. Sue Walker comes out, Diet Coke in this hand, Kyla in this hand, a little baby, no shoes on, walks out, and she goes, on our team. You know, and so the ball comes down and Scott's diving, knocking it up, and Sue goes, oh, look at the ball, you know, it's just, oh, I mean, unbelievable. Unbelievable. So, I've already planned for our next staff volleyball game. We're going to have, you know, the game for the people who are really serious about the game, and we're going to have a game for the people who want to drink Diet Coke and hold their babies. Okay? It's amazing how much love can go out the window in one little volleyball game, isn't it? Now, in a funny sort of way, that's exactly what happens in a lot of our companies. People show up dressed for the best, you know. They've got all their translations and their parallel Bibles. They're ready to go for it hard, you know. Be all that God wants me to be. And someone else showing up saying, hey, I just kind of came here to, you know, enjoy the refreshments and sit on the deck and talk a little bit. And folks, those kinds of things lead to real hurts and disappointment and disillusionment. Let me say one other sort of serious word. Please, if you align yourself with a group, please resist the temptation to use the group for your own agenda, intentionally or unintentionally. So many people have come to us from hurting backgrounds, church situations, splits, whatever, or even personal home breakups and those kinds of things. And they come in and they don't mean to, but they dominate the group. And every time the group meets, you know, their chair goes in the center and we pray over them for an hour. And I want you to know, when a problem becomes the focus of a group, the group is doomed. You say, well, shouldn't we be sensitive? Absolutely. But you be sensitive too that the group is there for the purpose of growing in Christ and reaching its maturity. And I need to say to you, if you have a problem that you can't seem to shake and can't work through, we have a wonderful counseling staff, Pastor Jim and his wife. Others are trained, trained. And they're here on staff to help you sort out the best avenues for you to go into, to be healed. And then you can return to that group and make a contribution. And you know what I'm saying, folks. It's a serious matter. And more than one group has landed up on the reef of that personal kind of introspection and spilled out its cargo of love in a wasted fashion because there wasn't any direction given to it. Number four, even if you sense God putting you together, even if you sense that there's some linkage there in terms of attraction and affinity and equal devotion, if you don't have motivation, it will not happen. And folks, listen to me, please. Brothers, you know what Russia has supplied for us and what the Allies have brought, all of us sense a surge in our spirit. But that's got to translate into a motivation to make a difference right where we are. I don't want to walk out of here today and say, well, that was a great service. What are we going to do next Sunday? How can we top this? We're not here for you to grade it on your scorecard and say, well, it was better last week or it's going to be better next week. Dear ones, God sends men and women to us like this to remind us that we have a destiny as a people. We have an opportunity that's once in a lifetime. You've heard me say this. It's once in a lifetime for many of us to be all that God wants us to be. Will you translate this encouragement into motivation to become part of a group? And I mean by that, listen, if you say you're going to be there, be there. If you say you're going to commit to it, commit to it. I worry over the people who I hear about who say, well, yes, I'll be there. I've got other commitments that I've made some fishing plans or golfing plans or tennis plans or I've got to do all this visiting around and I've got all these. Folks, listen, we all have them. We're all busy people. But if we can't carve out two or three hours a week or every other week for our spiritual growth in an intensive fashion, we are too busy. We need to realign our priorities and say, God, help us. I know what it's like to come into a group that has 12 members in it and six of them show up and I'm the leader. You know what I think? First thing I think, I'm doing a lousy job. I'm doing something wrong. Number two, I think, what are these six people thinking? They think they're doing something wrong because the other six aren't there. And then I start thinking, well, if we even do make progress, we're going to leave the other six behind and in the end, what happens is the group dissolves and we all walk away saying, well, is this what company is all about? I would suggest this. If you're not sure about your commitments, limit them. Say, I'll be committed to this group for nine months and then I'll reevaluate or six months or a year or whatever it will be. You will find that God will take some of those groups and make them a lifelong thing. He'll take some of them and in six months they'll do a great work and then you'll just need to say, let's go on in a different direction but don't ever let it just kind of dissipate and fall apart. Let it go on in a step of faith and take a new direction together. And I believe if we'll do that, if we'll sacrifice and make ourselves willing, God will begin to stir something powerful in the group and He'll make it alive to us. He'll make it real. He'll translate it into life. Stop playing games with yourself and with one another. Is spiritual growth really a priority? Oh, it is, Pastor. I'm here every Sunday. I'll be the first to say, as much as it's an honor to proclaim the Word of God, you will not grow to maturity by just coming to church on Sunday. You may feel good about yourself. You may enjoy good music but you won't be all that Jesus wants you to be unless you've taken another step and said, I want to. I desire to be part of a company that's committed to growing into all that Christ wants us to be. Let me conclude with this. None of us know when a transition, everyone say transition, transition, a transition's going to come in our lives. As a pastor, I get an enormous number of phone calls of people in transition moving from one job to another, moving from one understanding of their role as a parent to another. In transition, in terms of what their ministry is. I mean, musicians, we've had musicians in the 15 years I've been watching musicians and they go through transitions. One time they're part of this band and then they go out on their own and then they get in part of it. Folks, we all go through transitions. Sometimes they're traumatic. Sometimes it's a terrible automobile accident. Sometimes it's the loss of a 25 year career. My question to you is this. Where do you turn when you face life's transition? To whom have you developed a devotion and an attraction that you know I can go to those brothers and those sisters and say this is where I'm at. Help me through it. One of the great struggles of my life right now is the number of people that call me facing transition and say can we just talk to you for a little while. And as much as I love to do that, as much as I want to share whatever little bit I know, I realize that I can't serve them very well. I don't know them that well. It's likely that I haven't been with them before. I've not been part of their group. And they come almost like well maybe you're closer to God and maybe you can hear. Listen, God has said that we are all ministers. First service Peter said we're all pastors to one another. And you may have just the word God would have sent for that person in your group. I want to appeal to you today. Take me seriously on this. Get past all the hang ups and say I'm going to be part of what God wants for my life. I'm going to make a commitment. I'm going to be on track. Whether you're a young person, Pastor Tom knows the priority is all of you who came to SOAR, part of the senior high as well. We're going to have little companies. I even believe back in the children's ministry folks, those children that come week by week to the same Sunday morning service, they develop a little sense of company with their teacher. We need this because life will tear us apart. We need to hear Paul's words. Each of us should not look only to our own interests but also to the interests of others and in that way we'll be all that God wants us to be. Amen? Amen. Let's stand together, shall we? Heavenly Father, as we ponder for just a moment these words, I pray that you'd be leading each of my brothers and sisters in Christ to clearly perceive what company of believers, what individuals you would have them begin to link heart and hand with today. That they'd grow on and be all that you want them to be. Lord, people of Christ, I pray like devotion, people of a heart for God, people that want to go on in Christ, people of like ministry, let us grow together in all that you would have us, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. I'm going to call upon Bob and Randy to come and conclude the ministry portion of the service today. You know, these men... Bob, did you write this song? Randy and you wrote it together, This is the first song that I heard the allies do. And when I heard it, and I'm not exaggerating, I began to sense the swelling up of tears in my own heart, because this song communicates how difficult it is for every one of us to change. How much love does it take for us to realize that God's calling us to change, to be all that he wants us to be? Let this heart, this song, just touch your heart and speak to what needs to change in your life. Pastor, before we start, while allies in Russia are parting to leave for the rest of our tour, I want to thank you all for being so hospitable to us, and I'd like to just say a word about trust. When... Oh, by the way, this is Brother Gene's last day with your congregation. And we'd like you all to say goodbye to him. You can get the bus warmed up, brother. And we'd like you When I was young, someone would say to me in high school when you first got your car, you know, there's trust and then there's trust. You say, when I call one of my friends, they go, so, you're going to get me about three? And they'd say, yeah. Really? Yeah, you can trust me. Three o'clock would come. Of course, I'm sitting there. And of course, he's sitting there. But then there's when you'd call your dad and say, dad, I need a ride. Could you come get me at three? Okay. Three o'clock. Boom. There's that Chrysler Newport. Because it's your dad. That's trust. He had no doubt. You better be out there at three, boy. A minute ago, and we're picking on brother Gene here, but as musicians, when we travel around, a lot of times churches will send, we get into a hotel and churches will send that same kid to pick us up to take us to the concert. He's got a 68 Chevy Nova II. With a blown 427. And hamburger wrappers everywhere except exactly where he's sitting. In our lives, and we're, we're, half the time, we're just so tired and our hair looks like it's been on fire the night before, and it's just, and someone like brother Gene shows up with a big, long van full of gas. That needle's just bam, full. And he's there in the lobby waiting for us, and I, I look at him and I see him, and he just immediately is interested in who we are and getting to know us, big smile on his face, and I feel like turning around and saying, guys, we'll be okay on this one. I mean, how can you go wrong, you know? He looks like David Letterman with white hair, and he's a musician, you know. You've got all, you've got everything. And the last service, we were sitting next to him, and a reminder of humility sitting next to brother Gene, and he, during praise time, looked up to heaven, blew a kiss to heaven, and said, I love you, daddy. The same guy that will pick you up at three in the Chrysler Newport. That's the relationship that God wants to have with us. That's trust. You can count on it. Don't worry about it. No, no price, no cost. I'll be there. I'll never hold you accountable for it. I'll be there. How much love. My God, where am I going wrong? I've been running away, oh, I. I've been running away, oh, I. I've been running away, oh, I. I've been running away, oh, I. I've been running I've been running away, oh, I. I've been running away, oh, I. I've been running away, oh, I. away, oh, I. strong. But now I've given my weakness to you, so that you're in control. These years, oh I, I won't leave your love, cause you've always been there. Love, to mend this heart before it starts to break. It's love, to take me through the times when I'm alone. Love, to help me so. You're all, will heal my wounds. You're all I need. These next minutes I want you to pray with me right now. Pray this prayer. Heavenly Father, I receive your love today. I turn from my own ways, say the words, and I open my heart to Jesus. Say, I open my heart to Jesus. Come in Lord, forgive my sin. And by your strength, I'll serve you forever. There's also a number of us here today who would say that you've come to a place where you know you need to get serious about going on. You need to get yourself into a company, into a group, and go on with God. I want you to commit yourself right now to that. Say, Lord, I commit my steps to you. I want to be all that Jesus died for me to be. Let me do what we do so commonly here at North Way. I agree with many of you that this is a moment of moving ahead. Those of you who need to take a step and you're saying, Jay, I know I need to be part of a company. I need to get serious in my life and go on with God. I'm a former company member. I want to get on with God and go on with Him. If that's you today, I want you to lift your eyes and your hand right now and let me agree with you right where you're sitting today. Go ahead. Yes, sir. Bless you. I agree. I see yours and I agree. Just let me see your eyes. I agree with you here and you, ma'am. And you. Yes, sir. And you too. Here. Yes. Yes. I'm not going to give any more excuses. Yes, here. God bless you. Over here, young people. Yes. In the back. I see. And you, sir. Yes. Others of you. Lift your hand. I want to be part. Yes. And I see. Let me see your eyes. That agreement is very powerful. I'm going to be part of a group. I'm going to go on. Yes. And I agree with that couple