Rick Warren - My Part in Fulfilling Christ’s Vision Part Two

This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the Bible teaching ministry

of Pastor Rick Warren. Today we continue in a series

called the Awesome Power of Vision. In these lessons, Pastor

Rick shows us how to pursue God's amazing vision for

each of our lives so that we can see our

future with faith and not fear. But first, do you

ever feel like you've lost your spark your joy? In

just a few moments, We're going to tell you about

an exciting new resource that will deepen your relationship with God.

And restore your joy.

You can take a sneak peek right now by going

to Pastororick dot com while you listen, and if you want,

you can just text the word Daily to eight hundred

six hundred five thousand and four to find out more.

Right now, here's Pastor Rick Warren with part two of

a message called My pardon Fulfilling Christ Vision.

In the Church at Corinth, they were having a lot

of conflict and they started having conflict and division in

their church family for many many different reasons, but the

biggest one of all was because they started placing their

loyalty and giving their loyalty to leaders over their common

loyalty to Christ and each other, and all of a

sudden they started dividing up over well, I like this

leader and I like that leader, and I'm of that party,

and I'm of this party, and that's my guy and

that's your guy. And then they brought it all into

the church. So Paul actually had to write a letter

to them.

To rebuke them.

That book, that letter is called First Corinthians, and it's

filled with rebukes to Christians who had started acting like unbelievers.

In fact, in every chapter in First Corinthians, Paul deals

with a different cause of division in the church. And

let me just show you want. In chapter three, he's

talking about when you're showing favoritism of different leaders. He

says this First Corinthians three, verses two to five. He says,

you're acting talking about in the church, you're acting in

the same way unbelievers act in the world. He says,

the proof of your immaturity is you're arguing and quarreling.

The proof of immaturity is you're arguing and quarreling, and

the divisions you've created. He says, whatever you find create

a division, quarreling, arguing. Says, the people that are immature,

He says, still proves proves that you still belong to

the world and that you're living by worldly values. And

then he gives an example. He says, you know when

one of you says, you know, I support Paul, I'm

from the party of Paul, and another says, I support Apollos,

I'm from the party of Apollos. He said, you're acting

like unbelievers, not like Christ. He says, is a fall

is important? No, he says, if Paul is Paul important? No,

So he says, here when you start, when when you

start having personality issues and people are choosing up, well,

I like this leader, but I don't like that leader.

He said.

You know what, then you're going to have division. If

you let me listen, if you ever let me, or

a TV preacher or a radio preacher, or a politician,

or even yourself cause division in a church, you're going

to know that worldly values have seeped into the church. Okay,

So avoid bringing what the world thinks is important into

the church. Second thing to avoid to work at unity

is this, don't be sucked into the world's fights. Don't

be sucked into the world's fights. Now I don't have

to tell you there's a lot of conflict out there

in society, in our culture, in the world, people are

arguing about everything, and today it's gotten worse because we

have the communication tools through the Internet where anybody can

argue about anything, and they do and they do. You know,

I was interviewed the other day and one of the

first questions they always want to ask you about politics,

and I couldn't care less about that. But the first

question they asked was what did Jesus think and say

about politics? And my answer was not much. Not much.

In fact, in all my studies of jesus ministry, and

I've read through the Gospels hundreds of times, I've only

found two statements that Jesus made that were political statements.

In three and a half years now, I distinguished between

moral statements, which are about right or wrong, political statements

which are offen a matter of opinion. But moral statements

you can back up with scripture. But there's no verse

in the Bible. For instance, there's no verse in the

Bible tells you that taxes should be higher or lower.

This is not a verse.

But I do know that Jesus said this in John

eighteen thirty six, when he was asked a political question,

he said, my kingdom is not of this world. If

it were, my servants would fight. My kingdom is not

of this world. If it were, my servants would fight.

This is not our fight. The fight and that's going

on out there, that's not our fight. We got a battle,

but it's not that one, okay, And our weapons are

different too. Now, as Christians, we are called to speak

up for the truth. We are called to speak up

for the vulnerable. We are called to speak up for

the elderly, for the unborn, for the poor. We are

called in scripture to speak up for those imprisoned, for immigrants,

as the Bible calls them foreigners or strangers or aliens.

We are called to speak up for those denied justice. Now,

those are moral issues that can be backed up with

hundreds of verses in the Bible. In fact, did you

know they're over two thousand verses in the Bible about

taking care of the poor two thousand, and they're about

that same number about making sure everybody is treated fairly

and justly. Justice has a couple thousand verses two. So

we got to wonder about what are we going to

do with those? But there are a lot of issues

out there that people are fighting over. The Bible is

silent about It just says nothing. If it's not our fight,

it's not our fight. Now, if you've ever been on

social media, you know that there are a lot of

Christians out there who are ready to pick a fight

with you because they're addicted to anger as much as

some people are addicted to drugs. What do you do

with those people? Now, I'm trying to be practical in

this message. What do I do with internet trolls? They

just want to pick a fight, and many of them

are Christians. Well, here's what the Bible says. We always

go back to the word. It's not my opinion is worthless.

What matters is what does God say about these questions?

And in tewod Timothy chapter two, verses twenty three and

twenty four, it says this about dealing with people who

are just like to fight, like to get in arguments.

Second Timothy two, twenty three and twenty four says this

don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments.

That's pretty clear. Don't have anything to do with foolish

and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels, and

then it says this, listen, the lord's servant must never quarrel.

Are you a servant of God?

Well, that's scripture, and the Bible says the lord's servant

must never quarrel. As a servant of God, I am

not allowed to quarrel. The lord's servant must never quarrel. Instead,

it says, you must be kind to everybody. If you're

going to be a servant of God, if you're going

to be a woman of God, you're going to be

a man of God. The lord's servant must never quarrel. Instead,

you must be kind to everybody, able to teach, and

patient with everyone. You must be humble, gently teaching those

who oppose the truth.

You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope rip will be

back in just a moment with the rest of today's lesson.

If you've missed any part of today's teaching, you can

listen online anytime at pastorick dot com. That's pastorick dot com.

How do you feel spiritually right now? Maybe you feel

spiritually dry, like you're in a desert, or like you're

just going through the motions. Maybe you've lost your spark

your joy. God knows how you feel right now. You

are not alone. He knows even David and the Bible

felt like that and Jeremiah twenty nine thirteen. God said,

you will seek Me and find Me when you seek

Me with all your heart. When you seek God intentionally,

it leads to a renewal of your relationship with Him.

That's why Pastor Rick created a very special, brand new

resource called Going Deeper with God, a Personal Renewal Retreat,

and it He'll personally leave you on a spiritual journey

to help you seek God. Together, you and Pastor Rick

will go through a series of audio lessons and after

each session you'll take a little time to complete exercises

in the Companion workbook. You can do this at home

in short sessions, or you can get away for a

day and do it in one sitting. Through this retreat,

you'll experience a renewal of life within you. God will

restore your joy. As he renews, refreshes, invigorates, and revives

your spiritual life. You'll never be the same again. Will

send you Going Deeper with God, a personal renewal retreat,

as our way of saying thanks when you give a

gift today to help daily hope, share the hope of

Jesus with a hurting world. Just call eight hundred and

six hundred at five zero zero four or go to

Pastorick dot com to get your copy of this great resource.

That's eight hundred at six hundred five zero zero four

or Pastorick dot com.

Once again, here's Rick.

If you're going to be a servant of God, if

you're going to be a woman of God, you're going

to be a man of God. The Lord's servant must

never quarrel. Instead, you must be kind to everybody, able

to teach, and patient with everyone. You must be humble,

gently teaching those who oppose the truth. So what does

that mean? It means in the in the world where

everybody likes to argue. Today, don't start arguments, don't get

into arguments, don't get hooked in to an argument, don't

participate in an argument.

In many, many.

Places, in Scripture, particularly Psalms and Proverbs, particularly Proverbs, we

are told to stay clear of argumentative people.

Did you know that?

Just go read Proverbs. We are told to stay clear

people who like to quarrel, liked to argue. And yet

you know I heard actually heard of small groups and

churches that split up because they argued over secondary issues,

and they allowed non essentials to take precedent over our

commitment to each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.

That makes our heavenly father sad. But it's not new, No,

it's not new. It's been going on for two thousand years.

In fact, then the church meeting in Rome, the church

that met in Rome, and Paul had to write to them.

They got into a big conflict. And you know what

the conflict over was there in the church in Rome.

Food.

The Church in Rome started having a split because they

had a conflict over rules about what you could and

couldn't eat. And Paul had to write them this word

Romans twelve twenty.

It's a word we need.

In twenty twenty one, Romans twelve twenty says this, don't

tear apart the work of God. Don't tear apart the

work of God over a rule about food. Now, it

may not be a rule about food. It may be

who you voted for, it may be some other issue.

Don't tear apart the work of God over a secondary issue.

You know, as I mentioned earlier, the church in Corinth

was a very divided church, and they fought over everything,

but their favorite conflict was over leadership. And so in

chapter three, Paul had to remind them that if we

allow our support of any leader of any kind to

create division or tension in the church between us and

our brothers and our sisters, God says, our priorities are

out of whack. God, it's not christ like and it's

a sin. A God will judge now. First Corinthians, Chapter three,

verse two to five. Paul says, you know what, I

wanted to teach you some deeper truths from the Word

of God, but I couldn't because you were arguing all

the time. And he said, it just showed your level

of maturity. In fact, here's what scripture says. First Corinthians three,

two to five. Paul says, I had to feed you

with milk, not solid food, for you still aren't mature.

You're not mature enough to digest it. You're acting in

church the same way unbelievers act in the world, and

this proof of your immaturities. You're arguing, quarreling, and the

divisions you're created, and it proves you still.

Belong to the world. You're living by worldly values.

So he's talking about this thing about who says, well,

I'm of this club and I'm of that club, and

I'm supporting this guy, and I'm supporting that guy.

It doesn't really matter now.

The third step, the third step in creating unity in

your small group, unity in your church, unity in your family,

unity in your marriage. Here's a big one. Be realistic

in my expectations. Be realistic in my expectations. All of

us had unrealistic expectations when we got married. All of

us bring unrealistic expectations to church. And to expect any

church to always do everything right and to minister perfectly

to everyone all the time.

That's fantasy.

In the first place, the church is filled with imperfect people,

sinners like me. You're looking at number one. I'm the

chief of sinners. The church is filled with imperfect people.

So a group of imperfect people will never be able

to create a perfect community. It's like in a marriage.

I'm a sinner, my wife's a sinner. She married a

bigger sinner me and can't create a perfect relationship. We

need to remember Psal one, nineteen ninety six. It says

this nothing is perfect except your word. So one nineteen

ninety six. Nothing is perfect except your words. Everything is

broken on this planet, the weather, the economy, our bodies, marriages,

our relationships, our minds. Nothing on this planet works perfectly

except God's word it's perfect. So to expect perfection in

your church is to set yourself up for a massive disappointment. Now,

a church can be healthy without being perfect. Okay, just

like your kids are grandkids. Okay, my kids are not perfect,

but they're healthy. They're healthy. My grandkids have never been perfect,

but they're healthy. And a church can be healthy without

being perfect. You know, one of the things I've noticed

is that when people read a lot of books about

the ideal church and the way it ought to be,

it just makes them cynical. Why because they're hoping for

something that doesn't exist. And when you discover that what

God intends in real fellowship to be, it's easy to

get discouraged by the gap between the ideal.

And the real.

All right, Well, you know, you read all these books

about the ideal church and then you go live in

the real church, you just get cynical. But let me

say this, and I want you to listen closely. Even

with all its faults and all its favors, failures, and

all its mistakes and all its sin. Jesus passionately loves

his church, and he wants us to do the same.

If we're going to be christ Like a lot of

people use the church but don't love it, we must

passionately love the church in spite of its perfections. Longing

for the ideal while criticizing the real is evidence of

spiritual immaturity. On the other hand, set settling for the

real without striving for the ideal is complacency. You know

what maturity is. Maturity is living with the tension. For

forty one years, I have lived with the tension of

saddle backed church between the ideal what I knew it

could be, and the real what it was. I have

loved our church deeply at every stage of its growth.

When we had five people, I loved it. When we

had fifteen people, I loved it. When we had thirty people,

I loved it. When we had thirty thousand, I loved it.

But I, of all.

People, can see the glaring weaknesses in our church because

I'm intimate. I've seen it from day one, and I

have lived for forty one years with the tension between yeah,

it's really good. This is good, but it could be here.

See it's like parenting. In parenting, you don't wait for

your kids to grow up before you start loving them.

You don't wait for your kids to be mature before

you start loving them. You love them at every stage

of maturity. When my kids would bring me a picture

at two years old and it would be just scribbling,

and I'd say, that's perfect, honey, that's just perfect. What

I mean by that, it's perfect for that stage of maturity. Now,

if Amy brought that to me, you know, in her thirties,

I go, there's a problem here. But it's perfect at

each stage. You need to learn to love people at

every stage of their growth. And you need to learn

to love our church as a whole in every stage

of growth. To be honest with you, as somebody who

has walked with Jesus now for over sixty years. Now,

I'll just tell you this from experience. Other believers will

disappoint you. Other believers are gonna let you down in life.

But that's no excuse to stop fellowshiping with them. It's

no excuse to stop loving them. God wants you to

love the real Church, not the ideal church. These people,

the people you have a hard time with. They're your family.

You're going to live with them for eternity, and when

they don't act like it, you can't just walk out

on them. Instead, God tells us this Ephesians four to two,

New Living Translations. Be patient with each other, making allowances

for each other's faults because.

Of your love.

Believe me, in all of the counseling that I've done

with people in our church, people can become disillusioned with

the church for many understandable reasons, and the list could

be what quite long. I could give you a long

list of legitimate reasons for becoming disillusioned with the church.

But rather than being shocked and surprised, we just got

to remember the churches made up of real people, sinners,

including ourselves, and because of that we hurt each other,

sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally. But if you walk out of

every situation in a church that you have difficulty with,

where are you going to build christ like character? You see,

becoming like Christ requires problems and pressure and pain and

persecution and a lot of other things we don't like.

But as they told you many times, God's not interested

in your comfort as much as he's interested in your character,

because you're not taking your comfort to heaven. You're taking

your character to heaven, and the comfort is going to

be in heaven. This is the get ready stage.

This is Pastor Rick's daily hope. We're so thankful that

you've chosen to spend some time with us. If you've

missed any part of this broadcast, just go to Pastorick

dot com and listen online. Anytime. Rick will be back

to close out our time today. But first, how do

you feel spiritually right now? Maybe you feel spiritually dry,

like you're in a desert, or like you're just going

through the motions. Maybe you've lost your spark, your joy.

God knows how you feel right now, and you're not alone.

He knows even David and the Bible felt like that

and Jeremiah twenty nine thirteen. God says you will seek

me and find Me when you seek Me with all

your heart. When you seek God intentionally, it leads to

a renewal of your relationship with him. And that's why

Pastor Rick created a very special, brand new resource called

Going Deeper with God, a personal renewal retreat. In it,

he'll personally lead you on a sp spiritual journey to

help you seek God. Together, you and Pastor Rick will

go through a series of audio lessons, and after each

session you'll take a little time to complete exercises in

the Companion workbook. You can do this at home in

short sessions, or you can get away for a day

and do it in one sitting. Through this retreat, you'll

experience a renewal of life within you. God will restore

your joy. As he renews, refreshes, reinvigorates, and revives your

spiritual life, You'll never be the same again. We'll send

you going deeper with God a personal Renewal retreat as

our way of saying thanks when you give a gift

today to help daily hope, share the hope of Jesus

with a hurting world. Just call eight hundred six hundred

five thousand and four or go to Pastorick dot com

to get your copy of this great resource. That's eight

hundred six hundred five thousand and four or Pastorick dot com.

Here's Pastor Rick with a letter from one of our listeners.

Hi, everybody today, I want to share a note that

we received from Darren.

He wrote me.

He calls daily hope his morning cup of God because

it helps him stay focused on God throughout the day.

Darren wrote me this, he said, Pastor Rick, I thank

God for Daily Hope. I support daily Hope because Christ

Hope is for me and in me, and I support

it because it sends Christ's message.

To people all over the world. He wrote. You know,

I've dealt with my share of demons in my life.

I've had cancer, huge financial losses, addictions, permanent disability, chronic pain,

and depression. But Daily Hope gets me going in the morning.

It's like a cup of coffee for me. But if

I haven't had my cup of God in the morning,

then I feel like I'm less able to pass on

the good news to others. So thank you, Pastor Rick.

You know, daily Hope helps people like get their lives

back on track because it connects them not just with God,

but with God's Word. And it is so important for

each of us to spend time with God and in

God's Word every day. So I want to encourage every

one of you to make a daily habit of opening

the Bible.

Sit down and open the Bible.

You may open it on a iPad or on your phone,

but open the Bible to see what God says about

how we're meant to live.

God bless you everybody.

If you'd like to let Rick know how this broadcast

has blessed you, feel free to send him an email

at Rick at pastorrick dot com. That's Rick at pastorrick

dot com. Be sure to join us next time as

we look into God's word for our daily hope. This

program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your

generous financial support