Calvary Distinctives – Building God’s Way
Servant
School
May
6, 2021
This lesson in
our series on the Calvary Chapel Distinctives is from chapter four – “Building
the Church God’s Way”
Chuck learned a lot of lessons over the years that led him to this idea
that we want to leave room for God to build His church.
God’s Church
I’ve always
loved the story Chuck tells about how God provided for the property on Fairview
and Sunflower.
Here’s an excerpt from the book.
Chuck writes…
At that time
Fairview Street had just been completed through to Sunflower. I used to drive
up to the corner of Fairview and Sunflower on my way from the other chapel. As I waited for the green
arrow to turn left, I’d look over at this huge field, and
begin to panic.
I thought, You know, God has been good to us.
We’ve paid off all of the debts, and we don’t owe
anything. We have $60,000 in the bank, we’re running a surplus, and things are
going so well. What am I doing to this flock of people, putting them into debt
along with the potential of having to build on this? What am I doing? Where is
my head? I would go into a cold sweat trying to figure the
thing out. Then the Lord would speak to my heart and say, “Chuck, whose church is
it?”
That line has always encouraged me when we as a church have faced
challenges…
Whose church is it?
It’s Jesus’ church.
God is able to take care of His church, and it
would be good for us to learn how to step back enough to leave room for Him to
work.
Some of you may have a ministry you’re involved in or leading. It’s a good thing to ask yourself that same
question: Whose
church is it?
Calvary Chapel
Fullerton has a few stories of how God has taken care of us. Here’s one …
In 1998,
Calvary Fullerton moved from meeting at the Fullerton YMCA to a unique brick building
known as the “Ice House” located down by the train
station.
We were at the Ice House for six years.
At the end of our lease, we were faced with a decision over whether to
renew our lease (with significant rent increase), or
move.
Our landlords
had been a part of a renovation project for that area, and the entire barrio
that surrounded the church had been torn down and they were going to build brand
new three-story condos.
For awhile we thought it
might be neat to stay put and find ourselves in a brand new
neighborhood without moving.
But the thing that changed our mind was when our landlords sold the
church’s parking lot. We decided it was time to move.
As we got closer to the end of our lease, we made an
arrangement with our landlords to go month to month, and we promised to
give them three months’ notice if we found a new place. They in turn would do the same if they found
a new tenant.
Yet before our original lease had expired, they reneged on
the deal and we found we only had six weeks to find a new place to move to.
Two weeks before this happened, Caleb had signed us up to go to the
Fullerton Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast.
It
was at this breakfast that I just happened to meet Pastor Larry Bogardus
from St. Stephens’ Lutheran Church on Chapman.
Larry shared with me how his church was only six months
away from closing their doors because of finances, and so I had prayed with him
for God to help his church.
When our crisis hit two weeks later, the thought occurred
to me to call up Pastor Larry and see if they would be interested in renting to
us.
He
said yes, and we moved to the Lutheran church, which would be our home
for the next sixteen years.
We learned that God knows how to take care of His church.
Will God take
care of us as we are back in a similar situation where we are again going to
need to move?
I suspect He will.
We found that …
Where God
guides, God provides
By the way, that is one of Chuck’s famous quotes.
Building the church is Jesus’ job, not ours.
(Matthew 16:18 NKJV) …and on this
rock I will build My church…
(Acts 2:47 NKJV) …And the Lord
added to the church daily those who were being saved.
Hype
In the Calvary Distinctives, Chuck also made another statement (another “Chuckism”)
Strive to gain,
strive to maintain
If you are going to build your church or your ministry through
man-conceived plans and “hype”, you are going to also have to work hard to
maintain that ministry.
Be careful about pursuing the “hype” to build a ministry.
It might be some sort of gimmick – Chuck used to talk about churches that would hold
attendance contests. It might be a new bike
promised to the child who brought the most friends with him to Sunday
School. It might be a competition with
another church, a competition which is more concerned about numbers than souls.
Some churches
have built themselves upon the type of “hype” that gets blamed on the Holy
Spirit.
Years ago there was the “holy laughter” phenomena where some
churches claimed that this crazy drunken-like laughter was proof of the Holy
Spirit, and since they have it, you ought to be there.
Later it was
some sort of magical “gold dust” that people claimed fell on those baptized by
the Holy Spirit.
I hate to say this but I’m afraid that sometimes churches can abuse the teaching about
the “signs of the times” as a way to draw a crowd.
Don’t misunderstand me here – we believe that Jesus is indeed coming back
very soon. That is one of our
Distinctives.
Yet the
temptation is for the pastor to come up with some new “finding” that’s the
latest thing, something that makes the church think that they have the true
insider-knowledge when it comes to the end times.
And you will see pastors make all sorts of claims, stir up all sorts of
fear, and there aren’t too many people who hold them accountable to their
claims.
As Chuck says,
“You run out of the legitimate, and you begin to revert to the illegitimate.”
Balance
I’ve found over the years that there are going to be two extremes when it
comes to how you “build” the church or your ministry.
There will be
those who will do absolutely nothing in the name of letting God build the
church.
There will be
those who will pull all sorts of tricks out of a hat in order
to build the church.
Both sides have some legitimacy, but like many doctrines, we need to
find the balance.
When Moses and
the Israelites found themselves pinned against the Red Sea on one side and the
advancing Egyptian army, the people complained.
(Exodus 14:13–14 NKJV) —13 And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still,
and see the salvation of the Lord,
which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today,
you shall see again no more forever. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you shall
hold your peace.”
When God has promised to deliver us, we need to be sure to let Him do just
that. We need to “stand still”
Yet in the very
next verse,
(Exodus 14:15 NKJV) And the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children
of Israel to go forward.
God would do a great and amazing work.
He would part the Red Sea.
Yet the Israelites were going to need to get packed up and move forward.
The balance is
that sometimes we stand back and let God work.
Other times we need to get up, participate, and get moving.
When David
faced the giant Goliath, David knew where his strength came from,
(1 Samuel 17:45 NKJV) Then David
said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a
javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you
have defied.
David’s “secret
weapon” wasn’t some “super-sword”, it was God.
Yet David still had to pick
up a stone, put it into his sling, and hit the giant.
Then he took Goliath’s own sword and killed and beheaded him. That head didn’t come off by David just
claiming the “name of the LORD”, David had to cut it off.
May we find that balance in our own personal ministries.
May we find that place where we are allowing God to be our deliverer, and
yet we take the steps we need to do our ministry.
Hope that helps