Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

As a child, what was your favorite story? Was it Little Red Riding Hood? Or Snow White? Or Peter Pan?

As I prepared for this morning, I thought about Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Now Goldilocks and the Three Bears was not my favorite childhood story but I thought about all that Goldilocks went through when she encountered the bears’ environment: This porridge was too hot, this porridge was too cold. This bed was too hard, this bed was too soft. Having found the right porridge and right bed, she didn’t enjoy her stay too long because a situation filled with conflict confronted her in the form of three unhappy and surprised bears and she ran away.

I think that it safe to say that sometimes we have the same kind of feelings about the church like Goldilocks had about the bears’ home. On the one hand, we love the church and can’t live without it. On the other hand, we find sermons boring, the music either too old or too new, the people too friendly or too cold and the pastor too old or too young.

On one hand, we turn to the church in times of crisis and need to hear a word of hope. On the other hand, when things are going well church seems to be an interruption and we find the message a bit uncomfortable.

On one hand, we expect the church, to be all things to all people all the time. On the other hand, we sometimes feel inconvenienced when we are asked to help.

We have mixed feelings about the church. Why is that?

Well for one reason, the spiritual nature of the church. The church deals with more than just financial statements, business matters, and programming issues. It deals with matters of the heart and soul.

And those matters of the heart and soul are all defined by our own shortcomings, our own imperfections. This morning I want us to take a look at the early make up of the church and by doing so be inspired to do great things for God just as the early disciples did. Let’s pray.

The first thing we need to understand is that in God’s church, GOD CHOOSES IMPERFECT PEOPLE.

To do this I want us to take a look at the men Jesus chose to lead the church. The 12 disciples serve as a cross-section of the people who make-up the church today. Now the first thing about them I want you to see is that they were Ordinary people. Jesus’ closest disciples were not very impressive. The group was made up of fishermen, tax collectors and mainly blue collar workers from Galilee, an unimpressive territory. Much like we may think of Alabama today. Just not that impressive. Now none of them were rich or influential. There were no “Movers and Shakers” among them. In fact, on the day of Pentecost when these men first started to preach about Christ, the people were amazed at their verbal skills since they were “all Galileans.”

Now if I was going to build a fortune 500 company, these are not the people I would have picked. I would have chosen proven leaders, great speakers, wealthy influential persons, but God chose to build His church with ordinary people. Ted Turner once said that “Christianity is a religion for losers,” and in a way I think he‘s right. And that is what makes it so great.

One of the things that makes the church so remarkable is that it is composed of normal ordinary men and women. 1 Cor 1:26-27 says, “Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”Peter wasn’t always called "Peter". In fact his name was Simon, until Jesus decided to call him Peter. Unfortunately we read the Bible in English translation, so we miss a lot here. The name Peter is really "Petros" in Greek, the language of the New Testament, and "Cephas" in Aramaic, the language that Jesus spoke. The words "petros" and "cephas" both mean "rock" or "stone". When Jesus gave Simon his nickname, the nickname was "The Rock" or, better, "Rocky". So when Jesus promotes Simon to be the foundation of his church, it sounds very profound that the foundation is a rock. And this image resonates through the story of the man who builds his house on rock, rather than on sand in Matthew 7.

But the image also resonates through another story. Listen to this one, from a bit later in Matthew: [Late at night Jesus] came towards them, walking on the lake, and when the disciples saw him walking on the lake they were terrified. "It’s a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them, "Courage! It is I! Don’t be afraid!" It was Peter who answered. "Lord," he said, "if it is you, tell me to come to you across the water." Jesus said, "Come." Then Peter got out of the boat and started walking towards Jesus across the water, but then noticing the wind, he took fright and began to sink. "Lord," he cried. "Save me!" (14:25-30) NIV

Now, I don’t know about you, but when I hear that story, I can’t help thinking that Peter has sunk, like a stone. And isn’t it funny that Jesus has nicknamed him The Rock, or Rocky. The contrast between expectation and reality couldn’t be clearer.

The Rock is this flawed character, and Jesus fully appreciates that fact about him. And yet, and yet he makes him the foundation of his church. The Rock, who sinks like a stone; The Rock, the thick-skulled disciple who needs even the simplest stories explained to him (Matthew 15:15-16); The Rock, who blabs on about building a shelter after the transfiguration (Matthew 17:4); The Rock, who denied Jesus three times (Matthew 26:69-74); The Rock, who struggles with whether he loves Jesus in the right way (John 21:15-17); The Rock, who becomes the foundation of the church. “The Rock” what an appropriate nickname for a man who lives out one rocky life. Isn’t he a lot like you and me?

Couldn’t Jesus choose someone better than The Rock? The answer is…No. The Rock is just the kind of person Jesus is looking for. The church is built out of a whole bunch of our rocky lives. How wonderful that Jesus gives Simon a nickname that they can all smile about, reminding us of, preparing him for, his mistakes, yet marching on nevertheless. Jesus never meant to build his church out of a bunch of perfect citizens. He meant to build it out of a bunch of US imperfect sinners. Not because he couldn’t do any better, but because that’s who make a church. Our imperfections don’t make us unfit for life together. Our imperfections are just what fit us for one another. We come together in our weaknesses, and that is where our strength lies.

When we come together, and realize that we are fit to work together in God’s church that is when we realize our second point. GOD CHALLENGES IMPERFECT PEOPLE.

Left on a sinking ship were the captain and three sailors. The captain spoke first. “Men, this business about a captain going down with his ship is nonsense. There’s a three-man life raft on board and I’m going to be on it. To see who will come with me, I will ask you each one question. The one who can’t answer will stay behind. Here’s the first question: ‘What unsinkable ship went down when it hit an iceberg?’ The first sailor answered, “The Titanic, sir.” “On to the next question: How many people perished?” The second sailor said, “One thousand five hundred and seventeen, sir.” “Now for the third question,” and the captain turned to sailor number three. “What were their names?”

We may be good at certain things, but we must remember where those talents and abilities come from. In John 15:5, Jesus says, “I am the Vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing.” Apart from Christ, we are like the third man on that boat – we can’t do anything – we are nothing. With Christ, it’s all on the table.

Paul knew this better than anyone. In Philippians 4:13 he writes,“I can do all everything through Him who gives me strength.” With Christ, all things are possible. We won’t receive all that God has in store for us unless we humble ourselves to His will and allow ourselves to be challenged by His will for our lives. We have to admit that like Peter and Paul, although we might be the people God is looking for, we all have our own personal weaknesses that we struggle with.

God challenges us to be like-minded with Christ. Jesus didn’t act like he was the greatest – but He was! Jesus was perfect. When he came to the earth, who were the first people he called on to help him win the world? Imperfect people; and He challenged them to accept his perfect calling in spite of their weaknesses, their pitfalls, and their imperfections.

Cara and I served for five years at a church in California. The Youth Minister there got caught up in a sin and was forced to resign from the church, leaving a hole in the Youth Ministry Department. At the time, Cara and I had been youth workers together for less than a year and we were faced with the overwhelming task of taking on a full youth ministry.

We had to be there for the students. We had to maintain a steady atmosphere in the youth group in order to not shatter the stability of the students’ relationships with the church and with each other. To say we felt completely inadequate would be an understatement. But even though we didn’t feel up to the task, with all of our imperfections, God challenged us to fulfill His perfect will.

The experience made the students make a choice whether to become caught up in the imperfect sins of a man or trust in the perfect will of their heavenly Father. And God’s perfect will won out. The Youth Ministry Department grew and flourished and 4 months later we hired a new full-time Youth Minister.

God can work wonders through His church no matter whether it’s the mega church in a large city or the tiny church in the wildwood. And the church provides so many needs, but who exactly should we expect to find in the church? What kind of people make up the nucleus of the church? Imperfect people that have been challenged by God to fulfill His perfect will.

The last thing we need to realize is that when God chooses and challenges imperfect people, GOD also CHANGES IMPERFECT PEOPLE.

On June 4, 1783 at the market square of a French village of Annonay, not far from Paris, a smoky bonfire on a raised platform was fed by wet straw and old wool rags. Tethered above, straining its lines, was a huge taffeta bag 33 feet in diameter. In the presence of “a respectable assembly and a great many other people,” and accompanied by great cheering, the balloon was cut from its moorings and set free to rise majestically into the noon sky. Six thousand feet into the air it went—the first public ascent of a balloon, the first step in the history of human flight. It came to earth several miles away in a field, where it was promptly attacked by pitchfork-waving peasants and torn to pieces because they thought the moon had fallen from the sky!

There are three stages people go through when they are confronted with change: 1. Resistance to change, 2. Tolerance of change, 3. Embrace the change. A lot of times in our imperfections, we do a lot of resisting. Abraham Belding, a noted minister in the 1850’s said, “Some people will change when they see the light. Others change only when they feel the heat.” We resist change with all that we are.

The next stage is tolerance of change. Washington Irving G. Collins once said, There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse; as I have found in traveling in a stage-coach, that it is often a comfort to shift one's position and be bruised in a new place. In Irving’s time, it was either a horse or a coach. There were no cars, so people learned to tolerate the bumps and bruises they would receive when they rode these types of transportation.

The last step in a change process is to embrace the change. When people first began to use the potato as a crop, governments spoke out against it, ministers spoke from the pulpits, telling the parishioners not to consume them, and what do we have now? You can hardly go an entire week without eating some sort of potato. Our culture has embraced the potato.

This last step of embracing change is especially important in our relationship with God. When we understand we are chosen by God as imperfect and then we have our imperfections challenged, we have to remember what happens to metal in a blacksmith’s hands. A blacksmith will choose a horrible looking piece of iron and throw it head-first into a blazing hot furnace. Then he will take the metal, still hot, and thrust it onto an anvil. He will pull out his hammer and begin to pound away at the metal, breaking up the imperfections; tearing away the flaws. Then he will thrust the metal into a bucket of water and start the process all over. This is known as tempering.

God tempers us. The challenges we face in life promote us towards change. God tempers our spiritual iron through those challenges, molding and changing us to conform to his perfect will.

(the following is from The Tale of the Three Trees: A Traditional Folktale)

Once upon a mountaintop, three little trees stood and dreamed of what they wanted to become when they grew up. The first little tree looked up at the starts twinkling like diamonds above him. "I want to hold treasure," he said. "I want to be covered with gold and filled with precious stones. I will be the most beautiful treasure chest in the world!" The second little tree looked out at the small stream trickling by on its way to the ocean. "I want to be a strong sailing ship," he said. "I want to travel mighty waters and carry powerful kings. I will be the strongest ship in the world!" The third little tree looked down into the valley below where busy men and women worked in a busy town. "I don't want to leave this mountaintop at all," she said. "I want to grow so tall that when people stop to look at me they will raise their eyes to heaven and think of God. I will be the tallest tree in the world!"

Years passed. The rains came, the sun shone, and the little trees grew tall. One day three woodcutters climbed the mountain. The first woodcutter looked at the first tree and said, "This tree is beautiful. It is perfect for me." With a swoop of his shining axe, the first tree fell. "Now I shall be made into a beautiful chest," thought the first tree. "I shall hold wonderful treasure." The second woodcutter looked at the second tree and said, "This tree is strong. It is perfect for me." With a swoop of his shining axe, the second tree fell. "Now I shall sail mighty waters," thought the second tree. "I shall be a strong ship fit for kings!" The third tree felt her heart sink when the last woodcutter looked her way. She stood straight and tall and pointed bravely to heaven. But the woodcutter never even looked up. "Any kind of tree will do for me," he muttered. With a swoop of his shining axe, the third tree fell.

The first tree rejoiced when the woodcutter brought him to a carpenter's shop, but the busy carpenter was not thinking about treasure chests. Instead his work-worn hands fashioned the tree into a feed box for animals. The once beautiful tree was not covered with gold or filled with treasure. He was coated with sawdust and filled with hay for hungry farm animals.

The second tree smiled when the woodcutter took him to a shipyard, but no mighty sailing ships were being made that day. Instead the once-strong tree was hammered and sawed into a simple fishing boat. Too small and too weak to sail an ocean or even a river, he was taken to a little lake. Everyday he brought in loads of dead, smelly fish. The third tree was confused when the woodcutter cut her into strong beams and left her in a lumberyard. "What happened?" the once tall tree wondered. All I ever wanted to do was stay on the mountaintop and point to God." Many, many days and nights passed. The three trees nearly forgot their dreams. But one night golden starlight poured over the first tree as a young woman placed her newborn baby in the feedbox. ”I wish I could make a cradle for him," her husband whispered.

The mother squeezed his hand and smiled as the starlight shone on the smooth and sturdy wood. "This manger is beautiful" she said. And suddenly the first tree knew he was holding the greatest treasure in the world. One evening a tired traveler and his friends crowded into the old fishing boat. The traveler fell asleep as the second tree quietly sailed out into the lake. Soon a thrashing storm arose. The little tree shuddered. He knew he did not have the strength to carry so many passengers safely through the wind and rain. The tired man awakened. He stood up, stretched out his hand, and said, "Peace." The storm stopped as quickly as it had begun. And suddenly the second tree knew he was carrying the king of heaven and earth! One Friday morning the third tree was startled when her beams were yanked from the forgotten woodpile. She flinched as she was carried through an angry, jeering crowd. She shuddered when soldiers nailed a man's hands to her. She felt ugly and harsh and cruel. But on Sunday morning, when the sun rose and the earth trembled with joy beneath her, the third tree knew that God's love had changed everything. He had made the first tree beautiful. He had made the second tree strong. And every time people thought of the third tree, they would think of God. And that was better than being the tallest tree in the world.

We all have imperfections. We all go through challenging times, just like Peter, just like Paul. The good news is that that’s how God wants us. For it’s on this rocky and broken foundation that God still builds His church. He chooses and challenges his people to accept His will for our imperfect lives and then He changes us to accomplish His perfect purposes just like the trees.

Maybe you are here this morning and you feel imperfect. That’s great news! So do I. I feel completely unworthy to preach or lead God’s people in any fashion. The hope I bring is this: Jesus Christ makes us perfect in Himself. When you give your life to Him and you make Him the King and the Boss of your life, when you truly surrender to Him, He will begin to challenge and change your life to conform to his will. All you have to do is seek Him and you will find what you are looking for.

Brian Morrissey

Tags: imperfect, perfect, Peter, 1_Corinthians_1, Matthew_14, trees, change, choice, challenge, resist, embrace, tolerance