A GOOD CONSCIENCE

GOOD CONSCIENCE

Genuine Love Series

October 2, 2016

CONNECT

A pastor posted this online a couple of weeks ago...

I stood before the congregation holding two letters in my hands. "Both came to my office this week. I thought you'd like to hear what they say."

"The first letter is from a member who moved several hundred miles away last year. She is missing this church. She wrote, 'The churches here are not friendly like our church back home. No one speaks to visitors. I miss our loving, friendly congregation."

I said, "Do we have a friendly church?" Heads nodded all over the building.

"Well, then, listen to this."

"Dear pastor. We visited your church last Sunday and not a single person spoke to us. You have a most unfriendly congregation. We will not be back."

The people sat there in shock. This was far from what they had believed about themselves.

I said, "I give you my word that both letters came to the church office this week. One said how friendly we are and the other saying much the opposite."

"What are we to believe? I'll give you my answer to that."

"The visitors are the authority on the friendliness of this congregation. Newcomers will learn in a heartbeat whether we are loving and welcoming. The fact seems to be that, yes, we are friendly—to one another. Not to newcomers, first-timers, outsiders. And that is pretty devastating."

TENSION

Now that same day, believe it or not, I got an email from a visitor here at Restoration.  I give it credence because it was signed!  Let me read some of it for you; I have edited some details to protect the identity of the sender.

Good afternoon Pastor, 

My name is _____ and I and my family visited last Sunday's service. We have attended one more additional service since then. However, we had some observations and perhaps more of concerns we wanted to share with you. 

First, let me start off by saying that this is not our first time visiting your church. We had visited about 2 years ago and actually attended for almost 2 months, every Sunday. Here comes the "however", however, we were not spoken to by anyone the entire time we visited! Oh sure we were greeted by people but mind you, only when you said greet someone. Never once did anyone introduce themselves, nor did they even ask our names. So, with that being said, for a smaller church we thought everyone was trying to avoid us... So for us, this was not considered a church we wanted to invest our time in, as no one seemed to want to invest in us. We were looking for a place of fellowship - coming from a place that had it, but was not in the right place spiritually. Fellowship is something my husband and I wanted for our family, and our own personal walk. Needless to say, since there was no attempt by anyone at this church to even befriend us we decided to move on to another church. Fast forward a couple of years. 

Again, looking for a place that truly worships, doesn't compromise the Word of God, and is not a big church of thousands, we decided to go back to Restoration.

Now here is where we come to the present time. The atmosphere seemed a bit friendlier, as we were greeted by several people with a "God bless you." The ladies in the nursery were quite friendly... well, that's as far as it goes... Again, however, as far as the church is concerned, we have not had one person ask us if we're new, ask us for our name, or even introduce themselves. We have stayed behind after service and not a single person looked our way.

Well Pastor, with all of this being said, we hope to hear back from you and perhaps discuss some of our concerns. We don't want to leave this church upset, hurt, or offended. Jesus is all about second chances.

Thank you for reading my rant and for your understanding. 

SOLUTION

This is the context of our current sermon series, "Genuine Love"...

1 Timothy 1:5 (NKJV) Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith,

As Alba shared in the first message in this series, our goal is to love with a love that is genuine, sincere, non-hypocritical...

Last week Durwood and Ron spoke on loving out of a pure heart.  What a great word that brought! How pure is our heart?  How pure is our thinking?  How pure is our motivation to reach people for real?

I have searched my heart about this.  Do I see the visitors that come to Restoration as real people in need of love and ministry, or are they just notches in my spiritual gun, another statistic to add to our total attendance?  How do I see them?  How do we see them?

Are we content to let our systems and volunteers be the face of our church?  Are they the ones who have the responsibility to make them welcome and we put on a show?  Or do we have a genuine concern, a genuine love that is not play-acting?  I know your hearts; I know that you are genuinely concerned about people.  What we need to do is work on how to express that to those around us.

There is an old saying around the church world: "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care!"

INSTRUCTION

This week I want to talk about loving out of a good conscience.

Listen to Paul’s definition of a good conscience:

Acts 24:16 (NKJV) This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.

That is a good starting place. 

A good conscience is one that is functioning the way God created it to function. When God created everything, He said it was good. Sin changed that. When Adam and Eve sinned, they were convicted by their conscience.  Over the years, their consciences became so weak that Cain could justify killing his brother!

"Let your conscience be your guide!" Not always true...

It is like a thermostat; a thermostat tells us the truth.  Our conscience tells us the truth.  A thermostat can stick or be corrupted to produce a false reading (1 Timothy 4:2; Titus 1:15); our conscience can be seared to produce a false reading.  Salvation restores the conscience to its proper settings. (Hebrews 10:22)

How does our conscience help us love others?

1.     Helps us not to throw stones!

John 8:9 (NKJV) Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last.

2.     Helps us endure suffering!

1 Peter 2:19 (NKJV) For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully.

3.     Helps us know what to do!

Roman 2:15 (NKJV) who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them…

INSPIRATION

A Bible example…

1 Corinthians 10:23-33 (NKJV) All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify. 24 Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s well-being.

25 Eat whatever is sold in the meat market, asking no questions for conscience’ sake; 26 for “the earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness.”

27 If any of those who do not believe invites you to dinner, and you desire to go, eat whatever is set before you, asking no question for conscience’ sake. 28 But if anyone says to you, “This was offered to idols,” do not eat it for the sake of the one who told you, and for conscience’ sake; for “the earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness.” 29 “Conscience,” I say, not your own, but that of the other. For why is my liberty judged by another man’s conscience? 30 But if I partake with thanks, why am I evil spoken of for the food over which I give thanks?

31 Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 32 Give no offense, (remember the earlier reference in Acts 24) either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God, 33 just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.

A real life example…

"The love test"

ACTION STEPS:

1.  Is my conscience clear?

2.  Do I demonstrate love to others?

3.  Who can I show genuine love to, today?

HASHTAG #Lovingconsciously