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Teaching podcast from the Eagle Community Church of Christ in Mont Belvieu, TX.
Hi, everyone. Welcome to Eagle Community Church of Christ podcast. My name is John Gunter. This week we are in sermon number 7 of our I Will series. We're talking about not becoming a church dropout.
John Gunter:Do you realize you could be burned out by not only doing too much but also if you don't do anything? Both of those things are true and can happen and so we encourage you to avoid both of those. So, we hope this sermon helps. Come and see us sometime. Before we get into the sermon today, I was I found out that last week I took at least 3 shots at my wife during the sermon.
John Gunter:I found this out anonymously on the ride home. One of those things I mentioned was her randomized flower planting, and so to make up for part of that, I want to start with these beautiful flowers. And they are beautiful, look at this, vibrant. Look at the butterfly, isn't that just perfect? I'm sorry, Katie did that.
John Gunter:Katie did that. Katie did what? She is beautiful. Amen. I am in the church.
John Gunter:Say amen. What I won't mention is all this empty space back here. But anyway, back to the sermon. We did get 3 flower plants, that's good. We continue with our series through this book called I Will, again, 9 Traits of the Hourly Focused Christian.
John Gunter:Focus of the book, and, again, I recommend it even after this series, go back. It's something that you, I think will be challenged by constantly. It is a book that is all over my toes all of the time, and I think it's it's probably been all over yours as well. Again, not saying I could, I might, I can, I should? Just say I will.
John Gunter:That I will get involved, that I will, start doing things a little bit differently. And today, we talk about, this chapter called I will not be a church dropout. You ever considered that? Have you ever considered whether or not I will still be in church? I think for a lot of us, we don't even think that way.
John Gunter:Right? This is who I am. This is what I do. But there always is a possibility that we could drop out of being in church. And so the chapter, Tom Rayner, really focuses on this idea of burnout.
John Gunter:I'm going to use some of what he did and some of what I believe as well, but we are talking about burnout especially, as we begin. And Rainer says this, burnout can occur when a church member is doing too much or too little. You ever thought about that? Or it can take place when a church member is doing things for which he or she has no passion. You ever thought you wanted a job and got into it and realized, I don't want this job?
John Gunter:Like I thought it would be something that would sustain me, and I would I would really like, and then the first few days you're going, Yeah, I was wrong. Right? And so that's the idea. And so, I think we understand the too much, right? At least at some point, like, I understand burnout being just over overwhelmed, but too little as well that this idea that I'm not as invested.
John Gunter:Right? I'm not putting in anything into it. And so, well, guess what? If you don't put anything into something, you don't grow those roots, well, guess what can happen? You can be burned out or tired of the situation, right?
John Gunter:And then again, not having passion for something. So doing too much, number 1, we are going to start with legalism. Now legalism is this idea that I need to adhere so much to what God has said, really that I lose sight of what the the actual meaning is. And so, what I end up doing is I want to work. I know God wants me to serve.
John Gunter:We just had a chapter on serving just the other day. But what we turn it into is I know God wants me to serve and it's almost like my righteousness comes not from God but from my service. And the only way God's gonna be pleased with me is if I'm constantly doing something, as if God's love for me depends on that. Do you understand? Okay.
John Gunter:That is an unhealthy way to view what God has done for you. And but a lot of us were kind of raised, like, if you don't follow everything exactly all the time, you're immediately out. And we lived with that fear. Right? You know, the next thing something something happens, I stubbed my toe and I thought something bad.
John Gunter:It didn't even come out my mouth, but it's like, oh, I may be out right now. And we live with that fear and so, that's also something that legalism does is, well, God doesn't love me unless and that is just not true. God shows you over and over how much He loves and cares for you, does He not? And I know a lot of us carry that baggage today. And so what we do is we keep working and working and working, thinking that, well, not not just that it's because I'm a Christian and that's what I do, but I have to stand before God and that's the only way he will love me, and that's just not true.
John Gunter:Ephesians 2, verses 8 and 9, if you're struggling with this, this is a verse you need to highlight in your Bible. Okay? Right here, Paul says, for by grace you have been saved through faith. Can you say that again? For by grace you have been saved through faith.
John Gunter:You know what grace is? It is a free gift. We almost don't understand that. Right? We understand transactions.
John Gunter:You give me something, I give you something equal value. Or right now, as expensive as stuff is, you feel like I'm just getting ripped off every time. Right? I'm gonna give you my money but this doesn't seem right. Right?
John Gunter:Grace is this is a free gift that you get and you can't pay back. Right? It is by grace you are saved through, what, faith. In my faith, which we've talked about before, faith is another word or another idea about putting trust in. Okay?
John Gunter:I'm not trusting in myself, okay, like in these works we're talking about, right? But I'm working my way into God's love. No. Through my putting trust in who God is and what Jesus has done for me. By grace, it is a free gift that I put my trust in him.
John Gunter:That's it. You don't earn that. You can never work enough and do enough good things. God said, Okay, you've passed the threshold, now you're saved. No, you are saved by grace through faith.
John Gunter:And verse 9 says, if you didn't get it then, if you're like, John, I don't know about that. He finishes up with, Not a result of works. Why? Well, he clears that up too. Why?
John Gunter:So that nobody can boast. Surely, we don't get anybody competitive in here? Oh, I am, I am coaching on on Saturdays. Well, Mondays, Thursdays, Saturdays, coaching 7 8 year olds in soccer. I didn't grow up around soccer.
John Gunter:I didn't know, you know, nobody in my town played soccer. It was football, baseball, basketball, track. But, last fall, Logan didn't have enough, and their league didn't have enough coaches, and I got asked, Hey, would you coach? Sure. And man, it didn't take long, and I want to be the best.
John Gunter:I've got some players that are just awesome. I don't want this to sound like I am a great coach or anything. I heard one time from a buddy of mine at church, he said, you know, somebody asked me one time, how do you be a good basketball coach? He said, number 1, have good players. Number 2, make sure they arrive at the gym safely.
John Gunter:And that's how you become a good basketball coach. That's the way I think with soccer too. But man, I like being the best. I want to look at those standings and see I am the top. We played 2 games so far, we are 2-zero, but we are 3rd because the other teams have a bigger goal differential.
John Gunter:I'm looking at Francisco, and I know you know, alright? And so we are 3rd, we are 2-zero, because the goal differential, goals scored minus goals given up, is not as big as the first two. And I want to get number 1. And it drives me nuts that the number 2, I think it's the number 2, or one of those 2, ahead of me, I don't play this year. But we get competitive, don't we?
John Gunter:We didn't get to bowl last night, and I really wanted to show some of these people how to bowl. That's why Brooke read into it and was like no, this would not be a healthy thing. I understand, I appreciate that. But can you imagine if we, as humanity, were able to work and boast, what would that lead to? Would it lead to loving your neighbor better?
John Gunter:I just love y'all so much, you slackers. Right? You're gonna cross the threshold, maybe. I'm already up here. I've already done more than you have.
John Gunter:Can you imagine the attitude that would go into that? Right? God's gift needed to be a gift of grace because if it was of works, we would. We wouldn't love our neighbor. We would be in constant competition.
John Gunter:Again, back to the the Pharisee and the tax collector. Right? Well, I'm glad I'm not like this guy. He does all of this and, man, I am perfect, right? Ignoring all of his own faults, of course.
John Gunter:No one can boast. This is a gift of grace through faith. Now, if you're thinking about works, I wanna I wanna bring to attention a verse here in Revelation. Now, I'm gonna have this in 2 different versions. I know for some of you, it's gonna be real familiar.
John Gunter:So, in Revelation 20 verse 13, and the sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged each of each one of them according to what they have done. Now if you if you were raised in King James or New King King James, you heard this right at the end. And they were judged each one. What?
John Gunter:According to their work to his works. So I guess that's masculine. So women, you're okay. It's just the man. No.
John Gunter:That's not what it means. It means everybody. But according to his works and so it you feel the pressure and we use these verses. Right? Like, you better be and that kinda feeds into that legalism.
John Gunter:Now, what that means, again, is identity, and we experience that here living in the Bible Belt, living in a place where still, even though it feels like it's moving, people go to church. Right? I've seen people complaining about Mont Belvieu. Well, all Mont Belvieu needs is more churches on Eagle Drive. Right?
John Gunter:We live in a place where people go to church, and what it's easy to do is claim Christianity, but not live it. And so this is not about, hey, have you done enough work so that God will love you or save you? This is about, is your identity really in Christ? Are you really serving? Right?
John Gunter:Have you been changed in any way? Not are you bringing enough to the table, but are you really who you say you are or what you want to be? A lot of times we can overlook things like that. I've talked about it before. A lot of times, it's so hard to quantify and and judge things in church that we we evaluate faithfulness on whether or not your rear ends in the seat on Sunday morning.
John Gunter:Right? Not who you are throughout the week, but whether or not brother so and so is here. He is a faithful brother. Well, faithful to the time maybe, right? Faithful that he is here as far as we can count on to be here, but has his life changed?
John Gunter:And that's what this means. That's what this is about is, are you a genuine person? Have you been changed by Jesus? Not have I done enough? And again, just as one more reminder, this is not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
John Gunter:This is about grace through your faith. Number 2 on doing too much is really probably the thing you thought about when we talked about burnout, and that is kind of overloading. He doesn't say that term, that's the best I could come up with. You got a better one, let me know after, and we'll we'll send out an email. But overloading your life, anybody just constantly busy right now?
John Gunter:Like, we had a week this week. I I think I've said that every week for about 3 weeks. Everything just keeps coming on, right? And we understand burnout with being overloaded. You ever just got to that point, where all of a sudden you couldn't you didn't feel like you could get out of bed, you got up the, you know, in the morning and you went for a couple hours, you thought, Man, I need to get back in the bed.
John Gunter:Right? Your body is saying, You've been overloaded. I didn't I don't think I've ever experienced it before I got into ministry because we, those of us who claim Christ, see ministry, see serving God as very important. Right? And there's extra pressure on that.
John Gunter:And so, we we feel the the pressure, we feel the push, again, to serve so much so that we can overload our lives in a way that that we can't we're losing our families. We've gotten things out of whack. I love I love to serve. Before I ever got into full time ministry, I became a deacon at our our church in Texarkana. We had a big group of young families and we did stuff together and we served, and out of that group was a large number of deacons, just people that love to serve.
John Gunter:And it came around, hey, what do you want to do as a deacon? Like, where is your passion? Where do you fit? And they told me I signed up for too many things. I love helping.
John Gunter:Right? Worship planning. Sure, that sounds fun. What can I do? Right?
John Gunter:All these things that we do in church. I'll do it. I'll help. You know, how can I help? They said, Well, you signed up for too many things, and they were right.
John Gunter:Now, I was just I thought we would have a meeting and decide on it, and I wasn't necessarily wanting 13 different things or whatever. But, yeah, you can be involved in too many things, and Rainer in this chapter calls them comet Christians. That you come in with a blaze of light and fire and then not very long they're out because they've overworked themselves. They've done so much, they've gotten away from their family. We have people in this church that every time I think about something, think about a new ministry or something for our church, I think, Yeah, they would be great at it.
John Gunter:I know they would do it, they would love it, but I think they're already doing 27 other things, and we have to protect that. And so you have to think about that as a Christian. Now, I will say this, most of us do not fall into that category most of the time. You ever heard of the eightytwenty rule? The Pareto principle is what it's called, where 20% of the people do 80% of the work.
John Gunter:Right? Yeah, you all know that from job or church and that that pretty much holds true. It's not a law, but pretty much you have a small percentage of people that make things happen. And so we have to, again, understand who we are as Christians with our identity in Christ, called to serve, but also protect people that are like that. Listen, there are some people in here that if you would just start saying yes, we could take pressure off other people.
John Gunter:We could get you involved and allow them to step back a little bit and not be burned out because burned out is not a place we want to be because that's where you go, I've lost my love for that. One minister talks about burnout. When he experienced it, he started seeing that his passion was gone, his love for it, his excitement for it. He wasn't getting up excited to go to church and worshiping anymore, and that had never been his experience, and that's kind of what you start experiencing with burnout, and I don't want any of you to ever be there. But like I said, the truth is most of us, at most times are not there.
John Gunter:We may fit into this. We are not doing anything. Colossians, 128 says, him we proclaim, this is Paul talking, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ. Do you understand that as a Christian, as a follower of Jesus, you are to be maturing? Like, when scripture talks about be perfect as he is perfect, that means you are maturing complete.
John Gunter:Okay? That doesn't mean you stop. Right? We continue to learn. We continue to grow.
John Gunter:We continue all this. We want to present you, Paul says. We may present you mature in Christ. So continue moving. Because number 1, we have members that are retired.
John Gunter:You know that? We have retired church members. You know that? You may hear somebody say, well, I served my time. You know, especially if we're asking for teachers.
John Gunter:I served my time. And what they may mean, really, in all honesty, is they may have been burned out because nobody helped them a long time ago. You understand that? And they worked so hard. Who was it?
John Gunter:Was it Sue, was it your mom that had worked, like, 20 years or something in the in the the nursery? Or the young kids or something? Like, sometimes people people want to know, like used to, when we were doing classes growing up, we did it by quarters. Did you all do that? And now we are begging people to take a week.
John Gunter:Would you sign up for 2? Right? It's hard to get people doing things, so a lot of us are stuck in the do nothing, but a lot of people or several people will say, well, I I've already done my time. I don't want you to ever get to that point because there are ways you can serve. Maybe it's not the same, maybe it's not teaching a class, but there are ways you can serve, and I want you to find that.
John Gunter:Number 2 is the unqualified Christian. How many feel how many of you have ever felt like, maybe not necessarily now, that you feel like, I don't think I'm the best for that job? Yeah. Yeah. I've been asked to teach class and y'all, I don't know about that.
John Gunter:But I had so many conversations with people who started that way and then did teach the class and said, oh my goodness. I got so much out of that. You know, you you're you're feeling like, well, I need to go in and teach and change these lives. Right? And your life was the one that was changed first.
John Gunter:And so we we work as if we're unqualified. Somebody else will do it. And what that leads to most of the time is, well, somebody else will do it. And guess what? No, they don't.
John Gunter:And so everybody said nobody did. Anybody familiar with that acapella song? Who's gonna do this? Well, everybody else will and that doesn't happen. And number 3, not doing anything is the complainer.
John Gunter:Y'all know organizations have complainers. Right? Now the complainer, I think, fits into, both things. People who do things and people who don't. But I think the worst is the one who doesn't do anything yet complains about everything.
John Gunter:You ever been there? Hopefully, it's not you, but you probably known somebody that that that was their it seemed like their goal in life. I wanna complain about it. I am not happy. And so what they do is they're they're not involved, and so they're not building those same kind of roots.
John Gunter:Right? They're they're just here to kind of take notes and, you know, how can I, either get my way or just complain enough, right, so you can change? And I'll tell you what I experienced as a minister, most of the time is the person that is that fits this category, that is the complainer, has no desire to sit down and study. Has no desire to sit down and say, now they may have the desire to sit down and have you answer questions to a bunch of questions that they have, but what they want is yes or no, and they never want to study. I've actually been in a meeting like that since I've been here.
John Gunter:I just want you to know yes or no, so I can go gripe about it later if you didn't answer the right way. When applying for church jobs, some churches still send out yes or no forms, do you fit this, do you believe this? And when I was at Harding, I got that from a church and I sent it back and I said, No, thank you. If you are not interested in the conversation, if you are not interested in Bible study, I'm not interested in being a part of that church. Because what I feel is we are to be maturing, we are to be growing in knowledge, and so if at some point in your past you have decided I have arrived and don't teach me anything else, I can't do anything with that.
John Gunter:And there's no no reason for me to be there. And so I think we ought to be growing and maturing, not just sitting back and complaining. You know how many things can be fixed if we talk to each other? Let's say it a little louder, Ms. Murrell.
John Gunter:Amen. You ever had what you thought was a disagreement with someone and as soon as you sat down with them, it wasn't anything like you thought it was? Yeah. But but but what we did was worked ourselves up and complained about it or whatever. We thought it was way worse, and you finally sit down and go, oh, this is this is nothing.
John Gunter:One of my friends back at our last church, he thought he had a big disagreement with somebody, and he finally called and said, I'd like to come talk to you. And he said we sat down, we enjoyed fellowship together, and I walked away thinking we were friends. But he had worked himself up into thinking this was just gonna be some big blow up and we were gonna get after each other. And guess what? Mature people, people who love Jesus, people whose identity is actually in Christ, can come together and talk and work things out.
John Gunter:You know that? But how scared are we to talk to our brothers and sisters sometime? We can't be sitting on the sidelines complaining. We have to be invested. We have to be people who desire to be a part of our body here.
John Gunter:We read Ephesians 2:8-nine, the verse right after that says this, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. Now, what in the world? I thought we didn't have to work. We are created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. You get that, church?
John Gunter:There are things everywhere. Now, some of us will sit here and think there's no I don't know how to serve. Well, have you been praying about it? Have you been asking God to give you the opportunity to show you the opportunity? Because that's what Paul is saying here, God has put you in a place where you can serve.
John Gunter:There are things for you to do. Pray about that and look around. Again, that you should that we should walk in them, and that's what we are called to do, is continue serving. And if we focused on that kind of thing instead of all the other mess we like to gripe about, we would all be a little closer to God. We would all be a little closer to each other because we haven't pitted one against the other.
John Gunter:We have decided, okay, well, we are in this together. Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 12, he says, now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. I want you to if nothing else gets into your brain today, if you've been thinking about an issue you're having, if you've been thinking about is John gonna finish before fantasy football starts, anything like that, hold on for just a second. You got till 12 anyway. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
John Gunter:Now what does that mean to you? Because I think intellectually we know it, but I think we have a problem at times living it out. Well, I know I'm a part of the body, but I still feel like I can just go. I can rip myself apart of it or maybe even look at other people and like, I wish they weren't a part of the body. You are a part of the body of Christ.
John Gunter:You are the body of Christ and individually members of it. We are to be together. We are to be united as a family. You understand that? That's what we do.
John Gunter:That's who we are as Christians. When Jesus prayed for unity, He didn't pray thinking that all of us would agree on everything all the time. Can you imagine Jesus being that, that dense that He would think that we would all agree on everything? And every time I talk about that I say, you know, spouses, look at your spouse. Do you agree with everything all the time with them?
John Gunter:The person closest to you. Now my wife does, but other than that, I don't think any of you do. And that's just because she knows I am right. I think that's what it is. No, we are called to be a part of the body.
John Gunter:That's who we are. We get it messed up though. We are either overloading ourselves or we are working in legalism, thinking God doesn't love us unless, selves or we are working in legalism thinking God doesn't love us unless or we are not doing anything. We have retired, we are feeling we are unqualified, we sit back and do nothing and just complain and never really grow roots. We talk so much about other people.
John Gunter:We never get to know them. We certainly don't give them the time of day. Where are you in this? Jesus, as He is talking about the prodigal son in Luke 15, When he explains the the son coming back to the father, I want you to notice this. And he arose and came to his father.
John Gunter:But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son the son said to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servants, bring quickly the best robe and put it on him put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet, and bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate for this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.
John Gunter:And they began to celebrate. The reason the father accepted the son was because of who he was. He was his son, and he had returned. You notice the father didn't put any qualifications on that? Well, you can work and work out what you owe me.
John Gunter:This is Jesus telling this, right? He could have told it in any way, but He gives us His parable about who God is, and it is, okay, the Son comes back, I am not worthy. I have sinned against you. There is nothing the son brings. Remember, he's already made him look bad.
John Gunter:He's asked for his inheritance. He's done all the things to disrespect his father. There is nothing the son brings other than he is his son. And God looks at you and me, those of us who have put our trust in God, and he says come back to me because you're my son, you're my daughter. Not that you have anything of value that takes the place or is able to pay for this gift, but because of who you are.
John Gunter:And so can we find our identity in who we are? That we are his. He is mine today. Can you say that? We're gonna offer a time of invitation.
John Gunter:We'd love it if there's any needs that you have. If you'd like to pray together, we can do that. If you'd like to begin a walk with Jesus today and put him on in baptism, experiencing the death, burial, and resurrection, that Jesus experienced for you, placing your trust in him and beginning that walk. But if there's anything that we can do for you this morning. If you come, if you stand.