2022.11.06 One Another
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· 1 viewHow we should engage one another as saints
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One Another
One Another
Psalm 150 • Ephesians 1:1-6
We often spend a lot of time on All Saints Sunday talking about the saints of old. There’s nothing inappropriate to that approach, but I like to look at All Saints from another perspective: the Saints who are still among us.
How many saints are here today? Raise your hands. Let me correct a common misunderstanding about saints. NONE of the saints canonized by the Catholic Church were perfect … not one. If you’ve read anything about Mother Teresa (now Saint Teresa) and her journal, she experienced VERY DEEP doubts in her faith life. She was far from perfect … just like all the other saints. So perfection can’t be the standard for sainthood.
Paul defines a saint as anyone who is “in Christ”. So, if you have placed your faith in Jesus, you are a saint … certainly not perfect, but a saint nonetheless.
Some people may be tempted to get puffed up by that, and others may be tempted to shrink away from being called a saint. Both are wrong. If you have faith in Christ … you are a saint … like all the other saints across the globe. So, you are indeed special … but no more special than all the other saints surrounding you. :)
So Paul addresses his letter: “to the saints who are at Ephesus”:
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are at Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus:
Then, he tells us:
5 He predestined us to adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
If you’ve commited to follow Jesus Christ, you are sons and daughters of God. What does that say about our relationship to each other? We are brothers and sisters in God’s family.
We all have a bullseye of people in our lives:
We have people we regularly see, but don’t really know - wait staff; cashiers; coffee barista
We have acquaintances that we’d say we know, but we don’t know them at any sort of depth.
We have coworkers that we know a little better, but wouldn’t really call friends.
We have friends.
We may even have BEST friends.
Some may even advance to the level of “chosen family”.
Then, there’s family.
One Another
One Another
As we celebrate the legacy of those who have gone before us this All Saints Sunday, look around the sanctuary. Paul says we are brothers and sisters in God’s family — we are family!
Our culture seems to value little interactions, but doesn’t do a good job of encouraging sharing life together at a deep level.
Author Barry Davis writes: [not on screen]
52 Topical Sermons: Volume 1 (Sermon 19. The Need for One Anothering)
We are tempted to think that our little “sips” of online connection add up to a big gulp of real conversation. But they don’t. E-mail, Twitter, Facebook, all of these have their places.… But no matter how valuable, they do not substitute for conversation. Connecting in sips may work for gathering discrete bits of information or for saying, “I am thinking about you”.… But connecting in sips doesn’t work as well when it comes to understanding and knowing one another.
We expect more from technology and less from one another and seem increasingly drawn to technologies that provide the illusion of companionship without the demands of relationship. Always-on/always-on-you devices provide three powerful fantasies: that we will always be heard; that we can put our attention wherever we want it to be; and that we never have to be alone. When people are alone, even for a few moments, they fidget and reach for a device.…
Perhaps it’s time we recapture the art of being family with each other. Here are a few of the things Scripture tells us to do for “one another”:
Receive One Another
7 Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God.
We all have family members we wouldn’t choose, right? We all have that Uncle or Cousin or maybe even Brother or Sister that we’d like to be able to deny as part of our family.
As God-family members - we are to receive one another the same way Christ recieved us. I’ve been an embarrassment to Jesus a time or two … yet, he receives me anyway.
Value One Another
3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves;
The old fashioned term is “esteem” … we should “esteem one another”. It’s easy to value people we don’t like at the same level as every other human being … but to consider one another as MORE important than yourself. Brothers and Sisters in Christ — I still have some growth to make, how ‘bout you?
Encourage One Another
24 and let’s consider how to encourage one another in love and good deeds,
We’re not terrible at this one, we’re just a little short. I see Christians encourage one another all the time … when it’s convenient. When I see someone who’s going through a rough time, it occurs to me to encourage them. But what does the Scripture say? “CONSIDER HOW to encourage one another”. THINK ABOUT how you can encourage each other in love and good deeds. Fellow Saints of the Church — I’m not there yet, how ‘bout you?
Edify One Another
19 Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another.
Hmmm. Edify — that’s an old word. Anybody know what that means?
See if this translation is a little easier to understand:
19 So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.
Pursue the things that build up one other. How can I help someone else understand better; grow more grounded in their faith; have more confidence in their relationship with God in Christ? Paul wrote Romans, and he also wrote 1 Corinthians 8:1, that says (not on screen):
1 Corinthians 8:1b (NASB 2020)
Knowledge makes one conceited, but love edifies people.
Just having a head full of knowledge puffs us up - but loving each other builds one another up. I’m sure we’ve all met some people who were brilliant, but very difficult to be around.
Exhort One Another
13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
The old fashioned word “exhort”, is a pretty wide word. More modern translations use the term “encourage”, but that’s not strong enough.
The Greek word - παρακαλεῖτε (parakaleite) - to urge strongly, appeal to, urge, exhort, encourage [BDAG] This is the word Jesus used when he said he was going to send us a “comforter, helper, advocate”. He was talking about the Holy Spirit, as brothers and sisters in God’s family, we should be “Holy Spiriting” one another.
comfort, help, advocate, urge strongly, appeal to
Admonish One Another
14 And concerning you, my brothers and sisters, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another.
Admonish is another old fashioned word. The Greek word here means: to counsel about avoidance or cessation of an improper course of conduct, admonish, warn
Comedian Bob Newhart wrote a skit where he was a counselor. When his client came she reported to him that she couldn’t quit doing several harmful activities. He said, “OK, we’ll take them one at a time. What’s the first one?” After she shared the first one, he said, “OK, so here’s my advice … and I want you to listen very closely - STOP IT!”
Admonishing one another is telling each other to STOP IT when we see each other doing stupid stuff.
If you saw me walking out of a strip club, would you confront me about it? We have a hierarchy on earth, so many people would hesitate to confront “the pastor”. But the hierarchy in God’s Kingdom ends with God. He’s in charge. We’re all subject to him. We are to admonish each other, and I would hope that if you saw me doing something stupid, you’d tell me, “STOP IT!”
And this last one is perhaps the most difficult for us:
Submit to One Another
21 And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Similar to admonishing, we want to apply the world’s hierarchy to submission. Well, people of the Church should submit to the pastor. The pastor should submit to the Superintendent. The Superintendent should submit to the Bishop. And those are appropriate in many specific cases.
But in the general sense, the hierarchy in God’s Kingdom ends with God. He’s in charge. We’re all subject to him. And Paul is telling us to also be subject to one another. Not in a staggered, some-are-higher-than-other way. Submit to one another.
Two quick things from the Greek in this one:
Submit - hypotassomenoi - to cause to be in a submissive relationship, to subject, to subordinate [BDAG]
We usually compete for the chance to be in charge. Paul is telling us that we should be competing to let each other be in charge.
When the elevator door opens, do you rush to get through first … or do you wait to make sure everyone else goes through first? Brothers and sisters in God’s family should be stuck at the door for a minute telling each other, “No, after you.” “Oh by all means, after you.” “Oh, go ahead.” “No, you first.”
Who decides where we’re eating when everyone says, “I don’t care. You choose?” I don’t know, but if we submit to one another we’d probably have less bickering in the family, wouldn’t we.
The other bit of Greek I’ll point out is that the Greek word here for “reverence” is “phobos”. Do you know what phobos really means? I’ll give you a hint … it’s where we get our word “phobia”. That’s right … we are to submit to one another out of FEAR of Christ! Or in other words, in order to please Christ.
So there you have it.
As fellow saints, and Christian brothers and sisters we should:
Receive one another
Value one another
Encourage one another
Edify one another
Exhort one another
Admonish one another
Submit to one another
I would suggest, the people we remember today, likely modeled these attributes to us. That’s why we honor them. They treated us like family. Now it’s our turn to treat one other like family.
Let’s pray [don’t forget Communion elements]