Relating in the Spirit

Our Theme for 2023 is “Life in the Spirit”

It is more than just recognizing the work of the Holy Spirit.

It is understanding that we live in two realities - natural reality and spiritual reality.

Our vision at SCF is to “Encounter God’s Transforming Love.”

How do we do that? (Four R’s)

Respond

Restore

Release

Relate

That describes who we are and what we are about.

We are reviewing the 4R’s just as a reminder of what we have committed to do as a church, but we will be doing so in light of our life in the Spirit.

We will be recalling the commitments that we made on our membership form. If you want to see it, it is back on the information table.

If you want to learn more about membership, I have some membership packets here at the front.

I started the series by saying that we need to respond to God.

God reveals Himself through a divine encounter and we respond, by our worship, our actions, our obedience.

Then comes the second R- Restore.

Restore is represented by the stream that flows from the cross.

It brings life to dead places - it transforms our inner life and eventually our outer life!

Last week we talked about the third R- release.

The same power that transforms us will transform the world through us.

Believers who are transformed by the spirit become agents of spiritual transformation.

And finally, we have the fourth R - relate.

Our relationships in the church are covenant relationships in that we are joined to one another through our common union with Christ.

We talked a bit about this last week, that we are part of something bigger than ourselves.

And the connections that we have beyond ourselves are vitally important because spiritual life and vitality flow through those connections.

I remember Pastor Vic Dunning, who was Senior Pastor at Elverson Hopewell, but was an itinerant minister before that, used to talk about a “life flow” in the Spirit. A “life flow” had to do with the quality of relationship in the church, the relationship of people to one another, to leadership and the relationship of leadership to other church leaders in the region and in the world.

The “life flow” of the Spirit was like the circulatory system of the Body of Christ. Just as our veins deliver oxygen and vital nutrients to each part of the body. Relationships are the means that God uses to deliver spiritual life and vitality. Anywhere that a relationship is cut off, there is a loss of spiritual vitality and of blessing.

1 Corinthians 12:27 ESV

27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

You wouldn’t amputate and arm or a leg because it does not function properly - only if it were a danger to the entire body.

Paul’s analogy of Christ’s body with many parts is designed to convince us that every part is somehow important.

And the body normally works to heal the parts that are suffering, not to isolate them.

Why then, are we so quick to cut off relationships, even in the church.

We avoid people we don’t like.

We refuse to talk to people with whom we disagree.

We don’t practice church discipline anymore because people usually leave as soon as there is a disagreement.

There is no point in bringing correction to someone who doesn’t value your input.

1 Corinthians 12:12–13 ESV

12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

There is a vital spiritual function to relationships that is lost when we lose connection to each other.

The Spirit is the fluid that runs through our veins.

It’s a flow of life - just like the river of life.

Relating in the Spirit means that we protect spiritual unity, we respect the function of spiritual leadership and we work to build capacity through spiritual networking.

Spiritual unity.

1 Corinthians 12:14–20 ESV

14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

We belong to each other.

The first thing that we need to understand is connection.

We are connected to one another by virtue of our connection to Christ.

In biblical language we call it covenant.

A more practical illustration is family.

You’re connected to your family - like it or not - blood is thicker than water.

That illustration isn’t as good as it used to be - because a lot of people cut themselves off from their family for various reasons.

America is one of the most independent societies in the world.

That’s a problem when it comes to explaining the gospel and the importance of the church.

Why do I need the church?

Well, because the church is like your spiritual family.

Why would I want a spiritual family, I don’t have any use for my natural family!

So let’s just use Paul’s body illustration.

If you were missing a hand or an eye - that would be a problem - right?

Why? Because the parts of a body belong to each other.

They are connected in an interdependent relationship.

A hand can do what it does better because of the eye - its called “hand-eye coordination.”

The word belong in verses 15 & 16 means “to exist”

We do not exist apart from each other.

Or perhaps without each other, we might cease to exist.

Or, as in the case of family, we might never have existed.

Let’s get it out of our heads that we can ever live this life independently of other people.

You’re fooling yourself if you think you can go it alone.

We need each other - like your body parts need connection.

We belong to each other, and we belong together.

We complete each other.

Not only to we belong together, but it is absolutely necessary that we are different from each other.

Paul asks, “what if everyone were an eye?”

That’s sounds like a monster to me!

A mythical creature with many eyes may be able to see everything, but what can they do?

Especially if you poke them in the eye!

Our eyes and our ears work together to identify what we see.

Our hands are what we use to defend ourselves.

And with our feet we can run away!

The body analogy has a deeper meaning than just connection.

As self-centered people, we sometimes secretly wish that everyone should be like us.

OK- not everyone thinks that way - the rest of us secretly wish that we could be like someone else.

In marriage, the desire to be understood sometimes expresses itself this way.

Men an women are inherently different in the way that they think and communicate.

Sometimes a man wishes his wife could “hang out like one of the guys.”

Or a woman wishes that her husband would show the same kind of intuitive thoughtfulness that her girl friends do.

But God made us different for a reason.

We can benefit from being more like the other, but I will never be my wife’s girlfriend and she will never be “one of the guys.”

That would just be weird!

We like each other different!

It’s the same way in the church.

We have common beliefs, but we don’t all think the same.

We worship together, but everyone is having their own experience.

We do things together as a church, but we don’t all do the same thing - we each have parts that we contribute.

So why is this important?

We affect one another.

In an interdependent relationship, everything that we do affects other people.

And everything that they do affect us.

You may be suddenly remembering why you would want independence!

Really, it’s OK, we just have to work at it.

We work at unity.

Being mindful of how we are affecting other people and how they are effecting us.

We learn to sort out what is our stuff and what is coming at us from other directions.

And the really mature thing to do is when someone else is impacting you in away that may be positive or negative, it to reflect back to them what you are feeling and together you can sort it out.

We mention working on unity in our membership agreement.

1. I will seek to promote unity in the Body of Christ by walking in love, refusing to gossip, and forgiving when offended.

The basic idea is from Mathew 18:15

Matthew 18:15 NLT

15 “If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back.

This should be the first step in any relational issue - go to that person and tell them how what they did effected you.

Of course, you might be enlightened to hear that they were effected in some way too.

If that doesn’t go well - take someone with you that can help mediate or give perspective.

If a person does not respond after the second time, then it becomes a leadership matter, because if the body can’t heal itself, its going to start to hurt the rest of the body.

Leadership is another function of the body - someone has to coordinate and facilitate communication between the parts.

Leadership is the nervous system of the body - that’s why leaders make people nervous - or get on their nerves.

Spiritual leadership.

1 Corinthians 12:21–26 ESV

21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

This illustration builds on the last one.

We know that as parts of the body we need each other and its good that we are different.

But aren’t some parts of the body more important than others?

Only when it comes to your vital organs - but I don’t think that Paul was using internal organs in his analogy as much as external ones - because most people in his day never attended a science class.

I bring up this question in regard to leadership, because we tend to think that leaders are more important.

Leadership is a difference of function, not value.

Do you remember what Jesus told his disciples?

Mark 10:42–45 ESV

42 And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

In the Hopewell Network, one of our values is servant leadership.

We don’t want to see leaders acting like they are more important than others in the church.

Everyone is important - a good leader should help everyone to realize that.

People in the congregation look to the leader for instruction and direction.

But leaders don’t just get all of their information straight from God - sure, they get it from God, but it comes through the people around them.

Good leaders surround themselves with good people who give them good advice.

When you think about it, a leader has everyone looking to him expecting that he/she is going to know what they need, have the answers to their questions and be able to tell them what they should do - that’s a lot to expect from anyone!

That must be what Jesus meant when he a leaders should be everybody’s servant - it feels like that sometimes.

And sometimes it feels like you are giving your life as a ransom for many!

But a good leader knows that he can’t do it all, he is a part of the body whose function is to help other parts of the body function as they should.

Leaders are not better than the people they serve, but good leaders make the people that they serve better by leading them.

That’s why we honor leadership, so that they can be better at making everyone better.

But honor is often misunderstood...

Honor is given for protection, not promotion.

Paul says that we give special honor to the parts that are weakest and most vulnerable.

It’’s OK to laugh here, because he’s obviously talking about our private parts here -it’s biblical humor.

But what he is saying is that we honor these parts to protect them, not to promote them.

Special honor has nothing to do with parts being the best or the most important.

“Parts is parts” as the commercial used to say.

He just made a big deal about no one part being better than another.

But some parts are more delicate - more sensitive!

We treat those parts as special!

Why? Because if they hurt, we all hurt!

Honor, believing the best, is how we protect them.

When we think of honor in the church, we usually think of honoring our leadership, though I would argue that there are occasions for honoring every category.

Has it ever occured to you that honoring leadership may be for their protection and also yours?

We have something about this in our membership agreement as well.

2. I commit to praying for and supporting the vision of my church leadership.

Now supporting does not mean that you always have to agree.

Supporting means that you contribute to the conversation and then abide by the decision to which you had a part.

I want you to shift your thinking about leadership, we are not here to impose our will on people.

We are here to serve, by listening, processing and then giving direction.

But leaders are constantly attacked for every little thing that people don’t like.

And sometimes we make mistakes and we have to live with the fact that our mistake had consequences for ourselves and for others.

That’s the ugly side of leadership - as leaders we are vulnerable.

vulnerable to criticism

vulnerable to self-doubt

vulnerable to spiritual attacks as well

And that’s why we cover our leaders with special honor - not that they always deserve it.

But we are better protected when we protect them.

When I fly in a plane. If I see the captain, I pay him/her special honor, because he’s the captain. Do I think that he does his job particularly well? I have not idea! I don’t know his job and I can’t tell you if he is good at it or not except that we arrive at our destination.

But what I do know is that my life depends on him doing his job and I am better off if he does it well. Therefore, he has my full support, my prayers and my well-wishes. I want him to have a really good day, because if he’s not having a good day, I probably will not be having a good day either.

Pray for me as your pastor.

Be cause my job is to help you be the best you can be.

And If I am able to do my job well, you should be better off for it.

Leadership is best when it is collaborative .

Part of being a church body is making the commitment not to life life alone.

As a leader, I seek out counsel for my own life and for direction as a church.

I look for input from my team whenever I make a decision.

This is a good spiritual discipline.

And it is in our membership agreement, as well.

3. I agree to seeking the Lord and the counsel of others for direction in my own life.

If we truly believe that we are spiritual beings

in interdependent relationship with one another

and that life flows to us through other people

then we should look to others for guidance

or at least confirmation that we are hearing from the Lord.

Remember, even the Lone Ranger had Tonto!

Spiritual networking.

Romans 12:3–8 ESV

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

This is a similar passage to the Corinthians passage, but the language is of faith and grace.

Faith and grace are representative of divine empowering.

It is the energy of heaven.

We all have some measure of it.

We feed what we have into heaven’s energy grid.

And we take from the grid what we need when we need it.

And together we have what amounts to a limitless supply.

Acknowledge your limitations.

First of all, admit to yourself that you can’t be everything to everybody all the time.

You are limited, not just in terms of natural energy, but of spiritual energy.

Your not all powerful.

That’s having sober judgement...

Share what God has given you.

But what you do have is a gift from God.

Your faith is a gift from God.

There is grace on your life to do what God has called you to do.

And you have certain abilities, some natural ability, but it’s all from God whose Spirit energizes our ability to a supernatural level.

Remember last week, I said that we don;t just have gifts, but that you are a gift!

To share your gift requires connection.

Relationships are the conduit through which our gifts can flow.

This is also in our membership agreement.

4. I aspire to nurture relationships both inside and outside of the church by praying for others, by encouraging them, and by speaking the truth in love.

You have the life of God in you and that life grows as it flows.

So nurture those connections through which that life is flowing.

Luke 6:38 NLT

38 Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”

And to complete the loop, don’t just give, but be willing to receive.

Receive what God supplies through others.

Last time I checked, independence is not a virtue.

You don’t get extra points for going it alone.

In fact, we generally gain more by being in relationship than what we give.

Are you familiar with the term, “Synergy?”

The combined power of a group of things when they are working together that is greater than the total power achieved by each working separately - Cambridge Dictionary

The word “synergy” isn’t in the Bible.

But it comes from the Greek word “Synergeo” which is in Paul’s letters.

Every time Paul refers to his “fellow workers” the word is synergeo.

Well, synergeo doesn’t have exactly the same definition as synergy, but the meaning is implied in the larger context of Paul’s writing.

We can do more by working together than the sum of our individual efforts.

That’s because there is a life flow - a spiritual vitality - like the river of life that increases as it flows.

The more we pass that life around, like passing the peace, the more it grows and increases.

The enemy knows this, and that is why he tries to disrupt our unity and cut us off from one another.

But we know and have encounter the love of God.

And if we are becoming like God, then we are also growing in love.

Communion

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 ESV

23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.