The Characteristics Of The Community

Children’s Bible Page 1234

Throughout the month of January, I have encouraged us as a church to focus on this idea of covenant renewal.

I’ve said that for us as members, our church covenant should not be a document you learn about once when you go through our foundations class and then never look at again.

The church covenant should be something we all consider regularly as it helps summarize what God’s word calls us to be and do by His grace, for our good, and for His glory.

Now, last week, we looked at Romans 12:1-8, and we focused on this idea of being members of the local church, because, while our faith is extremely personal to us, it was never meant to be private.

God’s plan through His gospel has always been to reconcile us to himself and to one another in His family the church.

The Bible knows nothing of a life of following Jesus apart from His people in the church.

And now this week, as we look at verses 9-18, I want us to focus on the characteristics of the church community.

You know, as a teenager, I went to a private Christian school that was about a 45 minute drive away from my house,

So, this presented many opportunities to stay over night at friend’s houses that lived a lot closer to my school than I did.

I learned very quickly that different families feel and function in very different ways.

I learned that if I stayed at my friend Kevin’s house, I was going to get all my homework done, have a salad for dinner, and be in bed lights out by 9:30.

And many times I would be woken up at 5:30 to get a run in before showering and going to school.

Kevin ended up going to West Point, imagine that.

Now, I knew if I stayed at my friend Josh’s house, there would probably be up to ten other guests there hanging out, watching sports, and getting whatever food they could find out of the kitchen for dinner, and I would only go to bed if I could find a corner to lay down and headphones to drown out the noise.

Don’t go to Josh’s house if you have homework to do.

The point being is that every family has its own characteristics, its own atmosphere, its own culture, unwritten rules, and assumptions.

And that is also true of the family of God - the church.

And while different local churches can have different feels and culture about them, God, through the gospel and His word, lays out for us the kind of characteristics we are called by His grace to cultivate in our faith family - the church.

And these characteristics are so foreign to the world, that God shows off the very love and character of Christ through His church, as we pursue these God-centered and culturally surprising characteristics.

Let’s look at them together:

Romans 12:9–18 ESV

9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. 17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

1. Love One Another Genuinely

In one sense, the rest of what Paul says to us in this passage is going to flow from this one umbrella command: Let love be genuine.

Other translations read: let love be sincere.

And so others read: let love be without hypocrisy.

Now, there are two sides to this idea that I think are both helpful:

On one side, you cannot fake love.

Just as the gospel changes us from the inside out as we experience the love of God in our hearts,

Our love for others in the church must start from the heart as we soak in the love of God for us.

It cannot be merely external.

One the other side, the love that Paul calls for is not a first a feeling that you must conjure up.

Which is helpful because anyone who knows children knows you cannot just command them to love something.

You will love those brussel sprouts or no TV for a week!

Well, that’s not going to conjure up love for brussel sprouts in their hearts.

But, when you understand the beauty of the gospel that has been displayed in Romans 1-11, that God loved us and sacrificed his son to save us and adopt us into His family when we were completely sinful and unlovable,

That experience then empowers us from the heart to love others no matter how different they may be to us.

And notice, a genuine love without hypocrisy is not just about showing southern courtesy, smiling and saying a kind word to everyone.

Genuine love expresses itself in abhorring what is evil and holding fast to what is good.

Genuine love for others leads us to hate anything in their lives that is hurting them.

Our culture believes that if you love someone, you must accept anything that person chooses to be or do.

But God says, true love abhors anything that hurts another person and leads them toward death.

True love hates sin and evil on behalf of another.

And true love holds fast to what is good.

True love speaks the truth in love.

Genuine love lays down prejudice, preference, and comfort in order to love others genuinely.

The rest of the points continue to flesh out what the characteristics of genuine love are.

2. Outdo One Another In Showing Honor

Our culture does not talk much about honor these days, but we should love honor, and be pursuing what is honorable, and seek to outdo one another in showing honor.

It’s funny, I’ve always thought that there should be absolutely no competition or rivalries in God’s people, but here, God’s word says there is one thing we should compete and rival over: who can show one another the most honor?

That’s a great competition that can only build one another up.

Can you imagine the Roman church, filled with Jews and Gentiles, men and women, slave and free, rich and poor: all seeking to outdo one another in showing honor?

Can you imagine a slave owner holding the door for his slave family to come into the gathering and find a seat with Him and his wife?

Can you imagine the slave owner complementing His slave for his hard work and telling him he has much to learn from it?

Can you imagine the men speaking of their wives’ faithfulness in fulfilling her duties and loving their children?

Can you imagine the women speaking of their husbands’ love for her and the kids and His willingness to work hard and provide for them?

Can you imagine the Jew asking the Gentile to lead them in prayer?

Can you imagine the rich man sitting under the preaching of the poor man?

What does it look like for you to outdo others in God’s church in showing honor?

I want to offer a few examples from my life.

I hope you know me well enough to know that I want to share my struggles and weaknesses,

But I also share how God is growing me by his grace as I am to be an example to the flock.

By God’s grace, I make it my mission to speak to each person who comes to a service on a Sunday morning.

That’s why I’m thankful we only have one exit way that I can stand at as people leave.

My heart in doing this is as an under shepherd of the Lord Jesus, He honors each one of you.

And I as a representative who stands on this stage and has the privilege of your attention want to know your name, look you in the eye, and speak to you.

I want to take a particular interest to honor anyone who comes to church by themselves or who is new and does not know others.

I want to look into your children’s face and speak to them, because while they are called to respect us, I believe it is very powerful when we as adults honor their presence, speak to them, and show concern.

I want to make sure that I honor those who can do a lot of service in the church and those who can’t do as much.

You know, when I was pastoring that church in rural South Louisiana, I had come to the place where I knew I needed to seek God’s will for another ministry opportunity.

But honestly, that was going to be hard because finding a new ministry position has a lot to do with who you know, and I didn’t know anyone with a name people know,

But during that time, Dr. Akin, president of Southeastern Seminary had graciously accepted my invitation to come to my church and teach a marriage conference.

I was tempted to think that this was my chance to get to know someone influential who knew people.

We were going to have one dinner out together to talk and get to know one another a bit.

Well, God put it on my heart that my good friend in town who was also a pastor would absolutely love to meet and have a meal with Dr. Akin, so I invited he and his wife.

And during that meal, I just felt joyfully compelled to introduce my friend, and make sure Dr. Akin got to know him and his ministry.

I also got to honor Robin in letting her tell about her love for missions.

And even though that evening Dr. Akin did not get to know much about me at all,

I had no idea his son was the interim pastor at a church in North Carolina, and He would come back and offer a kind word about me and my wife as that church’s elder team considered me for this position.

How can you outdo one another in showing honor? Speaking highly of one another, highlighting other’s strengths and character?

You see, when you are not thinking of yourself more highly than you ought, that provides you the opportunity to see what is good and commendable in others.

Even when someone else in the church hurts or wrongs you: consider verse 17: Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.

Outdo one another in showing honor.

3. Serve The Lord With Zeal

Verse 11 - Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.

Jonathan Edwards writes that those who have come to Christ have been born again and given a spirit of zeal to pursue the things of God with urgency and with hunger and passion.

Be honest with yourself. Are you zealous in pursuing the things of God with urgency, hunger, and passion?

I have to ask myself that question.

Let me offer three observations that I see can suck our zeal and passion for the things of God in serving the Lord.

The first is, when you think serving the Lord only has to do with things you do at the church building.

So, maybe you feel like your responsibilities in your work life and in your family and home life, and the day to day grind just suck all your energy and passion away from serving the Lord in the things going on at the church building.

But listen, we serve a big and sovereign God who had gifted you the talents and skills to serve him in the career field that you have.

There are not sacred jobs like being a pastor and then secular jobs like being a school teacher or working in finance.

No, it’s all sacred if you are a child of God, because God’s spirit is in you to serve the Lord through those places He has called you to.

And your home and your family? Those are sacred places to be zealous and fervent in Spirit to serve the Lord!

Those are the places God has put you to share and display His gospel to others in the way you speak and live.

So your other responsibilities in life are not the reason you can’t serve the Lord with passion.

All your responsibilities in life are the very avenues to serve the Lord and put His glory on display!

The second observation is, I believe it is very difficult for many of you to believe that God, by His great grace, is using you in powerful ways in the lives of others as you passionately serve the Lord.

I believe it was life changing for the disciples to watch Jesus zealously love and serve the poorest, the least, and the low.

It is an honorable and powerful thing to love on and serve children with the gospel of Jesus.

It is an honorable and powerful thing to spend time discipling a younger believer in the faith.

We need to understand that we all are called of God and equipped to make a big impact for Christ.

You are never just filling a seat. You have God inside of you to give away to others.

The third thing that I believe so often keeps us from serving the Lord with zeal is conflict with other believers.

Maybe you used to feel passionate and zealous for serving the Lord and His church, but the conflict you have experienced in God’s church has hurt you, sucked your zeal and passion, and caused you to stay distant from serving the Lord, because you know how church people can be.

Let me just say this: just like with any other obstacle in life, with God, any obstacle is really an opportunity to honor God and grow to trust Him more, that includes conflict.

So, conflict does not mean God is absent, He is present and gives us grace to respond in good and God honoring ways if we let him.

Also, we need a biblical and God sized view of what the Bible teaches us about biblical peacemaking and conflict resolution.

So, I want to give a shameless plug to do everything you can to be a part of our Wednesday night study on biblical peacemaking this semester, and consider picking up one of the books we have in the foyer on this topic.

Covenant membership gives us the opportunity as brothers and sisters in Christ to walk through conflict to the glory of God without losing our zeal for serving the Lord and his church.

4. Be Hopeful, Patient, and Prayerful

Verse 12: Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

This is a powerful verse to apply to being a member of God’s church.

And it is not an easy lesson to learn, but our hope is not found in the success of the ministry, and our hope is not found in a certain feeling that can be conjured up, and our hope is not found in growing the budget, or even growing the number of people in the church, our hope is in Christ, His gospel, and His word.

So, no matter what, we can rejoice in Christ, for the victory is won, our souls are saved, and our future is secure.

Be patient in tribulation.

James tells us to count it all joy when we experience trials of different kinds.

I’ve got to tell you, it always takes me some time and processing to get to a place of believing that God is using the trials and tribulations of life in my home, in work, and in the church to accomplish good things in and through me.

What’s the temptation in church life when you’ve been at a church long enough, the honeymoon period is over, you no longer just see the strengths in the church, but you see the weaknesses, and those things are affecting you and your family?

Time to go find a new church!

Now, I am not saying there is never good reason to leave a church and go to a different one.

I am saying, way too many times we are tempted to leave far too early because we just want out of the trial.

Listen, it is tempting for pastors to only ever stay in a pastorate for three to five years then move on.

And of course, I’m not saying that there is never a legitimate reason to leave a pastorate and make a change, but too oftentimes, once we pastors get out of the honeymoon period and we experience some difficulties and opposition, our first thought is, need to go somewhere else!

When the truth is, when our hope is set on Christ alone, we can be much more patient in tribulation believing that God is doing something good in and through us,

And we can set our heart to this commitment: no matter what this trial is or how long: I am committed to pleasing God in the way I handle it by His grace.

All the while being constant in prayer.

God changes things in response to the prayers of His people.

We should pray until God changes the situation and changes us in spite of the situation.

Pray, commit to please God, be patient, hope in the victory of Jesus no matter what.

Be hopeful, patient, and prayerful.

5. Contribute To The Needs Of Fellow Believers

Verse 13 - Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

Church historians will tell us that some believers in Rome lost their jobs and livelihoods when they professed Jesus as Lord.

So, it would have been easy for the others in the church to see the needs of those saints, contribute to their needs, and seek to show hospitality because if you lose your job and your home for professing Jesus as Lord, where do you live?

With other believers in the church who show you hospitality.

Now, in our context, it can be harder to know what a church member’s needs are.

We live in a very independent society where our needs are not usually right out in the open, unless maybe it is a health concern.

So here’s the principle for us as members of God’s church together: we should be ready and willing to contribute to the needs of fellow church members.

And that means, fellow church members, that we need to be humble and honest enough to express our needs with others.

This is what I believe: in God’s providence, every member of the church has something they need from others, and something they can give to others.

There are not needy people and not needy people. We all have both.

So, we must be humble enough to be willing to help and to ask for help.

It would break my heart to know a fellow brother or sister in Christ was drowning in debt and hopelessness, without letting anyone know so your brother and sisters who have gifts in finances could serve you by offering you counsel and a good plan forward.

It would break our heart to hear that one day your marriage is ending but you never expressed your need to any of your married brothers and sisters in the church that could come alongside and give hope, encouragement, and counsel.

It would break our hearts to find out one day that you struggled secretly with anxiety, depression, shame, bitterness, bullying, sexual sins, addictions, or thoughts of suicide and you never felt safe enough to ask a brother or sister in Christ in the church for help.

Because can I promise you, you are surrounded by people who have walked through all that and more.

I’m not saying that every church member should know every need in your life. Of course not, but I am saying, God has made the church to be a people to contribute to one another’s needs

And the church is filled with people who have experienced God’s comforts in affliction so they can offer comfort to others in their affliction.

Be ready to meet needs and be humble enough to communicate needs.

6. Pursue Hospitality

The Roman church was ready to house those believers who lost their houses.

Our possessions, our resources are not our own. They are for God and to be used by God.

I used to say that I want my home to be my sanctuary and safe place, but now I see that my home is His sanctuary and His safe place for anyone he puts in our lives to share with.

Opening our lives to others.

Our homes to others.

Let me speak to a dynamic you have in every church like ours.

We have saints who have been part of the same church and doing life together for a long time, then you have others who are very new to the life of the church.

For the person who is comfortable and has great relationships in the church, pursuing hospitality means inviting others in and making sure your circles are always more of a “U” shape with an opening for others.

And for the newer person, pursuing hospitality means not giving up the first time you feel awkward or like the outsider, but instead, pressing in, pursuing others, and even sharing what you need from others when appropriate.

7. Speak Blessing, Not Cursing

Verse 14: Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.

Here is the rule of speaking for the church: speak honorable, encouraging, and life giving commendations to all about all.

Speak helpful and constructive criticism or concern only to those directly involved, not to others.

Speak cursing and condemnation to no one.

In this passage, the one who you are to bless is persecuting you.

Yet, even so, you commit that you will take a vow of silence before you speak an evil or sinful word against that person.

Speak blessing, not cursing.

8. Enter Others’ World

Verse 15: Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

We’ve been talking about this in men’s Bible study.

It takes humility and understanding to be able to enter someone else’s world.

To rejoice with them when they are rejoicing.

To weep with them when they are weeping.

And in the body of Christ, we usually have both going on at the same time right?

When our eyes are on Christ, He gives us the ability to walk through the highs and the lows with others, a lot of time simultaneously.

You know, one thing Robin and I are saying a lot to each other in our marriage that I still need to grow in a lot is this idea that you don’t have to understand in order to be understanding.

The Scripture says, “Husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way.”

Even if you don’t understand a specific struggle or difficulty, you can still respond with understanding knowing that you have your things that you struggle with that someone else may not understand.

9. Be Humble And Associate With The Lowly

Is there anyone in the church that you would be embarrassed to be associated with?

Verse 16: Do not be haughty but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.

10. Seek Harmony And Peace With All

Verse 16: Live in harmony with one another.

Verse 18: If possible, as far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

Desiring to please God, overlooking an offense by the grace of God, speaking privately with one you have been offended by or you have offended, having a heart attitude of grace and forgiveness knowing the great grace and forgiveness God has offered you.

For your part, live peaceably with all.

There is a lot more there that could be said, but I know I have said a lot.

But do not miss the point of the message today.

The point of the message is not succeed in building this kind of community and God will love and accept you.

The point of the message is: while we were sinners, hating God and hating one another, God sent His Son Jesus to live out these characters of community perfectly in our place.

Jesus has shown us genuine love in obeying in our place and dying in our place.

Jesus has honored us by not only forgiving us of our sins but making us coheirs with Christ.

Jesus was so zealous in his service to the Lord that He endured the cross for the joy of our salvation.

Jesus remained hopeful, patient, and prayerful even when all his disciples abandoned him in the garden.

Jesus contributed all of himself in order to fulfill our greatest need which was salvation from sin and death.

Jesus pursued hospitality by making room to live in our hearts now and for us to live with Him in eternity.

Jesus spoke blessing asking God to forgive those who were cursing him and nailed him to the cross.

Jesus entered our world and faced every hurt and temptation that we experience, yet without sin, so that he could be our understanding compassionate Savior.

Jesus was humble and associated with the poor, weak, and needy and is not ashamed to call you his son or his daughter.

Jesus seeks harmony and peace with all by holding out the hope of reconciliation with God to all who believe.

Jesus died in our place for our sin as if He had hated God and others as we have.

And Jesus rose three days later defeating all of our sin against God and others,

So that all who would repent and believe would be forgiven, adopted into God’s family, the church, and by the Spirit of God inside them, begin to grow to reflect the character of Jesus more and more in their community.

If you hear all this like me, and think, man, I have so much farther to go,

Let me leave you with this promise from:

Philippians 1:6 ESV

6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Do you need to repent of your sins and believe in Jesus for the very first time today?

For the church: what characteristics of the community do you need to be renewed in by God’s grace today?

You see, during this time of covenant renewal, would you take this moment with the Lord to ask Him by His grace to fill you with the joy of the Holy Spirit as we renew our covenant to be:

A baptized regenerate community that makes disciples

A community who worships together regularly around the Scriptures and the Lord’s Supper

A community who disciples and cares for one another in community groups and as a whole church family

A community submitted to the leadership of the church as we all submit to our head: Jesus Christ

A community of good stewards of our gifts, time, and resources

A community displaying God’s glory through Unity and Discipline

A community committed to Christian growth

And a community of gospel-centered families.

Let’s pray.

(Elder at couch)

(Lord’s Supper)