What does it look like to belong?

Introduction

Series on Belonging

What does it mean to belong?

You belong

What does it look like to belong?

Author draws on so many passages in this chapter of the book, and we’ve chosen just one of them to look at in the services today

Gospel Culture

Gospel culture

Values vs. culture

Best this, best that … etc … but what is the culture of the church like

Holy Spirit at work in a church … cup of coffee

Come as you are, but don’t stay that way

We come completely as we are, and we welcome others to come completely as they are - no strings attached

We don’t have to attain a certian standard for entry

But we don’t stay as we are, we grow to become more like Jesus together - we don’t come to become more like everyone else, we grow to become more like Jesus - hopefully we see something of Jesus reflected in others

Bring your need and meet a need

We all come with needs - things that we are struggling with / we also come with gifts, things that we can share

Bear with one another

1 Corinthians 13

1 Corinthians 13:1–3 “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”

The church in Corinth liked extremes … they were very much intertwined with their own culture … they liked the idea of chasing after divine mysteries … so they persued all the flashy spiritual gifts - prophecy, tongues, words of wisdom, words of knowledge

They also thought that giving up everything and pushing your body to the extreme was good - a sort of asceticism … so they thought that there was a lot to be gained by pushing yourself to the extremes

But Paul is challenging this, he’s saying, you’re getting it wrong … it’s not that tongues or prophecy are bad, far from it … it’s not that great faith is bad, far from it … it’s not that giving to the poor or being faithful during hardship is wrong, far from it again …

But … if you’d don’t have love, you are missing the point … we don’t chase after these things for the sake of them, all of them find their right place within a culture of loving God and loving our neighbour as ourselves

And so, what does that love look like?

I love this next bit of the passage, but it challenges me every time. I’m going to read it out loud, and as I do, let it examine you.

1 Corinthians 13:4–7 “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

But one thing that is so important to remember is that this was written to a church.

Are we …

1 Corinthians 13:4–7 “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

Always protects … bears all things …

Not allows all things … not a case of anything goes … it’s a sense of always bears up … continues in spite of the pressures of the world around us

Always trusts … not others … not putting our confidence in others … but in the one who calls us to love others

Always hopes … carrying the hope of the gospel in our hearts … it’s an eternal hope

Always perseveres … again, very similar to the first ‘always’ … love never gives up, it never quits

1 Corinthians 13:8–12 “Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

Comment

1 Corinthians 13:13 “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

Building what you’d love to see

Building what you’d love to see

One of the headings that Piper uses in this chapter is Building what you’d love to see

And I find it a really encouraging section …

We all contribute …

What would we like St Giles to look like when we think of belonging?

If you think of St Giles as your church this morning, when you think of this theme of belonging, what would you like St Giles to look like?

How could you build what you’d love to see?

How could you contribute to building what you’d love to see?

This is not necessarily about starting a new programme, or a new course, or a new thing … let’s not get carried away with those things … we’re talking about culture

The lived values of the church …

Do you speak to the person who looks new? … Have you met up with someone from the church family outside of a regular gathering recently? … Is there someone you need to be kinder to? … Have you lost patience and need to find it again? … Do you need to ask forgiveness from someone? … Are you talking about someone behind their backs and need to start honouring them? … Are you finding you’re getting angry with someone? … Do you hold onto a list of wrongs someone has done to you?

Let me pray …

May St Giles …