COMPLETING THE PRESCRIPTION FOR SPIRITUAL HEALTH

COMPLETING THE PRESCRIPTION FOR SPIRITUAL HEALTH Philippians 2:1-4 Aug 13, 2000 Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] In recent years medical researchers have been warning doctors and their patients about a dangerous practice-the improper use of antibiotics. Because they are often considered a wonder-drug, and because their effective use is often misunderstood, patients often take antibiotics as prescribed for bacterial infections only until they feel better. And they then "save" the rest of their 10-14-day prescription for use at a later time when they feel similarly sick. But researchers have been publishing warnings lately that if the whole dosage of antibiotic is not taken, there is not only the good chance that the bacterial infection will not be eradicated, but there is also the chance that the bacteria could develop into a "superbug" and immune to antibiotics the next time around. So doctors are being encouraged to direct their patients to take the full course of any antibiotics they prescribe for them. Sometimes I wonder if a little religion isn't more dangerous than no religion. If maybe taking a truncated dosage of religion without taking the whole thing isn't a dangerous option. The spiritual danger in not getting the whole dose of faith is that a little religious involvement can inoculate us into believing we have done all we need to do, and now we can get on with the other things in our lives. A partial prescription of the faith life can lead us to be obsessed with doing certain things to satisfy God instead of continuing to build a relationship with Him. This is legalism, and it is spiritually deadly. A partial prescription of the faith life can lead us to feel satisfied with ourselves because we're better than most, and, "if anyone is going to make it, I'm sure I will." This is Pharisaism, and it, too, is deadly. This morning I won't pull any punches. I want to make a case against "Sunday only" religion and against "It's just me and God" religion. I want to expose the error of thinking that if I make Sunday worship then I have satisfied God, and that's all He wants of me, and the equally dangerous lie behind that kind of thinking that implies that I can be okay with God without being involved in a growing relationship with Him and with His people. Actually entire New Testament is at pains to teach us that it's not about religion at all-it's about relationship. A restored relationship with God through Christ, and restored relationships with others in God's new community, the church. The most important thing to the Lord is that we accept His covenant of relationship with Him and that we maintain that relationship by growing in intimacy with Him. We do that by cultivating and perfecting our relationship just as we do with friends. We spend time with Him, talk with Him in prayer, do His bidding in obedience, study and follow His Word. But, please know this: having a close dynamic relationship with the Lord is not the whole story either. In fact, the New Testament is clear about this-we cannot have a healthy relationship with the Lord if we do not have healthy relationships with one another. Consider this: Jesus said that the forgiveness we ask of the Father is contingent on our willingness to forgive others-"Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." Ephesians 4:32: "forgiving one another, just as in Christ God forgave you." 1 John 4 makes it clear there is a vital connection between our love for God and our love for others: "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.We love because He first loved us. If anyone ways "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And He has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother." (verses 7-8, 11-12, 19-20) The bottom line is this: a large part of the life of faith is learning to live in healthy relationships with those around us, particularly those who are believers. I would suggest that, for many people in our culture, even churched people, this is the second half of the prescription that is often ignored. Many, if not most, believers in our culture think in terms of a Sunday-only church paradigm. And part of that pattern of thinking is you have Sunday services to help you get right with God, and then you go out to live your life for another week. But the rest of God's prescription is the maintenance of healthy relationships with the other believers around us. This is what the New Testament refers to as "KOINONIA"-fellowship, Christian Community. Just to get a taste of the massive amount of space the Holy Spirit gave to this idea of relationships in the New Testament, I want to invite the congregation this morning to participate in a corporate reading of scripture. We'll do it antiphonally, with one side reading to the other side, back and forth. "One Anothers" The "One Anothers" of the New Testament Listing of verse references to the Greek word ALLELOUS, translated "one another" or "each other") "Be at peace with each other" (Mk. 9:50) "Wash one another's feet" (John 13:14) "Love one another" (John 13:34, & 12 other references) "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love" (Rom. 12:10) "Honor one another above yourselves" (Rom. 12:10) "Live in harmony with one another" (Rom. 12:10) "Stop passing judgment on one another" (Rom. 14:13) "Instruct one another" (Rom. 15:14) "Accept one another, as Christ accepted you" (Rom. 15:17) "Greet one another with a holy kiss" (Rom. 16:16, 1 Cor. 6:20 and 2 Cor. 13:12) "When you come together to eat, wait for each other" (1 Cor. 11:33) "Have equal concern for each other" (1 Cor. 12:25) "Serve one another in love" (Gal. 5:13) "If you keep on biting and devouring each other.you will be destroyed by each other" (Gal. 5:15) "Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other" (Gal. 5:26) "Carry each other's burdens" (Gal. 6:2) "Be patient, bearing with one another in love" (Eph. 4:2) "Be kind and compassionate to one another" (Eph. 4:32) "Forgiving each other as God in Christ has forgiven you" (Eph. 4:32) "Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs" (Eph. 5:19) "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ"(Eph.5:21) "In humility, consider others better than yourselves" (Phil. 2:3) "Do not lie to each other" (Col. 3:9) "Bear with each other" (Col. 3:13) "Forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another" (Col. 3:16) "Teach one another" (Col. 3:16) "Admonish one another" (Col. 3:16) "Make your love increase and overflow for each other" (1 Thess. 3:12) "Encourage one another" (1 Thess. 4:18, and 5:11) "Build each other up" (1 Thess. 5:11) "Encourage one another daily" (Heb. 3:13 and 10:25) Spur one another on to love and good deeds" (Heb. 10:24) "Do not slander one another" (Js. 4:11) "Don't grumble against each other" (Js. 5:9) "Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed" (Js. 5:16) "Love one another deeply from the heart" (1 Pet. 1:22 & 4:8) "Live in harmony with each other" (1 Pet. 3:8) "Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling" (1Pet. 4:9) "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others" (1 Pet. 4:10) "Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another" (1 Pet. 5:5) "Greet each other with a kiss of love" (1 Pet. 5:14) This selection of scriptures includes only those passages with the words "one another" or "each other" in them (Greek ALLELOUS). There are literally hundreds of other verses that command good community and relationships as well, but this is a good sampling of the larger body of material devoted to the calling of all Christians to develop and maintain healthy relationships in the body of Christ. Another sample that represents this concept well is the text for this morning at Philippians 2:1-4. "If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." What Paul describes in verses 2-4 here is just that-healthy relationships. He mentions unity in thought, spirit and purpose; a humble attitude toward one another; and a servant heart that is as interested in taking care of a few others around you as in taking care of yourself. The part of God's prescription for Spiritual Health that you might have missed is the part that we can only receive in the context of healthy, growing relationships with other believers. You know, a person can attend church services, be involved in worship and Word, and even give substantial offerings and serve on a church committee, and never address this part of the faith life? And because relationships are hard and demanding, you can even convince yourself they're not important. But you'd be wrong, because the New Testament puts a high premium on Christian relationships. A couple of quick observations are in order. As you look over the list of "one anothers" and this passage in Philippians, you can't help but notice that the kind of relationship that is being commanded is an "up-close-and-personal" one. Every Bible scholar I've read who writes meaningfully about these passages agrees that these commands can only be taken seriously in the context of small groups. What that means, very simply, is that if you want to take seriously the kinds of exhortations given to Christians, like carrying each other's burdens, forgiving each other, build each other up and forgive one another, you will not be able to get those things done in a large group. Rather, you will need to have a close rapport with a few other believers with whom you are in regular contact, who are as serious as you are about growing to maturity in Christ. This kind of mutual ministry requires closeness and familiarity. And frankly, we don't get that in a Sunday-morning-only kind of context. In fact, unless you are very deliberate and intentional about finding such a group, you will not be involved in one. This kind of fellowship context will not just happen. As a church body we try to be very deliberate and intentional about such groups. We call them cell groups, and they are open and available to anyone who is serious about the second half of the prescription for spiritual health. We accept the clear NT teaching that the dynamic, spiritual life that the Lord expects of his people can only be lived out in the lives of believers in healthy community. Sunday mornings can't get that done for you. In his insightful book Inside Out, Dr. Larry Crabb says it this way: "Christians have only two options when it comes to forming relationships: either remain comfortably distant from the struggles and sinfulness in one another or open a can of worms. When the first option is selected, church life goes on as usual: warm, polite, enjoyable, orthodox, occasionally disrupted by someone's terrible sin, but generally irrelevant to central parts of people's lives. When the second option is chosen, the group may at times seem more disruptive than helpful. Some members will become dejected, wondering whatever happened to encouragement. Others will be offended and change churches. But the worms of self-protection and demandingness are let out of the can, when people get to know each other's hurts and disappointments, when issues that really matter are actually talked about, then there is the potential for life-changing fellowship." In the early church, and in fact in every era of the church when the church was alive to the presence of God and intent on doing His will, you find the believers meeting together not only on Sundays in the larger group assembly for worship, Word and Communion, but also throughout the week with one another in close fellowship. Author William Beckham in his terrific book The Second Reformation, calls this the "Two-Winged Church," suggesting that the church that tries to be the kingdom with a "Sundays-only" approach is like a bird trying to fly with only one wing. Why do we believe in a "cell-based" ministry here at MECF? 1. We believe the Bible teaches the church is to be the church seven days a week, and providing a method whereby Christians can find life-giving groups to link up with and develop relationships that honor Christ and ministry to each other is the way to go. 2. We believe in the "priesthood of all believers." The Bible says that those who come to Christ are all priests and as such are all called to the work of ministry. Eighty percent of the Sunday morning congregation are not able to be directly involved in ministry to the others in that crowd. But if they are part of a smaller, more intimate fellowship, they can be free to minister to the others in that group with their peculiar gifts and abilities. 3. Believers develop and grow more quickly in the small group context where love, direction, correction, personal encouragement and application of biblical truth can become a reality. Believers respond very well to the example of other believers when they are both in a place where there is no showiness or stage, but where people can be real, genuine. 4. Believers all need a place where the others know them well enough to be a real encouragement and help to them. To grow and develop in Christ they need a place of acceptance and encouragement. They need a place where they can take off their masks and receive real help from real people in the faith. 5. Believers can be helped in reaching others for Christ when they have a healthy small community of believers around them who will help receive the new believer and help him/her to grow and to be loved and accepted. 6. Believers need a place where they can develop into leaders. Most will not enter easily into leadership of a large group, but can find the kind of support, direction and blessing they need to lead just a few others as they grow. 7. The cell group is small enough that the real needs of people can emerge and be met by a few others who love them. These are needs that would never surface in a large group. 8. The cell group can much more easily provide the family context for newer members and new believers-a place of reception and entrance into the church. In a smaller, more intimate group, everyone is ministered to. Whereas in the larger crowd people are often overlooked, even though no one intends to. 9. At MECF we believe in the "equipping ministry" outlined in Ephesians 4, where the Word of God tells us that the equipping gifts are God's way of preparing all the saints for the work of ministry. In cell groups, everyone can more easily be released to serve others, and the professional staff of the church can be free to do what they are called to do rather than ministering to every individual need. 10. In a cell-based ministry the focus is not programs or buildings, but it is what the church's focus is supposed to be: people. When you are meeting with 200 people on Sunday mornings, the business and focus can too easily become the building you're meeting in or the program that needs more resources. In the cell group Christians are released to serve others directly in the name of the Lord. We do not intend our cell groups to be a "method"-certainly not the method. We are just very interested in doing whatever we can do to be the church Jesus wants us to be. When we see the strong emphasis the Holy Spirit puts on honest, up-close-and-personal relationships in the Bible, we just tend to get excited about anything that will help us get that done. Cell groups are not UTOPIA. When you first visit a cell group you will not find the perfect, mature group you've always dreamed of. But what you will find is a small group of Christ-followers who want to become all their Lord wants them to become. And they are willing to pay the price of growing in relationship with a few others like them, trusting God is working out His will in all their lives as they meet together around the Word, worship, fellowship and prayer, and as they learn to love and serve each other. This group believes the Lord is at work among them and through them as they fumble through prayer lists and discussion questions, as they try haltingly to courageously invite others to their group and to their Lord, as they learn the week-in and week-out lessons of loving each other when their not so lovable, of putting up with each others foibles and shortcomings, of struggling through the difficult adjustments of learning to encourage and even correct one another. When you join a cell group you will find a place to belong, and a place to become. It won't be perfect, but it will be working toward it. You'll find a loving group of fellow-strugglers who, like you, are learning to walk this walk in the Spirit, learning to become more holy, more genuine and more usable for their God. When you join a cell group, you are joining with a few others who have heard Christ's command to "do the truth in love" (Eph. 4:15) and are committing themselves to try to do it, a few others who have heard the Word telling them to love one another, forgive one another and encourage one another, and though they are not good at it yet, they want to give their best effort to their Lord and His people. Let me ask you a couple of questions: • Have you ever felt overworked in a multitude of church tasks that you suddenly realized don't have the slightest connection to the purpose of discipling others? • Have you ever thought to yourself that it is time for you and your family to "simplify" your lives and just get involved with a small group of believers with whom you can share your lives and grow? Become engaged in cell life and find that dimension. • Are you at the place in your life where you know the Lord is ready to release you into more leadership for Him. But you haven't got a single option available to you besides a seat on a committee or a place on a ball team? • Do you feel the Lord's compelling touch on your life that you need to be ministering to people, but you're frustrated? Let Him place you in a small group where you can learn to receive from a few people in a healthy context, then gradually learn to lead and help shepherd a small group of believers under Godly oversight. Join cell. • Are you just plain tired of the trappings of cultural church-ianity and you're ready to rediscover something of the life of the early church as they lived in community with each other? • Do you just know that what you need is a healthy group that can help bring you healing and encouragement? It's time to invest yourself in the lives of a few others in a cell group.     [Back to Top]