THE COMMUNITY OF FAITH - PART ONE

THE COMMUNITY OF FAITH - PART ONE Acts 2, Acts 4 Romans 12 With grateful acknowledgement of these sources of direction and inspiration: the Holy Spirit; the Word of God; Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together; Stanley Grenz, Created for Community; Larry Crabb, Connecting; Rick Warren, "On Unity Through Fellowship"; Paul Borthwick, Stop Witnessing and Start Loving August 3, 2003 [Additional Notes] Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Introductory It can never be said that Adele Gaboury's neighbors were less than responsible. When her lawn grew hip-high, they had a local boy mow it down. When her pipes froze and burst, they had the water turned off. When the mail spilled out the front door, they called the police. The only thing they didn't do was check to see if she was alive. She wasn't. But on a Monday morning in 1999, police climbed up her crumbling brick porch, broke into the side door of her little blue house and found what turned out to be the 73-year-old woman's skeletal remains sunk in a five-foot-high pile of trash where she had apparently lain for as long as four years. The Boston Globe carried the story, including their reporter's interview of Eileen Dugan, one of Adele's neighbors. "It's not a very friendly neighborhood," said the 70-year old Mrs. Dugan, who was once a friend of Gaboury's, and whose house sits less than 20 feet from the dead woman's home. "I'm as much to blame as anyone. She was alone and needed someone to talk to, but I was working two jobs and was sick of her coming over at all hours. Eventually I stopped answering the door." Harvard professor and neurolinguist John Locke, in his work, "The DeVoicing of Society: Why We Don't Talk to Each Other Any More", says that our society is drifting steadily away from verbal interaction toward isolation. Locke traces the steady regression of our society from one of community interdependence to complete independence and what he calls "eventual societal autism." One journal puts it this way: "Just a hundred years ago our great-grandparents experienced the kind of small-town rootedness that is rapidly slipping away. They lived with and around the same 200 - 1,000 or so people their entire lives. They engaged in commerce, amusement and worship with people they knew and trusted, or in some cases perhaps knew not to trust. They talked to each other until -- Bell introduced the telephone. Now Grandpa could talk to someone in the next county. Or even in another state! He was no longer exclusively dependent upon the community for conversation, goods and services. Then Ford's horseless buggy. Then Orville and Wilbur's aeroplane. Then movies. Then talkies. Then radio. Then television. Then computers. Then fax machines, Call waiting, call forwarding, caller ID. Then the Web, e-mail and voice mail." A couple of years ago an essay was published, entitled "The Human Moment at Work." The author bemoaned the loss of plain old conversation, saying that in the last decade or so, technological changes--mainly voice mail and e-mail--have made a lot of face-to-face interaction unnecessary. The "human moment" has also fallen victim to "virtuality", as more and more we are working off-site rather than onsite. A couple of months ago I discovered another use for the ubiquitous ATM (automatic teller machine). I knew you could use it to make a withdrawal, but did you know that you can make deposits, too? I didn't. Ever since then I've been making my deposits at the ATM-just because I can! On one occasion as I drove away from the steel and glass, blinking, beeping banker, I realized that it had been several weeks since I had even spoken to a real live person at a bank. It was kind of sad. There was a time when I felt that the drive-thru banking feature was impersonal, but now you can carry on almost completely without the aid of another human being. Online banking, they tell me, is even worse. I sort of miss being called by name by the teller at the window. But it isn't just banking where we've lost the human moment. . . . Do you need the human moment in order to shop till you drop? No. Need the human moment to conference with colleagues? No. Need the human moment to send documents? No. Need the human moment to chat in a "room" full of others? No. Need the human moment to play games? No. Need the human moment to get cash, get paid, pay bills, or make deposits? No. Need the human moment to send mail? No. Need the human moment to be emotionally and spiritually whole? Yes. God's Plan for Healthy Community God knows our need for social and communicative interaction with others. Do you know how He knows that? He made us! And when He made human beings He premeditatedly blended into us something of His own nature. The Bible says He made us in His image, and part of that image has to do with being gregarious, social, and interactive. I believe for this reason we are given the revelation concerning the trinitarian nature of God. One God, but three distinct persons mysteriously present in the Godhead, interacting, relating and communicating. This capacity and this need for interaction is a very deep and real part of who we homo sapiens are. We crave and desperately need healthy interaction with others-to communicate, to love, to share, to dialogue and to coexist in unity with one another. Jesus prayed for us, "...I pray for those who will believe in me…that all of them may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you send me and have loved them even as you have loved me." (John 17:20-23) He said that this element of unified love for one another would be the key evidence to a lost world around us that we are God-related people - "All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another." (John 13:35) In fact, interestingly, John later wrote that our loving one another is also evidence to us that we are children of God. (1 John 3:14-15) God loves His church, and one of the things that God built into His church is an antidote to our sinful tendencies to isolate ourselves and to stand alone, independent of community. John Stott wrote a book about the church and referred to us as "God's New Society". The book is all about the way God has called us into an anti-cultural culture wherein we understand and live in a healthy interdependence on Him and on one another. Biblical Picture of Healthy Community In a world whose values are becoming increasingly more impersonal, less relational and drifting further from His intention, what does the "New Society" look like and act like? I'd like us to read over three passages of scripture to just get a flavor of the kind of community the church is called to be. Acts 2:42-47- "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." Acts 4:31-35 - "After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet and it was distributed to anyone as he had need." In the very earliest days of the church, a picture emerges of a new community who were so excited about what God had done for them that they: • Enthusiastically shared their faith with others who were saved and added to the church community as well • Eagerly identified with and adopted as their own the mission of the church • Generously shared with one another when there were needs • Voluntarily lived in a state of inter-dependence In short, there was COMMUNITY. We understand from the pages of scripture that this is the will of God for His church. He did not intend for us to carry out His purposes in this world like a BUSINESS or POLITICAL ALLIES who associate only for specific projects. And He certainly did not intend for us each to be lone rangers. The words the New Testament uses for the church are words like FAMILY, UNITY, FELLOWSHIP, FELLOW-LABORERS, PRACTICING HOSPITALITY TOWARD ONE ANOTHER, SERVING ONE ANOTHER, BEARING WITH ONE ANOTHER, DISCIPLING, CORRECTING, EVEN REBUKING ONE ANOTHER, and LOVING ONE ANOTHER. "The musical team of Gilbert and Sullivan were doing very well together until they bought a theater. "Then Sullivan decided it ought to be recarpeted. So he bought the carpet, but Gilbert intercepted the bill. When he got the bill, he was very angry and hit the ceiling. He took Sullivan to court because he felt that as long as Sullivan had ordered the carpet without consulting him, he should not have to pay for it. It all wound up in a great lawsuit. There was so much anger that neither one of those men spoke again as long as they lived. When Sullivan wrote the music, he sent it by messenger to Gilbert. Gilbert would pen the words and send it by messenger back to Sullivan. Then, when they would have their wonderful performances, they would each come from opposite ends of the stage to take their bows, but they never looked at each other. They never said a word to each other again as long as they lived." --Arthur H. DeKruyter, "Keep Your Cool," How does the church, God's New Society, His Community of Faith, accomplish both of these awesome ideals at the same time-Mission and Community? I want to point out first that both are important, and neither is more important than the other. If you have Mission without Community, you have a BUSINESS, a CORPORATE VENTURE without the living out of the loving community that God intended to strengthen the members and witness to onlookers. If you have Community without Mission, you have a SOCIAL CLUB, a comfortable gathering of satisfied friends who never enlarge their circle with others. Both of these extremes are aberrations of what the church is called to be. We must hold community and mission in dynamic balance. I want to look at another passage of scripture for a minute or two. It is Romans 12:9-19 "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for its is written: 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' says the Lord." I don't want to analyze this passage verse by verse (at least not this week). Rather I would like for us to get the "flavor" of the passage overall, and then consider a couple of exhortations that are clear not only in this text but the rest of the New Testament as well. We'll look at two of at least four this week. How To Be the Community of Faith 1. Elevate Unity and Subordinate Differences Paul exhorted the Philippians believers to "…make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose." [Webmasters note: Philippians 2:2] The Bible never tells us to be the same as one another, but to be of the same mind/attitude. More than any other religious or philosophical school, Christianity acknowledges the diversity of individuals-that God made us each unique and distinctly different from one another. And we are to not just tolerate our differences, but to celebrate and value them highly. The church is called to be of one mind in terms of the important issues of purpose and ministry. Jesus' prayer for our unity in Him was not just a nice pastoral maneuver. It was a sincere petition for what we would need to be the community God called us to be. For the sake of unity, we must never let our less important differences and opinions divide us. Rather we are to stay focused on our purpose and common calling. Conflict problems in the church are usually an indication that brothers and sisters have allowed their focus to shift to less important things. And there is no biblical reason to deny our differences of opinion in these areas. But when such relatively minor issues are put in the center ring of our attention things get goofy. Let us not push any agenda but God's agenda, and relegate our opinions about lesser things to their proper place. The result? A loving, unified community like Jesus prayed for. 2. Exercise Godly Patience I'm a slow learner, but one thing that God has taught me in my thirty years in ministry has been to be patient with people. Please don't misunderstand-I'm still working on my obedience to that principle, but I've got the instruction down pat. Here's something I've learned. As you grow from spiritual infancy into more maturity, you get a fuller revelation of what the church is called to be like. As you see more perfectly what the church should be like, you look around you and see what the church is like and you see this huge gap between the two. This discourages believers. There are a couple of groups in the church that are more easily discouraged by this disparity: newer Christians, evangelistically-gifted Christians, teachers and other leaders. Am I suggesting that it's okay to be slow-growing and stubborn in our Christian walk? No, but I will encourage each of us to look to our own maturity, and not worry so much about where others are. Every time I shake my head about how immature or slow to learn someone else is I must recognize in myself a number of problems. First, I am not responsible for someone else, I am responsible for me; Second, pride is always an issue when I compare myself with another and come out ahead (blindness, too); Third, shortsightedness-I've forgotten I was there in that same place not very long ago and others could have looked at me in just the same way. We must always keep in mind that Christ, and Christ alone, is the center of our fellowship. His sacrifice brought others into the church, and His sacrifice brought you in as well. We are all sinners, saved by nothing good in ourselves, only by His love and grace. And we're not perfect just because we're saved. Every one of us has faults and sins and shortcomings. And one of the most common sins is judging one another's sin while remaining blind to our own. When we are not patient with others, we want to get out and run from them, all the while crying about how immature or uncommitted they are. And we run to another church group only to find out we've jumped from the frying pan to the fire. Here's the long and short of it, folks. I'm a sinner and you're a sinner and, while the Holy Spirit is working Christ's perfection out in each of us, it is a painfully slow process. Be patient with others. This is the not-so-glamorous part of church life. Groucho Marx was famous for saying he wouldn't want to belong to any club that would let someone like him in. If a church must be perfect to satisfy you that same perfection will exclude you from membership, because you're not perfect! Dietrich Bonhoffer, the German pastor who was martyred for resisting Nazis, wrote a classic on fellowship, Life Together. In it, he suggests that disillusionment with our local church is a good thing because it destroys our false expectations of perfection. The sooner we give up the illusion that a church must be perfect in order to love it, the sooner we quit pretending and start admitting we're all imperfect and need grace. This is beginning of real community. Every church could put out a sign "No perfect people need apply. This is a place only for those who admit they are sinners, need grace, and want to grow." Bonhoffer said, "He who loves his dream of community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter... If we do not give thanks daily for the Christian fellowship in which we have been placed, even when there is no great experience, no discoverable riches, but much weakness, small faith, and difficulty; if on the contrary, we keep complaining that everything is paltry and petty, then we hinder God from letting our fellowship grow..." 3. Encourage Others Always 4. Execute Biblical Conflict Management Conclusion It struck me the other day that one of the worst jobs in the world must be cleaning the bathroom. From the stubborn soap scum in the tub to the toothpaste and hair in the sink to the perfectly disgusting issues of the toilet, cleaning the bathroom is nasty business. In fact, you ought to take time to honor whomever does that task regularly in your household. Maybe we could make it a special annual holiday or something when we take the time to say "thanks" to the one who does this dirty business for us. Reminding ourselves regularly that we are sinners is not a very pleasant task, but it's a very important one. It helps us remember the grace of God in Christ-that He rescued and redeemed us from the consequences of our sin. It also helps us maintain an attitude of humility. "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord..." (James 4:10, KJV) Once humbled before the Lord we are better prepared to "clothe your[our]selves with humility toward one another, because, 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.'" (1 Peter 5:5) It is very difficult for me to be judgmental of others in the body of Christ while I am considering my own sinfulness and my utter reliance on the sacrifice of Christ to make me acceptable to God. There is another benefit from being regularly reminded of our sinfulness. It reminds us of our need for forgiveness. Virtually every need we have in our lives rises out of our separateness from God and the guilt of our sin. But, the Bible says that "In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace." (Ephesians 1:7) I would pose this simple question: have you ever accepted the forgiveness of God? Receiving the forgiveness He offers you releases you from the death sentence of your guilt. Giving your life to Christ and receiving Him into your life begins this process of restoration as well. This process comes to completion in heaven. Note: If you have stumbled onto this teaching through our web site, and you have a question about the Christian faith, or you have decided to give your life to Christ, please get in touch with us through this web site. You can use our comment form or you can email us at: mecf@mecf.net. For more information please view our FAQ/CONTACT US, our ETERNAL LIFE page or send an email to info@mecf.net. We would love to hear from you.     [Back to Top]