THE COMMUNITY OF FAITH - PART TWO

THE COMMUNITY OF FAITH - PART TWO Romans 12:9-21 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; John R. W. Stott, God's New Society; Rick Warren, "On Unity Through Fellowship"; Paul Borthwick, Stop Witnessing and Start Loving August 10, 2003 Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Introductory Last week we began a study of the Community of Faith. We spent a little time on the unfortunate loss of community and what we called the "Human Moment". Then we started a biblical look at the Church as God's new community, or as theologian John Stott called it, "God's New Society". We looked briefly at the supreme example of the church as community in Acts, chapters 2 and 4. The church of the New Testament, when it is healthy, strikes a balance between Mission and Community. That is, the church is not a business or corporate venture, and neither is it simply a social club where everyone is happy, but their circle is never enlarge by the addition of others. We are called to involvement in God's mission-to declare His glory among the nations, bringing the saving gospel of Christ to every people group in the world (Matthew 28:19-20). But we are also called into a community that worships God, loves and cares for one another, and demonstrates the unity of the triune God before the watching world. In fact, when we are being the community we are called to be, we actually accomplish much of our witness. When we worship, pray, demonstrate vibrant fellowship and grow spiritually, the world takes note. Jesus said, "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:35) He also said that when we "…let [our] light shine before men, that they may see [our] good deeds praise your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:16) Peter said, "You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." (1 Peter 2:9) Philippians 2:14-16 puts it this way: "Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life…" So we come again to the challenge I brought last week-HOW TO BE THE COMMUNITY OF FAITH. I want us to look again at this spectacular section of scripture in Romans 12 where the apostle Paul lists a whole series of behaviors that are vital to our mission and community as the church. (verses 9-21) "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 rejoice and mourn 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. On the contrary: 'If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him some- thing to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.' (Pastor's Note: Proverbs 25:21-22) Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Four collective exhortations emerge from this and other similar teachings in the New Testament. The first two we looked at last week. 1. Elevate Unity and Subordinate Differences Simply put, we are to pursue God's agenda and only God's agenda, and not allow our differences to get in the way of our cause. 2. Exercise Godly Patience We must put away our illusions that the church must be perfect before we love it, as well as our illusions that the people of God must meet our expectations before we love them. Every member of the church is a sinner on a journey of sanctification, just like you. Be patient with them, even as they struggle to be patient with you. 3. The third exhortation: Encourage Others Always The people around you need your encouragement. The fact is, you will influence a minimum of ten thousand other people during your lifetime, some significantly. As a child of God, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, you have the ability to make every one of those occasions of influence and opportunity for encouragement. J. R. Miller said, "…everyone of us continually exerts influence, either to heal, to bless, to leave marks of beauty; or to wound, to hurt, to poison, to stain other lives." Just this morning you had an important influence on every person you encountered here. By ignoring them or by saying something less than edifying in their hearing or by acting out your own selfishness you have DIScouraged them. But by smiling, greeting, showing interest in them and projecting friendliness and support, you ENcouraged them. Multiple passages in scripture instruct us to encourage one another. To encourage someone means to "put courage into" them. Alexander Solzhenitsyn spent part of his life in a Soviet Siberian prison. At one point he was so physically weak and discouraged that he hoped for death. The hard labor, terrible conditions, and inhumane treatment had taken its toll. He knew the guards would beat him severely and probably kill him if he stopped working. So he planned to expedite his death by simply stopping his work and leaning on his shovel. But when he stopped, a fellow Christian reached over with his shovel and quickly drew a cross at the feet of Solzhenitsyn then erased it before a guard could see it. He would later record that his entire being was energized by that little reminder of the hope and courage we find in Christ. He found the strength to continue because a fellow believer cared enough to encourage him. No wonder the letter of Hebrews, written to the persecuted believers, included this command: "Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness." (Hebrews 3:13) In the tenth chapter the Christians are exhorted get together with one another regularly, saying, "let us encourage one another…" (Hebrews 10:25) We live in a world of people in a hurry, too busy with their own "stuff" to care about anyone else. How many times have you said, "You know I meant to call" or "I've been meaning to send a card, but I haven't had time" or "We're so busy-we just didn't have time to help"? The community of faith makes time. Several years ago I went through a time of real discouragement and I was quite depressed. Nothing was going right it seemed and I didn't feel productive or fulfilled. I was thinking about throwing in the towel. I was sitting in a chair, staring at a wall when the phone rang. It was an old friend (some of you will remember Norm Hils), and he said he just wanted to call and tell me he loved me and how much I had meant to him over the years. I was reborn! Just the right words at just the right time, Proverbs 25:11 says, are 'like apples of gold in settings of silver." If you would like to make a very important contribution to the unity of the body of Christ, if you would like to minister meaningfully to many other people, if you would like to strengthen the church, if you would like to be square in the middle of God's perfect will, if you want to honor the Lord and bring fulfillment to yourself as well, encourage others always. 4. Practice Biblical Conflict Management If there's anything for certain in this sin-callused world it is this-where two or more are gathered together there will be conflict. In his inspiring book Jim Cymbala, pastor of Brooklyn Tabernacle Church, writes: "About 20 years ago, I said something impromptu to the new members lined up across the front of the church. As we received them, the Holy Spirit prompted me to add, 'And now, I charge you that if you ever hear another member speak an unkind word of criticism or slander against anyone-myself, an usher, a choir member, or anyone else-that you stop that person in mid-sentence and say, "Excuse me-who hurt you? Who ignored you? Who slighted you? Was it Pastor Cymbala? Let's go to his office right now. He'll apologize to you, and then we'll pray together so God can restore peace to this body. But we won't let you talk critically about people who aren't present to defend themselves.' 'I'm serious about this. I want you to help resolve this kind of thing immediately. And know this: If you are ever the one doing the loose talking, we'll confront you.' To this day, every time we receive new members, I say much the same thing. That's because I know what most easily destroys churches. It's not crack cocaine, government oppression, or even lack of funds. Rather it's gossip and slander that grieves the Holy Spirit." Those are strong words-but they are right on. Things like backbiting and gossip are sin. They appear in the New Testament sin lists alongside things like jealousy, anger, factiousness. Speaking of someone's shortcomings or mistakes in an unredemptive manner degrades that person in the mind of the hearers-and the overhearers. The best way to deal with conflict management is to avoid conflict. And one of the most helpful things Christians can do to avoid conflict is to not talk negatively about others-ever. In fact, I want to suggest a new approach: good gossip. The Word of God has some powerful teaching about our speech. One of the most enlightening passages is at Ephesians 4. "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up, according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." (Ephesians 4:29-30) It sort of puts a new slant on the old adage; If you don't have anything good to say about someone, don't say anything. Will Durant's wit comes through with his contribution: "Talk is cheap because the supply always exceeds the demand. One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say." Make it your goal, Paul is saying, that any time you speak, everyone who hears you is edified. With this goal of edification in mind, let's go just a step further and intentionally create "good gossip". On purpose, come up with good things to say about others, then gossip those benevolent comments all you want! Kills two birds with one stone-I satisfy my urge to talk about someone, and I edify not only those who hear, but also the person I'm talking about! Henry Kissinger was a master at the press leak. He often spoke to reporters with the stipulation that they cite only "sources close to the White House." He would tell them about some plan the Nixon administration was considering, wait for them to report it, and then gauge the support of the American people before making a final decision and an official announcement. Kissinger made the grapevine work for the president, rather than against him. Of course, there is another method for cutting down slander and gossip in the community of the saints. Proverbs 20:19 (NRSV) says "A gossip reveals secrets; therefore do not associate with a babbler." [webmasters note: Gospelcom.net doesn't carry the NRSV translation, the closest translation to NRSV is ASV which is referenced in the scripture link.] Nothing frustrates a gossip like not having anyone listen. Try this-when someone begins to cross the line talking about someone else, just walk away. Perhaps a gentler method is to say something like, "I don't feel comfortable talking about Penny this way." Of course my favorite line is, "That's funny, Penny always speaks so highly of you!" Biblical conflict management begins with nipping it in the bud. If communities could stop gossip cold, so much and backbiting would grind to a halt. But there is another significant area of concern related to conflict management. When someone is offended hurt or sinned against by another, what should he do? The tendency is to retaliate-to lash back with defensive or vengeful speech. That is exactly what the apostle is dealing with in verses 17-21. He flatly says, "Do not repay anyone evil for evil…live at peace with everyone…Do not take revenge…overcome evil with good." But sometimes another person really hurts us, intentionally or unintentionally. What do we do? The answer is simple: follow the biblical pattern for dealing with conflict. "If a fellow believer hurts you, go and tell him -- work it out between the two of you. If he listens, you've made a friend. If he won't listen, take one or two others along so that the presence of witnesses will keep things honest, and try again. If he still won't listen, tell the church." (Matthew 18:15-17) In the midst of conflict, it's human nature to complain to a third party rather than courageously speak the truth in love to the person you're upset with. But this always makes things worse. Instead, the words of Jesus tell us to go directly to the person involved. Complaining to a third party, or "triangling", only exacerbates the problem. Private confrontation is always the first step and you should do it as soon as possible. If you're unable to work things out between the two of you, the next step is to take a few trusted others to help confirm the problem and reconcile the relationship. After all you could be seeing the whole thing wrong or you might have misunderstood because of some woundedness in you. Talking the matter through in the presence of other Christians who love you both should be the answer to how to bring a resolution and reconciliation. But what if the person is still stuck in stubbornness? Jesus says to take it to the church. The word used for "church" here is the assembly. There is no hint of taking such an offense before the entire congregation of, say, 200 people. The idea is to invite a broader circle of believers who have a stake in the lives of the two people in conflict, and let them help. If the person still refuses to listen after that, you should treat that person like an unbeliever until there is repentance and reconciliation. Because maintaining healthy relationships is such an important part of being the community of faith, and because our leaders are committed to this kind of health, we have created a "Covenant of Leadership Agreement". Part of that agreement reads like this: 4. I commit to EDIFYING WITH MY SPEECH (Ephesians 4:23-32). I will bless those who hear me speak, and bless those about whom I speak. I will avoid "triangling," not giving passive assent to griping or emotional dumping on other believers by receiving bad reports. I will always direct offended parties to their offenders, encouraging them to carry out the reconciliation called for in Matthew 5:23-24; 18:15-17. 6. I commit to MAINTAINING HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS (Romans 12:9-21). I will seek to be at peace with all and encourage others to do the same. When I discover that I have offended another, I will 1. ask God to search my own heart and lead me in the way of reconciliation (Psalm 139:23-24), then 2. take the initiative to privately approach the offended party, confess my failure, ask forgiveness and seek reconciliation (Matthew 5:23-24) When I discover I have been offended by another, I will 3. ask God to search my own heart and lead me in the way of reconciliation (Psalm 139:23-24), then 4. take the initiative to go to the offender, reveal my feelings about the offense, and seek understanding and reconciliation with sincere apology. Or, when appropriate, I will release the offense to God and remain silent about the issue lest I become an offender. Each of our leaders, whether elders, cell leaders, cell interns or team leaders, have signed this covenant. And I have watched our leaders submit to the terms of this covenant when it was sometimes very difficult and humbling to do so. I think it is a good tool because it serves as a reminder of the biblical teaching and sets a standard of accountability. Conflict and challenges will arise in community, but God's Word is wonderfully instructive on how to deal with them, and God's Spirit is powerful within us to help us deal with them in healthy and godly ways. Now, I challenge you, the Christians who make up the corner of God's kingdom on earth that we call Metro-East Christian Fellowship, work diligently at maintaining community. Honor God and one another by: Elevating unity and subordinating your differences Exercising godly patience with one another Encourage each other always Execute biblical conflict management In closing, consider these words from Philippians 2: "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. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 'Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-even death on a cross! Therefore, God exalted him to the highest lace and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.'"   [Back to Top]