REVOLUTIONARY SIMPLICITY: COMRADESHIP AND CAMARADERIE, PART 2

REVOLUTIONARY SIMPLICITY: COMRADESHIP AND CAMARADERIE, PART 2 Romans 12:9-21 August 24, 2008 Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Introduction Quaker theologian/philosopher Parker Palmer was a passenger on a plane that pulled away from the gate, taxied to a remote corner of the field and stopped. You know the feeling: The plane stops and you look out the window and see that you’re not on the runway and the engines wind down and your heart sinks. The pilot came on the intercom and said, “I have some bad news and some really bad news. The bad news is there’s a storm front in the West, Denver is socked in and shut down. We’ve looked for alternatives and there are none. So we’ll be staying here for a few hours. That’s the bad news. The really bad news is that we have no food and it’s lunch time.” Everybody groaned. Some passengers started to complain, some became angry. But then, Palmer said, one of the flight attendants did something amazing. She stood up and took the intercom microphone and said, “We’re really sorry, folks. We didn’t plan it this way and we really can’t do much about it. And I know for some of you this is a big deal. Some of you are really hungry and were looking forward to a nice lunch. Some of you may have a medical condition and really need lunch. Some of you may not care one way or the other and some of you need to skip lunch. So I’ll tell you what we’re going to do. I have a couple of baskets here and we’re going to pass them around and I’m asking everybody to put something in the basket. Some of you brought a little snack along just in case something like this happened, some peanut butter crackers, candy bars. And some of you have a few LifeSavers or chewing gum or Rolaids. And if you don’t have anything edible, you have a picture of your children or spouse or a friend or a bookmark or a business card. Everybody put something in and then we’ll reverse the process. We’ll pass the baskets around again and everybody can take out what you need. “Well,” Palmer said, “what happened next was amazing. The griping stopped. People started to root around in pockets and handbags, some got up and opened their suitcases stored in the overhead luggage racks and got out boxes of candy, a salami, a bottle of wine. People were laughing and talking. She had transformed a group of people who were focused on need and deprivation into a community of sharing and celebration. She had transformed scarcity into a kind of abundance.” The Body of Christ, the church, is a team, a family. We’re on a journey. The destination is sure—it is heaven. We’re stalled, with a purpose, here in this age, on this planet. Our delay is no accident. We are here to learn some lessons, individually and corporately, because we have a mission. Some of us are impatient and want to get on with the mission. But we are reminded that what we learn and do here and now is part of the mission. Among us, we have everything we need. Review Strong fellowship is Missional, Our Big Need, Commanded That’s sort of how we ended last week—with the exhortation to do what God called us to here and now: Maintain strong fellowship in His family. By the way, we didn’t choose our fellow passengers—they were chosen for us, and each one has a ticket through the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Romans 12 is all about how we do that. So is Ephesians 4:1-3 …I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” We learned last week that maintaining the strong fellowship of the church is missional. That is, it is a big part of our calling as believers to encourage, strengthen and contribute toward the well-being of one another. We found that it is all a matter of companionship and camaraderie . Secondly, we saw that this kind of fellowship is actually our big need. "None of us is as smart as all of us." It is equally true that none of us is as strong as all of us. None of us is as bold as all of us. And when it comes to serving the world around us, none of us is as effective as all of us. Thirdly, we are commanded by the Lord of the Church to maintain strong fellowship. The How of Maintaining Strong Fellowship Love must be sincere (vs. 9) – Authentic, genuine, from the heart. That kind of love is the very same kind of love the Lord has for us: other-centered, unconditional and unending. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good (vs. 9) – We are called to be enemies of what is evil, lovers and promoters of what is good. Hebrews 5:14 says that while we study and grow in our understanding of the scriptures, by constant use, we will train ourselves to distinguish good from evil. Be devoted to one another out of brotherly love (vs. 10, 1-15– We are the people of God and His Spirit in and among us is strongly committed to building into us deep brotherly love. We cooperate with that goal by always looking out not only for our own interests, but also to the interests of others (Philippians 2:4) Keep your spiritual fervor (vs. 11-12) – One of the most interesting ingredients to a strong fellowship is the responsibility of each member to keep his own spiritual fervor strong. When he does, that zeal is beneficially infectious to the others around us. So, when we devote ourselves to prayer and the study of God’s Word, we not only take care of ourselves spiritually, but we also care for our brothers and sisters in the faith. Paul lists some of the symptoms of spiritual fervor in verse 12: …joyful in hope, patient in affliction and faithful in prayer. I want to be around people like that. I’m thinking you do, too. There are three additional directives in the remaining verses. We pick them up in Romans 12:13 More Directives on Maintaining Strong Fellowship Be generous and hospitable – verse 13 That verse, very simply, encourages God’s people to be generous and hospitable. In Jimmy Carter’s book, Sources of Strength, he tells about a young Cuban evangelist named Eloy Cruz, with whom he visited the very poor in Puerto Rico. He noticed Eloy had a great rapport with the people, and he asked him for the secret of his success. He was modest and embarrassed, but he finally said, "Senor Jimmy, we only need to have two loves in our lives. For God, and for the person who happens to be in front of us at any time." In The Lord of the Rings, J.R. Tolkien’s fictional creatures, called hobbits, don’t care much for adventures. But they are fond of giving gifts. In fact, instead of receiving gifts on their birthday, hobbits who have birthdays give gifts to other hobbits instead. Tokein writes, “Every day in the year was somebody’s birthday, so that every hobbit in those parts had a fair chance of at least one present at least once a week.” What a great idea, wrote one author. But that can become quite expensive, someone protests. He simply answers, “Only if you don’t love giving as much as a hobbit does!” One of the reasons we permit and promote special offerings through the church here is that it is such a blessing—not just for those whose needs we meet and who benefit from the projects we fund. But we who give get to taste the unmatchable joy that the Lord promised when we give a little more than we usually give. This church family is a paradigm of generosity when it comes to meeting such needs. I’ve often said how proud I am of your response through such offerings. But there is something for which I am even more grateful. Knowing the thrill that it is for each one who sacrifices by giving. If you have yet to know that thrill, give to Mission Brazil, Walk for Life or the Freedom Fund. The word hospitality has had a long and familiar tradition of meaning inviting others into one’s home for a shared meal. I studied hard, looking for other, not-so-obvious applications of the idea of hospitality. Here’s my studied opinion: you just can’t do any better at hospitality than to invite others into your home for a shared meal! Three years ago or so, fifteen or twenty of us undertook a short-term Life Group using the Alpha course. It is recommended in the course that the group share dinner each week on the night they met. So we did. Charlotte and I happened to be the hosts, and each week we prepared a home-cooked meal for our group, and each one of the members contributed toward the meal. It was sometimes a challenge to get it all done, but I want to tell you that the sense of family and fellowship we experienced was absolutely wonderful. There’s something about eating together! Our familiarity with one another grew enormously, our relationships sweetened and our sense of togetherness was a blessing that actually surprised us all. For months afterwards there were comments about how nice that experience was, and how we ought to do that again. Regrettably we haven’t. Live in harmony (vs. 16) The literal rendering of this phrase in the original language is, “Think the same thing toward one another.” The church is called to have the same mind. We are privileged to think the same way about important things. Things like the priority of the kingdom mission, the importance of extending the love of Christ with those we meet. The eagerness to pray with and for one another. The Bible teaches that each one of us in Christ has a renewed mind—ways of thinking that are constantly being renewed through the Word and the Spirit. We have these things in common. Celebrate that fact, count on the fact that you are in fellowship with those who agree with you in your faith. Do not be proud or conceited In One Church from the Fence, Wes Seelinger writes: "I have spent long hours in the intensive care waiting room ... watching with anguished people ... listening to urgent questions: Will my husband make it? Will my child walk again? How do you live without your companion of thirty years? He writes, "The intensive care waiting room is different from any other place in the world. And the people who wait are different. They can't do enough for each other. No one is rude. The distinctions of race and class melt away. A person is a father first, an ex-con second; a mother first and a lawyer second. The garbage man loves his wife as much as the university professor loves his, and everyone understands this. Each person pulls for everyone else. "In the intensive care waiting room, the world changes. Vanity and pretense vanish. The universe is focused on the doctor's next report—if only it will show improvement. Everyone knows that loving someone else is what life is all about." Maybe before we find ourselves in the intensive care waiting room we can learn to live like that. There are two great equalizers among Christian believers: we are all sinners, and we have all tasted the kindness of the Lord through His forgiveness of our sins. Never forget that, brothers and sisters. May we never make the tragic mistake of portraying the Lord’s church as of people who are better or more deserving than others. The church is the only organization that requires of its members the admission that we don’t qualify. Fight against pride in all its forms; reject conceitedness at every turn. Do not be vengeful or retaliatory We discussed this point at length last week, as it came up earlier under the heading of hating evil. Let me just say this: Nothing, nothing will grab the attention of, and turn the hearts of people like a community that is non-vindictive and demonstrates love through forgiveness. On the morning of October 2, 2006, a troubled milkman named Charles Carl Roberts barricaded himself inside the West Nickel Mine Amish School, ultimately murdering five young girls and wounding six others. Roberts committed suicide when police arrived on the scene. It was a dark day for the Amish community of West Nickel Mines, but it was also a dark day for Marie Roberts—the wife of the gunman—and her two young children. But on the following Saturday, Marie experienced something truly countercultural while attending her husband's funeral. That day, she and her children watched as Amish families—about half of the 75 mourners present—came and stood alongside them in the midst of their own blinding grief. Despite the crime the man had perpetrated, the Amish came to mourn Charles Carl Roberts—a husband and daddy. Bruce Porter, a fire department chaplain who attended the service, described what moved him most about the gesture: "It's the love, the forgiveness, the heartfelt forgiveness they have toward the family. I broke down and cried seeing it displayed." He added that Marie Roberts was also touched. "She was absolutely, deeply moved by the love shown." In May of 2003, research indicated that only 15 percent of people in Indonesia—the world's most populous Muslim nation—had a favorable view of the U.S. That country was later devastated by the Indian Ocean tsunami in December of 2004. In the year that followed, humanitarian aid poured into the affected areas from the U.S. and other Western nations. As a result, a January 2006 poll showed that Indonesian people with a favorable view of the U.S. had nearly tripled, jumping to 44 percent. In addition, information from the well-respected Indonesian Survey Institute showed that "support for Bin Laden and terrorism has dropped to its lowest level since 9/11." Finally, the ISI reported that Indonesians with a "very unfavorable" view of the U.S. had fallen to just 13 percent—down from 48 percent prior to the tsunami. Conclusion In closing, I think it is important to make the observation that the Father of lies, Satan, makes it his business to destroy the church. He does so by accusing the brothers and by trying to wreak division and disunity in the Body of Christ. To the degree that the church maintains strong fellowship, the devil loses. What I am saying is that in our grandest endeavor as a church—overcoming the forces of darkness, there is little that is more important than maintaining healthy unity. Do your part. Bill Donahue and Russ Robinson have written a fine little book, Walking the Small Group Tightrope (Zondervan), and in the preface they include this Jean Vanier quote: "We must never forget that Satan is the adversary of love and community. He hates communities where people are growing in love and in the knowledge of Jesus. He does everything he can to sow discord, to create divisions, and finally to destroy community." Back at the turn of the century, there was a plague of locusts in the Plains of the United States. In a matter of a few days that swarm of locusts swept over the states of Nebraska, Iowa, and Kansas. In less than a week, they did over five hundred million dollars' worth of damage (in the currency of that time). Locusts don't have a king to get them organized. They don't have a draft board to call them into ranks. By instinct the locust knows it has to be in community with other locusts. When that occurs, they are able to topple kingdoms. The wisdom of the locust is the wisdom that tells us we must have community. There is a small, weasel-like animal called the ichneumon. It can overcome and destroy a venomous snake of over a yard long. It is said that the ichneumon attacks a snake only when it is near a certain plant whose leaves contain an antidote for snake bite. When bitten, the little creature immediately retreats to the life-saving plant and nibbles its leaves. It is restored and ready to renew the attack. Each time it is bitten, it goes to the plant and then returns to fight the enemy.     [Back to Top]