REVOLUTIONARY SIMPLICITY: COMRADESHIP AND CAMARADERIE, PART 3

REVOLUTIONARY SIMPLICITY: COMRADESHIP AND CAMARADERIE, PART 3 Selected Scriptures September 7, 2008 Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Introduction After prayer for the children and before the message, run “one anothers” ppt w/ music (selection #3 on Double Portion’s “Instrumentally Yours” CD) (includes slides 1-25) The teaching about the relationships that people in the Lord's church are to have with one another is so pervasive in the New Testament and so central to what it means to be the Lord's Church, that it would almost be heresy not to dust off this teaching and reintroduce the body of Christ to it every so often. The earliest church, from the emergent group of Pentecost converts into the early centuries fell into a pattern of meeting together that caught on right away and, for most of the church’s healthiest history, never really changed. Repeatedly in the book of Acts we find this pattern: they met in larger public assemblies (wherever they could: temple courts, borrowed halls and so on), and also in smaller house fellowships. Let’s read a couple of key passages together. Please give attention to the screen. 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 "Sunday-mornings-only" approach is like a bird trying to fly with only one wing. Acts 2:46-47 - 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 5:42 - Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ. Acts 20:20 - You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but taught you publicly and from house to house An interesting anecdotal observation on church history is that the spiritual health and vitality of the church (in terms of evangelism and spiritual nurture) suffered as the church moved in the direction of emphasizing large public meetings in their own church buildings to the relative exclusion of the smaller group gatherings. On the other hand, during times of persecution and political pressure, when the church’s public meetings were forbidden, and the church was driven “underground,” it grew more vigorous and converts multiplied. Witness, the church in China, where under Communist persecution in the past several decades the church has grown phenomenally from mere hundreds to an estimated 90 million Christians. And that in a country where believers meeting in homes still have to close the windows and squelch their singing as they worship so they’ll not to be heard and imprisoned. We as a congregation, a part of the Lord’s church historic and world-wide, have made a commitment to do our best to recapture this modality of the two-pronged approach. We recently updated the wording in our Mission & Vision Statement. I want to invite you to read aloud with me the Mission and Vision of MECF Show slides Life Groups are Plan A for getting the ministry done at MECF. And there is no Plan B. That means, if you identify with MECF, but fail to engage in small group ministry, you are missing out on over 50% of what we are about, in terms of overall ministry. “Christian community is life blood for the Christian who is desirous to serve Christ to the best of his ability” The calling of every Christian relationship is to help one another toward being remade in the image of Christ. Paul said the goal of his ministry was to present everyone perfect in Christ (Colossians 1:28), and that every believer has put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. (Colossians 3:10) Peter says our goal is to participate in the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). We are each one being transformed into his likeness with every-increasing glory (2 Corinthians 3:18). And the Lord knew we would need lots of help in this process, so in addition to His inexhaustible Word and His indwelling Spirit, He has graciously placed us in His incomparable family. Ministry thrives in healthy relationships. We all need help to beat sin, to effectively disciple others to and in the Lord, and to grow to maturity in Christ. Dr. F. Eppling Reinartz used to say that people would often speak to him about their church. They would point out to him how they had a tireless pastor or an outstanding preacher; they would point to their new impressive facilities; in some instances they liked to brag about the fact that they had the largest budget in the church'' history and it was being overpaid. But Dr. Reinartz said that the most moving word he ever heard said about the church came from an elderly lady who told him, "I love this church. When a person joins it, from that moment on they never have to bear another burden alone." The problem is, you can belong to a church, but never have the kind of relationship with the others around you wherein that kind of peace and trust are fostered. If you’re in a church of more than 30 people, your church is too large. Oh, it’s not too large for Sunday morning worship, and certainly not too large to run some fine programs (in fact, the bigger the better when it comes to programs!). But if you have not found a few or even a couple of close comrades in the faith, with whom you share a deep and meaningful trust relationship, your church is too big. You need to create a small group experience for the other critically important dimension of the Christian life. Let me ask you, Christian. Do you have such a group? I want to encourage you in the Name of the Christ you serve, whose family you have joined through His grace, whose Temple you are by virtue of His indwelling Spirit, and whose Body you are an integral part of, find one. In that small group context you can find the level Christian relationship that will help you carry on your life of faith in the healthy, productive manner the Lord intended for you. There you can find a place to learn, to grow, to serve, to be encouraged when discouraged, directed when confused, corrected when wrong and challenged when lethargic in your faith. You were never intended to live the Christian life on your own, outside the context of Christian community. Many try to do that—some by doing Sunday mornings, but effectively avoiding any meaningfully deep relationships, others by avoiding even the most impersonal church contact. But if the New Testament’s radical emphasis on Christians being in genuine, edifying relationships means anything at all, such a faith life is religious at best, and lethal to vibrant faith. However, I can almost hear many of you saying, “Well, Pastor, that might be fine for you, the early Church, and maybe a handful of people at MECF, but that’s not for me. Number one, I don’t have the time—I’m just too busy to commit to another 90-minute obligation every week. Besides, I’m a private person, and I could never bear my soul to others no matter how small or how nice the group may be. And on top of that, I’ve studied the Bible for years, and I’m just not sure I need any more group study.” Can you picture yourself saying that to Jesus, the Lord of the Church? I worry that our busy-ness is more like idolatry than a convincing rationalization. I worry that our shroud of privacy is more a cocoon the devil has sewn us into, and that his plan is to keep us from ever getting the relational cure that alone can heal us and deliver us into a place of growth. I worry that a modicum of Bible knowledge might have us puffed us up with deadly pride. Trying to convince the Lord you don’t need any more of His Word and anymore of His people seems a precarious thing indeed. A woman went to a pet store and was impressed by the store owner’s guarantee that a parrot he displayed would talk. She bought the parrot and took him home. For days on end she tried to coax the parrot to say Polly want a cracker or just anything at all. Frustrated she went back to the store and complained about the parrot. The store owner said she needed a swing for the bird cage. “No parrot will ever talk without a swing.” She bought it and took it home for her bird. But he still wouldn’t talk. Another trip to the pet store. The owner said, “Well, you have a swing and that’s important. Do you have a bell for the parrot?” No, she didn’t, but she bought one and took it home. Hours later she was back. The parrot still wasn’t talking. “I forgot to tell you, the parrot needs a mirror in the cage. They just love to look at themselves, and that’ll get him chatting.” A week went by, and the owner happened to see the woman walking by his store, so he stopped her and asked how the parrot was doing. “Oh, he died the other day.” “I’m so sorry. I’m curious, did he ever talk for you?” “Yes, as a matter of fact, with his dying breath he said, ‘Do they have any bird seed down at that store?’” The Bible seems to be saying that being in a smaller, more intimate group of fellow believers where relational holiness can flourish is precisely where we can get fed—right where God wants us. Too many are hiding behind a religious veneer of sterile, non-relational weekly ritual. There is more. If you think that I’m just trying to get you into a Life Group, you’re right. Because I am convinced it is the perfect environment for Christian growth. But I don’t want to shame you into anything. If you cannot honestly see from the Word of God how such an environment could exponentially help you in your walk with Christ, then don’t attend a Life Group. But, if you see the biblical and practical value of getting yourself into a context of spiritual, growing relationships is the God’s will for your life, then obey Him. Healthy Small Groups help us become who we are called to be, give us a trusting, caring environment of nurture and growth, and provide a safe, convenient venue for ministry among others. 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 Life Group ministry 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 you to minister to others, 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 a Life Group and start the adventure. • Are you just tired of the trappings of cultural churchianity and you're ready to discover something of the vitality 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 Life Group. 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, there is the potential for life-changing fellowship." OTHER QUESTIONS Do I meet regularly and intentionally with others for Bible study, and/or worship, and/or prayer, and/or mutual ministry, and/or witness/outreach? Do any of my comrades know they have my permission to speak straightforwardly into my life about my walk with Christ? Would I be offended or grateful if one of them pointed out a sin in my life? Do I have their permission to speak straightforwardly into their lives about their walk with Christ? Am I reasonably certain that I could point out a sin in one of their lives without losing a friend? Have I grown in my Christian life as a result of my relationship with these comrades in the past 3 months? Do I honestly expect to grow in the next 3 months as a result of my relationship with this group? Are my comrades and I sincerely involved in “one-anothering” behaviors per the New Testament admonitions? Do we love, bless, serve, confront, encourage, help, honor, teach, inspire and receive the same from one another on a regular basis? Do my comrades and I “get down to business” with one another when we meet, resisting the temptation to stay mired in small talk? Have I recently openly and lovingly inquired about their families, their jobs, their plans and dreams? Are my comrades and I sincerely open to reaching others and drawing them into our fellowship and/or the larger church family? Quite simply, are we being the church?     [Back to Top]