Wait for Each Other

This morning is the second and final part of a series that started with Josh’s sermon last week on the Lord’s Supper. Last week, we looked at the importance of storytelling. How, when we get together as families, for special occasions, sooner or later someone will go down memory lane. That’s what we did, gathered together as a family, God’s family, remembering Jesus’ death.

It’s important to remember the good things in life.

It’s important to remember the great things God has done. In the Beyond Sunday blog post, Josh encouraged everyone to read about other moments of remembrance, such as the memory stones the Israelites gathered from the middle of the Jordan River and piled up on the shore. Years later, while walking past the stones, a child might ask, “Mom, why are there twelve stones piled up there?” “Well, my daughter, it’s quite amazing. Years and years ago now, God led our people out of the wilderness and we crossed the river right here. Even though the river was in flood stage, God caused it to pile up somewhere else and we crossed over, all twelve tribes, more than 2 million people crossed on dry ground. Those stones were taken from the middle of the river, before God let the water flow back again. Those stones remind us that God is for us. That God leads the way, that God makes the impossible possible, for his name sake. And that’s why we praise God!”

This morning, we remembered the incredible sacrifice Jesus made for us. Just as the blood of the lamb spared the Israelites who sprinkled it on the doorposts and lintels from the angel of death, those who receive Christ’s blood, the blood of the true lamb of God , are spared from the angel of death. To all who receive Christ by faith, everlasting life courses through their veins.

Just as we learned from the Israelites who passed down the story of their salvation from slavery in Egypt, today we learn from the Christians who gathered in Corinth to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, just like we did this morning.

Well, not exactly like we did this morning. There was a problem in that church. The Corinthians weren’t waiting for each other. Each was insisting on his or her own way.

The Corinthian church, the Christians back then were not so different from you and from me. They had hopes and dreams. They wanted their kids to do well in school. They were concerned about the influence of the world upon them. They were concerned about the tablets that were all the rage: you could write or draw on them with a charcoal stick, wash it off, and then write something new five minutes later. It was called Drawchat or Instantgram or something.

While the Corinthian church may have been doing well in the doctrine department, they weren’t doing so well in the living department.

The Corinthians were not recognising the body of Christ. Oh, no, don’t get me wrong. They understood who Jesus was, and what he’d done for them. They were remembering him well. They knew he died on the cross and paid for all their sins. They knew they were forever right with God. But they weren’t living this newness in church.

When Jesus died on the cross, he tore the veil of separation. Not only did he destroy the veil that separated us from God, he destroyed the veil that separated people from people.

How do people separate themselves? By race. By gender. By riches, by power, by performance, by status, by just about anything you can think of.

Christ ripped it all apart. In Christ, no one is anything more or less than a child of God. Does God care that you made more or less money than your coworker, sibling, neighbour? Does God care that you scored more goals, more baskets than another player? Does God care that you think you look better at 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, than your neighbour? Does God care about how you dress? Aren’t the lilies of the field arrayed more splendidly?

Eugene Peterson, in his book, Practicing Resurrection, he states that we live in a competitive world. We are born into comparing ourselves to others, by height, weight, looks, abilities, you name it. Think about your morning. Did you compare your vehicle to someone else’s? Did you compare your looks with another? Did you think more highly of yourself than you ought?

That’s what was going on in Corinth! They weren’t waiting for each other. They weren’t honouring each other. The rich honoured themselves by eating first, and most of the food, even though they had full refrigerators at home. They dishonoured the poor by giving them the barest leftovers and keeping them outside in the courtyard!

This and any kind of division is wrong in Christ’s family. We are all sons of God and co-heirs with Christ. Women and men, children and adults, all are equal in Christ. Whether you are First Nation, Honduran, Chinese, Kenyan, Dutch, German, Canadian, whatever, all are equal who are in Christ. In this way, we reflect the perfect unity, and diversity, of the Trinity, Father, Son & Holy Spirit.

God shows us how this is supposed to work in the short letter Paul wrote to Philemon. Read it this afternoon, it’s one chapter long. Philemon owned a slave, Onesimus. Onesimus was born a slave, his name means useful—wishful thinking on his parent’s part? Onesimus wasn’t very useful to Philemon because he ran away. But God led him to Paul. He served Paul and became a Christian. Paul sent him back to his slave owner, Philemon, along with a letter, the book of the Bible called Philemon.

In the letter Paul instructs Philemon to receive Onesimus back because he is now useful to him. He is a brother in Christ. By law, Philemon was permitted to do whatever he wanted with Onesimus. But by Christ’s law, Philemon was bound to accept him as an equal, a brother in Christ. He couldn’t do whatever the Greek law said he could do, he was bound by a greater law, the law of love in Christ.

With many masterful words of conviction, Paul encourages Philemon to live and to act by the power and law of love in Christ. Paul didn’t have to tell Philemon what to do. He trusted the Holy Spirit’s work in Philemon. It also helped that the letter was read aloud to everyone in their church.

The law of love in Christ causes us to wait for each other. It considers others, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, grandparents, grandchildren, employees, employers, teachers, students, prisoner, free, same race, different race, employed, unemployed, home full, homeless, all people as equal. Those who are in Christ and those who are not. Those who are being obedient, and those who are not—but we encourage everyone to live obedient lives of gratitude.

Now, then, how do we do this?

How do we recognise the body of Christ, those around this space? Do we consider ourselves more highly or less highly than we ought? Do we defer to ourselves, or to others? Do we submit ourselves to Christ? Do we lay down our lives, our preferences, our desires for others, for the person beside me? What does it look like to lay ourselves down? What does it look like to remember Jesus laying down his life for you, for me?

It wasn’t beneath Jesus to wash his disciples feet. It isn’t beneath any one of us to serve each other. Oh, that we would, more and more, strive to out serve one another! Oh, that it would be that instead of wondering if we will get enough, enough, volunteers, financial gifts, time, talents, instead of wondering if, we were like, “we have too many! Too many volunteers, too much gifts, too much talents, too much time, we need to find more things to do!

Guess what? It starts with you. It starts today.

By faith Christ makes the impossible possible. By faith we receive the fact that our sins are forgiven, and by faith we receive Christ’s righteousness. By faith we know that we are no longer slaves to sin, but are now set free to really truly live!

By faith, we lay down our lives first for Christ, then for Christ’s body, the church. But not just the church present here, or gathered for worship in other buildings. For the church that is yet to come to Christ, whom Jesus has called, and is waiting for us to invite them to know him!

So, when you sing the next two songs, you are responding to God’s call. Mean the words you sing. Humble yourself before your creator God. By faith receive Christ, by faith lay down your life, as gratitude for Jesus, who laid down his life for us.

In this way, you will wait for one another, letting others go ahead of you, sacrificing yourself for others. Amen.