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The Imperfect Church – 32
The Welcoming Church
Introduction
carry a very interesting story in the history of ancient Israel.
The Northern Kingdom’s capital city of Samaria is under siege by the nation of Aram.
That siege, which cut off all support and supplies, lasted so long that it produced a devastating famine.
- 24 Some time later, however, King Ben-hadad of Aram mustered his entire army and besieged Samaria.
25 As a result, there was a great famine in the city.
The siege lasted so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty pieces of silver, and a cup of dove’s dung sold for five pieces of silver.
26 One day as the king of Israel was walking along the wall of the city, a woman called to him, “Please help me, my lord the king!” 27 He answered, “If the Lord doesn’t help you, what can I do?
I have neither food from the threshing floor nor wine from the press to give you.”
28 But then the king asked, “What is the matter?”
She replied, “This woman said to me: ‘Come on, let’s eat your son today, then we will eat my son tomorrow.’
29 So we cooked my son and ate him.
Then the next day I said to her, ‘Kill your son so we can eat him,’ but she has hidden her son.”
That’s about as bad as it gets.
It finally gets so bad as people are waiting to die, that an unlikely group decides to do something about it.
Four lepers get tired of waiting and decide to surrender themselves to Aram.
The Arameans may kill them, but, they argue, they’re going to die anyway.
The risk is worth it.
Perhaps they’ll accept our surrender and give us food.
What they don’t know is that the siege has already ended.
God had already defeated the enemy on Israel’s behalf.
But no one had heard the good news yet.
God had thrown the Arameans into a panic, thinking they were being attacked by a huge army, and had fled so quickly, they left behind their tents, supplies, and food.
Only when the lepers get there do they see what’s happened.
- 8 When the men with leprosy arrived at the edge of the camp, they went into one tent after another, eating and drinking wine; and they carried off silver and gold and clothing and hid it.
It’s party city for them!
They have all the food, wine, wealth they want.
More than they could ever need.
They even start hiding it.
That is when we realize this is the most selfish, unloving thing they could do.
The entire city of Samaria behind them is in desperate need.
They are dying.
And these four lepers are living the good life, choosing to ignore the suffering around them.
Finally, it dawns on them that they need to do something.
- 9 Finally, they said to each other, “This is not right.
This is a day of good news, and we aren’t sharing it with anyone!
If we wait until morning, some calamity will certainly fall upon us.
Come on, let’s go back and tell the people at the palace.”
10 So they went back to the city and told the gatekeepers what had happened.
“We went out to the Aramean camp,” they said, “and no one was there!
The horses and donkeys were tethered and the tents were all in order, but there wasn’t a single person around!” 11 Then the gatekeepers shouted the news to the people in the palace.
“This is not right…” Duh!
People around you are dying and you have what they need to live.
You have to go share it with them.
And that’s what they do.
They announce the good news throughout the city.
The army is gone!
The enemy has been defeated!
The whole city rushes out to the camp and eat their fill.
There is celebration, joy, hope.
All because four lepers told them the good news.
What if they hadn’t told anyone?
What if they decided to keep the good news to themselves?
Here is the harsh reality: if these lepers stay there and not tell anyone, the city dies.
They waste away, starving to death, without hope.
All because no one told them that God has already saved them.
All because no one told them God has already defeated the enemy.
Man, this sounds familiar.
“This is the day of good news and we aren’t sharing it with anyone!”
I know too many churches who could etch that over their doorways.
I know too many Christians who have adopted this as their life verse.
As Christians, we’ve discovered the empty camp.
We know where to have our hunger satisfied and our thirst quenched.
We know the enemy has been defeated and that God has saved us.
How could we keep that to ourselves?
This is the source of our hope.
We have victory.
God has done something great for us in Jesus.
What we come to understand is that once we’ve experienced this, it’s not right to keep that to ourselves.
We have to tell others.
We have to share that good news.
This is Paul’s point as we close out 1 Corinthians today.
Once people Discover Grace, are forgiven of their sins, live defined by hope…the next step is NOT to turn our backs on the world and close out people who don’t share our new beliefs.
How selfish!
How ungodly!
How so very much un-Christlike!
Just as we need grace, so do they; just as we are sinners in need of forgiveness, so are they.
Let’s read the rest of and see how God has called the church to be a Welcoming Church.
- 5 I am coming to visit you after I have been to Macedonia, for I am planning to travel through Macedonia.
6 Perhaps I will stay awhile with you, possibly all winter, and then you can send me on my way to my next destination.
7 This time I don’t want to make just a short visit and then go right on.
I want to come and stay awhile, if the Lord will let me.
8 In the meantime, I will be staying here at Ephesus until the Festival of Pentecost.
9 There is a wide-open door for a great work here, although many oppose me.
10 When Timothy comes, don’t intimidate him.
He is doing the Lord’s work, just as I am.
11 Don’t let anyone treat him with contempt.
Send him on his way with your blessing when he returns to me.
I expect him to come with the other believers.
12 Now about our brother Apollos—I urged him to visit you with the other believers, but he was not willing to go right now.
He will see you later when he has the opportunity.
13 Be on guard.
Stand firm in the faith.
Be courageous.
Be strong.
14 And do everything with love.
15 You know that Stephanas and his household were the first of the harvest of believers in Greece, and they are spending their lives in service to God’s people.
I urge you, dear brothers and sisters, 16 to submit to them and others like them who serve with such devotion.
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