No Strings Attached

Focus Statement

The gifts given by the Spirit are not to be used only in the local church community,

but also to bless the wider community.

Point of Relation

I’ve been recently reflecting on the impact of our congregation on the wider community.

Every pastor, if they’re worth their weight in gold, makes such assessments regularly.

This week I was in the office with Kathleen when I asked her the following question:

When, in recent years, has our congregation been a blessing to the wider community?

Kathleen, thinking about it for a moment, came up with some really good answers:

We bless the community in small but significant ways...

1) People such as Denny, Alice, Evie and others who volunteer their time at Manna House and Treasures of Hope...

Speaking of Treasures of Hope…Let’s not forget Linda, Rhonda, Bob, the Eberharts, the Harts, Bill Miller and others who have blessed the wider community through that ministry!

2) UNITY CHOIR:

This not only blesses the people who yearn to worship God through music and come to experience the UNITY CHOIR CONCERTS

This also blesses singers in smaller churches across the region...

Who get to be a part of a larger, more professional, choir.

I also thought of some ways in which we have blessed the wider community...

1) Continually supporting the Weekend Bag Program...

And we’ll soon be partnering with Benny’s Bodega as well.

2) We’ve brought educational opportunities by partnering with SCCC and hosting debates and other educational forums.

When we hosted the Climate Change Debate...

Several people emailed, called, and wrote to thank us for being bold enough to encourage dialog on important issues.

3) Oh, and let’s not forget the fact that we made cards and masks and donated them to our frontline workers at Newton Medical Center...

and we participated in a District-wide car- honking parade at Bristol Glen.

Things To Consider

We all have a sense of what makes a community welcoming

and what a difference a welcoming community can make.

Hopefully, most of us have experienced this welcome firsthand.

For instance, when people go above and beyond, are genuine,

when the generosity of others draws us in and invites us to learn about Christ...and faith

For example...

I was sitting out in a public space having a conversation with someone I didn’t really know...

Just listening to them tell me what they were dealing with...

And I just listened…no strings attached…

Because I actually care.

When they asked what I did, I shared I was a pastor...

and they were suddenly finding themselves being cared for spiritually...

And truth be told, anytime we listen to people…hear them…empathize with them...

We are caring for them spiritually.

This person felt welcomed and articulated that they may even show up one day!

How awesome would that be!

Sadly, some of us may know what a welcoming community is like

because we have experienced its opposite.

In today’s scripture, we get a picture of the earliest Christian community

and the way it blessed the broader community.

What the Bible Says

Some of us have become accustomed to thinking of our churches as places we go to get our fill on religion, spirituality, or inspiration,

similarly to the way we go to the grocery store for food or the cinema for entertainment.

We see our involvement and offerings to the church as a way to keep it up and running - “open for business.”

As long as the customers (members) are happy, that is what matters.

In part, this is a byproduct of the way our society works.

We think that the Church is somehow on the FREE MARKET.

If that is the way you think of the Church, I have news for you...

To harken back to my Rock and Roll Series based off of songs by Bon Jovi...

This House IS NOT For Sale! Amen!

The picture of the earliest church in Acts is radically different from that.

The people’s faith was not a small part of their lives.

They were “all in.”

This is clear in the way they devoted themselves to the church community –

to the apostles’ teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayers (v.42), by living together, and sharing what they had, and providing for everyone’s needs (v.44-45).

This doesn’t mean people stopped working or having personal lives.

They were “all in” for God, which meant God was in everything they did.

Verse 46 says they didn’t just worship in the temple;

the people praised God at home and in fellowship through meals shared together.

Because of the way the Christians lived their faith,

people in the community witnessed the power of the Spirit working through them.

They were a blessing to the wider community – the passage says they had “the goodwill of all the people.”

The church was not just tolerated or respected in the community,

it was well-liked, to the extent that people were drawn to become part of it:

“day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.”

This undoubtedly had to do with the way the people of the church used their gifts to help bring others to faith.

We get a picture of a community that finds joy in generosity (v.46).

This we can see in Deuteronomy 14:28-29 as well, how God’s people are called to be present in and to their communities, to focus not only on their own sustainability, but on serving others. In that passage it says:

28 “At the end of every third year, bring the entire tithe of that year’s harvest and store it in the nearest town. 29 Give it to the Levites, who will receive no allotment of land among you, as well as to the foreigners living among you, the orphans, and the widows in your towns, so they can eat and be satisfied. Then the Lord your God will bless you in all your work.

Remember from the first sermon, The Risk,

“We serve a God who went “all in,” not just for us, but for the whole world (John 3:16).

We are called to do the same.

What This Means For You

What does it mean for our congregation to have goodwill for all people?

How often the generosity of the church seems like it has strings attached!

In our generosity, are we considering the goodwill of all people, or thinking of ourselves?

We can continue to expand the way we worship, they people we interact with, and the people we serve.

What’s more, we should “all in” for God wherever we find ourselves (whether at home, work, church, in relationships etc.).

How can your life reflect the love of God and draw people towards the community of faith?

What This Means For Us

The early Christians in Acts were all in.

What steps does your congregation need to take to be all in?

It is important to acknowledge that going all in involves taking risks,

and putting aside what we know and are used to.

With that said, if we take those risks together, with our LORD JESUS CHRIST, there is nothing that will stop us from accomplishing what God wants accomplished.

What’s more, there’s no telling what eternal impact our church will have on the lives of those in our community!

Are you willing to go ALL IN for Jesus? If so, let’s do this together in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen? Amen!