Community #6 Holy Spirit

BEING THE COMMUNITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

 

Around the world today the church is celebrating Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit has always been, but on that particular day when Peter stood up to preach, the Holy Spirit came to dwell permanently in the body of believers. Without the Spirit there would not be a church.

            As I contemplated how to teach about the Holy Spirit and his relationship to the community of faith, I was at a loss to pick a passage of Scripture to achieve this. I flipped through various verses; I tried the concordance using “Spirit” as a guide; I was stuck. I put my head down in weariness and did what I should have done in the first place – I prayed. I asked the Spirit to show me how to teach about his role in our lives.

            Moments later I lifted my head and turned to a verse that spoke of the Spirit. Then I looked at the letter that verse is found in. Suddenly it dawned on me what the Spirit was showing me. Paul was teaching this community exactly what I wanted to teach you today – what the role of the Holy Spirit is in their midst.

            Ephesus was the community in question. And I found ten verses/passages that spoke to what the Holy Spirit does in the church. Ephesians can be divided into two parts: the first part (1-3) speaks to who we are in Christ through the Spirit, and the second part (4-6) speaks to what the church does in the Spirit.

            Join me in Ephesians for a sketch of the letter that highlights the work of the Holy Spirit in the community of faith.

 

1. What the Spirit does to a community

 

In the first half of Ephesians we find some very positional material regarding our status in Christ. Our position in Christ through whom God chose us to be adopted into his family is made secure by the Holy Spirit. This is how the Spirit works in us. Keep in mind that when Paul says “you” he is talking to the community, not individuals.

a) A sign that we belong to God – The first thing we are told about the Spirit is that his presence in our lives is a sign that we belong to God. Paul wrote, “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory,” (1:13-14).

            There are some very key theological pieces in this statement. Since Paul is talking to non-Jews about a Jew who came to save Jews from sin and death, he is very careful to say they were included in this salvation. Then Paul connects the word of the truth or the gospel with the presence of the Holy Spirit. That is to say, when the Ephesians heard the gospel and believed it, then the Spirit came to dwell in them.

            We can take this personally as well. When you believed in Jesus, the Spirit came into your life. However, this presence has a corporate implication. When you believed in Jesus you became part of his body, his family, and it is the family that the Spirit is most felt in.

            We have this Spirit, this third person of the Godhead, as a deposit guaranteeing our salvation. He is the mark of God’s ownership of us, the seal that says we are his. One writer said that the Holy Spirit is like an engagement ring. We are promised as Christ’s bride and the ring guarantees there will be a wedding. That is the beginning work of the Spirit in us.

b) A fuller knowledge of Christ – The Spirit is not just a presence or an aura or some ambiguous shadow. He is a person with a focused task.

            In Paul’s first prayer for the Ephesians he says, “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better,” (1:17). The Spirit’s job is to help us to know God better. He brings life to our spirits so that we may reach up and begin to understand God. The Spirit opens the eyes of the mind, the understanding of the heart, and makes known to us the glorious fact that Jesus accomplished our salvation, and that it is only through faith that we can possess this gift of God. Through the Spirit we get Jesus; that is, we comprehend Jesus.

            Paul later writes about his letter, “In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets,” (3:4-5). The Spirit is the Spirit of revelation. When you read the words of Paul and other writers of the Bible you understand what you are reading because of the Spirit at work in you. When you do not understand it is the Spirit you should call on to reveal to you the meaning of truth.

            Since this is written to a community, I must add that the understanding of Holy Scripture is not the task of one person but of the community. That is why we gather around the word like we are doing this morning. The church interprets the Bible, not the individual.

c) A community that reflects Christ – When we come to understand what Christ has done on the cross, how he has achieved forgiveness for all our sins, our focus turns to each other. The beginning of chapter 2 explains how it is by grace we have been saved. That same chapter concludes by showing how two natural enemies have been reconciled by the cross.

            “He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit,” (2:17-18). Jews and Gentiles were naturally hostile to each other; Jews because of their spiritual elitism looked down on pork-eating Gentiles. Christ came to make one new race out of the two, a race that belongs to God.

            Paul illustrates this new community with a house, “And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit,” (2:22). God would not live in a house divided; it does not reflect his harmony or unity. God rebuilds the house, he renovates it to suit his tastes. That house on first street (across from Fasts’ house) looks like the parts don’t fit quite right (I’ve called it a “conglomeration”). God takes the house in question and makes its many parts look like they have always belonged.

            This is what he does with the church. The Spirit works to renovate us into a building where each part belongs and fits so that God will live in us, as it were. Together we have access to the Father through the Spirit; the Father dwells among us as one people by his Spirit. That is why reconciliation is so important for us as the people of God.

d) An enduring faith in Christ – Paul’s second prayer for the Ephesians includes this request, “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith,” (3:16-17).

            So the Spirit is an empowering presence in our lives. This does not refer to the ability to work miracles but more so to the power that enables us to be God’s people in this world.

            The Spirit works in our “inner being” to produce the likeness of God’s character in our lives. He helps us to live out the life of Christ together as one people dedicated to his gospel. That inner being is not some personal consciousness or intellectual assent to God’s existence. Our inner being is the place where our moral compass is found, that directs us to decisions that reflect God.

            Within the context of this prayer (we actually talked about last Sunday) we find that it is part of a request to know the love of God better. Again, the Spirit’s work in us is to take that love of God and make it more than something we agree with. The Spirit is the One who helps us to feel loved and to know that the love of God can be experienced.

            This work is happening as we sit here. The Holy Spirit is making us a church right now in this place.

2. What the Community does in the Spirit

 

Not only does the Spirit of God work in us, we have a responsibility to work with the Spirit. The second half of the letter to the Ephesians speaks to that work.

a) Keeps the unity of the church – While the Spirit works to reconcile people and bring people who were formerly not of God into the people of God, we have the task of keeping the unity of the body intact.

                Paul said, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit – just as you were called to one hope when you were called – one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and in all,” (4:3-6).

            There is a reminder in these words of what our core values are as a people of God. And this goes beyond just KEMC; it begs us to consider these truths with all churches in our geographical area and the rest of the world.

            What’s important? There really is only one body – one worldwide church of Christ – and we all belong to it. Denominations will one day melt away and the people of God will stand as one. There is one Spirit for all the churches of Christ. There is only one Lord Jesus and one baptism into his name. There is only one God who reigns over the church.

            How do we keep the unity then? Verses 2-3 speak to this challenge. How do you care for someone who doesn’t like you? Or a person who likes music you don’t? Or a person who opposes you and frustrates your dreams? Paul’s answer: be lowly in spirit so that you can patiently endure their differences. A person who humbles themselves is keenly aware of his or her debt toward God and of the amazing grace that saved a wretch like them.

            At the end of this chapter Paul adds, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption,” (4:30). Much has been said about what this means, even debated. Considering the context of this chapter, we grieve the Spirit when we fail to keep the unity of the church. The sins described in this chapter destroy relationships within the community of faith. Sins that divide destroy the body come from Satan; to continue in them is to grieve the Spirit.

            Rather we are to “be filled with the Spirit,” (5:18). When we are filled with the Spirit we are filled with the character of Christ. And as we take on the behavior of Jesus we will care about others in the body.

b) Battles for the souls of men and women – As we strive for the unity of the church, we battle for the lives of those who do not know Christ.

            Paul describes this spiritual warfare language, using armor as an illustration. Most of the items are of a defensive nature, but the last items are offensive. Paul writes, “Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,” (6:17).

            Normally Paul would use the word “logos” to denote the Word of God; here he uses “rhema.” Logos refers to the content of the gospel. So the sword of the Spirit is not the Bible per se. Rhema gives emphasis to that which is spoken. The sword of the Spirit then is the proclamation of Christ.

            It is when we speak up that the sword of the Spirit is activated. It is when we dare to speak the name of Jesus to a hurting friend as the One who can make her whole that the Spirit is at work. In our attempts to share the love of Jesus the Spirit moves in ways we cannot imagine to transform hearts and minds. If only we would speak up…

            Another way we battle for the souls of men and women together with the Spirit is through prayer. “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, keep on praying for all the saints,” (6:18).

            Prayer is connected to this section as a weapon that helps us in our conflict with Satanic powers. Spirit-inspired praying with Spirit-empowered proclamation is how we take on the enemy of our souls.

            Gordon Fee says that prayer is not simply our grocery list of requests, our feeble prayers spoken in weakness; prayer is not simply our cry of desperation, it is an activity inspired by God himself through his Holy Spirit. It is God siding with his people, and by his empowering presence, the Spirit of God himself bringing forth prayer that is in keeping with God’s will and his ways.

            I often struggle with how to pray, or what to pray. I find myself wrestling with getting the right words and the right attitude in prayer. Some days prayer comes easy. Whether you struggle in prayer or sail through it, the important thing to remember is that is when we are on our knees that the Spirit works through our intercession for others to save them and make them his own. He doesn’t care about fancy theological words or poetic entreaties; God simply wants the cries of your heart.

 

I have given you the ten verses of the letter of Ephesians that described the Holy Spirit. I encourage you to go back this week and study each one in its context and pray over them. I challenge you to invite the Holy Spirit to do this work in you as an individual and in our community of faith. Consider how you might let the Spirit use you in these areas.

            The same Holy Spirit who came at Pentecost with tongues of fire and a mighty rushing wind is present with us in KEMC and in the worldwide church of Christ. This same Spirit wants to fill you with understanding of Christ and make you like Jesus in your walk in life.

            So I repeat the admonition of Paul, “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” Be filled with the Spirit. This is my prayer for you and me.

 

                                                                        AMEN

           

Community #5

EXPERIENCING GOD’S LOVE IN COMMUNITY

 

A junior high science teacher was lecturing his students on the properties of magnets for an entire class. The next day he gave them a quiz. The first question read like this: “My name begins with ‘M,’ has six letters, and I pick things up. What am I?” Half the kids in the class wrote, “Mother.”

            That perception of “Mother” is reflected in the story of the father who was trying to explain the concept of marriage to his four-year-old daughter. Thinking that photos would help, he pulled out their wedding pictures and showed his little girl how a wedding service worked. When he finished, he asked her if she had any questions. She pointed to a picture of the wedding party and asked, “Daddy, is that when mommy came to work for us?”

            On this day that we honor our mothers, and in keeping with the ongoing theme of our series on community, it is fitting that we recognize that all of us first learn to love at home. While fathers play an important role in the family unit, many of us would gladly confess that we learn what love is from our mothers.

            Why does mom pick up after us? How come she is so willing to let her supper grow cold while making sure the rest of the family has what they need? Love, pure and simple.

            Ideally, the family unit is the primary classroom for experiencing love. Perhaps this is why in the Bible the church is called “the family of God.”

            I read an article recently that stated this point very well. It is this thought that will be our target this morning: We need to realize that it is primarily through body-life and worship that the love of God becomes deeply personal and comprehensible to us.

            This study target is best reinforced by the Prayer for the Ephesians found in Ephesians 3:14-21. Despite the influence of individualism in our society it is in community that we experience God’s love in a family way.

1. We bear God’s family name

 

We are the family of God. When you are part of a family you bear the family name.

            As Paul begins his prayer for the community of believers who live in Ephesus, he says, “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name,” (3:14).

            What’s important about a family name? A family name tells people your origins, where you come from and who your ancestors were. A family name can also be a clue as to what kind of character you have. A family name can tell others where you belong.

            Let’s break this family image down even further:

a) We are the children of God – When we confess that Jesus is the Son of God and that his sacrifice is effective for us to be forgiven, and we accept that God is right and true and we are not, we become children of God.

            John describes this supremely, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 Jn 3:1). This is an amazing statement that we could just bask in all morning if we would allow ourselves. How great is this love that God should call us his children.

            That love is expressed in this truly mind-blowing truth: God did not just want us to be saved from sins, he didn’t just want us to be “OK” before him, he didn’t just want us to live sin-free lives and be happy – God wanted us to join his family. He arranged for our adoption. We were orphans without a father and a mother spiritually speaking. He freed us from the workhouse of sin making shirts for Wal-Mart in a third world country and not just for freedom’s sake but for family’s sake.

            Paul wrote earlier in his letter, “For he chose us in him (that is, Christ) before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his (children) through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will,” (1:4-5).

b) Now we have a Father – I suppose the image of “father” is tough for some people to swallow. Some had absentee fathers growing up, relationally distant fathers, strict fathers, or deadbeat fathers. It is hard to see this father-thing as good then.

            Francis Chan had a difficult father. But in his book Crazy Love he shares a revelation that revolutionizes how we see our Father God despite our earthly fathers – becoming a father. He said he loves his kids so much it hurts. As my own children have grown up before me I find my own love bursting for them as well. I am amazed at them; proud of them; blown away by how God is working in them. If that’s how I feel about them, imagine how our Father in heaven feels about us.

            We have a Father who loves us and calls us his own. “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children,” (Rom 8:15-16).

            I still have a hard time calling God “Daddy.” It seems irreverent. Yet this is what love and familiarity allows in our relationship with God.

c) We have One who is as a Mother to us – One of the criticisms from the Muslims about our religion is that we have a Father but no Mother, and therefore how can we have a Son?

            God is not male or female; He is Spirit. He chooses to reveal himself to us as our Father, and we should honor that. However, since God is the best of everything good we know in the world, he bears all the excellent qualities, including that of motherhood. He loves us like a Father; He also loves us like a Mother.

            Consider this imagery carefully. (Read Isaiah 49:13-16). The people of Israel felt forgotten and forsaken; they felt like God didn’t care anymore about what happened to them. How did God respond? Not with the Father image but the Mother image. Your mother would never forget you, not even when you are old and she is…older yet. And if she did forget you, God says he never would. Again in Isaiah 66:13, the LORD says, “As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you…” The only way my mother would forget me is if she developed Alzheimer’s disease and slowly forgot everything. Like a mother whose heart is so attached to her child, God will never forget you.

 

2. We are rooted in God’s love

 

Paul continues his prayer on this basis – that we are the family of God. We have a Father in heaven that is the best of every parent. He loves us; he is proud of us; he yearns for us – sometimes to come home; he roots and cheers for us; he blesses us and disciplines us.

            “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love…” (3:17). There is a permanence in this love. It is rooted, deeply embedded in God’s heart. It is established, firmly grounded. In other words, it is not a fickle love that dissolves when we get mad at God, or when we disappoint him, or fail to understand his commands. HE KEEPS ON LOVING US. Forever!!

            A friend of mine said to me this week, “There is nothing you can do that will make me stop loving you.” That is really hard to believe. I guess I have trust issues. But the way my friend said this, I have no choice but to believe what he said. And I accept that love.

            “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins,” (1 Jn 4:10). “We love because he first loved us,” (1 Jn 4:19). That’s kind of hard to believe isn’t it? When friends have betrayed you? When you have been dumped in a relationship? How could anyone love broken down old me? God does. He loved you before anyone else did. He made you. He shaped you. He picked your nose (J).

            We think with our heads too much. We are afraid of where our feelings will lead us. I am not talking about superficial, fluffy feelings. I mean deep-seated feelings that have been wounded and scarred. We really need to feel God’s love and let that love drown you.       

            There is a story in the counseling tradition that is fitting. A fish went on a journey to find the ocean. He swam and swam looking for this great water. Whenever another fish would ask where he was going he would tell them of his great quest. Finally, a wise fish said to him, “You know you’re swimming in water, right?”

            God is right here. God’s love is all around us. All we have to do is STOP! And WAIT upon the Lord. Call out to Dad. I need to feel your love.

 

3. We need to grasp the enormity of God’s love

 

It is impossible to grasp the full extent of God’s love. Still, we need to try and fathom what Paul is saying in his prayer.

            “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ…” (3:17-18).

            We need help visualizing this so that we can activate our minds to think about God’s love and greatness. Francis Chan again, in his book Crazy Love, refers to a video we are going to watch now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpChZxPfa-c

            Can you wrap your head around how small we are and how awesome and big God is? Buried in the immense universe is our little planet, and our little selves. God, who holds the universe in the palm of his hand, has chosen to love you and me with the measureless love of his heart. His love exceeds the expanses of the universe.

            The essence of God’s love is, first of all, that he is love, and secondly, that he desires to have you and me in his family.

 

4. We need God’s all-satisfying love

 

What does this have to do with community? God has designed us to experience his love in the midst of community over and above what we can experience on our own. That means that the best way to know God’s love is right here in this church today.

            God chooses to express his perfect love through our dysfunctional and imperfect relationships. It’s like a challenge to God and to us. God audaciously defies human nature and believes we can love each other, even though we are sensitive, easily wounded, offensive and selfish human beings. Our challenge is to let him.

            If we attempt to do this in our own power we will find that we are empty vessels. We will soon discover that our pitcher is dry; I cannot fill you up and give you what you need if I am empty myself.

            That’s why when we come to worship here and look for a little encouragement, a little pick-me-up, sometimes all we find is bickering, criticism and fighting. We have nothing else to give each other.

            Paul prayed that we would, “know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled up to the measure of all the fullness of God,” (3:19).

            Note two very important things here: 1) Paul prayed. We need to pray to God for what we lack; and 2) God does the filling. Our heavenly Father is waiting to pour out his love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5).

            David Benner in his book Surrender to Love writes that the single most important thing he has learned in over thirty years of study of how love produces healing is that love is transformational only when it is received in vulnerability.[i] He says that it is not the fact of being loved unconditionally that is life-changing. Rather it is the risky experience of allowing myself to be loved unconditionally.

            “It is only when I accept who I am that I dare to show you that self in all its vulnerability and nakedness. Only then do I have the opportunity to receive your love in a manner that makes a genuine difference,” Benner says.[ii]

 

            As a church we long to be transformed into a community of love. To be transformed we must meet God in the vulnerability of our sin and shame instead of pretending that we are perfect already or that we are improving ourselves somehow. As we embrace the presence of God’s love we begin to realize that our sin is truly forgiven and our shame melts away.

            How do we experience God’s love in community? Human love communicates divine love. Think of how you feel about your own children. Remember how your mothers loved you. Or perhaps your fathers were exemplary in their compassion and grace. Only God can love you like God can love you. But experiences of human love bring us into an indirect encounter with divine love. They help to make God’s love believable. Hints of unconditional love from humans make the possibility of absolutely unconditional divine love imaginable.

            So here is the challenge: As my friend showed me unconditional love the other day, so must we in this place show unconditional love to those who are in reality our brothers and sisters. Grace. Mercy. Love. Compassion.

            “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God,” (Eph 5:1-2).

           

                                                                        AMEN

---

[i] David Benner, Surrender to Love, p. 76.

[ii] Benner, p. 76.

Communtiy #3

LONGING FOR BELONGING

 

Most people want to belong to something. We want to feel connected to a group or a movement that is bigger than our selves.

            There are several reasons for this: pride in the purpose of the group; acceptance or knowing that this is one place you belong; or the safety of the familiar.

            I was not into sports much as a child and so had never been part of a team. Involvement in sports was discouraged by my parents who felt that teams invariably practiced on Sunday morning. Church came first; sports were sacrificed.

            As an adult I had the opportunity to join a team in the Winnipeg Sponge Puck Hockey League. I can’t tell you what a thrill it was to put on a team jersey with my chosen number on the back. I belonged to a team! I was in a league with 2000 players. I was part of something really big. That was cool.

            Even though I was part of a team there was still a measure of individuality. On the one side was the team name and logo: Freezer Burn. On the other side was my number: 89. And I had a role to play: right wing checker.

            This is a dim picture of the church, the community of faith. Through faith in Christ we become a part of the body of believers while maintaining our individuality. We are part of something bigger than ourselves while playing a unique role that contributes to the good of the whole body.

            As we continue in our series Building Community we want to look at what it means to belong to the community of faith. How does my personal faith connect me to other believers? What does it mean to belong when we are all so different?

            For a backdrop to this study we will base the principles of belonging on 1 Corinthians 12:12-27.

 

 

 

1. “My Faith” and Our Body

 

Having talked about the threat of individualism to community, we continue to see this theme in how we view salvation. Faith in our times has been labeled a private or personal thing. Individualism has made my faith no one else’s business.

            Consider even how the gospel is presented. The following is a typical presentation of the gospel in many churches and university campuses: (see slide).

The Bible says that you have to deal with God as an individual. Your family, friends, or colleagues at work are not the issue here. It is you and God. You have a need for God. Think of the pain you have in your life. Your anxiety and stress come from sin. If you will accept Jesus as your personal Savior, you will be saved. Your sins will be forgiven. You will experience peace within – a peace that will always be with you. When you have problems and difficulties, you will have someone to help you and support you. Not only that, but you will be prepared for heaven. Rather than spending eternity in hell, you will enjoy heaven forever. All you have to do is make a decision. Accept Jesus into your heart. He will meet your needs…

            What do you notice about the way the gospel is presented? There are three critical problems with this witness:

1) It is a very rationalistic approach devoid of a spiritual dynamic process. The decision to receive Jesus is based on God meeting your needs; those needs revolve around problems.

2) God’s role in this conversion is minimal. Decision making has replaced discipleship as the metaphor for conversion. Getting “in” is most important; what you do when you are “in” is not considered.

3) There is no hint of becoming part of a fellowship of believers as being crucial for salvation and growth.

            Such an overly personal version of salvation will create in the new believer a non-communal approach to Christianity. This relationship with Christ is captured best by inner happiness and peace. You gain a lot personally but have little to contribute to the community of faith.[i]

            We don’t read this in the gospels. Biblically, you would be hard-pressed to find such an individualistic reference to the gospel. Conversion to Christ in the NT always leads to participation in the body or community of faith. “For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body… and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many,” (12:13-14).

            Working extensively with community building, Scott Peck describes a community as a “group of individuals who have learned how to communicate honestly with each other, whose relationships go deeper than their masks of composure, and who have developed some significant commitment to ‘rejoice together, mourn together, and to delight in each other, make others’ conditions our own.’” Peck goes on to note that communities are characterized by three qualities: inclusivity, commitment, and consensus.[ii]

 

2. We include every person who follows Jesus

 

While country clubs and various organizations tend to be exclusive, the community of Christ is inclusive. Everyone who loves Jesus belongs to the church family.

            The reality is a little tougher for some folks. Many Christians have stood in church singing, “I’m so glad I’m a part of the family of God,” while feeling terribly lonely and alienated. The question on their minds is, “Do I belong here?”

            This is not unusual. The church in Corinth must have had individuals asking the same question. This is why Paul said earlier that the Spirit baptism drew everyone together – “whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free…” (13). Gentiles felt funny joining a faith that began in Judaism; Jews were uncomfortable hanging out with Gentiles; slaves struggled with the reality of calling their bosses “brother.”

            Paul addressed this with his body metaphor. In contemporary language you might say, “Because I am not a Mennonite I don’t belong to KEMC.” But what does it mean to be a Mennonite? Is this not just a way of viewing Christ and reading his Word? It has nothing to do with your ethnicity or your last name. Wherever believers gather to worship God in Christ’s name, you belong unreservedly.

            A more important question to ask is this: “Do I have something to contribute?” Paul moved our attention from belonging to contributing: so you are not an eye, we need ears too. However, contributing to the body is a major way that you increase the sense of belonging we desire.

            When I first counseled at Bible Camp in my teens I had a strong desire to serve the Lord. What I soon found was that I differed from other counselors. I was not a beach bum; I was not into volleyball; I did not enjoy power-tanning – all major activities of those I worked with. I felt that I did not belong to this group of believers. Worse, I was waiting for them to affirm and invite me into their lives.

            What I failed to realize then is that I had to take a step to get involved in their lives, to find out what was beneath those tanned surfaces. I had something to contribute to their lives by caring for them as individuals.

            Do you belong here? Yes. Do you have something to contribute? Yes, if you are willing to include yourself.

 

3. We are committed to each other

 

We have obvious differences between us. With these differences there is a greater need for commitment. Individualism is counterbalanced by commitment to one another.

            Paul makes five clear statements regarding the requirement to be committed to each other:

a) Independence is not an option (12:21) – Paul’s body metaphor has the eye saying to the hand, “I don’t need you.” But how many times do I need my hand to rub my eyes in a day? Independent eyes are a ridiculous notion. It is equally ridiculous to try and live the Christian life apart from other Christians.

            Christian community is the place of our continuing growth in Christ. As individuals, we work together to become mature in Jesus recognizing spiritual pitfalls, defining sin, and becoming Christlike. We rub off on each other – those we hang out with tend to have that influence. So who is influencing you the most?

b) We need you! (12:22) – The word that stands out in this verse is “indispensible.” No matter how unseen, or unimportant, or weak you see yourself, you are indispensible to the body of believers. You may think that no one notices when you are not here, but they do, and it bothers them – they worry about you, pray for you, think about you. Your very presence here is an encouragement to others whether you know it or not.

c) We are interdependent (12:23-24) – Some people stand out in the church – they just do – they are the ones who lead up front and are visible or verbal at meetings. Others are quiet and blend into the woodwork, but play the unseen role of intercessory prayer. Whatever role you play we are a team, interdependent in the work of the kingdom. Paul wrote, “But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it…” (12:24). God did this; God purposely made us a body that works better together than single stars.

d) Each person is significant (12:25) – I truly wish this were the reality. My prayer is that each person would feel and were treated as significant in this church. Commitment to each other means that we consider every person’s interests as worth exploring and listening to as our own. To feel that you have been heard is such a blessing; it contributes to this point that the body’s parts “should have equal concern for each other.”

e) I feel what you feel (12:26) – I actually admire those people who can cry when others cry, especially when a loved one dies. “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it,” Paul said. There is a powerful witness of the compassion of Christ seen in our mutual interest in these matters. It is commonplace to us, but I believe that those on the outside marvel at how we rejoice with our grads and cry with our people who grieve.

            These five statements of commitment make us a community of hope and healing for those who seek to belong to something real and bigger than themselves. Christian community is the visible expression of the work of God through Jesus Christ, in the church. The message that Christ is here is authenticated by how we love each other (Jn 13:34-35).

 

4. We “consent” to being the body

 

“Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it,” (12:27). Belonging to the body of Christ involves a conscious recognition that your voice is one voice among many. For this reason, decision making does not come through votes but through consensus, a process that has something inherently almost mystical about it.

            Consensus decision making is a way of reaching agreement between all members of the body. As a congregationally run church we often vote on matters giving what looks like the majority their way. Consensus, on the other hand, is finding a solution that everyone supports or at the very least, can live with.

            To be honest, I am not sure I have seen a pure example of this – I may have and just not recognized it. The principle of belonging, however, carries a responsibility on my part to support and promote my church and its decisions even if my first choice is not the one affirmed. If things do not go my way, do I go off and grumble? I might. But if I am concerned about the whole community and its welfare I will come to my senses and support the direction of the body.

            Remember, this is not “my church” but “our church.” My decisions and preferences must give way, even submit, to the body’s decisions and preferences. Having said that, it is also my responsibility and yours to speak up about matters and give my views so that together we have the fullest revelation of the facts.

 

If we think back to the presentation of the gospel that we critiqued in the beginning, we will acknowledge that faith in Christ does begin in a personal, individual way. Each of must accept that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and that through him we have been forgiven of our sins.

            With that said, our faith needs to be expressed in a community of believers where we are responsible for each other. To develop a faith that is all about me without connection to other believers is the same as offering a form of religion that is simply preparation for the future. I have a passport to heaven but the present matters very little. This is the influence of individualism.

            But the present does matter to Jesus and to us. That is why he gave us community, to work out our salvation, to suffer together, to rejoice together, to use our gifts, and to grow in maturity becoming like him. None of us alone is capable of being “Jesus” but together we resemble him a lot more. Each of us reflects a facet of Jesus uniquely; together we are the many facets of Jesus to the world.

            Several years ago, two students graduated from the Chicago-Kent College of Law. The highest ranking student in the class was a blind man named Overton and, when he received his honor, he insisted that half the credit should go to his friend, Kaspryzak. They had met one another in school when the armless Mr. Kaspryzak had guided the blind Mr. Overton down a flight of stairs. This acquaintance ripened into friendship and a beautiful example of interdependence. The blind man carried the books which the armless man read aloud in their common study, and thus the individual deficiency of each was compensated for by the other. After their graduation, they planned to practice law together.[iii]

            This is why we need to accept the imperfect but spiritual communion of the church. We belong to each other like pieces of a puzzle. Inside each of us is a longing to belong to this body, just as God intended. Every believer needs a community of saints, a local body, a place to belong.

 

                                                            AMEN

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[i] Adapted from Rod J. K. Wilson’s book, Counseling and Community, p. 12-13.

[ii] Wilson, p. 7.

[iii] This story was related by Donald Grey Barnhouse.