There is a Greek word for community and its associated attributes. It is Koinonia. It is about belonging, being a part of, giving when you can, receiving when you need—it is the essence of the Christian community. It is the heart of the Christian family.
In the midst
of a letter rich with admonishments about not being bound to the law or other
rules, regulations, or observances as part of being saved; Paul says that we
need to be bound to one another.
Everyone
needs to carry his or her own load except when they can’t carry the load. Then we who can are called to help.
Everyone is
to use what God gave them to navigate this world, but if someone is coming up a
little short, we don’t just walk on by, we lend a helping hand or ride or meal. We help carry
each other’s burdens.
Today we
worry about this thing that we might call and entitlement
mentality. “I am entitled to the
things that I need or think I need or can get you to believe that I need.”
Most of us
see this as the bane of a good work ethic and a strong nation; but here is the
thing. We should have an entitlement
mentality. I am entitled to a good
life.
What?
Now there’s
the rub for many—for so, so many. Many
want the goodies without this following
Jesus stuff. This following Jesus
attitude that we should have gets in the way of living just for me and getting
my stuff.
Paul tells
us to carry our own loads. Take your
gifts and talents and make your way in the world. You can do it. You are equipped, except when you are not.
In those
cases we should look for others in the Christian community to help us carry our
load. We should be on the lookout for
those who need help.
If we look
to the earliest Christian community, the one depicted in the second chapter of Acts, we see people meeting needs and
people having their needs met. Some
might be thinking that this is going to be the socialist sermon. I don’t know if I want any part of that.
Jesus and
Paul spoke to us as individuals and as the church. I am not going to try to take what I have
learned and try to make it fit government, but we as the church are to look out
for one another.
Everyone
should be giving it the best that they have trying to make their way in this
life but nobody should be left to homelessness or hunger or alienation. Koinonia—Christian community –is about
inclusion.
What Paul
has to say next may strike a nerve. We
do our best to help all humankind, but especially, other believers. Paul makes this distinction.
We do more
for those who are in the family of faith.
That does not mean that we ignore the needs of others. What it often means is that sometimes we only
meet their greatest need—to become a part of the family of faith.
You have
heard me preach for about 18 months about connecting the disconnected. Why is this important? The people that I am talking about claim
Jesus as Lord and Savior.
If we who live in freedom from sin in death sow goodness and
charity and faith and love and kindness and gentleness and are truly led by
God’s Spirit; we reap abundance.
We reap abundant life.
If we take than same freedom and live only for our selfish
desires, we should expect a crop of weeds.
Our harvest is going to be pitiful, and we should not be surprised.
Paul spent 5 chapters beating these Galatian believers over
the head with this wonderful thing called freedom. Now we need to note that freedom has a
warning label. Freedom comes with some danger.
First is excess. In
our freedom, we can feed our selfish desires and know that the blood of Jesus
has set me free from sin and from death.
I might be living for myself but Jesus has still claimed me as his own.
Second is infringement.
We can take our freedom and do whatever we want and that might just
ignore that in so doing we are hurting other believers.
There is some danger in freedom. We may become narcissistic or capricious. What is the antidote?
It is more of an inoculation than an antidote. It is living in community. It is carrying our own loads while being on the
lookout to carry another’s load from time to time, and willing to receive help
when we need it.
It’s community.
Society would tell us that there is always an in-group
and an out-group. In community, there
can be only communion. There are no
outsiders.
Christian community involves each of us individually
growing in and enjoying our relationship with God through Christ. Paul says, test your own actions. Are you following Jesus or your own selfish
desires?
Are our eyes fixed on Jesus or what our neighbor has
that we want? Are we using our freedom
to covet what others have?
Christian community involves each of us collectively
growing in and enjoying our relationship with God through Christ. That means if we see someone drifting away,
we don’t just say, “Too bad for him.
That could mean more for me.
” We don’t shrug our shoulders and think, “Bad luck
girlfriend. We’ll put you on the prayer
list after we are through gossiping about you, in a Christian way.”
We are charged to gently bring them home. Bring
them back. Restore them. Take care when you do this that you don’t go
down the same slippery slope that the people you are reaching out to have gone,
but go call them home.
Christian community says, “We are all in this
together. We are brothers and sisters in
Christ. Let’s live in community.”
As I consider the verse that says essentially, you reap what you sow; I have to contemplate so many who have reaped separation from the body of Christ. So many are disconnected from the family of faith.
They have sown selfishness. They desire to go their own way when Jesus
has said, “Follow me.”
Jesus calls us to come to him and he will give us
rest, but so many want to go it alone.
So many remain disconnected from the body.
So many think, “I’ve got this. I believe in Jesus and Jesus wants me to do
my own thing.” We are warned that it is
easy to be deceived in our own thinking.
In community we have a sounding board for every
decision. The Christian community says,
“Yes, you do need some time alone with your Lord. Go into your closet. Climb on top of that mountain. Go out to the middle of the lake and just be
still and be in the presence of God; but come home.”
Come home and carry your own load, help others with
their load, and lead others back home when they go astray. This is family and while we care for all
people, we are counseled to care for family even more.
Paul told these Galatian believers that sometimes this
will be tough but stay the course. Stay
the course. Continue to do the good that
we do in response to our salvation—in response to God’s incredible love.
It will be worth it.
Every promise of God will come true.
Some you may reap now for sowing the seeds that the Spirit of God has
given you. Some you will reap in
eternity, but stay the course and it will be well worth it.
So what are we to do?
If you haven’t noticed, there is less theology in this
chapter and much more discipleship. Paul
is still making his case against letting anyone persuade you that laws or
circumcision or festivals must be added to the blood of Jesus to receive you
salvation; but he helps us in our response.
Do good. Do
what is good every chance you get. Do
good with everyone, but especially with other believers.
We are to do good to everyone whom we encounter. For those that live outside the Christian
community, the greatest good is to share the gospel and bring them into the
family of faith. Cumberlands use the
term Covenant Community.
We are to do good to everyone whom we encounter. For those that have professed Jesus as Lord
but resist living in community, we are to call them home. We should gently restore them to living God’s
way.
We are to do good to everyone especially those who
live in the family of faith. We are to
go the extra mile, carry each other’s burdens, and be willing to receive help
when we need it. We are to carry our own
load using the gifts and talents that God gave us but we are always on the
lookout for those straining under their own load and we help them.
Our modern minds often think this always involves
money. It doesn’t. Everyone that I know in the family of faith
who tithes meets their needs and has something extra to bless others beyond the
tithe. In the family of faith those who
live faithfully seldom need monetary help.
But we have many who need other help. We still have many living on the verse of the
day and not the whole of God’s word. We
still having many drinking only milk when it is time to be eating steak and
potatoes.
I am talking about reading God’s word by chapters or
books, taking time to meditate upon what you have read, and the result being a
hunger for more.
Let me break this down into nuts and bolts instead of
meat and potatoes. We need more small
group Bible studies. If you hear more of
God’s word read aloud on Sunday morning than you have read all week, you need
to be in a Bible study—a small group Bible study. Three, four, or five people make a good study
group.
But I go to Sunday school and to Wednesday
nights. Those are good but not
sufficient to really grow in God’s grace.
You really need something more that doesn’t meet in this building.
You need to study and connect and pray with a few
believers outside of this building.
Here’s the kicker, they don’t even have to belong to this denomination
or congregation.
Helping one another is more than money. It is often testimony. Some have trouble trusting in God with all of
their heart and leaning not on their own understanding because it sounds like
philosophy or wishful thinking when believers should know it as the truth.
We who have trusted God through trials and
tribulations must share our stories with other believers. Sometimes carrying another’s burden is to
help them with their doubt.
“Been there. Done that.” That’s not a compelling testimony. Sharing the depth and breadth of your
struggles in some detail, to include how hard it is to let go of your own
understanding and trust in God alone, makes for an effective testimony.
Helping one another is more than money. It is often setting aside our superman veneer
and sharing with the family that we need help too. Confessing not only to God but to one another
that we need help can be real help for someone who thinks God only helps those
who have it all together.
Helping one another is more than money, but sometimes
it is money. But within the family of
faith the godly use of money should be shared by all. We must not become a slave
to money
or
dept
or
impulse
spending. We must know not only the wisdom of the
tithe but the mastery of money that we see in the Parable of the Talents.
We must teach and coach and mentor each other to be
the master of everything that God has entrusted to us so we can use it to
produce good fruit. We can sow seeds
that produce righteousness and life
abundant and eternal.
We are all in this together. We are made to live in community. We carry our own load and help other’s carry
their burdens when they need help.
This does not take us to our salvation. This is how we live as a new creation.
We have come to the end of Paul’s letter to the
believers in Galatia. Here is where we
have been.
Chapter 1 – No other gospel.
Chapter 4 – Servant-Slave Symbolism. Paul used every analogy he could think of to remind us that
we live free because of Christ.
Chapter 5 – You were running a good race…
Who cut you off? Stay the course
with eyes fixed on Jesus and the Spirit will produce fruit in you.
Finally we
are reminded that we reap what we sow.
We sow trust in God alone and we reap assurance. We sow trust in the blood of Jesus alone and
we reap freedom. We sow unselfishness
and we reap community.
Our harvest
is community, Christian community, the thing we know as Koinonia.
We are made
to live in community. We carry our own
load and we help others when needed. We
are not governed by selfish pride and will accept help when we need it. We are made
to live in community.
So let us
live as the family of faith that God has provided for us. Let us live God’s way in true fellowship and
communion with him and with each other.
Let’s do
good to all but especially within the family of faith.
Amen.
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