Absolute Humble

 

Read 1 Corinthians 11

Paul is motoring along without regard to where the chapter breaks will come. To his credit, this is a letter made into one of 66 books that we know so well.

There is overlap and a little repetition, but the subjects addressed were not only timely for Corinth but for us as well.

This Jesus is Lord business is serious stuff. He is our Lord and that’s more than a perfunctory title. We owe him allegiance, commitment, obedience, and love. Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe.

That means that we take our commission seriously. We make disciples.  I spent a fair amount of time on what some might consider peripheral matters, the grammar and syntax of inviting someone to church. We invite people to become the church.

We invite people to live! Come and know Christ. Come and know life. Come and know peace. Come and know the Lord, and those who also call him Lord.

One of the benefits of knowing the Lord and being connected to others who know him as Lord is this thing we call fellowship. The Koinonia of this relationship is a benefit not everyone comes to know.

We are blessed to know it unless we have what I describe as an out-group.  The Family of Faith doesn’t have outgroups. It’s all family, in whatever shape and size we come in.

We are family!

And today, we look at the Lord’s Supper. This is still Koinonia. It is an intimate fellowship with God—with the Lord. We draw near to him. He draws near to us.

It’s necessary to get into a fellowship with other believers. But what is it?

Bread and Juice?

Bread and wine?

Pellets and Shot Glasses?

Light fare for heavy matters?

Something a little tastier than the Seder Meal? This unique meal included the Passover Lamb whose blood had delivered them from bondage in Egypt. The story was retold each year so that it would not be forgotten. It would be remembered.

 

Just another meal with no meat? This time, the Passover Lamb was headed to the cross where his blood delivered and still delivers the people of God from sin and death.

What is the Lord’s Supper? It is occasion and method by which we were told to remember the Lord, to include his life, death, resurrection, and promises.

Do this to remember me.  Remember?

Hold your horses!  Paul wasn’t at the Last Supper. How could he know what Jesus told the others?

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

 In these first words, Paul authenticated the validity of the instruction. This is from the Commanding Officer. I wasn’t at the original Last Supper. Check Davinci’s painting when it debuts, but this comes from and with the ultimate authority.

Paul references that specific night, not by day or date, but by the betrayal that would terminate the koinonia present among the disciples—sleepy as they were—and their Lord, setting off a series of totally impractical events, which could only be the plan of God.

Then to the elements.

First, the bread represents the body of the Lord, which was broken for us, although He didn’t break any bones. We are to do this to remember Jesus Christ our Lord.

Next the cup, likely full of wine, but a shared cup. Today, we get a lot of grape juice, but this was likely the fermented fruit of the vine.  The Seder Meal traditionally had 4 cups of wine, so it was probably wine, not just juice.

It is the cup. It represents the New Covenant. This is the covenant poured out in the blood of Jesus. We are to remember this as well.

The New Living Translation puts it this way.

After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.”

It’s not really the meal, though keeping fidelity with the elements is a good thing. It’s about remembrance.

Remember Jesus—body broken; blood shed for our deliverance. Remember.

Paul added a reminder that would have been out of sync at the Last Supper. Paul said that we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes again.

That we proclaim it means that it is important.  What is?

I am good about not letting too many things get under my skin. Some things are important, and some are not. Just let the nonsense roll off. Don’t take criticism from people you wouldn't seek out for advice.

Every once in a while, yell at the television or computer or the idiot that thinks he is Danika Patrick in the construction zone in OKC , but generally, much of the stuff that gets to us doesn’t matter in the fulfillment of God’s plan.

There are some things I just can’t cope with, at least not yet. Whoever said it was ok to have only a single space after a period did not consider the damage to the ego and psyche of old people. We were not consulted. This cannot stand.

How about calling it a disorder to want things in order? I’m not down with that.

Those were a little tongue-in-cheek, but this is straight-up serious. Have you ever seen those posts about how badly someone messed up, sinned, ruined their lives. They should be convicted of everything in the book, but…

JESUS DROPPED THE CHARGES!

No, he didn’t!  Every charge and specification against you was fully prosecuted. You were guilty and sentenced to death.

Jesus stood in your place when it was time for punishment. No charges were dropped. Jesus paid it all.

JESUS PAID IT ALL!

When Jesus died on the cross, that single act of death accomplished more than any other death in history.

It was and it is important. It is something to proclaim. We proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes back to get us. This is important.

The church in Corinth was probably trying to hold a fellowship meal and then partake of the Lord’s Supper somewhere during that meal, likely near the end to maintain fidelity to the original practice. I am glad we don’t attempt that here.

Imagine trying to spend intimate time with the Lord between the first round of plate-piling and dessert. Would you grab me another slice of that pecan pie on you way back?

There were fellowship issues that we talked about last week and now we look at this cavalier approach to the Lord’s Supper. Paul, made his counsel something of a warning.

Don’t approach this table in an unworthy manner. Don’t even strut in here thinking that you are all that when the remembrance of the Lord should take us immediately from puffed up to absolute humble^©.

I’m coining that term right now. I’m going to slap the old copyright© on it and have one writing project already set up for retirement. Absolute humble.

I might have borrowed a little bit from science—absolute zero. That’s when it’s so cold that all molecular motion ceases. It is -273 degrees Kelvin. It even needed its own metric.

Believe it or not, the wind chill here has never quite reached that point.  Back to communion with the Lord. Our destination before we arrive at his table is absolute humility.  We are completely empty of ourselves.

Absolute Humble

Do we get it. This is the most important death in the history of death.  We proclaim it. It doesn’t make sense in the terms the world knows. Death is the end.

Except for us. This death that we proclaim was the beginning of life for us. The moment we believed in the Son of God who died on that cross, we crossed over from death to life.

That death atoned for our sins. We were made and are right with God. None of this is of our own doing. We just believed and received.

Remember my last pet peeve from earlier. Jesus didn’t drop the charges. He paid our price in full. He received our death penalty punishment. There was no appeal.

And he took the sin of the world upon himself for us—you and me for sure—but the weight of the sin of a world of lost and condemned people was upon his shoulders until he cried out, “It is finished! +

If we remember this, we will come to the Lord’s Table only after examining ourselves. Even if we just had the best week of our life, when we examine ourselves and remember him as he told us to, there is only one destination.

Absolute Humble

I need just a moment more, this time for the rest of the story. We will leave Paul of Tarsus for a moment, and then we will consider Paul Harvey.

The rest of the story is that when we reach absolute humility, the celebration that we know in resurrection is so much sweeter.

Come to this table in absolute humility. Leave in magnificent celebration!

To understand the victory, we must remember the price.

Come to this table in absolute humility. Leave in Extraordinary Celebration. It all starts by remembering him as he told us to remember him.

 

Amen!

 

 

From the CPC Confession of Faith.

The Lord's Supper

5.23 The Lord's Supper was instituted by Jesus Christ on the night of his betrayal. It is a means by which the church remembers and shows forth Christ's passion and death on the cross. The sacrament is also a perpetual means given to the church to celebrate and experience the continuing presence of the risen Lord and her expectation of the Lord's return.

5.24 The elements used in this sacrament are bread and the fruit of the vine, which represent the body and blood of Christ. The elements themselves are never to be worshiped, for they are never anything other than bread and the fruit of the vine. However, because the sacrament represents the Savior's passion and death, it should not be received without due self-examination, reverence, humility, and grateful awareness of Christ's presence.

5.25 This sacrament is a means of spiritual nourishment and growth, an act of grateful obedience to Christ, and a commitment to the work and service of Christ's church for all who celebrate it.

5.26 All persons who are part of the covenant community and are committed to the Christian life are invited and encouraged to receive this sacrament.

5.27 Each congregation should celebrate this sacrament regularly. Every Christian should receive it frequently.

 

 

Fellowship: It's not just for Sunday Potlucks

 

 

Read 1 Corinthians 10

Today, we have a fellowship meal and a long sermon in the second service. I’m guessing people will be checking to see if the fellowship team needs any help.

So, for this service, it is a little shorter and lighthearted. Here are some suggestions for today’s fellowship meal that might be helpful to us.

Finally, we get to line up alphabetically by height and pair up in threes.

Seats will be assigned randomly. You will be seated with another member of the family of faith.

The prayer will likely include more 'thees' and 'thous' and some other elaborate expressions, undoubtedly intended to impress those gathered. The Lord won’t be impressed, but maybe you will.

We're going to figure out this fellowship meal arrangement this time.  We will institute some procedures. I might even write an ISO 9000 series standard.

And while we are instituting some practical procedures, I’m reinstituting Aim and Flush.

The fellowship meal is usually easy for us. We connect well. We seldom run out of food. Most get seconds or thirds. I usually don’t have to preach on gluttony the next Sunday. Sometimes, I need to preach on that following Monday morning when I look in the mirror.

I’m not shaving next week. I’m going to eat my fill and stay away from mirrors. We don’t go hungry around here.  We like this fellowship sort of stuff. We get it.

Maybe too well.

Some of you remember when we moved the passing of the peace from early in the service to the end. We lost control of the service early on. People liked talking to each other. That’s a good thing, right?

So, we moved it to the end of the service.

The first time I moderated the Presbytery, it was something of a surprise. I was Vice Moderator but the Moderator really wanted to go to a family event that was scheduled at the same time. So, there I was, fully gavled and ready to go.

I finished the business in record time and we broke for lunch with only an item or two remaining. I pounded my gavel half a dozen times to get people back from lunch at the appointed time.

The problem was that people were still talking, connecting, and enjoying each other. The eating part was done. This was just fellowship that felt like it should continue.

Sometimes, I visualize the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit at their millennial staff meeting, scratching their heads and wondering who divided up life this way—worship, fellowship, offering, and so many more quantifying descriptions.

I thought that love me and love others would get it.

The church in Corinth wasn’t so messed up on how to hold a fellowship meal, at least compared to loving God and each other. That’s fellowship. Nobody goes hungry in a fellowship that draws you closer to God and compels you to look out for one another.

If you fall asleep during the next service, remember that when it’s mealtime and someone looks left out or lonely, that’s where God wants you to be.

If someone puts the green beans ahead of the roast beef on the serving line, I can say with confidence that we will survive it.

If someone is left out of the fellowship during the meal, that’s a serious matter. That’s not us. That’s the lesson from Corinth. Inclusion is koinonia. It’s fellowship. It’s abundance.

It’s our lesson for today.  The lab work begins after the second service.

By the way, this fellowship business isn’t just about meals.

Amen.

A Prayer for Koinonia

 

Lord, we pray,

That we seek service over selfishness.

That you open our eyes to the trust you have placed in us.

That we surrender our God-given talents and Spiritual Gifts to produce fruit.

That you open our hearts so you may fill them with love.

That we become your love during this special time.

 

That when we are poured out and have no more, you fill us.

When we feel exhausted, you refresh us.

When we hold on to personal preferences, you extract them from us.

When we see no other options, you ignite the creative spirit in us.

That when we gravitate to those we know the best, you lead us to those we know the least.

 

That this mission never be a burden,

In our minds,

To our bodies,

For our spirit,

Or in the heart that we have given to you.

 

That we find your joy as we serve,

Through our sacrifice,

Through our suffering,

Through our humbleness,

And by being love as you are love.

 

Amen

Abundance lies in Fellowship

 

  Read 1 Corinthians 10

For the last couple of weeks, we have leaned toward evangelism. When you are commissioned to make disciples, you can expect some challenges in evangelism from me. Anyone surprised.

Over the next couple of weeks, we will examine fellowship and fellowship meals. We will have a lab today after this service.

We will also look at the Lord’s Supper, which we will partake of next Sunday at both services.  Thanks be to God that the church in Corinth botched them both enough, so we get a little extra insight.

First to fellowship. The Greek root here is koinonia. Today’s words are fellowship, communion, and sharing. It’s about a genuine relationship that originates with our right relationship with God.

Soldiers enjoy camaraderie. Their service to their country and unit is their common bond. Sports teams enjoy a taste of this camaraderie. The team is the bond. Livelihoods, not lives, are at stake, but building character can be a good byproduct of the bonds.

Fraternities and Sororities enjoy brotherhood and sisterhood. The shared, uniting bond is the organization, and often where you meet people later on in a meeting as friends of Bill W.

Graduating classes share bonds. They start out singing Barry Manilow's "Looks Like We Made It," and when you get to be my age, we're still singing. This time, it’s the Bee Gees, Stayin Alive. The school or graduating class is the bond.  The shared experience grows sweeter over time and sometimnes in the absence of classmates.

With Christians, it all originates with our right relationship with God. We couldn’t have gotten there on our own. God did it all, but we have received this gift of life, life abundant, and life eternal.

We are first connected with God. That was necessary but not sufficient for the gooid things he has in store for us. God wants us to have genuine relationships with one another. We are to become more than a group of believers. We are a fellowship of believers. We are family.

Every family is different and the same. We are unique in some ways and alike in others. When people tell me they won't come to worship because they don’t want to feel unwelcome or singled out as the newcomer, I tell them they speak from ignorance. That wins them over right away, nor not!

But it does get their attention that the standard spiel won’t work this time.

What do we do when we are ignorant?  Cry, complain, and get angry?  That’s one approach.

As we grow, we learn to address ignorance with education of all sorts. Study, practice, and more study and practice.

Where is this going.?

If you were at Walmart and wondered if you needed paper towels at home, you might text your wife, husband, son, or daughter and ask them.

You could wait until next time, get home, and find out that you're out, only to discover that next time is right now.

Or you could get some now, get home and find out that you already had more than you needed, and now you have to build a storage shed to keep the excess.

For the person using, I don’t want to feel unwelcome. I tell them to show up and find out.  Let’s find out. I was told once by someone in my neighborhood that they didn’t feel welcome in that church. I had invited her to worship. She said she knew God and believed in Jesus.

When she said she felt unwelcome, she was talking about us. I didn’t believe her.

I told her to arrive that Sunday at 10:00 a.m. for Sunday School.  At that time, we had a senior adult class. That’s all it took.

We understand much about fellowship. As disciples, we know there is more—there is always more—to understand.

Let’s get back to Corinth.

Division was a common theme in Corinth. Who followed whom? Who shared with whom? That included fellowship meals.

Some brought plenty to eat and chowed down, while others had little or nothing to eat. Both conditions existed under the same roof. How can there be fellowship in the family when compassion and mercy are absent from us? Should they not govern? Can love abound in such disconnection?

I don’t think we have this problem here, at least not in terms of food. Once we got low on our potluck smorgasbord. The team that was serving was shorted a little by eating last, but that was an act of love not exclusion.

But look at how we sit. Families sit together. That’s natural, but consider that this family only gathers for a meal a few times a year. That’s a more significant challenge than it was 30 years ago. We are on the go.

The world has claimed many times once solidly reserved for those who worship God. The world wants us to conform to being busy.  We don’t gather for fellowship meals much anymore.

But when we do, get to know the rest of the family. You might eat with your natural family, but change tables and visit when you get to dessert. Change things up. Get to know each other.

We are family.

Do you know who gets this? Kids. They gravitate to the other kids, but they are not perfect.

So, you young folks today, keep your eyes open and don’t let anyone be alone.  Please don’t act like it’s something special to have this person join your table or you join theirs. Jump in and don’t think twice.

We are family.

Please understand that fellowship goes beyond our meals. Fellowship brings people out of the poverty of the world into the abundance of Christ.

My premise for this modern century so full of things and stuff and stuff we didn’t even know we needed is this: Abundance is inclusion.

The Abundance of Inclusion

Koinonia

Poverty comes down to a lack of fellowship.

Those enslaved by poverty may be victims of an entitlement mentality, lack of character and courage, aversion to commitment, or just feeling comfortable as a victim.  Those are surely among the leading causes of poverty in the land of opportunity.

All causes share one commonality.  People in poverty are part of the out group.  They are not part of the family.

If someone in the family hits hard times, the family takes care of him. 

If someone in the family truly has a run of bad luck, the family cares for her.

If a family in the family is hurting, the family comforts the family.

Why are some not part of the family?

Sometimes those in poverty have been invited and declined.

Inclusion would involve change, courage, risk, and love.

There is comfort in remaining the same, even in poverty.

There is comfort in being part of the out group.

 

Sometimes, it was because there was no invitation or at least not a sincere one.

Sometimes, it was because there was an invitation and a bad experience.

Sometimes, there was a deliberate effort not to invite.

It would seem that the efforts of those in the family to reach those outside the family look more like a waltz of bowlegged introverts dancing in the dark than it does the love of the Body of Christ.

The result is détente.

Détente

Détente works for nations that could destroy each other but don’t really want to.  They don’t want to fully reconcile with each other, but they don’t want to destroy each other.

Détente is an artificial sweetener.  It replaces love but has not real substance.

 

People say they are in trouble. We throw some money at the problem.

People say they are hungry. We throw some food at the problem.

People say they feel judged. We ignore their problems so as not to offend.

The result is self-pity on one end and self-satisfaction on the other.

One side feels they are a victim and the other is detached but satisfied they did what they could.

Speaking the truth in love—and surely stepping on a lot of toes that are resting in their respective comfort zone—this is neither family nor love.

Christian fellowship is about inclusion. Inclusion in what?

Inclusion in worship.

Inclusion in meals.

Inclusion in service.

Inclusion in the fun.

Inclusion in the work.

Inclusion in the challenges.

Inclusion in the rewards.

Inclusion in the commission.

Inclusion in the planning.

Inclusion in the execution.

Inclusion in the truth.

Inclusion in life.

 

Back in the days when we served food on Wednesday evenings. Some of you remember. There was worn out and there was Wednesday Wornout.

At the end of our evening meals, there was a brief time allocated for clean up before we begin classes.  This should be an all hands on deck exercise for the able bodied.  Some people gravitated away from the work.  It’s not that it’s hard work.  Wiping off tables, running a vacuum, taking out trash, and occasionally washing a few dishes make up the fifteen minutes allotted.

I have no hesitation about walking up to someone who has been in the church for 60 years or 60 minutes and handing them a washcloth or leading them to where we keep the vacuum.  This isn’t allocation of a labor force, it is inclusion.

If you come into the family you should expect to be treated as family. 

What does that mean?

It means that simultaneously, you are the most honored guest and the lowest servant. 

You are the most honored guest and the lowest servant.

It means that you are family.

There is no need for pretense.

There is no timidity.

There are no special privileges.

 

The family is where you learn love.

The family is where you learn responsibility.

The family is where you learn sharing.

The family is where you learn serving.

The family is where you learn trust.

The family is where you learn family.

 

Some who come into the family of faith have no previous experience in being part of a family.

You can’t teach and you can’t learn family when there is an in group and an out group.

Christians have spent too much time ignoring those in poverty using the excuse of not wanting to judge.

What we are truly saying is that you aren’t really family.  We would rather throw a little food or money your way than get involved in your life

That dog don’t hunt!

 

We keep trying to build a bridge of handouts from the world of abundance to the world of poverty and it keeps collapsing.  It will continue to collapse.  Few make it across from poverty to real life.

Newsflash:   We were never supposed to build a bridge.

We are to invite—with all the sincerity that is within us—those who are not part of the family into the family.  The Family of Faith, the Body of Christ, and the Covenant Community are where poverty is cast aside.

This is where Christians need to Cowboy Up and show some backbone.  We looked at this last week regarding sharing Christ in our conversations, rather than the 'I’ll invite them to Church' approach.

We should continue to help those in need to a limited extent, but not excessively if that help keeps them on the outside of the fellowship.  Most of the time, we should feed the family for a day or three, not pay the water bill for a month.  We should give the person who comes in looking for help a few cans of food not pay their electric bill.

How can I say this?

How can I say this as the pastor of a church that distributes tons of food without forms or qualifications to receive it?

I can say it because it’s time for the church to stop helping people worship other gods.  We are fully complicit in the problem.

We have helped people who, time and time again, turn their backs on God.  We need to speak the truth in love more than we need to give out food.  Society has deluded our wisdom.

We have to stop reinforcing decisions that lead to poverty.

We need to take a lesson from Joshua and challenge people to choose this day whom they will serve.

This day!

Choose the gods of money, profanity, stuff, fear, self-pity, and low character or choose the one true God. Choose the in-group or the out-group. Choose isolation or fellowship. This is the real subsistence that we must share.

We—the church—have helped people so much that they no longer have to decide between the gods of this world and the one true God.  We help them anyway.

We—the Body of Christ—have subsidized poverty as if it were our mission to do so.

We—those who know the truth and walk in the light—have helped orphan our brothers and sisters.

We—those called out of the world by God—have not been our brother’s keeper.

We need to become love—real love, not throw food or money at somebody kind of love—and we must give those in poverty something that they have forgotten was theirs.

 A choice.

 

For those who have always given some food or money, it’s tough not to pay that bill.

It’s tough not to give out a month’s worth of food.

It’s tough not to just cough up some cash and be done with the problem once and for all.

 

Actually, trying to do away with the problem instead of bringing those who are hurting into the family of faith is why the problem is never dealt with.

The root cause of the problem is exclusion from the body of Christ.

We—loving Christians—need to challenge those whom we help to become part of the family.  We must challenge them to choose whom they will serve.

Giving money, food, and clothing time and time again while people serve the gods of self-pity and entitlement is to make an offering to these gods ourselves.

Is this tough love?

No.

This is love.

There is no such thing as tough love.

Some may wonder if we will be discussing evangelism or fellowship this Sunday.  And the answer is…

Yes!

While we understand differences in worship and fellowship, salvation and discipleship, service and evangelism, I don’t think God drew boundaries defined by functional areas in our lives or the life of the church.

All—fellowship and evangelism included—are part of life as God designed it and putting his words into practice.

Some courageous people will genuinely love those whom they don’t know but not be content with the latter condition.  They will bring those in poverty into the family and treat them as their own flesh and blood.

They will cowboy up and really love those who are hurting.

Let’s go ahead and discard the metaphor of last century and say we need to Christian Up and show some backbone.

We need to Christian Up and take on poverty by bringing people into the family.

 

Tough assignment?

Yes.  Only those petitioning God for such a billet and willing to live courageously need apply.  This assignment requires speaking the undiluted truth while successfully crossing the minefield of judgment.  Only love will get us to the other side.

Does this mean that we don’t help people monetarily if they don’t belong to the church?

Sometimes—not always, that is precisely what it means.

How hard-hearted the church will become!

How distant from the people!

How detached!

 

That is the spirit of fear talking.  And we have been listening to it for too long!

 

We have the bread of life and living water but we think if we don’t p,ut out a 30 item buffet for the poor30-iteme nothing to offer.

 

We have the bread of life.

We have living water.

We have the Truth.

And we need to quit discounting that!

Who among us would turn a blind eye to someone sacrificing their child on an altar to a pagan god?

Are you kidding?   We would be all over that.  If we didn’t intervene ourselves, we would call the police, child protective services, or the Marines to stop this atrocity.

We’re all over that!

We watch this unfold every day.  Parents in poverty are faithful to their gods of apathy and ambivalence.   Their lives are a living sacrifice to the gods of selfishness, self-pity, entitlement, and fear and we stand by and watch.

Well, they are not our kids—who are we to…

Stop them from sacrificing them to a pagan god?

It is time to say:

Choose this day whom you will serve.

The God who liberates or the god who enslaves.

The one true God or the god of poverty.

 

We must ask this question.

This is our time.

We are God’s people.

Let’s quit lying to people—primarily those of omission.  Let’s tell them the truth about life.

Let’s tell them there is no life without God.

There is no abundance without Christ.

We are asking people to choose life over death.

We are praying, encouraging, and inviting people to choose life.

And we are finished subsidizing the road to poverty and death.

We have the words of life.

Come and be filled.

Come and be family.

Come and leave poverty and death behind.

 

The message we must convey without wavering is that you were made for life!

 

You were made for life!

You were made to live in its fullness!

 

 

A Note to the Church…

We sometimes think that fellowship is just getting folks together, usually with food or fun or in the case of most churches, both.

We must never forget though, that fellowship is communion.  This is the Body of Christ enjoying each other.  That means that we must be vigilant not to become a country club.  The least of these must never feel like the least of these within the Body of Christ.

 

We must stop measuring poverty in the amount of money or things we have or don’t have.  A life without God is one lived in poverty.

We who know Christ know the way to abundance.  Isn’t it time to put an end to poverty and lead many to a life of true abundance?

Abundance lies in inclusion. Abundance lies in the fellowship of believers.

There is no out-group, just family.

Fellowship is abundance!

Fellowship is abundance!

Amen.

A Prayer for Koinonia...

So that some might be saved!

 Read 1 Corinthians 9

 

Paul said that he became all things to all people. There’s a little hyperbole in that, but not in the why. So that some might be saved!

So that some might be saved!

Jesus said, I will show my servant—then going mostly by Saul—how much he must suffer for my name. None of what Paul experienced should have been a surprise to him. He knew God chose him for a very tough mission—one that took him over much of the Gentile world.

Paul had been run out of town—sneaked out of town.

He had been stoned and didn’t need a medical condition or medical permit. It was the old-fashioned kind, just rocks.

He had been shipwrecked.

He had been snake bitten.

He often paid his own way but welcomed gifts.

We don’t think he was married—ever. It was always mission, mission, mission for Paul.

He was a Hebrew from the tribe of Benjiman.

He was circumcised on the 8^th day.

He was a Pharisee.

He met Jesus on the road to Damascus. Oops! That’s going to be a problem. The others traveled with him for 3 years. Paul’s probably thinking, slow learners.

Paul spent some wilderness time after he encountered Jesus. I like to say that Paul went to PAS.

He was different. Other apostles—at least Peter—were married. Paul was going this solo.

He met people in synagogues, by the river, and in public forums. He met people who were totally removed from the one true God but had plenty of others.  Remember Mars Hill?

Paul mixed it up with the Stoic and Epicurean philosophers of the age. These were the polished thinkers and speakers of the age. Paul showed up unpolished but armed with the truth.

It was sort of like Paul grew up in the country in Oklahoma. Where’s that dirt road go? Won’t know just sitting here.

The scripture you know is I became all things to all people so that some might be saved. It’s a powerful verse. These are mighty words.

Do we have a clue what’s behind them?

You come to a person who is hurting. Do you talk to them or walk on by?

You see a person who is hungry. Do you feed them?

You see a person who is just lost in the world. Do you guide them?

Do you? Do you have a choice? I say that you don’t, at least not anymore.  Once I professed Jesus is Lord the decision had been made.

Jesus is my Lord and he told me to go into the world and make disciples. I didn’t hear the opt out version of that commission.

So, what’s that mean?

We do everything within our power to fulfill our commission. We too become all things to all people so that some might be saved. Yes, there is some hyperbole in that, but the why has no exaggeration. So, what does that mean?

Someone needs to lead a prayer. I will.

Someone needs to work in the nursery. I will.

Someone needs to drive the youth to camp. Oh, I forgot. I’m working 28 hours a day the last 22 weeks of June and July! When is camp?

Someone needs to go sit with that guy and see if he is OK. Yeah, OK.

Someone needs to share person to person with someone and let them know that there is no other name than the name of Jesus by which you might be saved. I’ll invite them to church.

In the words, “I’ll invite them to church” lies the heart of Casual Christianity. Inviting people to church.

Are we not to invite people to church?  You have heard me talk about these semantics for over 15 years now. We are the church, but this message is not about just choosing a better lexicon.

It’s about skipping the part about Jesus is Lord. Salvation is in Christ alone. There is life and life abundant through Christ Jesus.  That is what we are called to do.

We are to invite people to life! Invite them to worship and study for sure but don’t skip the part about life in Christ Jesus. Don’t go pedestrian on me and do what the church has been doing for too long.

Once we have shared life in Christ with others, surely, we invite them to worship and study with us. We want them to know the fellowship of believers. We want them to have this thing we call and sing about called blessed assurance.

We have been commissioned by God—who is love—to do just that!

And that brings us to Meat Loaf.

I’d do anything for Love, but I won’t do that.

We are to be known by our love and deliver the gospel.  This is not a dichotomy. There should be no dissonance. This is who we are.

We need to be sure, confident, and faithful to who we are. Why?  That is who God made us to be.

If your son or daughter asked for something to eat, would you give them a rock? Of course not. C’mon, we would give our own child food.

What if one of our children asked for advice?  Would we give them half-hearted advice? C’mon, we would download our lifetime memories and lessons-learned if we could. These are people made in our image, and we want them to live the best life possible.

 If we—believer and nonbeliever alike--want our children to have a chance to survive in a tough world, would we not insist they looks both ways before crossing the street, be respectful to adults and weary of strangers, and learn to work for what’s important?

Did you catch the verb? It was not suggested, or hinted at, or casually recommend. The verb that I used was insist. These things and others are important as we guide our offspring to self-reliance.

They are what we expect of our children and of ourselves as we nurture our children into adults.

Does God not expect us to do what he told us, commissioned us, and directed us to do?

So why is it so hard to tell others that don’t already believe that Jesus is Lord, God raised him from the dead, and real life and abundant life is in him.

Life eternal is in him!

But it’s not so hard to invite someone to church?

Is it:

·       I don’t want to be preachy.

·       I don’t want to be judgmental.

·       The government says I can’t.

·       I might lose my job.

·       I shouldn’t have to, that’s why we hired a preacher.

 That might be how we rationalize it, but the truth is that we can invite someone to church with some ease because the words don’t mean anything. It’s like talking about the weather or the close call at the ball game.

We are the church. We are to be inviting people to become the church by professing Jesus Christ is Lord.!

It really is that simple.

But why is it so hard? Consider that we have conformed to the world in our approach.

We try to entice people to come to church—to worship—with tag lines and pretty postings. Surely that is a good thing, right? The preacher can lay it on them thick the.

Maybe, if we put a message on the sign out front. Maybe if we had one of those signs with a scrolling message that would bring them in, maybe.

Maybe if we had basketball goals on both ends of the playground. Ok, I’m playing with you now, and purposefully so.

Why would we use something other than the best tool available to us? It’s not that there is anything wrong with a highspeed, low drag online posting. It’s not that there is anything wrong with a sign or another basketball goal or a newer van.

I remember when we put the sign up out front. We had a sign and it gave us good service! Some of you here probably had something to do with that.

Over the years, many of the letters migrated on the Oklahoma winds to Kansa and Nebraska on the Oklahoma wind. Do you ever wonder what they spelled when they landed, or is that just me?

It’s probably just me. I swallowed a bunch of Scrabble tiles when I was young, and my vowels were consonated for weeks.

Relax for a moment. Take a breath. This isn’t going to be this hard. Remember easy yoke and light burden.

Remember relax, catch your stride, and let the endorphins kick in from the early service. This is going to come so naturally for those that love the Lord and want to bring glory to his name.

What is?

Testify. Testify to love. Testify to what the Lord has done in your life. That’s how we get to Jesus is Lord with someone that we have only talked sports and weather with for decades.

Witness to them!

That’s how we get to there is no other name by which we may be saved. That’s how we get to God has good plans for you. That’s how we get to you will have trouble in the world but take heart—take courage—God through Jesus has overcome the world.

Love has overcome the world!

Most of what we need to do is talk about what God has done in our lives and invite people to know him.

We have been looking at rights and responsibilities over the past couple of weeks. I hope that you do not see responsibilities as burdens. I hope that you see them as a trust in you from God and embrace them.

Enjoy them!

Now, testify to love. Become what you need to become so others may be saved.  Become a person-to-person witness not so we check the block because we are directed by our Lord, but so that some might be saved.

Do this because we so long for our hearts to be like the divine heart of our Father in heaven.

The message from God remains unchanged. It’s all about his love for us, but the method and modality of bringing people to God so that they may know him, that part changes through the centuries, sometimes through the decades.

There is a constant among those changes—testimony and witness. I’m not splitting hairs on these though we have look at the two in various studies.

Testify to God’s love!

People can hear the best sermon ever and it might stick with them for a day or an hour, but the preacher has to be convincing. He has to do his own fact checking. That’s his gig. It’s like asking a barber if you need a haircut.

But when they hear from you what God has done and is doing in your life, it has a connection where the personal touch authenticates the message. This God stuff, this Jesus stuff, this love one another stuff might just be real.

When your testimony doesn’t sugar coat the trials that have come and the One that you know who has turned you into an overcomer, things happen. People believe. Our mission is about reaching the lost and helping them come to believe.

It’s often said that the preacher’s job is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. I don’t know where you stand in that regard, but if you have been offended by this message, note it on the comment cards when they arrive in May or June 2027.

Between now and then testify to love.

If this message got under your skin, petition the Lord, not for redress but redirection. We don’t do Casual Christianity.

We want to be more like Paul as we fulfill our commissions. Bringing others to Christ is foremost in our hearts and minds We become more things to more people so we might reach people and they might be saved.

Amen.