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...
