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—yes, I know the proper syntax is humility—is that point when all human self-righteousness ceases. We have emptied ourselves 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...

You reap what you sow

Read Galatians 6

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?

God wants you to have a good life as part of this whole salvation package.

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.

God will not be mocked!  We reap what we sow.  Read Proverbs 11 if you need examples.

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 2 – Crucified with Christ.  Christ lives in me.

Chapter 3 – Seed Syntax.  Everything has been leading us to Jesus.

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.