Community of Believers

I read this great quote from a book called, "The Gospel According to Starbucks" by Leonard Sweet. I'm enjoying the book, and not just because it's about a coffee shop, but because the author's observations of society through, of all things, coffee and the rise of coffee shops as a place of community.

Here is the quote:

Community with God is never a mass, but a body, and in a body every member has a unique role and identity. In a mass there is duplication and replication, but not in a body, where every part is a miracle.

Amen to that! I wish I had read that quote when I did the sermon on community and reconciliation, it would have been in my sermon. That is the way our church is seeing ourselves and our diferences, every part of the body (the local church) is a miracle.

Pastor's note: ministry of reconciliation, March 2

For those who couldn’t be here on March 2 and are earnestly wanting to know what the “ah-ha” moment was, we will be putting the sermon on CD, which you can have, or you can read some of my thoughts and notes from the sermon on my blog (http://braveturn.blogspot.com/). The “ah-ha” had to do with the foundation of our church and who we are. I believe that each church has a unique calling, in addition to the obvious calling of making disciples for Jesus (Matthew 28:18-20) and bringing the Kingdom of God to an area (Matthew 6, etc.). The calling of CrossRoad fits within that framework of discipleship and revealing the Kingdom of God. What is that calling? To show that in Christ people from every language, tribe, people and nation (Revelation 7:9) can serve and love one another. I just read this week about a young man who was gunned down in his neighborhood, just a few houses from his home. Why? He was a different color from the ones doing the shooting. There is an increasing amount of gang violence in a neighborhood not far from here. The battle lines have separated along color lines. And that story could be told over and over again, throughout our county and other cities and counties around the world. No amount of legislation, government intervention, political rhetoric or pleading from individuals has been able to eradicate a centuries old problem: separation because of color. How do we overcome that kind of hatred and fear? By demonstrating the power of the Gospel and loving one another in the midst of our differences.

Ephesians 2:14-16 says, “For He Himself is our peace, who has made us both one
and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing
the law of commandments and ordinances, that HE might create in Himself one new
man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in
one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.”

How does that fit with us? We are the visible demonstration of the power of Jesus, who destroys the dividing walls of hostility. He shatters the differences and unites us around our God. Isn’t that His prayer? (“I pray that they would be one even as we are one.” John 17)

Why put a sermon on unifying the community of CrossRoad in the midst of a sermon series on sin? Because it is a sin for a community of believers to highlight differences rather than walk in the oneness of Christ. That doesn’t mean we choose not to disagree, but that in the midst of the disagreements we realize that there is a bigger purpose, the cause of making Jesus Christ known to our world. The great tool for making Him known is when we, as believers, from so many different backgrounds, ethnicities, ages and personalities love and serve one another (John 15).

The "Ah-Ha" Moment continued

This is continued from my sermon on March 2:

Let me make this painfully clear: causing or being a part of a division in a church is a sin. In reading the letters Paul wrote to several churches, one of the major issues in churches was separation or the causing of division (1 Corinthians 3:1-5, Galatians 5: 20, “discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions”, Titus 3:10 “Warn divisive people once, and then warn them a second time. After that, haven nothing to do with them. You may be sure that such people are warped and sinful; they are self-condemned.”). It is a sinfully natural thing for people to seek to separate others, being attracted only to people who think like you, or to rally others to a cause that pits one group against another. Division and separation, dwelling on an “us and them” mentality, is normal, easy and WRONG. It is the opposite of the heart of Jesus Christ and the building of the Kingdom of God. Jesus said, “I pray that they be one even as we are one.”

The "Ah-Ha" Moment

This is from a sermon I preached on March 2, 2008. This is the Scripture I started from, and included some others later, that I can put in future posts. The notes below are not the beginning of my sermon, but pick up after the introduction.

Ephesians 2:14 (NIV) For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. 19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

We’re going to look at many Scriptures today, but there is a reason for that. I want you to see a common thread that runs throughout the New Testament, a theme that God intended to have happen from the time of Abraham. Some are going to be offended, some will amen, if only silently. What I am going to teach you today is a core belief for this church. I believe CrossRoad is in a unique place at a unique time, called to exemplify what God wants to do through His church.

Here is the paradox in coming to Christ: you lose your identity and you don’t. Let me give you an example: the example of marriage. The Bible is clear that at the marriage the two shall become one flesh. A man and a woman are made complete, or one, in marriage. Up to that time, “it is not good for man to be alone”; we are incomplete. My identity, who I am, is not fully revealed or known until marriage, at least that is the ideal. For us, it is no longer Scott and Traci separately, but Scott and Traci together. Seldom is one mentioned without the other. We lose our identity as a single person, so we lose some sense of who we used to be.

Traci becomes the key to unlock parts of who I am that would never be revealed apart from her. Becoming a husband, I lose some of who I was, but what I gain far outweighs what was lost. In fact, what I gain, I would venture to say, is far more redeeming or beneficial, to myself and to others than what was lost.

Yet, who I am is not forever lost. I am still Scott. Traci and I think very similarly on many issues, most often seeing situations the same, but we also see things very differently on other issues. And that is the richness of our relationship.

The Key: life is no longer about me. I no longer look at situations with the “what about me” lens. I now look at life with another set of glasses: others. That doesn’t mean that all of my life’s motivation is about others, I wish that it was, but I am on a path to become more like that, which is to become more like Jesus. And that is not to say that everyone who gets married has their lens changed, I’ve seen many who never get beyond the “what about me” lens.

Kids change our lives even further: we become even more focused on others. A whole new reality takes place. We realize that our lives must be to make the next generation better, to help them go farther than we went.

All the more do I change when I become one with Christ. I take on a new identity. I take on more of His personality, who HE is and what He would do. I lose my identity as far as the worldly nature is concerned, but I also gain who I am really like, a nature intended to be like Christ.

Now for us as a church. When we come to Christ, we lose and gain in the Church, or community of believers. We take on a new corporate identity, or community identity is in Christ to replace the former identity as an individual. We take on that new identity, according to 2 Corinthians 5:17. and in that new identity, we are given a new mandate: the job of Jesus, reconciling to one another and reconciling others to Christ. Again, the motivation is no longer about us

Here is the “ah-ha” moment. The richness of our congregation, not in terms of finances, but in relationships, is portrayed in our differences. Our differences, ethnicity, background, age, and personalities reveal and reflect the very essence of God Himself. God is diverse, He likes diversity. It takes all of us together in our diversity to begin to give expression to the vastness of who God is. That is not to say that we are the end all of the reflection of God, far from it. But together, we show a glimpse of the breadth and magnitude of our God.

Our differences bring out parts of our personalities that would never be revealed otherwise. Sometimes some negative things are exposed: our prejudices and judgmentalism, and our pride, to name a few. Those things need to be exposed, though, for what they are, sin that keeps us from God. But what can also be revealed in our differences is goodness, and the incredible capacity to love and be loved, which brings us closer to God. Loving others in spite of our differences expands our capacity to love and helps us better grasp the very heart of God. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son. . . “

By the way, let me reiterate what really is obvious to us all, but sometimes we needed to be reminded of it. Even if everyone here looked exactly alike, were from the same area of the country, were from the same political bent, and even liked the same pizza, eventually there would be differences, either real or manufactured. And we would have a choice whether to highlight the differences or the agreements. Our sin nature is naturally attracted to criticizing and dwelling on differences, and that nature must be overcome by the new nature we have received in Christ.

I closed with this verse, which is on the wall of our lobby:

Revelation 7:9 After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." 11 All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying: "Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!"

The Goal is to look like heaven: every language, tribe, people and nation. We are looking more and more like that.

Happy Birthday, Traci

It was Traci's birthday last week (she's with Bryson in this picture). She was

overwhelmed with the number of flowers and cards she got from people in the church. I was really surprised, too, but really shouldn't have been. The church has been very gracious to us, especially this last year. This is a group of people who have stayed true, faithful and prayerful for us. They are a very caring, kind community of Christian believers. The pastor's wife is often overlooked in most churches, and I believe it is the most difficult job in the ministry. Traci isn't overlooked here. The church realizes how significant she is, both to me, and to the community of believers. And for me, she has been an amazingly strong, loyal, wise and supportive wife and a really cool Mom. I enjoy watching as she interacts with our kids. She loves them and they love her. I am constantly in awe of her. She is my hero.