Building
the right foundation part 22
Therefore,
I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer
your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this
is your true and proper worship.
Do
not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what
God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.
For
by the grace given me I say to every one of you: do not think of
yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself
with sober judgement, in accordance with the faith God has
distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with
many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so
in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to
all the others.
We
have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If
your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your
faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach;
if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then
give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show
mercy, do it cheerfully.
Love
must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted
to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves. Never be
lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord.
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share
with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practise hospitality.
Bless
those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those
who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one
another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of
low position. Do not be conceited.
Do
not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the
eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you,
live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends,
but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to
avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord.
On
the contrary:
‘If
your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something
to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’
New
International Version - UK (NIVUK)
*******
As
we continue our series of “Building the Right Foundation” we will
once again refer to our church covenant which every church member
agrees to abide by when joining the church. It is therefore important
for us to regularly consider it's content and to re-confirm the
promises made. Today our focus will be:
Church
covenant point 4
We
commit ourselves to fellowship
by seeking to maintain a spirit of love and unity among our brothers
and sisters, by encouraging each other in our spiritual lives, and by
carrying out a ministry of caring.
We
will therefore consider what a committed fellowship looks like and
how we maintain true fellowship. The covenant statement begins with
the Commitment
made
and
continues to speak of the Spirit
in which the commitment is made
which then naturally results in mutual
encouragement.
In
my experience church can often be one of the most discouraging places
on the face of the earth. But as we read the New Testament we
discover that this should never be the case. In fact church should be
a mini version of heaven here on earth. Church of course is not the
building. I can understand those who make comment in visitors books
in places of worship saying that they have found in the building an
atmosphere of peace. I personally may not get that feeling in that
place but certainly do when on top of a beautiful mountain in the
silence of nature where peace is tangible enough to feel. That is not
the point of what we are considering today, even though feelings are
important they are never a true indication of reality. We can often
feel at perfect peace when all is wrong.
The
church is the gathering of Christians whose set purpose is to glorify
Jesus and to worship God by His Spirit. And so the purpose of our
gathering this morning is to worship God together and by this to
encourage and build each other up in the faith. This then begs the
question;
“why
there so much negativity in the church today?”
This
is where our covenant is so helpful. In the Lord's letter to the
church in Ephesus found at the beginning of Revelation; Jesus
criticised the church because thy had lost their first love. Even
though they were commendable in many ways they had moved from their
original foundation they looked good from the outside but in reality
they had gone hopelessly wrong. They are a reminder to us that we
need to keep our focus right.
Our
foundation is clearly spelled out our covenant, therefore when there
is discouragement and criticism it is evident that our foundation has
slipped. Over the years our church has experienced many blessings for
which we praise God but there have also been many discouragements. We
pray that God will help us once again to build on the right
foundation. In this today's subject is absolutely key to the ongoing
work of the gospel here in Callington.
Let
us therefore first consider:
Our
commitment:
Therefore,
I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer
your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this
is your true and proper worship.
Do
not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what
God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Our
commitment to each other must be founded upon our commitment to God.
The Apostle Paul in our reading is speaking to the church, giving
them instructions as to what true worship should be like. As a group
of gathered Christians there Paul gives us a few ground rules that
make us into the church. The first of which is:
God's
mercy: Paul reminds the church that for everything we are totally
dependent upon the mercy of God. By this stage in his letter Paul has
already taken the opportunity to spell out in great detail what God's
mercy looks like. In chapter 3 he says this:
Righteousness
is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is
no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
The
important word here is justified; an easy way of remembering what
justified means is that in God's sight it is:
JUST
AS IF I HAD NEVER SINNED.
This
has been made possible for us by God's grace when we became a
Christian. By the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus upon the cross
our sin was dealt with, we are forgiven and are innocent of all sin
as far as god is concerned. He no longer sees sin in us because it
was transferred to Jesus when He died on the cross. We are justified,
innocent and free.
In
view of this Paul says tells us in the passage read that there will
be a knock on effect. Before we go on to explore what that means we
must take this opportunity to challenge our own hearts in order to
check that we are truly justified. Do you know with absolute
confidence that God truly sees you as if you had never sinned. This
will only be true of any one of us if we believe on Him who was
crucified and turn from our own sinful ways and trust in Christ alone
for the forgiveness of our sin. If you are not too sure; why not have
a chat with me afterwards, I will not be able to do something spooky
over you and make you a Christian but I would love to show you more
of how it can be possible for you.
Many
of the discouragements in the church come from people who believe
that they are saved but are not and have not experienced God's grace
and mercy and as such they are confused as to what church really is
all about. It is equally true that many problems come from Christians
who have forgotten the mercy that God has given them when they were
converted. Either way we must remind ourselves constantly of God's
mercy and then act in accordance with that wonderful gift.
Our
commitment made due to God's mercy is the foundation of how we
function as the church.
The
spirit of our commitment:
Therefore,
I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer
your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this
is your true and proper worship.
Do
not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind.
Paul
says that because of God's mercy extended to us then we must act in
accordance with that gift. This is evidenced by our offering to Him
the right sacrifice. See what Paul says; it must be a living
sacrifice. Jesus is the only one that died a sacrificial death. Paul
is talking about us being living sacrifices. We have all heard of
those who believe that they must live a life of total deprivation in
order to please God. Paul is not advocating living in caves, up
trees, on desert islands. Neither is he saying that we live in
communes or in poverty in order to please God. He is saying that we
are to live whatever life God has benefitted us with in holiness
which is then pleasing to God. This requires a sacrifice in the form
of crucifying self wants, self demands and desires. For the Christian
it is now all about Him who will supply our every need it is no
longer about me and my rights. This is a completely new
characteristic but it is the foundation of the church. The church is
evidenced by it's sacrificial spirit towards God and also towards one
another. It is a spiritual gift that God has given to the church. It
is what our covenant is saying:
We
commit ourselves to fellowship
by seeking to maintain a spirit of love and unity among our brothers
and sisters, by encouraging each other in our spiritual lives, and by
carrying out a ministry of caring.
Can
you see how this fits in with what Paul is saying? We are now
interlinked through Christ to each other. When I worked in my
laboratory I had a wonderful nuclear magnetic resonance machine to
play with to my hearts content. That machine was absolutely useless
if it was not focussed. For a right result the magnetic field which
did the work had to be focussed onto the sample. This required me to
spend hours or even at times days tuning it by twiddling 10 little
knobs which were interdependent upon each other. There was first the
number one knob which had to be right to start off with and then the
other 9 had to be interdependently tuned to that one. The closer to
perfect that the machine became the more effective and sensitive each
little adjustment was. It was a laborious job but it was vital! That
is something like the church, our main focus is Jesus, if we make
sure that He is number one in all that we do the more that we adjust
our lives as individuals and corporately then the more like Him we
become. Paul says that the church must work together to be one holy
body.
I
hated it when I was disturbed whilst tuning my nmr because it was
difficult to come back to it. I had one colleague who thought it
funny to come along and turn one of the knobs. He was a perfect
picture of the devil who loves to come into the church and turn one
of God's people in another direction the result being disunity! We
need to keep the focus, we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and that then
spurs our thoughts to each other. We are the family of God and we do
not want to be dysfunctional. A dysfunctional family is usually known
by it squabbles and internal wranglings.
I
know many good families that I have observed and have wanted to be a
part of their family unit. That is how the church should be, people
should be looking at us and saying look at how they love each other.
We want to join them.
How
do we accomplish this?
Paul
tells us that we should put worldly or sinful ways aside and be Godly
in all that we do towards God and also to each other!
How
do we put this in place?
Mutual
encouragement:
That
is what our covenant says that we are committed to. This is what
scripture says:
For
by the grace given me I say to every one of you: do not think of
yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself
with sober judgement, in accordance with the faith God has
distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with
many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so
in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to
all the others.
We
have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If
your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your
faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach;
if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then
give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show
mercy, do it cheerfully.
Love
must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted
to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves. Never be
lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord.
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share
with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practise hospitality.
Bless
those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those
who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one
another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of
low position. Do not be conceited.
Do
not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the
eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you,
live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends,
but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to
avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord.
On
the contrary:
‘If
your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something
to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’
Do
not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Let
us simply highlight the different ways in which we encourage and care
for one another:
- Do not think of yourself more highly than you do others. Look at yourself with honesty in the light of the truth of scripture. The reality is that we are all sinners saved by grace and are only as much worth to God as is every other person. Modern thinking is “I am the greatest” biblical thinking is you are the greatest.
- We all belong together as one unit. Paul likens the church to the body. The body has one specific function which is achieved through the efforts of many different contributions. This is a wonderful picture of how the church must operate, using all of it's functions whatever they are for the purpose of glorifying God. No one function whether it be prophesying or preaching, teaching or praying, serving or being served, administrating or organising, and the many many more functions are vital for our church. These gifts must be used by those equipped with them to use them and then the church will be functioning properly, it is an all body or all people ministry. Where do you fit in? When it goes wrong it becomes like our bodies when they malfunction. I can speak of a broken bone that cripples the man, a broken carer in the church cripples the church. A silent preacher or teacher makes the church vulnerable. A lazy worker leaves the church unkempt. What is your job here? Are you functioning as you have been gifted? Are you in the right job? When a cell in the body gets too big for itself, it becomes a cancer that tries to take over and eventually kill the body. If you are trying to do something that is not your gifting, just like the cancer you will destroy the church along with yourself.
- Encourage one another!
- Love sincerely.
- Hang on for dear life to goodness and despise evil. This is so much needed by each one of us here.
- Be devoted to one another: Devoted = loyal; faithful; true; true blue; staunch, constant, committed, dedicated, devout, fond, loving, admiring, affectionate, caring, attentive, warm, ardent!!!! In fact it sounds just like Jesus and how He is to us! Be like Jesus in our devotion to each other.
- Honour one another.
- Be zealous in serving the Lord.
- Be joyful, not doleful.
- Patient in all things.
- Prayerful.
- Generous.
- Hospitable.
- A blessing even to those who do not like you.
- Rejoicing with those who rejoice, mourning with those who mourn.
- Harmonious.
- Fair minded and not proud.
- Not conceited.
- Doing the right thing.
- As far as possible living at peace with all.
If
we can accomplish this as the church here then we will be a truly
blessed people and then others will be blessed through us. That is a
promise because the more we seek to follow our covenant then the more
Christ-like we become. The more Christ-like we are then the more
effective is our church witness.