LIVE AND LET LIVE
(PART 2)
Mark 3:1-6
Sermon #5 of “Ten Cultural Myths that Drive America”
This is the fifth sermon (and sixth week) in our sermon series, “Ten Cultural Myths that Drive America” from the first six chapters of Mark. Prior to Advent we looked at four from Chapters 1 & 2 of the book. We discovered that Jesus’ worldview goes against the grain of much of mainstream America. We are highlighting different adages or aphorisms that are imbedded into the American psyche and serve to reinforce our cultural philosophies. Specifically we looked at.
• Might Makes Right (Mark 1:1-12) – where we saw Christ’s counter-cultural ethic of serving humanity rather than working from a position of strength and manipulation.
• Image is Everything (Mark 1:32-39) – Jesus rejects this Western philosophy. Jesus had the crowds eating out of his has but walked away from the populace specifically because their ambitions did not coincide with those of the Heavenly Father’s.
• Shop ‘till You Drop (Mark 2:13-17) - Jesus reminds us that there are better ways to find meaning in life than materialism.
• Rules are Made to be Broken (Mark 2:18 – 3:6 -) Jesus rebukes and challenges the worldview which says the ends justifies means. Jesus says there is no place to bend or violate God’s eternal law. Period.
In coming weeks we will look at other slogans that have become embedded into the American psyche, other idioms that define us and motivate us as a people. We will look at:
• If You Want Something Done Right, Do It Yourself - Mark 3:13-19; 31-35
• If it Feels Good, Do It - Mark 5:1-20
• God Helps Those Who Help Themselves - Mark 5:25-34
• Stand Up For Your Rights - Mark 5:17, 6:1-6
We did not finish last week and will pick up with Mark 3:1-6 again today.
Today our focus in on Mark 3:1-6
Chapter 3
1Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. 2Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Stand up in front of everyone."
4Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent.
5He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. 6Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.
We frame it very skillfully. We are good at making it seem noble. But it breeds self-centeredness and indifference.
There are many adages used to illustrate it.
• “Looking out for number #1”
• “To each his own”
• “I did it my way”
• “Be true to yourself”
• “If it feels good do it”
• “Express yourself”
• “I’ve got to be me”
• “Live and let live”
Such a value system is prevalent, indeed ingrained, into the American psyche.
We are taught it from kindergarten. It has various shades (not all are bad) but when it reaches its potential conclusions it tends to be highly individualized and selfish. When this happens the slogans are a bit more “base”.
• “Dog eat dog”
• “May the best man win”
• “Only the strong survive”
Such a value system is prevalent, indeed ingrained, into the American psyche …. But maybe Jesus works from a different ethic. Maybe Jesus is not about “Looking out for #1.” Maybe Jesus is about community.
Maybe Jesus would use slogans like:
• “It takes a village to raise a child” (I understand that this slogan has been hi-jacked by certain political personalities in recent years but that does not negate the adage’s original truth)
• “The common good”
• “There can never be good for the bee what is bad for the hive.”
• “A rising tide lifts all ships.”
Maybe.
REVIEW & RECAP
Last week we noticed a few preliminary things that I would like to review.
• The cast of characters in today’s Scripture assume that they can maneuver themselves and others like pieces on a chess board in hopes of achieving a desired effect rather than looking at the situation as it is and determining what God might want to do or what God might be doing?
• They never give much consideration to the thought that God might have arranged things like they were so that there would be a desired end … they seem more concerned about accomplishing their own agenda.
• To them, the man in question was a mere pawn; he was not a human being. His dignity and need were even on their radar. Neither was God’s will.
I also began to share a few lessons I learn from the Christ.
1. SERVING AND BLESSING OTHERS IS AT THE CORE OF LOVING GOD
God loves people. And if Jesus’ actions are any indication of God’s actions (and we know they are) then it deeply grieves the Father when we respond with indifference.
2. COMMUNITY TRUMPS INDIVIDUALITY
This is such an important lesson that I want you to say it with me; are you ready? COMMUNITY TRUMPS INDIVIDUALITY
Community is a group of people living a common life. Community is a group of people with a common identity who interact, share, participate, and fellowship. It is essential to a proper understanding of the People of God … the church.
In Scripture there are at least 4 elements of community:
1. Memory
a. For the Old Testament saint it usually focused around the Exodus event or the temple.
b. For those of us who live on this side of the cross it is our relationship in Christ
c. In both cases, there are experiences that uniquely define and identify
d. When you think “community” think “common”
2. Ritual life.
a. The ritual clarifies, enforces, and validates the memory / experience.
b. In the Old Testament it was events like, circumcision, Sabbath and festivals.
c. For the Christian the ritual is baptism, congregational worship and the Lord’s Supper. All of which reinforce the truth of God’s work and plan through the cross.
d. When you think “community” think “communion”
Today, this second week at looking at community affords us the opportunity to “experience” the power of ritual and community. We always receive communion together on the first Sunday of the month. Once again we get to reflect the drama that validates and illustrates our experience of God’s saving grace.
NOTE: The congregation receives communion together at this time.
COMMUNITY TRUMPS INDIVIDUALITY.
It is part of the “package” we call salvation. It is the intention and ideal of God in Christ. If we are not careful we can miss it, but chapter three is filled with evidence that community was a part of the Divine mission that Jesus was given. Look at the following two passages from the chapter with me:
Mark 3:13-19
Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve—designating them apostles that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons. These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter) James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder) Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
Mark 3:31-35
Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, "Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you."
"Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked.
Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother."
Jesus is creating the first, the original “messianic community”. We are privileged to be part of that community even today.
Memory and Ritual; both are present and essential to the messianic community. But there are at least two more elements consistently found among the People of God. Without them we cannot achieve God’s ideal. These elements are also hi-jacked or circumvented whenever we are “Looking out for number one.”
In the book, Uniting Church and Home, Eric Wallace makes the following point:
Deep caring relationships are one of the sacrifices that our society, and the church, has made in its sprint toward self-gratification and self-fulfillment. Godly relationships involving spiritual growth are not easy.
All around us friendships, marriages, and households, are falling apart because people don’t want to do the hard work of building right and strong relationships."
We do indeed need community. And community is characterized by:
3. Mission
a. The people of God, both Old Testament and New Testament, are to testify and exhibit evidence of the living and holy God.
b. They are also to be a force and voice for justice.
c. They are to testify to a new world.
d. "The Lord does not want us to live in the world and go to church, but to live in the church and go to the world." (Peter Williamson, "Peoplehood: A New Model for the Church." Pastoral Renewal , July/ Augusts 1988)
e. “No one will come to know Christianity’s particular God, or will want to know that God, without the vital and promising life-witness of the community called church.” {Rodney Capp, A Peculiar People: The Church in a Post-Christian Society,(IVP, Downers grove, Ill., 1996 p. 183.)}
f. Listen friends; our God-given mission is not the biggest challenge of the Christian Community, the state of the Christian Community is the biggest challenge to our God-given mission.
g. When you think “community” think “commission”
4. Love
a. The two greatest commandments and 1 Corinthians 13 state it explicitly.
b. The remainder of Scripture illustrates it.
c. In Community and Growth, Jean Vanier writes "Jesus calls His followers to love, to love one another as He loves them; not just to love others as one loves oneself. He proposes something new; to love others with the very love of God; to see them with the eyes of the Lord." (Paulist Press, 1989, New York), p. 31
d. When you think “community” think “unity”
COMMUNITY TRUMPS INDIVIDUALITY.
That is why emphasis is routinely given by pastors to the “One another” passages in the New Testament. They get at the core of what it means to live together in community. Some of these passages are:
• We are to "love one another" – Rom. 13:8
• We are to "receive one another" – Rom. 15:7
• We are to "edify another" – Rom. 14:19
• We are to "serve one another" – Gal. 5:13
• We are to "bear one another’s burdens" – Gal. 6:1-2
• We are to be "forgiving one another" – Eph. 4:32
• We are to be "submitting to one another" – Eph. 5:21
• We are to "exhort one another" – Heb. 3:12-13
• We are to "consider one another" – Heb. 10:24-25
• We are to be "hospitable to one another" - 1 Pet. 4:8-10
Do you know what will truncate the divine power and grace found in community?
• Living with a “to each his own” attitude
• Choosing to “live and let live”
• Acquiescing to “looking out for number one”
This gets to the heart of the matter for me because we are called to live in community. It is a beautiful thing. It shows God’s genius!
We are not all good at it but, none-the-less, we are all called to live in community. God expects “the village” to be involved in raising the child. God knows that the “rising tide lifts all ships” and when we learn to care for one another, to acknowledge one another we enrich each other in dynamic and permanent ways.
But “looking out for number one” kills community! “looking out for number one” type people see life as a zero sum game.
• Have you ever known someone that could not give compliments because to bless someone else or to acknowledge someone else’s acumen because it left them with a sense that they were inferior? There are those that feel that paying compliments to another makes themselves look … less.
• Have you ever known someone that had the means of helping another but wouldn’t because they didn’t want to part with their possessions? That possession may be time, skill, tangible goods, it doesn’t matter what it is they just didn’t want to give it away.
“Zero-Sum” people do not seem to understand community. They do not understand that they are stewards of God’s possessions.
• You need not fear blessing others with your words. It does not make you look less, it enlarges your soul. You belong to God – you are highly valued!
• You need not fear giving away your possessions. They belong to God and God has taken care of you thus far. Just do with God’s stuff what God tells you to do with it. Don’t even take a selfish slant and think “God will repay it” or “God will bless me for giving it away” – that is still “looking out for number one” – just do with God’s stuff what the Holy Spirit tells you to do. That is the litmus test of love … of community.
For example:
Let’s say, hypothetically, that someone one our congregation was plagued by poverty. One proper response of God’s people might be for someone(s) with skills to teach him/her how to budget and handle money while others teach him or her a trade; all-the-while the congregation lovingly encourages the trainee to utilize their new skills for gainful purposes.
Do you see how this is a proper response of community? How this one simple illustration would raise the tide in the harbor we call the Naz and all ships therein with it?
Or, let me give you another “real-time” illustration. Our congregation has couples SCREAMING for marriage help. I have a vision of a group of at least 5 couples who will covenant to serve as marriage mentors. Please understand, this is a ministry of “community” and will not work with mavericks, this is a ministry that requires rigorous training (which we are almost prepared to offer) and ongoing accountability and long hours of ministry. Mentors have to let the fragmented or weaker couples into their lives …. Mentors have to be willing to be transparent and sacrificial. Mentors have to be willing to let these fragile couples see the nitty-gritty of the relationship. They have to make a 12 month commitment … as does the couple requesting help.
But think about what it does not only for the couple in question but also for the community of faith that resides in the harbor we call the Naz! As couples in our congregation are strengthened the tide rises for all of us and it becomes one more way that we can serve to exhibit Christ’s grace and wisdom in the larger community we call the North Country.
At present it is only a vision but it is based upon genuine need. We have the materials; we are waiting on The Holy Spirit to raise up a ministry leader and a few families that will serve as mentors. But make no mistake about it … this needs to happen!
Wrap-Up
COMMUNITY TRUMPS INDIVIDUALITY
Say it with me again … COMMUNITY TRUMPS INDIVIDUALITY.
Community consists of …
• MEMORY (based on a common experience)
• RITUAL (used to renew and invite and recite that experience)
• MISSION (which exhibits God’s grace and calls others to it)
• LOVE (that permeates and motivates the entire entity)
Christ’s ethic of community runs counter-cultural to the western individualism that plagues the common man. Using people violates and circumvents the will of God.
COMMUNITY TRUMPS INDIVIDUALITY. We do ourselves harm and injustice whenever we fail to understand that.
While talking about the early Christian community in Evangelism in the Early Church, Michael Green says, "Their community life, though far from perfect . . . was nevertheless sufficiently different and impressive to attract notice, to invite curiosity, and to inspire discipleship in an age that was as pleasure-conscious, as materialistic and as devoid of serious purpose as our own. Paganism saw in Early Christianity a quality of living, and supremely of dying, which could not be found elsewhere."
Maybe Jesus works from a different ethic? Maybe Jesus is not about “Live and let live.” Maybe Jesus is all about community.
34Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! 35Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother."
God’s greatest gift to the redeemed is the community of faith … the church. He offers this gift to anyone and everyone! It comes as part of the package we commonly call “Salvation.” You can experience the fullness of God and His people by giving yourself to Him in faith today. A relationship with this Jesus who champions an alternative ethic to independence and “going it alone” is available even now.
Let’s close by singing the chorus “Bind us Together.”
