Becoming a Community Church—Value One Another
February 6, 2011
Ephesians 4:16
16from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
We live in a society today that increasingly puts a lessor value on everything, including humanity. Everything is disposable these days. We have disposable cameras, disposable cups, disposable plates, and disposable silverware. We have obsolescence built into our cars, appliances, and electronics. Nothing is intended to last today, and that causes us to devalue everything around us.
Because of this devaluing of our community it is imperative that the church become a refuge. We must be more than just a meeting place. To become a true community church we must become a place for the community to gather in love and with mutual respect. We must be a place where everyone is important, a place where everyone is love, a place where people enjoy coming.
If we believe that Jesus came that all who sin can be forgiven, then we must show the community that we believe it. Our actions must equal our words. We must value every member of our community no matter what their situation. We must see one another as God sees us, be thankful for one another, and appreciate each other.
Our Value is calculated in What God Gave For Us
24 year old Danny Simpson was sentenced to 6 years in jail for robbing a bank. Danny got 6 years in the clink for stealing $6,000. But the gun he used in the robbery ended up in a museum.
The .45 caliber Colt semi-automatic turned out to be an antique made in 1918 by the Ross Rifle Company. His pistol was worth up to $100,000 on the collectors market. If Danny Simpson had known what he had in his hands, he would not have ended up in jail.
Many Christians live like this. They spend their lives searching for God’s power and presence, not realizing it’s already in their hands.
Worth is a nebulous concept, one which we may never fully understand. What is one worth? What am I worth? Who is even qualified to answer such a question? I cannot imagine paying $100,000 for a used pistol, but apparently it was worth that to someone. Imagine what might have happened to young Danny Simpson if he had taken a moment to consider the worth of what was right in front of him.
If value is determined by what someone will give for an object, then our value must be in the stratosphere because Jesus gave His life for us. For ALL of us, even before we knew that we needed Him, He sacrificed all that He was so that we might live.
“I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” – Galatians 2:20
We tend to class people according to our own preconceptions and prejudices. You might be saying “but preacher, I’m not prejudiced”. My answer to you would be, YES YOU ARE! You may not hold a racial prejudice, and I hope that is the case, but you still hold preconceived ideas about people and their standing in your life. We take a person, and decide what category to pigeon hole them in, and there they stay until *THEY* take the initiative to change our minds.
This mindset is exactly opposite of what scripture teaches us. Galatians 3:28 states “28-29In Christ’s family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ. Also, since you are Christ’s family, then you are Abraham’s famous "descendant," heirs according to the covenant promises.”
We must begin to see the value of those around us according to the value that God has given them, and as we can see, that value is the same value that God gave to us.
We Have Value Because of God’s Call
When we assign value to a person, or even an object, it is often assigned by how well it does its job. A perfectly running 1968 Corvette is worth more than one that the engine is missing. Without the engine, the car cannot do its job.
God has called each of us to do a job in His kingdom. The rub is that we don’t know what God has in store for those around us. Let’s look at our text again from the NLT: “16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.”
God, and God alone knows what is in store for us. That aggravating little street rat that knocks over our trash can may be the next Billy Graham. That little girl with the torn dress and the matted hair may be the next Mother Theresa. That teenager with the bad attitude may be the one that God is going to use to cure cancer. And, then, they may not. The point is you don’t know. You can’t know, and because you can’t know, you must value everyone equally.
Every single person is necessary to the growth of this church, even those we don’t yet know about. Every person has some ability, some gift, some talent that God can use in His church to further the kingdom.
Several years ago, two students graduated from the Chicago-Kent College of Law. The highest ranking student in the class was a blind man named Overton and, when he received his honor, he insisted that half the credit should go to his friend, Kaspryzak. They had met one another in school when the armless Mr. Kaspryzak had guided the blind Mr. Overton down a flight of stairs. This acquaintance ripened into friendship and a beautiful example of interdependence. The blind man carried the books which the armless man read aloud in their common study, and thus the individual deficiency of each was compensated for by the other. After their graduation, they planned to practice law together.
Gary Inrig, Life in His Body.
We need each other, just as these two students needed one another. No one is expendable, no one is unnecessary. We each have a place in the Kingdom, and it’s God’s duty not ours to determine what that place is.
We Have Value Because God Will Glorify Us
"Celtic spirituality was a practice in which ordinary people in their daily lives took the tasks that lay to hand but treated them sacramentally, as pointing to a greater reality which lay beyond them.
…As we watch these people and listen to them, it is tempting to put the blame for our own lack of everyday piety on a society in which time has been conquered and technology determines the way we run our lives. But the loss ultimately lies within ourselves. Ironically, when travel and the media have blown all horizons wide open, our own inner horizons seem to have become narrower and our vision contracted. How can we find again the seeing eye and the feeling touch?
Essentially this is a spirituality which asks of us a return to greater awareness…What the Celtic understanding brings us is the chance to break down the barrier between the active and the contemplative life and instead to make the busy, boring, relentless daily life tasks the basis for continuous praying and for finding the presence of God…
Perhaps the first step is that we really should want to unearth God in our midst…Yet, if we can rediscover this vision, then we too may be able to transform what lies to hand, let the mundane become the edge of glory, and find the extraordinary in the ordinary."
Esther de Waal
WEAVINGS, June 1987
God is all about taking ordinary people and doing great things. He took a fisherman and used him to lead the church in its infancy. He took a tax collector and used him to bridge the gap between the Jews and early Christians. He took a lawyer with orders to round up Christians and used him to evangelize the gentiles. He can take us out of our ordinary existence into His extraordinary presence.
God does not only use spiritual giants, it is just common, ordinary, everyday people — like most of us! — that God chooses to do His bidding and to be empowered with supernatural gifts and abilities to succeed.
Acts 4:13-14 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say.
I once heard of a woman who had locked her keys in her car at a mall. Not having the funds to call a locksmith, she prayed and asked God to help her. Shortly after, a rough looking man came up to her and asked if she needed any help. She told him that her keys were locked in her car; and in no time, the man used a wire and lifted the lock. The woman thanked him and said that he was an answer to prayer and an angel. The man said, "Oh, I am not an angel, ma’am. I just got out of prison." The woman looked to heaven and said, "Oh Lord, You are so good! You sent me an expert!" -–opied
When God wants to use you He will give you that talent, that gift, the words that you need. He will equip you in an extraordinary way. The great thing is that when God uses you past failures do not disqualify you, and imperfections do not diminish your usefulness. God looks beyond what has been and runs with what will be through Him!
Conclusion:
For us to be a true community church we are going to have to learn to value each person in our community. They may be different, they may be broken, they may be something completely foreign to what we expect, but one thing every person has in common is that they are God’s creation. It is time for us to treat them as such.
