The text for our topic of today (we begin our relationship with each other) is from Genesis 2:18 (And Ephesians 4:11-16)
The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone, I will make a helper suitable for him.”
God had created everything in order and after each creation event God looked upon what He had done and the Bible says that God “saw that it was good.” Genesis 2:18 is the first time we hear God say, “It is not good.”
The theme of today’s lesson is “We begin our relationship with each other.”
God says that it is not good for the man to be alone. So God provided companionship to man by making a woman for him. This begins our relationship with one another!
It is amazing to look through the one another statements of the Bible. In 1979 Lanelle Waters published a book entitled, The One Another Way. It is a New Testament study of Christian relationships looking at all the passages in the New Testament that talk about our relationships with one another.
We were formed for fellowship. It’s in our design. God’s call for us is a call to come together. God wants His family to share life in harmony and unity with one another. It is one of the most important and significant principles taught in the Bible. I think of Jesus’ prayer for us as God’s people. Jesus prayed that we would be one, just as He and the Father are one. Jesus prayed that we be brought to complete unity so that the world would know that the Father loves us just as He loves Jesus the Son. Now that’s powerful unity! It all began in the garden. We begin our relationship together and build this relationship in Christ to fulfill our purpose as children of God. This is what we were made for!
Life together is much more than just hanging out with each other. God gave man a partner, but he also gave them a job! We begin our relationship together for the purpose of being something but also for the purpose of doing something together. We have partnership, fellowship with one another so that we can work together with one another in service to God and one another.
I heard this week that in the Lord’s tabernacle there were certain pieces of furniture. But one piece of furniture is not there. Do you know what it is? There is no furniture for sitting. This was a place to work together. Not sit. When we worship the Lord today, do we think of sitting together or working together? Did you know that the word for worship in the New Testament that is predominantly used in reference to Christian worship means to serve? The Greek words for worship in the New Testament are "proskuneo" and "latruo". "Proskuneo" means to bow down before and kiss the feet. It is a posture of submission and devotion. The word "latruo" is the idea of doing acts of worship in service to God. Singing, praying, giving, sharing the Lord’s supper, caring for the widow and orphan or needy, washing the feet of the saints, taking care of the sick or afflicted, preaching, proclaiming, or teaching the Word of God, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the prisoner, etc. These things done in Jesus name in company with other Christians is "latruo"! Christian worship! None of these requires sitting. Although you could sit and do some of them.
We build houses of worship that can seat people, don’t we? Parking and seating are important to the way we worship today, are they not? This century air conditioning also has become important, and, of course, bathrooms. We like our worship to be…. comfortable, don’t we? We want it to be exciting too! The latest move is to be as hip and cool as possible so that we can draw in more people, not by our Christlikeness but by our coolness. The idea here is to make people WANT to come see just how neat and fun this church is! What if, instead we worked hard at being known as the church that served in the name of Christ? You go there and they will put you to work for Jesus!
God’s idea of church is just that! God’s idea of worship has more to do with everyone in church DOING something. Serving. Not coming to see what kind of show we can put on, but more like coming to learn what our next assignment is in our service to the King of kings and Lord of lords! That’s biblical. What makes a church worship great in God’s eyes has little to do with the things that make it great in the eyes of the world. In fact, a great church in God’s eyes can be seen as a big threat to the world! Read Acts!
It is not good for a Christian to be alone! God wants us to come together to serve!
In the garden God gave man partnership, a place to live and a job to do! We begin our relationship together in Christ in order to serve Him! We serve Him by serving one another and by reaching out to the lost.
Let’s go back to Ephesians 4:11-16. Why did Jesus set up the leadership of the church? What is their purpose in verse 11? It is to do verses 12-16 (and the rest of the letter for that matter). Do you see any sitting around in these passages? Leaders according to God’s plan are those that put us to work doing God’s will!
We are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should SIT THROUGH them, right? No! That we should WALK in them! Do them!
This is what our leadership has put together for us here. This past summer the deacons have shared with us several areas of ministry that each of them are responsible for leading and managing. Our elders want each member of this body to be equipped for the work of serving, not just sitting. We begin our relationship together in Christ as servants of Christ, working together, right?
Here’s your assignment: Every member here who is baptized into Christ needs to put their name on at least one area of service that you can do for Christ as part of this church. If you are a member here, you are part of this body. We need every part to function in partnership with all the rest of us. We need all hands on deck. Every member pulling their weight. No slackers. No submarine Christians… you know what that is? They surface on Sunday at church and then they submerge and disappear. Where are they?
What happens when every Christian goes from sitting on the premises to standing on the promises and working in the purposes of the Lord. This is not something you do alone! No! We are called together to work TOGETHER in Christ, connected and joined, knit and united.
Listen, nothing builds up the body of Christ like latruo together. Nothing gets us in shape spiritually like exercising and practicing the faith! Jesus said, Whoever hears these words of mine and SITS THROUGH THEM is like a wise man… right? No! We hear and we DO. We practice what God says.
Are you a member of this church? The elders want you to be equipped to serve. No one should leave this building today without putting their name on at least one of the areas of ministry that this church is doing. God has a job for you. This church is here to build you up into Christ. Your part is to be joined in with the serving in the name of the Lord.
