Building Community - Value One Another
In a society that is becoming increasingly fragmented, in which people seem more and more separated from one another, the church can be a refuge.
More than a building, more than a Sunday morning meeting, more than an organization. A community. A place where people come together. A place where people care about, and take care of, one another. A place where every person matters. A place where, if you don’t show up, somebody notices.
At Meridian Christian Church, that’s what we are; that’s what we aspire to be. A community. And we don’t just hope to be that, we take practical steps to make it a reality.
Why?
Because it says something important about who God is and who we are. We believe there’s a problem with this world, and the problem is called "sin".
People who go their own way, with no interest in God.
People who do things that are contrary to God’s design; hurting others, hurting themselves.
People who do not worship or obey God, even though He created them, even though He created all of us and everything around us. That’s sin. And sin separates. It separates us from God, and it separates us from one another.
But those who trust in Jesus Christ as Savior have their sins forgiven. They receive power over sin, power to live according to God’s design.
And so, instead of being alienated from God, they are brought into fellowship with Him through Jesus Christ.
Their shared relationship with Jesus Christ brings them into relationship with one another. And so our community as a church demonstrates that what we claim to believe is true.
That where sin has broken relationships, Christ restores them. Where sin has pulled people apart, Christ brings them together.
That’s what the church is, or should be. A living portrait of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s why community is so important.
This morning, we look at one more component of community, "Value One Another." The main idea that I’m going to present is that as we gain a right understanding of how much worth and value each person has.
As we come to see each other the way God sees us, then we will gain an appreciation for one another. We will be thankful for one another. We will view one another as precious gifts from God to us. And that will strengthen love and build community.
Your value is based on who you are!
The Coins of Value
Gold Coin: My value is not based on what I look like.
In Chicago several years ago, 8 nurses were killed by a serial murderer. A reporter on TV said, "What makes this great tragedy even worse is that these were all attractive women."
If they had been plain would the murderers be less tragic??
Silver Coin: My value is not based on what I know.
Bronze Coin: My value is not based on what I have.
Copper Coin: My value is not based on what I do.
My Value is based on who I am and I am a child of God.
Your value is based on your worth right now! Sometimes the value of something is determined by the appraisal of an expert.
Example: Antique Road Show:
An Alaskan whale hunting cap appraised at $50,000 An antique clock with "a lot of sentimental value" $50.
Who is more of an expert than God?
Yet he considered us to be worth the cost of His own Son. He exchanged His Son’s life for ours. "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" - Romans 8:32 (NIV)
But even more value comes from relationship.
If one of your children were kidnapped, what would you pay to get them back? (I know, there are some days you would pay to have someone take them off your hands, but I’m talking about most days).
You would sell your house and car, cash in your life insurance, empty the 401K, borrow money from friends and relatives - in short, you would give everything you own for your son or daughter. And yet God gave that which was most precious to Him, his own Son, for us.
What does that say about your value and worth? What does that say about the value and worth of your husband or wife? What does that say about the value and worth of the person sitting next to you, or in front of you?
It says that you, and I, and every person who trusts in Christ, are worth more to God than we can possibly imagine. What about them…
You and I may not feel particularly valuable at times -
but we are! The April, 1996 auction of Kennedy memorabilia (the "ultimate garage sale", grossed $34.5 million. JFK’s rocking chair sold for $442,500. Fake pearl necklace sold for $211,500. A set of golf clubs (just the woods: $772,500. Thirteen pairs of salt and pepper shakers sold for $11,500.
Those things had great value because of what people were willing to pay for them. You may feel about as valuable than an old beat up set of golf clubs or a used string of fake pearls.
In the auction catalog, your estimated value would be "ten dollars." Or even, "Worthless." But when the auction begins, God says, "That’s one of my priceless children. I’ll bid anything, even the life of my Son."
If the value of something is what someone is willing to pay for it, then we are of great value, because Christ gave His own life for us.
"I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." - Galatians 2:20 (NIV)
And what applies to you applies to every other follower of Jesus Christ. We see an old beat-up Christian with a lot of wear and tear. God sees an immortal soul that was worth the price of His own Son’s life.
Even the Christian we don’t particularly get along with, the one who gets on our nerves just being in the same room, the one that we consider to be a backwards, uncouth, slow-witted, annoying, loudmouth nincompoop - that person God paid for with the blood of His own Son.
That person is of immense value to God. And if we value them any less, if we value ourselves any less, we are saying that God made a mistake. He paid too much. He bid too high.
But God doesn’t make mistakes His judgment is true, and his valuations are correct.
Your value is based on your potential.
Three ways you and I KNOW that you have value based on potential…
#1: God has invested himself in you!
You don’t train and educate someone who is hopeless when it comes to a particular area of expertise.
Fighter Pilot
Cardiac Surgeon
Tiger Pitcher
God wouldn’t give you His presence - His spirit if there was no potential.
Gifts of the Spirit
Discipline of his love
Promise of his presence
Fruit of the Spirit
Theser are all proof positive of the hidden value He sees in me and you!
#2: God has entrusted you with critical responsibilities.
Sharing the good news about His son.
God has entrusted to us the most important work in the universe. He has commissioned every one of us as His representatives, to tell the world the good news about Jesus Christ.
To make known the gospel that brings eternal life and forgiveness of sins to anyone who believes.
Can anything be more important than that? Yet God has entrusted this task to us. Not to kings or presidents; not just to the educated or the wealthy; not just to the attractive or the highly capable; but to every one of us.
Not to angels, but to human beings.
My dad who is a preacher used to tell the story of an angel who asked God what his plan was for establishing the church. God answered that he commissioned the people to spread the word. The angel said, "What if people don’t share the gospel? What’s Plan B?"
And God said, "I have no other plan."
Supporting and ministering to one another
Not only that, He has entrusted to us the responsibility of strengthening and building His body, the church, and He has given every one of us gifts of ministry for that purpose.
"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 who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us." - Romans 12:4-6 (NIV)
"From [Christ] the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work." - Ephesians 4:16 (NIV)
What can we learn from these verses?
First, note that every single believer is gifted.
It’s not just the people with speaking parts. It’s not just the people on stage. It’s not just the paid staff. It’s not just those whom we would regard as highly capable. It’s everyone.
But my main point is this: we need each other. Every one of us needs everyone else. No one is expendable. No one is unnecessary.
In order for the body to function effectively, every organ, every muscle, every bone, every brain cell, every ligament, must be active and involved. Every one of us needs every one of us. Every one of us is important.
Every one of us has something of value to offer. We need the "Gary bone" and the "Scott bone". Every person has a contribution to make. Every person is necessary. Every person has value.
#3: God has prepared for your retirement in the most prestigious gated community ever conceived.
Gated Communities are exclusive places where privileged people get to live. I drove up to one once on vacation and the guard at the little house made me turn around. He didn’t even want me to drive up enough to do a U-turn but he made me back up right where I was.
Someday I’m going to live in the most beautiful gated community ever… We call it heaven.
You see I am immortal! I shall live forever with God in a fantastic mansion. God has a big big house!
Our bodies will be glorified -"So will it be with the resurrection of the dead.
The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. . . . For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with
immortality." - 1 Corinthians 15:42-44, 53 (NIV)
"But our citizenship is in heaven.
And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body." - Philippians 3:20-21 (NIV)
I just turned fifty, and my body is feeling more "perishable" every year. I’m getting to the age where a "lifetime membership" doesn’t seem like such a good deal any more.
But Paul tells us that as weak as these bodies are - subject to disease, injury, and finally, old age and death - the bodies we receive at the resurrection will be just the opposite.
Strong, invincible, eternal, immortal.
Bodies that don’t get old, don’t get sick, don’t decay, don’t age. As vigorous and youthful a thousand years from now as on the day of resurrection.
It’s been the dream of mankind from time immemorial.
Not just eternal life, but eternal youth and strength.
That’s what followers of Jesus Christ will receive.
Glorious bodies. Bodies like the one that He received when He rose from the dead, like the body that He inhabits now in heaven.
How would it affect your relationships if you were to remind yourself that you and every one of your fellow believers are immortals?
That they, along with you, are going to live forever?
That all of us, together, will someday be transformed into creatures so glorious that we can’t even imagine it?
Would that help us to value one another? Would that help us to love one another? Would that strengthen our community? I think so.
When we value one another - part of the work God has given us gets easy! Sharing your faith becomes a joy
Inviting friends to church is something you want to do!
The church becomes the hottest thing in town!!! Why? Because the people are so great! They value each other just as God values them. That is so different than the world.
