Core Values: Relationships – The Fellowship
Galatians 6:1-5
1 Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.
2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
3 If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself
4 Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else,
5 For each one should carry his own load.
Romans 12:4-6
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."
One of the tragedies of our contemporary age is the loss of a sense of community. North Americans have been known for their rugged individualism. We have viewed their identity in personal or individualistic terms. However, there is more to our identity than just ourselves. Paul tells us in our second lesson today that we are members of the body of Christ. He describes the Church as similar to the human body. There are many different parts or members of the body. Each part or member has a special function and purpose. Each part or member is connected to the whole body.
I. We believe in the unity of the body of Christ
A. How do you feel about your body?
a. Strange question isn’t it?
b. Most of us would rather not think about our bodies and if we do we probably don’t think very complementary things.
c. It’s too fat or too skinny, too short or too tall. Bumpy, lumpy or just plain ugly kind of like the guy who was so ugly when he was a kid that his parents took him everywhere they went so they wouldn’t have to kiss him good bye.
d. At least that’s the way we think about it.
e. So it’s kind of strange that Paul would say “Now all of you together are Christ’s body, and each one of you is a separate and necessary part of it.”
f. What a statement. You, you are the Body of Christ.
B. Pretty awesome isn’t it? Look around you; each one of you makes up a part of the body of Christ.
a. “There is an “I” a personality which gives unity to the many and varying parts of the body” This is a hand and this is a hand and that’s a foot and there’s another foot and here’s a head and they’re all separate, but “I” brings unity to make all of those things part of my body.
b. What “I” is to the body, what Christ is to the church, it is in Him that all the diverse parts find their unity.
c. Alone we are just a BO, an Ian, a Charles, a Les, a Gerard, & a Brian.
d. But add Jesus Christ and you become a body.
C. We have a problem today. Our body is missing parts. We have hands and feet, eyes and ears, arms and legs that are missing from this body.
D. THE BODY HAS MEMBERS
a. As I said, we have a problem today. Our body is missing parts. We have hands and feet, eyes and ears, arms and legs that are missing from this body. For in fact the body is not one member but many.
E. THE BODY NEEDS EACH OF ITS MEMBERS.
a. We often think of hands that work, feet that take the Gospel, etc. when we think of the body. There are many other parts – SHOULDER & KNEES
b. The human body does not exist to meet the needs of the hand.
i. The hand exists to meet the needs of the body and in doing so gets its own needs met.
ii. The Church (Body of Christ) does not exist to meet our needs.
iii. We exist to carry out the work of the Body to reach the world for Christ
iv. It is tragic to think of the members that for some unknown reason are absent from this body. Think of what could be done if all the body parts were working together.
c. There are two reasons for missing members of the body
i. The need for each person to connect & commit
ii. The mandate for us to reach pre-saved souls
F. EACH OF THE MEMBERS NEEDS THE BODY.
a. Imagine an arm or leg or other body part that was detached/amputated from the body. What would happen? It would die. So is the Christian that is not a part of a body.
b. “The Christian who is not committed to a group of other believers for praying, sharing, and serving, so that he is known, as he knows others, is not an obedient Christian.
c. He is not in the will of God. However vocal he may be in his theology, he is not obeying the Lord.”
G. Benefits of connecting into the body.
a. It identifies you as a genuine believer. In every other organization, you join, ie Boy Scouts.
b. It provides a spiritual family to support and encourage you in your walk with Christ.
c. It gives you a place to discover and use your gifts. Can a hand function that is detached?
d. Frankenstein churches – Roving Christians – members don’t change bodies at will.
e. It places them under the spiritual protection of godly leaders.
f. It gives the accountability needed for spiritual growth.
H. BOYCOTT THE STOMACH:
a. One day it occurred to the members of the body that they were doing all the work and that the belly was having all the food.
b. So they held a meeting and after a long discussion decided to strike work until the belly consented to take its proper share of the work.
c. So for a day or two the hands refused to take the food, the mouth refused to receive it and the teeth had no work to do.
d. But after a day or two members began to find that they themselves were not in very active condition.
e. The hands could hardly move, the mouth was all parched and dry, while the legs were unable to support the rest.
f. Thus they found that even the belly in its dull quiet way was doing necessary work for the body and that all must work together or the body would go to pieces.
I. Let me summarize this message in just three words
a. So if you fail to hear anything else that is said, don’t miss these three words.
b. It can be summed up in this motto: I need you!
c. Let me repeat it so there’s no mistaking it: I need you!
J. Each Member Is Indispensable
a. The first principle that Paul wants us to understand about our need for one another is that each member is indispensable. While each member of the Body of Christ is not the same each of us is essential to the whole.
b. Each part must be present in order for the body to be complete. If the human body was made up of only one part, then it would cease to be a body—by definition, a body is made up of many parts.
c. But for the sake of argument, if it were possible for a body to be made up on only one part, then it would it would be an extremely limited body—it would miss out on all the functionality and potential of all the other parts.
d. We are given eyes to see, ears to hear, hands to touch, and noses to smell.
e. The various parts of our human bodies contribute to the whole in unique and significant ways that no other part can do.
f. So it is with the Body of Christ. God has made us all different and unique.
g. He gifts us each in particular ways like no one else. We are each special and necessary.
h. And we are to carry out the function for which we were created and gifted by God, whether it is for seeing, hearing, smelling, touching or whatever.
i. “Each part…must be willing to perform its own function and not seek to function in a role for which it was not made”
j. Don’t let the body be maimed – CONNECT & COMMIT! COMMIT TO CONNECT!
K. Each Member Is Interdependent
a. Every part of the Body of Christ relies on the proper functioning of every other part.
b. Without the cooperation of the various parts of our human bodies, many (if not all) vital tasks would be impossible.
c. Take, for example, the simple act of speaking, like I’m doing right now. If any of the parts of my body that are necessary for speech were to decide that they didn’t want to participate in this act, it would be impossible for me to talk at this very…moment.
d. Speech is possible only when my brain, nerves, tongue, jaws, lips, larynx, lungs, diaphragm, heart, veins, arteries, capillaries and parts unknown to me all work together for that specific purpose.
e. What appears on the surface to be the work of only one part of the body is actually a very complex and precise cooperative act of many members of the body.
f. You think I’m preaching to you today, but actually Gerard, Mimi, Ian, Brian, Les, and Joanie are all declaring this message because we’re interdependent
L. Each member of the Body of Christ is interdependent.
a. Even the most basic functioning of that Body requires a coordinated effort between the various members.
b. All the pictures of the church are group pictures. The more mature we become in Christ, the more we realize that throughout our entire life we will continue to need each other”
II. We believe that loving relationships should permeate every aspect of church life
A. Vince Lombardi tells what it takes to make a winning team.
a. There are a lot of coaches with good ball clubs who know the fundamentals and have plenty of discipline but still don’t win the game. Then you come to the third ingredient: if you’re going to play together as a team, you’ve got to care for one another.
b. You’ve got to love each other. Each player has to be thinking about the next guy and saying to himself "If I don’t block that man, Paul is going to get his legs broken. I have to do my job well in order that he can do his."
c. The difference between mediocrity and greatness, Lombardi said that night, is the feeling these guys have for each other. In the healthy church, each Christian learns to care for others. As we take seriously Jesus’ command to "love one another," we contribute to a winning team.
B. Each Member Is Interconnected
a. That is, whatever affects one member of the Body of Christ is felt by all of the members.
b. The major disease affecting the Body of Christ today is what I call spiritual leprosy.
i. Do you know what physical leprosy is?
ii. You are probably more apt to recognize it by the effects and symptoms associated with the disease rather than its actual root nature.
iii. Lepers are known for their swollen hands and feet and the festering sores on their bodies. But that is not leprosy in it most basic form. A simple description of leprosy found in Webster’s states that it is “a germ disease causing gradual loss of feeling.”
iv. What happens to those infected by the bacteria that causes leprosy is that they become numb to the conditions surrounding them.
v. They can’t sense what is happening around them. One who has leprosy could cut himself/herself and never experience the sensation of pain.
vi. As a result, the wound receives no attention, & infection sets in. If not treated in time, the infection could progress to gangrene and eventually destroy the whole body.
c. This is what happens when the members of the Body of Christ become infected by spiritual leprosy.
i. We become unable to sense what is occurring in the lives of the others in the body.
ii. One member may get injured. If that injury is not attended to, it will become progressively worse until that person is finally ruined.
iii. This numbness will destroy the entire body. We must beware that we do not become infected with this fatal disease.
C. We are interconnected to one another.
a. We must share in the experiences of one another – Don’t just spend all of your time with certain parts -- Jeep your eyes focused outward to the needs of others
b. Join others in their grief and joy. Remember: I need you!
III. As members of the body of Christ, we need relationships & interdependence upon one another
A. The huge redwood trees in California are amazing.
a. They are the largest living things on earth and the tallest trees in the world.
b. Some of them are 300 feet high and more than 2,500 years old.
c. You would think that trees that large would have a tremendous root system, reaching down hundreds of feet into the earth. But actually, redwoods have a very shallow root system.
d. The roots of these trees are, intertwined. They are tied in with each other; interlocked.
e. Thus, when the storms come and the winds blow the redwoods still stand.
f. With an interlocking root system they support and sustain each other.
g. They need one another to survive. So do we!
B. Someone Else –
a. I know that all of you were saddened to learn this week of the death of one of our church’s most valuable members -- Someone Else. Someone’s passing created a vacancy that will be difficult to fill.
b. Else has been around for many years, and for every one of those years, Someone did far more than the normal person’s share of the work. Whenever leadership was mentioned, this wonderful person was looked to for inspiration as well as results. Someone Else can work with that group.
c. Whenever there was a job to do, a class to teach, or a meeting to attend, one name was on everyone’s lips, "Let Someone Else do it". It was common knowledge that Someone Else was among the largest givers in the church.
d. Whenever there was a financial need, everyone just assumed that Someone Else would make up the difference. Someone Else was a wonderful person, sometimes appearing super-human, but a person can only do so much. Were the truth known, everyone expected too much of Someone Else.
e. Now Someone Else is gone. We wonder what we are going to do. Someone Else left a wonderful example to follow, but who is going to follow it? Who is going to do the things Someone Else did? Remember, we can’t depend on Someone Else anymore.
C. The Body Is the Voice
V. The church is a family and there is power of small groups to build strong relationships & bring personal transformation
A. WE NEED TO HOLD EACH OTHER’S HANDS UP.
a. Because we have a common enemy and we are engaged in a common purpose. They caught a glimpse of the common vision (v. 10);
i. Eph. 6:12 ”our struggle/we wrestle”
b. Because we need one another.
i. If the church is going to be successful we must recognize that we need one another.
ii. This need becomes even more evident in the times of hostile attack.
iii. Because we, as individuals, sometimes grow weary in the time of battle.
iv. Moses became “tired”, his hands grew “heavy”
B. WHAT WE DO WHEN WE HOLD EACH OTHERS’ HANDS UP
a. They helped alleviate his weariness
b. They supplemented his weakness with their strength
c. They did not accentuate his weakness.
i. Rom. 15:1 The strong ought to bear the failings of the weak & not please ourselves.
ii. I Thess. 5:14 …help the weak….
iii. Gal. 6:2 Carry each other’s burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
d. They enabled him to endure much longer than he would on his own—until the end of battle
e. They facilitated the victory of the entire group
C. HOW WAS IT DONE?
a. By prayer
b. By practical service – “stone”
c. By continuous support
D. THE ARMOR BEARER
a. In Scripture there is an apt illustration of what it means to bear one another’s burdens. It is the role of an Armor Bearer in the Old Testament.
i. The armor bearer is mentioned in Judges 9:54; 1 Samuel 16:21; I Samuel 31:16 and 2 Samuel 18:15 but we will look at his mention in 1 Samuel 14:6-7 - Jonathan’s armor bearer.
b. According to history the armor bearer:
i. Was a trustworthy and brave SERVANT.
ii. SHARED in carrying additional weapons.
iii. Would STRIKE the enemy dead that had been wounded by the commander’s arrow or javelin.
iv. The burden bearer is a servant and helps the other get free from negative burdens by sharing in that burden whether through prayer or in a more tangible way.
v. He will share also in coming against the attacks of the enemy against the vulnerable one who is burdened.
c. We need a Jonathan – an armor bearer – a friend – a prayer partner – accountability mentor
VI. Integrity in the lives and ministries of all members requires that we provide for accountability
A. Real COMMUNITY
a. The church or a local community of believers is essential to our spiritual well-being.
b. In the New Testament there are no “Lone Ranger” Christians.
c. Believers need each other and God expected them to be there for each other.
d. God has ordained that we play a vital part in each other’s faith.
e. For that reason we are commanded in Hebrews 10:25 not to, “…GIVE UP MEETING TOGETHER, AS SOME ARE IN THE HABIT OF DOING, BUT LET US ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER….” God has a purpose for putting us together.
f. “We are unified by our common weaknesses, our common failures, our common disappointments and our common inconsistencies.”
g. We must have AUTHENTIC RELATIONSHIPS – share our struggles & grow together
B. In the church, our relationships should be greatly different than they were before we met Jesus.
a. Submit to one another
i. Submission is a bad word in our society we make heroes of people who won’t submit to anyone’s authority, You never hear Mel Gibson, or Arnold Schwartseneger or Sigourney Weaver talking about submission, unless it is beating the bad guys into submission.
b. The motto for our age it outplay, outwit, outlast, not “submit”
c. The Submission that God requires is mutual submission – not one where there is one person in submission, and another in authority, but that we would submit to each other.
VII. Fellowship means mutual support and mutual accountability
A. “When God ‘s love feels distant or non-existent, the body of Christ’s love is real and tangible….” That is why we cannot afford to stand alone; to go it on our own. We need each other; we need the community of faith.
B. In Leadership magazine, Carl Conner writes about the dangers of standing alone.
a. A few winters ago, heavy snows hit North Carolina.
b. Following a wet, six-inch snowfall, it was interesting to see the effect along I-40.
c. Next to the highway stood several large groves of tall, young pine trees.
d. The branches were bowed down with the heavy snow - so low that branches from one tree were often leaning against the trunk or branches of another.
e. Where trees stood alone, however, the effect of the heavy snow was different.
f. The branches had become heavier and heavier. Since there was no other trees to lean against, the branches snapped.
g. They lay on the ground, dark and alone in the cold snow.
C. When the storms of life hit, we need to be standing close to other Christians. We need each other; we can’t stand alone.
D. The closer we stand in community, the more we will be able to hold up. Throughout our lives and especially during tough times, God desires to strengthen and empower us through the community of believers.
