I have a confession to make. I have not been looking forward to Free Church as I ought. I remember when I attended my first one eight years ago, I looked forward to it. But nowadays, sometimes it seems like it’s getting just a little bit old. It’s tempting to say that the idea has had its day and it’s time to retire it before that old horse gets beaten to a pulp. I find myself agreeing with those who say we should do it less often, and then feeling somewhat guilty.
And you know what? I think I need to listen to that guilt. When I read the Bible, I can’t help but get the sense that what Free Church is trying to accomplish comes straight from the lips of our Savior. Above all else he gave us one simple command: Love one another.
That’s what Free Church is supposed to be about, and that’s what we as members of the Church are supposed to be about as well. We love one another.
Now, I’m not here to say that the schedule and the service and the zillions of details that you’ll see in about an hour are somehow sacrosanct. But if you are going, and I am urging you to do so, I want to suggest you to a simple survival guide to the service. All you need to do is remember one thing – you are the body.
What we will be doing at Free Church is pretty simple – we’ll be giving that body some exercise. You see, 51 weeks out of the years, we concentrate on being Long Branch Church, or Middleburg Church, or the Methodist Church. But every so often we need to remember a simple fact. Those aren’t church – they’re congregations. We are all members of one body – one church.
Now, before you think I’m going to launch into some fuzzy feel-good about just ‘getting along,’ let me tell you there are some pretty good reasons we don’t worship together every week. I don’t believe in having even one church service where you just preach to the lowest common denominator. Jesus never minced words. When somebody was wrong, he said, ‘Hey! You’re wrong!”
I have never believed that church is a place to get all nostalgic and comfortable. It is a hospital for battered souls. Yes, there is rest and recuperation, but sometimes there’s surgery too. Healing – true healing – means both. If you want a vacation, you don’t head to the hospital, you go the beach! If you just want pretty words and nice sentiments, frankly Hollywood is far better than you’ll ever get from me. But if you want truth, you just need to look to this book.
Let me say that again. If you want truth, you look here. Not to me, not to your belly button, but here. I am only doing my job insofar as this – that I point you back to this book.
Now, this may sound a bit heretical, but I wouldn’t even suggest you look to those big Baptist leaders in the sky. I don’t think that God said we need to be Baptists or Catholics or whatever denomination you want to insert here – In fact, I kind a suspect that God can use even our division. And, if you stick with me, I’ll try to show you that here in 1 Corinthians 12
You may not realize this, but in the United States alone, the IRS recognizes over 33,000 separate denominations. That’s not churches – that is individual denominations. Fifteen million Southern Baptists account for precisely one of those. That’s a pretty staggering sum. And if we think that we’re the only one those 33,000 that is going to make it, we are in serious sin.
But we need to understand this. There might be 33,000 different denominations, but there is only one confession. Jesus is Lord. We have way more in common than we have disagreements.
You’ll remember two weeks ago I pointed something out. If you were to randomly pick three people from anywhere on the planet, chances are one of them will tell you this: Jesus is Lord. Not me, not my country, not even my religion. Just, Jesus is Lord. What’s more, that one in three people will tell you that this Jesus is a man who is God – He’s the Son of God. There’s a fancy term for that – it’s called Christology.
One in three people will tell you that this God Man died for us and wants to save us. There’s a fancy word for that too – it’s called Soteriology. In fact, one of the cool things about taking classes is you learn all sorts of fancy terms for things we agree on: Eschatology, Bibliology, Ethical Theology – Basically you learn fancy words for where to find big old books in the library. And, when you read them you find out that people are often arguing over distinctions with very little difference. When you boil it all down, you find out that as Christians we’re aren’t really arguing over much.
You know, in the 1700s, there were two great evangelists – George Whitfield & John Wesley, who liked argued theology in public. They were both brilliant men, but the press tried to paint them as adversaries. They wrote scathing books denouncing each other on issues like election and pre-destination; they argued over points of ethics, and they even would make fun of how each other prayed. But one day, a reporter asked George Whitfield, a question. He said, “So, do you think you’ll see John Wesley in heaven?”
Whitfield thought for a minute, and said, “No.” He said, “I think John Wesley will be so close to God himself that I won’t be able to make him out from the glory of God himself.”
Think about that. That would be like George Bush saying that Al Gore would have been the one of the best presidents ever. But both Whitfield and Wesley knew that even in their disagreements, they still had more in common than they ever argued about.
In fact, do you want to know what the biggest source of disagreement amongst churches today is? It’s something called ecclesiology – how we do church and how they are governed. There tend to be three big groups: Catholics and Episcopalians believe you should have a hierarchy of bishops to help glue the body together and maintain some order. Presbyterians think you should have a council of elders and everything should be done by consensus – like a well run small town. And then there are those of us who don’t belong to any organized religion – we’re Baptists.
But look at what that does for us – If you were to going to pick the best way to organize a church, you’d have to choose one of two things. Either you could set up a nice hierarchy in which everyone is connected based on a common everything, or you could choose to give every congregation out there some autonomy – let everybody decide for themselves what’s best. By the way – do you know where the word hierarchy comes from? “Archy” of course means ‘rule,’ and heiros is the Greek word for priest. It’s literally the rule of the priests.
If you are fighting a war, you’re probably better off with some rulers. If you are interested in buy-in from every member, you might be better off with some freedom and autonomy.
But, guess what? It’s both.
We wage a war, not against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities. Remember that? And yet, Jesus clearly said that his Kingdom what not of this world. Why is it that we love God? It’s because he first loved us. That sounds pretty individualistic to me.
It’s almost as if God intentionally delights in putting us in the perverse predicament. On the one hand, you’ve got the freedom to respond quickly and creatively when you sense God’s call. On the other, you have a structure and a hierarchy that means there’s follow-through.
On the one hand you have a means by which truth can easily jump from church to church. On the other, you’ve got an easy path for lies as well.
Make no mistake – I may agree with a Muslim when it comes to charity and good works, or even on the existence of God, but I believe in grace. God loves me. I may like what the Buddhist or the Hindu or the New-Ager says about love – but I also believe God is a real person. There is no fuzzy force that loves me like God.
Even on a one-on-one level, you are going to have to decide what is essential and what is not.
I remember last year, I got myself all full of righteous indignation when one very good, kind-hearted person got very annoyed at the idea of people clapping after some of the songs. She thought it was disrespectful. I on the other hand was convinced that anything that gets people to worship is good. Guess what? We were both right. The truth is, worshipping God with all of our beings is probably more complicated than anyone of us can handle.
Does that mean we just give up? Or just give in? No! As iron sharpens iron – we build each other up. Even the disagreements give us the opportunity to discover truth. If it weren’t for that argument, I never would have thought about how I worship. I’ll admit some ideas and some people distract me more than others. Sometimes, I want to be lazy and not have to think all these things out. That’s why God gave us the other 51 weeks. But sometimes I don’t want to eat my spinach either – especially when there’s a pantry full of comfort food waiting for me.
So, how do you resolve these inherent tensions and paradoxes that seem to surround us? Well, Paul gives us an answer here. If you remember that a body has lots of parts, you’ve got a good plan.
My little brother takes biology, and so I had to call him up yesterday to get this word out of him: “Homeostasis.” Basically, it means that sometimes you set up systems that seem to be opposite to one another. But, the truth is that it is the very tension between them that keeps the whole thing healthy.
In your body, you have two organs that probably think the other one is stupid. Whenever you eat food, two organs get really excited. Your pancreas sees the food and tells the body “Whoa! Look here! Here’s some sugar that we burn to make energy!” It sees the food and releases insulin so that it can be turned into sugar. Now, your liver sees this same food and has the exact opposite reaction. Look! All this sugar and insulin is nice, but I really want to turn that food into fat we live on. It releases something called glucagen that attacks insulin and tries to store up the carbs. Again, I’m sure the pancreas keeps trying to figure out why God gave you a liver, and the liver knows its job would be a lot easier if it weren’t for that stupid pancreas.
But guess what. You know what happens if either organ gives up? You get something called diabetes. I’m sure you’ve heard of it. People have to inject themselves every day with insulin or glucagen depending on what they ate. The pancreas isn’t what makes you healthy; the liver isn’t what makes you healthy. It’s the two of them –jostling, fighting, and each doing their own thing that keeps you healthy.
So, what is it then important to keep in mind when we’re eating chicken with those other people who, shall we say, just don’t have as much truth as we do? I doubt very much you plan to discuss soteriology or eschatology or even ecclesiology this morning. I hope you will talk about one thing: Love. .
If nothing else, think of this morning as tangible, bodily exercise in love. We are one in the bond of love. Let’s prove it.
--- Something for another sermon ---
That food is what keeps you going. And guess what? You eat some poison, and let me tell you - both organs attack. Its not like Rachel who can try to get Mommy or Daddy – it’s a coordinated focus on what’s important.
Make no mistake – I may agree with a Muslim when it comes to charity and good works, or even on the existence of God, but I believe in grace. God loves me.
I may like what the Buddhist or the Hindu or the New-Ager says about love – but I also believe God is a real person. There is no fuzzy force that loves me like God.
You know, I feel sorriest of all for the atheist who will never know that personal God loves him. There is a God who laid down his very own life in order that that man might know, beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is a God who gives Life, and gives it so abundantly.
But ultimately, I believe in the Great Physician who created this Body in the first place. He’s Lord. He’s in charge. He’s really the only one who knows what’s best.
Long Branch Baptist Church
Halfway, Virginia; est. 1786
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Enter to Worship
Prelude David Witt
Invocation Michael Hollinger
*Opening Hymn #255
“Sweet, Sweet Spirit”
Welcome & Announcements
Morning Prayer
*Praise Hymn: “We are one in the Bond of Love” #259
*Responsive Reading [See Right]
*Offertory Hymn #254
“Leaning on the Everlasting Arms”
Offertory Mr. Witt
*Doxology
*Scripture 1 Corinthians 12:12-14; 17-22; 24b-28;31
Sermon
“Love in Large Denomination”
Invitation Hymn #236
“The Church’s One Foundation”
Benediction
Congregational Response
May the grace of Christ of Savior / And the Father’s boundless love
With the Holy Spirit’s favor / Rest upon us from above. Amen.
* Congregation, please stand.
Depart To Serve
RESPONSIVE READING
This is the message you have heard from the beginning:
We should love one another.
But we don’t need to write to you about the importance of loving each other, for God himself has taught you to love one another."
Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.
And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people are in the habit of doing, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.
So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other.
Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.
Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.
Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.
Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God.
Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence.
And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him.
And this is his commandment:
We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us.
Those who obey God’s commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us.
Greet each other with Christian love. Peace be with all of you who are in Christ."
-1 John 3:11; 1 Thess 4:9; Rom 12:10; Heb 10:24-25;
John 13:34-35; 1 John 3:18-24; 1 Pet 5:14
Title: Love in Large Denomination
