Practically Sanctified

 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;  but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from 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. Ephesians 4:11-16

 This guy Reggie joins a YMCA near his home. He meets with Jason, the resident trainer who works out of a glass cubicle in what Reggie refers to as the room of torture.  What if, when he went to see Jason, Jason had challenged him to prove his commitment to the Y by getting on all those machines in the room? What if Jason also pulls out a picture of Mr Universe, and says this is your goal and your predetermined regimen. Would that seem strange? Sometimes that is a picture of how many program driven churches operate (actually, if the Y operated like many churches, it would bring people in once a week, feed them coffee and donuts, and let them watch Jason work out!). Read more…

John 15:12-17

“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.
You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. This I command you, that you love one another.”

When you watch the Saskatchewan roughriders play you see more than just a football game. You see a province that is excited about their team. You see what people call “Rider Nation”, and you see exciting football. They had a couple overtime games last year. They were so close to winning the Grey Cup. And now they have their own loonie! On game day you see green shirts and sweaters all over the place. The Riders are known across Canada for many of these things.

When you talk to people about the church you also get a sense for what the church is known for. In many places around the world the “church” is synonymous with the Catholic Church. The church is known in some countries as a result with the shame of abuse. In other places it is known for issues of control, control of people or money. There are also positive things – compassionate ministries and holding out hope and love. As we continue our study of John 14-17 we want to look at what themes Jesus talks about as what we should be known. You and I have this mission to accomplish, to be like Jesus and to share His love in the community around us. When people look at us, what are we known for? Who we are today, is not who we were 8 years ago. Even if you just go back 4 years, we have changed and grown significantly. So what does Jesus want us to be known for?

Peace – John 14:27 People of Peace – Not like the world. When you read the newspapers, what are the most common headlines? The headlines tend to focus on the problems. That is what sells newspapers. People like to read about other people’s problems. Look at the video games that dominate the market – many are all about war and killing. Look at many of the movies – more senseless violence. What is big in sports? Ultimate fighting. Wars and rumors of war. Peace in the world is often bought and sold to the highest bidder. How long does the world’s peace last? Just reading in the Star Phoenix on Friday about the continuing conflict in eastern Congo. What a mess, and the civilians are paying a horrible price.

Jesus says I give you a different kind of peace. He says, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” He gives us a peace in spite of all the problems around us. He gives us a peace that passes all understanding as we rest in Him – it doesn’t make sense. That peace is connected to the promise of His second coming – we know the last chapter and the promise of seeing loved ones gone before us again in heaven. We also have peace because we are not alone – we are promised the presence of God and the Holy Spirit. God’s love will never leave us nor forsake us. So we have this strange peace – does it show? How can we show this peace to the world around us? How can we be known as a people of peace?

Fruitfulness -John 15:12 People of Love The heart of God is love. That is how the Law is summed up – Love God and Love your neighbour. The problem is the heart of people is corrupted by sin and there is this constant struggle between selfishness of sin and selflessness of love. I had a conversation with Iona Bischu this past week about the international students program at the U of S. A new administrator has come in that is very much anti Christian and shut it down. He later relented because they saw how much good the program was doing, but there is still a very cautious stance. The problem is there are not a lot of people willing to help these students anymore. She said people don’t seem to know how to be friendly anymore.

We saw last week how love is a result of our relationship with Jesus. Love is not what gets us to Jesus, but what happens as a result of being connected to the vine. Here Jesus uses language that no one can argue with, “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.” He modeled it and expects us to be doing the same as we grow and become more like Him. How natural is love? Probably not very. Love asks us to look to the needs of others first. But love is something everyone needs and wants. There is a shortage of it in families and life. There are many, many instances of love, but it is not nearly enough for the needy world we live in. So, how can we do better? Which is more effective – love as a group through some kind of program, or love as an individual from one person to another? Which do you think people will respond to the most?

Perseverance – John 16:1 People of Testimony Did you watch some of the World Cup? I have never watched soccer before, and was shocked at how easy and often players took a dive and faked injury. Watching the news there for a while it was all over the place. How can a player fake it knowing there are millions of people watching it on slow motion replay? It is so obvious, but I guess it is so natural to take advantage of it they can’t help themselves. It certainly did nothing to attract me to the game of soccer.

So, people are watching us. We have a message of the kingdom of God – one of peace and freedom and love. Some are called to make a stand on behalf of those poor and downtrodden. Some are called to help the homeless. Some are called to stand for truth in places where truth is not wanted. Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling.” In the context of persecution, Jesus said to stand firm in your faith. There are several places around the world today where calling yourself a follower of Jesus results in persecution, jail, and even death. We pray for them, but that is not our Canadian experience. We have a both a spoken testimony, what we say, and a lifestyle testimony – what we do; that people see and watch.

Christians are not the only ones being persecuted. What would it take for you or I to give up our faith? We have talked the last couple weeks about two men who are giving up because of how other self proclaimed “Christians” are acting around them. I have heard of some people leaving a church because of disagreements over a whiteboard. Others have broken fellowship over issues of coffee. Others because of moving a broken photocopier off of a platform after it sat there for several years. What kind of poor discipleship have we been doing in our churches if those things are all it takes to walk away? What kind of faith do we have if that is all it takes to cause us to move on? No wonder the church is in decline in North America. The church has gotten soft in the middle, like a piece of over ripened fruit. Where are the men and women who are mature in their faith and will stand up not for coffeemakers, but for the Gospel of Peace? Where are the people of God who will do whatever it takes to reach the lost? Where are the ones who will take up their cross daily and forsake all in order to follow Jesus? May that be our testimony.

A people of peace, characterized by love, with a testimony of enduring faith is what Jesus calls of us. We are all in this together, and may we marked and known here on out by these.

 “Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

But each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another. For each one will bear his own load. The one who is taught the word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him.

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.” Galatians 6:1-10

The Cirque du Soleil is like a circus and Broadway rolled into one. It has the contortionists and strength shows, the trampoline and trapeze acts of the circus, plus the costumes and live music of a theatre show. And you get to eat popcorn. Watching the 8 man trapeze act was amazing. Two guys were sitting on this swing thing, their legs locked in through bars, going back and forth using one another’s weight to get to great heights. Above them on a framework of bars another guy would start the dipsy doodling circling and rolling around the bars and then fling himself into space, timing it just right so he could grab the wrists of one of the two men on the swing. It really was fantastic. It is also a wonderful metaphor for church. Yes, there were clowns and such, but that is not what I refer to. What I saw was amazing teamwork. These men were strong each and every one as individuals, but they all came to points in the performance where they totally relied on someone else to be there for them. There was the sense that they were a team, a community.

For these men and the rest of the performers it was more than just living communally, more than just being together. They participated and worked both individually and corporately to accomplish a very specific goal. They were there to entertain with a world class performance of a specific program. That focus on common task and the commitment to see that task accomplished brought them into a deeper community than normal – something more intense, more chaotic, and something called Communitas.

Communitas is that sense of being equal partners in an intentional and progressive social way; that together the community is becoming something new, something outside of the normal social structures.
For a church that means becoming something more than just an institutional or traditional church. It means we are actively pursuing God’s purposes for us as a community, as we strive to become more like Jesus both individually and as a church.

Shane Hipps is teaching pastor of Mars Hill Church in Grand Rapids MI. His deepest desire is to be a catalyst in people’s movement towards God. Shane speaks nationally on the topics of faith, media, culture, post modernity, and the church. He has this to say about community:

There are 4 things necessary for community:
1. A shared History: this helps to establish a sense of identity and belonging. They say it takes a pastor between 3 and 7 years to begin to be able to effectively minister in a church. One reason is it takes time to have a shared history. I can now travel back almost 4 years with most of you here.
2. Permanence: Something fixed or consistent. It is how you get shared history. You have to stick to something. People who go from one church to another don’t gain permanence. They will not belong to any community. Common faith also helps with this permanence. You say “Nazarene” and we all get you.
3. Proximity: You have to be with one another over time to create meaningful connections. You have to take the time to show up. As a church we seek ways to get together in the midst of busy lives, because getting together helps immensely in creating connections – but you have to be intentional at it, as with each of these areas. It is more than history, it is closeness.
4. Shared Imagination of the future: A sense of we’re all going in the same direction. This is the hardest of all. We have different opinions and different perspectives. One of the reasons Jesus spoke of humility is because we have to get beyond agendas. It is this fourth point I want you to reflect on today. Service to the community lies at the heart of the Communitas’ mission. By its very nature, to serve is a collaborative process; doing with, as well as for someone.

What is our mission as a church? What is our motto? Why do we have it? We have it because this is our shared imagination of the future. It is where we want to go as a church, and where we as a community of Believers want each of us to go. In fact, we believe it is a vital road that we all need to be on with others regardless of whether we fit into one community or another at the present. If you aren’t part of one, find a community you can join because this is a journey where we need friends on the way. The journey has 2 parts.

To Know the Love of Jesus. This first part is expressed in the passage we read earlier. As you read Galatians 6, you get a sense of community involvement and while the chapter is addressing an individual’s error, it is written in the context of the community, the church. That speaks to you and I. Here we are in community, but we have come as individuals. We come from different age groups, different social structures, different histories, both good and bad; both of our doing and as bystanders. Part of what makes us a strong community is those differences, for they add to the whole mix of who we are as a group.

To know the love of Jesus is to know Jesus. You have to have an understanding of who He is (and who He isn’t) and who you are before Him. One of the reasons we meet on Sundays is to seek to know God better. We look at the Bible and see what it reveals about God. This book reveals His character, and so we encourage people to read it, to memorize it, to study it. It shows us God’s character – and reveals our own character. You want to change? Do it with the guidance of the one who created you. He wants to make you more like His Son, more like Jesus. He wants your life to be involved in eternal things, not simple things of no consequence. You and I both know that those eternal things are all focused on people. So we do our best to focus on people and relationships and becoming more like Jesus.

So here we are, all of us on this journey, this spiritual pilgrimage. As community, we are all progressing to this imagined future of looking and behaving more like Jesus. Is that your commitment? Are you with us on this journey? This is what this community is about. Let’s pray and renew our commitment together. Pray after me in your own heart this prayer:

Jesus, today I make this commitment to be more like you. I commit to do it in your strength, your way, not mine. I surrender all that I am and have to this task, and I join my brothers and sisters on this path of surrender, that we may become a community that reflects your love and grace. We confess our shortcomings and sins that get in the way of this journey. Forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness that blacks our relationship with you. We praise your name, Amen.

To Live the Love of Jesus.  Just being in a community with others who have made that commitment is quite the thing. The only problem is if that is the only commitment we make we become a modern monastery. We need to have a purpose beyond ourselves if we are to be truly a communitas. This common purpose we share is to “live the love of Jesus in our communities”. This church building is like a mission station. We come to learn and be encouraged, to be equipped and discover our gifts and talents if we don’t already know them, but we don’t really go into the mission field until we leave the door out front. What do we do with our faith out there? How do we live our life in such a way that Jesus can be seen? We sing, “Shine Jesus Shine” but do we live it? Is Jesus seen in our business and money management? Is Jesus seen in how we look after our stuff? Is Jesus seen in how we talk with our neighbours, in how we interact with them? Some people only show their faith as it relates to the church, and so people think Jesus is only concerned about them if they go to church. How small a God is that? Living the love of Jesus is living big on the compassion scale, on the “life on the street” scale. Excellence in all you do is a hallmark of following Jesus.

Our church, our community, our Communitas, is about coming together to know the love of Jesus, and going apart to live the love of Jesus. We all subscribe to that. That is who we are and what we are about. Like those trapeze guys who have their own strengths and part of the program, at the same time as relying on the others to be there when they need them.