MEMBERS OF ONE ANOTHER

Too often our lives are marred by individualism and selfishness. In contrast, God intends the church - his unique worldwide family - to be 'a laboratory of love', where we learn to love and serve one another. In this message, given at Greyfriars Presbyterian Church, Mt. Eden, Auckland on 13 March 2005, Rob Yule introduces the second purpose of the 'Forty Days of Purpose' programme, 'You were formed for God's family', and discusses our responsibility to love one another.

The church is a unique society. It's not an institution. It's not an organisation. It's not a corporation. It's not a club. The Church is a family, a giant extended family, God's global whanau.

Entering God's Family

You enter a human family by being born into it. You have no say in the matter. When you were born, you entered a human family, and had no choice who you parents were or who would be your brothers and sisters. You can choose your friends, but you can't choose your family.

The church is both similar to and different from a human family. You have to be born into it, but paradoxically, you do have a choice in the matter. Jesus said you cannot enter God's family unless you are born 'anew' or born 'from above'. 'Humans give life to their children,' says Jesus, 'Yet only God's Spirit can change you into a child of God.' (John 3: 6, CEV).

Another translation explains this, 'A person is born physically of human parents, but he is born spiritually of the Spirit.' (John 3: 6, TEV). We receive natural life and enter our human family as a result of human procreation. We come into this world by a natural or physical birth. But to receive eternal life and enter God's family you must do so by a supernatural or spiritual birth. It's a result of the Holy Spirit working in your heart, bringing about spiritual understanding and faith. You become a child of God and a member of God's family by a spiritual newbirth.

Attending church doesn't make you a member of God's family, any more than being in a stable makes you a horse. You can be in a stable and be a horse-fly or a stable-hand. What makes you a horse is being born a horse. Similarly, what makes you a Christian is being born a Christian, experiencing the miracle of newbirth brought about by God's Holy Spirit.

Unlike when you come into a human family, you have to choose to enter God's family. God never railroads anyone into his family. He has created us with freedom, and he respects our freedom and cooperates with it. The miracle of the new birth is that it is both something God's Spirit brings about and something that we choose. It's a divine-human entry into a divine-human society, God's great worldwide family. When you've entered God's family you can go anywhere in the world and feel at home in it.

Understanding God's Family

Some people say they can be a Christian without belonging, without going to church. I'm told the largest congregation in Auckland is the 3, 000 or so Christians who float from church to church each Sunday and never link up with a group of other Christians in a local church.

To be a Christian without belonging is like being a member of a family but never having any contact with your brothers and sisters. It's like saying you are a rugby player without being part of a team, or a tuba player without being part of an orchestra. As Christians we need to belong to God's family, to make our contribution to the community, and receive the input of other people into our lives.

The Bible observes that 'Some people have gotten out of the habit of meeting for worship, but we must not do that. We should keep on encouraging each other.' (Hebrews 10: 25, CEV). There are several things that hinder us participating in God's family.

1. The first is the individualism of our New Zealand culture. We are a nation of rugged individualists. We don't like people telling us what to do. We have a strong sense of self-reliance. We cultivate a stiff-upper-lip and don't easily confide our needs to others. I remember once taking part in an international march in Jerusalem. The Scandinavians walked together in a close-knit, loving group. Our New Zealand group straggled along like the proverbial Brown's cows.

2. This is reinforced by the individualism of our evangelical church culture. Evangelicals strongly emphasise the importance of a vertical relationship with God, but don't give as much attention to their horizontal relationships with one another. Churches impacted by the charismatic renewal movement have become much more relational in ethos, because the Holy Spirit awakens us our relationship with one another.

3. Underlying these cultural and spiritual factors is our individual egoism and selfishness. The Bible refers to self' and 'self-love' as the greatest barrier to sharing in God's purposes for our lives (Romans 6: 6, Ephesians 4: 22, Colossians 3: 9).

The Bible uses the analogy of a body to depict what the church should be like. It describes the church as 'the body of Christ'. '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.' (Romans 12: 4-5, NIV). This is neither communalism nor individualism. To be one body and many members means being united in one nature, yet diverse in our personalities. Like the Trinity: one nature, many persons.

This is a great mystery. It means all of us are needed to reveal the fullness of Christ to the world. Jesus gave us a new commandment: 'You must love each other.' 'If you love each other,' he said, 'everyone will know that you are my disciples.' (John 13: 34-35, CEV). The world will recognise Christ when Christians love one another. In the words of the chorus, 'They'll know we are Christians by our love. '

Living in God's Family

According to the New Testament, several things are involved in loving one another:

1.Commitment: choosing to belong

We need to be committed to a local church. We need to recognise and acknowledge our fellow-believers as fellow members of the body of Christ. Indeed, the very concept of 'membership' comes from this. Today, membership tends to mean signing a form to join a club or a society. But the original meaning of membership was the New Testament concept of being a member of the body of Christ. Membrum was the Latin word for a 'limb'. That's the primary meaning of membership. 'You are members of God's very own family... and you belong in God's household with every other Christian.' (Ephesians 2: 19, LB).

2.Community: learning to share

The early Christians demonstrated a very attractive form of community living, which had a powerful impact on outsiders. 'All the Lord's followers often met together, and they shared everything they had.... Everyone liked them, and each day the Lord added to their group others who were being saved.' (Acts 2: 44, CEV).

They shared their lives. They opened their homes to one another. They shared their experiences. They shared their joys and problems. They shared their goods and possessions. They lived out what Paul later called 'the law of Christ': 'You obey the law of Christ when you offer each other a helping hand.' (Galatians 6: 2, CEV).

3.Cooperation: working together

The Church community is a superb environment for learning to co-operate with others, learning to work together. The Bible describes Christians as God's 'co-workers' or 'partners'. 'We are partners working together for God.' (1 Corinthians 3: 9, TEV).

Partnership is each part working together for the good of the whole. When this happens a church is a very exciting place to be. You have a sense of something bigger than yourself, something worth working for, which inspires you and energises your creative contribution. The Bible describes this synergy: 'The whole body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.' (Ephesians 4: 16, NLT).

God's family is a laboratory of love. To love one another is easier said than done. As an old ditty puts it:

' To live above with the saints we love,

O that will be such glory.

To live below with the saints we know,

Well, that's another story. '

Heaven above is a place of love. You'd better start practising now with the saints below, otherwise heaven will be hell for you !

In a previous church of mine in Christchurch was a woman with a gemstone tumbler. A gemstone tumbler is a bit like a horizontal concrete mixer. This woman would collect semi-precious stones from the beach at Birdling's Flat, where the South Canterbury Bight meets Banks Peninsula. When she'd collected enough of these stones, she'd put some abrasive sandpaper round the inside of the gemstone tumbler, and put the stones in it. Then she'd put on the lid, turn on the switch, and leave it running. After a long time, she'd stop the machine, take off the lid, and remove and wash the polished stones.

The church is God's gemstone tumbler. He takes us with our imperfections and rough edges, and throws us together in a local church. There we bang together, make a lot of noise, complain, get our sharp corners and rough edges knocked off. When we emerge, we'll be polished and splendid, gemstones fit for God's glory.

Rob Yule, 13 March 2005

© 2005, Greyfriars Presbyterian Church