Bound together in faith
Romans 12:1-17, 1 Cor 3:5-13
In this sermon series we have been looking at the foundations of our faith, and this week we are looking at the concept of church.
In the last year I have been building a new organisation in my work. It started with the relationships, then the legal and financial side, then the core values, vision, purpose, then making sure it fitted with national as well as local criteria, then recruitment, and so on. One of the things I have learned is ‘first things first’. You need the foundations in place before the organisation can do anything else.
In the Bible the church is one of these foundations. For us, as Hugh moves on to become a bishop, we need to know our core identity as a church so that we can move into this new season with confidence and a quiet peace.
So, what is the church? When Jesus first coined the term, it was the Greek word ‘ecclesia’. This literally means ‘called out ones’, and it refers to a Greek taskforce which was sent out to influence newly conquered lands with the Greek culture. Jesus meant for his ‘called out ones’ to be called out of their normal lives to radically influence culture with the good news of the Kingdom of God – together.
The passage in Corinthians today speaks of the church being like God’s field, or God’s building. It describes various church leaders building into the very structure of this building, and they are encouraged to build with ‘silver and gold’ and how they will be judged for the way that they build. The Romans passage goes into more detail about the materials which might be the best ingredients for building a healthy church. When I read this passage in Romans, I think how well Hugh and the team at St Mary’s have built into this congregation over the last few years. These good qualities are now part of us, part of our very fabric, and we can expect they will continue to be expressed among us.
These good qualities I would summarise as
· Worship 12:1-2
· All Hands on Deck 12:3-8
· A Culture of Honour 12:9-10
Worship
It is essential to ‘present ourselves’ as a living offering in church. This is a way of orientating ourselves to Him. When we worship we affirm that we put Him first, not following customs of our own culture as our primary prerogative. When we worship we let God transform our minds, and the perfect peace comes then so that we can know His will for us.
All Hands on Deck
We are all so different: we’ve heard this many times – how as parts of a body each of us has its own function. And as with a body, if a muscle is not used it wastes away. In the same way, we should use our gifts!
v6 ‘Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them’.
And then it lists various gifts we might have, that we need to consider how we could use. Sometimes people are paralysed by indecision and insecurity… we want to know what God wants for us to do. We might start better with the question, ‘Who am I’, and then use our gifts and strength to glorify God and bless His heart.
God made us how he wants us.
It is also possible to know our strengths / shape and choose not to use them. We all have reasons for slipping behind the curtain at times, and that’s ok as long as we know we were not meant to stay there. God made us how he wants us. His intention is that we live fully and enjoy working at our personal best to His glory.
Eric Liddell famously said, ‘When I run I feel God’s pleasure’.
This is the time for us to step forward with our strengths in St Mary’s Goudhurst. In a time of inter-regnum we need to be all hands on deck, so this is the perfect time to come forward and offer what you can do, just come and speak to Ali or Simon with your suggestions.
“There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood leads onto fortune” Shakespeare
Build a Culture of Honour
v.10 ‘Outdo one another in showing honour’
What is honour? We usually think of it as ‘public respect’, and there is definitely that element of it, where we speak good things in the company of others about people. It is certainly a public thing. But we can also honour people when we give them our time. Our attention is one of the best ways of showing respect. We can listen and give time to the very elderly, and this honours them. We can listen and give time to the very young, and this honours them.
A church built with a culture of honour is a safer church. This kind of church would understand that words are tremendously important, and that we can ‘love intelligently’, or ‘love much, love well’. In this place Hugh has built this core value into the very mortar between these stones.
For building a community of faith, we need to consider how we build, not with straw / paper / sand, but building well with:
· Building a community for worship (orientated correctly)
· All hands on deck (we’re all in!)
· Building a culture of honour (safe, strong and ready for the next adventure)