Tag: Unity

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James Sermon

Beware of Favouritism James 2:1-7

Introduction:

Good morning brothers and sisters, so good to see all of you. Hope all of you are doing well and bless.

Today we shall study from James 2:1-7. under the topic “Beware of Favouritism or Beware of Partiality.

Lets see what is favoritism

Personal favoritism: This word denotes partiality or biased judgment based on external circumstances, such as race, wealth, social rank, etc. It ignores the value of the individual as a person.

When we look back history

Indian society has a history of favouritism which is so evil. The caste system divides Hindus into four main categories – Brahmins, priest family, Kshatrias warrior, Vaishyas traders and the Shudras lowest workers we see high class people, low class people, schedule tribe, OBC the backward class. we see the impact even this days, how low class people are mistreated,

How Dalits are mistreated? How minority are mistreated? Just because they are from low class society. Even people from Northeast India, we are mistreated many many, time because of our looks.

Last year before we move to Mira road, i contacted one society for a rented house, I talk to the house owner she said, you don’t look like Indian, i say I am indian, a north east indian, she said, our society didn’t allow north east people. this is favouritism.

Once I was helping out my friend sister who was searching for college admission, the college has to refuse her because she was scheduled tribal community.

Few months ago some Northeast friends were not even allowed to purchase groceries because of their looks.

When we see around the world for instance.

American history, we see the story of how blacks and Indians are mistreated by white America.

We know 6 million Jew were killed by Nazis because of hatred. We see the story of Nepotism in Bollywood,

TYPES OF FAVORITISM

Nepotism: In business, hiring family members regardless of qualifications. Cryonism: In business, hiring friends regardless of qualifications.

Gender Bias: Believing that one gender is better than the other; treating the other gender poorly.

Age-ism: Treating someone different because of their age… usually the very young or the very old.

Racism: Treating one race different than others; usually preferring one’s own race to others.

Even in James days there was favouritism in the church. My question for all of us is,

What are believers role and responsibility on this subject Favouritism?

Okay, let’s see what James will teach us this morning on Favouritism, Open your bible with me to James 2:1-7.

James 2:1-7.

My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism.
2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in.
3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,”
4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?
6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court?
7 Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?

I would like to entitle my sermon as

“BEWARE OF FAVOURITISM”

I have two points to meditate together, lets come to our first point.

1.Showing favouritism is SIN.(1-4)

James 2:1 says,

“My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favouritism.

9 But if you show favouritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.

James says as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, Remember your identity in Christ, you are redeem, adopted, beloved child of God, Holy spirit is living in your heart. He means as a believers and as a child of God We should not show favouritism to anyone.

If Christ does not condemn you, if God does not show you partiality, if God does not judge you, who are we to show partiality, who are we to condemn.

Thats why James we should not show partiality.

James uses the word “favoritism.” The word means “respecter of persons” or to “show partiality.” James is talking about the fault of giving judgment to the outward circumstances of man or woman and thinking them more worthy than others.

It is a fault or a sin to treat someone as more worthy because they are rich, a certain skin color, have political power, or are famous.

Its a fault or a sin to treat someone as less because they are poor, a certain skin color, have no political power, have a disability, or are in our estimation a ‘nobody.’ That is favoritism. That is sin. James identifies it specifically in verse 4 as “evil thoughts.

When we show favouritism #We break God’s command.

1. #We don’t follow His character.

2. #Showing partiality reveals evil thoughts. v.4

3. #Showing partiality discriminates against the poor and humble. v.5.

4. #Showing partiality shows a disgraceful attitude.v6

5. #Showing partiality shows foolish behaviour.v7.

That is why James is pointing out that showing partiality is sin.

Romans 2:11.

For God does not show favouritism.

Galatians 3:26-28.

26 For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. 28 There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Deuteronomy 10:17

For the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe.

Acts 10:34 says

So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality.

James 2:2-4

2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

When Mahatma Gandhi was a student, he considered becoming a Christian. He read the Gospels and was moved by them. It seemed to him that Christianity offered a solution to the caste system that plagued the people of India.

One Sunday, he went to a local church. He had decided to see the pastor and ask for instruction on the way of salvation. But when he entered the church, which consisted of white people, the ushers refused to give him a seat. They told him to go and worship with his own people.

He left and never went back “If Christians have caste differences also,” he said, “I might as well remain a Hindu” (from “Our Daily Bread,” [Feb., 1979]).

That tragic story illustrates the sin that James writes against in the text. His focus is on the sin of showing favoritism to the rich and despising the poor, but his words apply to all types of prejudice, whether it is based on economic status, race, or anything else.

To favor some people and to disregard others based on outward factors is a terrible sin that plagued the early church in James’ day. It has plagued the church in every generation, because it stems from pride, which is endemic to our fallen hearts.

James tells us that favoritism has no place in the Church and therefore no place in the heart of a believer in Christ.

How can God’s church navigate these challenges and bring hope to a world who has lost her way?

Application:

Church let us always remember showing favouritism in any way is sin.

Galatians 3:26-29.

26 For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. 28 There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Jesus came and died for all of us on the cross of Calvary, He didn’t show favouritism to anyone, He died for all of us. He offered eternal life to all people who believe in him.

Let us all follow the example of our saviour, He show no partiality to the poor, needy, sick, blind, prostitute, tax collector. He loves everyone.

With that lets come to our second point.

2.Believers should treat everyone equally. (5-7).

5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?
6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court?
7 Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?

In this passage we see.

1      God has chosen the poor (2:5,6b).

3      The rich oppress the believers (2:6b,7).

God has sovereignly chosen (elected) the poor. This does not mean every poor person will be saved or that every rich person will be lost. But generally speaking, it is the poor who respond to the salvation that is in Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 1:26-29).

Generally poor people are crazy about God.

God is everything to them, They have nothing in this world but they are happy people, because what they got is God and God’s favour is upon the poor.

Remember the story of Rich man and Lazarus. (Luke 15:19-31)

In the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, the rich man does nothing while alive to help Lazarus, a poor beggar, and when he dies the rich man goes to Hell whereas Lazarus goes to Heaven………… This parable sends the message that worldly and earthly possessions are of no benefit in the afterlife.

This parable sits in the context of Jesus criticizing the Pharisees, whom Luke accuses of being “lovers of money” (16:14). But the parable speaks not only about them; it extends to Luke’s readers, warning them about the blinding, dangerous capacities of wealth.

The rich man and Lazarus lead two totally opposite forms of existence. Rich man was covered with wealth and riches; the poor man was covered in sores and hunger.

Rich man feasts daily with best foods; poor man looks for scraps to curb his hunger. Rich man lives inside a gated beautiful home; the poor man lies at the gate.

Rich man receives the dignity of burial according to custom; the poor man is carried off to be with Abraham. They live close to one another, perhaps even visible to one another through the gate. After death, their conditions are totally reversed.

Jesus never explicitly states why the rich man receives his torment, but the story makes some clear suggestions.

The man has disregarded the poor, even poor Lazarus who lived so nearby. This was done not out of ignorance but out of willful neglect. (It appears from v. 24, where the rich man knows Lazarus’s name, that they are not strangers to each other.) The man also is presumptuous, perhaps assuming that he deserves good things in life because of his wealth or status.

The ridiculous things were that even in torment of hell rich man is still trying to manipulate poor man Lazarus.

The rich man asked to let Lazarus come down from heaven and serve him to cool his tongue with a drop of water to reduce his “agony in this fire.”

The rich man additionally requested Abraham to send Lazarus back to earth as a warning to his brothers to atone for their sins, however, both requests were refused.

Application:

How are you treating people who are homeless and begging for food on the roadside, how did you react to them,

Are we committing the sin of favouritism?

We should never ever look down the poor and needy and weak people around us.

We should not look down another human base on their economic status, the colour of their skin, by their culture, by their educational qualification.

We should treat everyone equally.

Remember God is watching. God is watching.

Lets us see how God is telling us to live our life without showing favouritism to anyone.

Matthew 5:43-48.

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’
44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

As a church our love should be put into action.

Romans 12:9 to following says.

9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.Do not be conceited.

17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him;if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Conclusion:

Church we have seen two points under the topic “Beware of Favouritism

  1. Favouritism is sin. (we should stop the sin of favouritism)

The church should be the change in this world where there is favouritism everywhere. The change has to start from you and me, from your family, and bring change in our society, in our workplace.

2. Believers should treat all people equally.

Let us treat all people as Christ has treat us, as Christ has love us. Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in you. Let your light so shine that people may see your good works and glorify our Father in heaven.

Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for this blessed hour, we thank you for your words. We pray that if we have sin against you and against people coz of showing partiality to others, please forgive us. And help us not to repeat the same sin again,

Help us to treat all people equally like you treat to us, help us to love all the people like you love us. Bless all our brothers and sisters.

In Jesus name, we pray
Amen.

Categories
Romans Sermon The Church

People of the Church : Romans 12

Allow me to start this morning by sharing with you the story of this young violinist from London.

He was a young musician who had a very tough life but caught a break and went on to become wealthy and successful. One day he realized that it was his time to give something back to society and decided to use his talents to do something charitable.

As he entertained this thought he chanced to see a newspaper report of a homeless man who died in the street. He followed the story and found out that the burial of this man was to be done in an unmarked grave outside the city.

This was his opportunity to do something good for someone less fortunate, so the young musician decided to give go to the funeral and honour the life of this homeless man by playing at his funeral for free.

So on the day of the funeral he left the city and drove towards the church by outskirts where the funeral was to take place but along the drive, he lost his way.

He drove around for several hours trying to locate this funeral site. He finally arrived an hour late and saw that funeral guys had evidently gone and the ambulance was nowhere in sight. There were only a few the diggers left and they were eating lunch.

He felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. He went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. He didn’t know what else to do, so he started to play.

As he played a few old beautiful Christian hymns the workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. He played out his heart and soul for this man with no family and friends. He played like he’s never played before for this poor deceased homeless man.

And as he played ‘Amazing Grace,’ it was so I powerful and moving that the workers began to weep. They wept, he wept, they all wept together. When he finished he packed up his violin and started for his car. 

As he opened the door to his car, he overheard one of the workers say, “Man 27 years I have been laying septic tanks outside of the city, not once did anyone play music for us like this before”

I understand from your leaders that a few weeks ago you guys started a sermon series on ‘The Church’ . The goal of this sermon series is for you as a community to better grasp the Biblical design of the church so that you may live meaningful lives as the church in the city of Mumbai. Today I want to pick it up where Jinson left and continue on this topic as we look at what it means to be the people of the Church.

This morning I started with the story of the violinist because when it comes to the topic of church many are like the diggers in the story who enjoyed this melodious music but was totally oblivious and confused as to what its purpose was. 

You see even in the christian community today there are those who regularly attend church and maybe even weekly groups but are still left confused and disillusioned on what it really means to be the people of the church.

Most people have some view of what the church is, based on either their experience or someone else’s experience of Church. 

1. Some view church as just a part of their family tradition: This view is popular particularly in professing Christian communities. It’s simply done as what has always been done without thinking or feeling very deeply about the church. 

–church becomes a place we go to or something we do on Sundays

2. Then there are those who look from the outside and view church as a gathering of good people

This view is popular especially if you did not grow up in a Christian home, somehow we have brought into the idea that church folks are people that are morally superior and follow strict rules and regulations to reach or be closer to God.

Well firstly, if you have been around church folks for more that 5 minutes you will soon get over this idea, you realize that they are also folks that need God’s grace just like you. Secondly the Bible is very clear that Christianity is not primarily about rule-following but being captured and changed by the love of Christ.

3. There are also those who have completely rejected the idea of church

This could be based on painful personal experience to them or to someone they know.

-at times simply not understanding that the communion of saints (church) is also a communion of sinners leads to unrealistic expectations and disappointments. Think of it, if there was a perfect church somewhere when you and I join it and bring our imperfections to it, it will stop being perfect right?

4. Finally, there are those that have taken on the individualism and consumerism in our culture and transported it directly into their expectations and understanding of church approaching it as consumers. Church to them is a supply of religious goods and service that they are to be consumed

-this often leads to treating the church like a buffet line, we like worship in this one place, the preaching in this other place and we love community in this other place that we keep hopping from one place to the next without being known deeply or rooted in one community.

To some degree every single one of us in this room including me have a mixed view of what it means to be the people of the church. 

The good news this morning is that Jesus has not left church to our imagination but has given us much clarity on what it means to be the people of His Church, a people rooted and grounded in Him. So if you have your Bibles would you turn with me to the book of Romans chapter 12 as we read it together.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

The book of Romans is an amazing book that the Apostle Paul writes to the growing Church in Rome. There are some beautiful gospel truth that Paul gives us through this book, From chapters 1-11 Paul covers a variety of deep truth ranging from the the judgement of God against sinners, the righteousness of God offered in Christ, to what it means to be justified by faith in Christ. Now, by the time we come to chapter 12.

He takes this deep and high theological realities and brings it to street level. In the chapter that we just read together Paul shows us how this truth informs the way we live our lives, how we see ourselves and each other as the people of the church. He shows us at least three things to consider this morning from this chapter.

We see that the people the church are

  1. A Worshipping People
  2. A Diverse yet United People
  3. An interdependent People

What do I mean by this? Let’s take our brief time together to unpack what this means.

1.A Worshipping People

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 

In the very start of this chapter Paul’s appeal to us is to remember that we are a people created to worship God. He does not call us to this by giving us a list of do’s and dont’s. He simply calls us to remember the mercies of God offered to us in Christ In fact this is what creates true worship in our hearts.

Now this kind of worship in response to the mercy of God is not limited to singing songs for twenty minutes on Sundays but includes everything in our lives, it affects the way we live our lives on Monday, the way we respond to the person who cuts you off in traffic, the way you react when your colleague or your boss treats you unfairly?

The way we respond to the brokenness and need of our city. This kind of worship informs the way we live out our singleness and extends to the way we treat our spouse or children or spend our finances.

Paul reminds us that at our core, we are people who have been changed by the mercies of God given to us in Christ. Growing in an awareness of this truth starts to transform us from the inside out! 

Now, although we all know this basic truth, here is a reality. There are a million things in our own hearts and in the broken world around us that is distracting us from walking in this truth daily. Let’s face it, you and I struggle to remember this truth daily. 

If you are honest and take an inventory of your week, most of our lives are lived in response to two competing voice in our head and hearts. When we are doing well, when we are hitting our goals. When our day is going well we hear the voice of pride telling us “ Look at you, you are killing it, ‘way to go’, you are doing better than your neighbor.

On days and moments that you are not doing so well we hear the voice of condemnation and shame reminding us how miserable we are, that everyone else is doing well and that our life is spiraling down. Now living our days reacting to these voices will not create joyful worship in our lives. 

As a worshipping people, Paul is calling the church to take the focus of off ourselves and our achievements and failures and look to Jesus, remembering his mercy and grace freely given to us. Friends on our best day and our worst days the best thing about us is that we are the recipients of God’s abundant mercy through Christ.

Now the way that we walk in this truth is by remembering this truth often and we help each other to walk this gospel truth out everyday. This is why we gather on Sunday’s and through the week to sing together of the mercies of God, this is why we sit under the preaching of god’s word that reminds us of the mercies of god. We remind our forgetful hearts about the mercies of God in Christ as we come to the Lord’s table on Sundays. 

The people of the church are a worshipping people called to grow in our experience of God’s mercies.

In addition to this Paul shows us in this chapter that the people of the church are also a diverse yet united people

2.A Diverse yet united People

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

In the next few verses Paul shows us that this worshipping community is also a diverse community. Paul reminds us that the church comprises of people from diverse backgrounds, with diverse stories and a diversity of gifting and talents brought together by Jesus. He uses the analogy of our body and just as the different members of our body has to come together and work together for the body to function in health. 

Now if we were honest about our lives today, the bent of most of our hearts would be to gravitate toward people who look like us and have a similar experience, people who enjoy and like the same things as us and who are maybe even gifted in the same way as we are.

 Paul here exhorts the church against this very bent of our heart. Paul reminds us that God’s grace given to us in Christ should make us people of sober judgement. Here is what I mean by that, an experience of God’s grace frees us from our sinful tendency to define ourselves by our gifting, our experiences, our families of origins or our talents and resources.

The gospel of Jesus gives you and I the primary identity of being sons and daughters to God, a people loved and received by the Father through the finished work of Jesus on the cross. This means frees us to learn, to appreciate and encourage others in the body of Christ that may have a different experience or background than us. This will help us to approach each other with sober mindedness 

Here is what this practically means, as the diverse people of God in the church between each one of us stands Jesus. We now get to relate to each other only through Christ, I get to relate to Saju and Jinson and others in this body through Jesus. I don’t get to go around Jesus, I don’t get to go over Jesus, or under Jesus.

This is not just when everything is going well, even when I feel offended or misunderstood, even when I feel insecure about someone else’s gifting. I don’t get to lash out in anger or be passive-aggressive or refuse to participate and engage.

The Holy Spirit is reminding us that as recipients of God’s grace we are called to see the same grace at work in our brother and sister, we learn to submit to each other, encourage each other and approach each other and work with each in this diverse body.

We are called to move towards each other and fight for unity even when offended or in disagreements. In fact, a gospel formed diversity is necessary for us to grow in a deeper experiential understanding of God’s grace as we learn to give grace and receive grace in community.

Not only is the church a worshipping and diverse yet united people. Paul also reminds us that we are called to live our lives as 

3.An interdependent People

Look at the second half of this chapter, Paul here lists out the things that make you and I a  counter cultural witness of Christ to a watching world.

9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

Friends, God’s church is a sign and symbol of the rule and reign of Christ. Here is what I mean by that, all through Scripture we see that God’s plan is to put himself to display through the counter-cultural life and witness of His people.

His mercy and care for the world is  to be reflected in the way that His people live here on this earth. Paul gives us a list of things that sets us apart from a Christ followers,| The interesting thing though is that this is not a list that is lived out in isolation. We need each other to live out this list.

Over 59 times the NT mentions the one another’s. Serve one another, love one another, pray for one another, outdo one another in showing honor. Friends, we need each other to live out this list that Paul mentions here. It points us to consider the kind of interdependence that Jesus is calling his church to. Plainly put, we need each other, we need each other way more than we realize, and God has designed it that way. 

As the years pass I realize more and more how dependent I am on God’s grace flowing through the community of His people to faithfully finish the race well. The church does not merely comprise of a few Lone Ranger super Christians. We are a grace formed community of imperfect people whose life together puts to display the patience and mercy of a perfect God. 

Living individualistic lives of isolation is not an option for God’s people.

You and I need an arsenal of varied stories of grace from each other’s lives. We need them to inspire and encourage us to keep running our own race with diligence. We need the encouraging presence and prayers of a brother or sister as we fight sin and face temptations.  We need each other!

Friends, there is going to be seasons in our lives when we find ourselves taking turns to lay on that bed of trials and suffering, simply because that’s what it means to live in a broken world. God has given us the gift of each other to fight for us and to carry us and take us to the presence of Jesus in those seasons. Do we really treasure this gift? We need each other!

There will be a day when God will make his dwelling among his people and we will be rescued from the very presence of sin but even as we wait for that day, Jesus calls us today to rehearse this future reality by living together as worshipping people, a diverse but united people with  interdependent lives that serves as a prophetic witness to a watching world of the coming Kingdom of Christ.

So this morning, as we bring this to a close, maybe you have been attending the gathering church for a while now and maybe you would even call this your home church but you have still not completely given yourself to this community. Maybe you have had reservations about the idea of fully committing to be known by others in this body.

What if the real you would be rejected by others? Is it wise to risk that kind of vulnerability in the church?  If that’s you I want to say Jesus loves you, He does not love the future better version of you but knows the worst moments of your lives and has set His love on you. He invites you to walk in the freedom of being loved by Him and to be known in the community of his people. 

If you are here this morning and you’d say that you’re not a Christian, In the preaching of this word God is actually moving towards you. For you I’d invite you to come to Jesus. The church did not die for you but Christ did. He saves and he’ll add you to this imperfect community of people fitted and held together by Him. 

Categories
Philippians Sermon Unity

United in Joy – Philippians 2:1-4

Good morning church! How’s everyone doing a week after the retreat? I would say that the retreat was a blessing for all of us and what’s interesting is that today’s passage seems like a continuation on the topic of “Unity”.

It does seem like something that God is impressing on our hearts as a church. As we all turn to Philippians 2 in our series titled “A Joy filled life”, I want us to be reminded of what’s been happening at the church at Philippi.

A couple of weeks back we did learn about the persecutions that these believers were facing because of their faith in the Lord Jesus. But not only were things difficult for them with the world outside but internally things were not great between members of the church too.

Two women who apparently were co-laborers with Paul got into a disagreement and this was affecting the rest of the church. How should the church respond? Let’s read in v1-4

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

“You’ll never find a perfect church!” I remember this quoted being mentioned to me ever since I became a follower of Jesus. It didn’t take me too long to realize the reality of that quote but that presented a set of problematic questions: “How is the church ever going to be united with so many differences and disagreements?” “Should they overlook and ignore all the issues?” “Or should they pin-point and correct every single issue?” “Specifically, how am I as a follower of Jesus required to live in the midst of this?”

And knowing that we have married couples in our congregation and young people who are looking to get married sometime in the future, I want to extend these questions on unity to them as well – “How can I experience true unity in my married life?”

4 points of observation from today’s text:

1. Unity can only be brought about through the Gospel (v1,2)

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

What I find so interesting is how Paul starts this chapter – He starts by talking about amazing truths and gifts that are ours through Jesus Christ. 

  • Encouragement in Christ: Because Jesus Christ saved us and rescued us from the wrath of God, we are encouraged to approach the throne of God with boldness. We need not be afraid of the presence of God anymore.  
  • Comfort from love: For people who were once staring at hopelessness and eternal death, the amazing truth is that we have God who eternally comforts His people with love. “Don’t worry. I’ve got you”. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. (2 Thess 2:16,17)
  • Participation in the Spirit: God graciously pours out His Spirit on everyone who places their faith in Jesus Christ. All of us have the same Spirit who convicts us, changes us, works through us to make us more like Jesus! 
  • Affection and Sympathy: These are words that basically mean compassion and mercy being shown to someone. When God saw us in our sin and misery, He had compassion on us and came after us to pull us out of pit of sin and darkness. 

And his point is that – if we’ve truly experienced these amazing things, then it needs to be evident in our lives as well. 

Right now because we are expecting a child, we do have a lot of experienced parents who meet us and give us advice. A few weeks back someone shared with us that after the 20th week or so, the baby in the womb actually has a capacity to hear.

This parent advised us to be mindful of what we communicate during this period and also encouraged us to sing Christian songs and read verses that the baby will actually identify once out of the womb! And that process continues even as the child grows, what the child sees the parents do, that they’ll imitate and do. Wow! And I kept thinking – isn’t it that same with all of us spiritually as well.

God being our Father wants us to experience His grace, love, mercy and kindness and be filled in it so that we can extend it outwards to the people around us! 

Here’s what I think the application for this point is. If we think that more events or programs or combined activities is what is going to keep the church together or the marriage together, then that’s a very meaningless, faulty line of thinking.

There’s only one way for your marriage, your family, and the church to experience true unity and that’s going to happen when we understand and respond to God’s grace, love, mercy and kindness – the message of the gospel.

2. Unity doesn’t necessarily mean similarity (v2)

2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

My immediate thought when I read this verse was: Is he trying to say that all people should talk the same way, think the same way and walk the same way? I don’t think he’s saying we need to become similar people.

We are so wired in the world to group ourselves around similar people – people who think, talk and walk like us. People who are different from us are labeled as “awkward and weird”. When the world talks about unity – they are more or less talking about similarity.

But when the Bible talks about unity – it has to do more with the One gospel and Savior & how we now care for each other within the church. 

If you ask around the room today, you’ll hear many unique testimonies of how God saved each believer here. Some of us were saved when we realized the purposelessness of sinful addictions, some of us got saved while we heard the gospel being preached at a Christian meeting, some of us got saved when someone personally shared the gospel with us and my own story is that I got saved while reading a Christian book.

So many unique stories but one Savior Lord Jesus and when we heard the amazing love – that He would lay down His life on the cross and rise again on the third Day – our eyes opened and we turned from our sins and ran to Jesus to save us and our lives completely changed! And that’s what unites young, old, dark skinned, light skinned, tall, short, male, female alike. It’s not so much how similar we are but how united we are despite our differences. 

Sometimes in our churches or even in our marriages, we also bring in this baggage of trying to make the other person like us thinking that if we are more similar then we’ll be more united. Not true.

For example in churches there’s always an issue between the elderly and the youths. The elderly people accuse the youths of being free-spirited and naïve. Young people accuse the elderly of being rigid and over-disciplined. But the thing here is that both groups need each other.

The elderly need to be encouraged by the zeal of young people to still remain passionate and radical for the things of God. The young people need to have the guidance and wisdom of the elderly to be able to grow in maturity. We need to learn how to embrace each other’s differences – in terms of giftings, cultural backgrounds, lifestyles, language and see how we can actually learn from each other. 

As long as the gospel is our foundation and love is the motivation, the gospel allows us freedom to actually embrace each other’s differences and yet still be strengthened in unity. 

3. Disunity is a result of SIN (v3,4)

3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Please carefully note what these verses are trying to say. The reason for disunity isn’t really style issues, or worship preference or in marriage “communication issues” but the real issue that causes disunity is the “SIN ISSUE”.  

There are 2 main root sins mentioned here:

a) Self-centredness: 

  • How can I get noticed for doing this or that in the church?
  • If I’m serving the church in this way or that, I’m hoping that at least someone appreciates and acknowledges me for what I’m doing.
  • If I do this for the church or my spouse, what will I get in return? 
  • At the core of it, I’m most concerned of how my needs are met in my church or my marriage? 

b) Pride: 

  • I’m not as bad as the person sitting next to me
  • I’ve got more biblical knowledge and I’ve been so actively involved in the church for years
  • This church event or Sunday service is successful due to my hard work.
  • Why should I go and reconcile when I was the one wronged? I’m right! I’ve not done anything wrong. Especially in marriages there is that common joke which people crack – best way to have a successful marriage – just say that the wife is right. I don’t agree to that because in an argument or a fight – both are in sin and both aren’t right.

If I have to sum up all of these statements that I’m sure we’ve said or thought about in our lives, it’ll come to this “I deserve better”. In our sinful selves we all think we are entitled to something better because we think that we are great human beings.

But we aren’t. We are people whose hearts the Bible describes as “desperately sick”. Apart from the grace of what Christ did for us, we have absolutely no hope. And we are no better than the person sitting right next to us. The person sitting next to us needs infinite grace and so do we.

Even though we are believers saved by grace, we need to recognize the pride and self-centredness that is so evident and prominent in our hearts. 

Which brings me to the last observation:

  1. Only the Gospel can heal Disunity (v3,4)

How do you know if a person is truly in love with Jesus? By his biblical knowledge? No. By his charisma? No. By his great spiritual feats and accomplishments? No. 

Look at his humility! And how does a man become humble knowing how prideful and self-centred we are? 

By kneeling before our Savior and realizing what Jesus did for us in spite of our rejection – how He faithfully pursued us, how He laid down everything for us, how paid the costliest sacrifice and opened the glorious gates of eternal fellowship with Him. That absolutely humbles us. 

Brothers and sisters, I want to encourage and remind you of the power of the gospel this morning. I remember many times either at home, or while listening to a sermon travelling or while at a church gathering like this – my heart was filled with pride and selfishness and being hardened.

But in those times when the gospel was preached, I can’t express but it felt like something was powerfully breaking through my hardened heart mainly humbling me and allowing me to receive the truth and instruction from God. If you are also experiencing self-centredness and pride this morning,

I would urge you to come before our Savior and ask Him to reveal His love and kindness to you. Ask to melt your hardened heart so that you can enjoy true fellowship with Him. 

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Ephesians Sermon Unity

United in Community (Session 2 – Ephesians 4:1-16

I want you to imagine a conversation between a news reporter and a Sunday churchgoer. Let’s call him Akash.

The interviewer asks Akash, “Why are you part of a local church?” Akash quickly answers “It’s because I love the fellowship. The people are very nice and friendly and I’m able to relate with them well”. The interviewer then asks him, ” Well, how is the church any different from any social group- like a football club, chess club, or really close family and friend circles? Isn’t that the same?”

Akash then says “no this is different because I get to sing these beautifully tuned worship songs and because there’s a pastor who teaches some really good and practical stuff for life”.  

The interviewer responds by asking him, ” See…Right now we are in a digital age – you can access all of these best Christian songs and listen to the best preachers from your home itself, why do you have to be a part of a church?”

By now Akash is a little irritated by the questions, “He says – what are you saying…every Sunday I have to go to church. I cannot imagine not going. I’ve been doing that for many years. Apart from this, there’s nothing else that I can do on Sunday”.

Now, this might seem like a silly imaginary conversation but I want all of us to think on why we invest so many hours each week in the weekend Gathering and community? Why don’t we do anything else during that time? And I want us to be challenged by this line of questioning. And how much should we invest in this? Is it just 2 hours a week or much more? Is it worth sacrificing your entire life for it?

The first thing I want us to grasp is that we are in a community not because of social reasons or because there’s nothing else to do but:

We are united by Truth (v4-6)

There are these amazing life-altering truths that joins us together.

A) One body – We are many members of Christ’s single body. We may look different, come from different backgrounds but through Christ, we are now members of one body. Glen and I once shared a shared rickshaw with an elderly couple. Saw a Bible in his hand and we started talking. He was a believer and even though he was 80 years old but also my brother and fellow member of Christ’s body.

B) One Spirit – It’s mindboggling to think that God’s own Spirit dwells in each of us believers. And also to realize that everyone shares the very same Spirit. No partiality. We know that as much as we yield to the Spirit, we are being controlled by Him but in giving us the Spirit God shows no partiality. 

C) One Hope – We will be resurrected. Not ashamed. Pronounced not guilty. Living as heirs in God’s kingdom with God even though we didn’t deserve to be there in the first place. 

D) One Lord – All of us who believe in Jesus have one Master and one Savior. There was only one person who lived the life we could never imagine living – holiness example – walking on puddles. Yet He was willing to take on the punishment that we deserved and give us His righteousness. Exchanging His robe for ours. And His sacrifice transforms our lives once for all. Can anyone else be our Master? He is a Faithful Lord.

E) One Faith – Trusting in Christ’s work to bring us to God. Example: A man drowning in the sea and holding onto a rope. 

F) One Baptism – Declaration of our fellowship with Christ and the church. Doesn’t matter if you’ve been baptized in an interior village of India or at the Omkar pool. It’s a sign of your commitment and God looks at all of it as obedience. 

G) One God the Father – In a country where we boast of 330 million gods, the Bible says there’s only one God – He rules over everything, He is powerful to work through everything so that ultimately everything displays His greatness. 

Secondly, the reason why the church can’t be a disconnected affair where we can be virtually connected through Livestream is because:

We are united for Strength (v7-16) 

We need each other to grow stronger in the Lord. 

I) God giving gifts to each individual believer (v7) 

*  Spiritual Gifts – ” Grace” – undeserving gift of God according to Christ’s measure. There is a purpose to God giving you a gift.

II) Wonderful purpose of spiritual gifts

    * Church leaders are God’s gift to the church to equip (perfect, complete furnishing) the saints for the work of ministry. Servants of the Lord & the church – Church leaders are like joints – binding the skeleton together, giving structure and allowing muscles to move bones to perform different activities. Our job as church leaders is to bring people together, give direction (casting vision) and allow people to use their gifts to do the work of ministry. Coach the church so that everyone is active in body building. (V11, 12) 

    * Unity and Maturity – When will we be fully united? when we become like Christ. When will we be fully mature? When we become like Christ. The goal is to attain the measure of the full stature of the fullness of Christ – Christ likeness is not going to happen alone. It’s going to happen with the church. (V13, 14) 

    * Growth is going to happen when each part of the body is working properly. (V15, 16) 

United in love (v1-3)

Even though we have been given “grace” yet we experience issues within the church – making it more difficult to attain unity. “Sin” and “Strangeness”. What should we do? 

Should we quit? What does Scripture call us to do?  Loving each other through humility and gentleness. Patiently bearing with each other in love. Ensuring with one another. 

If we all are honest, we’ll admit that this is very difficult and impossible to bring about this type of unity by our own efforts. So what’s the solution? 

This is only possible through the Gospel. Only knowing Christ and experiencing His grace can allow us to extend that outwards to each other. 

Questions for discussion:

1. In your experience in the past, what have you perceived the purpose of spiritual gifts to be? 

2. What kind of barriers can stop a church from experiencing unity and maturity in the faith? 

3. Based on today’s passage, what are some things that God is calling you to do in a church which can promote unity and maturity? 

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Ephesians Sermon Unity

United in Heart (Session 1) – Ephesians 2:11-22

The theme of our Retreat for the next two days is the word UNITY: Oneness in Christ. 

The word ‘UNITY’ is a very familiar word to all of us. Probably some of you are already saying “I know all about Unity, I’ve been hearing this word since the time I was born”

But there is a possibility that even though we are familiar with the word ‘Unity’, we haven’t still understood it as we are supposed to, according to the scriptures.

And therefore, let’s keep our hearts and minds open and be willing to empty ourselves. Let’s keep aside all our preconceptions and allow God’s word and His Spirit to change us, in the direction of becoming more like Jesus.

Our country India is known to be a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural country. We celebrate our diversity, and why shouldn’t we?

  • More than 1500+ languages are spoken in our country.
  • People of different religions viz. Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism etc. live together.
  • We have 29 states and seven union territories. Each of these states and union territories has its unique culture, traditions, food, dressing sense, belief systems.

Of course, we should be proud of ourselves. Here’s how our Prime minister Mr Narendra Modi proudly speaks about India, he says “Vividhita Main Ekta Hamare Desh ki Vishehta” (Unity in diversity is our country’s speciality)

But even though we celebrate Unity in diversity, the truth is, we are all divided in our hearts, one against another. And not in two or three pieces but hundreds and thousands of parts, probably as many cultural, languages & caste divisions that exist in our society.  

If we truly believe we are united, we wouldn’t have inequality amongst us, every citizen in our country would have had equal rights, equal opportunities, and most importantly, freedom to pursue their dreams.

But that’s not the case. Statistics says the top 10% of Indians owns 76.3% of the wealth in India. Do you think that is a fair distribution of wealth among the people who call themselves united?

If we were united, preferences in government offices, private companies, schools, colleges and other societies, wouldn’t be given based on caste, colour, education, wealth, gender, state background, language etc.

And therefore, even though we celebrate Unity in Diversity, we can see how our Indian society is divided. 

Unfortunately, we also get to see such discrimination in our so-called churches and Christian organizations.

Now, I don’t want to dwell too much on these differences and divisions but would like you to give some serious thoughts about it later.

Instead, I want to point our hearts to God’s word and show you what true UNITY is, why is it important and how can we genuinely experience UNITY in our hearts.

The passage I want to turn to is Ephesians 2:11-22

Alienated & divided because of Sin

Verse 11-12: Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 

In this passage, Paul is addressing a group of Jews & Gentiles who seem divided on the issue of circumcision. The Jews were saying, believing in Jesus is good, but to become a true believer, you also have to be circumcised. To which Paul confronts them saying that this is not what the true Gospel is. Instead, he is saying that it is only by Grace through Faith we are saved and not by our works. 

And as he is addressing the issue on circumcision and the division caused by it, he first reminds them all saying “you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”

When God made us, in his image, he did not mean for us to live in disunity. In fact, the very purpose of Him creating us was to share the fellowship and unity that the triune God – God the Father, God the Son & God the HolySpirit had & enjoyed among themselves. 

God made man so that we would enjoy the same relationship with Him and with each other. But in our rebellion and selfishness when we chose to disobey him, his virtues & his good-intended laws, we broke that relationship with Him which also affected our relationship with each other. 

The first murder in the bible, the older brother Cain killing his younger brother Abel was the result of that Sin.

The first major split or a division happed because of Sin. Genesis 11:1-9 tells us the story of the Tower of Babel. 

Genesis 11:1-9: Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

It was Sin and sinful motives of sinful people that caused the first division.

Therefore, even in our Indian context, where we are talking about disunity and disharmony among people, let us all be aware that the real cause of it is Sin. 

It is because of Sin; we are in hostility – unfriendliness, opposed to one another, hatred towards our fellow brother & sister. And unless we deal with Sin, we are never going to experience true Unity in our heart and in this world. 

When the government talks about Unity, they do so to get votes and gain power. When organizations talk about Unity, they do so to sell their product & services. When various other entities talk about unity, they do so for their own personal benefits.

We see how Sin has taken deep roots in our society and culture that even though when we talk about Unity in diversity, it is to take advantage of each other for selfish gains. In our Sin, we are living like animals where the Law of the Jungle is ‘Survival of the fittest’, where nobody wants to know the truth when it is only the Truth that can set us free from this bondage and misery, and allow us to live in Freedom and Peace.

And what is the Truth? 

United through Christ

Ephesians 2:13-22: But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 2In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

When we hear the account of Jesus and what he has accomplished for us on the cross, we realize that God’s ultimate purpose is to bring us back to himself and to one another, as one man, one bride as per the original design.

In our Sin, we were far away from God, but now we have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility.

We may think as if God is doing all this for us, for our well being. Yes, of course, that is true but the greater truth is that He is doing all this for Himself, to restore back that which was broken because of our disobedience and failure and to bring the order of creation, that which He intended while he was creating us.

Therefore, Unity is not just something that we need as a society to bring back order in our lives but it is primarily God’s agenda for restoring back what was lost. Through the sacrifice of His son Jesus, God is uniting his people for the big day of his return, his rule and his dominion on this earth. Satan will be defeated forever and we will be united to Christ in a grand marriage celebration.

Either we are in it & for it or we are not in it & not for it.

Brothers & sisters, as we talk more about Unity, the agenda is not to manipulate you into something we want to build for ourselves. It is not about the Gathering church and our small little community, but it is about the Kingdom of God. It is about the greater goal that is far beyond ourselves and our identity and comfort on this earth. It is about God.

This is not some new kind of lifestyle we are calling you but this is the ultimate purpose for which we are being created. 

Therefore, when the Gospel is truly understood and applied in our lives, every circumstance, every faulty mindset, every faulty cultural belief, every broken relationship, it should bring peace, joy and restoration that ultimately unites our hearts to Christ and to one another.

Without Christ, Unity has no purpose.

Without Christ, Unity has no meaning,

Without Christ, Unity is not possible.

In some way or the other, we have all fallen prey to the schemes of the enemy and have separated ourselves from receiving and experiencing the grace of God.

We have failed to surrender our lives to God for the sake of unity with Him, we have allowed our sinful hearts to take over our choices, our decisions, our affections, & our emotions.

There is no one who can say that he or she is perfect before God, and therefore as we’ve heard God speak to us and if He has convicted us of our sins, our response should be repentance and faith, surrender and commitment to the Gospel. 

Group Discussion Questions:

Q1. What are some specific areas in your life where you are currently experiencing disunity with God?

Q2. What are some specific areas in your life where you are currently experiencing disunity with one another?

Q3. What are some cultural, traditional, emotional, political or sentimental reasons that hold you back from seeking unity with God and with one another?

Q4. How do you think the Gospel addresses your specific reasons for not seeking or pursuing unity with God & with others?

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Ephesians Sermon Unity

Unity in Purpose (Session 3)- Ephesians 3:1-13

I was extremely touched and moved as I was preparing for these sessions on the topic of Unity. It makes perfect sense to me now on why our unity, our togetherness, our fellowship and community matters to God.

The Gospel is a mystery, and as we dedicate our lives to learn, discover and live out the Gospel we realise that there are so many facets to it that we still haven’t uncovered a large chunk of it. We will only understand it fully when we will meet our Lord in heaven.

The Gospel transforms us into a new being every single day, it demolishes the lies that have been spoken to us through generations, it destroys all the ungodly patterns of the world that has manipulated our hearts and minds, it breaks all the bondages that have held us down from living in freedom.

And it gives us a new outlook towards life, new meaning to our existence, new purpose to pursue, peace in our relationships, joy in our inner being.

Unity in our heart – unity with God and unity with one another is one such facet that I believe stands at the core of our Christian belief. Without true unity we are aimless, useless, powerless and our life is meaningless. 

And therefore, Unity matters.

In the last two sessions, we learnt what true unity is and how should it look like amongst the redeemed children of God, who are called by his name for his glory.

In this session, we will learn and discover why and how God uses our unity with Him and with one another for His Glory. The passage we will be looking into is Ephesians 3:1-13

READ

In these passages we see Paul as he is referring to the Gospel is using the word mystery, he says in verse 3 ‘the mystery was made known to me by revelation’, verse 4 he refers to the mystery as ‘the mystery of Christ’. 

In verse 6 he reveals that the mystery is ‘that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.’

The believing Jews in those days claimed and believed that only they were the lucky ones to whom the God of the universe chose to revealed himself, and only the sons and daughters that were born from the lineage of Abraham, Issac and Jacob were the true recipients of the grace of God that was revealed through his son Jesus Christ.

And Paul, though he was a Jew, in these passages is claiming to have received the mystery of Christ through revelation that, it is not just Jews who are called to be partakers of Gods grace, but also the gentiles, the entire human race who are not a direct descendant of Abraham.

He is saying that they too are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. And in saying that he also referring to everyone who is sitting here in this room. None of us sitting in this room come from the bloodline of Abraham. It was because of the mystery of the Gospel revealed to Paul that started a movement which spread like a wildfire and even reached India through Apostle Thomas.

What does this tell us?

This tells us that God is on a mission, mission to save and redeem his called ones from across all nation, tribe and tongue, who will all one day stand before him in glory and worship him in spirit and in truth.

But we also see a pattern in his pursuit to accomplish this task. He first revealed himself to a certain nation and a certain people group, and as he proclaims the good news of the Kingdom of God to them, calling them to repentance and belief through the life, death and resurrection of his son Jesus Christ. Uniting their hearts to himself and to one another by the power of the Holy Spirit, he then uses their lives, their communities to then reach out to the nations. 

Jesus says to them in John 13:34-35 “34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

It is God’s perfect plan to unite our hearts to Him and with each other, but we also see the larger picture where God uses our unity and love for Him and for each other to call more like us into his Kingdom.

At this point, I want to introduce you to two words that will help us see our placement in God’s grand plan of calling and saving the nations to himself.

The two words are micro-community & macro-community.

Micro community is the smaller group of like-minded people, people who share the same belief, same values, same goals, same pursuit – In our case, it is our faith communities – people who identify themselves are children of God, redeemed by the blood of Christ.

For eg. My micro-communities are firstly, my immediate family (wife & children), my extended family members who share in the same faith, my church family, our homeschooling community of Christian parents, my other smaller circle of Christian friends with whom I share life.

Macro community is the larger group of people, who are also part of our lives. Who may not be like us, or may not believe the things we believe, may not have the same values as we have – people group who are yet to know the truth of the Gospel.

For eg. My macro-community are my colleagues in my office, family members who are not yet believers, friends from my college with whom I occasionally hang out, larger group of homeschooling community that consists of people from all faith and religion, people in my neighbourhood/society.

In the book ‘Church turned inside out’ by Linda & Allan, they write 

“God has placed us in both these communities for his glory, and disregarding or failing to take advantage of God’s design to place us in meaningful communities of relationships (both micro & macro) can result in living an uninspired and isolated existence, never fully entering into what Christ intended for us, and failing to discover the incarnational lifestyle of Christ” 

Jesus, fully satisfied with his micro-community with Father and the Holy Spirit left his heavenly glorify to preach and pursue the macro-community of foolish, arrogant, sinful people like us to restore us back into our real family.

As Paul is now fully integrated and nourished by his micro-community of Jesus followers continues to write “Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power. 8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in[b] God, who created all things,10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. 11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord”

Paul, even though fully content in Jesus and the community of believers, realises that God has a greater plan and purpose for his life, that extents out of his micro-community and reaches out to his macro community.

Brother & sisters, this togetherness we enjoy is good, is nourishment for us, is life-giving. This is a very important aspect of our Christian growth, and therefore we shouldn’t ignore this coming together. It has to be pursued whole-heartedly and with 100% commitment.

Therefore, coming regularly to church service & on time, worshipping as a family of believers, feeding on Gods word and fellowshipping is important. Healthy marriages are important, God honouring parenting is important, Christian friendships are important. But once we are fully nourished, satisfied and healthy we also have to reach out for the greater goal, and that is influencing our macro community, reaching out to the ungodly and unsaved people whom God has placed in our lives.

Sadly, there are many Christians who don’t value communities and lead lonely lives, they seem passionate to do Christian work and Christian ministries but hardly see them doing life with another believer, just as Jinson shared with us.

And some Christians believe that they have to isolate themselves from the world, they regularly come to church, sing songs, read the Bible, but feel safe to stay away from their macro community for various reasons. They might not be comfortable going for a party with their friends, walk into the bar, hang out, invite them home, go to their home. As Allan & Linda says “disregarding or failing to take advantage of God’s design to place us in meaningful communities of relationships (both micro & macro) can result in living an uninspired and isolated existence, never fully entering into what Christ intended for us, and failing to discover the incarnational lifestyle of Christ”

I don’t believe that’s a bible way of living a purpose-driven life.

Jesus was found sitting with drunkards, adulterers, tax collectors, prostitutes, and if we think we are not like them, we are good people, then I would say we are the filthiest, self-righteous, dirty pigs as well, no better then those with whom Jesus fellowshipped. But he came for us, and he saved us. Washed away our filthiness and presents us perfect before His father in heaven.

As Christians, we are on a mission, and we have to live it out faithfully.

Here are some ways in which we should participate in Gods mission as we enjoy Unity with God and with each other:

  1. Allowing our micro-community to influence our macro community – When people see the way we love & cherish our wives, the way we bring up our children, the joy-filled community lives we live among our brethren should stand out and speak for itself.
  2. Inviting them into our micro-community so they can experience God’s love and providence in our lives and ask questions about our faith.
  3. Watchfully using our freedom in Christ to be able to put ourselves in their context, making friendships, loving them, caring for them. Not feeling fearful or show reservation in going out with them on a party, walking into a club or bar if necessary, etc
  4. Finally, and most importantly, as Paul writes in verse 8 “To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,” – Faithfully preaching and sharing the Gospel with them.

Unity is Gods agenda to join our hearts to Him and to one another in communities for the purpose of reaching out to a wider audience. Let’s not miss it.

Let’s pray.

Group discussion Questions:

  1. Is there anything specific that God spoke to you this session? What was that?
  2. What are your micro & macro communities Gods has placed you in? Name them?
  3. Where do you see yourself failing in committing to your micro-communities?
  4. How do you think God wants to use you in your macro communities?
Categories
Sermon

Give Thanks

Ending 2018 with Thanksgiving to God

We usually preach through the book of the Bible, and we are currently preaching through the Gospel of Mark. But because of Christmas and the beginning of the new year, we decided to take a break from Mark and speak on some relevant topics that will prepare our hearts and minds for the coming year.

Last Sunday, since it was a Christmas week, Jinson preached a message of the good news of Jesus. This Sunday I want to encourage all of us to end this year with a token of thanksgiving for all that God has done in our lives, especially in the year 2018.

But let me first begin by sharing why is it important to give thanks to the Lord.

1. We thank God primarily because it is a command – 1 Thessalonians 5:18 – Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Our general human tendency is to feel happy and thankful when everything around us is going on well. But if we are indeed a child of God then what sets us apart for others is when we show thankfulness even when we go through hard times. And the reason is that we know that God is working for our good even when he allows bad circumstances to come in our lives.

And that is why Paul is saying ‘give thanks in all circumstances.’ – not just for the good times but even for the bad times.

The reason I want to highlight this point is that you may not be pleased how the last year went by in your life. Maybe you didn’t get what you expected from God, but instead, the previous year was the worst year ever.

No matter how good or bad the year has been in your life, as a believer, we are commanded to give thanks at all times, and I want to encourage you to offer the sacrifice of thanks to our God all times.

2. We thank God because we cannot adequately praise and worship God without also being thankful.

In Psalm 100:1-3 the psalmist is exalting us and saying.

Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth! Serve the LORD with gladness!  Come into his presence with singing!  Know that the LORD, he is God!   It is he who made us, and we are his;   we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,   and his courts with praise!   Give thanks to him; bless his name!  For the LORD is good;   his steadfast love endures forever,   and his faithfulness to all generations.

Worship is the will of God for the whole earth and Thanksgiving is the essential ingredient to True Worship.

We worship him because we are thankful for all that he has done and will do in our lives.

3. We thank God because by doing so we acknowledge that everything comes from God and that we are entirely depended on him for everything.

4. We think God because it keeps our hearts in right relationship with the giver of all good gifts.

What does it mean when we don’t thank God?

Without gratefulness, we become arrogant and self-centred. We begin to believe that we have achieved everything on our own.

Out of the many things we ought to thank God for, I want to highlight and speak about two things that’s most important of all.

1.    The first one is the Gospel.

Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

Once upon a time, we were in darkness and the Gospel set us free.

We were created by God, to love Him, to worship Him, to adore Him, to glorify Him.

God wanted us to live under his authority and his dominion because he made us he had all the right to demand that from us. But instead of living in a loving relationship with God, the first man and women, Adam and Eve, disobeyed God’s Holy laws and failed to live under His authority. They Sinned, and their relationship with God was broken.

Since then everyone born on this earth is born sinful, no one teaches us to cheat, bite, lie and rebel, we are born with those qualities. Why? Because we are born sinful.

The reason our world is corrupt is because we are corrupt. We live in brokenness because our relationship with our creator God is broken and no matter how hard man tries to please God, he never succeeds.

But the Bible tells us that God so loved us that he sent his Son Jesus to live an obedient life and SINLESS life on our behalf, take all the penalty of our Sin on himself and die a terrible death on our behalf so that we can be forgiven, and our relationship with God can be restored back by doing two things – Repenting and Believing in his son Jesus.

Jesus died and was buried for three days, after which he rose again from the dead, defeated sin and death and giving us an abundant life. A life full of joy, peace and satisfaction.

For those who believed – Since then the Gospel is at work in our lives – Daily setting us free from bondage and sin patterns that capture our minds.

The Gospel is at the centre of our church ministry, and that is why we make sure to preach the gospel through every sermon we preach.

As we end this year, let us be thankful for the Gospel in our lives. The constant reminders of God love and grace.

2. Church

When I say church, I’m not talking about a building or a place but the people. The Church is the people of God.

Here are a couple of reasons why we have to be thankful for the church and especially one another.

1. God uses the Church to bring the Hope of Christ in our lives – Through the preaching of God word, through the counsel of Godly leaders.
2. God uses the church to break every wall of separation that mankind has created, and unites our hearts as one people.
3. God uses the church to sanctify us – As we rub against each other, through sufferings, through conflicts, through the pain.
4. God uses the church to uplift our spirits in hard and difficult times.

Let us be thankful and offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving that will glorify the name of our Lord.

Let us enter the year 2019 with thanksgiving in our hearts. With hope in our hearts, expecting God to do great and mighty things in our lives.