Introduction – We have one Head,
and we are His body. This is
inescapable, as much as our independent streaks and autonomous tendencies teach
us otherwise. If you have been baptized
into Christ, you have been bound by covenant and placed into His church. You are eternally connected to these people
around you. This means you must learn
how to live with one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.
Connected to One Another (Rom 12:3-5) –
Our connection to the body of Christ is through the Head, Jesus Christ. But our connection to the body, nonetheless,
makes us “members of one another”.
Establishing community must begin with this theological truth and not
with our preferences. You don’t have
the right to determine how involved you are going to be any more than your
right lung gets to decide how involved it will be in your ‘body-life’.
Think Soberly
– Elders and Deacons are to be honored, but none of us must think too highly of
ourselves. How should we think? We must see ourselves as members of one body
and never as autonomous individuals or part of an elite sub-group (see
v16). Our giftedness is by grace (vv
6-8) and our use of those gifts should be gracious, generous, and with an eye
to serving, not lording over.
Love Without
Hypocrisy (vv9-13) – Look at this descriptive list
again. This is the practical outworking
of members who know they are connected.
Bitterness – Poison in the Body
(Eph 4:31) – If we are a covenant people, then one member cannot have bitterness
towards another without the whole body being affected.
The Tricks of
Bitterness – First, bitterness grows out of a
sense, real or imagined, of being wronged by someone else. If you keep it in, it makes you sick. If you let it out, it simply spreads to
those around you (James 3:14-15). That
is why it must be ‘put away from you’. Second, bitterness tries
to look righteous, pointing out the transgressions of others, but it really is
not interested in how great the sin is, but in how close the sin was to
me. Third, bitterness keeps you
from considering that it is quite often a sin to be offended. What happened to not thinking too highly of
yourself?
Diagnosing
Bitterness – Are you bitter? Can you remember the details of another’s sin – for weeks and
years? Are you prepared to forgive only
after he says that he is sorry and really means it? Do you know how many times he did that this last week, or since
you have known him? When bitterness
exists, soon there is “wrath, anger, clamor…evil speaking…and malice” as
well.
Only One Way
– Time does not remove bitterness.
Someone else’s confession does not remove bitterness. Confession of your own sin of bitterness and
repentance by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is the only way to be cleansed
of this poison. As Amy Carmichael said,
“For a cup brimful of sweet water cannot spill even one drop of bitter
water, however suddenly jolted”.
The bumps will come. What will
spill out of you on the rest of the body?
Forgiveness – As We Have Been
(Eph 4:32) – This is the fruit of God’s salvation in your life. You can forgive one another, and you
must. Jesus taught us to pray that God
would forgive us our debts in the same way that we forgive others (Matt
6:12). Christ is assuming He is
speaking to a disciple, that is, one who forgives others. I must question my own forgiveness (and
hence my salvation) if I am not one who extends forgiveness (Col 3:13).
Christlike
Forgiveness – If we are to forgive as Christ forgives, then
we must be prepared to do so immediately and completely. We must be prepared to forgive often, for we
are forgiven often. And we must forgive
with full reconciliation of the relationship, for we have been reconciled to
God. “For judgment is without mercy
to the one who has shown no mercy” (James 2:13).
Building Community – (1 Pet 4:9-10) It is not enough to handle the bumps of
relationships in our community (avoiding bitterness and extending
forgiveness). This won’t be so hard if
we never see one another. But we must
love one another, and that means many things.
Consider these two.
Hospitality
– This means opening your home up to others.
It is not the woman’s job, for the men must lead here as well. Elders are required to be hospitable (1 Tim
3:2). Your dining room table is to be a
place of feasting, fellowship, remembering, teaching, and sharing. You are required to ‘pursue hospitality’
(Rom 12:13) and you are to do so ‘without grumbling’ (1 Pet 4:9). Of course, it will be hard work – but we are
members of one another.
‘Deacon’ Your Gifts (v10) – What has the Lord given you? Time, talents, treasures. Who do you see with a need? Give yourself, your time, your things, your best, to the body around you. Why? We are members of one another. If we pursue this, we will be “good stewards of the manifold grace of God”. If we do not, then we will be like the wicked and lazy steward who buried his talent in the ground. Do not be found like that in the Day of Judgment.
Dave Hatcher – June 3, 2001