Kingdom Stewardship of Relationships
Various Passages
Intro:
Today, we’ll be talking about Stewardship of Relationships…now, Relationships are such a broad topic (marriage, friendships) but for today, our focus will be on our calling to relationships in the church and secondly, what our relationships in the church have to do with relationships outside of the church.
Let’s begin by reading from Titus 2:11-14:
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
God is not just saving isolated individuals…he is forming a PEOPLE for himself.
Now, for many….when we think of their faith, Christianity…they think as individuals…we are products of our culture. When we think Church, we primarily think a SERVICE/BUILDING….not people.
o
We are products of our culture…American Christianity is influenced by American IndividualismTheologically, Individualism has its roots in the pietist and revivalist movements with their emphasis on personal decision and personal faith. Richard Lovelace says, ÒIn this model of the Christian life the individual believer is connected to the source of grace like a diver who draws his air supply from the surface through a hose. He is essentially a self-contained system cut off from the other divers working around him. If their air supply is cut off, this does not damage him nor can he share with them the air that he receives. The situation would be no different if he were working alone a hundred miles awayÓ (Dynamics of Spiritual Life)
Maybe for some of us, if the people around us weren’t hereÉit wouldn’t make a huge difference. At least we feel as though, we’d be fine. But that’s a gross misunderstanding.
God doesn’t see just individuals. Of course he sees you and knows you as an individual…but he simultaneously sees you as PART of His Body, one of many of HIS people and he designed it so that we are intricately connected and need of one another.
Read quotes:
Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck says, ÒThe believer, therefore, never stands apart by himself; he is never aloneÓ
The church lies at the very center of the eternal purpose of God. It is not a divine afterthought. It is not an accident of history. On the contrary, the church is God’s new community. For his purpose, conceived in past eternity, being worked out in history, and to be perfected in a future eternity, is not just to save isolated individuals and so perpetuate our loneliness, but rather to build his church, that is, to call out of the world a people for his own glory. -John Stott
Loneliness…being on your own…is not a good thing. God created Adam…he called everything else good…and said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.” But when man rebelled against God, not only was our relationship with him broken…but with others. Gen. 3 Adam/Eve blame… Gen. 4 Cain kills Abel…Gen. 11 Tower of Babel…man is dispersed, scattered and disconnected. All the loneliness, isolation and relational brokenness in the world is a result of broken relationship with God.
Christ came, to restore not only our relationship with God…but our relationship with others…to create a new humanity, where people TREAT ONE ANOTHER AS GOD HAD ALWAYS INTENDED…as he treats us, with unconditional love, grace, acceptance.
THE CHURCH IS THE STARTING PLACE.
-In Gen. 11 as mentioned…Peoples of the earth are scattered/dispersed…Acts 2…start of the church, nations come together!
-Same chapter, 2…we read of the fellowship of the believers…a place where people are deeply committed to one another, sharing life, joy and love.
Christ restores God to man, through his death/resurrection and he restores man to man.
He makes us ONE with HIM AND ONE WITH EACH OTHER!!!
Last week, we discussed the Indicative of our Oneness…we ARE ONE…the Imperative, the call is to MAINTAIN AND LIVE OUT of that oneness.
-quote from Total Truth:
By becoming a Christian, I belong to God and I belong to my brothers and sisters. It is not that I belong to God and then make a decision to join a local church. My being in Christ means being in Christ with those others who are in Christ.
We are not isolated individuals…we belong to Christ…and to each other…WE ARE HIS PEOPLE, THE NEW HUMANITY.
So what does this mean for us practically?
God calls a people for himself—that’s the Church…if you’re Christian, you belong to God and others.
What is the role of the Church?
Two things: Perfecting of Saints and Gathering of Saints
Perfecting: We are being made into the image of Christ (true humanity)
Gathering: The Church is call those outside of the family of God, into it
We see this two fold purpose in Matt. 28:18-20:
“Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations…baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded…”
So what does this have to do with relationships?
BOTH PERFECTING AND GATHERING HAPPEN COMMUNALLY!!!
-God calls us to be deeply committed to our relationships in the church…because as we are, His Purpose for the Church will be accomplished.
-If we maintain an individualistic mindset towards our faith, the church…this church cannot effectively fulfill it’s God given purpose….in fact, we’ll hurt others and ourselves.
Imagine there was a Father who lived his life with complete disregard to his family. He basically lived as if he was single, went on vacation, planned things…never checked with his family. He’d be a terrible father and terrible family member.
In the same way, if we plan and go about our lives…w/o regard for the body life…I’m not around..not connected what’s the big deal…of the church, you hurt the family.
NOW, let’s really unpack how Perfecting and Gathering happen Communally and therefore, why it’s so important for us to be relationally faithful and committed to the Church.
Perfecting In COMMUNITY:
r
Through the use of gifts:o
Eph. 4:1-16...we unpacked this last weeko
Each of us has gifts from Christ and we’re called to good stewards…using them for the well-being and growth of OTHERS.r
Through the messiness of relationshipso
Let’s look at the fruit of the Spirit: Gal. 5:22 “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”o
These are NOT qualities you can assess yourself in and grow in apart from deep, committed relationships!!§
Marriage: has taught me how selfish, impatient, mean I am…exposes and change§
Fatherhood: has taught me how impatient, selfish, weak I am….exposes and change§
Same goes for relationships in the Church:·
Easy to get along with others when we come them at arms length…but if you lived life at all…you realize once you get close to a person…things come up. BUT, this is part of God’s design…expose and changer
Some of us have wondered why we’re spiritually stagnant. It may be b/c our relationships are arms length and shallow and fall woefully short of the type of the types of relationships Scripture calls us to.o
We may attend small group…but just being in physical proximity is not enough. You have to share life!!! The picture we get in Scripture is of a very, very tight knit community!!!o
ONLY THE GOSPEL CAN GET US HERE.§
Radical Acceptance: People are afraid of getting to close, we all have a fear of rejection…fear of being judged. Maybe they won’t like this about me, or that about me. So we put up a front…as a slave to others opinions b/c that’s our source of significance. But in the Gospel, Christ knew the worst…while we were still sinners he died for us…he accepted us IN OUR UGLINESS.·
So for the Christian, we live not looking for people’s acceptance (slave)…set free…JOY, SECURITY!·
Secondly, we become a people who extend radical acceptance…yes, I see that in you…but I’m probably worse.·
In the Gospel we become a community of radical acceptance§
Radical Change through Challenge: Christ died not just for our HAPPINESS BUT HOLINESS: Confronting sin of course…humbly…(I’m going to say straight up right now…some of you abuse alcohol…some of you gambling, pornography, apathy, gossip)…we are not acting lovingly. Sin affects our fellowship with God…(Gal. 6:1). If we love each other, we confront!!! We have to view those struggling as TORN NETS. (counseling)·
In the Gospel we become a community of radical change through challengeThe Church is to be a place of Radical Acceptance AND Radical Change through Challenge…this what Christ died for…and as we live this out…the world will notice.
AND THIS LEADS TO MY SECOND AND LAST POINT…
The Church is for PERFECTING…which we unpacked…but the CHURCH is for GATHERING.
Gathering In Community:
Often times we think of Evangelism or sharing our faith…as a private affair. Of course, we need to individually learn and do our part…however, IT IS NOT MEANT TO BE IN ISOLATION FROM THE COMMMUNITY.
Total Truth:
-If evangelism is a community project, our different gifts and personalities can complement one another. Some people are good at building relationships with new people. Some are socialites—the ones who will organize a trip or an activity. Some people are great at hospitality. Some are good at initiating gospel conversations. Some are good at confronting heart issues.
But not only is our gathering communal in the sense where different people use their gifts…BUT In fact, GOSPEL COMMUNITY is the witness!!! Again, we think of ourselves as individual witnesses…but GOSPEL COMMUNITY on display IS THE WITNESS.
Lesslie Newbigin describes the local congregation as the hermeneutic of the gospel—the way in which people understand the gospel. (how they interpret the Gospel)
John 13:34-35
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. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
John 17:20-23
I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and loved them even as you have loved me.
I’ve used the illustration before, from Harvey Conn…
We are a model home…a demonstration community of the community to come…(rehab perhaps)…the new humanity drawing others so sick of the fallen humanity they see.
We’ve seen this happen…
-Perspectives group, Jim
Christ died to form a people for himself…and as we live deeply committed to one another…being good stewards of the relationships he gave us…we will grow into the image of Christ…the image of our true humanity…and we will model the new humanity to the broken humanity that surrounds us in the hopes that, they will become part of God’s people.