Empowerment Through Community

And 1 Corinthians 12 is our text for today, beginning in verse 12. The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts, and though all its parts are many, they form one body. And so it is with Christ, for we were all baptized by one spirit into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all given the one spirit to drink. Now the body is not made up of one part, but of many. If the foot should say, because I'm not a hand, I do not belong to the body, it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, because I'm not an eye, I do not belong to the body, it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact, God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. And if they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, what? I don't need you. And the head cannot say to the feet, I don't need you. On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable, we treat with special honor. I think it's safe to say, without exaggeration, that this has been one of the most dynamic periods of change in human history, these last two years. Events of this past week will have impact on millions of people, and I also would just go ahead and say that I believe in the near future a billion Chinese are going to be impacted by these things that are happening. Soon the communist system will crumble in China as well. Sure the world is a changing place, and nothing of political systems or stability should be considered inviolable. Everything is in flux. Dear ones, these are times of climactic change in the Church of Jesus Christ as well. We need to be on our toes about the changes that are taking place. One man that's preached here at North Way who I have great respect for, by the name of George Otis Jr., wrote this in a recent book called The Last of the Giants, I commend it to you, in which he says, by the way, that the real threat in the Soviet Union isn't communism, it's Islam. Fifty million Muslims are ready to move in to the Soviet Union to spread their brand of gospel. Here's what he says, those ministries most prone to failure in tomorrow's world are those that insist on conducting business as usual today. No matter how big or venerable they are, denominations, mission agencies, and local churches that fail to adjust to the sweeping changes ushered in by the 1980s will quite simply fail in the 1990s. Or as Francis Schaeffer said, not being able as times change to change under the Holy Spirit is ugly. I like that. Not being able to change as times change under the Holy Spirit is ugly. It's inconsistent with God. One of the wisest things that any believer can do is to seek to sense what the Holy Spirit is doing in the life of a church in a given time and then get into the flow of it, not stand on the side and judge it, but get into the flow of it. And even these past Sundays, I have sought to be bringing to you those things which the Holy Spirit has been challenging me with, trusting that by His grace upon us, we too as a church would rise up to face the changes that are before us. These are truths, by the way, that I've tested with our elders prior to preaching. These are truths that I have shared with other leaders in the body of Christ. People say, well, let's just do what God says. Well, you know, folks, it helps me a lot to know that other leaders of other churches around the country are sensing the Lord saying the same thing to them. I was with 200 pastors this weekend in a wonderful gathering out in Denver where we shared some of our hearts' burdens and some of the things the Lord was saying. But what has come as no small surprise to me is that much of what the Spirit is saying is simply an enlargement of what He has said in the past. Kind of like when you would take a photograph, a small one, you know, like a 2x3 and blow it up into an 8x10, what do you tend to see? Yeah, detail. Things come a little bit more into focus. In these last weeks, it's as though the Spirit of God has shown us not new truths, but familiar truths from a new perspective. The same diamond, but just different facets of it. Or if you will, it's like we're moving into a house and building a new addition on a familiar house rather than a whole new house. And that's been a blessing to me. Last week we looked at worship as the central activity of the church, this church in the 90s. The central thing that the church is called to do is to worship. But the facet of the worship that the Lord showed us was that of drawing lines in the invisible realm that stopped the flow of the plagues of death. Death of relationship, death of hope, death of families, death of people. And I appreciate the fact that a number of you said, you know, I see worship in a different light. When we stand up here and sing as we just have and honor God and our hearts are in it, folks, we stop the flow of death, even in our own lives. You should sense even today, you know, a lifting of burden and pain from your life because worship does that. Now this week, and by the way, if you weren't here last Sunday, as many of you were not, get the tape. We made extra tapes for you today. I want you to be on track with us. This week we're going to look at the subject of empowerment through community, how we relate together as people in the body of Christ. And I want to share what I sense very strongly the Holy Spirit is saying to us. Throughout the nation and the world, the Holy Spirit seems to be saying, believers grow up. Put this pettiness relationally behind you. Get together in partnerships, networks, and cells and begin to be the body of Christ. Be a contrary idea to the world that's around you. The high level of transience, listen, does this describe the world that you know? The high level of transience, the fear of interpersonal communications, the fragmentations of our personal schedules, the shifts in attitude that we see from long-term commitments to short-term ones, all of these are creating an isolated individualistic society whose trademarks have become home security systems and auto privacy glass. That's what it means to be an American these days. You know, the Lord has always called us here at North Way to be in relationship. Dear ones, from day one, North Way is about relationships. It's in our name. What is the name? North Way Christian Community. I went to this conference and as almost inevitably happens, my name tag came back, North Way Christian Community Church. I said, pardon me, that doesn't need to be on there. Well, what does it mean then? It means that we are a community of believers, which by the way is a definition of the church. It's almost being redundant. A little thing, but I made them change the name tag. I like that. You see, from day one, we were nine men in relationship and the servants council, that was scary. Then our wives joined us and we felt a little better. Then that group of 18 became four home groups with some others and then eight. And then we became a worshiping congregation. And like the early church, growth has presented us with problems. Now it's not so easy to stand in front of 1500 adults and say, let's relate. Because we all bring a certain amount of baggage, certain amount of frustration and failure and hurt about relationships. I'd love to be able to stand up at the end of the service today, one, two, three, let's relate. Let's be committed. It won't happen. It used to happen rather naturally in the early days. Now folks, we have to work at it just a bit more. You see, some veterans have flamed out over the last years. Some of you who were deeply committed to relationships with people, you flamed out, you burned out, you're not in it anymore. I'm going to talk about the reasons for that in just a minute. Some of you who are newer to North Way and have been recently added are anxious to be involved. 80% of the people who are discovering the way say, hey, I want to be in a relationship. But they're not clear as to how to get there and what it might mean. And I believe the Spirit of God is saying, let's restore a clear sense of the priority of relationships on this spiritual journey that I talked about two weeks ago. Folks, the reason I'm pressing this today is for your growth, not so that we can feel good about some number or statistic about people that are in groups. God has ordained that growth happens through relationships with other people. And I just want to ask you a question today. How about your growth? Are you stagnating? Are you more in love with God, more attuned to His Spirit now than a year ago? Are you pretending to be doing well, but inside you're really not? My first question to you would be, show me your support group, or as Edmund Burke called it, show me your little platoon. Chuck Colson referred to that term in his book, Kingdoms in Conflict. Show me your little platoon of men or women that are there for you to help you become all that God wants you to be. Relationships in the body of Christ are far more than a nifty little Oriental methodology for making churches big. Relationships, small groups in the church, beginning God. Folks, in its essence, in His essence, what is God? He's a small group, isn't He? Ever think about it that way? I believe to be created in the image of God means absolutely that we are created to be in relationship with God and others. It's part of who God is. God is three in one in a dynamic relationship. It was never God's intention for the church just to be little, you know, individual soldiers of the cross, sitting in front of their TV set doing their own thing. Never meant to be that way. And if you're not currently involved in a meaningful group or a mission kind of group, a little platoon, there's three or four reasons likely that that's so. Here's the first one. The first reason why people are not involved in groups, number one, it's ignorance of the plan of God. Ignorance. We don't know what God said about it. Now this may be because you're newer, it may be just because you haven't really come to terms with it yet. You see, unwittingly, many believers carry over with them unbelieving attitudes when they come to Christ. I was sitting on an airplane coming back this week from Denver, had the classic conversation with a churchy person, and he avoided me most of the flight, which was fine, I had things to do. And then the meals came out, and that's one of the things that always happens, he'd pull his headsets off and saw my books and asked me those questions that they asked. And I said, well, you know, tell me about your relationship to God. And he said, oh, well, you know, I'm, and he named the kind of church he went to, and I said, great. Tell me about it. And it was real evident that it was just church for him, and he said, I don't really like to go, but my wife makes me go with the kids and that kind of thing. And then we started talking, he said, and by the way, he said, I just basically feel that religion is a personal thing. Did you ever hear that? It's like between me and God. I said, oh, really? He said, yeah. Now, it's hard to argue with that. I mean, it is between you and God. There are answers, but I don't have time to get into those right now. Maybe next week I will. But once you make the decision to be related to God through his son, Jesus Christ, it is no longer you and God, it is you and the family of God. Dear ones, you are born of the same blood. You have the same daddy. We are family members. You may not like them, but they are your brothers and sisters. Sibling rivalry abounds in the body of Christ, doesn't it? It's true. We are united together. And you see, God's plan is very clear. Not only does he talk about it really through the Trinity, he also talks about it in this wonderful image of the body of Christ. Could God have been any more plain to show us how we are related together, how we are interdependent, how we need each other? He goes at great lengths here in these verses that we read today to talk about body parts. When's the last time your hand just went and did its own thing? Or your foot? In fact, when someone's hand just does its own thing, what do we feel? A little sympathy, don't we? That's really weird. God is showing us, like the analogy says, that we are interdependent. We need each other. It's not just like something we should do if we'd like. We need each other to fulfill our mission and to grow in grace. And dear ones, it was never God's intention that you, no matter how beautiful a Christian you are, should be separated by yourself. I started thinking about this. Some of you have very beautiful eyes. I mean, you have beautiful eyes. But what makes them beautiful? Well, the fact that they're in your head. Pluck that eye out of your head and put it there on the chair next to you. Now, what's that person going to say when they see that eye? Oh, that's a beautiful eye? No, what are they going to say? Gross. I mean, that's ugly. That's horrible. Think about the analogy. You can be the greatest Christian out there. Wonderful, mature, moving in the Spirit. But if you're not plugged into the body of Christ, you're just an eyeball out there on the chair. And you look gross. Another part of the ignorance here is I fear that many people underestimate the nature of our enemy. I mean, I have a deep respect. I don't fear him, but I have a respect for the enemy. And I have, you know, in the last 48 hours since I've been home, I've had several really just horrendous problems arise, some of which are outside of our body, but people that I'm in relationship to, horrendous problems. And I know that our enemy prowls around like a roaring lion. Listen, dear ones, if you're not plugged into the body of Christ, you are setting yourself up for a fall like you won't believe. I mean, how many of you here would climb Mount Everest on your own? It's never happened in history. It's always been a team. It's been climbed a number of times by teams. Nonetheless, many of us try to climb our, you know, the mountain of our spiritual journey on our own. When all along God was saying, climb it with a team. Get together with those that can support you and be with you. From the beginning, the church that God breathed into being was in relationship. Read Acts 2 and 4. We won't turn there, but make a note of it. I mean, the church was born in community. They shared all things in common, and on and on it goes, Acts 2 and 4. And anything less is really subpar Christianity. It's not what God intended. The second reason why you may be out of a group or never having been in a little platoon is fear. And this is primarily for the people among us who are newer, let's say. Maybe it's an argument from weakness of sorts. It's the fear that a negative past experience is going to be repeated. Folks, I don't know anyone that's been obedient to this that hasn't been disappointed at least one time. Please don't shut down now. I have had people tell me since last night, it's hard for me to trust Christians anymore. I was in a group, and they violated confidences. Or I was in a group, and they were really out for themselves. Folks, we are going to have those kinds of things. But we're called nonetheless to press on and leave it behind under the blood of Christ. Some people fear a loss of identity. That they'll get into a group and become little robots, or all turn out like little J's. God forbid. Or any other individual person. No, we're not talking about some kind of become like the leader cult. No. People are afraid that they're going to become consumed with other people's problems. I'm going to get with a little group, and all they're going to do is dump their work on me, and their headaches and heartaches on me. Some people, they really fear getting locked in with people that they don't like. People that aren't like them, like together. Now I'm plugged in with people I don't... I'll never forget the first time, my first little platoon of men. I was a college, late in my college freshman year. And the guy that had kind of led me back to Christ and was discipling me said, now it's time for you to meet the rest of the Christians on campus. There were three others. And I liked the guy that was with me. I mean, he was an athlete, and he was in a good fraternity, and all that kind of stuff. We walked up into this room and opened the door up in the student union, and there were these three, forgive me, now this sounds a little judgmental, three geeko guys in this room. And I looked around and said, you know, these people? Gosh, you know, I shut the door real quick, hoping no one saw me go in. And you can see how spiritually mature I was then, judging people by their... Well, you know, we got together, and over time, it was tough. I just didn't relate to them at first. But over time, God just began to pull those walls down, and we became one. It was tough. I won't say it was easy. It was tough. God showed me the vanity of my own life and how I needed to love people as they were. By the way, I've tracked their lives of those four men. One of them left at the end of the first year to return closer to home. Another one became a counselor and an ordained minister in a church out in Denver. Another one is a senior pastor of a fairly large church outside of Washington, D.C. And the third one, the one that I thought was maybe like the weirdest of all, he owns a $100 million furniture company in North Carolina. So much, you know, for my discernment. But anyhow, folks, let's not be afraid that, you know, somehow that person just won't be good enough for me. Fear, God's not given us a spirit of fear, but a love, power, and a sound mind. The third reason why some of you may be withholding your participation is simply, I'm not going to like it, but here it is, it's pride. You see, it's sort of the argument from strength. This is for the veterans. This is for some of you who've been around here a long time. You see, it's the argument that says, I've been there, I've done it, I know what it's about, and it's not all that necessary for me to be involved. I mean, I'm doing okay on my own. I understand these things, you know, it's up here, but it's not, you know, I can get by without it. And unfortunately, a number of these kinds of attitudes are carryovers from the renewal movement, the charismatic movement of the 70s. There was a real heavy thing on experience Jesus, experience the Holy Spirit, but not a real emphasis on being together in the body of Christ. Dennis Bennett's classic book that I thought was great, The Holy Spirit in You, he was an Episcopalian rector who really wrote the book on being filled with the Spirit. It would have been much better had it been titled The Holy Spirit in Us, because then we would have understood that the Holy Spirit is to be experienced in community as well as individually. Now, these people are wonderful people. They'll say things, hey, I'm happy to jump in when needed. I'm there for the projects. Usually groups just slow me down. I mean, I've done it before, no big deal. Or they'll say things like, every time I've been in a group, it's just zapped my strength. It hasn't built me up. Or the famous American said, hey, well, I'm a pretty independent person. I can do fine without it. I want to control my own schedule here. And you see, these people, they feel it doesn't really matter. It's kind of like an argument for omission. But they forget that Jesus said powerful words in John 17. In verse 21, I want to read this for you because this really gripped me. Here's what he said about how people will know that we belong to him. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. How's the world going to know that we follow the one true God? Because there's genuine love and relationship between us, one to another. Folks, let's be reminded, those of us who've been around a while, the basis of our unity is our diversity, not our similarities. The body again. I mean, what makes the hand so valuable? I mean, because it's so flexible and can do so many things. But it's not real good for hearing. And what makes it valuable as part of this is that, you know, I can hear someone call for help and extend my hand, you see? So the basis of unity is diversity. It's not that we're all the same. True body members say things like, what's best for the body is what I'll do. Independent believers say, what's best for me? And we can never say, I don't need you. Turn to someone right now and tell them, say, I do need you. Go ahead, turn to someone, just confess it. I do need you. I need you in the body. Now, let me say to all of you who have consciously or unconsciously adopted one of these three attitudes, excuses, ignorance, fear, or pride, you're being duped. You're missing out on what God has supplied as the means whereby you're going to mature in Christ. And I don't care if you've been a Christian for two months or 25 years. Every one of us need a little platoon to help us become all that God wants us to be. The potential for your blessing and progress in God is reduced if you're out there on your own. You're not going to become all that God wants. And the opportunity to share your grace with another has been greatly hindered. Now, I want to talk for just a couple of moments about some of the positives here. You see, obviously Jesus felt very strongly about this. How many of you know he could have kind of made it on his own? He didn't have any problem gathering crowds, but for some reason he chose how many? Twelve to be with, the Bible says, all the time. He poured his life into twelve and he met with the masses. He had a little platoon, and within that little platoon he had a subset of three, Peter, James, and John, that he shared his innermost, intimate secrets. And by the way, he had other friends that I would call very close. Lazarus and Mary and Martha. It was apparent that he made every effort to be with them when he could, stopping in his travels, staying at their house. He loved them. In fact, that's why, this is opinion now, I believe that's why he wept when Lazarus died. Because it was a dear friend, a close friend. Jesus felt it was important to have these kinds of groups. And Paul speaks about little platoons all through the book of Acts and in the epistles, Timothy and Silas and Luke and Barnabas, the Ephesian elders, people that loved each other. They knew what we need to be reminded of, that we'll not become all that God wants us to be if we're just out there checking in here on Sundays. Folks, this is wonderful, I love this, but this isn't what the Christian life is all about. This is just part of it. And this fall we're setting ourselves to restore the priority of relationships in our church. Our faith is not a solo sport, it's a team sport, if you will. It's a team pursuit. Now, there's two issues here where I see people getting hung up. Let me share these as I move to conclusion. First of all, people tend to get hung up because they don't understand their relational capacity. Know your relational capacity. How many people can you really be with? Let me talk about that. You know, some people just get along great and they can take tons of relationships. They're almost relational addicts. Do you know them? I mean, these are people who are insatiably drawn to other people. Always talking, always bubbling. These are people, I mean, go to parties, they are a party. Everywhere they go. These are people who, like, you know, they ask to sit in the middle chair in an airplane. So they can, like, relate to people on both sides of them and just have a great time. These are people who have, you know, $300 phone bills routinely and they're not teenagers. You know, imagine a self-help group for a relational addict. You know? Hi, I'm Bob and... We call it Relationships in Honor. I'm Bob and I'm a relational addict. All the other addicts there. Hi, Bob. Hey, great to see you. We're looking forward to really getting to know you. We're going to be all night sharing together. You know? On the other hand, I mean, you know people like that. There are people here today who are just on the opposite end of the spectrum. You're not very happy at all when you have to be with people. In fact, if you had it your way, you'd never leave the house. These are the kind of people that get the milk delivered, shop through catalogs, you know, and wear sunglasses at nighttime. So they don't want to talk to anybody. They don't want to relate because they don't... They're really uncomfortable with that. And it's... You know, God's made us differently. This isn't like worship where God has said, this is how you do it. He's made us differently. The problem is that when relational addict types get really rolling, they can be in four, five, six little platoons and they're going wild trying to keep up with everybody. Pretty soon, you know, they start feeling overloaded. They miss a meeting here, miss a meeting there. And folks, it isn't long before they start feeling guilty and then they withdraw. And there's some wonderful people here today that you've been so overstretched that you've just bailed out altogether. On the other hand, some of you who maybe are not more relational, you might be starved on the inside. You really want somebody, a little group that you can share your heart with. I mean, you're looking for it. A man said to me, a man that was in one of my groups recently said, you know, he called me on the phone, he said, when are we going to start up again? He said, I really need those guys. It's my only outlet for real fellowship. He went on, he said, you know, my life was getting larger in every respect. My business was growing, my bank account was growing, my house was growing, but my heart was shrinking until I found that group. When are we going to get together again? He said. Dear ones, the key is find one group, just one, where you can be cared for, plugged into and challenged to become all that God wants you to be. It may be you have to form it. It may be a home group. It may be a men's group, a women's group, a single's group. It doesn't matter what it is. It just needs to be there for you. The second reason why we tend to fail in these things is that we come out of balance. And I want you to just note this as well. Look at your relationships overall. Balance your relational components. As a homework assignment for today's message, and I realize we don't usually do this on Sunday, on the back of that sheet, I want you just to write down three words, and I want you to think through all the significant relationships in your life. They fall into one of three categories. You may have five such relationships. You may have ten, fifteen. Three categories. The first one is draining relationships. The second are neutral relationships. And the third are refreshing or replenishing relationships. Let me describe them. Draining relationships are those really ugly, tough ones, you know, where you just have a terrible personality clash. Every time you're together, sparks fly. You're on guard. Eggshells, you know, walking on eggshells all the time, where you get, you're afraid that you're going to tee them off and they're going to lose it. Draining relationships usually are with people perhaps that are negative or complaining. Maybe they have some power or authority over your life that puts you in an uncomfortable position. Maybe they want you to fix them. Maybe they want you to be their dad or mom that they never had. If you're in a number of relationships like this, and if this is your little platoon of people, folks, you've got a problem. Now, it's not wrong to give yourself to some people. I believe every one of us should have someone that we're giving to that needs something we have. Compassion, resources, or whatever. But, not only did Jesus do that, how many of you know Jesus also had neutral relationships? I mean, he went to the store. He was a carpenter and did business. I see Jesus having relationships that took from him. Relationships he just kind of interacted. And I also see Jesus having relationships that were very refreshing to him. Do you remember the story in Luke 22 when he's sitting down at the Last Supper? And he says to his disciples, he looks at them and he says, I have longed to share this meal with you. I wanted to be with you. The ones that I love. The ones that refresh me and hold me dear. Refreshing relationships, they're the kind you see when you're together, it's great. It just kind of happens. And when you leave that time together, you say, oh, that was wonderful. I feel lifted up inside. I really enjoyed being there. I want to go back. It was great. What's next that we're going to do together? I feel encouraged in my spirit when we're together. Folks, if you don't have any relationships like that, you're missing out on a great blessing in the body of Christ. The key is balance. Have some where you're giving, some where you're just interacting, and some where you know you're just getting refreshed every time you're together. I know that some of you live in marriages that are very draining. Some of you have kids that drain the life out of you. Maybe, you know, there are five preschoolers. Some of you have job situations where every time you get in the office, you know, it's a headache. I know that. Some of you have, you know, elderly parents that you're taking care of. It's very draining. Some of you have sons or daughters that have addiction problems, and it's very draining. And if you're in those kind of draining relationships, and then you get into a little platoon where everybody's just like crying on their shoulders and, you know, it's all just one big drain, folks, it isn't good. Are you hearing this? Find some people that you can set a goal, an optimistic goal with, and begin to move together and refresh each other and to spirit grow together. You need people that are going to make you be all that God wants you to be around you. It reminds me of the story of David. I love this story in 2 Chronicles 23. David is at the end of himself. He's weary and battle-worn. And the Bible says that his mighty men came around him. And I wish I had time to do the whole sermon on that. David had three mighty men. And they said, David, what can we do for you? He said, oh, that I could have some water to drink from the wells of our enemies. And these three men conspired together. They went in, broke through the lines because they loved David and brought back to him this pitcher of the water from the wells. David was overcome with emotion. He lifted up the pitcher to take a drink. And then something came over him and he poured it out. And he said this, he said, Lord, I pour this out before you. How could I possibly benefit myself from the love of those who cared so much about me? Be a blessing to them and to me. He made it a sacrifice to God. Folks, we all need mighty men in our little platoon, mighty women, who will give their lives for us to be all that God wants us to be. Where are you today? As you look into the fall, do you have a group like that? Are you just kind of drifting? If you get up and leave from today's message and say, well, you know, maybe it'll happen. It won't happen. You need to take some initiative. Folks, this congregation has great potential untapped because people won't take initiative for their spiritual growth. On your North Way notes and your communicator, you can mark, you know, I'm interested in a home group or discipleship group. That's all you need to do. One of our staff will contact you about, we're planning at least 10 new home groups and 15 new discipleship groups this fall. You say, well, I don't know if I understand. You don't need to understand it all right now. Just be open to it. And I want to say to those of you who we've contacted to be potential leaders, please don't withdraw. Don't just sit back and say, well, you know, I'm too busy. I got a lot of lawn work this fall. We're talking about the kingdom of God here. And you can make a difference. You might be the difference in someone'