Barry Metz 02/14/16
Cultivating a Welcoming Community
Put this slide up for the skit….
Skit is over…. Actors exit.
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Our 2016 goal…
….is “that each person would cultivate a welcoming, knowing, caring and authentic community”.
I had to remind myself what cultivate means. You and I cultivate a piece of land when we prepare it and use it for crops and gardening. You and I cultivate a friendship when we work to make a friend. You and I cultivate a quality like ‘welcoming’ or ‘knowing’ when we work to become ‘welcoming’ or ‘knowing’ people. That’swhat we’re trying to do. We’re working to develop, we’re working to become a welcoming, knowing, caring, authentic group of people.
Now let me express these ideas in some words from 2 Thessalonians 1: 11-12
Turn in your bibles there if you would…. 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12…
11To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, 12so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
So your leadership has a sense that the way forward for us as a church is that we become a welcoming people, a knowing people, a caring people and an authentic people, not plastic but real. Our goal is, using the words from these verses in 2 Thessalonians,a resolve in our hearts for good. And our prayer is that God would fulfill our resolves for good by his power. We will make progress toward this goal only as God fulfills… our resolves for good… by His power.
First we want to become a welcominggroup of people—and that’s the focus of the message today. It is wrong that someone would go away from our times together unwelcomed. In my bible reading the other day I came across that troubling passage where Jesus returns in his glory and separates people from one another as a shepherd separates sheep from the goats. I think you’re probably familiar with the story. The sheep will inherit the kingdom. What about the goats? Well it doesn’t go well for them. Why do the sheep inherit the kingdom? Well Jesus doesn’t mention outright the idea that we hold so dear—‘you must trust Christ to be saved from your sins and enter the kingdom’; he doesn’t mention that idea at all, he talks about good works. The sheep will inherit the kingdom because they fed the hungry, because they gave the thirsty a drink, because they clothed the naked, because they visited the sick, because they came to those in prison and….. and…..because they welcomed strangers. Now it’s not that good works save us. We’re all in agreement on that. No the issue is that good works provide the evidence that we’re saved. It just so happens, however, that one of those good works that evidences a transformed heart is that we welcomestrangers. So today we’ll hope to explore all that that means.
Secondly, we want to imitate the trinity and deeply know each other. Joey got us off to a great start last week with his emphasis on knowing. The logic behind us knowing each other deeply was this. The members of the trinity deeply know each other. You and I were created in their image. And so we are designed to deeply know each other.
{I found myself thinking about this this past week. I suppose this would distinguish us from a Muslim community. What do you think? The Muslim god is not a trinity. There is no deep knowing that characterizes the Muslim god. And so to be created in the image of a Muslim god has nothing to do with living in relationships where you know others deeply and others know you deeply. I suppose it would also distinguish us from a Jehovah’s Witness community. There is no deep knowing in the godhead of the Jehovah’s Witness god, so there is no deep knowing to be imitated by Witness followers. I found myself wondering this week if less people would convert to the Jehovah Witness faith if they experienced a deep knowing in their Christian community}
We want to deeply know each other.
Thirdly, we want to care for each other. 1 Corinthinans 12:25-26 says God has so composed the body….that there be no division in the body but that the members should have the same care for one another. If one members suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. We want to care for each other.
And finally we want to be authentic. We want to let go of our masks. We want to stop hiding from each other. And we’ll never hit that targetas long as we’re afraid of each other.
Joey mentioned this last week but ourvisionas a church is to make the gospel visible. We have a yearly goal and we have a vision. Our vision as a church is to make the gospel visible. As a church we want to become an audiovisual for the precious truths of the gospel. The gospel tells us that God brings us near to his heart through the sacrifice of Christ. Well that essentially is what welcoming is. When you and I welcome one another we are an audiovisual for the precious truths of the gospel. The gospel tells us that God deeply knows us and cares about us. And so as we deeply know and care for each other, we are an audiovisual for the gospel. We exist to make the gospel visible.
I don’t know about you, but as I reflect on these ideas and the idea that we have given ourselves to them this year, I think this is a really noble pursuit.
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With that introduction let’s dig into this idea of welcoming one another. If you have your bibles this morning I want to use one primary text Romans 15:7
7Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
It will serve us well to see how Paul’s words in verse 7 fit into the surrounding context of Romans. Actually Romans 15:7 is the closing bookend so to speak on a section which begins at Romans 14:1. Turn back with me to Romans 14:1 and follow with me as I read verses 1-3…. Romans 14:1-3
14As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. 2One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. 3Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.
The topic of Romans 14 is what we sometimes call disputable issues—those issues in the Christian life in which Christians are free to have different convictions. Paul in verse 1 call them opinions. Should Christians dance? Should Christians drink? Should Christians listen to rock music? The list of disputable issues goes on and on and it changes from one generation to the next. In previous generations playing cards was a disputable issue. With disputable issues, one Christian believes he or she is free to do these things. Another Christian believes that certain activities just shouldn’t be done.
Specifically in Romans 14, the issue is unity between the Jews and the Gentiles over observance of certain days and eating certain food. The Jews are those who Paul characterizes as ‘weak in faith’ and the Gentiles are those who are ‘strong in faith.’ The Gentiles, in this case, believe they can eat anything. The Jews, concerned about eating meet sacrificed to idols, eat only vegetables. So here you have two groups of people in the church with different opinions on a disputable issue. One believer, the Gentile, is filled with contempt: “I can’t believeMicahpasses up meat!!!!” And the other believer, the Jew, is filled with a judgmentalspirit: “I can’t believe Andronicus is eating meat!!!!” What’s the solution? Micah and Andronicus need to give up their judging and contempt and they need to welcome one another, they need to receive one another, they need to accept one another.
{You see personal convictions are just that…..they’re personal. And you and I can arrive at different personal convictions about a host of different issues for any number of reasons:
-We might have a different level of understanding of the scriptures
-We have different life experiences that influence our convictions
-We are tempted by different things. One of us may not be tempted by a certain activity but another brother is tempted severely by that same activity. Soit’s good that his convictions are different.}[1]
So in a church setting our personal convictions can be different, our lifestyles can be different, our choices of music can be different, the way we spend our free time can be different, the way we school our children can be different…and on and on the differences go.
How are we to handle that? Are we to be stand-offish with one another? No we are to welcome one another. We’re to steer clear from showing contempt(“What’s the big deal about eating meat?”) on the one hand and we are to steer clear of being judgmental(“I can’t believe they eat meat!”) on the other hand,when others have different personal convictions.
Why? Look at the end of Romans 14:3… for God has welcomed him. If God has welcomed the believers around us, who are we to pick up the welcome mat and hide it behind our back? Look at verse 4, Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
We must share Paul’s deep conviction that God is going to get us all to the finish line….the Lord is able to make us stand…. so we’re free to open our heartsto one another.
Now as we’ve considered the context of Romans 15:7, this verse we’re honing in on, an interesting point is raised and highlighted: Who are we talking about welcoming? Are we talking about visitors? No, we’re talking about each other. The primary audience of our welcoming is the person sitting next to us at church, the person who attends the same small group, the person sitting across from us during a fellowship meal. We’re not talking primarily about our attitude toward visitors (all though they are included of course). Welcoming occurs all the time and throughout the church. In fact, in light of our community sermon series, it’s conceivable that someone who had attended Kilgore Bible for ten years, could finally feel welcomed as God helps us fulfill our goal.
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When we think of welcoming one another, what are we talking about?
Well we mean more than greeting one another. Listen to this distinction between ‘greeting’ and ‘welcoming’ written by one of our own…
“People notice me each week. I appreciate the warm greetings. Sometimes just seeing someone smile at you is heartwarming. I feel like something is missing though. I feel greeted…but not welcomed. I suppose I never considered that there was a difference, but I can certainly feel the difference now. I feel like people say hello and they are surely happy to see me, but no one says, ‘Come and get to know us. Come and be a part of our lives.’ I feel like I’m trying my best to participate and get to know people, but I feel like an intruder trying to break into a place where I’m not invited—people’s homes and lives and hearts.”[2]
What a piercing quote. Sometimes visitors may attend Kilgore Bible Church and they feel like they are attending someone else’s family reunion. People are friendly but that’s as far as it goes. We need to welcome one another.
So what does it mean to welcome one another?
We welcome someone when we receive them into our lives. Some of your bible translations actually use the word ‘receive’. The KJV, for example, uses receive…7Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.
And then there are paraphrase variations that communicate this “receiving others” idea….
Here’s the Bible in Basic English paraphrase…
And the Amplified version….
But the word used in Romans 15:7 also can also carry the nuance of acceptance. If you use the New American Standard translation, the NIV, or the New Living Translation, you’ll see the word ‘accept’ in you bible for Romans 15:7 instead of welcome.
So in the NIV, Romans 15:7 is….
I ran across a stirring illustration of acceptance that took place at Wheaton College under a former president named Hudson Amerding. He was president from 1965-1982.
It turns out that a number of the heavy financial contributors had visited the college and the word had spread that a number of young men on campus were wearing their hair awfully long. And in fact a number of these young men were also now wearing beards. This had posed such a tremendous problem in the minds of those who supported the school financially that they were threatening to withdraw their support as some had already done. The student body gathered for chapel awaiting President Amerding’s response of the administration.
Dr. Amerding began to scan the student body with his eyes. He finally spotted one young man, whom he called by name, and asked him to stand to his feet. The student stood reluctantly. And then the president said, “I want you to come up and join me on the platform” He did with greater reluctance. And there stood the long-haired bearded student next to the president on the podium. Dr. Amerding, looking him straight in the face, said, “Young man, you have long hair and a long beard. You represent the very thing that these supporters of the school are against. I want you to know that the administration of this school….does not feel as they do. We accept you and we love you. We believe you are here to seek and to find the truth as it is in the Lord Jesus.” With that the president reached out his arms, drew the young man to himself, and publicly embraced him, at which time the entire student body stood to its feet with applause.[3]
That’s a great illustration of acceptance isn’t it?
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So this verse, Romans 15:7, basically tells us, basically challenges us—it is a command--that we are to welcome and receive each other warmly, we are to welcome each other and bring each other into our hearts. We are to treat each other as if the welcome mat is always out. We are to accept others just as they are.
I don’t know about you but all of a sudden this ‘welcome’ word is a little bit intimidating isn’t it? “I’m entirely fine to say hello to others but making room for them in my heart? Receiving them into my heart? Accepting them with all their flaws? But they’re so different. They don’t raise their children like I do. They don’t have the same priorities that I do. Accept them like they are? That’s more than I bargained for!”
Perhaps you feel that way.
And that prompts a question. Why do we keep people at arms’ length? It probably goes without saying but you can’t welcome people, you can’t receive people, you can’t accept people at arm’s length.
Why do we keep people at arm’s length? Isn’t it because we don’t want to be hurt? OR Isn’t it because we don’t want to be troubled?
Aren’t we often afraid that if we let people in, we’ll be rejected? Will others accept me if I welcome them in? Will others accept me if they see my flaws? …find out about my failures? Or realize I don’t have my act together in every way?
So sometimes we keep people at arm’s length because we don’t want to be hurt.
But other times we keep people at arms’ length because……let me say this gently….we’re selfish. People are messy and we don’t want to get involved. If we keep people at arm’s length, life is simpler.
A young teenager visited our church this past Sunday. At one point the young man, who had not been in church for 13 years, since his father and mother had gotten a divorce, pulled me aside and showed me his one tattoo on his arm. I think he was looking for acceptance. His tattoo was meaningful to him. Will you accept me even if I have a tattoo?
“Acceptance means you’re valuable just as you are. (Acceptance) allows you to be the real you. You are not forced into someone else’s idea of who you are. It means your ideas are taken seriously since they reflect you. You can talk about how you feel inside, why you feel that way, and someone really cares. Acceptance means you can try out your ideas without being shot down. You feel safe. No one will pronounce judgment on you even though they don’t agree with you. It doesn’t mean you’ll never be corrected or shown to be wrong. It simply means it’s safe to be you and no one will destroy you out of prejudice.”[4]