Community Church Sermons
September 25, 2005
Philippians 2:1-13
You may have noticed something different about our
worship services this Fall. Beginning in September, we started building our
services around a month-long theme. This allows us to explore in greater depth
some of the issues we face as Christian people living in the twenty-first
century. During September our theme has been “Welcome To The Family!” In
October it will be “Accepting Responsibility.” And in November, we will
be talking about life and death and what lies beyond in a series called, “From
Here To Eternity.” I think you’ll learn and grow as we explore these
worship themes.
But today we conclude September’s focus on our
church as a family of God. That’s a great way to think of our church – as a
family – a family of God! So far, we have learned that in God’s family we are
loved, and so we must become loving – we are forgiven, and so we become
forgiving – and we are connected to Christ through his suffering, and therefore
we are called to connect with others in their suffering.
This morning, I want to try to tie things together
by inviting you to think about the family values of the family of God - the
family values of Tellico Village Community Church.
There’s a lot of talk in our world today about
family values. Perhaps the loudest talk about that is taking place among
conservative Christian groups that are calling for a return to “biblical”
family values.
I personally hope we don’t go back to those!
Biblical families, you know, were usually comprised
of a husband - and a wife – and a wife – and a wife…and a concubine – or two –
or three - and all their whacky dysfunctional children who hated each other’s
guts and killed each other over the inheritance once the old man was dead! I
don’t want to go back to that! Do you?
Biblical marriages, you know, were allowed to be
dissolved if the husband found anything displeasing about his wife. Anything. “Tuna
noodle casserole again? Out!”
The husband could three times say, “I divorce
you. I divorce you. I divorce you.” And that was it. The marriage was over.
The wife – and usually the children – were then sent away with no support, no
nothing. This is one of the reasons there were so many prostitutes among the
people of the biblical family of God. It was the only way many women could
survive and feed their kids. Anybody want to go back to that? I don’t.
Children born illegitimately were not allowed entry
into the Temple, and not only them, but their descendents up to ten
generations. Anybody here today who was born out of wedlock? Don’t raise your
hand! I just want you to know you couldn’t be here if we practiced biblical
family values. Even Jesus would not be allowed into the Temple if the family
values of the bible were universally enforced in his day. And speaking of
children – stubborn and rebellious children were to be taken to the elders at
the gate of the town, handed over, and stoned to death. My best boyhood friend
Dennis Astrella and I wouldn’t have lasted a day!
Biblical family values. How selective we are when
choosing which ones to regard and which ones to ignore, which ones to obey and
which ones to violate. Why do you think that is? Perhaps the reason is that
many of us have never really come to grips with the actual family values Jesus
established for his family – the Church.
Loved…we become loving. Forgiven…we are forgiving.
Connected…we connect with others in their suffering. Those are some of the
values of the family of God. And they flow out of a larger value that Paul so
beautifully describes in the words of Philippians 2:
“If
you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from
his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,
then make my joy complete by being like-minded – having the same love, being
one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfishness or conceit, but in
humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not
only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
This
passage describes the central value of living as Jesus’ family. Do you see what
it is at it’s core?
Live
like Jesus. Love like Jesus. Have the same spirit and purpose of Jesus.
That’s
our family value.
Someone
came along a while ago and asked me what our church’s core values are. I said, “Jesus.”
The fellow looked at me as if I was from another planet. He said, “But
what are your core values?”
You
see, he was looking for a statement of faith about the Bible – what we believe
about various elements of theology. I’m sure he would want to know our position
on homosexuality, abortion, atonement, and maybe even tax cuts! What a church
believes about these things is what many people think are the core values of a
church.
But
they are not. Those are simply statements that are designed to divide us, and
to keep us pure from people who don’t believe the way we do.
Our
core value in the Church of Jesus Christ is Jesus. How he lived. How he loved.
How he fulfilled the purposes of God. Christian people will debate all those
other issues of theology, practice and lifestyle. But to do so without Jesus at
the center is to distort the very meaning of what it is to be the family of
God.
Our
core value is Jesus. Denominational labels, theological camps, political
parties, class, position, personal achievements, spiritual experiences come
second here. They may spark discussion, debate and information, but only with
Jesus at the center will those conversations help us learn and grow as the
people and family of God.
In
the letter to the Philippians, Paul tells us, “Your attitude should be the
same as that of Christ Jesus.” And we might just pause long enough to ask
the questions, “What was Jesus’ attitude toward himself, toward others, and
toward God?” If we are to develop the same attitude as Jesus, we need to
understand what his attitude was! And in verses 6 –11, Paul shares a hymn that
tells us.
Here
are the attitudes of Jesus:
-
Jesus
did not count equality with God as something to be grasped
-
Jesus
emptied himself and became a servant to others
-
Jesus
became faithful to God’s will for his life even when it led to death on the
cross
The
first attitude – that Jesus did not count equality with God as something to be
grasped - I would describe as Jesus being comfortable with who and what he was,
and not chasing after who and what he was not. Jesus, though we affirm he was
divine, came among us as a fully human being. And accepting that about himself,
Jesus found God’s embrace!
A
lot of us try to deny our humanness. We try to hide our faults. We run away
from our own weaknesses. We steadfastly refuse to admit when we’re wrong. And
we spend a lifetime trying to be General Manager of the Universe.
But
one of the greatest gifts of God – if we will receive it – is the gift of being
ourselves.
Our
little grandson Ryan just started pre-school. Three and-a-half years old! He
goes to Venerini Academy – a good Catholic school. Of course to be eligible for
pre-school these days, kids have to be potty trained – on both ends of the
spectrum, if you know what I mean.
Well,
Ryan has the first end of the spectrum down pretty good. But not the second. So
his parents sneak him into school each day knowing that he has not yet really
passed the entrance exam – if you know what I mean. And then they hope his
second part of the spectrum can wait until school is over – if you know what I
mean!
So,
the other day, the teacher gathered the 15 little ones in a circle around her.
She asked, “Is there anyone here who still does potty in their pants?”
Fourteen
of the fifteen little children shook their heads. One – with a great big smile
on his face – waved his hand as though he had won the prize! I don’t have to
tell you, which ONE, do I?
What
is it that would cause a child to so freely admit such humanness, and to be
perfectly secure in such a disclosure? Well, I think only a person who is truly
comfortable with who and what they are can be free enough to reveal something
like that – someone who is secured in love.
That’s
one of the values of the church that seeks to be like Jesus. It is a family
where people can be themselves and find acceptance not as fully developed
Christian saints, but as human beings under construction. You don’t have to be
God to belong here. You just have to be you!
The
second attitude – that Jesus emptied himself and became a servant to others –
is really what makes a church a church and not a Wal-Mart! Now I love
Wal-Mart, and try to show my love for Wal-Mart almost every day! But one of the
things that you need to notice about Wal-Mart is that everyone who goes there
goes to GET something!
Some
of our leading Christian thinkers today express great fear that the church in
America has become something like a Wal-Mart – a great big dispenser of goods
and services. And people go from church to church, shopping for just the right
religious product that meets their needs and makes them feel good. And when one
church doesn’t deliver the goods, off they go to another where the music is
their style, the message is what they want to hear, and the sense of comfort is
greater than the call to sacrifice.
Why
do you come to church?
Well,
Jesus came to serve. Not to be served, but to serve!
Do
know that Abraham Maslow, the great 20th century psychiatrist turned
the tables on Freud and some of the others who studied the pathologies of
people – unhealthy people and what was wrong with them. Instead, Maslow focused
on healthy people and what made them that way. The result of his work was turned
into a theory called “self-actualization” and is summed up in his own words: "Without
exception, I found that every person who was sincerely happy and radiantly
alive was living for a purpose or cause beyond himself."
Jesus
took on the role of a servant. Remember all the Gospel stories of how Jesus
served others? There is not a story in all the Bible that is about Jesus
getting what he needed from others. But the Bible is full of the accounts of
Jesus meeting the needs of the people around him.
That,
too, is one of the values of the church that seeks to be like Jesus. It is a
family whose main task is to serve others. What you get out of this worship
service today is not nearly as important as what you give to the person sitting
next to you – or in front of you – or behind you. And when our lives are
focused on serving others, Maslow, Jesus and many others tell us our own needs
seem to get met beyond our wildest imagination!
And
then the third attitude of Jesus expressed in the hymn of Philippians 2 – Jesus
faithfully lived out God’s will even to the point of death.
People
often ask me two questions about our church. The first is why we put so much
emphasis on children when we don’t have that many, and when most of us are too
old to contribute to the population!
Great
question! And the answer is simple: one of the primary tasks in the family of
God is to nurture children in their relationship with God. When Jesus was a
baby, his parents took him to the Temple for the rite of purification. Standing
at the door was Simeon – an ancient old man who believed that God’s salvation
would come through the life of a child. So he stood by the door day after day,
month after month, year after year, just waiting for the child to arrive. And
then one day, Jesus came. And Simeon held him and blessed him.
Now,
some people might say that should have been somebody else’s job. Let the
younger families do that, or better yet, hire someone to tend the nursery! That
is too much of a burden for an old man like Simeon!
But
that’s not what Simeon said. He felt like the most blessed man in all the
world, and after he gave Jesus back to his parents, Simeon said, “Lord, now
let thy servant depart in peace, for I have seen thy salvation!”
Simeon
had been faithful to the call to nurture the children of God – all the way to
the end of his life.
That’s
why old people like us embrace little children like the ones around here!
Second
question: Marty, don’t you get discouraged being a pastor in a community where
there is so much illness and death? Another great question. And the answer is
that I do get weary – all the pastors of this church will tell you how
physically, emotionally and spiritually draining it is to go through times of
illness and dying with people you love.
Weary,
but not discouraged!
Because,
you see, we get to share life with people who refuse to give in to their
illnesses and disabilities, but who – through deep faith – learn to live within
them. How often I say, in remembering one of our friends, “She did not die from
cancer. She lived all her days!”
Now
I have known people who, faced with the deterioration of health and the looming
specter of death who have simply stopped living to devote their lives to dying.
There is nothing sadder than that!
But
here, in our church family, I have been blessed to walk with many who refused
to stop living, and faithfully carried out God’s purposes in their lives to the
very last breath. And when you sit with families who have been given that gift,
there is nothing more beautiful in all the world!
Faithful
to death. Jesus was. And so must we!
Because,
you see, the hymn of Philippians ends with a rousing chorus about how God
responded to Jesus’ faithfully living out the values of the family of God. God
exalted him! God gave him the highest name in heaven! And all creation gave
glory to God!
So
my prayer – as we get ready to leave today - is that the world will give God
glory for you – and me – and this beautiful church family – as we go and live
out the family values of the family of God.