Yesterday I received two somewhat surprising responses to my sermon. First, I received several comments about when would I be free to go run or work out (To be honest, I did not think that part of my sermon would catch on so much.). But more seriously, I talked with a member who felt like Southside really needed to hear that lesson – particularly, about loving one another. That took me a back a little. I always assumed that love is a great strength of our church. After all, our vision is to be a “place of mercy.” But as this member talked with me, I was reminded of the great challenge we have here at Southside.
By the grace of God, Southside has become a fairly diverse church. I tend to describe our Sunday worship assembly like this. If you were to grab 5 random people on Sunday morning, one would be a recovering addict, one would be under 18, one would be over 65, and the other two would be a part of a young or middle family. One of those five would not be white. That description alone shows diversity and I have not even talked about other differences in our church body like interests, theology, single/married, etc. You put all of those categories together and Southside is an assorted group of people. While it is good to have variety, the challenge becomes how do we learn to love one another, despite our differences.
As Peter wrote those words to the Asian churches, they were probably struggling in the same way. The Roman Empire was not monolithic. We know New Testament churches were made up of different ethnicities (Jew/Gentile), income status (slave/free), and genders (male/female) (see Gal. 3:28 for example). Peter knew that in saying those words, this was not going to be easy. That is why he reminded them that God helps us do this and God is praised as a result.
I find it pretty easy to love those I like. People who are similar to me, who are interested in the same things as I am, and are my age, I have no problem loving them. But those who are different than me – it is a little harder. Now don’t get me wrong, it is not hard to be friendly to everyone. But that is not what we are talking about. Sometimes we think love is being nice or friendly. However that is not love. Love is deeper. It is choosing to want the best for another person. It is praying for them, spending time with them, learning about them, having them over for dinner. It is overlooking faults, forgiving the past, and helping to bear burdens. It is not pity or sentimentality. It is truly caring for the welfare of another person and being willing to do whatever that person needs to grow closer to Christ. I think that member was right; this is an area that we all need to grow in.
What about you? How do you feel about the love at Southside? Do you struggle in loving a person “different” than you in some way?
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6 years ago
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We are studying Romans in the Spanish class. Paul echos Peter's comments about love within the church body by saying in chapter 12 that we should not be too proud to enjoy the company of people of 'low position' in our church, that we should honor one another, and that we should eagerly look for ways to practice hospitality toward our fellow Christians who have needs.
ReplyDeleteIn our class, we focused on your comment "In this act, God is praised". By not pretending to love others but by really loving them, (even toward our enemies, Paul says), we are transforming the way we think and become living and holy sacrifices to God. Paul says this is our "spiritual act of worship."
We feel very loved at Southside. In the past, we were members of a church where we were "looked down upon" by a few of the members because of our 'low position'. That is a terrible feeling and can take the joy out of worship. This is a difficult topic to address, because it only takes one member "faking" their love, or worse, showing favoritism (which James, also, condemns), for someone to get a bad impression of the whole church body. That is why it is so critical that we are all vigilant to seek out those who are different from us and intentionally associate with them. In this act, God is praised!
I had to chew on these questions for a few days. In regards to the first question, in my 30 years of attending Southside, I have always felt loved. But that is not to say that there may be some members who feel unnoticed and unappreciated.
ReplyDeleteThe second question was the one I had to think about for a while. I appreciate that you made the distinction between "feeling" love and "showing" love. Feeling love is not very hard when Holy Spirit lives in you. Showing your love (to those who are different) is where I often struggle. I think it is because our culture lies to us and gives us a false sense of control by saying that we can have everything custom made to our liking ... our homes, our clothes, our cars, our food, our schools, and even our churches. We can pick and choose so much that we can really put ourselves in situations where we don't have to be around people that are different. Even at a diverse place like Southside, one can very easily isolate themselves and only socialize with people like them. I know I naturally gravitate towards young stay-at-home-mommies ... it's easy.
I guess that this is one of those areas where I need to step out in faith and make a conscious effort to get to know people who are different than me. One thing that Southside is good at is having events (like the Love Feast) that are purposeful in mixing up the congregation. I think the more we practice that as a church, the easier it will be to take it out into our neighborhoods and workplaces.
First let me say how much I appreciate Jason’s comments filled with love and Bekah’s comments filled with honesty. I, too, like Bekah had to think on your heartfelt questions for a few days. We, as Christians, call each other brother and sister in Christ, but do really love each other as Jesus would have us to do?
ReplyDeleteIn John 13 Jesus tells us to “love one another.” “By this all men will know you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Taking on the role of the servant , Jesus began to wash the feet of the disciples in order to teach them the need, not for power or position, but for humility and service to others. Having loved His own who were in the world, He now “showed them the full extent of His love” (John 13:1-5). For Jesus, love was concern and compassion for those in need. Love was a spiritual relationship with the people in His life. Love was the motivation for emptying himself of the glory of Heaven to become a broken sacrifice on our behalf. Yet, virtually for Jesus love was not a noun, but a verb. It was compassion in action. It was relationship with interaction. For Jesus love was a lifestyle.
As Jason so eloquently stated, Southside is a congregation of diversity. In that way we are enormously blessed! However, this leads to the question: How do we love or serve those that are of a “different” background than us? One way would be to mentor a new Christian that is has “different” needs than we do. Another way to serve might be to mentor someone in the Hope class or attend a Hope class function (everyone needs hope and acceptance). Other ways to serve are: To help in the clothing room, to help sack groceries with the Pantry Program, to carry groceries for those in need, and to help interview potential clients of the Pantry Program. Furthermore, one might serve by teaching children…there you will find diversity at its best and you will have an opportunity to meet the parents of these sweet ones that are dear to the heart of Jesus.
In conclusion, that Christ would humble himself to come to this earth and take on our struggling humanity is amazing love. Furthermore, for Jesus to have washed the feet of His disciples, an act normally performed by household servants, makes such a dramatic point about love. Through this simple act Jesus, God’s own beloved Son, Creator of the universe, and the Son of God on high, totally redefined love as servanthood. Like His tender, compassionate, loving example, let us “love one another” for loving those in need is loving Him indeed!
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ReplyDeleteI apologize for the over posting. At first the blog didn't seem to be posting my comment. Then, came the inevitable over posting which I have been trying to delete with out much success. Still trying to become technology literate...sorry,... I will keep trying.
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