02/05/06 The Passion Driven Church Part 4 Forming Community

Philip Slater has written that today's enormous technology appears to have made it unnecessary for one human being ever to ask anything of another in the course of his daily activities. He implies that this has increased the tendency of people to live independently. He goes on to say, "Even within the family, we are unique in our feeling that each member should have a separate room, a separate telephone, and his own car when economically possible. We seek more and more privacy, but are more alienated and lonely when we get it."

Searching for oneself within is as futile as peeling an onion to find the core: when you finish, there is nothing there but peelings; paradoxically, the only way to find oneself is to go outward to a genuine meeting with another. Sydney Harris

From the beginning there was a brokenness when Cain murdered his brother Able. And then, Ishmael and Isaac couldn't get along. They had to go their separate ways. Then there was Jacob and Esau. They went their separate ways. Then there were the brothers twelve, who couldn't get along. It is a story of the history of humankind.

The younger son wants out of the relationship. He wants to do his own thing. He doesn't want to be with his father. Give me my share and let me out of here. So, the father divided up the property. One third for the younger son, two thirds for the older son. The older son always got more. the older son stays loyal and remains on.

It doesn't take long for things to go south with the younger son. He is in great need. He is absolutely humiliated. He has degenerated to the point of feeding animals that are considered unclean. He even desires the food he feeds these unclean animals. Finally, the pain becomes deep enough and he hopes, just barely hopes, that he might find a place of employment with his father. He is not thinking of asking for his status to be restored.

God is three, and yet He is one. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are in perfect harmony together. In the Trinity, there is perfect Fellowship, and perfect relationship. God has created us for relationship with Himself and with one another. We have been created to be in a positive relationship.

The story of the lost son, or as it should be better known, the story of the father who waited, is the story of broken relationship. It is a story about how God desires to restore that relationship.

As he returns, from a long way off, his father sees him and has compassion upon him. In the Hebrew language that word means to feel deeply in one's bowels. It is a deep feeling of affection and love for this son. He loved him, despite what his son did to him. He desires to restore the relationship. But the older son, when he finds out, has a fit of jealousy.

How dare you bring this squanderer back and restore him to full status as a son. You should send him to hell. That’s where he belongs. The story closes with an open ended theme. We don't get the final answer of the older son. The Father simply assures him that your brother was dead, and now is alive. He was lost, and now he is found. Basically you can stay outside and sulk or you can come in and join the celebration.

This story is set in the midst of the complaints of the religious establishment’s concerning Jesus' associating with tax collectors and sinners. The refuse of the Earth. I hate to say this, but this attitude persists in the Church of Jesus Christ today. There are first-class citizens, second-class citizens and there are those nobody wants in their church.

Many years ago I was told the story of a man who was being interviewed by a search committee of the church. They weren’t getting people coming into the church. The neighbourhood had changed. There were no longer just upper-class people. There was a mixture of middle-class and lower class people in the neighbourhood now. So all this was laid out before this candidate for the Ministry. He was asked the question, how would you bring people into the church so that our sanctuary can be full again. He said I would go and knock on everybody's door in the neighbourhood and tell them who I was and invite them to the church. When he told them that, he eliminated himself from being called to be the Minister. They didn't want the lower class in the church.

The story of the passion driven church is not one that says, we desire to get our pews filled up. Or we desire to keep the doors open or we desire to have a certain level of income coming into the church. The passion driven church is the church that seeks to save the lost in the tradition of Jesus Christ. Not in our power, but by his power.

There has to be a desire in the passion driven church to have a relationship with those who are outside the church. Everyone of us here has an opportunity to interact with people every day of our life. Lower class, upper-class, middle-class, all kinds of people. Most of them are likely to be outside of the church. God wants us to have a relationship with those people outside the church, a relationship that is grounded in Jesus Christ.

In the acts of the Apostles, it says that the disciples devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the prayers. When they came together, all these new people, they were in perfect harmony. They held all things in common. They share all things together, the good things as well as the bad things. It was day by day that the Lord added to their number, those who were being saved.

When we start with that attitude, that attracts people into the church. There's somebody there who cares whether I live or whether I die. Someone who cares how things are going in my life. Someone who meets me and doesn't judge me for what they think I am or what they think I should be. There is a desire to have an open relationship of sharing and caring.

In an article entitled "Coping with Loneliness," LeRoy Peterson cites four kinds of aloneness. First, there's the loneliness of being all alone. Prisoners in solitary confinement know what this is like. Second, there's the loneliness of alienation. This is experienced by someone who is physically part of a group but who doesn't feel he belongs. Then there's the aloneness of separation, which often sweeps over people when they go off to school, lose a loved one, or go through the trauma of divorce. Finally, there is what theologians call "existential" loneliness-- the feeling of being out of contact with God.

"If it is preaching that brings people to the church, it is the sense of community within the small groups that keeps them there."--Randall Balmer

"A local church should strive to become a healing, growth-stimulating, redemptive organism.... The aim of the church's program should be the development of a dynamic climate of mutual concern which gradually seeps into and saturates the whole fellowship." --Howard J. Clinebell, Jr.

The original apostles shared this gospel, that is, they put it into writing, because what they saw, what they heard, they wanted to communicate to us, so that we could experience communion with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. Our motive for writing is simply this; we want you to enjoy this too and that your joy will double our joy.

Jesus seeks us out in our lostness. Being found is simply coming home, finding our roots once again, or for the first time. In our Scripture there are four lost items—a sheep, a coin, a prodigal son, and his elder brother. The first three are obviously lost. The fourth is lost and doesn’t know it. He is the tragic one. He does not have any awareness of lostness. He never strayed or broke the rules, and yet he missed out on the gift of the father’s extravagant love.

Shakespeare said that the wise man knows himself to be a fool. The fool thinks he is a wise man. Let me rephrase that and say, “The wise person knows when he is lost, understands the source of his homesickness, and returns to a father who loves him.”

There is a German proverb which says a sorrow shared is a sorrow halved. A joy shared is a joy doubled. In this relationship, we can no longer stumble in the darkness. We must help one another out. When we are faltering, we must trust in the living God, by walking in the light of His grace.

Two strangers attended the same church for several Sundays. None spoke to them. One said, “I will give this church one more chance. If nobody speaks to me next Sunday, I’ll never go there again.” The other said, “I don’t like this no-speaking in church. If no one speaks to me next Sunday, I’ll speak to someone.” Next Sunday, the usher happened to seat both of these men, one in front of the other. As usual after service, no one greeted the other. The first man rose to stalk out forever. The second man turned, put out his hand and said, “Good morning, sir, I’m glad to see you. Fine sermon, isn’t it?” Both were pleased at having made a friend, and continued to come.