Good morning, I'm Kimberly. Today's scripture reading is from Ephesians
chapter 4, 1 through 6. It is page 1006 in the Bibles in the back of the pews.
Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling
you have received with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with
one another in love, making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through
the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to
one hope at your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of
all who is above all and through all and in all. This is God's Word. Who cares?
That's what it says. Who cares? What are we getting at here? Well, we're getting at
whose responsibility is it to care? Who will provide the care that is needed? It
kind of has that snarky feel, right? Like who cares? No, it's who cares. It's a
question with emphasis. Who will be there for and walk with someone through the
good times and the bad times? Who's it going to be? Among the people of God,
whose job is it to care? Well, what's the easy answer? The pastor. It's his job to
care. That's why we pay him. He's the primary caregiver around here. He's paid
to answer his phone night and day. He's paid to drop everything and to rush to a
home of someone who's hurting or to the hospital bed of an infirm person or
someone who is heading on in to undergo surgery. Is someone in need of food?
Call the pastor. The pastor should get some food to that person. Is someone in need of
prayer? Call the pastor. Pastor, we need to be praying for this person. Someone in
need of godly counsel? Call the pastor. Someone in need of correction? Call the
pastor. Someone struggling? Hey, pastor, I just wanted you to know that so and so
is struggling. I think you probably should do something about that. For many
pastors in churches, this is the reality of care within the congregation. The
expectation to this question, who cares, is plain and simple. The pastor cares.
That's his job. Well, that may be the reality among many churches and pastors.
It does beg the question, how would the Bible answer that same question? How
would the Bible answer the question of in the body, in the church, who cares?
Because we're Bible people, right? We believe the Bible to be true. We stand
on the word of God. Is it possible that the model that I outlined where the
pastor is the default go-to is actually more of a product of our Western
customer service checkout counter mentality than it is a biblical idea?
When Jesus teaches us to pray, how does he begin? Our Father, does he, he doesn't
begin with my Father? He begins with our Father. Interesting. When Paul talks
about the Lord, does he say my Lord or our Lord? He's 53 times he says
our Lord. One time he says my Lord. Did you know that the words personal, Lord,
and Savior do not appear in the Bible? You ever heard that said? Except Jesus has
your personal, Lord, and Savior. It sounds good. It fits really well together. It's
not biblical. It's not in there at least. Not those words. Personal, Lord, and
Savior. It's nowhere. The Bible is far more communal than it is individual. The
Bible is far more communal than it is individual. I promise you, my
perspective has changed even in the last five years of studying the Bible on this
topic and I firmly believe it now more than ever that the Bible speaks far more
about the community of saints, the people of God, than it does about the individual
Christian. And what that tells us is that as the people of God, we belong to each
other. We belong to each other. Paul speaking to the church in Ephesus, he
begins with this, therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk
worthy of the calling you have received. Walk worthy of the calling you have
received. And there's a key word right there in that first verse that should
cause all of us good Bible students to stop. And it's that first word. Therefore.
Therefore. Because if you see a therefore, it points back to what is there before.
And so it leaves us wondering what was there before he said therefore. And so I
want to summarize really quickly for you chapter 3. Chapter 3 of the book of
Ephesians. In chapter 3, Paul begins by describing his role as an apostle to the
Gentiles. He explains that he was given this task by the grace of God and that
the mystery of Christ was revealed to him. And the mystery as Paul describes it
is that Jesus Christ and through him that the Gentiles are actually co-heirs.
Bethany read that scripture earlier from Galatians, a parallel scripture. The
Gentiles are actually co-heirs, members of the same body and shares in the
promise of God in Christ. That they're not separate people. It's not a new
religion of Gentile faith that's added to the Gentile faith. But this is one
body. And that God is growing a family. But not with folks who are just like the
first Jewish believers. These new folks who are going to be joining the
family, sorry to break it to you. They're completely different than you. It's going
to get weird. It's going to get funky because these new people, they eat
different things than you do. And these new people, they talk very differently
than you do. And their customs, man, they're so foreign to your Jewish way of life.
It's going to get weird. But they're in the family now. Co-heirs with you. We got
to figure this thing out. That in a nutshell is Ephesians and the book of
Galatians. It's going to get weird. Let's figure this out. Paul talks about his
mission to preach to the Gentiles what he says is the incalculable riches of
Christ. And to make plain to everyone, both Jew and Gentile, that this is what
God was doing in Christ. In other words, the mystery that Galatians is filled
with, that he was going out to preach this mystery, the mystery was that God
was going to bring the Gentiles into the faith. He was going to bring those other
folks, those pagans, those weirdos. He was going to bring them in to the faith. That
was the mystery that God had always planned to do. And then Paul ends the
chapter, chapter three, with a prayer for the people in Ephesus. And here's what the
prayer says. And this is going to lead us right back to that therefore. The prayer
is this. For this reason, all of that that I just said, for this reason I kneel
before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. And I
pray that he may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be
strengthened with power in your inner being through his spirit, and that Christ
may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly
established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is
the length and the width and the height and the depth of God's love, and to know
Christ's love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the
fullness of God. That sounds good. That sounds really good to be filled up with
to the fullness of who God is, being rooted and established in love. And Paul
says that I need God, I need God, I'm praying God, grant you a strengthened
inner being through the spirit and the fact that Christ is dwelling within you.
These are the same experiences, this strengthening inner being in
Christ dwelling in you. And that the required attitude of the hearts to
receive this is faith, that you by faith can receive this strengthening and
indwelling of Christ if you believe and receive him. And then he says, now being
rooted and firmly established in love, remember this, in Christ we've come to
know and believe the love that is from God for us. In Christ we've come to
believe the love that is from God for us, and that God is love, and the one who
remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. 1st John chapter 4. And
so we're firmly established in love because Christ is in us, and therefore
our roots have sunk deep into this love that is ours in in Christ. We get to know
the love of God, and so he says that you may be able to comprehend with all the
saints what is the length, the width, the height, the depth of God's love. The
truth, the depth, the height, the width of God's love, Christ's love, the fullness of
God, he says, cannot be apprehended by an individual in isolation, but only to
gather with all the saints. I'll say that one more time. The truth, the depth, the
height, the width of God's love, Christ's love for us, the fullness of God cannot
be apprehended by an individual in isolation, but only together with all the
saints, only together with all the saints. If you are a Christian, you can grow in
understanding and in strength only as you possess and use for the benefit of
others in the body of Christ the various giftings that his spirit has given you.
You cannot grow in isolation. You cannot grow loving yourself in a corner.
You can only grow in the body of Christ as you use the gifts he's given to love
others, to love others, to care for others. And it's after that, after he says all
that, that Paul then says in chapter 4, therefore, in light of all of that, in
view of this, walk worthy of the calling you have received. What do you think it
looks like to walk worthy of the calling to be incorporated into the body of
Christ and to use the gifting that God gives to bless and care and love for
others so that we can all together experience the fullness of who God is,
something we cannot experience in isolation on our own or just with a few
of us. We need all of us. And then Paul says walk worthy of that calling. He says
that's a huge calling. That's a big deal. You want to walk through your life, your
your Christian faith as an infant and never receive mature, grow to maturity
or have the fullness of Christ? Well then stay disconnected. But there's a danger
you might die out there. But you want to see and experience the fullness of love?
You think it's awesome that Christ died for you and that he forgave your sins
and you think the story of the gospel is pretty cool? Well it only gets cooler and
better and more awesome as you spend time in the fellowship learning to use
those gifts and loving one another because the Bible says only there can we
begin to experience the fullness of God's love for us. Only there. I'm gonna
say that over and over again because I think some people just don't hear it. Only
there. There's no other way. There's no other way the Bible has given us this
glorious truth. And if the calling is to welcome in these newcomers to the faith
in the book of Ephesians, welcome in these newcomers, these weirdos, and to be
strengthened by his indwelling in order that you may work together with the
people of God to fully comprehend his love. And the only way you can work
together to fully comprehend God's love is to work together to love one another
and to care for one another. There's no other way. People cannot fully
comprehend the love of God in Christ until we each play our part by caring
for others according to our gifts and abilities that God has given us. We can't
know the fullness of God's love unless you show up. I can't know the fullness
of God's love unless you show up. And you can go around this room and say that of
everyone else in this room. I can't know the fullness of God's love for me unless
you show up to show me, to demonstrate it, to put it on the line and care. Then I
can begin to know the fullness and begin to comprehend the fullness of love that I
have in Christ. Ephesians tells us that there are four attitudes that Paul says
are important to us to walk worthy of this calling and those attitudes are
humility, gentleness, patience, and forbearance. Humility, gentleness, patience,
and forbearance. We're gonna do something a little different this morning. I'm gonna
ask you why do you think these attitudes are important to our calling? Why do you
think it's important that we have these attitudes of humility, gentleness,
patience, and forbearance? Anyone? This is the attitude of Christ towards us.
Anyone else? Community gives us a realistic view of ourselves. That humility,
yes, yes. Yeah. Anyone else? Why? Why do you think these attitudes are important
to our calling? Chris? Yeah. That's it. They're all relational, aren't they? You
don't need humility if you're all by yourself in isolation and there's no one
else in the whole universe. Be as proud as you want because pride is elevating
yourself above others and looking down on them and thinking yourself better
than or more than you ought to. If there's no one else, have at it. But
humility, gentleness, patience, and forbearance all are relational. They all
relate to how we relate to one another and if you live alone, well you don't
need those. But for this kingdom thing, this people of God thing that he is
doing, and in the book of Ephesians where he's saying, hey there's two groups of
people and they're one now and we got to work this out, those four
qualities, those four attitudes are going to be paramount. Humility, having a right
perspective of yourself, not thinking more highly of yourself than you ought.
Gentleness, which is also meekness, which has been defined as power under
control or knowing who you are but not utilizing that for your own benefit.
Patience and how that relates to forbearance that we have to oftentimes
be patient and forbear with one another in their failings. And the other thing
that's important to note from this is these are the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Fruit of the Holy Spirit at work within us. And so Paul is both identifying the
fruit of the Holy Spirit and saying that we have to have these attitudes in order
for us to see, to live the life worthy of the calling that he's put on us.
But we aren't called to be isolated and to fear God means that we recognize
that even if I were alone in the Siberian wilderness all by myself, I'm
not actually alone. God is still there and pride would have me elevate myself
even above God. And Paul says, you know what? To answer the call, to live a life
worthy of the calling, you'll need these four attitudes equipped because it's
gonna take them to interact and have relationship with other people. So the
other question that I'll ask you is then why are these attitudes sometimes
difficult for us? What was that? We're self-centered. We fall into the
self-centered trap. Anyone else? Say that again. It's hard to be humble.
Yeah, that that self-centeredness is gonna begin to rise up and you're gonna
say, well you can't talk that way to me. You can't act that way to me. Don't you
know I've been sitting in this pew for the last 600 years? That's my seat.
These require sacrifice. That's great. The example that Christ gave us
in these attributes and that the Holy Spirit brings to us as believers
requires sacrifice because all of this is wrapped up in what we call the word
love. And love is in this perfect example in Christ and the kind of love that
comes from heaven is not a self-centered love about what I get out of the deal.
The kind of love that comes from heaven is repeatedly told to us as a
self-giving love and therefore it is sacrificed because it's always
self-giving. Paul says that I remind you that these things are important for you
to answer the call and to live a life worthy. How many of you guys want to live a
life worthy of the calling you've received? I want to live a life worthy of
the calling I've received. Clothe yourself with humility, gentleness,
patience, and forbearance. I want to remind you that Ephesians is not written
to the pastor. These are marching orders for the pastor alone.
This is to the whole church and that is why the principles of the Scripture
passed through Ephesians right to you and right to me. This is your calling and
this is mine. And so what does the Bible say about caring for others? What does
the Bible tell us with these equipped with these attitudes knowing that we
cannot know the fullness of God except in community together as we exercise the
giftings and we love one another knowing that in our minds what does the Bible
say we are how is the Bible the Bible say that we are to care for one another
I want to give you really quickly eight ways that the Bible says we are to care
for one another here we go we're gonna go fast number one love one another this
is that love thing one of the most fundamental commands in the Bible is to
love others Jesus summarized the whole law in the prophets by saying it is
loving God and it is loving your neighbor in Matthew 22 there's another
great passage in Corinthians that says if I speak human or angelic tongues but
do not have love I am a noisy gong or a clinging symbol if I have the gift of
prophecy and I understand all kinds of mysteries and all knowledge and if I
have all the faith so that I can move mountains but do not have love I am
nothing love is patient love is kind love does not envy it is not boastful it
is not arrogant it is not rude it is not self-seeking it is not irritable and
does not keep a record of wrongs love finds no joy in unrighteousness but
rejoices in the truth it bears all things believes all things hopes all
things endures all things love never ends number one we're called to love one
another with the patient kind not envious not boastful not arrogant not
rude kind of love that self giving selfless not self-centered love number
two we are to bear one another's burdens bear one another's burdens
believers are instructed to support each other especially in times of
difficulty especially in times of difficulty Galatians 6 2 says carry one
another's burdens in this way you fulfill the law of Christ you want to
fulfill the law of Christ which is the law of love carry one another's burdens
especially when difficult times come on people and this totally goes against our
pull yourself up with your own bootstraps mentality sometimes people
have a lot of burdens sometimes their burdens are physical sometimes they're
mental sometimes they're spiritual but we care when we carry one another's
burdens and yes this can get very costly very costly but the example of love that
was set by Christ is that of self giving love even unto death giving is always
costly but it is in our individual self giving that we are able and together to
better comprehend the love of God when we give of ourselves to one another by
bearing one another's burdens we have a better picture of who God is and how he
loves us we need that lesson over and over again so thank God for the difficult
cases in the church thank God for the people with lots of problems because
they're just teaching us about God's love for us number three forgive each
other forgiveness is a key aspect of Christian relationships throughout the
Bible and it's outlined in Colossians 3 13 where again it says to bear with one
another and forgive one another if anyone has a grievance against another
just as the Lord has forgiven you so you are also to forgive because sometimes
the burdens that we are called to bear with one another is someone else's sin
to forgive will always cost you something forgiveness is when we when you
absorb the debt of the offense that was given to you by someone else you absorb
that debt into yourself and you don't pass it on to the offender that's what
forgiveness is I will take the pain of the offense and not pass it on to you
this is only possible if you are rooted in the infinitely glorious love of God
and you're drawing your life and your security and your significance from him
because if you aren't we will need someone to pay because if they don't pay
a piece of me is missing a piece of me remains hurt because I have to absorb
their pain but if I am connected if I'm deeply rooted in the love of God then I
can take someone's offense absorb that offense and go wash myself in the
fountain of God's love and watch it melt away and I am no less a person for
forgiving and I can do that seven times and I could do that seven times seventy
and I can do that on and on because Christ did it for me if he could do it
for me and the whole world he can empower me and strengthen me to forgive
and when we forgive again we allow one another to better comprehend the love
God has for us that's what we do we allow them to experience a deeper level
of fullness with Christ every time we forgive to truly care for one another
means we must forgive and to forgive means we must be securely rooted in God's
love and his forgiveness number four we must encourage and build each other up
Christians are encouraged to be sources of encouragement in fact first
Thessalonians 5 5th 11 some of you guys know this says encourage one another and
build each other up but Hebrews 3 which is the one I was thinking of 313 we have
probably all know to some degree it says encourage one another daily as long as
today is called today encourage one another daily as long as today is called
today but the second half is so killer it's all that's my speech there killer
that's awesome it's good why do we do that why do we encourage one another
daily as long as today is called today so that none of you may be hardened by
sins deceitfulness what that's what that's why we encourage so that none of
you may be hardened by sins deceitfulness says daily I gotta ask I
gotta ask this of myself are you even thinking about the rest of us daily let
alone encouraging us is it possible to go through a week without thinking of
your brothers and sisters in Christ let alone encourage them daily how are you
gonna do that if you don't show up how are you gonna do that if you don't show
up and what what happens what does this the scripture say you may become
hardened it also says that God has ordained to help keep your brother and
sister from sin through your encouragement God has ordained to help
keep your brother and sister from sin from your encouragement so when you are
not present and daily encouraging you're depriving your brother or sister of the
help that they need to stay out of sins deceitfulness don't do that no no that's
bad encourage one another daily as long as today is called today so that none of
you may be hardened by sins deceitfulness what happens to you if you
withhold encouragement or neglect your Christian duty to encourage the enemy
draws a foothold and sin its deceitfulness can lead you or your
brother a sister astray to care for one another and to show the glory and
fullness of who God is we encourage and build each other up number five we pray
for each other we pray for each other we are commanded in the word to pray
according to James chapter 5 16 confess your sins to each other and pray for
each other so that you may be healed this verse also demonstrates that the
power to heal is invested in the prayers we pray not in the pastors or the elders
of the church right before it it does say if anyone is sick call on the elders
and have them anoint them with oil and pray for them and there's lots of debate
over whether that it was actually a means of healing as in the elders acted
as a doctor role because oil was a medicine at that time or whether there's
a spiritual significance to it whatever it is just a couple sentences later he
then broadens it up member James is a wisdom book it's like reading the
pro the proverbs and so he goes from saying call the elders to just a few
verses laying say later saying everyone everyone confess your sins one to
another and pray for each other for your healing eight ways that we care well one
of them is that we pray for each other number six meet each other's needs meet
each other's needs we already read this in Acts chapter 2 the beginning of it
but Acts chapter 2 verse 44 and 45 talk about how the early church met the needs
of those who were in the need they provided for they cared for they shared
their possessions and good giving to anyone who was in need they met each
other's needs number seven they show hospitality to care and to love is to
show hospitality and first Peter chapter 4 verse 9 says to be hospitable to one
another and to do it without complaining I'll say that one again be
hospitable to one another and do it without complaining how many guys have
ever been getting your house ready to have someone over I can't believe I
agreed to this be hospitable to one another without complaining hospitable
is about opening our homes and not withholding our space from others it's
about opening our homes and not withholding our space from others and
this is very very difficult for some people some people will go their whole
Christian experience and never open their space to others and the Bible
commands us to be hospitable and to do it without grumbling and if that's you
and it's difficult I'll just remind you of what's someone named Kerry Newhoff
he's a leadership guy what he says he says you can make excuses or you can
make progress but you can't make both you can make excuses or you can make
progress but you can't make both oh my house is too small they wouldn't want to
come over here anyway well open your house to one person at a time or maybe
bring them onto your front porch at least the gateway into your home I don't
have anything fancy to offer them make them a bologna sandwich sorry I'll choke
it down that's all you got I'll choke it down do you have bread and water do you
have bread you know precious that would be to be invited to someone's home who
doesn't have much and to be offered bread and water I don't know about you
but that just that warms me inside thinking about that I need a fancy meal
I want to be in relationship with you I want to better fully comprehend the
glory and wonder of God's love for us by going to your house and spending time
with you but I'm too busy I'm so busy I could never open my home that may be
true but some people are unloved and do you think your busyness should deprive
your brothers and sisters of the debt of love that you owe them in Christ it
shouldn't be hospitable without complaining open your home don't even
clean it before you have them over it's okay we'll all make it through it'll be
okay hospitality invites others into our life and it opens up areas of our life
that are deeply private to us and in so it can become one of the most
extraordinary acts of love you show someone willing to open your home to
someone else and finally number eight we teach and we admonish one another in the
book of Corinthians chapter 3 16 we are told that Christians are to instruct one
another where to teach one another with all wisdom through songs hymns and
spiritual songs making music and singing to the Lord we teach and admonish each
other it's not the job solely of the pastor or the professional we are to
teach one another and so if you join together here on Sunday mornings and you
lift your voice in song thank you for caring for us thank you for teaching and
admonishing us with your voice I would encourage all of us to break out in song
in the other places to have someone into your home and sing a hymn or sing a hymn
in the car ride home or when you're taking someone to go grocery shopping or
whatever it is you're doing teach admonish one another it's part of caring
and in doing so we all get to experience a deeper more full measure of God's love
for us so I'll close with this in terms of the question we asked at the
beginning who cares I think the Bible answer says that it is the responsibility
and the duty of every Christian to care it is a mark of maturity in the faith
and it is a visible sign of the fruit of the Holy Spirit for you to care one for
another and that it carrying includes teaching and showing hospitality and
meeting each other's needs and praying for one another and encouraging each
other daily and forgiving and bearing each other's burdens and actively
loving one another Ephesians says that it is through these acts of love done by
each one of us that together we can better know and understand God's love
for us and as Jesus said the world will know you are my disciples what by the
love you have one for another and this means that our self-giving love and our
care can be a witness to anyone who sees it a witness to our Lord and his kind of
love which is self-giving God's summoning a people to be his new creation
and we are a part of that and in his new creation the question is who cares well
the answer is I do I do and that's for each one of you