Agreeing & Disagreeing in Love

Introduction

Last Sunday we started a sermon series on the theme of Agreeing and Disagreeing in Love which is based on a document presented and adopted by the Mennonite Church and General Conference Mennonite Church at the Wichita 95 convention. This statement was developed by Mennonite church leadership for use by Mennonite conferences, congregations and individuals as a biblical foundation and process guidelines for handling disagreement and conflict among Christians using the teaching of Christ as our example.

Mutual satisfaction?

What stood out to me was the 3rd directive which says – “Admit our need and commit ourselves to pray for a mutually satisfactory solution”. I must admit that I struggled with this directive because when we commit ourselves to pray for a mutually satisfactory solution, I felt that we were dictating God on how He should resolve this for us. It made me feel as if I was saying that Lord lets not worry about the truth if it is dividing us, what is more important is that we come to a solution where we are all happy. I felt that we were sacrificing truth for the benefit of mutual satisfaction.

But when I look at this directive in light of Mark 12:30 & 31, I see that there is wisdom in this suggestion. This is where Jesus responds to one of the teachers of the law when He was asked – "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"

Mark 12:29-31 (New International Version)
29"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' 31The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself. 'There is no commandment greater than these."

Jesus answers clearly that there is no commandment greater than these. It’s very important to keep these two commandments as a reminder when we are in a disagreement or a conflict situation. We may feel strongly about our convictions, we may be very passionate about it, but if that conviction leads us into a conflict with a fellow believer then we need to commit ourselves into prayer before we take any action which may escalate the conflict.

What I have come to understand is that when we believe strongly in some thing as God’s will, we get passionate about it and anything that comes in conflict with that we assume is against God will. What is important here is to understand and remember that we stay within our boundary and treat the person in conflict with love because that is the greatest commandment. We cannot be judgmental and condemn anyone in such a conflict situation. Romans 14, verse 4 says that: -

Romans 14:4 (New International Version)
Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

The truth of the matter is that very often we are wrong in our judgment; we feel that the person in disagreement with us is also against God’s will. But God doesn’t see it that way. You see we look at the actions in the material world which is only a shadow of the more real spiritual world. We are completely unaware of what goes on with the soul. We pass judgment by merely looking at the shadow, God alone can look inside the soul and He says they both do it for the Lord, “who are you to judge”.

Romans 14:5-8 (New International Version)
5One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. 8If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

Closing remarks

Ultimately it all ties to who we are as a group and who we claim to be.

Here at WMC we claim that – “We are Brothers and Sisters in witness; Demonstrating God's Love in Jesus Christ by sharing life together and reaching out to others”. Then we have a one-liner vision statement which says – “To be the people of God, Inviting others to know Him”. Last week we also studied our mission statement which is more elaborate and detailed (For details click here and select “About us”). Do you see what ties all these together? The underlying theme in all of these statements is that we want to be the people of God, who love each other and who demonstrate Gods love by doing so. We also demonstrate God’s love by reaching out others but we do this by showing them that we live what we preach.

Also if we look at the wider Mennonite Church, it has in the past few years shifted its focus towards being more missional, the focus has been more on the “outward” in reaching out. This is good, it is what we are called to do but it would be an irony to only focus on the “outward” and let the “inward” disintegrate. When the salt looses its saltiness it is of no use, there will be no outward.

So let us acknowledge that conflict is a normal part of our Church life when passionate people live and work together. Let us acknowledge that God walks with us in conflict and can help us work to unity and maturity if we are open to Him. And finally let us be willing to admit our needs and commit ourselves to prayer for a mutually satisfying solution.

Blessings,

Naveen

Church and its Mission

Introduction

Couple of days ago I read this Slice of Infinity devotion by Jill Carattini, I like to share some portions of it as an opening for the message.

As the disciples stood before the risen Christ at the beginning of the book of Acts, they asked him,

Acts 1:6-8 (New International Version)
6 … "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"

7He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

In other words, they were not only going to be recipients of the kingdom of God, they were going to be agents as well--agents of a kingdom that was already among them.

For the earliest believers, the story of Jesus was the story of the kingdom’s arrival, a story that redefined their hope and reordered their lives. They saw in the risen Christ the proclamation of a kingdom that had already come with power, while knowing in another sense that this kingdom was still coming, and that their very lives were meant to bring it into focus as they waited for Christ’s return. They were radically transformed by what they saw, and so became the first-fruits of the rise of Christianity.

It is this rich history that informs the identity and mission of the church even today.

Colossians 1:13 (New International Version)
13For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,

In the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, we have not only been given a means to enter the kingdom of God, we have been made agents of its very presence among the world as we know it today, even as we wait eagerly for Christ to come again.

Importance of a vision and a mission statement

With this back drop let’s look into our mission statement.

Pastor Dan asked me if I could preach on the vision or the mission statement and I told him that we just did a series on it some time back. His immediate response to me was that we should be preaching on this twice a year.

I understood what he was saying … A mission statement is not something that we need for formal reasons.
A mission statement sums up one’s reason for being. It explains our intentions, priorities, and values to people both inside and outside the group. It guides and helps us to stay focused on the things that are most important to us. If we ever question whether to take on a project or choose a particular course of action, we must look back on our mission statement and see if the proposal is consistent with it.
This is not to say that we should not test it against the word of God.
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” … And we need to keep it that way.

But in our world today we still end up with multitudes of service areas not knowing which ones to pick. That’s where we need a focus that will help us decide on the areas that we choose to serve. Looking at our own situation where we are limited on resources, we have limited number of hands which demands that we only channel our resources to areas that are the most important. This is where the mission statement comes and helps us, reminds us what we all agreed as important to us.

Our Mission as a Church

So let’s look into our mission statement. (Visit WMC website and click on "About US") There are 5 points under it; I don’t intend to go in details for each one. We will spend more time on the first one and you will notice that it some ways connects with others. But then we will quickly run through the rest.

1. Being a worshipping community.

What does this mean and why is it important to us that it is at the top of our mission statement?
Really brief, it contains just two words but has a lot of weight in it.

Worshiping

Worship is important to us because that is where we find a clue to meaning in our lives.
God created us to enjoy an eternal relationship with Him. That is why, as Augustine said, “our hearts are restless until they find their rest in [Him].”

Colossians 1:16 (New International Version)
16For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.

It is this relationship we long for and our response comes in the form of worship which includes Sunday morning worship but it is more than that.

How we follow the Lord in obedience reflects the adoring worship we have for Him. Worship can refer to the whole life of a Christian. Paul had this sense of worship in mind when he writes in …

Romans 12:1-2 (New International Version)
Living Sacrifices
1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

C. S. Lewis wrote:
“It is in the process of being worshiped that God communicates His presence to men”

So worship is important but what does the scripture say about a worshipping community.

Community

Our scripture for today is actually the last recorded prayer that Jesus did. He first prays for himself, then for his disciples and then for the believers. I like to highlight couple of verses where we will focus for today.

John 17:20-26 (NIV)
Jesus Prays for All Believers
20"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24"Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 25"Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."
The astounding truth of this passage is that the world's ability to believe in Jesus depends on whether it sees Christians living out the Gospel together, sees the Holy Spirit empowering, teaching, and guiding them.
Living a life that is consistent with the word of God:

I like to share some thoughts by Elton Trueblood, who was an author, educator, philosopher, and theologian. He was closely associated with the Quaker community. His thoughts on community … brilliantly written and I request for your undivided attention.

Elton Trueblood:
"Jesus was deeply concerned for the continuation of his redemptive work after the close of his earthly existence, and his chosen method was the formation of a redemptive society. He did not form an army, establish a headquarters, or even write a book. All He did was to collect a few unpromising men and women, inspire them with the sense of His vocation and theirs, and build their lives into an intensive fellowship of affection, worship and work.

One of the truly shocking passages of the gospel is that in which Jesus indicates that there is absolutely no substitute for the tiny redemptive society. If this fails, He suggests, all is failure; there is no other way. He told the little bedraggled fellowship that they were actually the salt of the earth and that if this salt should fail, there would be no adequate preservative at all. He was staking all on one throw.

What we need is not intellectual theorizing or even preaching, but a demonstration. There is only one way of turning people's loyalty to Christ, and that is by loving others with the great love of God. We cannot revive faith by argument, but we might catch the imagination of puzzled men and women by an exhibition of a fellowship so intensely alive that every thoughtful person would be forced to respect it. If there should emerge in our day such a fellowship, wholly without artificiality and free from the dead hand of the past, it would be an exciting event of momentous importance. A society of loving souls, set free from the self-seeking struggle for personal prestige and from all unreality, would be something unutterably precious. A wise person would travel any distance to join it." (From "Alternative to Futility" by Elton Trueblood)

Glenn Murray comments …
The longest distance we can travel could be from self-centeredness to Christ-centeredness, which will lead us to true community. My prayer is that we can really grasp the power of this idea and give ourselves to the development of such a fellowship.
It is in a fellowship of believers that souls are healed and nurtured. Trueblood is talking about the power of an idea, which was left to us by Jesus.
People are starved for love and acceptance and when they see a true community where people love each other they will believe too.

We can also talk about the example of what we are doing with Ripple effects … what we are doing there is primarily community focused.

Its in our mission statement, we want to be a worshiping community, How far are we willing to take it?
Can we say that … Lets be a network of people who refuse to allow doctrinal distinctives, racial differences, denominational allegiance or methodology divide us.
It’s not a matter of whether we have differences amongst us or not rather the real question is how we handle those differences. Does our relationship changes with the person who disagrees with us? Or do we still love them the same way.
It takes much work and even reconciliation but the idea is to develop a band of people who love Christ and love each other.

“… so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

Outward mission:

2. Being a helping and loving servant people, following the model of Christ toward all humanity.

I see this as a logical outworking of who we are as God’s people. In the first one we said that we want to love and serve one another, here we say that we also want to love and serve all of humanity.

The world sees how we live.

Mark 12:29-31 (New International Version)
29"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' 31The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself. 'There is no commandment greater than these."


3. Sharing the good news of our faith; Into the world came Jesus Christ, God's Incarnate Son, who taught us about God's Love, died for our sins, rose from the dead and will come again. We therefore, turn from our sin, trust Christ for Salvation and follow the Way as He taught us.

Acts 1:8 (New International Version)
8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

We may translate it as being witnesses in Whitehall, and Lehigh Valley, and Pennsylvania, and to the ends of the earth.

Philemon 1:6 (New International Version)
6I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.

Inward mission:

4. Having concern, love, acceptance for, and fellowship with believers.

We are called to love, care and have concern for one another. We are called to have fellowship with believers because we share common goals and we can encourage each other during our ups and downs.
Fellowship is important because being part of the body of Christ we don’t just share common values we share common convictions.

We talked about this as part of the community. Its important how we fellowship and treat each other.

5. Being a nurturing church, encouraging and discipling believers into spiritual maturity. Being committed to strengthening marriages, families and singles according to God's design.

We want to be a nurturing Church where believers are encouraged into spiritual maturity.

Growing up in India, I had been to some of the revival meetings and youth conventions and similar things over there. I also remember seeing many young people committing their lives to Jesus but in some cases it didn’t last for very long. The general assumption is that … may be that was not a genuine commitment after all. May be that’s true.

But as a Church it is our responsibility and we believe in encouraging and nurturing these new believers.

Paul in his letter to the Ephesians writes:

Ephesians 3:17-19 (New International Version)
17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

We want to be a nurturing church, encouraging and discipling believers into spiritual maturity. We also want to be committed towards strengthening relationships.

Closing remarks

Therefore in closing I like to summarize it for you: -

Our mission statement deals with all the three relationships.

As a Church:
1. Our relationship to God,
2. Our relationship to the outside World and,
3. Our relationships with in the Church.

The first one that deals with our relationship with God, we want to be a worshiping community.

The next two deals with “Outward mission”, our Church’s relationship with the outside world. It’s about loving and serving and following the model of Christ towards all humanity.

Finally, the last two deals with “Inward mission”, our relationships with in the body. It’s about loving, encouraging and serving each other, and also discipling for spiritual growth.

It is through this “Inward mission” we are called to become the agents of the Kingdom of God.

In the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, we have not only been given a means to enter the kingdom of God, we have been made agents of its very presence among the world as we know it today, even as we wait eagerly for Christ to come again.

Blessings

Naveen