Peter G Kuskie,
John
In this study I want to talk about a phrase
mentioned over seventy times in the New Testament. The fact that it is mentioned so often means
it is important. That phase is “one
another.”
Wait a minute you say “one anothering
– God’s crucible of love?” I don’t get
it. My friend, if we will truly do what
God asks of us when it comes to our relationships with one another, then we are
in for two things:
o
One, it will cost us. Rough edges will be knocked off us, we will
be vulnerable, we will need to be transparent, and we will no longer be able to
hide.
o
Secondly we are in for greater blessings then we
ever thought possible, as we learn to minister, and be ministered to, out of
the love of God, which has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost.
It is a powerful thing for God to be seen in the
individual, but it is exponentially greater still, for God to be seen in a
community of believers.
Therefore it is my prayer that through this
study we will gain a fresh appreciation of how God intends for us to relate to
one another, and a willingness to make a fresh commitment to live in community.
There is gold to be
found in God’s word so let’s go exploring!
Rom 15:7 “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted
you, in order to bring praise to God.”
All through life being
accepted is important to us. It is
something we all need. It starts from
the earliest of ages.
I remember as a 12
year old when we would choose teams for a sporting game. We would decide on 2 captains then all stand
around waiting to be picked. If we were the last picked it was difficult for
us. If we were the 1st then
we felt accepted and needed. A feeling of self-worth, or otherwise starts at an early age.
The word
accept used here in Rom 15:7 means to “take to oneself, admit
(to friendship or hospitality)”
As Christians we
should be the most accepting group of people in the world, because though we
didn’t deserve it and could never earn it, we ourselves have been accepted by
God. Eph 1:6 tells us “he has made us
accepted in the beloved.”
God has accepted us into His family. His acceptance
of us is not based on our worthiness or seeming importance in this world. God accepts us because He loves us and sent
his Son to shed his blood for our sins.
We love Him because He 1st loved us.
When the Bible says that we are “accepted in the
beloved,” it means that by grace we have been indued
with special honour and are highly favoured.
By grace, brothers and sisters, we need to accept
one another as they say “warts and all.”
After all, that is how God accepted us. Who are we to demand perfection of others
when God never demanded it of us? We are
all in Christ walking the same road but we are not all the same (thank God). We must learn to accept each other and live
in community.
Rom
What we are looking at here is the word “greet.” It means:
to “enfold in the arms, welcome, embrace”
This does not mean we are to hug everyone weather we
know them or not (in fact a deacon at a church I attended got
punched in the nose for trying to hug someone who was not ready to be hugged!
Discretion is the better part of valor). What it does mean though is that each of us
must feel enfolded by love and acceptance when we are in one another’s
presence.
No doubt many have heard the wonderful story about
the unkempt man who wandered into a “respectable” church...
There were no spare seats so he sat in the isle near
the front. Most of the church was
aghast. From the back an elderly man
with a walking stick got up and slowly made his way towards the “riff raff” in
the isle. Many wondered at his
intentions. After what seemed like an
eternity, with all the church wondering what would happen next, the elderly man
reached the unkempt fellow. Did he
reprimand him? Did he politely but
firmly tell him to find a seat? No. Slowly and deliberately he sat down next to
him. Through that simple yet profound act he showed the man that he was
accepted. In Gods family that is how it
should be.
Rom
Devoted it s a beautiful word. It means to “cherish,
hold in ones heart, protect, and treat with affection.”
If devoted is a
beautiful word then for me the word “cherish” is one of the most wonderful in the English
language. What a beautiful way to
describe how we are to relate to one another.
Born of a sincere love, we are to hold one another in our hearts,
nurture, and protect each other.
Then we are to honour
each other. Honour
means to “value, esteem, dignify and treat as precious.”
There are two places
from which we derive our esteem.
o
The 1st is
from God. We know that he esteems us
because of the price he paid to win us and his continuing goodness towards us.
o
The second place from
which we derive esteem is from others.
We know that the world will not build us up unless there is something in
it for them. More often then not the
norm is for us to be put down. In
Gods’ community is to
be different. We are to be devoted to
and honour one another. Brothers and sisters if we,
as God’s children won’t esteem one another, then who will?
Eph 4:2 “Be completely
humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”
My mum and I used to
laugh at the story of a child bringing home a report card that said the student
“is trying.” Did that mean
“trying” as in difficult or “trying” as in making the effort? Lets face it there is a little of both
meanings in all of us.
Bearing with one another means to “hold ones self up against, or to put up
with.”
I remember a famous
wartime picture that showed one soldier holding another who was bandaged on his
head and arm. The wounded soldier needed
support. Sometimes you need support. Sometimes I do.
God’s community is to
be a place where support is to be found.
There is an old saying, “why are we 1st to kill our own
wounded?” How sad - but how true,
that in the church we have been so quick to do that. It is wrong.
We are to care for each other while always remembering that it is God’s
grace alone by which any of us stand.
We all have different
forces at work in our lives – stresses, difficulties and challenges. Some of us face physical challenges, or we
might have blown it big time and be feeling like “what’s the use.” Or we may be having relationship
difficulties. Sometimes I need you to
hold me up, or just to put up with me.
Always I need for you to be looking out for me, and it is what God
requires of me on your behalf also.
Gal 6:2 Tells us to “bear one another’s burdens.” Although it is a cliché it is still true that a
burden shared is a burdened halved. Most
of us know and love the “Footprints” poem which tells the story of two sets of
foot prints on the beach becoming one and how the person asked “Lord why did
you leave me?” and the Lord responded “I did not leave you – I carried you.” The fact is that God uses people, and when we
need carrying, chances are, God will use a brother or sister to be the
instrument of His love and mercy.
Eph
1 Cor
God means for us to forgive each other just as He
forgave us. That means beyond 70 times
7. Life for all of us holds its share of
hurts, and forgiving may not be easy.
Friends betray us, and life long relationships come undone. But no
matter how justified we feel in holding an offense to our heart, we
cannot. Nothing hinders our access to
the presence of God like unforgiveness.
Despite how difficult we may find it, we need to
take our hurt to the throne of God and allow him to minister to our hearts,
until we can honestly say (and know it is true) that we forgive the one
who offended us. We have an eternity to
spend with our brothers and sisters. Unforgiveness will not be accepted in God’s kingdom –
either in the here and now or beyond the grave.
To have “equal concern” (1 Cor
John
I find it interesting that our Christian witness is
not judged by how much we fast, pray, or study Gods’ word but by our love for
each other. Thank God for that!
A spiritual giant is not measured in earthly terms
of accomplishment, but by the love of God for others exhibited through their
lives. The 1st step in evangelism is not handing out tracts, but
loving our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ.
The word “love” here refers to a “love feast” or a feast of
charity. How good is that?!
The love we are to have for each other is not “just
enough and no more” but it is an overflowing abundance of love. 1 Thess 3:12 brings
this out, “May the Lord make your love increase and overflow
for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.”
The word abound means to “super abound in quantity or quality
and to be in excess; enough and to spare.”
We sing the beautiful song “He is more than enough, He is
El Shadai the God of plenty.” Praise
God and He is! Is our love for
each other the same? More
than enough? God means for it to
be.
Rom
Most of what God teaches us is not for ourselves
alone. Just as a mother is nourished so
that she in turn can nourish her family, so too we are fed and taught by God
that we may be able to impart a word in season to our brothers and sister.
To instruct includes to “put another in mind.” That is, to share with them what God has
shown us. This
may mean gently reproving or cautioning.
Of course this works best if there is an obvious love in the
relationship.
Recently I have gotten closer to someone in our church. I don’t always agree with what they do, but
only now am I starting to feel that I can share my concerns and where I am
coming from and not be a threat. Why? Because we are building a
relationship of trust.
Col 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly
as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms,
hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.”
We must never forget that the 1st step in
instructing one another is to have the word of Christ dwelling in us
richly. God does not want us pooling our
ignorance. He wants us all growing in
grace, and ministering out of the life of Christ that dwells in us and is
outworked through us.
Heb 3:13 “But encourage one another daily, as long
as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s
deceitfulness.”
1 Thess
God wants us building each other up. Like building a house. There are many components to a house. The fact is, I may
be the brick that sits under you in the structure. How much sense does it make for me to be
pulling you down? None
at all; because in pulling you down I am doing the same to myself. Therefore it is a matter of “enlightened
self interest” for us all to strengthen each other so that the structure of
our fellowship stands firm.
Gal
To serve is literally or figuratively “to be a slave”.
This is where it
starts to get heavy and many who have not been able to stand the heat have
gotten out of the kitchen! Jesus
washed the disciple’s feet. He who would
be great in God’s kingdom must be the servant of all. The disciple is not above his master. By washing the disciples feet Jesus was
showing us the essence of the servant heart.
Again to serve is to “wait upon.”
This is not grandiose is it?
It is menial. It is getting down
and dirty with the family of God. It is
bearing each others burdens. It is
putting others before our self. It is loving.
1 Peter
James
Make a habit of
confessing my sins to others?!!
God is kidding right?
Wrong. This is real “rubber meets
the road” stuff.
There are a couple of
conditions that must be met before we can confidently do this.
o
First we must have a
real trust in those to whom we confess.
It can only happen when believers are in relationship, real
relationship.
o
Not the hand shaking “have
a good week but I don’t expect to be thinking about you till I see you
again.”
“Relationship” is born of intimacy, and a concern for you as my
brother or sister. It has its genesis in
time spent before the throne of grace on you behalf.
I am ready to weep
when I think of how far short we fall of real Christian relationships. How many people can we trust like this? Yet God has told us to confess our sins to
one another.
o
Secondly the person or
persons to whom we confess must have the power to influence. I don’t take car problems too a florist. I take them to a mechanic. I will not confess my sins to you if you do
not have a meaningful relationship with the One who has the capacity to effect
change in my life.
That is why prayer
must follow confession. Prayer does not
change things. God to change things by
answered prayer. This is especially true
in a corporate (for want of a better word) environment.
Ø
Where 2 or 3 are
gathered together in His name He is in the midst.
Ø
One can put 1,000
to flight while 2 displaces 10,000!
It is in the prayer
realm that the power of one anothering can effect massive
change.
One reason confessing
to one another is so difficult for us is pride.
We strut about like we have got it all together. We act like image is everything. Image is nothing!
It is the truth that
sets us free. The truth can only set us
free when we are true to our God, one another and ourselves. Christians can so easily fall into the trap
of thinking that they must appear to have it all together for unbelievers to
want what we have. But whom do you
relate best to – someone who is “perfect” or someone who struggles like you
do? The difference is not that we are
perfect but that we have the answer.
Unbelievers will
respond to God by seeing us experiencing the same struggles they do but finding
our strength and courage through the Lord Jesus Christ and our love and care
for one another. Jesus was in all points
tempted just like us. I can relate to
that. What I can’t relate to is someone
who appears ok, but will not let me get close enough to find out the truth and
allow me to minister to them.
The word “heal” means to “make whole.” It is through my being honest with you and
you praying for me that I can be made whole.
My friends, I need you and you need me.
Eph 4:16 “From him the
whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and
builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”
The word “held” here is interesting. It has two senses of meaning.
o
Firstly it means: “to
unite (in association or affection), knit together.” This is what God means for us to do
voluntarily, simple because He has told us to.
o
Secondly it means “to force;
to drive together.”
Brothers and sisters the day may be near at hand
where our relationship with our fellow believers will be clandestine. It is
already like that in many nations. Let
us work together at building relationships while it is still day. The night may be near when the liberty of
open fellowship we presently enjoy is but a fond memory.
1 Cor
Rom 12:4 “Just as each
of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the
same function, 5so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each
member belongs to all the others. 6We have
different gifts, according to the grace given us.”
My friends thank you
for reading this far. As I said at the
beginning - my goal has been that through this study we will gain a fresh
appreciation of how God intends for us to relate to one another, and a
willingness to make a fresh commitment to live in community. If I may, I would like to pray with you now.
Heavenly Father, we thank You
for who You are and what You have done. Lord we are reminded that though You are One, You live in a
community of three in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Father we pray now that You would help us to
apply your word to our lives, that You would show us
what “one-anothering” really means. Help us to build
meaningful relationships with each other.
God, cause our love for each other to be a beacon to the unsaved, that
they may truly know that we are your disciples by our love for each other. This we ask in the wonderful name of Jesus. Amen.
1 Thess 3:12 “May the Lord
make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just
as ours does for you.”
