Sermons

Introduction:
The most important quality of a Christian Community is a brotherly love that transcends the pressures of becoming like the secular culture. How can believers express godly love in the community? In this message we will consider three practices that will help a Christian community grow in love.

The Primacy of Christian Love (4:8a)
Think about these two questions as we begin today:

(1) How important is a sense of belonging to a community to you?
(2) What would you be willing to do to help build this kind of community?

If you were at the Annual Meeting a few weeks ago, you heard me mention an article from the Mercury News called "Valley residents network but don't connect." This article tells us something of how culture we live views relationships and community.

As I read it, think about whether it how the world you live in Monday through Friday.

Thursday, March 1, 2001 published in the SJ Mercury News
BY JOHN BOUDREAU AND JANICE ROMBECK

In the first of its kind, a survey of social involvement in Bay Area communities being released today reflects images many won't recognize… Silicon Valley, where networking relationships have given rise to great innovations, is inept at building social networks to build a healthy society.

The Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey, a national project involving 40 communities around the country conducted last summer and fall, spotlights why, as some social scientists see it, America is becoming a nation of strangers.
``There has been a tremendous decline in all forms of social connection,'' Harvard Professor Robert Putnam said. ``We don't join groups as much as we used to. We don't have friends over to the house as much as we used to. There has been a serious erosion in American connectedness.'' …Silicon Valley, the survey says, is a place where people live in isolation in terms of informal relationships, at least compared to other demographically similar communities. It is a region where people are less likely than their counterparts nationally to volunteer in a place of worship or to help the poor, the elderly and other causes. They also are less likely to join a neighborhood or civic group.

Church attendance
Another dramatic difference between the Bay Area's culture and most of the country: Not many people here go to church. Only 27 percent of respondents to the valley survey said they attend weekly religious services. …In the valley, 67 percent of respondents said their place of worship gives them a sense of community, compared with 75 percent nationally.
[One local minister said] the valley's work-all-the-time ethic hinders attendance. ``Time is a major thing,'' she said. ``We hear this over and over again. There is so little time. I'm working 60 hours a week. I need to sleep, have no time for my kids.''

This article tells us we are in a battle of value systems. In my last sermon I said that becoming the Influencing church means going out with the purpose of making an impact for Christ. But all too often it works the other way around--we become like the culture around us.

With all our good intentions we must ask ourselves, Are we becoming like the culture around us?

1. Silicon Valley lifestyle, especially the way we approach our work, makes community building a distant priority, if a priority at all. Is community building a priority in our lives?

2. Silicon Valley has one of the lowest church going rates in the country, 27%. Of those that do go, only 2/3 say it gives them a sense of community. The culture does not value the church as a community to belong to. Is our church becoming one of the few places where community is practiced?

Certainly God has created us to be relational creatures-when Adam was alone it was not what? It was not good! He needed friendship, companionship. Out of that need for meaningful relationship would the family unit and the society be built.

The need for meaningful, intimate relationships is just as important today as when God created man. The leaders of the early church understood that a Christian community to belong to was more than just a side activity--it was an absolute necessity.

Peter and Persecution
For the churches Peter is writing to, sticking together in community meant more than another place to visit to look for friends. Church members were being persecuted for their faith. They needed a safe place to practice their faith. They needed a place to be encouraged, taught, and to serve their God. They needed brothers and sisters in Christ for their very survival.

We need that same kind of community today. Even though we are not being murdered for our faith, all the same we do have pressure to keep our faith in the closet. It is subtle. Our primary persecution is to stay silent. How many feel ashamed or afraid to share beliefs or faith in public places? Why? Because there is real pressure not to! There are real consequences if we do share our faith.

Our Challenge: Love despite cultural influence
At the same time, there is a great challenge that lies before us to grow into the community God wants us to be.

Our tendencies will be the society's tendencies--to not make community and service a priority. Also, Paul knew that our tendency is to split rather than come together--he tells the Ephesians (4:3) to "make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." He knew we would be lazy in this endeavor and called the church to make EVERY effort to stick together.

Where do we start? What do you think a Christian Community needs most?

Today we will focus on the one quality of community is the bedrock foundation of the Christian community. Peter commands in 4:8:

1 Pet 4:8a Above all, love each other deeply,

ABOVE ALL; Primacy of love-it is the cornerstone of the community.

1. Love can be commanded because it is a choice-and must be an action (demonstrated).
Richard talked about giving flowers to his wife as a symbol of his love for his wife. When we say we love others we must demonstrate and show our love for them in tangible ways. Our actions show others how much we love them.

2. Deeply-better to look at 1:22 "sincerely", another way to look at it-without fail. If I love my wife, I will not only give her flowers once and forget about it. This love is a love that continues and expressed in many different ways.

3. Who is to receive this love? Each other-Peter's stress is on every single individual loving every other individual.

Let's look at three practices that will help a Christian Community grow in love.

I. Looking Beyond Faults and Mistakes (4:8b)

Case Studies in Love
Joe and Rebecca are two people I've are made up but could be considered typical people in the typical church.

Joe had been working quietly on the church retreat for weeks. All along people were difficult to please. Some people wanted cabins, others just wanted to camp outside to save money. Some felt that they should not have any retreat at all. One brother, meaning well, told Joe that he needed to work harder on the project. Joe felt misunderstood. What should Joe do? How could congregation members treat him differently?

Rebecca was a little different. She had come from a difficult family background. Out of her need to express herself, she talked all the time. Many times she gossiped and talked about other students behind their backs. The youth group at first tolerated it. But soon the group just began to ignore her altogether. She noticed their reaction and felt hurt. What should Rebecca do? How could the youth group have treated her differently?

Love Covers a Multitude of Sins
Peter helps us deal with these situations. Let's read the second part of verse 8…8a …because love covers over a multitude of sins.

Peter tells us that WHAT covers over a multitude of sins? Love. How does this work?

The key is in the phrase "covers over." Another way to translate this phrase is "to hide" or "look beyond." What is it we are looking beyond?

We can gain a clue from Proverbs 10:12 Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs. The writer of this proverb tells us that hatred in our hearts will bring about disagreement and divisions. Hatred for what? Hatred for the wrongs done against us. These are other people's faults, unintentional and intentional sins, etc.
We can either look intently at these wrongs done to us, or look beyond them. You have heard it said, Love the sinner but hate the sin. This verse is talking about how we can do just that.

There may be some objections to this idea:

1. Are we just shoving sin under the rug as if it did not exist? No, we are acknowledging the sin against us but choosing to forgive and look beyond it.
Isn't that what Jesus did on the Cross for us? He chose to die knowing full well the sins we had committed against God. He looked beyond them, took care of them, to help us.

2. Are we condoning sin by not dealing with it head on? No, we must surely deal with it--let's look at Galatians 6:1: Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. (NIV). Our role is not to judge people--it is to help them by gently restoring them. This is the loving way.

3. Aren't there certain sins that we just can't look beyond? The word for multitude has the idea of the complete number of sins. Just as God did not choose to forgive some and condemn others, we should not either.

Let's look at Joe and Rebecca again. In both cases at the very least there is irritation on both sides--them and the congregation. We can see how in these situations that without a love that looks beyond other's faults, quirks, and even sins people will carry their hurt everywhere with them. This is a community killer.

We can apply this principle in relationships between Chinese/English congregation, among leadership, between youth and adults, in our marriages, in our fellowships, etc. You and I need to practice forgiveness and looking beyond what other's have done to us every day.

Are you holding onto grudges against anyone in this church or against the church itself? There is no place for that in God's community! Ask God to help you let it go in the name of Christ's love.

II. Seeking to Practice Hospitality (4:9)

9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.

The second practice that will build the love in our community is SEEKING TO PRACTICE HOSPITATALITY:

Open up Your Home
Hospitality MEANS literally "love of strangers." Those traveling in the ancient world needed a place to stay and food to eat. There were no Hotels or Motel 6's on every corner. Who would provide for this need? Christians learned to practice opening up their home to whomever might have the need.

We can apply this literally, inviting others into our homes. The stress is on those whom we do not know very well. I have a vision where newcomers are taken in by the old timers, or where families "adopt" one of the youth in our church. There are countless opportunities to have meetings at your home, to invite people over for a meal, etc.

Open up Your Heart
On a deeper level, hospitality is leaving room not just in your house for someone, but also in your heart. Peter says that we should Offer Hospitality to one another without what? GRUMBLING or COMPLAINING. This means we do it sincerely, with a heart of love.

To receive someone in your heart does not necessarily mean them over for dinner. It is the willingness to take interest in others, see their need and take care of them, listen to them, etc.

Look around this room. How many of us can say that we have welcomed every single other person in this room in our hearts? Even in our weekly fellowships we are in many ways still "strangers" to one another. We have only begun to scratch the surface of receiving each other into our hearts.

Overcoming the Risks
There is a risk in opening up your house and your heart to others.
Lori and I have always had an open home policy. We like having people over for dinner or going out and just connecting. One night we had over one of the new graduates for dinner. I had BBQ some of my best steaks, thinking that I would have some leftovers for lunch. But he kept eating and eating, until all my leftovers were gone!

This is a funny example--but if we are to be hospitable, we take the risk that someone may stay that extra day, or talk that extra hour, or may cut into our hobby or even homework time.

Hospitality is the way of love--and the way to build a community. It may feel overwhelming to look at everyone in the room and think you must open yourself up--so start small. Find one or two people and open yourself, your home to them.

III. Serving as Good Stewards of God's Trust (4:10-11a)

Key Points:
1. Each one has been given a Gift of God (at least one). We don't need to know the exact gift--the point is to serve. Peter is not overly concerned Verse 11: Speaking and Serving gifts. Think of gifts in categories, rather than specifics.

2. Each one is to use it to contribute for the common good--to serve others:
1 Cor 12:7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.

3. Each one must be a good steward of their gift--as a steward looks over the resources of a house.

4. We must have faith to step out and serve. We may feel like we do not have enough time, not even energy. We need to ask God for strength (verse 11), the kind that God provides. We may need to reprioritize our lives.

10 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.
11 If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Pioneers in Community Building
We read in our history books of those coming out West--families came together to travel in caravans through treacherous terrain and weather. They knew they could not make it alone. So they cared for one another and protected one another for a common goal and purpose.

We as a community of faith are similar in many ways. We, as God's people, are on a journey together through this world. This is a journey, not a place to hang our hat and take up residence. It is a journey through this world as Peter puts it, a

1 Pet 2:9…chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

To build our community on love is a choice each one of us has to make. It is a conscious choice--it is not something we passively become a part of. You and I do not naturally look past other's sins, receive people who are different from us, and serve--not knowing if we will be served in return.

What is our choice today? Are we passive participants, or will we choose to love one another?

Congregational Covenant
I would like each one of us to boldly covenant with one another to actively practice Agape love. If you are making the choice today to begin or to continue loving brothers and sisters as Peter commands, raise your hands. If this is not your desire, please do not raise your hand.

Sermon continued...

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