An Earnest Appeal to Preserve and Promote True Peace within the Body of Christ (Part 6)

AN EARNEST APPEAL TO PRESERVE AND PROMOTE TRUE PEACE WITHIN THE BODY OF CHRIST–PART 6

By Pastor Brian Wilbur

Date: February 18, 2024

Series: Peace in the Church

Note: Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Introduction

We have come now to my sixth and final sermon in this short sermon series in which I am encouraging all of us to preserve and promote true peace within the body of Christ.

When I attended the Youth Group for a Question & Answer Session two Fridays ago, Jon Washburn asked me what I thought about the seventh seal in Revelation 8. I said something about how the seventh seal makes way for the seven trumpets. In other words, the final seal opens the door to seven additional items. Well, that’s a bit like today’s sermon. The first five sermons are past, and this sixth sermon remains. What is this sixth sermon? It is a door that opens to four additional sermons, but since we haven’t time for that, I’m going to present them as four mini-sermons. It was going to be eight mini-sermons, then I cut it to six, and finally I cut it to four. You have to draw the line somewhere!

This is a very pastoral sermon, in which I identify some important lines of thought for us all to contemplate as we keep thinking about preserving and promoting true peace within the body of Christ. Each mini-sermon could be developed into a sermon of its own, but for now it is enough to orient you to each of these basic ideas, and encourage you to chew on it. There is not necessarily a logical progression from one mini-sermon to the next, but they are inter-related into the overall web of healthy church life.

Remember the goal: to be salt and light, to display the glory of Christ through our words and deeds and through our relationships with one another. If we have all our ducks in a row, all our papers in order, and all our programs up and running, but don’t have love, then we are nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). Without love, we will only succeed at devouring one another (Galatians 5:15). Our relationships with one another are a proving ground for love: will we be diligent to preserve and promote true peace in our relationships with one another within our church family?

With this goal of true peace in view, and to supplement the previous five sermons, I want to share with you four mini-sermons – four important encouragements for the peacemaking project! The first two encouragements are relatively short, and the final two encouragements are longer.

Let’s jump in!

1) Find your security in Christ alone

First, each one of us must endeavor to find our ultimate security and peace in Christ alone. If your ultimate sense of security and peace depends on your relationships with other people, you will fall hard against the miserable rock of other people letting you down, and you will often sacrifice truth-telling in order to keep a superficial peace. If you have to have other people’s approval, if you have to feel like other people like you, if you have no stomach for disagreement, if you have thin skin so that you over-personalize every conflict, if you can’t be yourself because you’re preoccupied with playing the part that you think other people want you to play, if you can’t imagine two believers having a principled disagreement and yet still loving each other, if you constantly feel that you are ashamed under the critical gaze of other people, if you are uncomfortable in your own skin, then you will be unable to pursue true peace within the body of Christ. And the reason for your inability is simply this: you’re constantly attempting to superficially line up with other people, but in your own heart you are not aligned with the grace of God. Since you’re not standing on the solid ground of Christ’s love for you, you’re bouncing every which way to get love from other people, or to make sure you don’t rock the boat. Such people are always compromising and negotiating their way toward a shallow social peace, but they’re tossed about without a firm anchor.

Remember to whom is the instruction about maintaining and making peace given? “To the saints” who “are faithful in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 1:1). To those who have put their “hope in Christ” (Ephesians 1:12) and who have “faith in the Lord Jesus” (Ephesians 1:15), which means in the context of Ephesians 1:1-15 that we have come to believe in the great love and lavish generosity that our heavenly Father has toward us. Moreover, His immeasurably great power is at work in our lives (Ephesians 1:19). Such people have been regenerated (Ephesians 2:4-6), reconciled to God (Ephesians 2:16), “renewed in the spirit of their minds” (Ephesians 4:23), and resourced with doctrinal truth (Ephesians 4:11-16) and divine armor (Ephesians 6:10-20). The prayer that we would “know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that [we] may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19) comes before the command to be “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3). The instruction to “[be] kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32) presupposes that we have experienced for ourselves God’s gracious forgiveness in Christ. If you attempt to make peace with each other on the basis of thin, abstract, or unexperienced notions, then you’re not going to be very successful. But if the riches of God’s grace are satisfying you, securing you, stabilizing you, safeguarding you, then – and only then – are you able to live in the peace of Christ with one another. When the riches of God’s grace are satisfying you, this the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) will be on increasing display in your life.

The final item in the ninefold fruit of the Spirit is “self-control” (Galatians 5:23). The self-controlled person is not ruled by his emotions, is not ruled by fleshly desires or worldly concerns, and is not ruled by the demands, pressures, and shouts coming from other people. The self-controlled person is under the controlling influence of the Holy Spirit: not tossed about, not able to be manipulated, not easily offended, not able to be bribed. The self-controlled, which is to say Spirit-filled, person, is stronger than a warrior: “Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit [is better] than he who takes a city.” (Proverbs 16:32) If you are secure in the Lord, secure in the Lord’s justifying grace, secure in the knowledge that the Lord loves you no matter what, secure in the sin-removing, guilt-removing, shame-removing sacrifice of Christ, then you will be able to be a confident and courageous peacemaker. Absent that foundation, all attempts at peacemaking will be counterproductive or superficial.

2) Sometimes a third party mediator is key to the process

Second, there are times when it is good and right for a third person to help mediate a reconciliation effort between two other people. What I’m talking about here is a bit different than the church discipline process in Matthew 18:15-18 – in that process, the first step is one person to speak directly to the person who has sinned (Matthew 18:15); if the sinning brother refuses to repent, the second step is for that one person to “take one or two others along” so that the facts of the situation “may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses” (Matthew 18:16); if the sinning brother still refuses to repent, then the matter is referred to the entire congregation (Matthew 18:17-18). That process is very important, but that’s not what I’m talking about right now. What I’m talking about is the role of a mediator or facilitator to help estranged brothers or estranged sisters be reconciled to each other. Sometimes the mediator might proactively involve himself in a conflict that he is aware of by calling upon both parties to be reconciled to each other. Paul does this in Philippians 4: “I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord.” (Philippians 4:2) At other times, the disputing parties might invite a Christian they both trust to sit with them and help them sort it out.

In 1 Corinthians 6, the believers there had certain grievances against one another – perhaps in matters such as breach of contract or a dispute over property rights or personal injury claims – and they were filing lawsuits against one another in secular law courts. Think of disputes that might make it into a small claims court. In that context, Paul said that there ought to be wise people within the church family who can adjudicate such disputes: “Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers?” (1 Corinthians 6:5-6)

Whenever we are called upon to do the work of a third party peacemaker within the church family, we must remember the critical importance of good character. A third party peacemaker cannot be partial, cannot exhibit favoritism, cannot be ‘for the one’ and ‘against the other’. Like the administrative judges in Exodus 18, third party peacemakers must “fear God, [be] trustworthy and hate a bribe” (Exodus 18:21). A third party peacemaker should desire God’s will to be done in the lives of all the people he is attempting to help. A third party peacemaker must be “first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere” (James 3:17) toward all people involved in the conflict. If the conflict involves sin from one or both of the conflicting parties, the third party peacemaker must be gentle: “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.” (Galatians 6:1) Such gentle restorers must be self-controlled and must humbly recognize their own vulnerability to sin when they are helping to restore others. So the instruction to restore the transgressor “in a spirit of gentleness” is immediately followed by this warning: “Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.” (Galatians 6:1) Be strong in the Lord, and then help others to be at peace.

So, if you’re in conflict with someone else and you feel stuck, don’t be ashamed to ask a trusted brother or sister to help you. Maybe you need another person’s wisdom, perspective, or Scriptural counsel. Or maybe you need another person to support you through his or her personal presence. Or maybe you need a third party peacemaker to leverage his relational capital with both parties in order to help bring those parties together, that they might have an honest, peaceful, and constructive conversation.

If you are aware of a conflict that two other people have, and you have a trusted relationship with both of those people, then it might be very appropriate for you to encourage those two people to make peace, and for you to offer your help. Having a trusted third party present in a conversation can help to moderate the emotional intensity of the conversation, and help both parties to see the situation more objectively.

Don’t be afraid to offer assistance. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Don’t be too proud to accept help.

3) Make room for people’s differences

Third, make room for people’s differences. I’m obviously not talking about the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion ideology. What I am talking about is the simple and straightforward fact that among God’s people, within the doctrinal and moral boundaries that Scriptures gives to us, there are all kinds of differences. The body of Christ is not an elite club for a certain type of Christian from a particular cultural background, with a certain maturity level, and having a specific ministry focus. Someone might say: Wouldn’t it be nice if every church member has already been a Christian for twenty-five years, is conversant with the writings of Augustine, Luther, and Calvin, and loves 90 minute sermons? Or someone else might say: Wouldn’t it be nice if every church member was a super off-the-charts relational type who had the gift of mercy and had a compelling vision for orphan and widow care? As a matter of fact, it wouldn’t, for that would narrow the body of Christ into a rather boring uniformity that the Bible itself doesn’t do.

What is the body of Christ? The body of Christ is a community of disciples from diverse backgrounds (Greek, Jew, barbarian, Scythian, rich, poor), with diverse maturity levels(those who have been believers for twenty-five years should exhibit a level of maturity that believers who have only been believers for a few months or a few years don’t have yet), with diverse ages (a healthy church is inter-generational that runs the spectrum from babies to nonagenarians), with diverse circumstances (at the very same time there are some “who rejoice” and others “who weep” [Romans 12:15; also see 1 Corinthians 12:26]), and with diverse giftings and roles (“If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?” [1 Corinthians 12:17]).

There are many temptations to treat poorly those who are different from us. Will we make room for children and their immaturities? Will we make room for the elderly and their infirmities? Will we make room for baby Christians who need spiritual milk and aren’t ready for solid food yet? Will we make room for brothers and sisters who have baggage on one issue or another? (I hope so, because if not, we’re all in trouble!) Will we make room for those whose gifts push in a different direction than our own?

The changing composition of South Paris Baptist Church

Now while I’m still discussing this point of making room for people’s differences, I want to turn to some important considerations for our own church family. Over the last three-and-a-half years, many new people have visited our church family and settled down here. Last Sunday there were about 160 people in attendance here: 74 of the 160 were part of our church family before the Covid shake-up, but 86 of the 160 were not part of our church family before Covid. That is indicative of a significant demographic shift in terms of the composition of our own congregation. More people means more differences: more differing backgrounds, more differing life circumstances and outlooks, more differing gifts and strengths and weaknesses and needs. How are you handling all this?

One of the pressure points for differences among us is that when have believers of differing cultural and theological backgrounds, differing maturity levels, differing ages, differing circumstances, and differing gifts, you will inevitably find that such people handle certain things differently. Paul discusses this sort of thing in Romans 14:1-15:7. I preached a whole sermon on this on June 28, 2020, and a great many of you weren’t here at that time. I’ll email that sermon to you this week, as you might find it helpful to listen to it or review it.

But here’s the inevitable reality: within the basic doctrinal and moral boundaries of Scripture, some believers are going to handle some issues one way and other believers are going to handle the same issues a different way. These issues that believers handle differently may be referred to as important secondary issues or significant applications of biblical principles or matters of conscience. The things that makes these issues tricky to navigate is that they are indeed important, significant, morally serious – that’s why they make a claim upon your conscience. And yet these issues are not so central or air tight that you can require every believer to adopt the same view or practice. Paul recognizes that those who are stronger in their Christian walk will have a clearer understanding of these issues, whereas those who are weaker in their Christian walk have baggage or blind spots that cloud their understanding of these issues. Forget for the moment whether you are in the stronger or the weaker category on any particular issue. The point I want you to see is that Paul insists that we be gracious to one another when faced with such differences:

“As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

“One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living.

“Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God” (Romans 14:1-10).

The common temptation, when faced with other believers who handle important secondary issues differently than I do, is to judge them, criticize them, despise them, dismiss them, quarrel with them. I may be so convinced that my view of an issue is the only possible one for a Christian to hold, and I cannot keep myself from arguing with you about it until I have won the argument, and possibly lost you in the process. Or I may dislike the fact that your different way of handling the issue forces me to think more deeply about the issue and stretches me to consider the possibility that you might have good reasons for what you are doing – and the more insecure I am, the more I will dislike the differences between us, the more I will dislike being stretched in this way. Or I may form an affinity group with the folks who are like me: vegetables only, seven days holy folks (far right corner); vegetables only, one day better (right center); one day and meat is good (left center); and meat is on the menu, seven days holy folks (far left center). That is not the way of Christ. The way of Christ is for you to look with loving regard upon the whole body: “welcome him [the one who is weak in faith]”; “welcome him [the one who handles the issue differently than you do]”; “We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.” (Romans 15:1-2) “[Bear] with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:2).

Can you bear with me a little agitation?

Now those of us who know Scripture, know that this is the way of Christ. And that way sounds good in theory. But for you and me it is meant to be lived in the context of this church family, with the actual people and the real issues in front of us. We’re all cool with the vegetables only folks and the meat-eating folks, because meat sacrificed to idols isn’t one of our pressing issues. Of course, if I were to bring up issues that hit closer to home, you might start to get agitated. But that’s the point! Can you bear with me a little agitation?

Some people would say that they have a better connection to the Lord through hymns. Other people would say that they have a better connection to the Lord through contemporary songs. Do you put down that which another finds helpful?

Some people would identify at least partly as charismatics in this Bible preaching church of ours, and others – not so much. The perennial temptation is to deal out superficial criticism: Do the charismatics even care about the Bible? Do the non-charismatics even care about the Holy Spirit? But suppose you understood that the aching heart of the non-charismatic is to be faithful to the God of Scripture and be attentive to His authoritative voice in the holy text? And suppose you understood that the aching heart of the charismatic is for the God who dwells among His people to manifest His saving presence in ways that inspire awe and transform? Do you have the ability to sit down, listen to the other person’s perspective, and be challenged by Scriptural passages that don’t fit neatly into your current mental framework?

Some of our ladies wear head coverings, and other ladies do not. Now if any of these ladies had an unhealthy mindset (and I hope that this unhealthy mindset doesn’t prevail among us), those who wear head coverings might see the ones who don’t as negligent or deficient, and those who don’t wear head coverings might see the ones who do as traditionalist or preoccupied with external appearance. But in that case, neither group would be functioning with a Christian mindset. In keeping with the Romans 14 instruction, your default assumption should be that the one who wears a head covering, wears it in honor of the Lord and that the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord.

On the related subject of dress more generally, we maintain the freedom of the believer to dress modestly according to the what his or her conscience requires or permits. We should steer clear of strict rules, written or unwritten, in either direction. There is no rule that says, ‘You must dress casually.’ There is no rule that says, ‘You must not dress casually.’ There is no rule that says, ‘You must dress formally.’ There is no rule that says, ‘You must not dress formally.’ We must oppose all such rules. And frankly, if anyone has adopted an unwritten rule like that, I’m glad that someone else is breaking it, so that it creates the opportunity for you to sort it out and ultimately discard your unwritten rule! Regarding your own individual practice: “Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.” (Romans 14:5) We must not judge others on the basis of external appearance, and we must assume the best about the motivations of others.

Some people in our church family really like The Chosen, the multi-season show about the life of Jesus. Some people in our church family have some real concerns about the show. Do The Chosen lovers assume that the show’s critics are nitpicky killjoys? Do The Chosen critics assume that the show’s followers are placing the show above Scripture? Have you sat down to humbly discuss these things with one another?

When it comes to parent’s strategies to facilitate the education of their children, some parents have adopted one approach, other parents have adopted a different approach, and still other parents have adopted a hybrid approach. Do you assume the worst about parents who have taken an approach different from your own? Do you secretly hope that their approach fails, thus vindicating your ‘assume the worst’ mindset? Have you ever sat down and had an honest, unrushed conversation about why they have made the decisions that they have made?

Take this to heart: there are honorable brothers and sisters within our church family who land on every side of the above issues.

Now perhaps I have succeeded at making some of you feel uncomfortable. Good, and welcome to church! Welcome to the holy and dearly loved church of the Lord Jesus Christ! Welcome to this wonderful community of not yet perfected disciples! Will you humbly, gently, and patiently bear with these dear brothers and sisters in love? Will you welcome them and make them the object of your affectionate concern? This is Christ’s church, and with His sovereign gracious hand He upholds people that I might be tempted to shut out, but I cannot shut them out. “[For] God has welcomed him” (Romans 14:3). “[For] the Lord is able to make him stand.” (Romans 14:4) “[Welcome] one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” (Romans 15:7)

An Important Caution

I could give you my own perspective on these and other issues, and in certain contexts I might tell you what I think. Or if it comes up naturally in the text I am preaching, then let’s address it. Otherwise, I might be really slow to tell you what I think. Why? Well, here’s one caution I have: the last thing in the world we want is a veneer of unity that is actually a mindless uniformity in which everyone chooses to agree with what the pastor thinks. In that case, you are allowing me to spoon-feed you answers for you to regurgitate on demand, or else to keep your mouth shut. I can’t even tell you how unhealthy that is! The definition of regurgitate is to “repeat (information) without analyzing or comprehending it.”[1] Be assured: disciples are not called to be regurgitators of their pastors! While I am called to teach you the whole counsel of God, and to set forth the beautiful and life-giving doctrines and moral boundaries of Scripture, I am not called to think for you. You must love the Lord with your heart and your mind. You must wrestle through the meaning and implications of the text and of biblical principles. You must make dozens of applications and judgment calls and life decisions, from an engaged heart and mind, in your best attempt to honor the Lord and to serve those around you. The thing about mindless uniformity is that no one actually agrees anyway: it is just a posture of appeasement, or a way of keeping up appearances. Far better to be a community of messy disciples who are wrestling honestly with what the Bible teaches and how it applies, and where we can honestly share our thoughts with one another and spur each other to grow.

Aim to refine one another

If we are standing in the true grace of God and are learning to be secure in His steadfast love, then we can actually have robust discussions about these and other issues. Not to quarrel, fight, belittle, or knock down. And it is entirely possible that on any particular issue, you really might have the right perspective and somebody else might be distorted in his or her thinking. But that person is still your brother or sister, to be welcomed and loved. Sit down with one another and say: I want to know why you see the issue that way. Well, let me tell you! And I want you to know why I see the issue another way. Please do share! And together, we sharpen one another and refine one another and help each other to make progress.

4) Get to know one another

Fourth, and not unrelated to the previous point, it is imperative that you get to know one another. For some of us, this final fifteen minutes of the series may be the most important of all. One of the texts on my mind is 1 Peter 4:9, which says, “Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.” I am intrigued by this concept of hospitality here in 1 Peter 4:9. The Greek word translated as “hospitality” is formed by two Greek words that, when put together, mean loving strangers. And yet, Peter instructs the Christians to show hospitality – to demonstrate this love for strangers – to one another! While this instruction to show hospitality would have had special application to Christians who were traveling from one part of Asia Minor to another, it certainly applied to the believers within each local church. They were to “keep loving one another” (1 Peter 4:8), “serve one another” (1 Peter 4:10), and “[show] hospitality to one another” (1 Peter 4:9). Even in a relatively small congregation, it is easy for some congregants to be strangers to other congregants. The instruction implies that the goal is for there to be no strangers among God’s people. Don’t be strangers to one another. Open up your heart and home and life to your fellow believers. Invite them in. Get to know them.

Now I really think that we need to heed this admonition. On an average Sunday here at South Paris Baptist Church, almost half of the people in attendance were not part of our church family before Covid. The composition of the congregation has changed dramatically in a relatively short time. Many of you don’t know one another. Many of you don’t know each other’s stories, each other’s circumstances, each other’s joys and sorrows. And this constitutes a vulnerability within our church family. If I eat with you, roller skate with you, play tennis with you, play chess with you, sit down across a table and hear your story, then we develop a bond that is difficult to sever. If I get snapshots of your life up close and personal, and you share your heart with me, and I share mine with you, then we cultivate a disposition to honor each other and endure with each other – and this disposition continues when our relationship suffers stress. But if we don’t know each other very well, then our relationship is much more fragile – and if we enter into some conflict, then we are likely to blow the conflict and each other’s flaws out of proportion, and get in a bad way and turn against each other. Listen, I don’t want us to get in a bad way with one another. There are really only two options: “knit together in love” (Colossians 2:2), or isolated and ready to fracture; “being built together” (Ephesians 2:22), or disconnected and ready to dissolve. We can play church. Or we can be the real thing:

“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” (Ephesians 4:15-16)

But real relationships with one another are required. How fitting that the command to “[show] hospitality to one another” is sandwiched in between the commands to love one another and serve one another. I’m sure there are many ways in which these instructions fit together, but just consider this: one of the primary ways that we express love to one another is in the practice of hospitality, and these relationships deepened by hospitality become the context in which our service to and with one another flourishes.

Let me tell you about one another

Who are these other Christian people that you are supposed to show hospitality to? Let me tell you about these Christian people – the ones sitting alongside you today in this sanctuary – let me tell you about them from 1 Peter. They are often “grieved by various trials” (1 Peter 1:6). They are “sojourners and exiles” as far as the present world is concerned (1 Peter 2:11). “[The] passions of the flesh… wage war against [their souls]” (1 Peter 2:11). Sometimes they find themselves in difficult work environments (1 Peter 2:18-25), and sometimes they find themselves in difficult home environments (1 Peter 3:1-7), and sometimes they are “[suffering] for righteousness’ sake” (1 Peter 3:14), and sometimes they are maligned for seeking to live a holy life (1 Peter 4:4). They could really use your prayer, love, and practical support (1 Peter 4:7-10). These are the brothers and sisters that you are called to show hospitality to. Do you know each other’s trials and difficulties? Do you each other’s sufferings and heartaches? Of course, these brothers and sisters that you are called to show hospitality to are sinners. They sin, quite possibly against you or against someone you love. But what of it? “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8) We must not forget that our brothers and sisters have been sprinkled with the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:2, 18-19). “He [Christ] Himself bore [their] sins in his body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). Therefore, in union with Christ and by the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit, we love our imperfect brothers and sisters, and with our love we declare our agreement with what the blood of the Lamb has achieved: a complete and efficacious covering. Reflecting that glorious atonement, with love we “[cover] a multitude of sins.” Take this to heart: our love for one another is a way of saying “Yes” and “Amen” to the truth of the gospel!

Hospitality will stretch you

It is also true, of course, and for dozens of reasons, that hospitality is inconvenient. If it was easy and natural, Peter wouldn’t have had to say, “Show hospitality to one another without grumbling” (1 Peter 4:9, italics added). But oh, you will be tempted to grumble. You haven’t the time for it! You haven’t the skill for it! You haven’t the home for it! You haven’t the dining room for it! You haven’t the budget for it! And besides, they aren’t like you. You have no natural reason to show them hospitality. Great! Now we’re getting somewhere, because you don’t need a single natural reason to do it. It is enough that Jesus commands you to do it – Jesus, the One who welcomed you, Jesus, the One who welcomed them, Jesus, the One who wants you and them to experience a mutual uncomfortable but loving and hopeful welcome in your home and theirs. And then, in ordinary conversations with ordinary people around ordinary tables holding ordinary food, or sitting in ordinary living rooms after dinner with (one can hope) extraordinary coffee, you begin to get real snapshots of each other’s hearts, stories, and lives. And I dare say that those snapshots of each other’s hearts, stories, and lives are of greater eternal value and practical benefit than most of the news, podcasts, sports, and social media that we consume.

Some practical applications

Now once every couple hundred sermons you’ll have to allow me to be painfully practical. I lay no specific burden on anyone. Whatever you do, do willingly from a heart of love. No pressure, no guilt, no new set of rules. But I appeal to you all to make progress in this most important task. And remember that showing hospitality cannot be reduced to opening up your home. The heart of hospitality is welcoming someone else into your life, and that can actually happen in dozens of different ways. But I do want to land in some painfully practical applications. Keep in mind that getting to know one another requires many opportunities in many different contexts. No one thing is a magic bullet. But try some of these.

First, for those of you who are in the habit of opening up your home, I want to set before you a challenge: be intentional about inviting to your table at the same time a couple of families who you suspect don’t know each other very well, and thus facilitate deeper connections within the body of Christ.

Second, for everyone I set before you this challenge: between now and Easter Sunday, make an honest effort to develop a meaningful connection with someone you hardly know, or revitalize a relationship that has grown apart. If even 25 people took up this challenge, the number of strong inter-connections within the church family would greatly increase.

Third, if you are physically able to do so, I encourage you to attend the fellowship meal that we have on first Sundays after the worship service: the next one is on Sunday March 3. Bring a food item to share if you can, and sit by someone you don’t know very well, and strike up a conversation. If you’re at a loss for words, say: “What did you think of that sermon a couple weeks back that led us to sit by each other at this fellowship meal today?” (“Oh yes, a real doozy, that one! Thank you for the reminder!”)

Fourth, I’m looking for a few volunteers. I don’t really know what I’m asking you to do, and that’s okay, because that’s for you to determine. The way I figure it, it would be beneficial to have a series of creative and fun activities that are designed to jumpstart relationships among people who don’t know each other very well. It could involve food: dinners for six, dine with nine, progressive dinners, and so on. Or it could be team-building or recreational activities for those who are willing to take the plunge. You only need to be limited by your own creativity. Perhaps two or three of you would like to team up to organize some activities that would help to jumpstart some personal connections. You can plan it, promote it, and invite people to sign up. Share your excitement with everyone else. You have the green light. Go for it!

Last but not least, I encourage you to attend the Family Meeting on Sunday March 3. The Elders know that we need to be more communicative with the church family, and all of us as a church family need to be more communicative with each other. We encourage you to come to this meeting and to share your heart. You could share about any number of things. Perhaps you want to share how this sermon series is stretching you. Perhaps you want to share a testimony regarding the Lord’s work in your life. Perhaps you want to share a burden upon your heart, or a concern that you have. Perhaps you want to share a word of encouragement with your brothers and sisters in Christ. It would do us all a world of good to slow down and take time to listen to each other, to better understand each other, so that we can better love each other and better serve each other as we follow Christ together.

Brothers and sisters: “Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.” (1 Peter 4:9) And “welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” (Romans 15:7)

ENDNOTES

[1] From Google’s English Dictionary, which is provided by Oxford Languages.