Transcript of a published teaching by Pastor Nathan Reever, transcribed from YouTube. An attributed primary source — not Acts 2:38 Life doctrine text.
Summary
Summary prepared by Acts 2:38 Life from the transcript below — the preacher’s words follow in full.
Members One of Another: The Theme and the Text
- The lesson belongs to the pastor's June series of assigned topics on the church; after last week's teaching on being a disciple and a disciple maker, this week's assigned theme is our connectedness in the body of Christ.
- His chosen topic is "members one of another," and his text is Romans 12:5: "So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another" — individually members of one another.
- He illustrates connectedness from the body: a painful toe changed the way he walked, and compensating for it soon produced a sore hip and hamstring — one part's trouble affected the others because all the parts are connected.
- The lesson's aim is to show that believers can speak words and take actions that reinforce community one with another; it stresses the importance of doing these things more than the mechanics of how, trusting the leading of the Holy Spirit and common sense for the ways.
Scriptures: Romans 12:5
The Church: A Called-Out, Connected Body
- In Matthew's gospel, the 16th chapter, Jesus asked who men said he was, then asked the disciples directly; on Peter's confession — "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," a revelation from the Father and not from flesh and blood — Jesus declared, "I will build my church."
- This is the first use of the word "church" in the New Testament; it comes from the Greek ekklesia, a calling out — a people called out, concretely a religious congregation.
- Peter's description of the church is quoted from 1 Peter 2:9-10: a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own special people, called out of darkness into his marvelous light — once not a people, now the people of God who have obtained mercy.
- The church is therefore a community of called-out members, baptized into Christ; as a human body has many interconnected parts that depend on one another for healthy function, so born-again disciples are interrelated members who rely on one another.
Scriptures: Matthew 16; 1 Peter 2:9-10
Love One Another: The Foundation
- Love one another is the foundation of all the "one another" commands: our relationship with God is reflected in our relationship with one another — 1 John 1:7 ties fellowship one with another to walking in the light, and 1 John 4:20 calls the man who claims to love God while hating his brother a liar.
- Jesus' new commandment, John 13:34, is to love one another as he loved us; the command was not new in the sense of never given — Leviticus 19 already said to love your neighbor as yourself — but new as the identifying badge of a class of people, his disciples.
- By that love, John 13:35 says, all will know we are his disciples; love for one another, not merely love for him, is what identifies us to the outsider as belonging to Jesus.
- First Corinthians 13 gives the definition of love: patient, kind, not envious, boastful, proud, rude or self-seeking, not easily angered, keeping no record of wrongs, not delighting in evil but rejoicing in the truth, always protecting, trusting, hoping and persevering — love never fails; it is a checklist by which we can evaluate ourselves.
- Love so defined is unselfish, sacrificial and unconditional — Jesus does not love us "because" of anything in us, he just loves us — and love is a choice, not merely an attraction or feeling; since none of us measures up perfectly on any given day, we need God's grace for one another just as we need it for salvation.
Scriptures: 1 John 1:7; 1 John 4:20; Leviticus 19; John 13:34; John 13:35; 1 Corinthians 13
Accept One Another Without Respect of Persons
- Romans 15:7 commands us to receive one another as Christ received us, to the glory of God — to accept one another just as Christ accepted us, in order to bring praise to God.
- Peter had to learn this in Acts 10: on a housetop he saw the sheet of clean and unclean animals and argued with the voice three times, but through the men sent from Cornelius he learned that God shows no partiality — in every nation, whoever fears him and works righteousness is accepted by him — so we should not think of anyone as unacceptable.
- God is not willing that any should perish; there is no individual he is unwilling to save, however vile the crime, so acceptance of persons must carry no discrimination on the basis of race, nationality, gender or economic status.
- Accepting one another does not mean we cannot judge: a thief may be judged a thief, and a minister teaching that baptism in Jesus' name is unnecessary may be judged a false teacher — but the judgment rests on the action or teaching, never on the person's gender, age or ethnicity, and the aim is to guide the person to change, as Aquila and Priscilla took Apollos aside and expounded the way of God more perfectly rather than shunning him.
- Galatians 3:28 settles the basis: in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female — we are all one in Christ Jesus, all redeemed by his blood and bound for the same heaven.
Scriptures: Romans 15:7; Acts 10; Galatians 3:28
Be Patient with One Another
- Ephesians 4:2 describes the manner: with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love — longsuffering is long temper, and to forbear is to put up with, so we are to put up with one another for a long time.
- In relationships some personalities blend and some clash, and that will not change until Jesus comes; yet even where personalities clash we can love and accept one another and bear along with one another's faults and failures, since none of us is perfect this side of eternity.
- From years of youth-ministry seminars he recalls lapel pins bearing the letters PBPGINFWMY — "Please be patient, God is not finished with me yet" — a reminder that is true of each of us; patience is a fruit of the Spirit, and in relationships patience means not giving up on others.
- Jesus' parable of the barren fig tree highlights the second chance: the vineyard dresser asked for one more year to work with the tree before cutting it down, and God likewise suffers long and offers opportunity after opportunity — if God does that, how can the body of Christ do less?
- Practically: if a brother falls, figuratively or literally, the hope is that someone will offer a hand up and help him make corrections rather than kick him while he is down; helping one another without condoning sin requires patience one with another.
Scriptures: Ephesians 4:2
Forgive One Another
- Colossians 3:13 joins bearing with one another to forgiving one another: if anyone has a complaint against another — the word rendered complaint denotes fault found, blame or censure — even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do; the way to handle complaints and quarrels can be summed up in one word: forgive.
- Christ is the supreme pattern of a forgiving spirit: he forgave us freely, without hesitation, delay or conditions and with no probationary waiting period; fully, pardoning all our offenses without distinguishing little sins from big ones; and for good — forgiven sins are remembered no more, removed as far as the east is from the west, cast behind his back as if we had never sinned.
- We are to forgive an offending person in the same way — freely, fully and for good — and everyone is better off for it; unforgiveness carries physical, emotional and spiritual consequences, and Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount that if we do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will our Father forgive ours, so harboring a grudge puts our own relationship with God, even our salvation, at risk.
- Forgiveness frees and releases everyone involved; he illustrates from his own past, when an untruthful answer under pressure weighed on him until the man he had wronged appeared at the church and, before he could finish explaining, answered, "It's under the blood" — the release taught him that forgiveness should be given as quickly as it is asked.
- If we need to forgive, we should decide and do it — sometimes a conversation is needed, sometimes the decision is made in the heart; if we need forgiveness we should ask for it, and if the other person will not give it, we have still done our part by asking in sincerity.
Scriptures: Colossians 3:13
Bear One Another's Burdens
- Galatians 6:2: "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ" — a burden is a load or weight, and bearing it means willingly, humbly walking beside others and helping them when they are hurting or struggling.
- He illustrates from a battle under David's reign, where Joab divided his forces against enemies in front and behind and told his brother that whichever side found the enemy too strong, the other would come and help — we are in this together and stand together where the need is greatest.
- The Holy Ghost is described as the Comforter, and in some versions also Helper and Advocate; through the Spirit we can be to one another what he is to us — advocates, helpers and comforters who carry one another's burdens — and Jesus taught his disciples to be careful of one another's feelings and reputation and to deny themselves to promote others' welfare.
- Beyond the church's organized care ministries — hospital and shut-in visitation, grocery showers, funeral dinners — no calendar event or pastoral permission is required for individual effort: the main way we help one another is through prayer, and outside the church we can help financially, give a ride, provide childcare or take food to someone in difficulty.
Scriptures: Galatians 6:2
In Closing: Stay Together in the Unity of the Spirit
- Jesus' words about marriage — what God has joined together, let not man put asunder — carry a broader message: what starts together as part of a divine plan ought to stay together; that is true of marriage, and it is also true of the church.
- The New Testament describes the members of the church in together-language: fellow citizens of the household of God, fitly framed together, builded together, planted together, laborers together, knit together, heirs together, quickened together — and one day to be caught up together.
- That is how the church started: in Acts 2:1 they were all with one accord, and that is how God intends it to remain; nowhere does the Bible tell the church to be divided, split up, at odds, or to fight, attack or destroy one another — it says the opposite.
- Ephesians 4:3 gives the closing charge: endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace — work at it, keep trying even when the first attempt fails — and the lesson ends in a standing prayer of thanksgiving for God's grace and mercy that called us from darkness to light and made us belong one to another.
Scriptures: Acts 2:1; Ephesians 4:3
Scripture index: Romans 12:5; Matthew 16; 1 Peter 2:9-10; 1 John 1:7; 1 John 4:20; John 13:34; Leviticus 19; John 13:35; 1 Corinthians 13; Romans 15:7; Acts 10; Galatians 3:28; Ephesians 4:2; Colossians 3:13; Galatians 6:2; Acts 2:1; Ephesians 4:3.
if you're standing you can be seated as pastor announced on sunday he and his wife took a little time off this week they are winding their way back and will be back with us for sunday service which of course starts at 10 for all of us here in the sanctuary pastor has chosen a topic for this month of june and assigned different themes or topics under that general one we heard last week from brother maguire on being a disciple and being a disciple maker and so this evening i've been asked to talk about our connectedness in the body of christ and for a topic i have chosen members one of another there is a lesson sheet available if you had one that's fine of course if not that's also fine last week brother maguire pointed out that i was an artist i didn't think that was a little generous but i am an unashamed and admitted doodler so i figured i would give you the opportunity if you want to take notes you have a blank sheet there or if you want to just doodle i couldn't condemn you because i do it all the time but that is your lesson sheet for tonight and our title theme here be members one of another i think it was the last time i preached or taught or something that i made mention that i didn't have a fancy title slide or whatever and mrs protzman our resident diva took mercy on us that's what i call her you can't call her that took mercy on me and came up with some designs i she did several and i took the very first one which i found out later was unacceptable to her it was so basic so i don't have a future in graphic design i figured that out but uh we settled on this one b memories one another and of course that puzzle represents how we all have a place and are connected and fit together in the body of christ and
our text for this evening comes from romans chapter 12 verse 5. this is in a passage where paul is talking about the body of christ and all of us having different ministries and how we fit together but in verse five it's sort of a summary statement he says so we being many are one body in christ and everyone remembers one of another or as another translation puts it we are individually members of one another and so that's our theme tonight members one of another as a preface i have a duh question to ask you and that's this have you noticed that when one part of your body hurts it affects other parts i don't want to go into too much detail so as not to gross you out but some years ago i had a little problem with a large toe i think more specifically the toenail and it hurt painful and it affected the way i walked in fact i to compensate for that pain was favoring my opposite hip and hamstring and i found out that after a few days of doing that i now had a sore hip and a sore hamstring and you wouldn't think that just one toe would have such an effect but it does because it's all connected all the parts of the body are connected and it's certainly that way with the body of christ we are connected as paul puts it here we are many parts but we belong to each other in the body of christ the bible has a lot to say about relationships between people and how they can be strengthened or even formed or based and these scriptures that i'm going to share with you can be applied a couple of ways i've chosen to pull out a number of scriptures that actually have the words one another in them and a couple of ways these can be applied one we can certainly talk about the new testament church and how we can build up relationships between individuals and families i should say on a practical level we can build up relationships with individuals families neighbors what have you but then the church certainly can apply this teaching to foster a stronger sense of kinship as well as identity in our own congregation here at apc this lesson i'll just tell you up front is intended to show that believers can speak words and take actions speak words and take actions that will reinforce a community one with another and i'll let you know now that this is going to stress more so the importance of doing these things as opposed to suggesting how you go about it but i really believe that the leading of the holy spirit as well as good old common sense will help you to find ways to strengthen and foster a spirit of unity in the church
so with that said let's lay a little foundation in matthew's gospel the 16th chapter jesus asked his disciples whom do men say that i the son of man am and so they immediately gave the latest poll results they said well some say you're john the baptist some say you're elijah some say you're jeremiah or one of the prophets all kinds of ideas but jesus not being content with that asked them point blank but who do you say i am and that's when if you recall simon peter spoke for the group and offered that tremendous revelation you are the christ or the messiah the son of the living god and jesus said to him you're blessed simon because flesh and blood has not revealed this but your father which is in heaven and then he went on to say upon this rock and notice the personal pronoun i will build my church i will build my church this is the first time the word church is used in the new testament it comes from the greek word ecclesia and alex i know you're home sick with the kids but if you're watching and i mispronounce that send a letter to the home office and complain okay i did the best i could right ekklesia is that right marlene you wouldn't know either would you it is right you're just making that up her husband he speaks all kinds of languages and greeks one of them so but it means a calling out concretely or literally it means a popular meeting especially a religious congregation but it's the idea of someone being called out and the apostle peter gives what might be the most definitive description of the church in one of his letters the first letter chapter 2 and verses 9 and 10. in these couple of verses the apostle writes but you are a chosen generation a royal priesthood a holy nation his or god's own special people that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light who once were not a people but now are the people of god who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy so the new testament church and i realize this is 101 or basic for most if not all of you but it's worth reminding ourselves the new testament church is a community of called out members people who have been called out of darkness into god's marvelous light as the apostle peter points out here are called from sin to the salvation that's in jesus christ and we're called out and we are made as paul wrote to the galatians we're baptized into christ that is the church that is the body of christ and in romans from which we read earlier paul uses this analogy of a human body to describe the church saying that we are one body in christ and every one members one of another and if you'll note those words members one of another they imply if not explicitly state interconnected relationships members one of another and if you'll think of the human body for a moment it has various parts all kinds of them and they're interconnected dependent upon one another for full and healthy function as we said earlier one part can go haywire and it affects other aspects of our body but paul says in like manner or so we being many are one body in christ and all parts of one another so born-again believers or i guess disciple is the more favored word these days born-again disciples are interrelated members of the church and we rely on one another and there are many scriptures in the bible that tell us that we are looked to be a community and connected i've chosen not to necessarily state those if you want to research it you're certainly welcome to do that but suffice it to say the bible points out that we do belong to one another we're connected and that's the way god wants it to be and so let's look at some scriptures that center on our relationship with one another
and the first one is really the foundation of all of this and that is love one another i heard terry black say some years ago in a message our relationship with god is reflected in our relationship with the church or in other words with one another our relationship with god is really seen in life by our relationship with one another and he based that on 1st john chapter 1 verse 7 which states but if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of jesus christ his son cleanses us from all sin and john also wrote in another part of that letter chapter 4 verse 20 if someone says i love god and hates his brother he is a liar for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen how can he love god whom he has not seen
and then jesus in the gospel of john said this in chapter 13 verse 34 a new commandment i give to you that you love one another as i have loved you that you also love one another and the new commandment that jesus is referencing here is a command that he was giving them just as he was about to leave or ascend into heaven and it was really to be a badge of discipleship or an identification if you will by which they might be known as the friends and the followers of jesus christ and be distinguished from other people and it's called new not because there was no command ever given to love one another in fact leviticus i think it's the 19th chapter says you shall love your neighbor as yourself so it wasn't new in that sense but as one commentator put it it was new because it had never before been used to identify a class or a group of people in that way to distinguish them as those that loved one another and belonged to jesus christ and this certainly everything i've just said is seen within this context if you go to the next verse john chapter 13 verse 35 jesus says by this we'll all know that you are my disciples if you have love one for another or for one another and so there it is our identification our badge that which lets folks know who we are jesus says that's how people will know you're my disciples that you belong to me that you love one another he doesn't say that you love me although we know that's a cardinal truth and certainly necessary but he's saying it's your love one for another that's going to identify you to the outsider that you belong to me and in first corinthians 13 just in case somebody's wondering well what is love what's it look like how do you define it how do you put it into practice first corinthians 13 gives what i would consider the the definitive uh insight on what love is and i didn't put this on the screen purposely i've chosen to read it from the new international version of the bible and i think as you listen you can glean a lot from it tells us this about love love is patient love is kind it does not envy it does not boast it is not proud it is not rude it is not self-seeking it's not easily angered keeps no record of wrongs love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth it always protects always trusts always hopes always perseveres that is god's definition of love and it wraps it up or summarizes it by saying love never fails and so you could take that checklist and if you're wanting to evaluate whether somebody loves you go on down the checklist or if you want to evaluate whether you love somebody go on down the checklist and see if you measure up i will interject this though none of this is perfect okay and so on any given day we might not live up to every one of these descriptions and so just like we need god's grace for salvation we need god's grace for one another don't we because we don't always measure up but that is uh the apex or the high definition the final definition if you will of love according to the word of god and if you want to boil that down essentially what the bible is saying or defining love as is this it's unselfish and sacrificial kind of just the opposite of human nature right as humans before we're born again or transformed we're rather selfish and i guess we still battle at some and uh we still don't like to sacrifice give up do without but this kind of love is unselfish and sacrificial the kind of love that we're to have one for another and that's the type of love jesus holds for us and he wants us to have for each other it's also the love of jesus that or i should also say it's the love of jesus that is also unconditional so we could add that in and what an example for us jesus doesn't love us because and then you fill in the blank whatever might be true but he just loves us period it's just that simple doesn't love us because but he loves us period and that is what he's calling us to do for one another and always remember this love is a choice when i was much younger i was a little confused and i thought love only had to do with attraction or feeling or emotion but not really it's a choice that we make and of course as we've just defined from first corinthians 13 that's what genuine or true love is all about
so we are to love one another and then another verse of scripture is that we should accept acc ept accept one another romans 15 7 says this wherefore receive ye one another as christ also received us to the glory of god the new international version renders the verse accept one another then just as christ accepted you in order to bring praise to god so we're called on in the body of christ to be accepting of one another the apostle peter had to learn this principle in acts chapter 10 i'm not going to read all the verses because it's lengthy but if you want to read it yourself acts chapter 10 i think around verse 9 we'll start the story but peter was on a house top praying and uh he became hungry while he was waiting for something to eat be prepared he fell into a trance saw the heaven open and there was a certain vessel descending down it was like a great sheet that was tied up at the four corners and inside that were all manner of beasts or animals that according to the jewish law were unclean to eat things that he shouldn't have and a voice said to the apostle peter rise kill and eat and the apostle peter began arguing with the voice saying no no no these these animals are all against the jewish diet can't do that and it happened three times with peter the apostle arguing each time that it wasn't for him to do and while he was thinking about that he didn't have a reason why it came it wasn't explained to him at this point but while he was thinking about it the spirit said to him so this was a word of knowledge one of the gifts of the spirit that acted three men are looking for you the spirit said to him when they arrive go with them doubting nothing for i have sent them in other words they're genuine they're for real and it was so good that the apostle peter had this word of knowledge this gift of the spirit in operation that allowed him to have the confirmation and so when they arrived he went with them got to the place where they had taken him and he said upon arriving it's unlawful for a jew to keep company with gentiles and by unlawful he meant of course the religious law god has showed me though that i should not call any man common or unclean or to put that in another way he showed me that i should not think of anyone as being unacceptable he realized that and when he asked why did you send for me cornelius who had sent these men explained well four days ago i was fasting and praying and a man stood before me in bright clothing and said that my prayer had been heard and that i should sin for one called simon and joppa and when he came he would tell me everything i needed to know about my relationship with god and so when the apostle peter heard this he being a preacher started preaching and verse 34 tells us when he opened his mouth and here's how he started his sermon in truth i perceive that god shows no partiality but in every nation whoever fears him and works righteousness is accepted by him the apostle peter learned in a very vivid way that god is no respecter of persons and the lesson for us of course is that we should likewise refrain from having any respect of persons whosoever will can be saved there's not one individual that cannot be saved or that god is unwilling to save in fact we know from scripture god is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance and and the way i kind of help myself let that hit home is you think of a criminal guilty of the most vile crime god wants to save that individual now in my humanity i might think no way but god wants to save everyone there's not one person that he is unwilling to save and we need to recognize that no respect of persons when it comes to the salvation of god
now i do want to slip in here this little thought that accepting one another not one another does not mean that we can't judge one another if i didn't have your attention before i got it now right but sometimes we make the mistake of thinking well you know acceptance means you can't judge or you're being judgmental if you don't accept me but here's what i mean by this i'll explain with a couple examples uh if i steal something then you have every right scripturally to judge me a thief if i take something that doesn't belong to me i'm a thief and you can judge me that way now here's the point it doesn't matter if i'm a male or a female thief doesn't matter if i'm a german or an irish thief doesn't matter if i'm a tall or a short thief doesn't matter if i'm an old thief or a young thief i'm a thief so you get the idea there no discrimination based on gender or age or ethnicity or anything like that but you can judge and say well that person is a thief a sinner they've done wrong and and transgressed against god's word now of course the key for us is to guide that person and love to change if they've stolen something help them make restitution help them to find a better way to live than steal things that don't belong to them get a job or whatever they need to do but you don't judge them in a discriminatory way as far as being a person but certainly uh with respect to that action here's another example if i as a minister would claim that baptism in jesus name is not necessary well if you've read your bible you know that that's not true and so quickly you could judge me a false teacher because i'm espousing something that is not in the word of god if i say it's not necessary and again it doesn't matter if i'm male female or what my nationality is or gender none of that matters the fact is i'm just a false teacher because i'm saying something that's not true per the word of god and you can love me and accept me as a person but yet not accept my behavior or my beliefs if i'm a thief you can't accept that if i'm saying something if i believe something that's wrong and i'm teaching that insisting on that you can not accept that but yet accept me as a person and i love the powerful example in acts where apollos didn't quite have everything put together doctrinally but it was aquila and priscilla who instead of disdaining him shunning him pushing him off to the side ridiculing him they said hey come over here let us talk about this and they as the i think king james puts it show expounded the way more perfectly unto him and they won a brother and a mighty disciple for jesus christ so i hope you get the idea there that that in accepting one another doesn't mean we can't judge sin or make determinations in those areas again not on the basis of gender or race or anything like that because god wants all to be saved but we can make some judgments there so accepting one another means we should not discriminate on the basis of race nationality gender economic status whatever it might be because as paul said in galatians chapter 3 and verse 28 in the body of christ you're in the church there is neither jew nor greek there is neither bond nor free there is neither male nor female you are all one in christ jesus and so we've got to remember that we're all redeemed by the precious blood of christ all of us and we're all going to the same heaven and so we have to recognize that
yet another verse to examine is this be patient with one another i guess i should slip in here thank you for being patience with me how we do gonna move on be patient with one another ephesians 4 2 says with all lowliness and meekness with long suffering forbearing one another in love the word long-suffering means of long temper we won't get into who has the long and short tempers figuratively uh forebear means to put up with if you forebear you put up with so if you put those two together you have this idea to put up with for a long time and i guess the classic example is to cite my lovely wife for a long time she's been putting up with me as her dear husband i guess i'm dear but nonetheless to put up with for a long time the scripture is saying we need to have that kind of attitude or outlook one to another and in relationships let's just be candid sometimes you put up with things don't you in relationships some personalities blend some personalities clash that's just the way it is and i don't think it's gonna change till jesus comes and on that subject by the way that reminds me last week i was also called out as an aggravator i do believe and i i just want to say this that hopefully that you think that is a lovable nuisance or if you think of it as a irksome pest that needs to be squashed let me know and i'll stare stay clear of you because i don't want to be squashed okay but even in those instances when personalities clash it's possible for us to love and accept one another it really is i'm not saying we're going to be best friends with every person we meet but we certainly can have a loving and accepting attitude toward everybody we can bear along with one another's faults failures none of us is perfect and none of us ever will be on this side of eternity
years ago when i was youth pastor i attended uh some seminars in fact several years in a row by a man named bill gotham in fact i think one year if not more the youth team went with me to hear him teach about different issues and challenges that youth are facing and at one point in this week-long seminar he gave these little lapel pins that had these letters on them p-b-p-g-i-n-f-w-m-y and don't worry this will not be on the test okay but pbp g-i-n-f-w-m-y and of course he uh had us where these didn't explain for some time into the week and then we finally realized when he told us that it stood for this little slogan please be patient god is not finished with me yet and that's absolutely true for each of us and thankfully patience is a fruit of the spirit per galatians we can display the quality or the fruit the result of the spirit is as patience but we can also harvest it for ourselves through god's indwelling spirit and patience has many applications i know but in terms of relationship i'll just say it this way patience is about not giving up on others patience is not giving up on others in luke's gospel jesus told a parable and i won't read it word for word but a man had a fig tree and went to it at the right time of the year um to get fruit from it but didn't it didn't have any on it and so he told the dresser the vineyard uh for three years i've come to this tree looking for fruit and it's not born any let's just cut it down cut our losses and be done with it that was the attitude of the owner but the dresser of the vineyard answered lord would you just let it alone this year give me one more year with it i'm going to fertilize i'm going to work with it i'll make sure it gets ample sun and water and everything i think it needs to know and he said if it has fruit then after a year good but if not then we'll tear it down and the point of that parable is not that we give three or the most four years someone in terms of our patients but the idea is the highlight it highlights a second chance the giving of a second chance and we do know god is a god of the second chance and aren't we thankful for that he truly is and over and over and over in scripture you'll find where god suffers long forebears he has patience and he offers opportunity after opportunity and i would simply ask this basic question if god's doing all of that how can we do less as the body of christ when it comes to working with one another if i would and this is i guess entirely possible but if i would literally trip over a monitor and fall flat on my face here's what i hope would not happen that anybody would rush up here and start kicking me while i'm down what's the matter with your reaver can't you stand on your own two feet and just kick me and all kinds of ridicule i would hope nobody would do that what i hope somebody would do is come up here and say are you okay let me give you a hand up i don't know what happened there and that's literally but even figuratively if i fall down if i sin or stumble i hope folks won't kick me while i'm down and say well you had it coming good enough for you but i really do hope somebody would outstretch a hand in the spirit and say come on let me get you back on your feet let's do what we need to do to make corrections and let's allow you to go on in the spirit and will of god and that's the kind of thing that we need to demonstrate one to another again we're not condoning sin or wrong but we're here to help one another and that does require that we have patience one with another and that segues into uh one more here in fact i had so many in rehearsal i realized i couldn't get to them all so i think i can do one or two more here without holding you too long but
this segues into this one forgive one another in colossians 3 13 the apostle paul writes bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against another even as christ forgave you so you also must do the greek word that is translated in english as quarrel there as you see on the screen or in your bible in colossians occurs nowhere else in the new testament and again i'm not a greek scholar but just through research realized that or understood that you won't find that greek word anywhere else in the new testament and it means essentially fault found blame or censure and here of course as it's translated it denotes the occasion of a complaint and it would be really nice if we as church members never had a complaint wouldn't it but that's not the way it is it just isn't true and thankfully jesus left us an example of how to handle complaints and quarrels and you can really wrap it up in one word forgive want to know how to handle complaints and quarrels forgive and i know that might be a little too simplistic but that's at the heart of it forgive and certainly jesus is the supreme pattern of a forgiving spirit you think for a moment how christ forgave you and there might be different ways to describe it but let me do it this way he forgave us freely in other words he didn't hesitate or delay to forgive us when we asked him did he he didn't put conditions on it he didn't say well i'll forgive you if you know you do a b and c and then come back and we'll talk about this no he forgave us he didn't put us on a probationary period no waiting period he'd say now you know okay i'll think about it give me seven days come back and we'll see how things look no no he forgave us freely just like that when we asked it of him he also forgave us fully pardoned all of our offenses not just you know the first ten and then i'll hold these five you know in case you mess up again or to remind you just how bad you are no he forgave us fully all of our sins he didn't distinguish the so-called little sins from big sins if there is such a thing he said i'll forgive all of your sins fully he forgave us and then he also did so you might say forever or at least for good because he forgives us in such a way that our sins are remembered no more ezekiel talks about that he says when you're forgiven they are forgotten they're gone various ways they're described as far as the east is from the west plunged beneath the depths of the sea isaiah says they're cast behind his back various ways of saying he forgives and he forgets and treats us from that point on as if we had never sinned and that's kind of mind-boggling because we don't operate necessarily that way but he treats us as if we never had sin and so in the same way we should forgive an offending person someone who has offended us freely and fully and for good and when we do that forgive i think you'll agree everybody's better off when we forgive because there are i think you could say there are physical consequences to not forgiving there are emotional consequences to not forgiving and there's some research to bear this out i know this for a fact there are spiritual consequences to not forgiving because here's what jesus said in his sermon on the mount listen to this if you do not forgive men their trespasses neither will your father forgive your trespasses that's it if you won't forgive others i won't forgive you it's there in black and white for us and i certainly don't have a word of knowledge about any situation but i'll just humbly say that if you're in a situation where you have chosen not to forgive somebody i i pray this very moment you'll decide i'm forgiving i'm letting go i'm going to be rid of this because if i don't it's going to affect my relationship even my salvation and i know that it may not be necessary to speak to someone you can just make that decision in your mind and in your heart or maybe it's going to be necessary to talk to someone i don't know but i urge you to make that decision and do what needs to be done to forgive because there are grave spiritual consequences to not doing so harboring a grudge it creates stress and usually more so for the person harboring the grudge and certainly it will cause unbalanced relationships but forgiveness frees and forgiveness releases everybody involved you think about it if you've transgressed and go to somebody and ask for forgiveness and they say oh yeah think nothing of it wow what a load is lifted
i remember i'm like the i think it was a butler in the old testament i do remember my faults this day years and years ago and i say that like i'm an old man because i am to these guys right but i i was in a group of people and i was asked a question by someone and i'm just confession good for the soul i didn't answer truthfully i'm ashamed to admit that but it was a kind of a pressure situation and i i didn't stand up and and speak the truth i i didn't didn't say what was right and that that really weighed on me and bothered me as it should have but uh i certainly couldn't get that group together again but the person who asked me that question i felt like i owed it at least to that individual but he didn't live in st louis and uh i in that age time in my life i didn't know how to get a hold of him and all that kind of business we didn't have the internet except i am old right they didn't have internet or anything back in those days didn't even have cell phones smart phones unheard of it's terrible but um finally and i truly believe the lord arranged this the guy showed up at our church down at 13th and gravel and i remember i was up on the uh the platform side and he was toward the back when church was over i forget now if i some of you remember i went out i don't know if i went out the parking lot or through the basement but i i made a quick exit to get back to and i caught him in the lobby and went to uh explain and to remind him of the situation and the question he'd ask and as i was getting into it he said it's under the blood under the blood and i was like wait you haven't let me explain fully and uh he didn't even want to hear the details he just said it's under the blood it's under the blood and you talk about a release in my spirit when i recognize yeah not only had jesus christ forgiven me but he was also acknowledging that as well and it taught me a little lesson too that uh as quick as somebody asked for forgiveness we ought to just give it that quick it's under the blood jesus christ will forgive it you better believe i'll forgive it if he'll forgive any sin that we bring before him in repentance you better believe we ought to do the same any transgression any offense brought against us let's forgive it just like that and what a freedom that we find of course when we are forgiven and then on the other side of it when we are the one forgiving an offense that also is so freeing and provides such a release for us because we're no longer bottling that up and and wrestling with it and remembering it and and going through all that happens so may god help us uh to be forgiving of one another as needed and i don't mean to imply or suggest that we're a bunch of folks that are stepping on each other's toes all the time and getting into fusses and fights but you know my spirit i've been here and uh you know what i'm saying that when it happens let's be quick what do you say to forgive one another he does it why shouldn't we do it for one another can you say amen may god help us to have a forgiving spirit and if we need to forgive someone let's do it if we need forgiveness let's ask for it and i will also say sometimes when we ask forgiveness the other person is not willing to give it but if you've asked in sincerity you've done your part and that's all you can do but let's be willing to do both and be members one of another in forgiveness
and then just one more i've got several but i'll focus on this one uh galatians 6 2 bear one another's burdens i'm jumping ahead here eric so if you don't find it it's a short verse bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of christ so here's the idea carry one another's burdens and the word burden at least as far as i'm concerned is used figuratively for a load or a weight i guess it could be literal but i think of it as figurative and this means that we're willingly humbly walking beside others and helping them when they're hurting or when they're struggling and god knows that we go through hurts and struggles in this life during a battle in the old testament under david's reign joab one of the commanders saw that the front of the battle was against him in front and behind and so he chose choice men of israel and put them in a ray against the syrians and then the rest of the people he told his brother to take as another troop and put them in a ray against the children of ammon so they were being attacked from two sides by the syrians and the ammons and here's what joab said to his brother if the syrians be too strong for me then you will help me but if the children of ammon be too strong for you then i will come and help you and joab was pointing out that we're in this together we're going to support each other help each other wherever we're needed most that's where we will stand together and the holy ghost is described in the gospels as the comforter you will also find in certain english versions of the bible that it is also translated helper and so what the spirit is to us in comfort and help it also says it's an advocate for us those are the kinds of things that we can do not with the power of the holy ghost i know in and of ourselves but through the spirit we can be advocates we can be helpers we can be of comfort one to another or carry one another's burdens and jesus instructed his disciples to befriend each other in trials he told them to be careful of each other's feelings and i'm just summarizing different passages of scripture he told them to be careful of each other's reputation and he told them to deny themselves in order to promote other people's welfare you deny yourself to help other people those are all teachings of christ
and i know that here in the apc we have various care ministries and thank god for them there's hospital visitation all that's been greatly limited during the pandemic but shut-in ministry we do what we can grocery showers funeral dinners and on and on different things that we do in coordinated efforts but i point that out to say this that beyond the organized efforts we can put forth individual effort you don't have to have an event on the church calendar to be someone who carries another person's burden right or you don't have to have permission from the pastoral team to go out and help somebody you can do that here in the church i guess the main way we help each other is through prayer like we did this past sunday we prayed one for another but outside the church sometimes we can help financially sometimes we can give somebody a ride sometimes we can provide child care or take food to somebody all kinds of ways that we can carry one another's burdens in times of struggle and difficulty and may god help us as his followers to do that one for another
in closing and as far as i'm concerned you don't have to come to the keyboard i got i did that to you last time where is he at where is she hiding and where are you oh she's over here oh now you stay close well if you want to you make me look good and sound good so what are you in the mood yeah come on this is my closing i last time i did this i told her not to uh why do i have my hand in front of my ass unknown um i told her not to come because all she did was play but it was so nice so what are you gonna play you don't have an idea do you about the key of g for jesus no ah that's a lame joke um in closing jesus said this what therefore god has joined together let not man put us under or split up now if you know your bible you know that he was talking about marriage in that instance and he was saying that it's god's will for one man to marry one woman for life and he said what god has joined together let not man put us under or split up but i think there's a broader message in that statement that is this what starts together as part of a divine plan ought to stay together that is true of marriage but it's also true of the church the new testament describes the members of the church as fellow citizens of the household of god it says we're fitly framed together in other places of scripture it says we're builded together planted together made to sit together we're laborers together followers together knit together heirs together and god has quickened or made us alive together and one day at the trumpet sound we're going to be caught up but together and so i say that why shouldn't we in light of all that just make the decision we're going to stay together we're going to be united and be connected the way god intends for us to be that's the way the church started right acts chapter 2 verse 1 the classic beginning of the church as we call it they were all with one accord and that's the way that god intends for it to remain
note this there's no place where the bible says to the church be divided be split up be at odds with one another fight one another attack one another destroy one another you won't find that written anywhere but you'll find just the opposite won't you as i've been trying to share this evening ephesians 4 3 says this endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace that's what it says to us endeavoring work at it try keep going if you don't succeed the first time try again but endeavor to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace and by god's grace may it be so of apostolic pentecostal church of the church of jesus christ worldwide would you stand with me and once you've done that would you lift your hands and your voices both and let's thank god for this glorious kingdom of god of which we are apart lord jesus we thank you from our hearts for your grace and mercy that has called us from darkness to light thank you that we belong one to another and that we are in your grace and plan we worship you today thank you jesus amen
Scripture references as spoken: Romans 12:5; Matthew 16; 1 Peter 2:9-10; 1 John 1:7; 1 John 4:20; John 13:34; Leviticus 19; John 13:35; 1 Corinthians 13; Romans 15:7; Acts 10; Galatians 3:28; Ephesians 4:2; Colossians 3:13; Galatians 6:2; Acts 2:1; Ephesians 4:3.