Sermon: "Group"

3rd in the "The 5 "G's" of Discipleship" series.
Delivered September 30, 2007 by Rev. John Schmidt.
Other sermons in this series - 1 / 2 - 3 / 4 / 5

Theme: Christ followers participate in biblically-based community in order to grow in Christ-likeness, to express and receive love, and to carry out the ministry of the church.

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Video clip - Joyce Sackett: My parents were gardeners and I inherited their genes I am sure. I just always loved gardening and I watched my parents and I watched what they chose to plant and I watched what they did and when I was young I worked alongside my father. This is an incredible discipleship principle as well. I cannot help someone grow in Christ if I don't spend time with them. If they can't see what's working; what you actually do, how you think and how you feel as a Christian they don't have mentor and a person really doesn't grow very well. The church is extremely important. Our community is important, but small groups and a one-on-one relationship at least for a while is essential to grow as a Christian and that is what Jesus did for us when he gave us the Holy Spirit. He is our gardener in residence in essence; causing me to grow and to remember what Jesus says. Does the garden illustrate the importance of small groups for instance and being in groups and mainly I think I see it in an English garden and in some of my borders where the plants hold each other up. If there is just one and then some space and then another, if the plant isn't strong it kind of flops over and it doesn't have a good look. So grouping plants together, especially diverse plants, it's a better effect. You get more color and you get more contrast, but you also get support and it foils the insects. Sometimes pests can't find what they want to eat because it is surrounded by plants that it doesn't like.

I want to introduce you to some real people. They don't all go to this church, but they are real people that I have known in this church and in others. There is a young couple who has just come in to town. It's the first real job for each of them. The family is five hours away. Where do they find community? Where do they find family? There is an older church member whose spouse has passed away. There are no relatives living nearby. Children are half a continent away. Where does that person find support? Where does that person find family? There is a single person who has made the decision to live a sexually pure life. Where do they find support in a society that doesn't value that? Where do they find understanding? People who share the same concerns, where do they find family? How about the person who is trying to live clean from drugs, where do they find support? Where do they find other people who understand the struggles and will walk with them? Then there is the high school or college student who is the first person in their family to become a Christian, where do they find other people who are on the same journey, who can support them, who can counsel them, even though no one in their family really understands? In other words, who could be a second family? A Jesus-centered family for these people?

Anybody who studies American society for even a little while soon comes to discover that there are many, many of us who are living lonely lives in the middle of huge crowds of people; people surrounding us all the time, but that doesn't mean that we have made meaningful connections with the people who surround us. And just going to church week after week, doesn't miraculously end that problem. You can still come to church week after week and be anonymous. You can still be unsupported and you can still be lonely. This week we are in the week of our discussion on discipleship that focuses in on groups. The Bible teaches us that the follower of Jesus Christ needs people. No matter what our society tells us, no matter what our personal individualism, it doesn't matter. But the scripture teaches us that we need people in order to grow. It's the way we are made. When Jesus started his public ministry one of the first things he does is create a small group around him and we are going to look at him doing that right now. We are going in to the Book of Mark, Chapter 3, and we are going to begin on the 13th verse of Mark, Chapter 3. Let's pray:

God, as we go in to your word open our eyes, open our hearts, help us to believe you and to follow you. For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

Mark, Chapter 3:

"Jesus went up on a mountain side and he called to him those he wanted and they came to him. He appointed 12 designating them apostles, that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons. These are the 12 that he appointed; Simon to whom he gave the name Peter, James son of Zebedee and his brother John to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means sons of thunder. Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him."

This happens early in Jesus ministry. He has been preaching. He's been healing. He has been casting out demons. He has made a public appearance, but at this point he takes a specific action with people and I am going to look at what he specifically does. The first thing it says here at the start of Verse 14 is that he appointed 12. This is a deliberate act on Jesus' part. Jesus chose 12 people from the big crowd to be with him. He created a small group. Now we don't know why he chooses those specific 12 people. We know he took it seriously, because in another gospel we know that he spent the whole night praying about it before he did this. We know that it's purposeful. We know that it's part of God's work in him and through him. But we don't know why these specific people, except that it was in God's plan. A little bit later is says why he called them together. It says in Verse 14 that they might be with him. He calls together 12 that they might be with him. The first purpose of calling these 12 people together is so that they might be with Jesus. Among the hundreds that have been following Jesus, Jesus chooses 12 to be close to him, to live with him, to watch him, to learn from him.

Now we all have different kinds of social space around us. We have public space. That is the kind of interactions we have when people don't even know our names. So when you first come to a larger church, it's a public experience. Nobody knows you and you don't know them and you smile. When you go to Starbuck's and you smile at that person who is sitting at the computer at the table across from you; that's a public experience. We can feel comfortable there. We feel like we belong there. There is a certain set of rules that we follow there. Then there is another kind of social space called social and that space is the kind of space where we actually exchange a name, but we don't really get to know anybody. It's a sort of experience where you want to put your best foot forward, you know, give people the best side of you, because it's a very brief encounter. If you work in a large office, people who work in other departments have this kind of social relationship to you. You exchange names, you kind of see each other, you recognize each other as employees, you talk a little bit, but it's not much more.

The next kind of space is personal space. This is where people actually get to know you. This is where you get to share what your fears are a little bit; where you get to share what you like and what you don't like and what your opinions are and what's happening in your life. This could be a co-worker that you work with every day. This might be a neighbor that you have grown to know over the years. It could be somebody in a small group. That is where small groups fit in, in to this personal space where people actually get to know you and share with you. And then there is one other kind of space, intimate space, and that's the closest kind of emotional space and that's your spouse, it could be a brother or a sister or a best friend, but this is the person who knows the real stuff. You have laid it out over the years and they still love you and they still accept you. We all live in all those spaces and all of them are good.

What's important in this passage is that Jesus is not content to let everyone relate to him just in the public and social space. He deliberately draws 12 together to become part of his personal and intimate space. We can't do this with 100 people. We can't do this with 500. We need smaller groups of people in order to make this kind of connection with them. And it's in these smaller groups where the people develop and the relationships develop. These are the people that are going to miss us if we don't come to church on Sunday. These are the people who are going to be the first to show up when we are in trouble. These are the people who are going to figure out creative ways to help us if we actually need help. I can remember a time when I was going to church in New Orleans. There was another small group and in this small group one of the people's father died and as we watched this small group one of the things we noticed happening is that this person was going to have to drive to Tennessee from New Orleans and would just make it there in time for the funeral. The small group that they were a part of decided that this young woman needed to be with her family through the whole grieving process, through the whole planning process for the funeral. So they gathered together the money to fly her to Tennessee and back. It was their ministry to her because they discerned that that was a need. It's not the kind of thing that can happen in a faceless crowd. It can only happen with those people who really know us.

A little later in that verse the scripture says that Jesus had another purpose, that he might send them out. Jesus had a purpose in calling these people together and in training them, because he was intending to send them out. Jesus' investment in these people was ultimately outward looking. He had the whole world on his heart, as he made an investment in 12 people. Now we might think that is sort of cold and calculating on Jesus' part. He didn't draw these people together because he naturally liked them or they were old buddies. He calls them together because he has a specific purpose. Maybe we think it would be better if they just kind of had a natural chemistry and came together. But you know most of the relationships in our lives aren't like that.

The relationships in our lives roughly break in to two categories. The ones that are relationships of circumstance. In other words, the people that I am related to, my family, it's a relationship of circumstance. The people that happened to live next door when I was growing up as a kid. Most of the rest of the relationships we have are purposeful. We know these people and we get to know them better, because she share a common purpose in something. So a co-worker shares that common purpose. A small group shares that purpose. There are other kinds of relationships that are like that, as well. There are people who share hobbies with us; golfing, knitting, fishing and reading. My best friend in high school grew out of a purposeful relationship. We grew to be great friends, but it started with a purpose. What happened was, I was collecting for the newspaper along with my grandfather. I was about 13 years old. The door opens and there was a band playing in the room and my grandfather who had a lot more guts than I do just shared with them, "You know my grandson is a drummer." And so the guy who is playing drums stops, grabs his sticks and comes over and hands them to me, because he was really the bass player in the group and they didn't have a drummer. So I came in. I played a song or two with them. I joined the band. It was on the opposite side of town. They were all Jewish. I wasn't. And for the next five years these became my best friends and one of them is still a great friend. It grew out of a common purpose, common interest. And just because it started that way didn't mean that we didn't develop real relationships. So we do connect for a purpose in a church small group. We connect to celebrate God's existence and grace. We connect with one another to support each other and then we contribute the use of our gifts to support and help and encourage each other, but also to serve the world. And just because we gather for this purpose doesn't mean that we don't become real friends growing out of that.

Two days ago I got a call from my friend, Woody. I first met Woody when he was a college freshman at UNL. Woody saw everything in black and white. Woody was a little bit judgmental of other people at that point and it wasn't the sort of person that I would have naturally had a chemistry with. I like the guys who are little bit more laid back. But as I prayed about it and worked with these students, I realized that Woody was the guy that I was called to invest myself in. And so, when the summer came after his first year at UNL we spent one day every week going in to scriptures together, praying, talking about ministry and talking about theology. And he became a leader in that chapter, went on to seminary, got a doctorate in New Testament and we are still great friends. And when an issue comes up like it did two days ago, he calls me to talk to me about it. When something comes up in my life, I call him to talk to him. When we lived close enough together we always arranged to make sure that we get together so we can talk about books, talk about our ministry, talk about out lives and hold each other accountable. A 25-year relationship that grew out of a purposeful investment.

So these purposeful, Christ centered investments in people can become deep and long-lasting relationships. In fact, that is what the session has discovered as we looked at this issue of discipleship, small groups have their greatest impact on new Christians and people who are new to a church community. What has the greatest impact years later are the friendships that grow out of these early small group relationships. Small groups have a special chemistry to them, they minister to us, but within that we develop relationships with people, deep relationships that are going to endure. And even if we switch small groups because we have moved to a new location, we still have a special relationship with those people that may go with us all the way to the grave.

So Jesus calls them with a purpose. He also then gives them authority to cast out demons; spiritual authority. Now I am not going to spend much time on that, but I just want to least mention the point that when Jesus calls together his people in to this relationship with one another and with himself, he also gives them special authority to accomplish the things that he sends them out to do. And so we as Christian people have special tools that other people don't have; tools that come from God. We have all the social tools. We have all the normal human tools and then we have tools that come from God. Spiritual authority to accomplish things in people's lives and that is a special part of Christian fellowship.

But I want to hurry on to get to the next part. It's the next phrase that really excites me. These are the 12 he appointed and then you have got a list of people. I love this list of people. Well, first of all I can't pronounce some of the words; that is part of the fun of it. I will never get Boanerges, right. I mean you've got fishermen here. You've got a tax collector and you've got a political activist all in one group. These are not natural friends. These are not people who would normally be hanging out with one another, because there are real tensions between a tax collector who is serving the foreign government, he is totally capitulated, and a Zealot whose goal is overthrowing that governmental power and Jesus calls both of them into one group. That is worse than having republicans and democrats in one group. He pulls them into this tension.

Now whenever I plan a new sermon series I always invite people who are on our worship planning team to make comments and to kind of give me some guidance and about one month ago, right after I had shared my sermon notes, I got this note from one of the people. Jesu's disciples weren't all 20-somethings with jobs downtown, you know. A Zealot, a tax collector, rowdy fishermen, most of them completely uneducated; anywhere else they would kill each other. They fought all the time about who was better. Part of being the church is that we are now family with all of these whackos and we need each other, every one of them. I need you whackos and you need me. We are already family. Jesus didn't ask whether it was okay to invite a tax collector in to the group. If you wanted to be close to Jesus you had to get along with this tax collector. There was no choice. You could said no to Jesus when he said, "I want you to follow me." You could say no, but you couldn't set some arrangement with Jesus, "Yes Jesus I will follow you, but keep that Zealot or keep that tax collector or keep those smelly fishermen far away from me." It's not part of the deal.

When you are called to Jesus, you are called to his family and his family includes some people who are not like you. And there are some people who are not yet part of the family that he wants you to reach out to and they are nothing like you either. It might be somebody who is richer than you or poorer than you. It might be somebody who is sick. It might be somebody who has a drug problem. It might be somebody who is from another race. It might be someone who is from another age group. There are all kinds of ways that God can stretch us out of what we would normally call our friendship circle. The church is probably the best place in the world to connect with somebody older than you or younger than you apart from your own family, but it takes some effort. Even though we have a common purpose, even though we are already family, it takes some effort to make these connections.

One of the ways that a lot of people have made this connection is through Habitat, where people of all different ages serve together and that is where some of the younger people have connected with some of the older members of our congregation. Alpha, the Alpha teams have all kinds of ages in them. Women's Ministry has a nice blend of ages in a number of their groups. You might join a small group that's younger people than you or older people than you. Young Adult Ministry has had that as part of their strategy that many of the groups they start they start with an older leader in order to build these relationships, but it all requires a decision. Maybe you already know someone older or younger and it's going to require a decision on your part, whether you want to make the time and take the effort to build a relationship where they can make an investment in your life, a common investment around a common purpose of trying to follow Jesus and be like him or where you make a decision to deliberately invest yourself in someone else.

The section ends with one more phrase that I want to point out; and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him. Even Jesus' small group had problems, serious problems. Even Jesus the perfect small group leader couldn't insure that 100% of the people would stick with God, 100% would grow, 100% would be faithful to him. In fact, even if you eliminate Judas, Jesus still had a small group that argued over the silliest things. He still had a small group that couldn't do the ministry right every time. Sometimes they would do it right and other times they would come back and say, "Jesus, it's not working" and you could see his frustration. And even in Jesus' small group there were people, in fact, a whole small group that denied him and left him at his hardest moment. We will never have a perfect small group experience. If you have had a bad small group experience I hope it hasn't wounded you too much, but you will never have a perfect one. We may get hurt. We may grow to care for somebody who then ends up walking away from Jesus Christ. We can't protect ourselves from that. It's part of being like Jesus. It's part of being part of his family.

In our church we have this document called Marks of a Disciple and in it we state,

"Christ's followers participate in biblically-based community in order to grow in Christ-likeness, to express and receive love and to carry out the ministry of the church."

This is not optional anymore than growth is optional. Groups are part of our experience as people, part of our experience as a Christ follower. We need to be connected with other believers in authentic relationships that are marked by mutual encouragement and by accountability. We need this. It's part of what we need to grow. Jesus modeled this pattern of life for us. The large crowd, the group of 12, a group of three; this is the way he lived those critical years of his ministry. Different kinds of people gathered around God and his purposes, made by God's choice in to a family. Now I hope you have already experienced that in your life. So many of you when I look out I know that you have, but if you haven't experienced that today we have a number of opportunities after the service for you to connect with small groups. Some small group leaders will have tags on to let you know that their group has open spots. We also have stuff coming up in October, four weeks during the church hours where we will offer a small group experience called, A taste of small groups. If that is a way you can participate, please do so. The point is to take advantage of the opportunities. You see, you need whackos like us; you really do, because we are family. Jesus made us family. Let's pray.

God, we do believe that you have made us family and as we look at the model of Jesus we realize that if he assembled a group like that, if he invested himself in people, that we need to do the same. It's part of growing and it's part of helping other people to grow. Lord, we are all over the map and some of us don't have any connections at all yet, I pray specifically for those people that you make good connections, good relationships that will become friendships that will last for years. And for the rest of us Lord, we pray for the grace to consciously and deliberately invest ourselves in the lives of other people, as we surround Jesus and surround his purposes. For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

© 2007, Rev. John Schmidt
Central Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, MD 21204 410/823-6145
www.centralpc.org