Sermon: "Authentic Community"

6th in the "Authentic People" series.
Delivered May 24, 2009 by Rev. John Schmidt.
Sermon Text: 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

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How did they violate good community? They didn't greet anybody. They didn't greet anybody, that's, you know, part of the whole background they're talking about.

What else? They split and gossiped about each other. Yeah, they split and they gossiped about each other, particularly about the Senior Pastor. I was concerned about that.

Okay, what else? They complained about what they were... Complaining all the time, yeah. Complaining all the time. "I didn't know Gideon was so mean." "I didn't know you were so bossy." You didn't know I was so bossy. Okay. That's fair.

What else? Yes. It's Mr. Gideon. It's Mr. Gideon. I'm sorry... Mr. Gideon.

Anything else? Yes. They acted differently behind the... Yeah, a public facade and a background reality. Very good observation.

Anything else to add to that? Yeah. They were too busy to pray. Too busy to pray... in church. "This is not a worship service, we're not in church."

Yeah. Okay, any final observations here? Please. They were focused on the task instead of focusing on the people. Focused on the task and not the people.

There are so many things there. Just four minutes, and we could see all of those things. Can you imagine how many things we do to violate community when we're talking about day in, day out? Community isn't an easy thing. In a world full of empty claims, people are looking for reality. They're looking for real faith, they're looking for real hope, they're looking for real experiences of love, and they're looking for a real experience of community. And that's what we're focusing in on this week.

This is our final week of the series on Authentic People, and we're focusing in on Authentic Community. We all want places where we belong. I can remember a number of years ago, I was working with a bank, several times a week I'd go to the same bank, same branch, and it started to bother me after a while, that even after years of going to the same bank, same branch, no one ever recognized me when I went there, because they were turning their tellers over so fast, that they were always new even if I were old.

And it was a surprise, one day I walked in there, no smile of recognition, no sense that I'd been there before, it's like I'm a brand new customer, and I remember that bothering me because I felt like I kind of wanted to belong there. I wanted there to be the sense that this was the bank where people actually knew I was somewhat an upright citizen.

Even now, I go to restaurants. I find myself going back to restaurants where I know the wait staff, because they recognize me; I recognize them. There's a certain sense of Hey, I'm part of a community...however tenuous. I find myself drawn to go back to those places. And it's even more important when we talk about the church.

One of the things I love about Central is that I've grown to feel I really belong here, that I'm accepted for my gifts, my faults are dealt with, and I'm known and I've gotten to know many of you. And that matters to me. It's not just me though, that's looking for community. It's really all of us. We all want and need that place where we know people and where we are known.

And we're not just talking about postings on Facebook and Twitter. Those things have their place, but we need face-to-face interaction. We need those places where people know our names, where they know what we like and what we don't like, a place where we can relax and just talk and share with people and not worry, that we're going to be rejected because we already know we're accepted.

We're looking for a place where we know who to hang around with, we know who to call to come over when we have a problem, we know who's good with plumbing, we know who's good with babies, we know who's good at just listening, and we know who gives good advice. We need that. We need it even more when we're separated from our families and our older friends. We need that sort of community. This is how we were created to be.

But authentic community, a community that meets those deeper needs, isn't something that comes easily. Christian teaching tells us we're all broken, and authentic relationships, authentic community, doesn't come easily because we don't do it well. We are all broken. We all bring our limitations into the relationships that we have.

So we get selfish. We get self-absorbed. We carry around hurts. We have trouble forgiving. We bore people. And all of this hurts our experience of community. Even community in the church, and yet we need that community so badly.

Even speaking to a good church...when Paul was talking to the Thessalonian church, he was talking to a good church. Even talking to a good church, Paul, at the end of his letter, gives them some guidelines for their community because even in that good church it wasn't going to be easy for them. And so we're going to take a look at those words from Paul right now, in 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5, we're going to begin at verse 12.

"Now we ask you brothers to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.

"Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong; but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else. Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not put out the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.

"May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. Brothers, pray for us. Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. I charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you."

Let's pray: Lord, we thank you for your Word, we thank you for this time to consider it together. We pray you open our eyes and hearts. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Okay, this passage, for the purposes of our talk today, divides into two sections. The first section that's there is behavior that supports authentic community, and the second section is spiritual foundations that support authentic community. So we're first going to look at the behaviors, because that's the front part of the passage we've just read.

The first few sentences Paul reads deals with the community's attitude toward their leaders, the people he has in mind are people we would consider elders, pastors, teachers, and deacons. There are important words and phrases here, one of them is respect. Another phrase is... hold them in the highest regard in love. And then it says to... live in peace.

These are really important things that Paul points to when he points to the life of the community. Respect your leaders, love and respect them. Not because of their wonderful personalities, that makes it easier...maybe not here, but it makes it easier. But that's not why we respect people. We respect them because they've applied themselves; they've given themselves to this important work. And so it says we are supposed to hold them in high regard.

At Central, we have elders, deacons, teachers, small group leaders, pastors and staff who are working hard, I can tell you, and they're working hard for the sake of this Body, for its health. And that doesn't include all the teachers...I mean, there's just such a wide group of people, and we're called to respect them and do everything we personally can to live in peace within this Body.

Any failure, for leaders to be on good terms with the people who walk with them, is a serious issue. For there to be effective leadership, there needs to be willing and gracious followers, and so we take this seriously. We take it so seriously that in our New Members Covenant, we have a section that talks about respecting the leadership and protecting the unity of the Body. It's one of the things people agree to when becoming a member here now.

We take this seriously. It doesn't mean we can't disagree with leadership, it doesn't mean we don't give them feedback. Those are all valuable things. What hurts the community is causing division. What was pointed out earlier here where we talked to the person involved one way, and then we talk a different way behind their backs. Instead of talking to the person responsible, we talk to everybody else about how we feel. Factionalism, gossip, mistreatment of other people is a serious sin. And we take it seriously here at Central.

The second behavior that's pointed out in this section is that we're to be building each other up. As Americans, we have such an independent streak that we really believe just God and us is enough. You know, if we really had a good quiet time, you know, Hey, I can take on the world. You know, that's not true. You need me, I need you, and we need each other.

That's why we're sitting in the round today. So you could look across and see what the church really is. It's not this building. It's the faces of the people you see sitting across from you. And we need each other. We each bring something here that we need.

And there are some important words and phrases about how we're supposed to be treating each other. And here they are: urge, warn, encourage, help, be patient, try to be kind...these all come out of the passage that's in front of us right now.

The picture here is a community of people who are very careful with one another. Very careful about how they live together. They're patient and kind, encouraging and helpful. And the picture here is it's always happening, it's a habitual way of dealing with each other, whenever we deal with each other we are taking special care in our relationship with them.

But some of the words...as you've already probably noticed...some of those words are harder words. Urge, warn...this kindness and patience we have together doesn't mean we have nothing to offer each other by way of correction and guidance. That's one of the realities about the Body of Christ. We kindly, patiently, helpfully, urge people to change when they need to change. We warn people of the consequences of their actions. And that's because we are a community that's accountable to God to become different kind of people.

And I always notice the surprise in people's eyes when they meet with a counselor or they meet with the deacons, or they meet with somebody who's in their group and that person actually says, "You're doing something wrong that needs to change." It's a big surprise. "Who are you to want to tell me... " you know. It's part of our life together. And so that means we need to be known well by someone in this Body, some group of people.

So where are you well known in this community? Authentic community can't happen if people are still guessing our names. It's not likely to happen in a group this large. So we need to be involved in things like the small group, choirs, worship team, work groups out in the community...someplace where habitually we get together with people who come to know us.

Now those are all behaviors we need to have to build authentic community. These are the horizontal things we do together. But verses 12 to 15 that we just read and just worked through can be really difficult because it doesn't come naturally. Authentic community needs a strong spiritual base and that's where Paul's mind goes to after he talks about our relationships with one another.

It's not possible without God's work inside of us. And so Paul lists some of the spiritual foundations that we need for authentic community. Verses 16 to 18 have the spiritual foundations. The kind of community Paul points to grows out of a community filled up with people who are growing, filled with people who are maturing. And so he talks about some of these things.

First of all, we're supposed to be joyful, that we have a zest for life, we have an appreciation for what God has done, and from that appreciation of God's grace, grows a deep sense of well-being... a deep sense of well-being. That's probably the closest meaning to joy that's here. It's not the effervescence; although, it results in that. It's the deep sense that it is well with me.

We're supposed to be prayerful, recognizing that we depend on God and have access to God. What a privilege in our weakness that we have access to God! We're supposed to be prayerful people. This is necessary for good community. And then it talks about being thankful. We can't have a good community if we're the kind of people who are always looking for things to criticize. We can't be glass-half-empty sort of people. We have to be glass-half-full people. This is a "my cup overflows" sort of lifestyle.

Joy, prayerfulness, thankfulness...this is a deep contentment sort of lifestyle, and when this sort of contentment becomes more and more real in our lives, all the interpersonal things become easier. It's just easier to be close to someone who's joyful, isn't that true? It's just easier to be close to someone who's thankful.

So if we're supposed to be getting closer, it means there's a personal responsibility upon us to be growing in depth so this kind of fruit is being born in our lives. And that thankfulness and that joy and the power that grows from that prayerfulness overflows into the relationships around us.

But there's a final responsibility that's in this passage too. It talks about our willingness to be ready to hear a word of correction from another person in the Body. In other words, we're supposed to listen to the Spirit in the Body. And that may not come from the pulpit, it may not come from the teacher...it might come from just another person.

It talks about the people here in Thessalonica, being in danger of treating prophesy with contempt. Prophesy is a word, a special word from God for a person or a community that can come through teaching; that can come through preaching; but can also come as a direct word. And people experience it that way, that I have a sense I have to tell somebody something for their lives. And it can include something that's urging us to change or warning us. Those things happen. But when it happens, what's our heart like? Are we ready to listen?

Let me tell you, as a pastor, this can be a hard thing for me sometimes. I do something, you know, we do something, it's great, Oh man, what a wonderful thing! Oh good idea! You know? And then somebody comes up and points out something that was seriously wrong in their eyes.

Now I love that point... Oh they're so new to the community, they don't understand, or you know, They're so concerned about their own thing, they don't understand the bigger picture. It's so easy for my defenses to rise up. But at times like that, part of my calling...God is doing things that are too important here for me to let my barriers stay up. And at times like that, I have to pull them down a bit and listen... God, are you saying something here?

Now it doesn't mean that all the time God is, because look what else the passage says. It says to test everything. Now how do we test it? Is it the gut test? Ooh, I feel threatened by this so it mustn't be good. No, we test it by Scripture. We test it by the whole Counsel of God. And so that means if we're going to listen to the Spirit this way, as a community, we have to know the Word of God.

There are so many churches now that talk about the leading of the Spirit, and my goodness, the directions those churches are going. I cannot believe that in all those cases, it's the Spirit leading. And so we need to take what we hear and compare it to the Word of God. That's part of our responsibility, to be a mature member of this Body.

So basically, Paul is saying a Christian community should be different than the other communities we see. God's community should be a place where we can share our weaknesses, where we can share our brokenness and still be accepted. God's community should be a place where we're accepted and encouraged, but then we're urged to become all God created us to be. Accepted where we are, but pointed in the right direction.

A community that works on this deep level is going to have to be a community where we are people who hold tightly to God. We are joyful and prayerful and thankful all the time for the grace that God has given us together. We're going to have to be people who are open to listening to God's voice, whether it comes from the pulpit, or whether it comes from a small group member, we have to be ready at least to wrestle with what God's saying to us. People want something authentic.

I think if we live out something like this picture, then we have something that's really attractive going on among us. We have something where we really have something to offer each other. And we have something we can offer the newer people who come into our circle. It's a huge privilege, and it's a huge responsibility.

I'm glad the passage doesn't end here. Paul recognizes that a community like this is a miraculous thing. He ends the letter by pointing out all he's been writing them, including this section we've just read, is something that God is doing among us. God is the one who is building this community. God is the one who is building these character traits in each individual life.

My favorite benediction is this passage right here. It talks about God being the one who sanctifies us. It means he sets us apart. It means he is the one who works in us to develop our faith and our character. He is the one who's making us like Jesus. And so it says, "May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through; May your whole spirit, soul and body, be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

What God is doing, God wants to complete among us. Complete to the point, not just a point that it's attractive to each other, but that he can look upon us and say a blameless child. God is at work to do that. We can have confidence then, as we look at these weeks and look at all the challenges of that and look at the challenge of our community together, we can have confidence that this miraculous work is going to happen because it all doesn't depend on us.

We don't do authentic community for God; God creates authentic community around us as we cooperate. God is not inactive. What the blessing says is, "The one who called you is faithful, and he will do it." What ultimately matters in the life of this congregation as we face the future, what ultimately matters in the qualities of our relationships together is not our feeble hold on God, but God's mighty grip on us.

Let's pray: Lord, we want to be that kind of community. We want to have those realities in our personal lives. And so now, Lord, we commit ourselves afresh to you, trusting you are the one at work in us, and you are the one that will bring it to completion. For we ask all of this in Jesus' name, Amen.

© 2009, Rev. John Schmidt
Central Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, MD 21204 410/823-6145
www.centralpc.org