PASTOR MARK MIKELS – November 2, 2008
“TIME TO SHINE” – Part Four
(Seeing Opportunities In The Midst of
Calamity)
Intro … This morning for this brief communion meditation I would draw
your attention to Demonstration Truth #4 …
DEMONSTRATION TRUTH #4 …
“We are all MEMBERS of one EARTHLY BODY –
we are inseparably LINKED – when one part SUFFERS,
every part SUFFERS with it.”
(1 Cor. 10:17; I Cor. 12:20; I Cor. 12:26-27; Rom. 12:4-5)
Here are the Scriptures that underlie that “Truth Statement” …
To the Believers in Rome the Apostle Paul explained …
“Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members
do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form
one body,
and each member belongs to all the others.”
He expanded on that thought a bit in his letter to the Corinthians …
“We, who are many, are one body (and) God has arranged the parts in the
body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all
one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but
one body. (Now) there should be no division in the body … its parts
should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every
part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with
it. You are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
It’s easy to see how today’s Demonstration Truth has arisen from
those Scriptures, isn’t it? …
“We are all members of one earthly body (the church) –
we are inseparably linked – when one part suffers,
every part suffers with it.”
It’s also easy to see how difficult times (individually or
collectively) provide unique opportunities for this truth to be
demonstrated.
Difficult times strike the members of the Body of Christ (just like
they strike the rest of society) in unpredictable and varied ways …
Some have their lives virtually unchanged – their job is unaffected;
they continue to pay their bills and they simply see these times as
just another one of society’s many up and down cycles. We rejoice with
those of our group who are seemingly living “in the eye” of the storm.
However, there are always others who lives are drastically changed –
their job is lost or significantly altered; they find themselves
struggling to pay their bills; they see these times as a real threat to
them and their family. They are suffering and the Scripture says that
the rest
of the body suffers with them … “feels and shares their pain”.
They are the ones with whom this Demonstration Truth needs to be
demonstrated … They are the very ones whose circumstances allow this
truth to be demonstrated before the church as a whole and before the
watching world. Without them, this truth would remain theoretical.
So then … in light of the expectations of God’s Word, framed into our
Demonstration Truth of the day, I would share with you …
Today’s Key Reality …
Anyone who is part of the Body of Christ need (should)
never feel ALONE … FORGOTTEN … or DISMAYED.
What an incredible reality … That’s what we want the members of
Sonlife Community Church to experience … never feeling alone, never
feeling forgotten, never feeling dismayed (overwhelmed).
* Never feel ALONE …
It’s easy when troubles come for us to feel isolated – it’s especially
easy if we have been somewhat isolated already. We resist sharing our
troubles … We, of course, try to work things out on our own. We keep
up a good front and we push on the best we can.
Sonlife Community Church, being a Cell-Based Church, is predicated upon
a structure that seeks to make it nearly impossible for a person who is
actively involved to ever feel such isolation.
Especially when troublesome times come, we want our people to be in the
kind of trusting relationship with one another that makes it easy to be
open and honest about the nature of the trouble that has come upon
them. We don’t want anyone of our congregation to feel alone during any
time, especially not during a troublesome time.
* Never feel FORGOTTEN …
It’s not easy to forget about someone’s troubles when you meet with
them at least twice every week …
Cell groups particularly bring people beyond the perfunctory
“Hi – how are you?” relationships that can be so easily fostered
in a Sunday Morning only environment.
And once the Cell Group relationship exists, the Sunday morning
relationship is transformed – Visitors see, in the inter-action between
the members of the body, that these people really do seem to care about
each other. The spirit of connection is almost tangible.
In the body of Christ no one should ever feel that those they know the
best and care about the most have forgotten about them or the
particular challenge that they face.
Members of a local expression of the Body of Christ Should Never feel
ALONE – Should Never feel FORGOTTEN and thirdly and lastly this
morning …
Born-Again Members of a local expression of the Body of Christ should
…
* Never feel DISMAYED … that is overwhelmed and defeated.
Troublesome times can easily generate dismay … feelings of
helplessness and bewilderment. What do we do now – how do we get out of
this mess?
“Dismay” takes a bit of time to develop … our goal is to live in such
connection with one another and to provide such encouragement to one
another that “dismay” doesn’t have a chance to get a foothold.
The writer of Hebrews told the early believers (who lived in most
perilous times) to “encourage one another daily” (Hebrews 3:13) and
to “see to it that no one misses the grace of God.” (Hebrews 12:15)
Now that “encouragement” can be both emotional and physical – helping
someone pay a bill, helping someone stay in their home, helping someone
put groceries on the table is “tangible, physical encouragement” – it’s
“words wrapped in deeds” and it powerfully demonstrates the truth that
we are all one body and that we are all in this together.
Not feeling alone – not feeling forgotten – not feeling dismayed –
that’s the result of being inseparably linked to all the members of the
Body of Christ.
And the end result of being a True Church of Jesus Christ – the end
result of seriously demonstrating our Truth of the Day is that
testimonies will be generated – testimonies that the Spirit of God can
use to impress the unbelieving world – testimonies that take the
form …
“I don’t know what I would have done – I don’t know how I would
have made it through- without my Church Family!”
Praise God … there are those in this fellowship, those seated around
you this morning, who could stand up and say just that!
Final Thot … Small enough to CARE; big enough to HELP.
That’s just the right SIZE for a CHURCH to be!
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