NOT JUST FRIENDS

Scripture Reading:Luke 14:12 – 24

I. INTRODUCTION

What the Church is is an important topic and I think some of the difficulties the church has been facing call for a look at some aspects of what the church is that we may not have addressed adequately. I want to speak about some things the church is not, or shouldn’t be, but maybe has become.  In a sense that is a negative approach, but I hope I can help us look beyond that at changing these things if we are serious about following our Lord’s so-called Great Commission, about missions, outreach and church growth.

II. PEOPLE OF GOD – OLD TESTAMENT LESSON - 1

We often talk about the church as the People of God. This is a term used for those who believe in and follow God from Old Testament times already. I think that leads the way for us to learn some lessons from what happened to God’s chosen people, the Jews. The Apostle Paul actually spells out that lesson in chapters 9 – 1l of Romans. 

God calls us to be a people set apart from the world. Sometimes it seems we have taken that too far. We have isolated ourselves and become a people that perpetuates itself biologically more than by any other means. We have made ourselves into an ethnic group, almost a race. That is not what God intended. The Bible tells us over and over that God called us to reach out to others. God’s people are to grow in number by our outreach efforts, our witness, not just by how many children we have. Our confession of faith refers to us being called to commit ourselves to a life of discipleship and witness as empowered by the Holy Spirit”.

What happened when the first people God called, the descendants of Abraham, the Israelites, Hebrews, Jews became too inward-focussed and self-centred? God sent them plagues and famines and invading armies. Eventually he sent them into exile. More than once – the last time being AD 70, some say as a punishment for rejecting his Son the Messiah. What will God have to do to us to get us to see what he failed in the past to get Israel to see? God sent the Children of Israel into exile for becoming ethnic and disobedient. Maybe there's a reason we've been running from country to country. Will we learn?

III. NOT AN ETHNIC PEOPLE - OLD TESTAMENT LESSON – 2

I would like to propose to Mennonite churches that we can still be Mennonite, retain the true essence of Anabaptism, but delete all German/ethnic references in all church functions. We don't know how that
makes people feel left out unless we've been there. Unless we really don't want anyone but Mennonites of German ethnic background to be members of our churches. What about the majority of Mennonites in Africa, India, South America and Indonesia then??? Referring to vaspa, so-called Mennonite foods,
and throwing in German songs and German expressions in our church services and meetings has nothing to do with the gospel, with being Mennonite, but everything to do with being ethnic.

III. THE BODY OF CHRIST

Not just friends

I think part of our isolationism and ethnocentricity is our having become little more than groups of friends of common background banding together to form a congregation. Most of us want and need friends. The church is a good place to find them.

READ Radio Bible Class’s devotional Our Daily Bread 2004-11-14

However, even Jesus told us to make sure we had friends outside the church.

An Intentional Community With a Mission

The church is nowhere in the Bible described as a group of friends. We join it because of our commitment to Jesus Christ, not because of our relationships with people in it. It is a body with a purpose.

Part of this being with intent involves accountability. In a recent Sunday School lesson based on the Confession of Faith our High School class is studying it was agreed that we should never talk about others behind their backs. Are we guilty of too much of that? Do we spend more time doing that than praying about one another? What about talking to one another when we have a problem with something that we’ve done? Can we listen to one another without getting too hurt, without getting angry? We are instructed in the New Testament to admonish and correct one another for continuing in sin. Can we do that in the spirit of love and gentleness without it sounding judgmental, without it sounding that we are superior, self-righteous and fault-finding? I wonder if too often we aren’t critical of one another not so much because it’s a matter of sin but because we just disagree on an opinion or on how something should be done. If we don’t want to talk to the other person about it perhaps we should just be quiet rather than talk behind their back. On the other hand, if we are dealing with actual sin, we are to forgive and restore those who repent, although if they do not, there is a place for discipline and exclusion.

Activities not just inside these four walls

Nor is the Church something whose activities are limited to what goes on or is planned within these four walls. If we think that, someday the Holy Spirit is going to blow them out, or let us die and move elsewhere. The Church got along for decades, maybe even a century or more, without church buildings. It grew a lot faster than once it got confined to buildings.

Like the Early Church, we need to get out where the people are – where we go to school, where we work, where we do our sports. Some writers who are experienced in outreach say that what we really need to do is go where the poor and needy are. These are the folks that are hurting, need a friend, know they are lost. We are mostly so middle class. Many of our peers are doing just fine, thank you very much. They don’t see that they are missing anything. However, if we re going to reach out to the needy, we have to be prepared to accept them not our midst. Can we do that?

Indeed, isn’t this what Jesus taught?

Luke 14:12 Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee.

13  But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:

14  And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.

…and talked of in a parable?

16  Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:

17  And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.

18  And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.

19  And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.

20  And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

21  So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.

22  And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.

23  And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

24  For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.

We need to move beyond our comfort zone. READ ODB 2001-6-24, 1999-2-11, 2000-8-5

Activities not just those carried out by virtue of position

Nor is the Church something whose activities are limited to those who have been appointed or voted into a position. We have done a great job of creating structure. Structures can be lifeless.

Not musically perfect

I think we've also made a god out of what some of us like to refer to as our choral tradition and four part harmony etc. Those who can't sing that well often feel left out there too. My Bible talks about making a joyful noise etc., no mention of choral necessities, four part harmony etc.

Don't get me wrong, I like that kind of music very much. I have enjoyed singing in such groups and choirs from when I was a child. I also like what we call Mennonite food - which is basically Ukrainian and Russian, a little more German for some.

However, if we want to celebrate that part of our heritage, let's do it outside the church like most ethnic peoples do. It's something to be thankful for, but it's not something to continue to keep us and them apart, and continue to reduce the growth potential of our churches. And don't even get me started
about so-called Mennonite writers and artists. Again, I like a lot of their work, I have subscribed and contributed to things like the Mennonite literary magazine 'Rhubarb', but many of them are not members of a Mennonite church, or if they were, are no longer practicing.

                                                                       

Lorne Brandt, 2005-3-13