4 Pentecost 07 c Proper 7

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

This passage from our second reading is talking about the fact that a person can receive salvation not by keeping the Jewish Law but by believing in and following Jesus. The faith of a person is that which saves them. Actually, it is not their faith that saves them; it is Jesus who saves them as they put their faith in him. That salvation is open to anyone, Jew or Gentile (in the biblical sense a Gentile was anyone who is not a Jew). It is open to prisoner or a person not in prison. It is open to male or female.

This salvation involves coming to the realization of who Jesus Christ is, and then giving one’s life to his rulership or control. This also involves, as Jesus mentioned in our gospel reading, denying oneself, taking up one’s cross and following Him.

To deny oneself is not just about not eating that second piece of chocolate cake or buying a Honda instead of a Lexus. To deny oneself means to submit our desires and wishes to the will of God. It means seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. It means putting Christ first in our lives.

Taking up our cross (and notice it doesn’t say taking up Jesus’ cross) means to seek to turn away from the things that hinder our relationship with Christ. Bible teacher John MacArthur put it this way when he said, “The Christian life is not adding Jesus to one's own way of life but renouncing that personal way of life for His and being willing to pay whatever cost that may require.”

It is to Christians that St. Paul is writing. He is assuming that those who are reading his epistle have denied themselves, taken up their crosses and are following Jesus. Paul recognizes the reality that there may be many in the church that have not fully done those things. Nevertheless, he holds out before them an image, a vision of what the Body of Christ, the Church should be like.

I want to attempt to do the same thing with you today. I want to ask, “Are there things we can do to help us become one in Christ? Are there things we can do to cause the world to say, ‘Man, see how they love one another’?”

The Bible leads us to believe that those who are followers of Jesus are united with a common bond which helps us to overcome racial boundaries, societal boundaries, personality boundaries, religious boundaries and so on.

However, just because one names the name of Christ does not guarantee that they will always get along with others. Because our sinful nature is still at war with our spiritual nature that has been redeemed by Christ, we sometimes find it difficult to truly be one with one another Christian. And yet, that is what Jesus calls us to be – ONE with one another in him. That involves getting along with each other.

When I first came to St. Anne’s there was a very strong undercurrent of distrust, anger and hurt between some folks at the 8 a.m. service and some at the 10:30 service as a result of unfortunate circumstances in the past. I am thankful to God that the undercurrent is not nearly as strong as it once was, and that so many are seeking to put the past behind them and work together for the good of this church.

Activities like our picnic, talent show, First Fridays, and other events are bringing people together and healing old wounds. Our upcoming consultant will require us to work together for the growth of our curch.

Satan would love nothing more than to try to divide us or get us angry at one another, or to cause us to act in unloving ways toward each other.

I want to try to equip you today with some tools that will help you and us to work toward that goal of being one in Christ and finding ways to get along with each other in the Body of Christ. I am thankful that we are making great progress, but there is still work to be done.

There is a premise that must be in place before anything else I say can work. That premise is that we must want to get along with people and must be willing to make the sacrifices to accomplish this. Unless these two things are a reality in our lives then the rest of what I am about to share will have no lasting value.

A cold wind howled, and the rain beat down when the telephone rang at a rural doctor’s house. “It’s my wife,” the voice said, “She needs a doctor right away!”

“Can you come and get me?” asked the physician, “My car is being repaired.”

“What?” came the sputtering reply. “Go out in this weather?”

Until we “go out in this weather” and do what it takes to get along with people and to love them, then we will find ourselves suffering and increasingly isolated.

We might want to begin by asking ourselves the hard questions like “Am I relaxed around my fellow Christians or am I uptight? Why?” “Do I treat others or speak to others as I want to be treated or spoken to?” “Do I mistreat them by taking liberties I would not take with someone whom I want to impress?”

When I was first dating Nancy I really tried to impress her. I called her often. I was a good listener. I bought her little gifts. However, after a couple of years of marriage we became more comfortable with each other. I felt I no longer had to try to impress her, our love was secure. So, I stopped listening and talking as much. I didn’t buy her gifts. I didn’t spend as much time with her. We found ourselves not getting along as well as we once did. I began to realize that I wasn’t treating her as well as I was some of the people f my parish. Once I realized this I began to make some changes that helped me rekindle that original relationship.

Quite often you and I get into habits in terms of our patterns of behavior and thinking towards others. It becomes comfortable to us, but can be, in fact, dividing us from one another.

Let me share some principles that we have learned which might be helpful for you to work towards that oneness with others in Christ.

Principle #1 – Don’t be touchy. One pastor found his touchiness causing his feelings to get hurt a lot. His wise father, who had been a minister for fifty years, gave him some advice. “Son, if you’re going to make it in the ministry, you’re going to have to get a little more tough skinned.”

I often forget that people that rub me the wrong way, or whose personalities clash with mine, could be dealing with pressures at home or at work, problems with spouses, money, children or unfulfilled plans. It helps so much when we try to understand what’s going on that day in someone’s life. Also, people exaggerate and say things they don’t mean. Sometimes this is an indication that they are not happy with their lives. So do your best not to be touchy when someone says something that offends you, or that you disagree with, or that is said in what you think is the wrong tone. Sometimes people are joking with us, and we take them seriously.

Principle # 2 – Try not to be a reactor. The apostle Peter was a reactor. In our gospel lesson today he reacts to Jesus’ question “who do you say that I am?” Peter blurts out. “You are the Christ of God.” Sometimes Peter’s reaction was good, sometimes (like when he cut off the high priest’s servant’s ear) he reacted in a negative way.

There are times when we are bothered by others or when others fail to do something we want them to do. When this happens we are tempted to retaliate. “They missed the meeting I was to have with them, so next time we are to meet together; I’m going to be busy.”

As we learn, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to control ourselves and not immediately react to something, we will save ourselves a lot of grief.

Principle # 3 – Try not to be picky. Picky people are not fun to live with. I know a man who has the possibilities of being a wonderful husband and a good father, but at dinner, family members sit around the table in fear of being singled out by Dad. This became so bad that everyone in the family suffers from stomach problems. If the son mows the yard, the father complains that he didn’t do it correctly. Or his wife didn’t cook the meat to suit him. Or one of the daughters doesn’t have her hair combed right. No matter how hard the family tries to please him, something is wrong. It’s pick, pick, pick. What kind of words does your tongue speak to those around you or about those who are not around you? Do you realize that speaking critical, negative words in judgmental tones can never affect a positive change?

Principle # 4 – Seek not to be harsh and judging. Every time we get our eyes fixed on what another should or shouldn’t do we cross over the line. That does not mean that we can’t offer constructive criticism in love, but quite often our goal is to destroy, humiliate or to shame a person in to better behavior. A wise person said one time, “I am not accountable for anybody else’s attitudes and actions, but my own.”

Those are four “don’ts” if you will. Now I want to share with you four “dos.”

Principle #1 – Do talk it out. We’re all tempted to think communication of an unfavorable feeling tends to make waves. If something you do bothers me, I may think it would be better not to mention it, falsely believing that our relationship will be better for it. So I keep it inside myself.

Then some little dinky thing happens, and I explode. All the while you annoyed me; I kept it inside somewhere, secretly learning to hate you. When the explosion came, you didn’t understand – and I surprised myself. It all started when I said, “I don’t like what he is doing, but it would be better not to say anything. The relationship will be more peaceful.” Often the person did not realize that what they said or did hurt you. To be easier to get along with practice opening up instead of closing up and building up for a blowup. When you speak to someone about something they have said or done to hurt you do so as one person trying to take the log out of their own eye before taking the speck out of their brother’s eye. Do so with humility.

Principle #2 – Do allow other opinions. The Sunday School teacher explained freedom of worship to the class. “Why did the Puritans come to this country?” she asked. “To worship in their own way and make other people do the same,” one of the students replied. Isn’t it interesting how we want our freedom of speech? I mean, we will fight for it. But then we turn around and don’t want to give the same freedom to the people close to us. We can relieve so much tension and friction in our lives by granting others the right to have their own separate opinions. We need to respect people, give them their dignity, their view point, and in a discussion or disagreement, give them, even if they are wrong, the privilege of saving face. That is the beauty of the Alpha course, it does just that. We need to learn that Christ wants us, when we disagree, to disagree agreeably. Perhaps we could pray for those with whom we disagree.

Principle #3 – Do be more tolerant. I am so lucky to have a wife who is very tolerant of my imperfections. In dealing with me she truly follows the Scripture passage which says, “Be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love” Eph. 4:2 (Living Bible).

One pastor told of his first pastorate in which a woman, whom he thought was his friend, became disillusioned with him and was leaving his church because of its imperfections. His was her eighth church in as many years. He said this of the encounter, “When she walked into my office and made her big announcement, I must have been feeling a little ornery, because I said to her in effect, ‘I hope you find your perfect church, but I have an idea that if you join it, it won’t be perfect any longer.’ Being that directly truthful was not appropriate. She stormed out the door and never came back.”

While being tolerant is important, we must never compromise our stand for the truth of God’s Word and against sin. Jesus tolerated the sin of the woman caught in adultery in the sense that he did not condemn her, but at the same time he said, “Go and sin no more.”

Principle #4 – Do stay right with God. A little girl interrupted her nightly prayer, “Pardon me, God, while I go and kick my brother.”

Sometimes I find that when I am disturbed with someone, it shows that something’s wrong with my own attitude and spirit. Usually I’ve not been spending enough time with my heavenly Father. The Scriptures clearly teach that God is not the author of confusion or disturbance. When we spend the time with Him to have our minds renewed and our hearts lined up with His love, we become instruments through which His peace flows.

Dale Galloway tells the story of a man he had been counseling four times in two weeks. Each session consisted of blaming his estranged wife for everything that went wrong. Finally after having listened with compassion, on the fourth time Galloway gently asked, “what about your relationship with God? I’ve done everything I can do to help you. There’s nothing more that I can do for you until you go and spend time with God to get your own heart back on track and to get your own attitude straightened out. At this point anything else is wasting time for both of us.”

Once this man got right with God, it wasn’t long until he was able to get his relationship with his wife straightened out.

If you are having difficulty with other people start by examining your relationship with Jesus.

The goal for us as Christians is to be one in spirit and in relationship with each other. I challenge you as I challenge myself to do what you can to get along with our members, visitors, and newcomers. That will involve denying yourself. It will involve taking up your cross daily. It will involve following Jesus.