Christian Community

Good morning, everyone.

May we bow our heads and pray together before we look at God's Word together.

Father, I pray that you would take my feeble words and in the power of your Spirit, change

them into life-giving words.

Father, we pray that this morning, even in this extreme heat, Father, you would be able

to send down your fire upon us.

Lord, that we might be the people that you call us to be in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

So a verse from Ephesians chapter 4, Paul says this, as a prisoner for the Lord there, then

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.

The German theologian Jürgen Moltmann, in an interview that was done just a few months

ago, he's a very elderly man now.

He's been a very influential theologian, though I would suspect most of you have never heard

of him.

Moltmann said this, he said, the opposite of poverty is not wealth, it's community.

Let me say that again.

I want you to lodge that thought in your mind as I proceed with this talk.

Come to think about it, I don't think in the Jewish council of Sanhedrin there was much

talk about social mobility or anything like that.

But somehow that early Christian community lived in an amazing way that we read in Acts chapter

Acts 4 · chapter mention

4 and verse 36, check it out if you don't believe me, that there were no needy persons among

them.

Why was that?

Because they were living in community.

What does it mean to live in community?

Well, a community is a people group, but not all people groups are communities.

Because a community is defined by one really important aspect, and it's this.

It's defined by the fact that when we are in community, we start to take responsibility for one another.

When one of us weeps, we all weep.

When one of us rejoices, we all rejoice.

When one of us is in need, we respond faithfully to that need.

Some of you are sitting there saying to yourselves, well, hang on, that sounds a bit inward looking.

That sounds a bit like cozy Christianity, if ever I heard of it.

Except that God expects Christian community to spill out into the community around us.

Tim, I think, used the phrase when he prayed for us just now.

To serve the community.

The Christian community will never be content to just serve its own needs.

It will have its eyes open to the world.

I think it was William Booth who said, was it not, that he always had an open Bible, but also an open newspaper.

So let me ask you a question.

Do you think the church of God creates community?

Or do you think the church of God works best where there is an existing community that it can kind of latch on to?

Don't shout your answer out, but just think about that for a moment.

It's a very critical question in its way.

Well, the research, I think, is probably a bit counterintuitive.

It's what the research, and to be truthful, the research is not what you would call, you know, there are not huge volumes of it.

But what the research tends to point towards is that the church does best where there is an existing community that it can work with.

In a previous life, when I was the Bishop of Buckingham, I had the privilege of having Milton Keynes within my jurisdiction.

In Milton Keynes, miraculously, the church in those days, that was in like 1972, was actually invited to be a part of the Milton Keynes Development Corporation.

And boy, did they milk it.

They made sure that there were allotted land to build churches in every second grid square in Milton Keynes.

They applied funding to Milton Keynes to make sure that in every other grid square there was a full-time clergy person and it was ecumenical.

So very often there were four or five full-time clergy working in an ecumenical parish, which consisted of two grid squares in Milton Keynes.

Probably top-end 7,000 people.

Let me tell you, even today, Milton Keynes is a massive red mark on the accounts of the Diocese of Oxford.

Very few of those churches have reached what you might call a critical mass that's needed to run a church in the 21st century.

Very few of them have even 100 members, never mind the 150 members that most church growth people would consider.

Why was that?

Well, it was trying to create church, community ex nihilo.

That means from nothing.

The church has always done better, though in our time it's not doing particularly well at the moment.

But the church has always done really well when it can fasten on to an existing community.

You know what people tell me about Clevedon?

They tell me that what they like about Clevedon is that sense of community.

That should make us open our eyes, start to breathe a little more heavily, and let our heartbeats become a little quicker, unless you've got a heart issue.

Okay.

So, does the church live in community today?

Well, researchers have looked at Christians over the years in terms of three sorts of Christians.

One is what they call committed Christians.

Those are people who regularly attend church, regularly give of their income, regularly pray,

regularly can give some evidence that their whole lives are based on the leadership and the guidance of God.

Then there are what researchers call cynical Christians.

Those are people who were Christians and are now no longer Christians, sorry, are no longer involved with the church,

though they would still claim to be Christians, but the church has put them dramatically off expressing their faith.

Frighteningly, they are a growing number of people, and we can be critical of them, but of course,

really what we ought to do is look in the mirror and ask ourselves as a church,

what is so wrong with us that people who are once on fire with for the Lord will no longer come anywhere near us?

And indeed, if you get them on the subject of church,

you will start to imagine that they've had a sudden attack of Tourette's syndrome or something.

The third kind of Christian proliferates in the Church of England.

They're called cultural Christians.

They're people who generally subscribe to the idea of church.

They may send their children to church schools.

They may even attend church on a relatively regular basis.

They may even give some of their money to the church.

But actually, they have never appropriated, they've never made their own the message of the gospel.

The thing about committed Christians is this.

Their research consistently shows that in any one church,

20% of the membership of that church falls into the committed Christian delineation.

80% do not, for different reasons.

That means that in most churches, 20% of the people provide 80% of the money,

80% of the horsepower, 80% of the gifts, 80% of just about blooming well everything.

While the other 80% passively watch on.

I want to say to you, I know some of you,

and I know that some of you are very committed Christians,

and I thank God for that.

But I will thank God even more,

when the 80% of our church,

that actually allows the 20% to supply all the horsepower and the money, etc., etc.,

step up,

and make it 21%,

22%,

23%.

And I want you to think about that,

because I'm going to ask you,

at the end of this message,

whether or not you're prepared to stand up,

not literally,

well, maybe literally,

to stand up and say,

from today onwards,

I am going to put myself in that 20% bracket.

Because unless we do,

we will never start to be the church that God calls us to be.

I don't know how much you read your Bibles,

but I do know this,

that if you read the Acts of the Apostles,

you would realize this,

you would realize that that church functioned as a community.

Here's a novel idea, Acts chapter 2, verse 44, I think it is,

Acts 2:44

where the writer tells us, Luke tells us,

that when someone was in need,

they would sell their possessions to meet that other person's need.

Friends, we're a long way away from that.

Can you imagine a day,

when we could put our hands up in church and say,

there are no needy people amongst us,

because we live as a community,

and we take responsibility for each other.

When somebody weeps, we weep.

When somebody rejoices, we rejoice.

When somebody is in need,

we respond generously.

Firstly,

so, we come to Ephesians chapter 4.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

I'm sorry for a long introduction.

Okay, this tests your forgiveness level.

Ephesians chapter 4, verses 1 to 16.

Ephesians 4:1–16

What Paul is doing there,

is doing something really important for us to pay attention to today.

He is giving a thumbprint of what the church should look like.

And he has three things that he says there,

conveniently for my message.

The first thing is, he says,

unity, unity is critical.

The second thing he says is,

slightly ambiguously,

is that diversity is important.

And the third thing he says is,

if we're getting this right,

we're going to grow up.

You know, I know

a lot of members of churches are,

you know, middle-aged to elderly,

and that's great.

But don't assume,

because you're middle-aged or elderly,

that you're mature.

Some of the most childish people I know are old.

I may be one of them.

So, unity.

Paul says,

endeavity,

endeavour,

endeavour.

You've got to put effort

into the idea

that the church would be unified.

Of course,

Paul didn't know about ecumenism.

He didn't have a clue about Methodists or Baptists,

because they'd not been invented at this stage.

Paul was talking about us,

the local church.

He's saying,

the way it's meant to work is like this,

that where there are differences amongst you,

Jesus has given you the resources

to offer forgiveness to one another.

This is not a place

where we excel

in trolling each other on social media.

This is not a place

where we gossip behind people's backs,

although we've invented a language

for doing that, haven't we?

Isn't it great

when you hear one Christian say,

I just want to share with you about Harry,

when basically what they're going to do

is some character assassination attempt.

Now, Paul says,

we've got to work hard

at unifying.

Now, the trouble is,

that it'd be easy

if we were all the same,

wouldn't it?

Come on to this,

we're all very different.

We hold different opinions.

I mean, in my view,

some people's opinions are bonkers,

but it's their opinion.

And what I mustn't do,

said Paul,

is fall out with them.

Paul uses

a very interesting analogy there.

I don't know if you noticed it

in the first four or five verses.

He uses the analogy

of God the Holy Trinity,

Father,

Son,

and Holy Spirit.

And just as these are one

and all one,

but they are separate,

different,

so they work together

in unity.

It would be unthinkable

that the Holy Trinity,

you know,

that the Holy Spirit

would do a bit of muttering

about Jesus

or vice versa.

So we're called,

literally,

to love one another

with agape love.

That doesn't mean

I can feel good

about everybody in church,

but it does mean

I can want the best for them.

I can set my heart

to want the best for them.

Second thing is,

slightly ambiguously,

the diversity of the church.

Paul says in Ephesians 4,

round about verse 7,

he said,

to each one of us,

grace has been given

as Christ apportioned it.

The scholars think

that what Paul is talking about there

is the gifts,

the charismata,

the gifts of God's grace.

Here's the truth.

If you are a believer,

if you cross the line

and accepted the gospel,

then God has given you

spiritual gifts.

And let me tell you

that one of the reasons

why a lot of people

are frustrated in churches

is very simply this,

that they don't know

what their spiritual gifts are

and therefore

they can't exercise them.

So church, to them,

can feel all push,

all shove.

No freedom,

no liberation

to exercise my gifts.

We have different gifts.

Paul makes that clear

in Romans

and in the Corinthian literature.

He makes it very clear.

There's lists of gifts there.

I don't think they're meant

to be exhaustive lists,

but there are lists there.

And what Paul is saying is,

though we all have different gifts,

we're supposed to work

like a body.

You remember Paul uses

that phrase a lot,

the body of Christ.

And he says,

when a body's working healthily,

all its parts work in unity.

Some of you at the age,

I'm one of them,

you know,

I'm starting to realize

that my body's not quite

as in unity as it used to be.

But nevertheless,

that's the ideal.

that when we offer our gifts

to serve one another

and to serve the world,

then the church becomes

what God intended it to be.

So a church where there's

no relational unity,

a church where half the membership

don't have a clue

what their spiritual gifts are.

By the way,

not all spiritual gifts are weird.

If you're sitting there

and your weird meter

is starting to flicker

with talks of spiritual gifts,

let me just reassure you,

it's not like that.

Some of those gifts

are very basic gifts.

You know what Paul says

is a gift?

If Catherine was in here,

she's not right now,

she'd be very pleased to know

that the gift of administration

is written down there.

That's not spooky,

is it?

That's kind of down-to-earth,

everyday,

necessary gift

for the successful running

of any organization.

Paul says,

leadership is a gift.

That's not spooky.

I mean,

there's been more stuff

written about leadership

in the last 30 years

than just about

any other subject

than non-fictional literature.

So we're supposed to be a place

where we get on together

despite our differences,

and in fact,

what we need to do

is to learn to celebrate

our differences.

I don't know what you do,

you know,

when somebody comes up

and verbalizes

an opinion

that you think is,

you don't think much of.

I have a friend like this

and she constantly

is saying things

that I think are just loony.

Right?

She's not a Christian.

And if I even

try and scratch the surface

of why she would

conceivably think this,

she goes ape,

starts shouting,

listen,

we can't be like that.

Relational unity

is critical

to an effective church.

and trust me,

I can tell you

that the one thing

that messes up a church

just about more

than anything else

is where bad relationships exist.

Up and down this country,

I can only speak about

the Church of England

because it's the only one

I got real experience of.

Up and down this country,

there are churches

where two or three people

cause mayhem

and nobody

loves them enough

to challenge them.

Notice the way I put that.

Nobody loves them enough

to challenge them.

Diversity is important

because God made us different

and gave us different gifts

and what we're supposed to do

is bring those gifts,

offer them to Jesus

and see the ministry

of the church go.

And finally,

maturity.

I know you're all too humble

to admit

that you might be mature.

And it's very difficult

to assess

other than

maybe the people

who love you enough

to tell you the truth

might give you

an angle on that.

But Paul says

this is really important

that we don't end up

being the kind of people

who become captive

to wrong-headed ideas

in society

and in the world

and in the church.

I used to speak

on a speaking circuit

with a former bishop.

Not even sure

whether he's still alive.

He was the bishop of Durham.

He was very controversial.

Some of you will remember

that he articulated

the belief

that as a bishop

he no longer believed

in the physical resurrection

of Jesus.

Don't ask me out.

I ended up

on speaking platforms

with him.

And

I would speak

about the church

and the future

and he would speak

about faith

and the future.

Incidentally

he thought

very passionately

that 9-11

changed everything.

I don't know

if he was right

about that

but it interested me

that he would say it.

I tell you

what I really loved

about this man.

I never saw him speak

when he didn't

break down in tears

and say

that the cost

of discipleship

for him

was crucifying.

And the reason

that impressed me

was

I thought

wow

that's exceptional

to hear that kind

actually

the cost

of discipleship

for every believer

should be crucifying.

It should cost us.

Jesus didn't assume

there would be

some brothers

and sisters

within the new

community

of Christians

who would pay

that cost

and some who

would just get

away with it.

No.

All of us

should bear

that cost.

So where's

all this

leading us?

Well I want

to say this

and I don't

often feel

I have a prophetic

word to the church

but I do

want to say

if ever

the church

you and me

needed

to be

a true

community

in the light

of COVID

it would be

now.

there are

a lot

of bereaved

a lot

of lonely

a lot

of empty

a lot

of angry

a lot

of emotionally

tied up

people

in our

community

who

desperately

need

to be

set free

and what

they don't

need at

this stage

in their

life

is a

church

that

would

put

them

off

forever.

Remember

Nietzsche

in one

of his

novels

writes

about

the

madman

who

was

sitting

on the

steps

of the

church

screaming

God

is

dead

God

is

dead

God

is

dead

and

the

people

went

up

to

him

and

they

said

to

him

why

do

you

think

God

is

dead

and

his

answer

was

very

simple

he

said

because

I

went

to

church

I

think

it

was

Oscar

Wilde

who

said

a

cocktail

party

is

a

social

device

designed

to

help

people

not

meet

each

other

wouldn't

it

be a

tragedy

if

a

church

was

a

place

where

people

were

put

off

from

meeting

with

God

church

is

not

going

to

set

you

free

friends

God

is

going

to

set

you

free

and

the

reason

we

need

to

live

truly

as

community

let me

tell you

as a

church

in

Bristol

where

150

of

them

have

actually

moved

out

of

their

homes

and

lived

together

in

community

I'm

not

asking

you

to

do

that

though

you

might

consider

it

I'm

saying

community

starts

where

we

start

to

take

responsibility

for

one

another

and it

continues

where we

start to

take

responsibility

for the

thousands of

people in

this town

who are

not in

church

today

and what

will make

the difference

is when

those of

you who

are

what

Dan

Postieski

calls

decaffeinated

Christians

that is

your

Christianity

is designed

not to keep

you awake

at night

when

you

the

80%

decide to

step up

and become

part of

the 20%

so the

20%

is no

longer

20%

it's

21%

it's

22%

final

word

David

Putnam

in his

unbelievable

book

I don't

think he's

a Christian

and he's

looked at

a lot of

evidence in

America

but he

says that

what's true

in America

is true

in the

western

world

the book

is called

Bowling

Alone

it speaks

of the

phenomenon

that

ten pin

bowling

which was

designed

as a

game to

build

social

capital

is now

undertaken

by people

who just

go to

the bowling

alley

on their

own

and bowl

balls

down

I've

seen

that

golf

course

friends

two of

them

around

Clevedon

I've

seen so

many

people

playing

golf

on their

own

Partnum

is saying

that in

western

society

social

capital

is

breaking

down

and

covid

pandemics

accelerate

that process

here's the

prophetic word

if there

ever was

a moment

for the

church to

step up

and truly

be community

it would

be now

so I

ask you

I plead

with you

those of

you know

you're in

the 80%

bracket

are you

going to

step up

are you

going to

help this

local church

be the

local

church

that God

called us

to be

friends

I join

with St.

Paul in

urging you

urging you

pleading with

you

begging you

let's try

living a

life

worthy of

the calling

we've

received

in the name

of our

amazing God

Father

Son

and Holy

Spirit

and the

people

who agreed

woke up

and said

together

Amen

to be

a

John