COVID Life

If you would, take your Bibles this morning and turn to Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12. You follow as I read the first 13 verses of this chapter. I appeal to you therefore brothers by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God which is your spiritual worship do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God what is good and acceptable and perfect for by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, Let us then, let us use them. If prophecy in proportion to our faith, if service in our serving, the one who teaches in his teaching, the one who exhorts in his exhortation, the one who contributes in generosity, the one who leads with zeal, the one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness. let love be genuine abhor what is evil hold fast to what is good love one another with brotherly affection outdo one another in showing honor do not be slothful in zeal be fervent in spirit serve the Lord rejoice in hope be patient in tribulation be constant in prayer contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality bless those who persecute you bless and do not curse them let's pray our God and our Father now we come to you and ask that you would open our minds to your word Father we are here not just to learn something We are not here just to do our religious duty and listen to a sermon We are here that we might know the will of God and that we might change, that we might grow, that we might obey.

So we ask that your spirit would work mightily in our hearts this day. for those who are here and for those who are watching us we pray for all that you would move God help us we pray to listen carefully and then Lord to determine to walk in the way that you have laid out for us God help us now we pray in Jesus name, Amen it's time someone said publicly what we've been whispering among ourselves. All of us sense that our church is slowly disintegrating. It's not the same anymore, or so it seems.

We're drifting. We're falling apart. We're losing steam. Our affections for one another are cooling. Is it possible that our church is dying a slow death? well if it is or is if it isn't whatever is happening we can't just sit by we need to address it last week we talked about the sense of our personal disintegration that personally individually we're running out of steam and tending toward hopelessness we saw from scriptures that we can combat personal hopelessness, individual hopelessness, by reminding ourselves of the character of God, by reminding ourselves of the purposes of God, and by reminding ourselves of the promise of God, that is, that we will inherit, inhabit eternal glory.

But what about us as a body? We're concerned not just about our personal disintegration, we're concerned about what's happening to our congregation. The shepherds here have concluded that we have to act. We must address that disintegration. And frankly, all of us thought we'd be done with all this by now. When all this came down in March we thought by this time we be done with this when in fact it hasn turned We haven returned to normal In fact this week it appears that things have gotten worse And it appears that it's going to be like this for the foreseeable future.

Now, I hope you realize that the elders and deacons aren't going to be the ones who rescue the church, okay? That's not going to happen. Only Jesus can do that. But he will do it through leadership and you working together as Jesus directs in his word. Now, we, the leaders, have to certainly lead in this endeavor, but it's no use unless you're willing to obey what God says you must do.

So let me tell you what I'm proposing to do today. I want to look at examine some of the things that scriptures say brings life to a congregation. OK, we can't look at all of them. As I thought about this, for example, the one another's there 42 in the New Testament. I don't know if I could do and if you could withstand a 42 point sermon. All right.

So we're going to look at some of what scriptures say brings life to the congregation. and then I want to challenge you to think how you can do those things in our present circumstances. So those are the two things I want to do today. Look at what the scripture says, some of what scripture says that brings life to a congregation, and then challenge you to think about ways of how you can do those things, given the circumstances that we're in right now. so if you want to see life in this congregation then we must love one another romans 12 let's look at romans 12 9 through the first part of verse 11 let love be genuine abhor what is evil hold fast to what is good love one another with brotherly affection outdo one another in showing honor.

Do not be slothful in zeal. First of all, we have to love genuinely. We have to love sincerely is what the word means. A sincere love has to be exhibited by us to one another. It's not a love that's showy and sentimental and superficial. Genuine love doesn hug and kiss you and slobber all over you with great enthusiasm only to fade away and cut you up when you gone You know how it is You say oh how are you Oh it so good to see you Oh my, yes.

Oh, it's been so long, hasn't it? And then she walks away and you say, can you believe the kind of clothes she wears? It's just, I can't believe she's still wearing that fashion, right? That's superficial love. the kissy, slobbery kind of stuff that really isn't sincere. For those transformed by the redemption in Jesus, you don't show, you don't have showy sentiment, but real concern and real service no matter what.

How can we do that now? How can we do that now? Superficial love forgets about others. Out of sight, out of mind, right? That's superficial love. Maybe our love has become insincere because we haven't made the effort to think about others.

Out of sight, out of mind. Maybe we need to make greater effort to think about one another. Can you recall the people you haven't seen for a while? Have you even thought about them? Well, here's how we can start. Look at your bulletin. inside the bulletin insert it is a flock list so open that flock list up everybody get your flock list out now what I want you to do is find your name in whatever flock you're in ok some of you may not even know what flock you're in now you found your name see those folks in your flock do you remember all of them do you know all of them if you look at them and start thinking about them you have taken the first step to loving sincerely in the midst of covid look at those names and say which one of these haven't I not thought about?

Or which one of these that I don't really know very well? Okay? So we have to love sincerely. And to love sincerely, you got to know one another. So at least let's start there. He goes on to say in the second part of verse 9, that we have to love the right way.

Love abhors evil. and clings to what is good. Now, most of us think that love just is. It just happens. It's some kind of directionless emotion. It just overcomes you. Like someone once said, and I'm sure you've heard it, no, I don't know how to describe love, but it's like the flu.

You know it when you get it. Okay? No, that's not the case. Genuine love never leads a person to do wrong or to avoid doing what is right. Genuine love always encourages someone to do right. So you're watching the soap opera.

Let's just say you were watching one. I certainly hope you don't. But let's say Derek loves Joy, but she's married already to some evil, insensitive jerk. But she and Derek are in love. And Joy deserves happiness in life, doesn't she? Is that real love?

Is that real love? Are you slowly but surely buying into the philosophy of so-called love that surrounds us in our culture? Don't do that. Real love abhors evil. Real love abhors what's wrong and clings to what is right. You know, when someone says to you, if you really love me, you won't tell others when others need to know, that's not real love.

Real love abhors evil and clings to good. Real love will not be glad when something bad happens to a brother or a sister. You know that you love someone when you desire for that person to grow in grace, to grow in greater obedience to the will of God as it's revealed in the scripture. Real love is going to be concerned about your brothers and sisters growing.

Your heart will break when you do not see it happening. All right? Got your flock list out? look at that list again look at your list for whom on that list can you pray that they would grow in grace do you know folks who need to grow are you praying for them start praying for them who can you call on that list just in your flock now just in your flock who can you call in your flock and ask how can I pray for you is there an area where you struggling with is there an area where you struggling can i pray for you can i help in any way At the very least you can call and say hey you know what Let me pray for you If there's an area where you're struggling, let me help by praying at least.

Okay, there's a start. Verses 10 and 11, he says, we have to love like a family. We ought to love each other like a family, with brotherly affection and honor. Now, when he talks about brotherly affection, Paul uses a term that's traditionally associated with family, with blood relatives. We have to love one another like we're blood related. We have to love one another like we're really a family. your first and foremost you are first and foremost devoted right to blood relatives about everybody else you grow up that way who do you love the most the people in your family right and so you have to devote yourself first and foremost to those who belong to the body of Christ.

He's telling us we ought to love one another like we love our blood relatives, like we love the people that are part of our real family, our human family. That's what we have to do. We have to be devoted to one another like we are truly family. Think of your family together at Thanksgiving. When you're together at Thanksgiving, you don't come up to your sister and say, Annie does not come to Lydia and say or Annie does not come to Emma and say so how are you?

And Emma says fine. Right? That's not how sisters relate to one another. You genuinely want to know what's happened in the week, the day, the last couple months. So it's like, you know, it's like coming up to Lee or Lydia and saying And hey, I saw Clarence and Dini on the Snapchat you sent. Man, what was going on?

They were digging in all those buttons. What was happening there? What was going on? That's what you do with family, right? You're genuinely curious and you're genuinely sincere as you talk to your brothers and sisters and your mom and dad That what brotherly affection looks like So that what we need to do How can you do that If you're taking notes right now, do this in your notes.

But if you're not, take your flock list and flip it over. It's a blank page. You can start writing some things down. Here's what I want you to write down. I don't know if you can do it right now, but at least make a note to do this later if you can't do it right now. list several good things from your relationship with family members that you, okay, list several good things from your relationship with family members.

Like, what does that look like? Kind of write those down. Write at least three of them down. What does this relationship look like? And then write down, how can I do this with someone else in my flock? How can I do what I do with the family? right?

How can I do that with someone else in my flock? The very things you do with your family, do with someone else. Show yourself devoted first and foremost to them, okay? Find the name of one flock member you have not treated as a blood relative. For many of us, that'll be most of the people in our flock. Find the name of one flock member you haven't treated as a blood relative and find out ways to implement what you wrote down think of ways a phone call a note something think of ways that you can show brotherly affection all right you've already you're going to think about how do we show brotherly affection in our family how do we show we're devoted to one another first and foremost you write those down make a list and then say i'm going to do that with this person.

Okay? Now, let's keep going. Because we're family, we eagerly bestow honor on one another. Now, isn't it interesting how he puts it? Outdo one another in showing honor. We need to surpass one another in showing honor.

Not in seeking to be recognized, but outdoing one another in honoring the other person. We need to outdo them This is what you call holy one You honor me I going to do you better Can you imagine what that would look like Right? I'm trying to outdo you in honor. You know, think about this. You say, well, I don't exactly know what you're talking about. Well, think about this.

When you're talking to someone, when you're talking to someone, number one, who dominates the conversation? Number two, who do you talk about the most in your conversation? A good way to start is to say, when I'm in conversation with this person, I'm going to make their, I'm going to make his or her life the center of the conversation, not what's happening to me, what's happening to him or to her.

That's one way to start. Make the other person more important in the content of your conversation. Now, here's a question. When was the last time you honored someone with thanks or praise for the job he or she did on behalf of the body, no matter how small? When was the last time you thanked somebody? This is what we ought to be doing.

We ought to be searching for every possible way we can honor somebody. Have you thought about that? You ought to think of every possible way. You ought to be looking. You ought to be, when you walk in on Sunday, you ought to be looking for an opportunity to honor somebody. As if you're going to say, I'm not going to leave church today, and I'm not going to go home until I have honored somebody in some way.

Now, look at your flock list. list or find one member identify one person on that list that you can honor seriously find somebody on that list that you can honor now find a way of doing it Whether that means calling them, writing them a note, emailing them, texting them, going to their house, standing in the yard while they stand on the porch and talk. Find some way of honoring somebody on that list. And then the… part of verse 11, it's a translation thing, but I think the first part of verse 11 goes with do not be slothful in zeal.

There are reasons why I think that goes with the honoring one another and loving one another. Pursue this kind of love with zeal. Don't become lazy in loving and honoring one another, but pursue it with zeal. In our flock Wednesday night, there weren't very many of us there. I think, I remember I counted them up. I think we had eight people at our flock Wednesday.

And one of the young women in our flock prayed this. It really struck me. Oh God, help us to love one another aggressively. I thought, man, Lord, answer that prayer. Help us to love one another aggressively. What does that look like? you know I got to know Becca my sophomore year in college and after a few months of acquaintance it went beyond no okay I knew her we were friends but in about four months it went beyond no I would try to eat lunch with her every day I would sit with her every day in chapel that sounds strange to you but I went to a Christian college every day we went to chapel Which is a good way of getting to know somebody you like, right?

Or show them you like them. I volunteered to do things with her. I remember we ushered a friend's recital, senior recital. When we broke up for the summer, that summer of 75, I wrote her almost every day. Now, you've got to understand, there were no cell phones. This is going to sound strange to you young people.

There were no cell phones. And to call long distance cost a lot of money. If you called long distance, you had to pay a bunch of more money on your phone bill. So, you know, I couldn't do that to my parents. So I would write her about every day. I remember one time I got off of work one Friday, you know, punched out 3.30, climbed in my car, drove all night to Iowa, spent the entire weekend in Iowa, Saturday, Sunday, and then Sunday left and drove all the way back home in time to go to work.

Okay That loving aggressively That really going out of your way to love someone to love with zeal now think how can you love someone aggressively how can you love zealously with covid conditions in place think about that how can you do that Can you write notes regularly? Can I talk to one person every week that I can help? What do I need to do to love aggressively?

You've got to be saying to yourself, I cannot let these circumstances keep me from doing what God's told me to do. And it's more difficult now to do it, But what am I going to do to get over the obstacles so that I can show brotherly affection, so that I can love aggressively, so I can love rightly? All those things. What am I going to do? Look, a vibrant, alive church requires that we love one another.

And if we're dying, if we're dying, it's because we're not making the effort to love and honor one another. We can still love and honor one another regardless of what was presented to us. Yes, COVID has presented us with some challenges, but we cannot allow it to frustrate our efforts to love and honor one another. And so we have to think and pray about how we're going to overcome those obstacles so that we can obey the life giving commands of God. we've got to be thinking and praying about how to overcome the obstacle so we can do what God tells us to do and have life.

That's the first one. If we want to see life in this congregation, then we have to care for one another. Let's look at 1 Corinthians 12. 1 Corinthians chapter 12. let's look at verses 21 through 26 the eye cannot say to the hand i have no need of you nor again the head to the feet i have no need of you on the contrary the parts of your body that seem to be weaker are indispensable and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty which our more presentable parts do not require But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.

If one member suffers, all suffer together. If one member is honored, all rejoice together. We have to care for one another. Look at verse 25 in particular. That there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. Now remember the context of this verse.

The Apostle Paul is addressing a people who, a bunch of them want the spectacular gifts. They want the gifts where they're getting up in front of everybody and preaching and teaching. They want the spectacular gift of prophecy. They want the spectacular gift of healing. They want the big, major, drawing attention to the gift kind of gifts. And he's trying to say that their desire for the spectacular things is misplaced.

Don't be that way. Because, he says, the congregation is like a human body in which all the parts work together for the common good of the body. So stop thinking that one gift is greater than another. Stop trying to pursue the spectacular things. Start thinking about the fact that no matter what spiritual gift you possess, you use it to help the body. All the gifts, from what you might consider the unimportant to the spectacular, all work together for the proper functioning of the church.

All are necessary. That's his point. And with that in mind, Paul says, have the same care for one another. That means that believers must care for one another equally and without discrimination because each part of the body is important. The head can't say to the feet, I don't need you. Now think about that for a moment.

The head, everybody looks at your face. Everybody sees how you do your hair. It gets all the attention. But your feet, I wouldn't dare walk barefoot around any of you. my feet are the ugliest things you've ever seen they're ugly ugh they plasma feet we call them the point is that the one we cover up That the one we don pay attention to Everybody paying attention I don't know anybody here who walks up to people and say, and start looking at their feet, right?

You're looking at the face. This is what gets all the attention. The feet don't get any attention. But the head can't say to the feet, I don't need you. What's the point? He says the less honorable parts deserve the same care as the more honorable parts.

The weaker parts deserve the same care as the stronger parts receive. Those who are less visible should receive as much as those who are more visible. That's the point. Now, I remember some years ago, Saturday morning, Men of Faith is here. and I mentioned, yeah, kind of bummed out. My car's not working. I don't know what's wrong with it.

And four guys showed up at my house that morning to look at my car. Now, what if that quiet church member who sat in the corner, who never says much, what if you found out his car wasn't working? Would four guys show up at his house? You see, the point is, we care for one another without discrimination. We don't care just for the most visible ones. We care for the ones who seem less important.

It takes effort and diligence to make sure you care for others without discrimination, to make sure you do not show favoritism. You know where we're going right now, don't you? We're going to the other text. Your flock list. Look at your flock list. Is there anyone there on that flock list that you might have neglected?

Especially now that COVID has made it real easy to neglect one another. As you're looking at your flock list, let me ask you this question. have you noticed a pattern of whom you care for and those you don't? Which people on that list are people that you have really cared for in the past, and what are some of the people on the list that you care for? that you've neglected.

Ask yourself why these people draw attention as opposed to this. And what you need to do is determine specific acts of care you can do for those that you have neglected, especially, especially since the virus hit. again the spirit pumps life into the body when we care for one another all right number three if you want to see life in this congregation then we must encourage one another we must encourage one another first thessalonians five turn there first thessalonians 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up just as you are doing. You recall that Paul wrote those words to a church that was facing persecution, difficult and uncertain times.

And although we may not be facing persecution, we certainly are facing difficult and uncertain times. It seems obvious to us that many are discouraged. Well, Jesus ministers life to his church. He ministers life to the body as the members work hard at encouraging one another. Now, we have to encourage one another with God's word. we want to bring God's word to bear right now frankly I like Governor Mike DeWine I think he's a nice guy right and so I'm not picking on him but I really I really hate his I don't know if you listened I listened to his speech the other night twice in which he said, we can get through this because we Ohioans You know it kind of dumb but that not the kind of encouragement we need to give one another, like, we can do it, right?

Because frankly, you know what? We don't know what this thing is going to do. It may change some of our lives forever. it may eliminate your job we don't know we don't know what's going to happen we may lose people in this congregation before it's over it's not let's do it it's encourage one another with the word of god what are the promises of god that we can speak to one another.

You say, well, I don't know what to say. All right, let me help you then. Ask questions of the one that you see is discouraged. Hey, you know, you look like your chin is about to, your chin is dragging so low, it's scraping up the gravel out of your driveway. What's up? Or what's down?

You know, what's happening with you? or you don't look like your normal self. What can I do to help? And that opens the door. Jump in when you know someone's discouraged. You may not see them, but you know they're discouraged. Give them a call.

So how do you do that? Here's some hints. Here's some hints for you. List several ways in which others have encouraged you. Have you ever been the recipient of someone who encouraged you? Write down the ways that person encouraged you.

Write them down. Recall how God used that person in your life to encourage you. Now, who in your flock is discouraged? Or who do you suspect is discouraged? Give them a call. Initiate a conversation.

And then use what others have used to help you. You know what? This is what I've found. Because this is ministry. as a young pastor as a young pastor I would say to myself I don't know how to do that I don't know how to do this I don't know how to do this you know how I learned you learn by doing now for me I didn have a choice i a pastor i gotta jump in and frankly you don have a choice either because god commands it but you know it not my job and so we tend to shy away listen to me trust god call the person stumble around with your words all you want you'll learn you'll learn how to do it and you know what you'll know joy because you've ministered to somebody else don't let ignorance keep you from doing it because you learn by doing remember how someone encouraged you and use that that's a good place to start so the lord of the church calls us to encourage one another in uncertain times.

So let's take him seriously. Let's stop making excuses because of what we're facing, and let's find ways to obey. All right? Number four, if you want to see life in this congregation, then we must serve one another. Galatians chapter 5. Galatians 5 verse 13.

For you were called to freedom, brothers, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. Now, what he's saying here, Jesus, by his death, has bought us freedom. Freedom from what? What's the freedom he's talking about? Freedom from the old law covenant. The old covenant that said, do it or you'll die.

Okay? And so we've been freed from that. And the tendency is to say, well, since I'm not under this covenant that says obey or die, I can do whatever I want. And the answer is, no, you can't. You've been freed from that so that you can serve others. And he says, don't use your freedom for self-indulgence.

Do you know what the most dangerous part of this pandemic is? You know what it is? It's not getting sick. It not even dying It the fact that this pandemic gives us an excuse to isolate ourselves and to indulge ourselves That a real danger here We isolate and indulge ourselves Look when all this started in March, you remember that? Everything got closed down for like two weeks.

You remember that? I loved it you know why because I knew I would be home every night there were no more meetings I didn't have to meet with anybody all day long I mean I saw the show up and preach to the camera if you remember those days but I could I had uninterrupted days no one walking in the office There's hardly anybody calling me. I could, too, read what I wanted.

You know what? I loved it too much. That's the danger of this thing. One reason our congregation may be sick is because of the fact that we've actually settled into a comfortable existence because of this pandemic. And that's a real danger. That's a real danger. but god requires that we use our christ-bought freedom to serve one another in love serving one another one another produce this life and the energy that's so necessary for a congregation so what will you do to serve others you say well with this covid what are we going to do i'm not sure let's start figuring it out shall we look at your list do you see anyone on your list that needs help with something anyone suffering that needs comfort anyone you can serve in some way maybe someone needs a grocery store shopper maybe someone needs to to get connected to services on the internet people may need rides to the doctor i don't know let's start finding out and let's start serving one another again we cannot let our circumstances keep us from obedience.

Even in these difficult times where we're tended to be isolated, we've got to find ways of serving one another. And I'll bet we can. So let's pray about it and let's think about it. Here's the last one. You say, wow, that's four. How many more do you have?

One. Here's the last one. If we want to see life, if you want to see life in this congregation, then we must pray for one another. Second Thessalonians. Let's look at Second Thessalonians for a moment and see what the Apostle Paul did. Second Thessalonians chapter 1 verses 11 and 12.

To this end we always pray for you that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in him according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, this is a people. Remember, as we went through this a few months ago, this is a people, a congregation in difficult straits.

And Paul assures them of his prayers. He says, you must know that because of your situation. You must know that I pray for you and I'm asking God to work in you. Although we don't face persecution, we're facing a pandemic that can stifle lives worthy of the calling that we've received. It can stifle our resolution, our resolute determination to do good, right?

It can stifle our determination to do good. What can I do? I can't go. I can't see anybody. Got to wear a mask What can I do It can stifle that It can stifle works of faith and it can stifle those things to the point that the glory of Jesus is obscured What the answer We got to pray for one another We've got to pray for one another that the things that I've already talked about won't be stifled.

We've got to start praying and saying, God help us to be and obey these commandments. These life-giving commandments. We need to pray for one another. If we don't, it's not going to happen. It can. It can happen if we pray for one another.

If you desire God to work in this congregation, if you don't want to see us die, then you need to be praying for one another. No prayer, no power. No prayer, no life. Prayer says you can't do anything without God's help. Prayer says, God, I'm utterly dependent upon you. God, if we're going to stay alive, if we're going to get through this, if we're going to do well, then God, you need to work, help us to become more obedient to you and the things you've told us to do.

Look at your list. For whom can you pray? Look, it's not good enough to identify a problem and just talk about it. We need to go beyond talk. We need to go beyond shaking our heads at the problem We need to do whatever we can We need to do whatever it takes to love one another to encourage one another, to care for one another, to serve one another, and to pray for one another.

We've got to do whatever it takes. We've got to be praying and asking God, give us wisdom, give us some kind of creative, Lord, make me more creative than I've ever been before. All right? God help us to do the things that bring life to the body. Now, the leadership needs to lead. And that means that we need to be saying to you, here, here are some things to do.

I've given you a general way of going about it. I've probably given you a ton of stuff to do. I'm the one giving the assignment. It doesn't seem that big to me, but to you it may seem overwhelming. Well, it's up to us now, the leadership, to structure things and help you and to at least help you do those things. But listen, we have to do them.

We have to do them. The experts are telling us that this whole COVID thing is going to reduce church attendance by 20%. that does not have to be true It doesn have to be true What are you going to do What are you going to do so that there's life even when we're dispersed? Let's ask God to help us. Father, help us now to do these things so that the Spirit of God may give us life.

God, we want to be stronger at the end of this, not weaker. And we'll be stronger if we obey these life-giving commands. and so now I ask that these folks here and who are watching will take seriously just the suggestions that were made and start doing them. So Father, help us. Thank you for your word. We have hope today because your word is explicit and sufficient.

Thank you, in Jesus' name. Amen.