The Third Sunday of Lent, Year B
Exodus 20:1-20
Pastor Gayle M. Pope
FORMED
FOR GOD’S FAMILY
Last week’s sermon focused on God’s first purpose for our
lives – to love God. We were
planned for God’s pleasure and God is pleased when we love him and offer our
lives to him, which is the true meaning of worship.
This week’s sermon is about God’s second purpose for our
lives – which is to love one another.
We were formed for God’s family, and when we love our brothers and
sisters in Christ, that is called fellowship. This is all about “church” – not the
building, but the people.
I happen to be one of those people who has always loved
church – as far back as I can remember. I
liked the building; I liked the things we did there, and I liked the people
there. I grew up in the church and never
wandered too far from it.
There was a time in college and shortly after that when my
relationship with God wasn’t central in my life, but I still went to church.
And then, when my relationship with God DID become more central, I became
unhappy with the church family I grew up in – but even then I was more
connected than ever to other Christians. Not always through a specific
congregation, but in small groups that met in a home or restaurant or office.
For awhile, that was church to me, until God led me to a
Lutheran congregation in
Actually, my church family, and your church family, is MUCH
BIGGER than our congregation. As believers in Jesus, we are connected by our
faith and through our Baptism to EVERY OTHER believer who has ever lived. Whether we like it or not! We
cannot fully know and experience God outside of the fellowship of other believers.
In today’s gospel, Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The
leaders of the Jews thought he was talking about the temple building. But Jesus
wasn’t talking about a building, he was talking about his own body.
That is our temple today – the Body of Christ, of
which we are all members and in whose life we share.
I was blessed to have had a positive experience with the
church all my life. But this is not the case with everyone. Lots of people today don’t have ANY connection
with a church and never have. And lots of people have BAD memories of
church. But that doesn’t mean the church
is unimportant or unnecessary.
The Bible tells us in Genesis 2:18 that when God created Eve
for Adam, God said, "It is not good
that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner." Right from the start we were formed for
fellowship.
Just as God IS a relationship of Father, Son and Holy
Spirit, God created us to be in
relationship with God and with one another.
Ephesians 1:5 says that God’s “unchanging
plan has always been to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself
through Jesus Christ.”
In our first reading today, we heard about the Ten
Commandments that God gave the Israelites. Do you realize how these
commandments are all about establishing community? God didn’t just form relationships with
individuals. God formed a PEOPLE and
gave them a law that taught them how to live in relationship with God and with
one another.
Last week we heard the first part of Jesus’ answer to the
scribe who asked him which of those ten commandments was the greatest. Jesus
said, “The first is … you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all
your strength.”
But Jesus went on to say, “ ‘The second is this, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'
There is no other commandment greater than these." With that two-part
answer, Jesus effectively summarized the entire Ten Commandments.
Our faith begins with our relationship with God, but it
extends automatically to our relationship with one another. I John
You can look at the cross, the central symbol of our faith
in Jesus, in this way. The upright part
represents our relationship with God (worship), and the cross bar, our
relationship with one another (fellowship).
In the “Purpose Driven
Life,” Rick Warren talks about four levels of fellowship: 1) membership; 2)
friendship; 3) partnership, and 4) kinship.
The first level – membership
– is partly about the unity we automatically
share in Christ through our Baptism. 1 Corinthians
But membership is also about choosing to belong to a congregation of believers. We have a choice about that. We can choose where we spend our Sunday
mornings and give our offerings. We can choose a particular group of people
with whom to share our life of faith.
Membership is just the beginning, though. The next level –
friendship – is about learning to share: our experiences, our homes, our time,
our resources and even our problems. Galatians 6:2 says, “Bear one another’s burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of
Christ.”
The third level – partnership – is about doing my part –
making the commitment to be there for one another and to share in the work of
the church. Ephesians
The fourth level – kinship – is about loving your brothers
and sisters in Christ like a family. Just as our blood families don’t always
get along – sometimes don’t even LIKE each other – so it is with our church
families.
But loving one
another goes beyond liking – it
involves respect and commitment and listening – being there for one another
through thick and thin, whether you feel like it or not. This is not always easy.
Our culture today is so focused on individualism that it really
is a challenge for us to live out the second purpose of our lives – fellowship
with other believers. Following Jesus’
command to love one another means putting the needs of others and of the
community ahead of our own.
Sometimes we do really well at this, like with our Saint
Patrick’s Day supper. That was
successful because people made a commitment and followed through on it. We could all give many more examples of times
when members of our church family were really there for us.
But other times, we don’t do as well – Sunday School for
example. Everyone would agree that it’s important for our church to have Sunday
School, but not many are willing to support it with their time and energy. And keep in mind, Sunday school is for ALL
AGES. We could give other examples of
our weaknesses and shortcomings as a church, too.
In this, we are no different from every other church, as the Acts of the
Apostles and the letters to the early churches attest. There were many problems
among the believers right from the start. But, since those problems were addressed in
the letters to the early churches, the Bible gives us a lot of guidance on how
to deal with them. And it all boils down to love.
Jesus said to his disciples in John 13:5, “By this everyone will know that you are my
disciples, if you have love for one another."
That is the heart of fellowship – love for one another –
giving and receiving. It starts with
God’s love for us and flows out from there.
Sometimes it takes a deliberate step to open the flood gate
– a step of obedience to God’s command to love one another – a sacrifice, a
setting aside of our own priorities and needs. But always that step of
obedience, taken in faith, is followed by the out flowing of God’s power and
provision.
That’s what the psalmist was talking about in our psalm for
today when he was singing the praises of the law.
“The law of the Lord is perfect,” it says, “reviving the soul; the decrees of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are
right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eyes.”
As we obey God’s command to love, our souls are revived, our
minds made wise, our hearts gladdened, and our eyes enlightened. These are the fruits of worship and
fellowship.
You were planned for God’s pleasure. You were formed for God’s family. Thanks be to God for loving us and making us
to love one another. Amen.