SERMON SERIES ON “A COMMUNITY OF GRACE”

A LOVING CONGREGATION

Scripture: Psalm 40:9-17; Colossians 3:12-14

INTRODUCTION

The season is Lent, and guided by the Psalms and Paul’s letter to the Colossians, we are focusing our attention on what it means to be and to become “A Community of Grace.” Using the lines from our Statement of Purpose, adopted by the Session and printed on the front of our bulletin, we have already affirmed that “Christ is the Center” of our life together, and that in our worship and witness, we are “A People of Praise.” Today we lift up the hope and expectation that this church is now and always will be “A Loving Congregation.”

It was that same vision which King David lifted up to God and to the people of Israel long ago, praying in the 40^th Psalm: I have told the glad news of deliverance…and have spoken of thy faithfulness and salvation, O Lord…I have not concealed thy steadfast love…from the great congregation (Psalm 40:9-10).

The apostle Paul re-iterated that theme in his letter to the Colossian church, encouraging them to Put on, as God’s chosen ones…compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience, forbearing one another…and forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you. And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony (Colossians 3:12-14).

What those two leaders, King David and the apostle Paul, declared to their ancient congregations and what I, as a preacher, want to say to you today, is that the most important thing in our life together is the quality of love which we share with each other. In the Christian Church, we believe that love comes from God and has been given to us through the life, death and resurrection of His Son, our Savior, Jesus.

Now the word which Paul uses to describe love to the Colossians is “agape.” As most of you may know, there are other Greek words for love – “phileo” meaning the strong bonds of friendship people share with each other… “storge,” which is the affection we have for members of our families…and “eros,” the romantic and sensual kind of love with its physical attractions and emotional attachments. (See “The Four Loves” by C.S. Lewis, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., New York, 1960)

But agape love, which Paul commends to the Christians in Colassae, is different than all the other forms of love. Agape love is the way Jesus Christ loves us. It is unconditional, non-judgmental, sacrificial and spiritual. We have heard it described in wedding ceremonies, reading from another of Paul’s letters to the Corinthians: Love is patient and kind, love is not jealous or boastful, arrogant or rude…love does not insist on its own way, it is not irritable or resentful, it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (I Corinthians 13).

What we often forget is that those words about agape love were not written originally for wedding ceremonies, as lovely as they sound. To the contrary, the Corinthian and Colossian letters, together with almost all the other New Testament epistles, were sent to churches that were struggling with theological heresies and confusion, with interpersonal conflicts and divisions, with self-righteous attitudes and self-serving agendas that had paralyzed their ministry and side-tracked their mission.

So Paul was writing to those early Christians with words of correction and reconciliation, encouraging and admonishing them to let go of their anger and strife, to forgive one another, to live together in peace and to let the life and healing power of the Lord Jesus Christ transform them into a community of grace and a loving congregation. Above all else, Paul pleads with them, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And all these centuries later, that visionary apostle of the early church is still trying to tell us the same thing today.

II.

The truth is, of course, that we Christians live somewhere between the high and holy ideal of agape love that Jesus sets before us, and the imperfect human reality which exists in every church.

G.K. Chesterton, the Roman Catholic author who lived in England and straddled the turn from the 19^th to the 20^th century, once wrote that “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. Rather, it has been found difficult and left untried.” I think he was talking about love.

And when the London Times asked a number of Christian writers for essays on the topic “What’s Wrong With the World?” Chesterton sent in the reply that was most succinct and to the point:

“Dear Sirs:

I am.

Sincerely yours,

G. K. Chesterton”

(From “Soul Survivor: How My Faith Survived the Church,” by Philip Yancey,

Doubleday, 2001)

You see, when we as Christians are at our best, full of Christ’s agape love, we can be and become a loving congregation, embracing each other with care and compassion. But when we are at our worst, when the church gets caught up in dissension or dragged down by division, then we need to confess our sin and ask the Lord to show us the way toward forgiveness and reconciliation.

Twelve years ago, on a Sunday morning in January of 1990, I stood in the pulpit of the Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, and told the congregation that I had accepted the call to become pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta. The staff and session knew about the announcement in advance, but it came as a surprise to the rest of the members, and I agonized over how I would tell them that we were leaving.

Our family had grown up there, and we were surrounded by the care and love of friends and neighbors who had ministered to us just as much as we had tried to minister to them. However, there were some people in the church who had difficulties with me and I with them, and one elder in particular who became an adversary as time went by. We tried to patch things up, but to no avail. So he sat in the back row of the church with his arms folded and his eyes often closed during the sermons I preached…until that winter Sunday when the announcement was made that I would be leaving for Atlanta in the spring. He opened his eyes, looked at me from the back row and I saw him smile as he raised his arms and clasped his hands over his head to rejoice in the fact that what I had said would lead to my departure.

Now I have seen people, even in the Presbyterian Church, lift up their arms and hands to worship God with praise and adoration. But on that Sunday morning in January of 1990, it was clear to me that this was a different kind of celebration. And if I could do things all over again, I would have gone to that man, asked for his forgiveness and offered him the same, seeking God’s help to heal that which had been broken in the name of Jesus Christ. Someday, I hope and I pray, that opportunity will come my way again.

CONCLUSION

But you and I in this church don’t have to wait for that opportunity with each other, because Jesus Christ has called us to be and to become sisters and brothers, a family of faith, a community of grace and a loving congregation, right here and right now.

So if there is anyone in this church with whom you have had a falling out, the Lord would say to you today, “It’s time to fall back in.” If there is a person here who has hurt you or if you have hurt someone else, the Lord would say to you today, “Forgive your neighbor and receive forgiveness yourself.” And if, in the midst of all the controversial issues that we Presbyterians are struggling with today, if you have determined that any person, group or coalition in this congregation and denomination are your adversaries, then stop what you are doing, look at them in love, listen to the reconciling voice of the Holy Spirit and instead of taking a stand against anyone or anything, get down on your knees to pray for the peace and unity and healing of the church.

Last Sunday morning, an older member of this congregation, who has worshipped here for many years, was going out the doors after the benediction. She tripped and fell down in the narthex and broke her hip. Within a matter of minutes, several of our pastors and a number of our members surrounded her with care and compassion and kept the vigil by her side until the ambulance came to take her to the hospital. Her name is Frances Reeves, she is recovering now in a rehabilitation center, and our prayers are with her as her broken body heals and is restored.

My friends, what the apostle Paul was trying to tell the Colossians, and what he is still trying to tell us today is that the church, the body of Christ, needs to be healed and put back together again. We can’t do that by ourselves, for we are imperfect and sinful in every way. But with the agape love of Jesus, we can forgive and be restored, and become the loving congregation that He has called all of us to be.

But don’t take my word for it. Listen again to what the apostle Paul said: So put on then, as God’s chosen ones…compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience…forgiving one another as the Lord has forgiven you. And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

My friends: that is what it means to be and to become A Community of Grace, and A Loving Congregation!

In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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