I’m excited as we move forward with our series on the One Another Commands in the New Testament! As I’ve been reflecting on these throughout the week, I’ve been both encouraged and challenged as I evaluate how I can implement them better in my own life, but also how I can encourage all of us to build up a healthy church family.
Under the large umbrella of loving one another in whatever situation we’re in, there are some 20 or so different commands that are listed over 50 times throughout the Scriptures. As I worked on things last week, here are the topics that we’re covering in the coming weeks:
Hanging together
Serving together
Playing nice together
Challenging together
Restraining together
Today, we’re jumping into our study by looking at three specific commands relating to how we interact with one another as we get together.
I believe these three commands form the core part of the foundation of how we interact with each other as a healthy family. While in some ways these are pretty basic elements of Healthy Church Relationships 101, these are also some of the parts that are also “deal breakers” when determining how a body of believers works together. In addition, I think these basic commands are some of the most visible to people outside the church as they evaluate the church.
Here are this week’s commandments:
Hanging Together
• Greeting one another 1 Peter 5:14
• Being hospitable to one another 1 Peter 4:9
• Having fellowship with one another 1 John 1:7
1 Peter 5:14 is one of five places where we’re told to “Greet one another with the kiss of love.” As I reminded all of us last week, when the Lord gives us the same command multiple times, we should probably pay attention! So, this is one of those “biggie commands” that we’re expected to follow through on.
Now in American culture, we don’t generally go around kissing others like they did in Biblical times or in other cultures today. For sure, macho men in Central Illinois don’t go up to one another in the IGA and greet another guy from church with a kiss!
As I was checking out some other translations, I came across these two versions of this verse:
Give holy embraces all around!
Greet each other with Christian love.
I think these two interpretations really get to the core of what God desires us to do. It’s not so much the physical act of kissing one another as we greet, but rather, it is that when we get together that we do show Christ’s love as we greet others.
Now, I think that can, does, and should look different in how we give that Christian greeting to one another. Some of us are huggers and when we see others, our first move is to step into our friend and give them a bear hug. Others of us are a little more reserved and a handshake or fist bump is a real sign of love.
I do think that there is something important in this process of giving and receiving physical contact with others. So, it’s probably more than just yelling “hi” across the sanctuary. We are made to be in contact with others and that is part of how families should relate to each other.
You’ll also notice in this brief, but clear command that it does not say “Only greet the usher at Goodfield Baptist Church when you get the bulletin on Sunday mornings.” Rather, the command is flat out to greet one another.
There have been times when our family has been in Wal-Mart that I’ve had to tell them that we were going to a different part of the store due to me seeing one of the kids or family members from our school that was in a particularly bad mood so it was best for us to hide from them. God does NOT want us to be hiding from our brothers and sisters in Christ!
In the last few months, Karen and I have discovered that her brother who lives in Singapore and her brother in Indiana had been back to Pontiac a couple of times…but nobody let us know. It was very discouraging to hear that the one brother had come here from the other side of the world, flew into the Bloomington airport, and we didn’t know he was on this side of the globe!
Likewise, we should not avoid our Christian siblings whether we see them inside or outside of the physical walls of the church building.
This past week, Karen and I made a late night run to Menards to get a few more things for our kitchen. As we left, I noticed my friend Mark’s car parked next to us. I felt disappointed that I had not seen him in the store. The next day at work, I asked him about being at Menards, and he said that he had parked next to my car and then looked for me in the store, but we missed each other. That made me feel much better…Mark hadn’t been in the store knowing I was there and he was hiding behind the kitchen sinks just so he could avoid me ☺.
How are we as a church doing at this?
When you come to church on Sunday mornings, do you feel like you’re being greeted in love by others?
Are you making appropriate physical contact with others as you greet your spiritual siblings?
When you see another Christian at work, at the IGA, at an event at school or somewhere else, do you take the time to greet them in Christian love?
With there being somewhere between twenty and thirty of us here on any given Sunday and another ten to twenty “regulars” who aren’t here on any given Sunday, how do we make sure everyone feels like we’re genuinely greeting everyone?
Our second command in this “Hanging Together” section is
9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.
This too is one of those commands that has multiple citations throughout the New Testament. While this is the only one that specifically states that all believers must show hospitality towards others, there are places where a certain person is thanked for their hospitality, and spiritual leaders and widows are expected to be people who especially practice hospitality towards others.
While here in smaller communities in the Midwest, we still have some of our manners, this is one of those dying aspects of hanging out with others. Think about it, when was the last time you invited someone over for a meal at your house or were invited to a friend’s house?
Why don’t we do this often? (busy, expensive, house isn’t spotless, don’t know how to do it well, don’t have space, don’t know one another well enough…might be awkward, etc…)
Sometimes, I think that we think that in order to be hospitable that we have to have the house spotless, the fine china out, a perfect five course meal…complete with three or four forks, and that it all must come off like an evening fit for a king. However, none of those expectations are included in this command! While it’s certainly not wrong to clean your house or to have a fancy meal, you can also be hospitable to others by inviting them over for dessert, popcorn and a movie, cooking hot dogs over a bonfire, or a bucket of fried chicken.
Of course, being hospitable isn’t relegated to only food items. When I was in college, I toured with the men’s choir all over the country. For each day, we went home after the concert with a family, spent time over a snack, slept in their home, had breakfast and the family then provided us with a snack lunch for the next day. That was hospitality! It varied a great deal…I stayed in a basement dungeon (oops, I mean apartment) with some other college guys up in Minot, North Dakota, in a drafty house with almost no hot water in Michigan, in a huge and fancy home in Utah, and on and on the variety went. Even so, each place provided hospitality in their own way.
In the vast majority of the places I stayed, people loved having us over. I had a few places where I didn’t feel like they had read the second part of this verse…that we’re to be hospitable…without complaining or grumbling. Of course, that a great reminder to us too…if I have someone come over…I should be happy and not spend my time complaining about how much work I had to do to invite you over or grumbling that you spilled grape juice on my nicest linen napkin…that kind of defeats the purpose!
The third command we’re going to look at today comes from 1 John 1:7. Here, the Apostle John tells us that we need to have fellowship with one another as we walk in the light that Christ gives us.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another…
John is explaining in this passage that God is Light, and we need to walk in His Light as followers of God. Then…as I walk in that Light, and you walk in that light and we both follow God’s Light, we will be able to have fellowship with each other.
I think there are some overlapping areas between greeting one another, showing hospitality towards each other and having fellowship with one another. For instance, I hope that as we greet each other there is a desire to have real fellowship with each other. Likewise, when we get together to share food, housing, and other parts of our lives with others that we’re fellowshipping at the same time.
Yet, on the other hand I think that this area opens our interaction to several additional areas of life.
In this particular passage, with the emphasis on our relationship with fellow believers being tied directly to our relationship to God Himself, I believe that opens the door for us to think about how we fellowship with each other when we spend time together with other Christians learning more about God. For instance…fellowshipping together in a Bible study, praying together, going to a Christian concert together (THANKS for helping us go to the Chris Tomlin concert), etc…. As we are together with others and as we purposefully focus on improving our relationship with the Lord, we are growing together in our fellowship and we keep building that healthy church family that we’re all looking for.
I am also a firm believer that we can benefit from just getting together as family members to do something fun or even mundane together. It’s that fun of inviting someone over to play a game or going out to play a round of golf or going together to a hockey or baseball game, or working on a quilt together. It’s calling someone up and asking them if they want to go out together for dinner or dessert. It’s offering to help a friend on a project just so you can have a great time hanging out with your friends.
I’m afraid that as “busy Americans”, this is another area of our life that we’ve crowded out. So, how do we correct it? One way to work on it is to look at your calendar and see what you’re already planning on doing. Are you going to watch Max play football this fall for Eureka College? Then, call a friend up from church and invite them to join you on the bleachers! Are you going to see a play at Conklin’s…invite a friend! Are you grabbing a quick lunch during your lunch break or taking a coffee break…see if you could invite someone else to meet you somewhere so you can spend that time together. Are you coming to Normal…call me and we can grab something! Are you going to the mall (or Menards) invite someone to ride along.
I was also thinking that while many of us find it hard to fit spontaneity into our busy schedules, maybe you could look at your calendar now and pick a night or an afternoon that you’re going to plan to be spontaneous. If you set aside a date a couple or three weeks out and mark that you have an appointment. Then, as you get closer to that date, call someone up and go do something together!
Take just a moment right now…is there someone you’ve “been meaning to” get together with to do something? Write their name down on your bulletin or somewhere so that you have that reminder for yourself.
As we work to build stronger relationships with each other, this is one of those areas where I think that we could see some great “returns on our investments”. If we start spending more time together with each other building relationships based on Jesus and the Light that He gives us, I believe we’ll enjoy each other more and we’ll be more ready to greet each other when we see each other and we’ll want to be hospitable and have people over too.
Next week, we’re going to start the section on Serving Together. Please think about a brief story about a time you can celebrate about serving together with others here at Goodfield Baptist Church. I’ll give you a few minutes to share next week so that we can celebrate together!
I continue to look forward to what the Lord desires to accomplish in and through us as we passionately work at loving one another better and in ways that bring glory and honor to the Lord! As we continue to improve on Hanging Together, I’m confident that we will continue to become more and more healthy!
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