A People of a Common Need #3

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Text: Romans 12:9-17

"A community of people called by God through the love of His Son Jesus Christ"! As we have said the past two weeks, this is a true biblical vision that God has for His church! Basically when God the Father calls us His daughter or His son we in turn call each other sister or brother! When you truly become my sister or brother let me tell you something, something special happens because we are family!

We began looking last week that to become that community that enables the dying world to taste the goodness of the Lord we have to become a people where everyone either belongs or can belong and it doesn't take them becoming clones of us. Then we looked last week at the heart of our community and that is each of us needs God's amazing grace and when we can freely allow others to rejoice in it we ourselves can rejoice in it and we will be known as a people with thankfulness in their hearts!

Now, we are going to go a little farther down the road to the type of people that God wants us to be. Before we get into this series I want to read a couple of passages:
Hebrews 10:19-25, Luke 15:18-24

One of the more interesting observations to ever take place is the observation of what people feel deep down inside about what type of place the church is! Someone said 'the church can become a place where we pretend we're doing fine as long as we can; then, if we fall apart we run to a specialist for treatment when what we really crave and need is a community of love.'1
Now, I realize that may be a little extreme for some of us here but I wonder if some of us at one time or another have in fact fallen for that?
I mean, where somehow we have fallen into this trap that says I've got to show everybody that I'm on top of everything or if I'm not on top of everything I'm getting there! Why?
Because it is not safe out in the world to not have it all together! Need I say not only in the world but more specifically in the church! So, if the church were to be exposed to my insufficiency to cope or whatever else it would reflect poorly on my standing in the community.
Then, two things can happen:
  1. When I feel like I'm slipping, I have to re-enforce the falsehood that I am not so I jump on you.
  2. If we see someone slip, we are at a loss as to what to do!
One of the most beautiful songs to express a thought along these lines comes from the band 'five for fighting':

I can't stand to fly
I'm not that naïve
I'm just out to find
The better part of me

I'm more than a bird…I'm more than a plane
More than some pretty face beside a train
It's not easy to be me

Wish that I could cry
Fall upon my knees
Find a way to lie
About a home I'll never see

It may sound absurd…but don't be naïve
Even heroes have the right to bleed
I may be disturbed…but won't you concede
Even heroes have the right to dream
It's not easy to be me

Up, up and away…away from me
It's all right…you can sleep sound tonight
I'm not crazy..or anything…

I can't stand to fly
I'm not that naïve
Men weren't meant to ride
With clouds between their knees

I'm only a man in a silly red sheet
Digging for kryptonite on this one-way street
Only a man in a funny red sheet
Looking for special things inside of me

It's not easy to be me.2

I want to suggest that the next step in becoming a community that community of God's great grace is recognizing that we all have this need:
the need to be safe! What do I mean by this?
I mean the church where each of us belongs and each of us needs God's grace is a place where every one of us is safe to be human! When it becomes evident how human we are we will find that it is the church that comforts us, encourages us, forgives us, is devoted to us and allows us to continue on as we always have been:
the family of God! The more human we become, the more fears & tears we share, the more faults and falls that we confess, the more mountains we climb together the easier it becomes for others to be human as well! My friends, isn't that the type of church you want to belong to?
Isn't that the type of church that you really need to belong to?
Isn't the world tired of having to suck it up, hold it in and not let anyone see how you need help?
Aren't we tired of having to be the lookout for God instead of being the one that God's children look out for?
Don't you want to be free to find what Peter found in Luke 5:1-11?
Here is Peter so sure of himself. Never has he eaten anything wrong before , he like many of us hasn't confronted his own weakness properly and bam falls down and Jesus lifts him up! Doesn't that sound good?

Let's ask a couple of questions this morning:
  1. Do we know that God loves us this morning?
  2. Can God handle the worst thing that we have ever done or the worst thing about us?
    --It would take a God!
  3. Do you know that the church loves you this morning?
    Do you really know that? Why or why not?
  4. Can the church handle the worst thing we have ever done or the worst thing about us?
    --It would take God's special people!
Now my friends, I believe that the church can become that community that is the safe place for each member to display their humanity! I believe that the church can be the place where no matter what happens your standing with the rest of the community remains as always! Why?
We are the family of God redeemed by grace!

Romans 15:7- accept one another as Christ Jesus accepted us! You see, what God has done to each of us through His Son Jesus Christ makes us family! When we're family, we're something special! How special?
Special enough that you are safe with me and I am safe with you!
Turn to Romans 12:9-17
Now, look at what makes a family a family!
  1. A family is devoted to one another!
    There's something interesting about a family:
    you may run down each other, but someone from the outside better not! Why?
    It's family!
    See we are so devoted to each other in that we protect each other! Listen the point is this:
    when you are in this community, your brother's and sisters are devoted to you. You might not have anyone else in the world to lean on but let me tell you that you have over 100 people here devoted to your well-being. We are not going to leave or forsake each other either. I'm not going to leave you and you're not going to leave me, we are the family of God!
    This means that no matter what happens:
    if your kids mess up, if your marriage falters, if you lose your job I'm going to be there for you because we are devoted to one another. You don't have to come here with your head held high; you can come and put your head on our shoulders! You're safe!
    We're going to rejoice with you and we're going to weep with you! When we meet together as the Hebrew writer said we are going to stir each other up in love! I'm not going to solve your problem but together we're going to step into God's presence! When we're this devoted to each other the church becomes a place where we can trace each other's pains & pleasures and remind each other that those things don't imprison us but our identity is found in the family of God as a blessed child and brother/sister!
    Like the prodigal we are not people stained with the slop of pigs, but a son restored to life! David & Jonathan were the ultimate friends. If you are blessed with a friend like Jonathan thank God. If you look at the story, David doesn't seem the same after Jonathan in some respects. Listen to what David said about him- 2 Samuel 1:26. Why?
    Jonathan kept him safe. Jonathan was devoted to him- 1 Samuel 19:1-4- he protected him!
  2. A family comforts each other!
    One of the reasons the prodigal son story is so special to me is because I am a prodigal son/father/husband you name it. But, I remember when my run away from God finally broke me down!
    My father looked at me one night and said "What do you want me to do about it"! I was so mad at him. Then the next night he sat with me around the table and I cried and cried and over and over again the grace & comfort of God kept coming to me! 2 Cor.2:5-8!
    The family comforts each other. James tells us in James 5:16 to confess our faults to one another. We are safe to confess our faults to each other. How else can we celebrate the grace of God together?
    We don't need to live with masks on because the church can handle the worst thing about us! What would have happened if the elder brother first ran into the younger brother and not the father?
    A. Brother I have done a lot of things wrong and I am so sorry I hurt the father this way. You better be, you good for nothing, wait til everybody hears what you have done!
    B. Brother I have done a lot of things wrong and I am so sorry I hurt the father this way. I know little brother, but you're here now. It's so good to see you we have been praying for you. You know, you're no different than me because I too have done a lot of things wrong! But father is so generous and good.
  3. A family believes in each other!
    1 Cor.13:4-8- we hope for the best, believe the best. Why does a parent always hold out hope for the hopeless case?
    Because they love them. Can the community of the redeemed do any less?
What do we need to do?
  1. We need to share more openly with those struggling our own fears and concerns. Sometimes we are just as scared as you.
  2. We need to show that we're far from perfect.
    People have got to feel safe to feel forgiven.
  3. We need to show in more than just words that when things look good- we'll be there even when things go bad!
Listen, we belong together at the feet of Jesus. We all come in need of his grace and his grace sets us all free. We come to a place where it is safe to appear not only when it's all together, but we can fall on our knees because after all men and women weren't meant to ride with clouds beneath their knees!


1. Larry Crabb, Is the Church the Safest Place on Earth? New Wineskins edited by Mike Cope & Rubel Shelly Sep/Oct 2001(Tennessee, The Zoe Group, Inc.,)p.14
2. Five For Fighting, Superman, words and music by John Ondrasik (2000 EMI Blackwood Music Inc. and Five For Fighting Music)
3. Acts 10:14



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