WHEN COMMUNITY BREAKS DOWN

1 John 1:1-10

Every year about this time, we love to get strawberries from the folks who set up their stand up on Creedmore Road—the Lyon Farms folks. I am not sure whether it is the fact that they are locally grown, or that we can actually go up and pick our own, but there is nothing better than those fresh strawberries.

I like to buy things where I see the same people so I can get to know them after a while. It makes a difference to me to know that I am a part of the community and that I am supporting someone I will see regularly and get to know personally.

But who actually built your car? Do you know who manufactured your refrigerator, your computer, even who built your house? In the past, what you owned was largely the product of someone’s workmanship who was a part of your community.

Now you are not concerned about offending a sales person because you do not know them or their family, or get surprised when you find out you do! You treat people differently when you know they are part of your community.

THESIS: Community among believers will break down any time we allow our interests to become self-centered instead of Christ-centered.

Sometimes, in spite of our best efforts and most noble intentions, community breaks down…or never even develops to begin with! If we understand why that happens, then we are more likely to pray for protection and act with wisdom to prevent such things from having their negative impact here.

I. WHEN WE ACT AS IF WE DO NOT NEED THE COMMUNITY CHRIST HAS PROVIDED, WE DECEIVE OURSELVES AND DESTROY THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE BODY OF CHRIST

--In the New Testament, we find many different churches in a variety of cultural contexts with diverse spiritual needs.

--What we also find are churches facing all kinds of threats to the fellowship Christ wants each church to enjoy in the midst of a holy, living community of men and women who love Him and each other.

--This morning, if we intend to build a stronger congregation of disciples of Jesus Christ who have found close fellowship and genuine community with each other, we need to take note of some of the ways community was threatened in the early churches.

--John reminds us that we are all laboring together to overcome the reality of sin in our lives—sin which can so easily go unnoticed, unconfessed and unchallenged while working to destroy the very fellowship Christ died to develop among us.

1 John 1:8 ⁸If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

When World Health communities discovered the SARS illness, they immediately went to work to isolate the disease and quarantine those who had it so that it would not spread.

When we in the church can identify some of the reasons community in the body of Christ breaks down, we should act to prevent that break down. What are some of those reasons?

A. Friends Who Become Unfaithful

--Community in the body of Christ gets hit hard when personal relationships suffer from the normal, ungodly treatment that we see so often among unbelievers.

--Instead of seeing how we love each other, we run into far too many situations where we treat each other badly and do not give our actions a second thought.

1. Hurt by Close Friends

--Most of the time when we get hurt and the fellowship we once enjoyed is damaged, the pain comes from those who were once close friends.

Psalm 55:12-14 ¹²If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were raising himself against me, I could hide from him. ¹³ But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, ¹⁴ with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship as we walked with the throng at the house of God.

--Hurt comes when we…

…take each other for granted,

…assume that people will understand since they are Christians

…choose to take the high place instead of the low place, to be served instead of serving, to be loved instead of loving

2. Harshness of a Hypocritical Heart

--The pain comes in many ways but perhaps the worst is when we find that those we once respected and loved have turned out to be disloyal, unfaithful to us behind our backs while to our faces they continue to give the appearance that all is well.

Psalm 55:20-21 ²⁰My companion attacks his friends; he violates his covenant. ²¹His speech is smooth as butter, yet war is in his heart; his words are more soothing than oil, yet they are drawn swords.

--Christian community cannot develop when those in the fellowship prove to be unfaithful to one another.

B. Attitudes that Become Divisive

--In any group of individuals, there will be issues that bring out our disagreements—there is nothing unusual or unexpected about that.

--The problem emerges when those disagreements give way to division, choosing sides, stirring up support for one opinion over another—all for the sake of “winning” the day, even at the expense of “losing the relationships.”

1 Corinthians 1:10-11 ¹⁰I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. ¹¹ My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you.

--We find the presence of…

1. Elitist Cliques Instead of an Encouraging Fellowship

--In the church in Corinth, there were factions arising which were breaking up the community, tearing up the fellowship.

1 Corinthians 1:12 ¹²Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.”

--In each case, the suggestion is clear—our group is spiritually superior to the others, our fellowship more pure and holy, and our beliefs more sound and biblical.

In the realm of evangelical churches today, the community is suffering from this same kind of divisiveness as factions align themselves along various lines of doctrine and practice.

Controversy has developed among those who prefer to be known as Calvinists and those who are known as Arminians, each group viewing itself with distinction as the correct, and therefore the superior point of view.

Others prefer to align themselves with Charismatics and Pentecostals while their counterparts tend toward Dispensationalism.

If those terms are unfamiliar, perhaps you have run into trouble with friends because you are attending a church that is called Baptist, or you have gotten grief because you prefer a Presbyterian, or Methodist, or Episcopalian label.

Still more familiar, perhaps your preferred community is with BSF and others have chosen Community Bible Study, or Precepts, or a Providence Bible study and you find that there is a subtle (or not) hint that until you have learned to do things “our way” you are not yet in the spiritually elite crowd.

--Does all of this sound familiar? These things threaten the fabric of biblical community and divide instead of unite—all on the basis of an elitist mentality that tends to think of itself as the best of all possible ways!

2. Efforts to Separate Instead of an Emphasis on Unity

--If people just believed they were the best, that would be damaging enough, but it seldom stops there.

--Not content to leave it alone as an attitude, divisive spirits tend to take action to get people to separate from those who do not agree with them.

2 Timothy 4:14-17 ¹⁴Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. ¹⁵Be on guard against him yourself, for he vigorously opposed our teaching. ¹⁶At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them. ¹⁷But the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me, in order that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was delivered out of the lion’s mouth.

--Although there are clearly times when it is appropriate, even necessary to separate from those who are heretics, those who refuse to repent of habitual sin, and so forth—unless there is compelling biblical warrant (and not just personal preference), creating division in the body of Christ is inexcusable!

C. Burdens that Become Back-Breakers

--How we handle the difficulties that arise in the body of Christ will often spell the difference between a healthy fellowship and a broken community.

--Burdens will fall upon our shoulders on a regular basis as the body of Christ—some from our sin, some from living in a fallen world, some from making bad decisions with significant consequences.

--How we respond in those circumstances will either make or break the community.

Galatians 6:1-5 ¹Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. ²Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. ³If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. ⁴Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, ⁵for each one should carry his own load.

1. Mishandled Burdens

--Not all burdens are the result of someone falling into sin, so we need to be sure that we understand the nature of the burden presenting itself to us as the body of Christ.

a. Over-zealous Harshness with Others

--When sin is the issue, we are responsible for the health of the body, as well as the well-being of the individual involved, to take steps toward restoring the offending party.

--What we do must be done with gentleness, not harshness, discernment and wisdom, not knee-jerk reactions!

b. Over-looked Shortcomings in Ourselves

--One of the most common errors in this regard is our tendency to exaggerate the problems when they show up in others and minimize the problems when they show up in our own lives.

--An environment of grace provides a place for us to grow without fear of condemnation, without fear of ostracism and judgmentalism.

--Unfortunately, grace is what we want to receive but not what we are inclined to give.

How helpful to the testimony of the community of faith is it to engage in the age-old practice of “shooting our wounded?” When we see how badly suffering folks are treated, we pray that we will never be put in a position to depend upon the kindness of the community that is supposed to be known for the way we love each other.

I have been told on many occasions of the pain experienced by members of the body when they have found themselves burdened with a heavy load only to find that they are abandoned and left to bear the burden alone! Just in the time when they needed the support of the body, they were cut loose from the moorings that anchored their souls and set adrift by the very people who should be there to love and restore them!

2. Bearing Each Other’s Burdens

--Christ calls us to become a part of a community which takes its relationships seriously, that sacrifices to come to the aid of someone in distress, that embraces its responsibility to love unconditionally each member of the flock.

Is there someone here today that you have abandoned in their need? Someone you have cut off instead of throwing them a rope? Someone you have allowed to drift away because you did not know what to say or do, and so did nothing?

Community depends upon our response! Go—restore them, bring them back, draw them in! Our failure to do so will allow the burdens that weigh us down to break the back of our fellowship with each other instead of strengthening us through the exercise of our caring muscles!

D. INDIVIDUALS WHO BECOME AUTOCRATS (somebody who dominates other people, but refuses to be answerable to anyone else)

--One of the most common sources of destruction to the life of community in the church is the presence of certain individuals who demand to be the center of attention, to “run the show.”

3 John 9-10 ⁹I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will have nothing to do with us. ¹⁰So if I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, gossiping maliciously about us. Not satisfied with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.

--Although I have never heard of its existence, I think there must be a “Diotrophes society” somewhere that produces and trains folks like this.

--Nearly every church either has them, just bid the old ones farewell, or just welcomed a new one.

--This is the “My-way-or-the-highway” group who demand to shape the church to fit their own personal desires, to make everyone else conform to their preferences.

--As in the case of Diotrophes in 3 John, there is little regard for the health of the community of faith, only a passionate pursuit of first place and a willingness to employ whatever means are necessary to achieve their end.

1. Manage Information for Their Own Power

--For this group, information becomes a key to power so they are constantly in search of the “inside scoop” on people and plans and processes so that they might use their information, even if it means reshaping it so that their version is so distorted that it scarcely resembles the truth.

--John speaks of malicious gossip, and “unjustly accusing us with wicked words” as the method used by Diotrephes to destroy the fellowship and discredit the influence of everyone but the select few who were part of Diotropehes elite group.

2. Manipulate Relationships for Their Own Purposes

--Using his influence, he was able to keep out of the church those who disagreed with him, to ostracize those who supported John and the apostles’ teaching and authority, and to run off anyone who dared to challenge his right to run the show.

3. Malign Opponents for Their Own Prestige

--Another method Diotrephes used cast the teachings and leadership of anyone who disagreed with him in a bad light looking to shore up support for himself by making them look bad.

--He schemed to maintain control, he lied to suit his purposes, he maneuvered to make evil look like something good, he stirred up dissension by sowing seeds of dissent among the members pitting one against another to pursue his own haughty ambitions.

Proverbs 6:16-19 ¹⁶There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: ¹⁷haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, ¹⁸a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, ¹⁹a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.

--When there are these kind of folks in the congregation who want to destroy the fellowship, there are many ways they can do it because their chief concern has nothing to do with the body of Christ—it is because they “love to be first among them.”

E. RELATIONSHIPS THAT BECOME DISCRIMINATORY

--One last element that will destroy the community of faith and prevent the development of sound, biblical fellowship is partiality and discrimination in our relationships.

--If we show preferential treatment to one group over another, if we tend to avoid certain kinds of people while gravitating toward others, we will discover that the health of our overall community will suffer.

James 2:1-4 ¹My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. ²For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, ³and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” ⁴have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?

--Although this exact scenario may never arise in your experience, can you not see yourself doing what James describes?

--We Show Preference Because…

1. They Have What We Want (and Hope to Get from Them)

--In James example, the issue is simple—the wealthy can do something to advance our personal circumstances and the poor cannot, so we make the selfish choice and show partiality to the rich.

2. They Let Us Remain As We Are (Safely in our Comfort Zones)

--By preferring one group over another, we sometimes make the choice not so much for what we personally might get out of it, but sometimes because of what we will not have to give to it!

--When I risk a relationship with someone who is not like I am, I will probably have to shake up some of my prejudices, stretch some of my assumptions, and realize that there is a depth and richness to genuine relationships that I would have missed completely had I shut myself off from those who are not exactly like I am.

--Hanging out with people who live differently, dress differently, speak differently, value different things, have different priorities—all those things force me out of my comfort zone into a wide open world that God wants me to enjoy.

--The community life of the body of Christ can be injured by any one or all of these influences and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit will suffer because of them.

--If we allow them to continue to exert their influence and do nothing to shut them down, we in fact will “grieve the Holy Spirit’s” work among us and restrict the impact of our message of hope and love through Jesus Christ.

--Therefore, we come back to what John said in the passage we read at the beginning:

II. WHEN WE FUNCTION IN WAYS THAT MODEL THE COMMUNITY CHRIST HAS PROVIDED, WE BLESS HIS NAME AND BUILD THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE BODY OF CHRIST

--If we want to model genuine Christian fellowship and godly, warm, inviting community where we can love and be loved, we must lay aside the things we have just reviewed and be ready to embrace John’s words with great hope:

A. ALL THAT WE DO AND SAY WILL BE PRACTICED IN THE LIGHT OF CHRIST

1John 1:5-7 ⁵And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. ⁶If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; ⁷but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

--All that builds community can be practiced in the light of Christ—nothing needs to be hidden in the darkness or whispered in the shadows.

B. ALL THAT WE DO AND SAY WILL BE PURIFIED by THE BLOOD OF CHRIST

1John 1:7, 9 ⁷but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin… ⁹If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

--Our fellowship is made holy and pure because it has been purified by the cleansing power of the blood of Christ.

--When our fellowship begins as the fellowship of the cross, the rest will follow in perfect righteousness!

C. ALL THAT WE DO AND SAY WILL BE PROCLAIMED WITH THE JOY OF CHRIST

1John 1:3-4 ³what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, that you also may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. ⁴And these things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.

--We will enter into the fellowship of the blessed Trinity and experience the wondrous joy of knowing that our relationships with each other have been shaped by our relationship with the Father through the Son in the power of the Spirit.

--Then we can proclaim without hesitation and with complete joy that God is in this place and can be seen in the fellowship of those who belong to Him here.

This morning, ask yourself if your community life in the body of Christ is what He wants it to be. If not, is it because of you—or because of others? Of course, the answer is yes to both!

What can we do to become a living, holy, loving community where the love of Christ and joy of Christ are visible in our relationships with each other?

I hope our survey of problems from some of the early New Testament churches has helped identify some of the areas in need of work! Today there are things you can do differently that can make a difference in your experience of community here at Providence. Will you commit yourself to do them?

That commitment begins with time before the cross of Christ where the power of His forgiveness and the basis of our fellowship in the power of His blood will cleanse us of all motives but His. With John’s words in mind, may we say today, “These things we write, say, proclaim…so that our joy may be made complete.” And further, that our fellowship and community may be filled with the love and warmth of Jesus Christ!

May 25, 2003

Providence Baptist Church

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© David Horner 2003

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