I'm Thankful for the Church - part 1
I’m Thankful My Church Loves Another
November is here! For the masses, it is that gray area between the spectacle of Halloween and the lavishness of Christmas. For the Christian, and those who enjoy a meal of abundance, it is a time to reflect and give thanks. The Thanksgiving season is upon us, and it is time to reflect on the blessings we have received this year. The Lord is good to us, and we must remember to give thanks for His goodness.
In the spirit of thanksgiving, we are going to spend the next few weeks giving thanks for God’s Church. It is through the local church the Lord works to spread His Kingdom, to join His people in worship, and to build up His people. Today, we will look at the latter. I am thankful my church loves one another. It is through that love that the weak are made stronger, the sad are made joyful, and the lost find the Way. The New Testament is filled with verses that urge Christians to grow richer in their love for God and one another. In fact, we are going to look at that key phrase today, “one another.”
In the New Testament, we can find 47 places where the phrase “one another” is used in reference to a command to God’s people—love one another, serve one another, etc. Interestingly, readers can divide all 47 of these into 4 basic categories: Unity, Love, Humility, and generally Do Good.
Today, as we consider giving thanks to God who has brought us where we are, I would like us to consider these categories. Let’s give thanks for where we are doing well, and perhaps we may find a few to encourage us to grow in our love for one another.
Being United to One Another
In Ephesians 4:2&3, Paul urges Christians to bear with one another “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” The next verses give the reason we can maintain unity.
There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Ephesians 4:4-6
The source of our unity is found in the shared faith we have in Jesus Christ.
All the old divisions between humanity break down at the cross. We can be reconciled to one another because Christ has reconciled us to God. As we take a look at these verses, keep in mind we can only follow these commands when we are reconciled to Christ. It is through Jesus that we are able to forgive, be at peace, and be patient with one another.
The first one another comes in Mark 9:50, but let’s take a look at its context in 42-50.
“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
Mark 9:42-50
The culmination of this teaching is found in the last command, “Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.” Now, does Jesus mean for us to season our food well, and then we’ll be at peace? True, a well-cooked meal can do wonders to bring people together, but I don’t think that’s what He has in mind. Take a look again at the beginning.
The saying in 9:42 is also found in Matthew 18:6. In fact, much of this passage is paralleled in Matthew 18. In both places, Jesus is warning against leading children into sin, but He is also teaching how to build peace with one another. Mark gives a bit of a more succinct version, and the thrust of the teaching is quite simple: whatever causes you to sin, get rid of it. If it’s your hand, cut it off. If it is your foot, cut it off. If it is your eye, cut it out.
Now, we have a tendency to soften this teaching by saying Jesus was speaking in hyperbole, but I’m not convinced. Regardless, if you are unwilling to sever body parts, the principle still stands:
The first step towards peace and unity with one another is to remove anything that causes us to sin.
“Everyone will be salted with fire” reminds us that every single person will be judged. But this judgement is not a picture of us standing in a courtroom. It is the type of judgement you find in a kiln. Whenever an object is placed inside a kiln, it is set on fire and heated to thousands of degrees. The object has no say in what happens next. It cannot reason its way out of the fire. The fire comes and consumes whatever cannot withstand the heat. What is left is only the matter that can withstand the heat. It is judged, tried, and tested, and comes out the flame stronger and eternal.
Sin cannot withstand the fiery judgment. For the nonbeliever, they will be consumed by the fire and left to remain “where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.” It is an eternal fire. For the believer, there is still a fiery test, but it is not hell. It is the removal of sin before entering Heaven.
Think back to the kiln. Sometimes when students create ceramic projects, they don’t follow directions as they should. There are defects in their creations—air bubbles in the clay, foreign materials, or bad mixtures of glazes. Whenever one of the defects exist, the creation will not make it through the fire. It will break, crumble, or explode like popcorn. The only thing left are remnants of trash. But, whenever the student takes care to remove those defects—they keep air out of the clay, they remove any foreign matter that got into it, and they take care to properly mix their glaze—then the creation will withstand the heat. It will come out tried but true.
Jesus is telling us to not wait until we are sent to hell to be tried by fire. Do not wait until after your life is over to realize the extent of sin’s corruption. It will be too late, and you will be consumed and left in the fire. Instead, “Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.” Receive God’s judgement now by letting Him show you sin’s corruption. Then, you can have the Great Potter remove those defects now before it is too late. Then, when the fire of death comes, you will not be left with the refuse, but will shine with the glory of heaven. And even more, as you remove sin from your own life, it will build a bridge of peace with those around you.
Take a look at the remaining one another’s that deal with unity. Notice how they all revolve around this principle of removing sin in order to maintain unity.
Don’t grumble among one another (Jn 6:43)
Be of the same mind with one another (Ro 12:16, 15:5)
Accept one another (Ro 15:7)
Wait for one another before beginning the Eucharist (1 Co 11:33)
Don’t bite, devour, and consume one another (Ga 5:26).
Gently, patiently tolerate one another (Ep 4:2)
Be kind, tender-hearted, and forgiving to one another (Ep 4:32)
Bear with and forgive one another (Co 3:13)
Seek good for one another, and don’t repay evil for evil (1 Th 5:15)
Don’t complain against one another (Jas 4:11, 5:9)
Confess sins to one another (Jas 5:16)
Unity does not happen over night. But, little by little, as we learn to remove sin in our lives, and as we follow Jesus who will gladly restore us, we learn to live in unity.
Loving One Another
The second category is loving one another. Now, it seems like if we are united, then we would automatically love one another, but not necessarily. The first list, maintaining unity, focuses on what to remove in our lives. This next list deals with what we should add to our lives.
There is a maxim in bible study that says if something is repeated in the Bible, then it is important. So, how many times does the New Testament say “love one another”?
Eleven.
There are eleven places where Jesus, Paul, Peter, or John say “love one another.”
You are to love one another.
Jn 13:34, 15:12, 17
Ro 13:8
1 Th 3:12, 4:9
1 Pe 1:22
1 Jn 3:11, 4:7, 11
2 Jn 5
But what does it mean to love one another? Is it like how I love dessert? Is it like loving a sports team? Is it like loving a family member? Well, it’s certainly more like a loving family than having ice cream at a baseball game. Let’s take a look at our list.
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
Galatians 5:13
Loving one another involves serving one another. It is putting the needs of the other in front of your own sometimes setting aside our comfort or convenience for the sake of the other.
Love involves service to those who are loved.
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love.
Ephesians 4:1-2
Loving one another involves bearing with one another. We already touched on this when looking at maintaining unity. Notice again how maintaining unity requires removing sin, but also being patient with those who are still working on removing sin.
Love involves patience for those still working on removing sin.
Take a closer look at how we are to bear with one another. Paul says “with all humility” (a trait looked at below), “gentleness,” and patience. It takes effort to bear with one another. These are not traits humans are naturally disposed to have. It takes our own transformation through the grace of God in order to patiently help those who are still struggling in sin. And, let’s be honest, we are all facing a struggle with sin. Some of us just have different sins that linger.
Paul has a similar teaching in Romans 12.
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
Romans 12:9-10
Genuine love hates what is evil—not just the evil in others but in ourselves as well. It holds fast to what is good. And, it strives to outdo each other in showing honor. It looks for the good in someone when no one else can see it, so that the person can be honored.
Love involves giving honor to the loved.
When you put these three principles together, take a look at what happens. Loving each other serves the needs of each other. It gives patience to those who are still struggling, and it finds something to honor in those who may not be honorable to the rest of the world. What happens is that when God’s people love one another as Christ loves us, we build each other up. We promote the good, even if it is just a small bit, while removing the evil in our midsts. As we love one another more and more, we build each other up into what God has designed has to be.
The Body of Christ is built and grown through unity and love.
The last one another associated with love is a great transition to humility as well.
Greet one another with the kiss of love.
1 Peter 5:14
Also found in Ro 16:16; 1 Co 16:20; 2 Co 13:12
The “kiss of love” or “holy kiss” as Paul calls it is something of a mystery to Bible scholars. We certainly know what it developed into in later centuries, but its origins are something of a mystery. There is some evidence of a familial kiss as part of Greco-Roman convention to denote an equal partner or friend, but that evidence is not as abundant as popularly thought. There is also an interpretation that involves “sharing the spirit” of one another, but that is even less likely. Regardless, the Christian convention that emerged out of the first century and into the second is one in which brothers and sisters in Christ greeted each other warmly. Some areas were (and still are) comfortable with a holy peck, while others adopted a kiss on the cheek. Others said, “Let’s just shake hands.”
However the culture is comfortable, the point is to greet one another warmly and affectionately. No matter what has transpired, if we are seeking to love one another through service, through patience, and through honor, then we must be ready to greet one another as a friend. And sometimes that requires humility.
Humbling Ourselves
The last category for today calls us to humble ourselves. Before we look at the one another’s, let’s read a foundational point from James.
God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
…
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
James 4:6 &10
The call to humility is directly related to the call to remove sin. It takes humility to admit we have failed. It takes humility to admit there are faults in our character that need God’s grace and restoration. That is why God opposes the proud. The proud never admit their sin and call God a liar for saying we are in need of a Savior. But He gives grace to the humble, because it is the humble that willingly receive grace.
Additionally, it is the humble that are willing to serve. It is the humble that are willing to love. It is the humble that can achieve unity. The best summation of humility in relation to the other one another’s comes in Philippians 2:1-11.
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:1-11
Paul relates our call to humility directly to the example of Christ who humbled himself even going to the cross. The King of Heaven who knew no sin, nor was subject to anyone or anything, willingly chose to humble himself by taking on flesh and laying that flesh on the cross for our sin. And through this humbling, he has been exalted above every name.
So with that example, Paul urges his readers to be of the same mind—to be united. He urges us to do nothing from selfish ambition, but in humility consider others more significant—to be humble and serve. He urges us to look after the needs of others in addition to our own. In short, he urges us to love.
In order to remove sin, achieve unity, and truly love one another, we must humble ourselves.
These same principles are found in the other one another verses about humility.
Wash one another’s feet (Jn 13:14)
Don’t be haughty: be of the same mind (Ro 12:16)
Be subject to one another (Ep 5:21)
Regard one another as more important than yourselves (Php 2:3)
Clothe yourselves in humility toward one another (1 Pe 5:5)
All of the one another verses boil down to loving one another. The reason it is helpful for Christians to study each of these is because they teach us how to love. We were all once the “little ones” Jesus refers to in Matthew 18 and Mark 9. Unfortunately, we have also been led astray and taught to sin by those who were supposed to be examples of faithful righteousness. Instead of lamenting the past or using the past as an excuse for the present, allow the Word of God to teach you the right way to love.
Here are the last of the one another verses:
Do not judge one another, and don’t put a stumbling block in a brother’s way (Ro 14:13)
Husbands and wives: don’t deprive one another of physical intimacy (1 Co 7:5)
Bear one another’s burdens (Ga 6:2)
Speak truth to one another (Ep 4:25)
Don’t lie to one another (Co 3:9)
Comfort one another concerning the resurrection (1 Th 4:18)
Encourage and build up one another (1 Th 5:11)
Spur one another to love and good deeds (He 10:24)
Pray for one another (Jas 5:16)
Be hospitable to one another (1 Pe 4:9)
You can find the whole list and more in this infographic. Take time this week to study the one another’s asking God to point you to righteousness and loving better.
