Preached at Markham Baptist Church, October 6, 2002

You are aware of the journey we have taken during the last number of weeks as we have examined the vision God has given to us. We believe that God has called us to be the church. We want to be the church that prays. Daring and persevering in our praying, believing that with God all things are possible. We want to be the church in equipping, teaching the word of God, enabling all ages to grow in Christian maturity. We want to be the church in worship. Worshipping in Spirit and truth - giving to God true worship from the heart. We want to be the church reaching out to those around us in love, demonstrating the life and unity we have in Christ. We want to be the church.

You will notice that God is at the heart of this vision. It is that HE would be known. It is that we would make HIM known. It is that He would be glorified. His glory is at the heart of all that we do.

You will also notice that our vision does not focus on programs, budgets, buildings or numerical growth. While we need to be prepared for these, and we need to plan appropriately and be good stewards of all that God has given us and they are elements of our vision statement. They do not form the heart of the vision given to us by God. Our focus is on people not programs. Our focus is on enabling the body of Christ to mature - it is not in raising buildings, or budgets. Our goal is to build the kingdom of God by being faithful in prayer, diligent in our study of God's Word, sincere in our worship, compassionate in our outreach and then finally, today we look at the last pillar of our vision. We want to be the church by caring for one another.

Our guiding text has been Acts 2:42-47. And there we read that believers devoted themselves to the fellowship. That is they cared for one another, they shared with one another.

The Acts 2 passage is a demonstration of a caring church. But how is this caring achieved? How is the caring church created?

For this we turn to I Corinthians 12. We have examined this text in the past. So you know how Paul compares the church to the body - we are the body of Christ. This is implied throughout the passage and then made clear for us in verse 27, "Now you are the body of Christ and each one of you is a part of it."

Throughout this passage he outlines how each of us is a part of the body, we each come with our different talents, our different skills, and gifts- just like a body we are made up of many parts:

”Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be?" (1 Corinthians 12:14-19) (NRSV)

And we all come together - many parts forming, says Paul "one body."

And then in verse 20 he speaks of a caring fellowship and the characteristics of a caring fellowship. Listen very carefully.

"As it is there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable. And those members of the body that we think less honourable we clothe with greater honour and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another." (1 Corinthians 12:20-25) (NRSV)

This passage speaks of three important characteristics, three essential building blocks for creating a caring fellowship. It speaks of a common responsibility. The care for another is a community responsibility. There is no part of the body that is greater than another. There is no part of the body that is of lesser importance - each person is important in giving care for the body. If my hand suffers a cut, this hand comes over to help ease the pain, my feet take me as fast as possible to the doctor or a bandage and my mouth vocalizes the pain of the sting. We are to have the same care for one another.

There isn't one part of the body that carries the burden of caring for the congregation. There isn't one board or committee that carries the burden for the care of the congregation each member of the body with their particular skill and ability offers care for the whole body.

To be sure, we have established a group of care givers, this was done so that we be intentional in our praying for one another and caring for one another. But this group does not absolve us of our responsibility to care for one another. If you see someone in need in our congregation then respond in love and care - don't wait for the care givers to respond, don't depend on this person to send a meal, or a card or flowers. We each have a common responsibility and as you express care to an individual in the body you do it on behalf of this body, because we are members of the same body of Christ.

We have a common responsibility to care for one another - as we exercise it the body is built up.

This text also speaks of a shared trust, verse 26. "If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together with it." We come from a culture that does not look favourably on those who share their burdens with others. We are encouraged to carry the difficulties we face on our own. It is a sign of weakness to share our struggles and burdens with the body of Christ. Or we think we are imposing on others if we ask for help, prayer or encouragement. My friends if one part of the body suffers, we all suffer with it. That means that we must be willing to allow our brothers and sisters in Christ to share the burden we are carrying. We must be open enough, trusting enough, to allow others to come along side us and express the love of Christ.

In the early 1990's Robert Fulgrum wrote a best seller entitled, "All I Ever Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten". In that book he tells of an experience of watching the neighbourhood kids play hide and seek. He says that there is always one kid who always hides so well that no one can find him. He writes, "the kid hid so well that after a while the other kids would give up on him and go off, leaving him to rot wherever he was. Then, sooner or later he would show up, all mad because they didn't keep looking for him. And the other kids would get mad back because he wasn't playing the game the way it was supposed to be played.”

Fulgrum goes on to say that there are adults who continue to play hide and seek with their problems and difficulties and they hide too well. He tells of a doctor who found out he had terminal cancer. He knew about dying and he didn't want to make his family and friends suffer through that with him. So he kept it a secret and he died.

Everybody said how brave he was to bear his suffering in silence and not tell everybody, and so on and so forth. But privately his family and friends said how angry they were that he didn't need them, didn't trust their strength. And it hurt that he didn't say good-bye.

He hid too well. So many people say, “I don't want anyone to know, What will people think? I don't want to bother any one. My problems aren't as big as other people’s.”

That's the way many Christians act in the church. We come on Sunday mornings, say our polite hello to some people, smile sit in our usual pew, say the same polite hello on the way out, and during the week have little or superficial contact with people in the church. All the while we are going through spiritual trials, marital battles, child rearing headaches, physical and emotional traumas and no one in the Christian community knows. Hide and Seek - that's not what Christ intended for us. It's not biblical to hide so well that you rob the body of Christ the opportunity to express the love of Christ to you.

You understand, don't you, that care cannot be expressed adequately and fully in one hour on Sunday mornings. If you come two minutes before the worship starts, giving a brief hello at the door, then leave as soon as the benediction is completed giving the same brief hello as you leave - how do you expect to experience the care of the body of Christ? Give us a chance. Come and participate in a small group and allow people to get to know you, and to draw alongside you in your walk with Christ. Come and pray with us and share the burdens that break your heart. Allow us the privilege of carrying your burden to God in prayer. Come and join us and serve Christ with us, serve with us shoulder to shoulder as we seek to make the love of Christ a reality. Don't label any church as uncaring if you are unwilling to trust the people of God with the burdens you carry.

We are seeking to be the church recognizing our common responsibility to care for one another. That we are called to trust one another to bear our burdens. But there is finally this characteristic. We must be trustworthy. This principle is found also in verse 26. "If one part of the body suffers, every part condemns the other part saying ‘It's your own fault that you are suffering.’ If one part is honoured, every part is jealous if it and gossips about it as much as possible."

That's not what it says, is it? No! We are called to be the body of Christ and if others are going to be trusting enough to share their burdens and difficulties then we must prove ourselves to be a trustworthy. If one part suffers we all suffer with them - we weep with them and prove ourselves to be trustworthy in our prayer, in our compassion, in our care for one another. If one part of the body fails, we do not condemn but seek to offer the grace of Jesus Christ. If one part of the body is honoured we do not respond in jealousy but we rejoice and give thanks to God that one of our members is so honoured.

And always the strength to do this is found in our relationship with Christ. It is as we come to Him and realize that He has proven Himself to be trustworthy, He has proven Himself to be full of grace, He has proven Himself compassionate toward us that we are able to be that way toward others.

So there you have three building blocks for a caring church - every member caring for the other, a trusting people, a trustworthy people.

This is our vision, our goal.

We seek to be the church. Equipping, worshipping, reaching out, and caring for one another. That is our vision. This morning we are asking you to support that vision. We are asking you to commit yourself, your time your resources and gifts to seeing this vision fulfilled.

It is a wonderful vision - given by God for His glory. Given by God with full dependence upon Him.