Costly Yet Free 1973

It's easy enough for us to put our arms around each other and sing, we are one in the spirit, or to sit in these pews and pretend that we have unity with saints around the world. But when we begin to spend some time with each other, as we are bound to do if we're going to get on with the job God has given us to perform, and when we begin to have some real contact with other saints around the town, and when we begin to bring our homes into the dimension of the kingdom of God, we quickly discover that unity in the body is something which is much easier to sing about and talk about than it is to live. How are you going to live in unity with a believer who's all the time trying to push you around? How are you going to work in unity with a brother who wants you to take the heavy end every time while he takes the light end? How are you going to have unity with a super spiritual sister who constantly gives you that pained look, as if she just took another x-ray of your soul and found cancer? How are you going to be in unity with this brother who always gets a headache at the last minute and never keeps his commitments, or this sister who is forever complaining, or this brother who is mercilessly critical, or this walking Bible who has all the answers, or this calamity Jane who wants to send you on an emergency run every three days? When we really begin to live at close quarters with brothers and sisters in the body, we find that it is not exactly paradise.

To really have unity with brothers and sisters far and near is actually a very costly thing. As our Lord makes clear, in this passage I'd like to read from Luke 22, starting at verse 24. A dispute arose among them, which of them was to be regarded as the greatest.

And he said to them, the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest and the leader as one who serves.

For which is greater, the one who sits at table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who sits at table? But I am among you as one who serves. You are those who have continued with me in my trials. As my father appointed a kingdom for me, so do I appoint for you that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel.

Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have all of you. Its you is plural there, that he might sift you, plural, as wheat. But I prayed for you, thee, Simon, that your faith fail not.

And when you are turned again, strengthen your brothers. Now, of course, we're a lot more settled than these guys. We would never think of coming out in the open and having an argument over which of us is the greatest.

We just spend about 90% of our time trying to prove which of us is the greatest. And this is obvious, you know, from the divisions and the disunity and the strife and the ingratitude and the sullen moods and the suspicion and the cynicism that we find in our own hearts indicate very clearly how much of this stuff is going on down in here. We need the advice Jesus gave these disciples just as desperately as they did.

If we're going to live in unity, genuine unity with brothers and sisters far and near, it's going to cost us three things, three things which actually should have gone down into the waters of our baptism and theoretically did and should never have surfaced again. And yet, they're there in glaring evidence every day of our lives. First of all, to live in unity with brothers and sisters, to live in unity with them, is going to cost us our ego.

The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who have authority over them are called benefactors, but not so with you. Let the greatest among you be as the youngest and the leader as one who serves. In other words, if I'm serious about this, this means that I'm going to, instead of always gunning for the top of the pile, and you can do that just as much inside the body as out in the world, or trying to stay on top of the pile if that's where you think you are, you now joyfully accept the bottom of the pile.

Now, if I'm at the bottom of the pile, and I walk up to somebody after the service, and I say, hello, my name is Fred, and I get the sphinx treatment, who are you? How can that crush me? I'm already down there. If I've already chosen the lowest room, and I've offered rides home to five different people, and not just five pretty girls, or five rich men, or five people who have something to offer me, but just five people, and every one of them has something else to do. They're going out for coffee with somebody else.

This isn't going to disrupt my joy in the Lord, not if I'm in the lowest room. See, if nobody appreciates my testimony, and nobody notices my accomplishments, what does this matter? This isn't going to knock me apart, because I'm already together with my Lord, down in the lowest room. He's here, and that's all that matters.

Now, if we are not really willing to experience the destruction of our ego day in and day out, not just theoretically at prayer meetings, but in actual fact, as we rub against each other in the body, if we're not willing to be the youngest, the lowest, the littlest, then we're really not serious about living in unity with brothers and sisters. Secondly, to live in unity with brothers and sisters is going to cost us our convenience. See, for which is greater, the one who sits at table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who sits at table, yet I am among you as one who serves? And the one who serves no longer has things at his own convenience.

He's on call. He's continuously subject to disruption. He can be pulled out of bed in the middle of the night.

He can be yanked away from the dinner table. He's just taken off his shoes and settled down for a little rest, and the phone rings. He has to put his shoes on again and go.

Now, understand, it's the Lord himself who tells us when to put our shoes on and go, or which of five different calls is the one we have to respond to, or when to sit still and rest, even if 10 people are paging us. But when the Lord says, go, we can't say, sorry, Lord, not tonight. I'm too tired.

Not this week, Lord. I have a bad cold. Now, the Christians, and they are legion, who always manage to have it at their own convenience, who never allow their plans to be disrupted, who never go out of their way for anything at all, will also never know.

What unity is in the body, and they will never know, I dare say, what harmony is in their own homes. Now, there's this unspoken desire in all of our fellowships to keep things fairly shallow so that we don't have to be inconvenienced too much. Maintain a distance from those troubled people, because if I get too close to them, they're going to be just yanking all kinds of things out of me, disrupting my life.

And so we stay at a distance. But convenience is for the Gentile kings and the middle class vegetables, not for the people of God. So if we're going to serve the Lord with gladness, that means that we are going to learn to live lives that are constantly disrupted.

We're going to learn to live lives that are all the time going out of their way. And with nobody watching, taking notes on our heroic self-denial, they're not going to be writing a book about you. And nobody to observe your service but Jesus himself.

It's going to mean living a life where we go out of our way for brothers and sisters all the time, and many times for brothers and sisters who never even say thank you, and go right on our way and enjoy sin. And finally, to live in unity with brothers and sisters is going to cost us our hearts. Simon, Simon, Satan has desired to have a whole bunch of you, that he might set you as wheat.

But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you are turned around again, strengthen your brothers. And you don't strengthen brothers by merely quoting scriptures at them and putting your arms around them, giving them a little hug.

You can only begin to strengthen brothers and sisters when you allow your heart to go out of itself and start to care, and to weep, and to pray, and to plead, and to remember them when nobody else remembers them. Jesus, be sure of this, put his heart into praying for Peter. And he expected Peter to put his heart into strengthening his brothers, as we see after the resurrection.

Simon, son of Jonas, do you love me? Feed my sheep. Put your heart into it. And we are expected to do the same, to put our hearts into this.

How can we have our hearts open to God and close to each other? How can we have our hearts open to Jesus and close to the brothers in Ham, Tran, or the sisters in Royal Oak? Why are we afraid to really put our hearts into caring for brothers? Is it because we're afraid secretly, perhaps, that our hearts are going to be broken? Well, what about his broken heart? If we're going to protect our little hearts and keep them safe from all bumps and scratches, then we will never taste unity in the body, or any kind of life, for that matter. Now, there's no question about it. Unity in the body is going to be costly to our egos, and to our convenience, and to our hearts.

So costly that we wouldn't even begin to live this life. We couldn't possibly do it if it were up to us. But praise God, the power to walk that road, to live that life and pay the price of it, comes to us as a free gift.

And you notice in this passage that I read from Luke 22, the whole thing revolves around the sustaining presence of Jesus. He says, I am among you as one who serves. I appoint you a kingdom.

I have prayed for you that your faith fail not. I'm going to help you. And this makes all the difference.

This makes all the difference. This means that costly as the life of unity is, and it is costly, nevertheless, it comes to us free. I am the way.

I'm going to give you the power to do this. Just get under the yoke with me and learn, by faith, to walk this way. I'm meek and lowly of heart.

I'm going to show you how from within. Just as surely as I am your salvation, and just as surely as I am your life, I am also your unity with brothers and sisters. So let go of your ego and take hold of me.

And let go of this compulsion to always have it convenient. And take hold of me. And let your heart get moving out there on those stormy waters and just rely on me.

Unity in the body of Christ is performed and brought about by the same hands that put us in the body in the first place. We can't create unity in the body. Only he can do this.

And he will. He's doing it. And he's doing it today.

As we partake of that one loaf of his body and drink of that one cup which was his blood, may Jesus give to each of us the power to really get off our high horse and come down and be as the younger. May he give us the power to live as one who serves. And may he enable us to put our hearts really into strengthening our brothers and sisters so that together we can get on with the job God has given us to do.

We depend on the spirit of God in prayer and praise. Thank you. Oh, Lord, we just thank you for the presence of your spirit in our midst at this moment.

Thank you for the presence of your son with us right now. Thank you for the imparting of his victory from the cross right down to this very second and time and place. Thank you for the healing that comes to our hearts as we open them to him.

Thank you for the blood that washes away the guilt of our sin. Thank you for the breath of life that comes in to take the place of all that garbage that was in us before. Thank you for a hope that enables us to start over again right now.

Thank you, Father, for bringing people here who've been so discouraged and so down. Thank you, Father, for the encouragement which you're giving them at this very moment. Grant, oh God, that as the hand of Jesus comes to rest upon their lives, they may pick up and get going again, singing songs of praises to your name, Father.

Thank you, Father, for breaking down the walls of partition between Jew and Gentile, black and white, young and old, long and short-haired, rich and poor. Thank you, Father, for making this one around the cross of Jesus. And what we pray, oh God, to be fulfilled and perfected in our midst, we pray for brothers and sisters in the body across the face of the earth.

Wherever people gather under the name of Jesus this day, may the Spirit cause a word to break forth, oh God, raise up those prophetic voices that they may be heard in the church, and then from the church out there into the world, oh God. And break open the doors and the walls so that we may no longer huddle together in safety, but with boldness from on high to go forth and proclaim this message, oh Father. Raise up laborers for the harvest, it is our following this.

Put your finger on those who know very well they need to be out there, and show them where you can have them be. Take away that fear. We pray for the leaders of churches, organized institutional movements, all those things that call themselves Christian, oh God, that your hand will be upon their eyes and their hearts and their lips and their minds with blessing.

Pray for the leaders of this nation, and of all the nations across the planet, Father. Hold your hand upon the nations and the revolutions and the reactions as the church is being drawn together, Father, in unity. Pour out your blessing, Father, this day upon your people, Israel, and cause them to see your light and guide them by that light to where they need to be.

Deliver them from all fear that keeps them from coming to it. We lift up thy name in our hearts before thee, Father, the needs of those for whom we feel a special burden today. We pray, first of all, for the sick of minor body, and we pray for those whose rebirth we long to see, Father.

We pray, Father, for believers who appear to have stumbled and gone off the track. Draw them back, oh God, encourage them to come back. Pray for broken homes, little ones who have no one to show them the way.

Pray for saints that are awfully lonely and terribly discouraged at this hour. Wherever they are, here or wherever, comfort them with a comfort from our high Father. Order their steps in your will.

These and whatever other things you have us ask, give to us, oh God, for the sake of the better sufferings and death of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.