Making Your Congregation a Home

Brethren, last month, the people of the United States celebrated the holiday of Thanksgiving. And it's an opportunity for the country as a whole to stop, to pause, and to give thanks to God for the blessings that has been poured out on this nation. While unfortunately for many, sadly, the holiday of Thanksgiving has become an opportunity to the carbo-load for the biggest shopping day of the year, for many the day retains its original intent when Thanksgiving was made a national holiday in 1863. It was originally designed as a day to commemorate the blessings that God has provided both to our families as well as to our nation. In addition to celebrating and thanking God for the blessings He's poured out upon us, Thanksgiving symbolizes another significant event in history. In 1620, a small group of English separatists braved the rough and icy waters of the Atlantic Ocean, leaving the relative safety of the European continent for a fresh start in the unknown, the New World. No stranger to leaving home, these pilgrims, as we now call them, had left their homes and their families in England behind actually a little less than fifteen years before that to escape religious persecution they experienced within England as a result of a law passed in 1559 under Queen Elizabeth I called the Act of Uniformity. According to the Act of Uniformity, the people of England were to use the same prayer book during services, a prayer book that Elizabeth herself had approved. It's not really that big of a deal, right, if you think about it, except that in addition to that there was a little piece of fine print on the Act of Uniformity. It made church attendance throughout England compulsory. It made it a requirement by law that every person who lived on the England within the country of England had to be at services every Sunday. Otherwise, they faced fines and potentially other unpleasant things if they didn't attend each and every Sunday. Well, a group of separatists that we now refer to as the pilgrims disagreed with many of the teachings of the Anglican Church and believed very strongly that the Church itself needed to be reformed.

Purified of its Roman Catholic influence, they reached a point where they could not, in good conscience, continue to attend with the Church of England, and the small group of separatists stopped attending despite the fines and the persecution. When two of the leaders of the separatist movement, however, John Greenwood and Henry Barot were executed for sedition in 1593 under the Act of Uniformity, many of the groups of separatists in England, of which actually our own Sabbatarians are a part of that group of separatists in England, they realized the things were coming to a head. When Queen Elizabeth died and James I took the throne, the Puritans had hoped that much of the needed changes within the Church of England would be dealt with and rectified, and they even gained an audience with the King in order to address their grievances. However, their hopes were dashed at the Hampton Conference of 1604 when King James denied all of the concessions the separatists had hoped for, except for one, an English translation of the Bible that many of you are likely holding in your lab right now. The one concession that James gave the Puritans was an English translation of the Bible now known as the King James Version. In 1611, that was the one request that King James honored. The separatists quickly realized that England could no longer be home. They no longer felt safe. They were unable to practice religion in the way that they believed they needed to. And in 1608, many of the members had left to England, or left, rather, England, for the Netherlands by whatever means, legal or otherwise, that they could get off of the island.

In fact, many were arrested in the process, and so it was kind of a slow trickle. A few of them made it out. A few of them made it out. A few of them made it out a couple years later when the rest got out of jail. A few more made it out. But they trickled over to the Netherlands, which was a country that was far more hospitable and knew all too well the yoke of religious persecution.

Many of them, in the process again, were captured and arrested. Yet again, upon their release, they got out as soon as they could. They ended up forming a group in a town called Leiden. Their time in the Netherlands, however, would be short-lived. Over the next 12 years, the leaders of the groups of pilgrims in the Netherlands saw their membership age. The younger members give up and return to England for more economic opportunity. And so feeling the congregation would become unstable and seeing an opportunity for missionary work in the New World, the pilgrims made plans to find a new home. As Paul Harvey would say, we know the rest of the story. They set sail for the New World, 102 passengers in all aboard the Mayflower. They crossed the icy waters of the Atlantic Ocean, first landing off the coast of Massachusetts. And while they built their settlement, they stayed aboard ship their very first winter. 53 of the 102 passengers that left became ill and died the first winter. Just under 50 percent of the original group that left. One source actually went as far as saying there were only four families that went across in total that were untouched by death that first winter. Despite the hardships, and of course, as we know from the story, thanks to the Native Americans, the little colony of Plymouth prospered. It grew. It wasn't easy, and there was much sacrifice. But the small group of English separatists had carved themselves out a new home from the wildernesses of North America. You know, we often think of the story of the pilgrims as a story of kind of the founding of America, story of the humble beginnings of a new country based on a strong faith in God and the blessings that he had poured out upon them. And while I would agree with that assessment, I would actually submit to you and make the argument that the story of the pilgrims' voyage is a story about home. It's a story about finding a place where they could feel safe from persecution, where they could prosper and they could grow, and where they could reside and worship God in the way that they saw fit. A place that could be home. The new world provided them this opportunity. And Thanksgiving as a modern holiday allows us to celebrate the concept of home, to celebrate family, to be grateful for all of the blessings that go along with it.

It allows us to celebrate and be grateful for the wonderful things that God has provided to us. In fact, if you think about it, Thanksgiving is one of the few holidays a year that people return home for. One of the few holidays a year that people return home for, often at great difficulty, braving these huge lines at the airport in horrible traffic. And it's one of the few holidays in a year where sitting down as a family and sharing a meal is part of the celebration.

How many other occasions will people brave those delays at the airport in traffic to sometimes go home to family that they really sometimes don't even care about, but they go anyway? That says something about the power of home. In fact, to us as humans, the importance of home cannot be overemphasized. We are hardwired to have a place, a sense of belonging, a place that we're comfortable in, rather, with people that we're comfortable with. And when we're away for a long period of time, we get homesick. If we lose our home to a catastrophic accident like a fire, it's traumatic. People can get post-traumatic stress disorder from the loss of a home. Home is essential. And Web Certifying's home is the place where someone resides. But gentlemen, I dare you to try this sometime. Tell your wife that a home is simply the roof over your head.

And when you come to, when you wake up, you know, she's a little sloppy in the head because we know that a home is so much more than just four walls and a roof. We've all moved into a new place. We've all moved into a new house before. Walked into that front door for the first time and heard the echoes of our voices off of that bare wall.

We're reflecting, reverberating back at us. Is that a home? Is that a home? There's a big difference in today's world between a house and a home. A house is four walls and a roof. A home is a place where you feel comfortable, where it's warm, where it's inviting. And a home almost speaks to you. A home almost says to you when you come in the door, you know, come on in. Kick your shoes off and put your feet up. Just relax. Let the cares of the world disappear and become comfortable. When we move, a home goes with us, yet the house stays behind. The truth is all homes are houses, but not all houses are homes.

The home provides a place that is full of people that we love, is a welcome and comfortable environment, and is a safe place, again, where we can thrive and we can grow. And you know, if you think about it, our church congregations provide a similar environment. Take a second and think to yourself. Would you classify your congregation as a house or as a home? If someone brand new walked through the doors, would it feel like home to them? Is it a place full of people who love each other? Is it welcoming and comfortable? Is it a place of safety where someone can thrive and can grow spiritually? Today, we're going to explore that concept. For those of you that enjoy fans of titles, I've entitled today's sermon, Making a Congregation a Home. Making a Congregation a Home. You know, whether you answered yes to the question posed above, or if you answered no with the time we have remaining today, we're going to spend that time exploring three ways that we can increase the feeling of home. Because even if we've got that feeling, and even if we have that set up, we can always improve. There's always room for improvement, always.

Last month, our Mid-Willamette Valley Growth Club tackled this question. We spent about two and a half hours discussing this, actually, going back and forth on the things that we can do that will help to make our congregations more like home. A place where everyone can be comfortable and involved, where people are focused on common goals, and where they feel like they're a part of the family. Kind of like we talked about earlier, a place where someone can kick off their shoes, take off their coat, and stay a while. I'm not advocating taking off your shoes. But we came up with three primary things that would give us the biggest bang for the buck. Three things that are really easy to do that help to foster an increased feeling of home, not just within our own congregations, but within any congregation. And what we really wanted was we wanted these things to be things that could be implemented anywhere. The three things that we're going to explore today are, number one, get to know your family. Number one, get to know your family.

Number two, encourage a welcome and comfortable environment. And number three, become invested. So number one, we need to get to know our family. We need to encourage and welcome a comfortable environment. And lastly, number three, we need to become invested. You know, we spoke earlier about how there's a big difference between house and home. But interestingly enough, the Hebrew word for house is beeth. The Hebrew word for home is beeth. Both are Strong's H1004, and there is no differentiation between them. They are one and in the same. And they're used frequently in the Old Testament. In fact, let's turn over to Genesis 7, verse 1, real quick. And we'll take a look at the first use of this word in the Bible. The first time that this word beeth is used. It's in Genesis 7 and verse 1. Genesis 7, verse 1 says, Then the Lord said to Noah, Come into the ark, you and all your household, in this case beeth, because I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. Some translations of this have the word you and all your house, and that word is beeth. That word is the Hebrew word for house and for home. If we etymologically, not entomologically, that's bugs, etymologically, take a look at the word. Its root is really, really interesting. The root of the word beeth is the Hebrew letter bei.

It is the second letter of the alphabet. And in the ancient Hebrew, which is a pictographic language, kind of like hieroglyphics, the letter be was written like this. That's the letter be, in the ancient Hebrew language. And it's representative of something. It represents the floor plan as you were to look down from above, kind of an aerial photograph, of the goat-hair nomadic tents of the ancient Hebrews. It was literally their house. It was a pictograph of their house. Here on the left, you have the opening. Here on the left, you have the opening. The middle line is the wall that separates the men's side of the tent from the women's side. And what's fascinating to me about this particular letter is that not only does it have the meaning of house, it also contains a secondary meaning. It also is the meaning of family. Because when it comes down to it, in ancient Hebrew, home and family go together. And if we think about it, okay, we think about it as it was used here in Genesis 7. That's what he's saying. Come, you and your household, you and your family. Okay, if we look at the concept of home within the ancient Hebrew tradition, home and family went inextricably together. Much like today, it's hard to talk about home without mentioning the concept of family. How's everything at home? Oh, the wife is great, the kids are good. We instantly go to that concept of family. We don't say, oh well, you know, the gutters are falling off and I can't seem to get the paint colors right and everything's flaking on the outside. When someone asks us how things are going at home, we instinctively talk about our family. So when we talk about home in a spiritual sense, it also requires that we talk about our family. And not just our physical family, but our spiritual family. And there is a difference. Let's turn to Hebrews 12, verse 7.

Hebrews 12, verse 7. And we'll take a look at a scripture that outlines that we do, in fact, have a spiritual family to which we belong. Hebrews 12, and verse 7.

This particular scripture makes a differentiation between the two. It makes a differentiation between our spiritual family and also our physical family. So Hebrews 12, verse 7, says, If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the father of spirits and live? You know, we see here that in this case, God chastens us as his own children. And the writer of Hebrews makes the point that we do, in fact, have physical fathers. We know that, but we also have a spiritual father to whom we must also be subject to. And if that spiritual father doesn't chasten us, we really have no place and no part in his family. Romans 8, 15, continues this idea. So let's turn over to Romans 8, verse 15.

And this discusses somewhat the method by which we've entered the family of God. Romans 8, verse 15, and we'll read through verse 17, seeing that not only does being a part of this spiritual family a literal analogy, it comes with some additional promises. So Romans 8, verse 15, we'll read through verse 17. Romans 8, verse 15 says, For you did not receive the spirit of bondage, again, to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. The spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together. Now we see here we have received a spirit of adoption, an adoption into the family of God, that we are called to be children of God. And again, if we're children, then we see that amazing promise that in addition to being children, we're also heirs of an everlasting kingdom, joint heirs with our elder brother, Jesus Christ. And it's a pretty incredible promise rolled into a familial relationship that we really need to recognize and appreciate. From here, we can make some logical assumptions. If we are children of God and join heirs with Christ, then that makes us, again, children of God and a spiritual brother to Christ. And if we extend that a little bit, that makes all of us, brothers and sisters, spiritually. Galatians 6, verse 10, we won't return or we won't turn to there, but Galatians 6, 10 refers to us as a family of believers. So the first step in moving ourselves in the direction of making our congregation a home is recognizing that every person in this room, all of our brethren across the country, not only in our own organization, but also other organizations as well, are our brothers and sisters. Now, quick show of hands. How many of you have physical brothers and sisters? Okay, just about everybody in the room, all right. Of those of you that have physical brothers and sisters, how many of you get along today? Okay, still almost everybody in the room. Nice work. How many of you, though, always got along when you were younger? I don't mean most of the time. Good. But all of the time. Never squabbled, never fought. A few. Excellent. I did not. I drove my sister absolutely crazy. We were seven years apart and we fought like cats and dogs as kids. And I'm, you know, I'm kind of embarrassed to admit this, but at the time, I resented seven-year difference. I resented having a four-year-old following me around at age 11. I resented when I was age 13 that she was six and still following me around.

I was pretty awful to my sister. We get along very, very good now, but I'm not particularly proud of my actions in our earlier years. The truth is, it took me time to get to the point where I could appreciate my sister. It took me time to get to know her, and frankly, it took some time for her to get interesting. But the reality of it is, I had to get to know her. I had to get to know her for who she was. Do we ever get into spats with our spiritual brothers and sisters? Who? Me? No, never. Maybe someone says something that offends us. Perhaps we're offended by their actions. Maybe we just don't like the way they looked at us with that accusatory look one day. Maybe we're offended by their actions.

Maybe we allow ourselves to get upset at each other over something that we didn't even do, and we take sides in a fight that we didn't even have a part in. We let the bitter thought grow. It takes root. It blossoms into this full-blown bloom of bitterness, and then we give our brother or sister the cold shoulder. That animosity and that resentment grows further, damaging our relationship. Or worse, we completely quit on each other. That's not how God intended our relationships to be. Let's turn over to Matthew 18. We'll see how we're supposed to act and react. Matthew 18. We'll start in verse 3. Matthew 18 verse 3, and we'll read actually through verse 4.

And just prior to this scripture, the disciples showed their incredible maturity in asking the question of Christ, hey, which one of us is the best? Huh? Huh? Which one of us? Which one of us is the best? And his response likely dumbfounded them at the time, but he told them. If we look in Matthew 18 verse 3, he said, assuredly I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Little children are humble. Most of them.

It depends if they've been taught to be humble, I guess. But when they're real young, before they've had a chance to learn bad influences, they're humble. They're not all puffed up and prideful. They quickly forgive and they move on, forgetting past wrongs. You know, it's been fascinating watching my own children grow up, and I'd love to tell you that they never fight or never get on each other's nerves, but it's simply not true.

Sometimes they lash out physically or verbally, and they hurt one another, and their feelings are hurt. One will start crying and come running to us about the situation, saying, oh, so-and-so said this, or he hit me. But you know what, five minutes later, with a hug and an apology, that wrong is all but forgotten. It's gone. They don't remember it past that point. Rather than that's how we're supposed to react. That's how we're supposed to act like a child. Hump, not child-like, or not childish, rather, but childlike.

But we're to act like a child. We're to act humble enough to take it on the chin and then forgive the person. Not to be prideful or hold a grudge, or in some cases accept the apology just long enough to plot our revenge. But that level of relationship takes getting to know each other, and it takes getting to know each other very, very well.

We have to get past each other's idiosyncrasies, because let's face it, everybody is different, and we all come from very different backgrounds. We have all been called into this calling from very different places. Different places in our lives, different places in our backgrounds, and we're all different. Some of us are extremely good at sarcasm, and it's hard to hear what we say sometimes past that persistent foot in our mouth.

Some of us are quiet and contemplative, and it's hard to talk to or hard to talk to, because the conversation is very one-sided. Some of us are brash and loud and in your face, outgoing to the point that we often scare others. In fact, I had a situation at the Feast of Tabernacles this last year where I met a new person, and we got to talking, and I tend to be this brash outgoing person oftentimes.

And the person stopped me for a second and said, I'm kind of introverted, and you're really freaking me out right now. And I just said, wow, thank you actually for telling me that. So I toned it down, toned it down, kind of pulled back a little bit, and it was fine. But I was very appreciative that he didn't just keep going, you know, and backing up and backing up and then ending that conversation, because I feel like I really got a chance to get to know him.

Or maybe we wouldn't had he not spoke up. The point is sometimes we rub each other the wrong way due to our personal quirks. I shared this example in a message at the Feast of Tabernacles this past year. For those of you that already heard it, a lot of you were in Bend, I apologize for those of you that have already heard this, but you're going to get a little more dirt on the story, so you'll get a little bit more level. For those of you that haven't, it's an example of how if we're not careful, our personal idiosyncrasies can blow up into full-fledged relationship issues. I had a chance to go down and visit my wife's relatives in Oklahoma several years ago for a family reunion.

I hadn't met any of them previously, and I really had no ideas as to their little quirks. And to keep a really long story short, I simply didn't know who they personally were. I didn't know them personally. My first introduction to Shannon's Uncle Brian, I mentioned at the Feast that he's kind of this sarcastic jokester. The very first thing that he said to me, our introduction, when I came into the house and shook his hand, he grabbed my hand, he looked up and down, and he said, whoa, somebody hide the groceries! And my mouth kind of dropped, and nice to meet you too.

At the time, I'll admit, I was pretty offended, actually. I was pretty offended. I didn't realize he was a jokester, and I didn't realize that through his jokes, that was how he showed his love. I didn't know that at the time. As I watched him, though, as time went on, particularly with other family members that I know that he knew and loved, that was just kind of who he was. And some people might argue that as a character flaw. And, you know, most of the time you don't start out with the fat jokes at the first time you meet somebody, but after getting to know him, I would actually argue that rather than a character flaw, that that's simply his character. That just kind of is who he is. Is it an issue? Well, maybe. Maybe. But that's not my problem. My problem is to react in the way that I can, to react with love, and to recognize that he's a jokester and that he didn't mean anything by it. Had I left it at that, however, had I walked away from that and never given the opportunity to continue getting to know him, I would, left with the impression, would have stood on it, would have resented him. The next time we got together at the family reunion, I likely wouldn't have talked to him, and all of a sudden now there's this rift that starts to grow. And now I'm trying to take my wife and say, well, we're not going to talk to him. Do you remember what he said to me five years ago? My dad was one of those, uh, was one of those men. He spent his life going back over these grudges that he had held for 30 and 40 years at times. Had I never gotten to know Brian for the amazing person and father he is, I wouldn't have gotten to the point where we're fishing together this coming summer. He's coming up to visit, and we're going fishing on the Columbia. He may end up in the Columbia, but I've had that time now to plot my revenge. No, I'm kidding. But, you know, God desires that we get to know each other past our face value. He wants us to get past our little initial assessments of each other and get to know each other more deeply. Let's turn over to Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10 verse 24. Once again, scripture we went to at the feast, but we're going to go there again. Hebrews 10, 24. We'll read through verse 25 as well. Hebrews 10 verse 24 says, And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much more as you see the day approaching. The word here that's used to consider is the Greek word katanoeo, which actually means to observe fully. Doesn't mean a surface-level observation. This is a deep observation. It's a close inspection. It means that we don't talk with someone once and make a judgment of them on the spot. You know, oftentimes we meet people and we think to ourselves, wow, that person's judgmental, or that person's sure self-righteous, or, boy, that person's just weird.

Sometimes we get to that point, and this scripture is telling us that's not what we need to be doing. And why? Why do we need to get to know each other better? Because according to what we just looked at, we need to be able to provoke one another to good works and to exhort one another. We need to know each other well enough that we can pull the strings, so to speak, so that we know what motivates and what gets people to the point of getting to those good works. We need to be able to push each other gently towards better living the way that we've been called to live. Let's go to verse 26. We'll read just a little further down, and we'll see the reasoning for that. Why it is so important for us to provoke one another to good works, particularly as we see the day approaching. Hebrews 26, for if we sin willfully after we've received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. The reality of it is, on this walk in our Christian journey, we're in this together. We're in this together. Every person in this room and across our congregations across the United States, and even the congregations of folks who are no longer meeting with us, those that have learned the truth and have the knowledge of the truth and have fully committed to this way of life, all of us have only got one option or two options. I'm sorry, we've only got two options. Either we're going to be raised or transformed to incorruptibility with Christ at his return. We're going to be cast into the lake of fire. If we're sitting in this room and we've accepted the truth, if we've gotten to the point where we've decided this is the way of life I want to lead, the physical resurrection to life in the millennium is no longer an option for us. There isn't a second chance at this. We're living our second chance right now. Brethren, we're in this together. We need to keep each other on that path, and that's what Hebrews 10.24 is telling us. It's telling us that as a congregation and then also as a larger family of believers, that we need to know each other well enough that we can feel comfortable correcting one another in a loving manner without fear of offense, without fear of that person walking away and ending that friendship forever. We need to make sure the person correcting knows what motivates and provokes the person who needs the correcting, and the person who's being corrected feels comfortable enough with the person correcting them to not take offense and be appreciative that the person was willing to come to them in love.

Are we there yet? I'll answer for myself. I'm not. I'm not. Ask yourself, but I'm not. It's Proverbs 27.6.

Proverbs 27.6.

We see that faithful are the wounds, rather, of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. It is so much easier to accept correction from someone that you know well, someone that you love, and someone who you know loves you. It's also easier for us to provide correction to someone that you know well. It's a lot less nerve-wracking, and we're more apt to follow through, and we have a good relationship with someone. But getting to know one another and becoming more like a family isn't all about correction. However, it's impossible for us to know the physical needs and the needs for prayers or ways that we can serve that individual if we don't get to know them first. So what are some practical ways that we can better get to know one another? One of the ways that we can do it, I know I'm guilty of this. We have our own little seating place at services. Oftentimes we have our little zone, and that's, you know, that is my spot. That's where I sit. And one of the things that you can do is you can change up your seating location. Socialize with a different group after services. Spend time after services, talking about the messages with individuals that offer a different point of view. Invite people to homes for dinner, especially people that we don't have over all the time. Serve the widows and the elderly. Invite them to join you for dinner or activities. The list goes on, and I would challenge you to take the next week to come up with some ways personally that you can also get to know better your fellow brethren. Families in the home take care of each other, and we have to take care of our spiritual family, too. In order to do that, we have to get to know them. Name rank and serial number just simply is not good enough. Secondly, we need to encourage a welcome and comfortable environment. So in order to make our congregations feel like a home and feel more like a home, we also have to make our congregation itself feel more like a home. You guys are so lucky over here. I can't stress enough how lucky you guys are to have your own building. That is so wonderful. In Salem, we actually meet in a school gymnasium, and you come in, and it's, I mean, we're 80 individuals on a, well, 80 to 90 people over there right now, and if you come into a gigantic gymnasium like that with 80 people in it, it just looks empty. It looks empty, and to a certain extent, hanging a quilt on the wall just is not going to be enough to make that space feel warm and inviting. So you kind of have to change, rather than the physical characteristics of the meeting hall. In Salem, in particular, and as well, other places, we have to change the spiritual characteristics of the meeting hall to get that home-like feel. In order to encourage a warm and inviting environment, the people within it have to have an attitude of warmth and invitation. In short, the word for that is hospitality. You have to be hospitable. Jewish hospitality is famous. It is absolutely famous, and it is something that they take very, very seriously. There's actually an old Jewish saying that says hospitality is a form of worship. Not that they're worshipping the concept of hospitality, but by showing love to others, they show love to God. We see numerous examples of hospitality throughout the Bible, and perhaps the most famous are found back-to-back in Genesis 18 and 19, when Abraham and Lot entertained the Lord and his accompanying angels. Let's turn there. We'll take a look at Genesis 18, and we'll start in verse 1, because this really set the stage for the rabbinical teachings in particular on hospitality.

Genesis 18, verse 1, says, Then the LORD appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. This is right where he was sitting, in the tent door, in the heat of the day. So this is his spot. Back to that letter B.

Verse 2, So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said quickly, make ready three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes. Abraham ran to the herd, took a tender and good calf, gave it to a young man, and he hastened to prepare it. He took butter and milk in the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them, and he stood by them under the tree as they ate. Abraham rushed out to meet his guests, and there is some debate over whether he recognized them as what they were or not, but in any case, he didn't just say hello and send them on their way. He drew water for them to wash their feet, he baked fresh bread, he slaughtered a calf, and they shared a meal. You know, in the next chapter in Genesis 19, and we won't read into all the grisly details, but in Genesis 19, starting in verse 1, we see an example of Lot's hospitality. Genesis 19, verse 1, we'll go ahead and read through verse 3. It says, Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. And he said, Here now, my lords, all lowercase, please turn into your servant's house, and spend the night, and wash your feet, then you may rise early, and go on your way. Lot knew full well what went on in Sodom, and he knew that people would not be safe on the streets of the city. And they said, No, no, we'll go ahead and spend the night in the open square. Lot's thinking to himself, this is not a good idea. This is not a good idea at all. But he insisted strongly. He said, No, no, no, no, no, no. But they turned in to him and entered his house, and then he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. It doesn't say he tossed him out some wheat things and told him where the glasses were. He prepared for them a feast. He took them in, and he protected them. You know, in both examples, Abraham and Lot treated the strangers like family.

In fact, how much of their hospitality came from recognition of who they were is unclear. But the author of Hebrews actually alludes to this in Hebrews 13.2. Let's turn over there real quick.

Hebrews 13, verse 2.

Hebrews 13, verse 2 says, Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly, that's where they say there's some debate on it, entertained angels.

The author here says that they entertained angels unaware, and he may not be speaking directly of Abraham and Lot here, but it seems to allude to that. But overall, the point is that we do need to be hospitable to strangers. We need to recognize that the examples of Abraham and Lot influenced much of rabbinical teaching on hospitality. You know, a member down in the Medford area taught me an incredible lesson that I am still striving to implement. We stayed at their house when we went down to speak in Medford 1 Sabbath, and they prepared an amazing dinner. Amazing dinner. It was a feast of biblical proportions. It was just huge, and there was a whole bunch of guests over. They had a whole house full of people, and I had recognized one of them as a woman who was on her own. She was just passing through Medford on her way to visit her daughter in Vancouver, and she'd stopped there for Sabbath services. I'd spoken to her after church during the snack session and got to know her a little bit, and then was pleasantly surprised to see that she was at dinner also. So we got to talk a little bit more. But once it was all over, and everyone had gone their separate ways except for us because we were we were staying with them, we were kind of helping get everything cleaned up, and I'd complimented them and said, you know, told them that they really had pulled out all the stops. This was just an incredible, incredible meal, and they informed me that for the most part this was a fairly common Sabbath evening. That they had large groups of people over as often as they could, and then what he said next will stick with me forever. He told me that a guest in a congregation should never leave without a dinner invitation. I got to thinking about that, and that really is an incredible, incredible statement. And brethren, what's good for the goose? It's good for the gander. How much more can we be hospitable to each other? Welcoming to each other, making each other feel comfortable and involved. Let's turn over to Leviticus 19. 34. I apologize for the Old Testament, New Testament, Old Testament, New Testament. We're going back and forth a little bit today.

I'd love to tell you to keep your finger in one of these scriptures, but we probably won't be back. So, just moving around a little bit. Leviticus 19 verse 34. We'll take a look at some other interesting teachings regarding the concept of the sojourner.

Leviticus 19 and verse 34 says, the stranger who dwells among you, in some translations it says, sojourner, shall be to you as one born among you. And you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. You know, if we don't love one another, it's really hard for us to love the stranger as one of our family. You know, we learned another really important lesson that evening in Medford as we grazed and talked and talked and grazed. Where is it people congregate? They congregate in the kitchen, around the table, places where there is food. To a certain extent, we congregate in Sabbath services because they're spiritual food.

The importance of food cannot be over- emphasized either. Food is a social experience. It encourages conversation. Sharing a meal with someone is important. In fact, sometimes we're told certain individuals that we're not to continue sharing meals with them after certain things have occurred. Whether it's snacks, whether it's a full-blown meal at someone's home, food and conversation go together. There are many other ways that we can also be hospitable other than sharing the meal. We can serve others. We can strike up conversations purposefully with others that we don't often speak to. Go out of our way to be inviting and welcoming, provided of course it's done with sincerity. But you know oftentimes what it takes is us to make the first move. I think sometimes as humans we oftentimes sit back and wait for that perfect opportunity for something to come up and the reality of it is we just need to step out and take the opportunity. But when we're hospitable to strangers and we're hospitable to members of our own congregation, what we're really doing is we're building community. We're building community, that sense of community. Our last point today is to become invested in that new community because what we're really talking about when we talk about our church congregation is we're talking about a community. Webster's Defiance Community is a group of interacting individuals in a common location that are unified by common values and purpose. It's God's desire that we dwell together in unity. Let's take a look at Psalm 133, verse 1. We'll see how important that facet of unity is to a community. Psalm 133, and we'll pick it up in verse 1. It's a very short psalm.

And Psalms is currently hiding in my Bible. I don't know if you found it in yours. There you are.

Psalm 133, in verse 1. We'll read through verse 3. It says, Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Now, the next little bit of this we don't fully understand and get this analogy because we're a little far removed from it, but it says that unity and brethren dwelling together in unity is like the precious oil upon the head running down upon the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments. It's like the dew of Herman descending upon the mountains of Zion, for there the Lord commanded the blessing, life forevermore. We see the ideal. We see the ideal. We see that brethren can and should dwell together in unity, but the reality is how often is that done? How often are we truly in unity? Building community from a group of varied individuals can be extremely difficult. In fact, there's a whole subset of corporate business development centered around the concept of building community in the workplace. M. Scott Peck, who is the author of The Different Drum, Making Our Community Making and Peace, defines four stages that a group of people go through on their way to becoming a true community.

Now, here's the interesting thing about this. The entire group can be going through these four stages as well as individuals in the group can be going through these four stages. It's not always a forward progression. Sometimes the group moves backward through the stages. Sometimes individuals move backward through the stages. But the four stages are as follows. They are the pseudo community. Pseudo is Latin for false. The second is chaos. The third is emptiness. And the fourth is finally community. And we'll examine each of these just a little bit. Pseudo community beginning out and starting out. This is the beginning stages of a community. All of the members of the community interact politely. And for the most part, they get along. They make nice. Each of them have differences. They know they're different in some cases, but they ignore those differences. They try to avoid the conflict over those differences as much as possible. And the result of the pseudo community is a group of individuals who don't know each other very well and who avoid conflict at all costs.

Mr. Peck advocates in this book, the different drum, he advocates that it's crucial to remain at this step for as little time as possible in order to become a strong and functioning community. The next step, number two, is chaos. When the pseudo community fails, when everybody's making nice, when everybody's getting along and acting politely, but the pseudo community finally fails, when the differences that people have become so great they can no longer be ignored, individuals begin to fall upon one another and invent those frustrations, disagreements, and differences. And it can be and is total complete chaos. But from the chaos comes a very important lesson that differences cannot be ignored and must be resolved. It seems counterproductive, but chaos, according to Mr. Peck, is the first genuine step towards building community. The third step, following chaos, is emptiness. And at that point, this feeling of emptiness sets in. From the chaos that was there before, there are likely hurt feelings, resentment, continued frustrations, but there is also the beginning of the emptying of the characteristics that prevent community building. Ego, vanity, and pride are left behind. Emptiness is a very difficult step, according to Mr. Peck, because it requires a partial death of the individual in order to bring on a new creature, the community. Sort of a collective of sorts. Finally, step four is community. Once all the members of the group have moved through these steps, the group itself has reached this point, they've arrived at community. Having all passed through the chaos and the emptiness of the previous steps, the community has empathy for one another, and they understand each other well. Disagreements are not gone, but when they occur, even when they get heated, attitudes don't become sour, and the motives of the individuals are never questioned.

This progression seems all too familiar, almost like maybe we went through this very thing not too long ago, and we're still kind of navigating through these phases. I would submit to you that the past 15 years of United as an organization, that the majority of its members were operating as a pseudo community, getting along, sort of, while the undercurrent of issues just built and built and built, and then within the last couple of years we hit our chaos stage. At that point, our differences became too great and we couldn't ignore them any further. The differences really required us to work through them, but we couldn't do that because we were still a pseudo community. We didn't know each other well enough to work through our differences. We played nice. We had no real connection to some of the people that we met with. We'd ignored our differences and our frustrations with each other long enough and couldn't continue to hold it together. From what I can see, at least in my observation, it seems we're moving out of that chaos stage now into emptiness. There's still some of that little bit of resentment left and there's still some things, and this is not necessarily locally, but as an organization. And while there may still be some individuals in the previous two steps and some individuals who have actually moved to community, we're not quite there. I don't think we're quite there as a community, and that's coming, again, from my assessment of myself. But community is the ideal. It's what we're to strive to. If we examine ourselves, oftentimes we still have disagreements and we walk away upset.

Sometimes we question the motives of our leadership and our fellow members. Sometimes we don't offer the benefit of the doubt. We still see the differences in individuals and we make a big deal of it. It's kind of interesting within our growth club over in the Mid Valley. We have some members that don't keep Thanksgiving. Some members that are very different in what they feel is acceptable on the Sabbath. Some that keep very specific and strict preparation days. Some that don't. Some that eat out on the Sabbath. Some that don't. Some that keep the new moons and the list goes on. I want to be clear. I'm not advocating an attitude of permissiveness. I am definitely not saying that everything is okay and who are we to judge? Because I think we all know that there are certain things that are absolutely wrong. There are certain things that are absolutely wrong. There are things that are sinful and we cannot accept those actions if that person remains unrepentant. But there are certain things that people believe, aspects of our core doctrines, that are matters of conscience between them and God. And what is our business is how we deal with those differences. Do we treat our brethren with contempt? In other words, do I see someone who maybe is keeping the new moons? Do I think it's necessarily important? No, maybe not. But do I take someone who is believing in that way and treat them with contempt? No, no, we can't do that. Do we calmly discuss it, discover why they came to the conclusion, perhaps even at the end agreeing to disagree? Yeah, we all have the same textbook. We all have the same reference book. And there's no reason we can't talk about those things with others. The sooner that we acknowledge we have differences, or the sooner that we acknowledge that we have differences, number one, and that number two, despite those differences, provided our core doctrines are the same, that we can still be brethren, the better off we'll be. The truth is, the success of the community depends entirely upon the level of the investment of its members. You cannot have a strong community if there are individuals who are not committed to the shared common purpose and common values of the group. You know, we're here to do a work, to preach a gospel to the world, and despite our differences, that is our commission, just as it was the commission of the disciples before us. That is our common purpose, our common values, the law of God. If we have individuals who are not focused on those common goals and are not bought in, so to speak, to the work and to the law of God, reaching that ideal of community is near to impossible, and we are doomed to stay within the first three steps and continue splitting and fracturing and arguing and fighting.

Take a look at 1 Corinthians 12. Again, we are all in this together. We're all in this together. We all have very different strengths. We all have a different job to do in order to assist the body, but we all are one body. 1 Corinthians 12, verse 2. I'm sorry, 1 Corinthians 12, verse 12, and we'll read through verse 26. 1 Corinthians 12 says, For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves are free, and have all been made to drink into one spirit. For in fact the body is not one member, but many. If the foot should say, Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And 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. No much rather, those members of the body, which seem to be weaker, are necessary. And those members of the body, which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor, and on our unpresentable parts have greater modesty. But our presentable parts have no need, but God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it. That there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. Or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. The body cannot function without all of its members. We know that all too well. Everyone within the body has a job to do, and in many of our congregations, again, you guys are so lucky to have a place you can keep set up, that is such a wonderful blessing. You know, in Salem we set the whole gym up and tear the whole gym down in a day, and it takes a lot of work. It takes a lot of work. And we have a couple of crews, but it seems like, you know, that those two crews are the ones doing the work, and oftentimes they burn out. They get tired of it day in, day out, and it's a lot of tough work.

There's ways that we can get other people involved, and there's ways that we can get other people invested in the process. One of the ways that we can do this is to encourage our children, and to teach them an attitude of service. Find ways. Our boys, their favorite thing right now at church is to help push the chairs to the little chair-put-away place. So they'll run around, and they'll grab the chairs, and they'll push them over, and it's a game to them. But they're serving, and they're finding ways to serve. We have individuals who serve through music. We have individuals who serve in a lot of different ways. If you're not physically labor-inclined, or singing talented, you can always discuss with others over scriptures. Ask others if they could use prayers. Get to know them better. You know, there's much that can be done to help build that sense of community, that kind of sense of being one body, that sense of unity. The time we have together in services is precious. We can't afford to waste it. We must make good use of the holy time that God has provided us. The 24 hours on the Sabbath are set apart. It's holy time. Brethren, the yearning for home was strong enough for the pilgrims to be willing to leave everything that they had in order for a place that they could call their own. A place where they could feel free to worship in the way they chose, free of the yoke of Roman Catholic trappings. And we're all looking for the same thing. A place where we can worship God in the way that He has instructed us. A spiritual home. And it's important that our congregation be like a home. A place that contains family that loves one another. A place that's warm, inviting, and comfortable. And a place that we can invest ourselves in the work that must be done. A place we can give sweat equity, where we can put ourselves into it. Much like the establishment of the colony at Plymouth, it's not easy and it takes a lot of work. And it requires that we step outside of our comfort zone and cross those icy waters of the Atlantic and step into the unknown. It requires that in some cases to allow people to get to know us, it requires sometimes taking down the shields that we've been building for the past 10, 20, 30, 40, maybe even 50 years. And be willing to let others in. To let them get to know the real us. The imperfect us. Only then, with all pretenses dropped, can we truly get to know each other. Get to know both our weaknesses and our strengths and help each other grow spiritually.