Grace and mercy in the family of God
Please read Mark 3:31-35, John 13: 1-7 and Romans 12: 15-16; then pray; Almighty God, as we receive your word today, enable us to see the way of Jesus, and to know his word for us, as people who have been brought into his family through pure grace and mercy. In his name, we pray. Amen!
We have been considering together the essence of practical Christianity – Christianity in action. Romans chapter 12 has been our guide and inspiration as we have learned what it means to live a life which responds gratefully and obediently to “the mercies of God.” (12:1) Much of the apostle Paul’s teaching here is grounded in the teaching and example of Jesus as we saw last time. Verse 14 is a prime example of this:
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. (Matthew 5:44-45)
When the apostle Paul wrote his epistles like this one to the Church in Rome, every sentence was carefully thought through. With Paul, there was no such thing as a throw away line. There is nothing arbitrary in his teaching. Each encouragement and instruction were given to him by the Holy Spirit for the Church’s blessing and strengthening. Therefore, each instruction deserves our very careful thought and practical application. Paul wanted every Christian to become like Christ. He wanted Christ to be formed in them (Galatians 4:19) – and in all followers of Jesus. Are we passionate about Christ being formed in us? What we will consider today is teaching which was demonstrated in the life of Jesus who is the head of the Church. May we know the grace of Jesus as we seek to hear and obey this word. And here it is:
Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another.
Do not be proud but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
We have reached a very pastoral section in chapter 12. We are coming face to face with some of the pastoral dynamics that Paul expected within the body of Christ. Pastoral care of the flock was high on Paul’s agenda because it was something in the heart of Jesus. The care of the flock of Christ. (John 21:16) Pastoral care is one of the highest priorities here at Christchurch and one of the most important parts of my personal ministry and leadership. But pastoral care is the responsibility of all God’s people. This is for everyone to share; for everyone to exercise and for everyone to receive when needed. You have a role to play in pastoral care!
Here Paul is calling for Christians to have a very deep love and concern for each other which is particularly shown through practically demonstrating true empathy for others in the Church. Notice immediately that we are dealing with empathy, not sympathy. There is a place for sympathy in the Church, but here is a specific call for true empathy within the body of Christ.
“Rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn.”
The main difference between sympathy and empathy is that sympathy expresses pity and sorrow for a suffering person, whereas empathy not only expresses sorrow for a person but seeks to genuinely understand and enter-into that sorrow (or joy) with the individual concerned. Empathy is much more about understanding and sharing the feelings of another – really mourning with those who mourn, and truly rejoicing and celebrating with those who are rejoicing. Sympathy can be shared at a distance. Empathy requires presence. Sympathy can be expressed pastorally through sending a sensitively written card; empathy is expressed by being alongside the person who is mourning or rejoicing. Empathy involves a deep emotional connection, as if experiencing a person’s emotions yourself.
Listen to this reading from John’s gospel. Do you see sympathy or empathy in Jesus? (Read John 11: 32-44) One moment weeping. Then rejoicing with a family. Please note, I do not want to downplay sympathy, simply to upraise empathy as the apostle does here.
As Christians and members of the body of Christ, we are called and urged by Paul and through the example of our Lord Jesus to show empathy towards fellow Christians who are either struggling or celebrating. This is not always easy, but once again, God gives us the grace and compassion to act accordingly. And we have the great pastoral gift of prayer which enables us to get alongside others and enter-into their sorrow or their joy with the Holy Spirit’s help and guidance. We must pray for the grace to be able to love and care for others deeply from the heart. Pastoral care is for all and can be shared by each member – with empathy.
Biblically and theologically speaking, this kind of pastoral care and concern is based on the fact the we are not only the body of Christ, intimately and spiritually connected, but we are also the family of God, uniquely bound together with love of Jesus. The idea of church as family is very present in Romans 12 and many parts of the NT. Remember how this chapter starts: Paul is appealing to his brothers and sisters in Christ. (12:1) They are related through their experience of the mercy and grace of God. They are the people of God, the family of God. (1 Peter 2: 9-10). And in Romans 12:10 Paul urged this;
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honour one another above yourselves. Familial love.
We are family. (1 Peter 2:17) This was clearly and controversially pointed out by Jesus in his teaching as is expressed in one of our gospel readings today. Jesus obviously had his earthly family and he loved his mother dearly. But he also recognised and loved a spiritual family, spiritual brothers and sisters, (like Mary, Martha, and Lazarus and all his disciples, men and women). (Mark 3:31-35) The Church is a family, and it is only when we see each other as true family that we can express empathy so that we can rejoice with the friends in Church who rejoice, and mourn with friends in Christ who mourn.
Unless your family has suffered major upset and divisions, close relatives are the ones who will always rejoice and suffer with you during the good and bad times in life. But as a Christian, you have a second family, which you have been “born into” – which you have been adopted into by God’s amazing grace. (John 1:12) Christians are blessed to have two families; the one with obvious blood ties, and the spiritual one which is joined together through the blood of Jesus. We can genuinely refer to each us as brothers and sisters in Jesus – as family. The Holy Spirit lives in each one of us, and the grace of God is among us. In one of his pastoral letters to Timothy “his son,” Paul writes this:
“Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and young women as sisters, with absolute purity. (1 Tim 5: 1-2)
We are family. Do you see, sense, and deeply appreciate this in your spirit? I hope so. As family, we must demonstrate empathy, and we can do so as we are strengthened, guided, and equipped by the grace of God, the compassion of Jesus and the help of the Spirit.
This call to rejoice and mourn with empathy is then linked to “living in harmony” as a spiritual family who put humility and love above all else. It is a very challenging call for the Church to demonstrate and reveal that the Kingdom of God has come among us, and is evident through our loving and caring relationships. The Kingdom of heaven is present with the Church as she welcomes Jesus as Lord and King, and the Holy Spirit as Strengthener and Guide. When we get to heaven, we will dwell in perfect harmony surrounded by God’s Glory. We shall sing about this harmony in our next hymn (Brother, sister, let me serve you) – but Christian communities are called to seek and show that unity and harmony here and now. We are called to reveal something of the beautiful harmony of the kingdom in church community life and service – through our pastoral praying, united worship, devoted caring, and practical sharing. Can we do this here in Abbeydale? By God’s grace, we can. It is worth striving for. Listen to the words of the apostle Peter;
“Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” (1 Peter 1: 22-23)
Next, the apostle Paul, not for the first time challenges pride and ego-centric behaviour. Whilst Paul stressed the fruit of love as primary in Church life and Christian service, he saw humility as the virtue that preserved church unity and harmony. If we genuinely want harmony, we must understand and practice humility. (Ephesians 4:2f) This idea was introduced as early as verse 3, and you may recall that I preached a sermon entitled “Let’s start with humility,” because it is the only place to start when it comes to Christian service and action. Humility is the starting point for unity and always remains foundational to its preservation and wellbeing. (Read 12:3 & 10).
Paul is interested and concerned about the expression of humility through social interactions and relationships, especially with people of the lowest social status. Here it is:
Be willing to associate with people of low position.
In the Church especially, but in the wider world as well, as followers of Jesus, we must be prepared and willing to associate with people of the lowest social status. We may have been in that category ourselves. Perhaps you came from very humble circumstances and beginnings. The Christian and the Church are to respect and embrace the poorest and least regarded of all people in their society. This is a challenge especially to Christians who are wealthy and more comfortably off. It was most relevant in Rome and in the early Church, but the message is still relevant to us who in relative terms are wealthy.
In Rome, at that time, there would be several Churches scattered around this great and powerful city. Those Churches would all meet in homes, and most would be in the homes of wealthy and influential people who had received Jesus as Lord – a bit like Lydia the wealthy business woman who we hear about in Acts 16. Some of the Christians may have had a direct connection with Ceasar himself. They were wealthy and their homes were spacious and comfortable. The rich Christians were called to be hospitable, to host church gatherings – and those gatherings would include very poor Christians – including – slaves and common servants. It has been estimated that about 80% of the Church in Ephesus compromised of slaves and servants and it was probably not that different in Rome, such was the dominance of slavery.
What a challenge for these wealthier Christians. They were not only to invite slaves and servants to share their home for the evening, for prayer and worship – they now had to see all these poor Christians of low status as equals, as brothers and sisters in Christ. This would never be done in normal society. It would cause outrage. Slaves and servants were only ever treated as slaves and servants in the Empire. This was not to be the case in the Church of Jesus Christ. Those who did menial tasks in the world were to be treated with dignity, respect and even honour. (1 Corinthians 12:23) No-one, according to the apostle Paul, should be looked down upon in any way. Rich and poor, black and white, men and women, slave and free, were all ONE in Christ. (Colossians 3:11) There could be no conceit.
Do not be proud, but be willing to associate to people of low position. Do not be conceited.
What is your reaction to this challenge? Are you comfortable with it? Would you, like Paul, include this on a list of practical Christian duties and obligations? On what is Paul basing his message and challenge? Ultimately, Paul is looking to Jesus – the head of the Church. On the night before his crucifixion, Jesus deliberately and purposefully took the role of a common servant, and proceeded to wash each one of his disciples’ dirty feet. They were flabbergasted. Peter protested. Jesus insisted! And when Jesus had finished – this was his teaching; (Read John 13: 12-17)
Jesus took on the low status role of a foot washing servant, and embraced the most menial of tasks. He identified with servants and slaves. He spent most of his ministry associating with the poor and healing them. He touched and healed lepers. Can you think of anyone with a lower social status than a leper at that time? What is more, and this is utterly staggering and mind-blowing, when the Son of the living God came into this world, leaving all the wealth and glory of heaven, he chose to be born in abject poverty. He grew up and was raised in a backwater village called Nazareth which was populated by a group of nobodies in the world’s eyes. (John 1:46) Could anything good from there?
The Son of God became a servant, became one of low social status. His Church today, especially in the southern hemisphere where it is growing at an exponential rate is full of low status poor women and men. Now here is the challenge. All these poor folk are precious in the eyes of God. They, like you and I, have been chosen by Jesus and saved by his grace and mercy. All are to be seen and embraced as equal brothers and sisters in Jesus. We are family. The poor are most welcome at the table of the Lord. Blessed are the poor for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. They are rich in faith. (James 2:5)
Christians in the wealthy west have a challenge here – and I want us to think about it seriously. When I served as a University Chaplain in Leeds, the Chaplaincy team went out of their way to befriend, welcome, and show care and concern to the two ladies who cleaned the Chaplaincy building. Low paid, low status workers were valued and encouraged by us. We served them as well. We made tea for them. We prayed for them and with them. Sonia was one of the cleaners who I remember well, and she would buy me a card and a small gift for Christmas. Staff in other parts of the University would ignore her, but she knew she was valued in that Chaplaincy building.
When we enjoy the blessing of a holiday, Julia and I always make a deliberate point of giving the most generous tips to those who perform the lowest tasks in the hotels. We love to bless and say thank you to those who lovingly make up and clean our room. When I am in a restaurant, I always want to thank those who come to clear and wipe my table, those I see sweeping floors and removing other people’s leftovers and clearing messy tables. Do you go out of your way to thank and encourage low paid workers in our society? It is your Christian duty to do so. I am so grateful to those members here at Christchurch that do many of the menial tasks in our building with such love and care. We have a clean Church to enjoy. Someone has cleaned the toilets here. Someone has tended the garden. Someone will make the coffee later. Someone will wash up. But none of us should think of ourselves as above these tasks.
One of the reasons Julia and I went to serve God in Kingston Jamaica for 4 months at the end of my theological training in 1989 was to have the privilege of working amongst the poorest in down-town Kingston. We learned a lot about God’s grace and kindness through the poor who would share hospitality with us, but we also felt Christ walking among these people all the time we were there. Their joy and love in their lives and communities was powerful.
Is the Church today good news to the poor? If not, why not? Is it even possible to be the Church if we people are reluctant to associate with people of low position? This was the challenge of William Booth to the Anglican Church in the late 19th century? Booth believed the Church had a duty to welcome and serve the poor. If we wish to align ourselves with Jesus, we must associate with those of low social status as he did. The two go together. The Church in the UK or anywhere else for that matter cannot retreat into nice suburbs and exist in middle-class bubbles. Our Lord willingly became a servant – and if we are his servants – then none of us can expect to be any different to our Master.
Only the grace and mercy of God working in us and through us can bring these precious things alive – and create a Church and a harmony that brings glory to God and dignity to all people of all nations. God is not calling us to patronise the poor. God calls us to honour and embrace them.
Look at Romans 12: 14-16 one more time. Think about these serious challenges which involve mercy and grace working in us and through us. And then, decide – Are you in or out? Will you seek to embrace these values and virtues in Jesus’s name and for Jesus’s sake? Will you aim to ensure that Christchurch is a Christian fellowship which demonstrates compassion for all, no matter what their background or status?
To God be all the glory!
Amen
(Revd Peter J Clarkson 2.11.25)