Practicing Faith: Live Among God’s Faithful People | September 10, 2023 Sermon

This week, we begin a new five-week series of sermons exploring the five promises of baptism, which I’m calling “Practicing Faith.” Today, we’re looking at what it means to “Live among God’s faithful people.” Following the service, we are assembling school kits for Lutheran World Relief as part of the ELCA’s “God’s Work. Our Hands.” day of service.

Today’s Scripture readings are Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-16; Psalm 145:1-8; Romans 13:8-10; and Matthew 18:15-20. For this week, I found helpful Chuck Lindquist’s GodPause devotional for September 6, 2023, and for this entire series, I drew upon John Herman’s book, Called to Follow (Amazon affiliate link).

Here’s this week’s worship livestream from our joint service at Living Hope.

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Grace to you and peace from the One who was, who is, and who is to come, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

I don’t know if anyone’s counting—I kind of hope not—but I’ve been here as your pastor for about 16 months now. In that time, between the two congregations we’ve confirmed 10 teenagers and had 14 adults join as new members. Each one of those people have stood in front of the congregation and affirmed their baptism. They’ve said, yes, I share the faith of this church, I want to be part of this community, I want to live my life as if God’s promises are true.

Whether it’s confirmation students affirming what their parents said on their behalf, or newcomers committing to membership as adults, the affirmation of baptism service includes a time of making promises, called the baptismal covenant. We ask, “Do you intend to continue in the covenant God made with you in holy baptism?”

That part’s important – we’re not the one’s initiating this relationship. God makes the first move, stirring up faith, washing us in baptism. A covenant is kind of like a contract, but God has already fulfilled God’s part. You are redeemed, forgiven, claimed as a child of God. The question in the affirmation of baptism service is, what are you going to do about it? How are you going to respond to God’s grace? How are you going to live out your baptism?

So we ask, “Do you intend to continue in the covenant God made with you in holy baptism: Live among God’s faithful people, hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s Supper, proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed; serve all people following the example of Jesus; and strive for justice and peace in all the earth?”

For some of you, it’s been a long time since you were asked to make those commitments. Maybe they were worded a bit differently. Others of you just joined and made those commitments in the last couple of month. A few of you are preparing to make them at the end of confirmation classes. Either way, I think they’re worth considering as a framework for how we follow Jesus, how we practice our faith.

So, for the next five weeks, we’re going to look at each of those promises and dig into how we live, hear, proclaim, serve, and strive together as followers of Jesus.

This week, we’re looking at the first one, “Live among God’s faithful people.” If I were really on top of things, I would have timed it so our God’s Work; Our Hands day fell on the one about serving, but it’s ok.

Live among God’s faithful people. When I meet with families about baptism, I start by saying this means to come to church, but really, it’s a lot more than that. Christian faith is a journey we’re meant to be on together. I’m not saying you can’t be a Christian on your own, just you and Jesus, but God intends us to be in community.

Paul writes in Ephesians, “There is one body and one Spirit…one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all.” God gives us various gifts and unique talents; we have different backgrounds and passions and experiences, but in Christ, the whole body is joined and knit together. We are united in baptism and called to grow in faith together, to support each other on the journey as members of the one body of Christ.

There’s a classic illustration—no idea if it ever happened—where a pastor went to visit a member who hadn’t been to church for a while. As they sat by the fire and talked, the man said, “Well, there’s all this disagreement in the church, fighting and meetings, and the music’s not really my style, so I still believe in God, but I’m just not sure I need to be part of the church.” The pastor took the tongs and reached down into the fire and pulled out one glowing coal and set it on the hearth. After a minute or two, it turned black and stopped glowing. He put it back into the fire, and within a few seconds, it lit up again.

One of my favorite verses in Hebrews 10 says we are to provoke one another to love and good deeds not neglecting to meet together, but encouraging one another. We’re in this together, and we need each other.

Christ’s body is a community where everyone is welcome, where there’s a place for you to belong, a place where we can affirm one another’s gifts, worship and serve together. We don’t always live up to this as well as we ought to, but church is a community for all generations.

Where else do you go where 9 month olds and 39 year olds and 90 year olds are in the same room for the same purpose? Psalm 145 verse 4: “One generation shall laud your works to another.” As a community, we pass on the faith to each other, from generation to generation.

Living among God’s faithful people means being active in loving each other.

Paul points out in Romans that yes, it’s important to not harm each other: Do not kill, do not commit adultery, follow all the rest of those commandments. But “not doing something is not yet love.” Loving your neighbor as yourself is an active task. When you live out love to someone, when you do the things God calls us to do, when you do the action of loving them, that fulfills the law. Everything we are called to be as a Christian community is wrapped up in love.

Of course, you’d have to be incredibly naive to join a church thinking it’s going to be a perfect community. God’s faithful people are people, and as a mentor of mine liked to say, people can be very peoply. Over and over the Bible tells us to “love one another” (because apparently it’s not self-evident that that’s what we ought to do), and it also says we should “bear with one another” and “forgive one another.”

Encourage one another. Carry each other’s burdens. Pray for one another. There’s a reason we pause during worship to shake hands and share God’s peace with one another – it’s more than just being friendly; it’s an intentional moment to offer peace, forgiveness, grace to each other.

Jesus has some instructions for when things don’t go well, when tensions come up in the body of Christ and the community of love breaks down. Instead of bad-mouthing the other person or trying to drag other people in, go to that person directly and try to resolve it. If that doesn’t work, bring someone else, not to gang up on them, but so there’s someone else to listen to both of you and perhaps mediate. Maybe having a witness or two will help towards resolution.

And if that doesn’t work, maybe more of the church needs to get involved, and if the break is just too big, the last step, Jesus says, is to “let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.” That sounds pretty final, doesn’t it? But remember, treating someone as an outsider doesn’t mean condemning them, it means seeing them like we see everyone outside the church, as someone beloved by God who needs to hear the good news of God’s grace, forgiveness, and love.

Jesus went out seeking after Gentiles and tax collectors. Living among God’s faithful people includes inviting others into our community!

Whenever we gather as God’s people, whether it’s two or three or a whole church congregation or two, Jesus promises to be present with us. The life of the Christian community has a rhythm of “coming and going, gathering and scattering.”

In baptism, we are made members of the church, the body of Christ. We gather week after week for worship, to share the stories of faith and encourage each other. And then we are sent out as God’s people to be Jesus’ hands and feet in the world, sent out together to love our neighbors as ourselves. This rhythm shapes our lives.

The backpack tags we’ll give out in a few minutes are a reminder that God is with you wherever you go. Wherever you go, you are part of Christ’s body, you are part of this community, and you can always return here to be among God’s faithful people. And wherever you go, you represent Jesus. God works through your hands.

Thank you for living out your faith in this community. Amen