"The Fellowship In Faith"

I John 1:1-4   Romans 14:1-12

 

     Fred Craddock teaches preaching and New Testament at Candler School of Theology which is part of Emory University in Atlanta.  He shared an experience he had in South Carolina.  He was speaking at Antioch Christian Church.  During one of the breaks he left for a little while and drove around the area.  He stopped at an old cemetery and got out and walked around.  He wanted to see how old some of the gravestones were.  There were concrete slabs over the full length and width of the plot.  He said that in one family plot all the graves were lined up in a row, but one grave was crosswise.  At that angle it was taking up three burial plots.  Fred wondered why they would do that.

 

      There was another man walking around the cemetery.  Fred asked him if he was from around there. "Yeah," he responded.  Then he said, "You are looking at that grave, aren't you?"   When Fred said "Yes," he said, "I knew that fellow.  We were in the same church."

 

       Fred asked, "Why this burial at an angle?"  

 

       "Well, the family wanted that and the church agreed." 

 

       "But why," Fred asked.

 

       "Because that is the kind of guy he was.  He was crossways with everybody and everything.  We never knew him to be pleased about anything at home or at church.  He always said stuff like, 'Why'd they ask him to do that?', "Well I wonder who decided to do that?'.  The family decided that they wouldn't try to change him just because he was dead.  So they buried him crosswise."

 

        Fred responded, "That was an awful thing to do."

 

        "They wanted it to be a witness.  The family said if God want to straighten him out then God can straighten him out.  But he left here just like he lived.

 

        The man buried crossways reminded me of a story one of the minister's in South Bend told me.  He said that while he was at Westminster one of his goals was not to allow a certain elder to make him cry.  He had been told that this elder had brought every minister to tears during session meetings and he was not going to allow that to happen to him.  As far as I know he succeeded in that goal.  Fortunately that elder died before we arrived in South Bend. He is another person who should have been buried crossways.

 

        Both men would have been right at home in the church at Corinth or the church in Rome.  There were Christians who could not agree about anything.  They met in homes.  In some of the homes they drank wine, in others they did not.  Some ate meat, some were vegetarians.  According to Paul they couldn't even agree what day of the week to meet for worship.  What is interesting is that Paul does not take sides.  From their own point of view each side thought they were right.  Differing opinions should not mar Christian harmony.  It is okay to have differences but what got to Paul was the way they picked at each other.  Paul was calling on them to stop trying to force everyone to be just like they were.

 

      Paul gives a couple of good reasons why we should not criticize each other.  If God is willing to forgive an individual, who are we to criticize?  If God accepts a person, who are we to turn them away?  In the end people do not have to answer to us, they answer to God.  We are not called to act as judge and jury.   

 

      Last week we mentioned that we cannot change human nature.  But God can.  How to we change?  Paul would say that the gospel changes us.  By weekly singing the songs and reading the scriptures and by being open to God's word we begin to see things in new ways.  We begin to place a higher value on human life, we begin to treasure people, rich and poor, young and old, educated and uneducated.  We recognize each one as being made in God's image. 

 

      When we pay attention to the gospel, instead of picking on each other over things that don't matter, we become devoted to the things that do matter.  We are called to be the fellowship in faith.  We are not called to make everyone like us, we are not called to be judge and jury.  We are called to value people.  Why?  Because God values us.  God values us enough to send his son to die for us. 

 

      And Jesus says to us, "Take this bread and eat.  This is my body broken for you."  In essence he is saying become a part of me. 

 

      When we eat this bread and drink from this cup we are saying Jesus, we want to be more like you.  Change us.  Help us to value the things you value, help us to value the fellowship in faith, the people of God.