Sermon Cloud

Building a BCI Church:

DEVOTED TO ONE ANOTHER

Romans 12:9-10

Romans 12:9-10

9) Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

10) Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.

            We, as a church, are approaching a significant milestone in our history. On November 18, we will be celebrating our 25^th Church Anniversary. Throughout these 25 years, the Lord has allowed BCI to experience countless blessings:

• Ø He has allowed us to grow numerically - Starting with 32 people in 1982, today BCI is ministering close to 300 people on a regular basis.
• Ø He has used us to multiply churches - Through the missions endeavor of BCI, 27 churches were established. 18 churches in North America and 9 churches in the Philippines. In the past, BCI regularly released members to be the core for new church plants.
• Ø He gave us our own church building - Despite our financial challenges, the Lord has allowed us to have a property of our own. Lord willing, next year, , we will be in a bigger and better facility.
• Ø He has provided church workers - Besides the full-time pastors, the Lord has also blessed BCI with choir directors, Christian education teachers, musicians, singers, church officers, and so many dedicated volunteers to carry out church ministries effectively.

With all of these blessings, it is quite obvious that God has always been at work in our church. He deserves all the honor and glory!

            Now, as the Lord continues to add many more years to us, what can we do in order to accomplish greater things for God? Or if we rephrase it - How can BCI become a healthier church?

            Perhaps, you have some ideas on how we can be a healthier church like adding more programs and activities, building a better facility, raising more leaders, or enhancing our worship services. Well, all of these are important for our church, but there is an area that is often neglected in most churches that we want to emphasize once again in our context. This is healthy relationships.

Last Sunday, we started with a new theme - Building a BCI Church. Instead of understanding BCI as Bible Church International, we are using BCI to mean a Body Connected Intimately.  With this theme, I hope to drive the truth that it is important that we establish healthier relationships among members because the Bible teaches that we must not live the Christian life alone. If you examine the New Testament, it is safe to say that this is the very reason why God has built the church; and He often used the picture of the human body to refer to the church in order to highlight the necessity of connectivity among members.   

            However, rather than being connected with the body, many Christians are isolating themselves. Many live by themselves, instead of living intimately with the Christian community.  Why would a Christian isolate himself? Robert Putnam is a professor at Harvard and he's written a book entitled, Bowling Alone in which he talks about the decline in community life in America over the last four decades. The title of his book comes from a trivial but telling example: the percentage of adults who belong to a bowling league today is only about one fourth of what it was in the 1960s. But here are some other examples he cites.

• The percentage of people who volunteer in a political campaign-stuffing envelopes, making phone calls, going door-to-door-is about half what it was in the 1960's.
• Active membership in local clubs and organizations like the PTA has dropped by about half what it was in the 1970's.
• People are visiting one another less frequently, having friends over for dinner less frequently, getting together to play cards less frequently.

In short, every objective measure of participation in civic life is declining, and there are several causes: TV, dual-career families, long commutes, etc. But for whatever reason, there are forces in our society that are pulling people apart-isolating them-making it more difficult for them to come together in community. And as a church in this culture, we are subject to the same forces so we have to be intentional about building and maintaining healthy relationships - healthy community.

            Therefore, during this series, we will be studying together some of the "one another" statements in the New Testament. You see the apostles have regularly used the phrase "one another" in order to challenge the church in becoming intimately connected. There are close to fifty "one another" statements, but we will only have the chance to consider some. The bottom line is the better we are at truly loving one another-the closer we are as a church family-the more power we will have as a church when it comes to leading lost people to Jesus. Jesus himself declared:

John 13:35

35) By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

            This morning, I want to emphasize one of Paul's exhortations to the Roman believers. The initial chapters of the book of Romans are highly doctrinal. You will find Paul explaining why man need to be saved and how man can be saved. By chapter 12, the tone changes to Christian living - how should believers live their lives. For our message today, our focus is being devoted to one another. Now, in our text, the Greek word for "devote" literally means "to be loyal to someone; to diligently occupy oneself with something." Let's examine together how this can be applicable to our church.

I           ESTABLISH THE ENVIRONMENT FOR IT:

            When the apostle Paul gave the command for Christians to be devoted to one another, he connects this idea with two foundational precious concepts:

            A. Sincere Affection - "Love must be sincere" (v.9)

            As Paul focuses on how believers need to relate to others, the very first thing he mentions is sincere love to one another. It seems that all the rest in the chapter is an explanation of this. Clearly, what God requires from us is an honest love, not a hypocritical love.

When does love become hypocritical? Here is John's response:

1 John 3:17-18

17) If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?

18) Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

            Base on these words, an honest love is a love back up with actions, it is more than words.

            B. Family Affection - "Brotherly Love" (v.10)

            God chose the picture of the family to describe what the church should be. This highlights our commitment to people we call brothers and sisters. The term "brother" in the New Testament comes from the Greek which means from the same womb. Of course, it's a generic form which includes both brothers and sisters.

            Who belongs to the family of God? The Bible clearly declares that those who believe in Jesus were the ones born into this family:

1 John 5:1

1) Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.

            While this family is on earth, its members will struggle with many weaknesses, and shortcomings, but we are commanded to be devoted to it. Love the family unconditionally, with all the imperfections and problems.

II         EXPRESS IT THROUGH ACTIONS:

Loyalty or devotion to other believers in the church must be shown through specific actions. Just as we have stated earlier, love must not only be by word but by deed. There are at least three things we must be willing to do:

•A.     Through Committed Attachment:

Christians cannot be isolated; they must be consistently connected. Believers need relationships with each other to grow! Close relationship with other believers don't just happen. And that can never happen when Christians consistent attendance in church gatherings. This is the reason why the author in the book of Hebrews gave the exhortation not to neglect meeting with other believers:

Hebrews 10:25

25) Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

            I believe everyone of us must recognize that our attendance provides the opportunity to get involve in the lives of other believers especially those with needs.

•B.     Through Common Admiration:

Another exhortation that you find in our key text, which is closely related to being devoted to one another, is honoring one another above yourselves. If you analyze it, it would be difficult to love someone you do not respect or admire. So believers must have mutual respect to one another. We must maintain a high opinion of others even considering others better than we are:

Philippians 2:3

3) Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

•C.     Through Complete Acceptance: (1 Peter 4:8)

To love brothers and sisters in the Lord also calls for a willingness to accept them including their weaknesses, problems, and faults.

1 Peter 4:8

8) Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

            When a brother fails, what do we do? Do we try to despise him and talk about him, or do we try to encourage him and restore him in the Lord. Love does not condone sin because if we love someone, we will be grieved to see him sin and hurt himself and others. But we should never cast aside the sinner; our Christian love must be affirming and forgiving.  

III        EMPOWER THE FAMILY THROUGH IT:           

            Finally, we need to understand the advantage to the church family as a whole when we are loyal and devoted to it. If you go further in reading Romans 12, you will have some hints why brotherly love may benefit the church. Some of these verses give the sense that believers are constantly subjected to afflictions and persecutions because of their faith:

• v.12 - "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction"
• v. 14 - "Bless those who persecute you"
• v. 15 - "Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn."
• v. 16 - "Live with harmony with everyone"
• v. 17 - "Do not repay evil with evil"
• v. 18 - "Live at peace with everyone"
• v. 19 - "Do not take revenge . . . leave room for God's wrath."

If Christians cannot get along with one another, how can they face their enemies victoriously? The reality is Satan wants to destroy the relationships within the church so the church will be powerless against him. God knows that living the Christian life is difficult, and so He built the church. He has designed as to live together as one family. As we devote ourselves in loving one another we can literally help one another to develop into mature, victorious and productive Christians. It's truly a privilege to belong to God's family!