Today, we come to the second mark of the church presented in Romans chapter 15 verses 1-6. Verse 2 reads, “Each of us must please our neighbor for the good purpose of building up the neighbor.”
On the surface, this looks to be rather simple. Most world religions and philosophies teach that we should be kind and compassionate. Most world religions and philosophies teach us to care for those in need and ease the needs of the poor and downtrodden. Nearly every world religion and philosophy has some form of the teaching, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” So, we as Christians are supposed to be nice people. We are supposed to be kind people. We are supposed to treat others with such niceness and kindness. That’s it, right. End of sermon. Done. Let’s call it a day.
You knew it wouldn’t be that simple, didn’t you? The Greek wording of this sentence adds a little bit of nuance. A better reading would be this: Each of us must please our neighbor for the good purpose of building up the neighbor spiritually. One of the marks of the church that first falls deeply in love with Jesus is the deep desire to build up our neighbors spiritually.
Now, first off, let me say that this does not excuse us from helping those who are in need. There is wisdom in the statement that it’s awful hard to hear someone saying, “God loves you,” when your stomach is rumbling; you’re cold and shivering, and you have no place to sleep. Furthermore, Jesus is very, very clear that when we feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, and visit the sick and imprisoned, we are feeding, clothing, and visiting him. We must care for our neighbor’s physical needs, but we are called to care for our neighbor’s spiritual needs as well–to build up our neighbor spiritually. This is where things can become complicated.
How do we build up our neighbor spiritually? It’s easy to give someone something to eat when they are hungry. It’s easy to give someone a drink when they are thirsty. It’s easy to give someone clothing when they are naked. It’s easy to visit someone when they are sick or in prison. These needs are visible. We can see them without difficulty. But how do we build up our neighbor’s spirituality? How do we help them grow in their relationship with God–and in particular grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ? That’s not so easy, not so easy at all because we cannot see where people are at. We cannot see if they even believe in God. We cannot see how deeply they believe in Jesus Christ. We don’t know where their faith is at; if they have faith at all; or even if they want to grow in their faith. How can we begin to build up others spiritually if we cannot see where they are at?
Some of you may have heard the parable about the blind men and the elephant. For those of you who haven’t let me tell it once more. A group of blind men stumble upon an elephant in the jungle. They all want to figure out what the elephant is like, so they each touch a piece of the elephant. Afterwards, as the men continue their travels, they begin arguing what the elephant is like. One who touched the tail argues, “The elephant is like a rope, long and stringy.” One who touched the torso says, “The elephant is like a wall, solid and strong.” One who touched the tusk says, “The elephant is like a spear, long and with a sharp point.” One who touched the leg says, “The elephant is like a tree stump, short and stout.” And on and on it goes as the men argue with one another what the elephant is like. Now, this parable is usually used to talk about religion saying that each religion has part of the truth, but none has the full truth. Don’t get too comfortable with that conclusion–it’s easily refutable.
But I don’t want to use that conclusion today. What I would like to comment on is that oftentimes we do such things with one another when it comes to the faith life of another person. We observe from afar. We see someone going to church, and we assume that their faith is very strong and that they are a Christian. We observe someone staying home every Sunday, and we infer that they have no faith. We observe someone covered with tattoos and body piercings, and we think they are an atheist. We observe someone clean cut and wearing a suit on Sunday morning, and we assume they are a deacon in a congregation. Oh, this is just a short list. We could add many other observations. And oftentimes, we base our conclusions on just these observations. Meanwhile, others make different observations and come to different conclusions. Then, we end up like all of those blind men arguing on the roadside.
But here is a revolutionary thought–it’s not mine. I actually heard a pastor by the name of Kevin DeYoung use it. What if the elephant could talk? What if the elephant could express itself? What if the elephant had the capability of describing itself to you and telling you exactly what it was like? How would that change the parable?
Well, if you refused to talk to the elephant, it wouldn’t change things much at all. You’d still be left guessing, but if the elephant could talk, and you actually engaged the elephant, you might find out some very, very interesting things. You might find out a whole lot more than you ever thought you knew.
Now, I am certainly not trying to call our neighbors elephants. God forbid! That might cause a bit of a stir, but what I am suggesting, rather strongly, that in order to truly build up our neighbors spiritually, we have to get to know our neighbors. I mean, really get to know our neighbors. This isn’t a superficial, “Hey how are you?” kind of knowing. This isn’t a, “I know your name, your address, and your phone number kind of relationship.” This is an engagement so that we come to know the height, depth, and length of our neighbor’s relationship with God or lack of it. For if we don’t know about our neighbor’s relationship with God, how can we even begin to build it up?
The answer is, “We can’t.” Before I continue just a moment, let me please dispel one thing that sometimes arises at this point. Sometimes, good intentioned people say, “But pastor, isn’t the church supposed to worry about growing the faith of its members?” The answer to that is absolutely, positively yes!! Indeed, the church is here to help the faith of its members grow, but let me add this note–Paul here is very intentional in his wording. He uses the term neighbors after a long stretch of using the word brothers. He changes the terminology because for him, brothers means fellow Christians. He intentionally indicates here that as your faith grows and deepens, you no longer just look to your own growth and building up; you no longer just look to the building up of your fellow Christians, you look outside yourself and outside your church into your community to help others come into a relationship with Jesus Christ and grow into that relationship.
And so, the mark of a church that is growing in its relationship with Jesus Christ is that its members seek out people in the community; seeks out their neighbors to get to know them; to learn about them; to understand them as people; to come to love and cherish their relationship, and then to lead them to Jesus Christ or help them deepen their relationship with Jesus Christ.
I am reminded about the story of two literary giants. Perhaps you have heard their names: J.R.R. Tolkein and C.S. Lewis. Tolkein wrote The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. C.S. Lewis wrote The Chronicles of Narnia, Mere Christianity, and a host of other well known Christian books. What you may not know is that C.S. Lewis was originally an atheist. He railed against Christianity and called it a myth like any Norse mythology. False. Untrue. For five years, J.R.R. Tolkein talked with his friend C.S. Lewis. For five years, Tolkein got to know Lewis; ate with him; drank with him; engaged him with conversation. Then, on September 19, 1931, Lewis converted from atheism to theism. Lewis came to believe in God. But, Lewis did not convert to Christianity. It was not until two years later that while staying up past 3 a.m. with Tolkein and another professor that C.S. Lewis came to believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of the world. For you mathematicians, you know that this took seven years. Seven years of investing in a friend. Of engaging. Of questioning. Of not becoming offended. Of caring. Of genuine concern for the building up of the neighbor.
The question becomes, are we as a church; are we as individual Christians willing to invest so much time? Are we willing to grow in our faith so that we can help others grow over such a long time? Are we willing to be long term people in a short term world? Are we willing to do what it takes to really and truly get to know our neighbors, understand where they are coming from, and truly seek their coming to know Jesus as Lord and Savior? Will we be willing to invest in our neighbors like Jesus invested in us and continues to invest in us to help us grow?
For Jesus sought to win our hearts by dying for us when we least deserved it. He did not coerce us with fear or anger, but with grace, mercy, and forgiveness. Yes, He confronted us with our sin, but he did not hold that sin against us. Instead, He took that sin upon Himself and paid the price for those sins by dying on the cross and facing hell for us. He then showered us with hope as He showed us what awaits for us when we trust in Him–resurrection and the reversal of all evil. And now, He walks with us daily living enthroned upon our hearts whispering to us of his love; whispering to us of his grace; whispering to us his guidance and continued support; whispering to us that no matter what we face in life, He will see us through and bring us to something glorious–the Kingdom of God. It is this love that we are called to share. It is this love that we are called to pass on to our neighbor. It is this love that will build our neighbor up. Amen.
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