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April 9, 2006, Palm Sunday
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2 Peter
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Pastor Brian Shimer
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"God's Recipe: To Godliness supply brotherly kindness"
2 Peter 1: 1-11
- When I was at the hospital last Thursday with Nancy Hildgendorf, Joyce Krull and Nancy's friend Ann, it was a blessing just to be there with her those hours as we waited for this answer to a prayer she had been praying for 30 years, that her knee could be healed.
We were there through her first procedure the introduction of a filter into her vena cava which is designed to catch any blood clots that release from the leg being worked on. That procedure went according to the book, just great. Then we read Scripture, told stories, prayed and laughed together until 12:15 when she was taken up to the surgery prep area. Joyce and I could still be with her at that point. Her other friend had had to go on to her work day.
As we were there, a woman walked up and introduced herself as one of the chaplains at OHSU and said she had been called by one of Nancy's friends and asked to come by to pray with us. There was such a kindness that exuded from this person, I was blessed that she arrived. She introduced herself as Joyce and we shook hands. Then when she realized that I was Nancy's pastor, she said, "Oh, I need to shake your hand again" by way of simply honoring me and thanking me for what I do.
It was sometime around then that Nancy said, "Do you know that this is Joyce Mehl?" The name rung a bell for me which it may or may not for you. Joyce was Ron Mehl's wife. Ron was the pastor of Beaverton Foursquare church for some 25 years until his death about 2 years ago now. He and his wife started this congregation which now numbers some 10,000 people. His wife is a lovely person who after his death decided that she could not have a life that was just filled with lunch and shopping and be satisfied, so she trained to be a chaplain and began to work.
When she said she was Joyce Mehl, I said, "Now I need to shake your hand again, what a pleasure it is to meet you. Your husband has been a mentor through his books for years."
She was a humble, honest, very present and quiet person who exuded the presence of the Jesus and a great love for Him. She prayed wonderfully with us and we all were ushered into God's presence. The thing that struck me as she spent those moments with us was the experience of brotherly kindness, of the blessing within the body of one person loving another because of Jesus, and how simple gestures, a smile, a handshake, a hug, a prayer brought God's grace into our lives there in that surgery waiting area.
- As we march through the book of 2 Peter at a snail's pace, the next word we come to is brotherly kindness, or Philadelphia, as the city of brotherly love in Pennsylvania is named.
As we have been talking about all the previous additions into the qualities God inspired Peter to list here, it is clear that they relate to an inner strength to offer an outer blessing. Each of them begins somewhere within. Goodness is the focus of our minds; Knowledge expands how we know the Lord, and points toward an increase in wisdom; self control begins within as we say yes to Jesus and no to sin; perseverance is an inner willingness to "keep on keeping on;" godliness is an issue of character, an interior focus, as the word means "good worship" that then is manifest through our lives. But how all of these will be seen is through the last two qualities listed.
All must be seen through love. First love for those who are closest, our brothers and sisters in Christ, love in the local church setting. And then second, love for those who are outside the local church body, those in the world.
Today we are looking at love for one another within the body of Christ. What we see in Peter's list is that in order for us to more effectively love those outside the body, in order to give sacrificial love, we first care for one another.
Now love is a familiar subject, an overused word, something that we are always talking about, something that we continue know that we "almost" get. But love is worthy of our attention.
To show brotherly kindness like Joyce did to us in that hospital room can change lives. It is the simple gesture of care that can make all the difference.
- But sometimes we fail even at that in the local setting. This is why the church gets labeled as the only institution that shoots its own wounded. When someone falls into sin, steps into evil, often the very ones who need to help them escape from that which has caught them, castigate them for having fallen.
Then instead of being known by the affirmation given the early church, "See how they love one another," we are accused of being hypocrites for we don't live what we claim.
I realize that often this charge is made by people who have never darkened the door of a church, or have done so one time and been turned off and left never to return. But sometimes the attack is true, for those "saints" in that building are too quick to judge, to hate, to gossip, to point the finger and not quick enough to repent, to seek forgiveness, to refuse to talk about someone else behind their back, to seek to reconcile and live in harmony one with another.
The call to show brotherly kindness is necessary for we are in one body. The house divided is destined to fall, but the house united will stand and flourish.
In China under communism and the cultural revolution there was an rabid effort to destroy and eradicate the true church. Pastors were arrested and killed, parishioners were tortured. But those in the body loved one another all the more. The body rather than being broken apart was united; it grew stronger underground than it would ever have grown out in the open. So when China finally opened up to outsiders there was a church 50 million strong within that land.
Brotherly kindness builds unity, it builds a team. This is what we must be day by day in the body, a team who are focused on the same goal, seeking to win the same prize, who recognize that my treatment of you and yours of me matters in God's Kingdom.
In the 1993 Disney movie Cool Runnings inspired by the first Jamaican Bobsled team that competed in the 1988 Olympics, we are treated to the creation of a team from individuals. Each of the four men is committed to training for the bobsled event for their own personal reasons, not because there is innate commitment to the team. But as they have to train together, raise money and travel to Canada and work to control a real bobsled, you see their lives bonded together.
At the start one team member, Yul, hates another member Junior, vehemently. But then through numerous circumstances ends up becoming like a big brother to Junior assisting him to become the man he is meant to be. Sanka with his odd faith in his lucky egg is the team member who encourages them to truly be themselves, who God has made them to be, rather than seek to be like other teams. Derice, the driver of the sled, discovers that true leadership is about serving his team and learning to lead by following.
The result is the four become like one man in that bobsled and qualify to compete in the Olympics. Their work together broke down differences. You see them truly caring for one another with brotherly kindness.
- We are on the same team, and others that come into this fellowship we invite onto the team with us. This is the task of brotherly kindness - to break down differences to build a team, to keep in mind the fact that how I live out my relationships matter in God's kingdom.
So we must remember that when new folk arrive in the fellowship we cannot be so enamored with seeing other team members with whom we have not spoken in a few days or perhaps a week, and miss out on caring for them, inviting them into our conversations, reaching out into their lives. The team is not about me and you it is about the God we are called to honor and glorify.
I was blessed this week to receive a brief story on email through Sally Smith that told of a young handicapped child's adventure of being included onto a team.
The father and his young son Shay had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, "Do you think they'll let me play?"
Shay's father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood that if his son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps. Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked if Shay could play, not expecting much. The boy looked around for guidance and said, "We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning."
Shay struggled over to the team's bench put on a team shirt with a broad smile. The boys saw the father's joy at his son being accepted. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to
be next at bat. At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game?
Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.
However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing the other team had put winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least be able to make contact. The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed.
The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.
The game would now be over, but the pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.
Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the head of the first baseman, out of each of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, "Shay, run to first! Run to first!" Never in his life had Shay ever ran that far but he scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled, and made it to first base.
Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second!" Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to second base. By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball, the smallest guy on their team, who had a chance to be the hero for his team for the first time. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions and he, too intentionally threw the ball high and far over the second-baseman's head. Shay ran toward second base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.
All were screaming, "Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay" Shay reached second base, the opposing shortstop ran to help him and turned him in the direction of third base, and shouted, "Run to third! Shay! Run to third!" As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams and those watching were on their feet were screaming, "Shay, run home!"
Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit
the "grand slam" and won the game for his team.
That day those boys were practicing brotherly kindness, being a team and including others onto the team and helping them succeed as they ran for home.
That's what all this "adding to our faith" is about, that the love between us would do redemptive work in one another's lives as we head for home base. We don't add to our faith to impress God, but so that we can truly love one another, and love like God does, as we will see next week. That we can help turn one another in the right direction and cheer them to home base.
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