I Love My ADOPTING Church

 I Love My Adopting Church
Passage   October 15, 2023    

1. Introduction:
   1. In 2017 an “epidemic of loneliness and isolation” was declared the US surgeon general.  And the health implications of loneliness have become clearer over time.
      1. The link between loneliness and physical & mental health is well established, as it can lead to dementia, heart disease, stroke and even premature death along with changes in our brain that impact the way we relate with people! 
   2. In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic amplified the problem with increased social isolation and decreased social support.
      1. The average American’s daily time spent with people dropped by one hour and screen time increased by one hour.
      2. That means the average American traded over 300 hours of in-person time for over 300 hours of social media, TV, and internet reading.
   3. Let me add a few more things that contribute to this epidemic of loneliness and isolation 
      1. Think of the community life of those who lived in the city as they spent time on their front porch relating to neighbors, to the isolation of a move to the suburbs where people spend their time on the back porch and with fences to keep everyone out.
      2. Add to that a divided culture where people do not accept friends and community unless they are in total agreement with their social, political, and theological views.  
      3. We can add to that our parenting, family commitments and work demands, 
   4. All of this isolation, dividedness, and busyness is separating us from the relationships we need the most, relationships in the body of Christ.
      1. Brothers and sisters in Christ to do life with, speak truth to one another - both the truth that comforts and convicts, and helps us regain our bearing in the midst of an isolated, divided, busy world.
   5. Don opened up this whole series   I love my church by showing us that at the core MVC is not an institution or an organization but it is a family made up of brothers and sisters in Christ, children of god, mothers and fathers in the faith.   
      1. A family of close-knit relationships of people who genuinely care for one another.    
   6. Today we are going to talk about loving my adopting church.
      1. As an adopting church, we realize that being adopted by God into his family and our union with Christ brings with it a profound supernatural union with one another.  
      2. That in the body of Christ we are hardwired to connect deeply with one another just as my arm is with my wrist, my wrist is with my hand and my hand is with my fingers in regards to my human body

• But here is the challenge, everything in our culture fights against this kind of connection and impacts the quality of our relationships.  This morning I want to address two biblical instructions that can help us excel still the more as an adopting church.  First is to be a …

1.  Welcoming church 
   1. To be a welcoming church it will require two separate but closely related biblical instructions: greeting and hospitality.
   2. Let’s start with greeting - six times in the New Testament we are commanded to greet one another.   
      1. Five of those six times it says we are to accompany that greeting with a holy kiss  
         1. I am going to deal with the greeting aspect this morning, I will let Don deal with the holy kiss part.   
         2. Simply this a warm genuine greeting that would make someone feel that you are genuinely glad to see them and glad they are here. 
      2. 1 Thessalonians 5:26 says essentially the same thing but adds an extra thought to the six commands  read - “all’’ 
         1. Not just friend to friend, same age to same age, or same gender to same gender, same color to same color, not just those in your small group or the ministry you serve in together but “all” and not just new people but also everyone
         2. Often we leave the greeting up to those who have that ministry at the front door, but in a church family every person we cross paths with God calls me to warmly and genuinely welcome them.
   3. The second aspect of a welcoming church we find in Hebrews 13:1-2.  
      1. Read Hebrews 13:1-2   Hospitality
         1. V1 let love continue.  Keep on loving one another
         2. But in v2, he makes a transition from brothers to strangers, and from something that we are doing to something we should not forget to do.    
         3. A stranger is simply someone who we do not know personally.  The word hospitality in the Greek literally means “a lover of strangers.”
         4. Hospitality goes way beyond just greeting those you do not know, and it is much more different than entertaining our friends, but hospitality also providing for any of their unique needs.  
         5. For many in a church one of their first needs in a group like this is to be greeted, feel like they are really wanted here, feel loved, accepted, like they belong and like people actually care about their needs! 
   4. A welcoming church just like when a family adopts a child, they not only warmly greet them when they first come into the home, they not only learn each other’s names and make them feel at home, but they go as far as to take responsibility for their wellbeing.

• That leads us into the second important biblical instruction for being an adopting church.  To be a 

1.  Welfare church
   1. I am not talking about a social program but like an adoptive family, like our God who adopted us, as an adopting church we should take on the welfare of each other personally and spiritually.   
      1. We are our brothers’ keepers and we are responsible for one another’s spiritual welfare
   2. Turn to 1 Thessalonians 2.  Here we see the kind tender care and concern that Paul and his associates had for the welfare of church in Thessalonica both personally and spiritually 
      1. As I read this note two things
         1. The family language and attitudes that are used
         2. The purpose for all this kind of care   
      2. Read 2:7-12 
      3. The reason for this motherly and fatherly kind of care is so that they would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls them into his own kingdom and glory!
   3. We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers and we are to care for them personally. as the New Testament “one another” passages, that is passages that speak to us about the mutual responsibilities we have with each other, we see things like: encourage, devoted to, build up, admonish, serve, have same care for, comfort, stimulate to love and good deeds, confess your sins to, pray for.   
      1. All things that relate to our responsibility to watch out for the spiritual welfare of each other.
   4. A number of months ago I went to a discipleship conference with Don and Mike Locke.  They put up a chart that really connected with me as I told Don this is one of the biggest areas MVC needs to grow in.
      1. Put up chart  
      2. For many of us our thoughts about growing is that we always keep moving to the right on this chart and we get involved in more activities and studies to help us get there.
      3. But a key activity to keep on growing at this stage it means you need to give and not just get.
      4. Keep looking to your left, I know that is hard for any hard core Republicans here today, but we need to be looking for who we can help grow in their relationship with Christ.   
      5. That is what makes a healthy church, that is what makes a church an adopting church.   That’s the kind of stuff that makes me love my church.

• Where do I …?

1.  Start
   1. Being a welcoming and welfare church is essential and foundational to all the other “one another’s” in Scripture and our relationships with each other
      1. If we do not even know one another there is no way that we can enter into one another’s lives and certainly do not have the right to intrude deeply into someone’s life whom we really do not know or understand.   
      2. Because the deeper the relationships we have in someone’s life, the deeper the ministry we can have!
   2. You cannot take care of and know everyone at MVC so I would encourage you to begin with your own neighborhood. 
      1. What is your neighborhood at MVC – the section you are sitting in.  – look around for a moment at your neighbors.
      2. Start there on the block you sit in – consider row you sit in
      3. How about your neighbors – those who sit in front of or behind you and those next to you. 
      4. Crazy idea – for those of you who get here early and grab the end seats on your row – what if you saw someone looking to find a seat and rather than pretending as if you do not see them, you invite them into your row and welcome them as they come in.  
   3. Let’s close by actually practicing five minutes of welcoming and welfare – find someone you not know (neighborhood).  Get to know name, a bit about each other and one thing you could be praying for one another this week.   (maybe even pray right then if led)