Called to Community--Sermon 6.8.08

Created for Community
Eugene Peterson, a pastor for 20 years in the same church, turned professor, turned translator of a version of the Bible called the message, tells the story of one of his students who commuted to school each morning. He drove for about 10 minutes, then he caught a bus for a half of an hour until he was in the middle of Vancouver, BC. After a while of going to school, he looked at his wife and said, “Well, I am off to immerse myself in God’s good creation.”
The first day he said this, his wife said “Good for you honey, take time and enjoy yourself.”
The next day, the husband said the same thing. After about a week his of this his wife said, “Don’t you think it is time you went to class, after all what are we paying all of this money for?”
“Oh,” he said, “I have been going to class each day. But each morning I head into town I get on that bus, and I am surrounded by all of these people that are so interesting and so diverse. I look at them, I overhear what they say and listen to their stories. Can you imagine anyplace more thick with God’s creation than the bus I ride into school each day? Full of people God created, created in the image of God, male and female?
Last week, we talked about Genesis 1. We learned that Genesis 1 is a song, and as much as we try and twist it otherwise, it is a song about God. About how he is our Creator, about how everything beautiful comes from him, about how from the beginning of the Bible and the beginning of our lives we are called to praise God and be in a relationship with him.
This week as we jump into chapter2 of Genesis, we see that we are hearing more directly about what human beings are like. How we were made, how we work, how we got here.
Genesis 1 we saw the poem about how God created the world and everything in it in a seven day cycle. It is overwhelming to think about how this world is created. But if left on its own, we might be able to conclude that God was some cosmic mechanic who got everything moving, and then moved on.
Genesis 2 helps us delve deeper into the bigger picture. In Chapter 2, we move from the big picture of how God created everything to learn a little bit more about how God created people. And like our story told us, as beautiful as sunsets and mountain vistas are, people like you and me are also beautiful creation. In fact, we are the centerpiece and the lynch pin of God’s creative work. So, if we are to know more about what God is doing in creation, we need to know more about what God is doing as he creates people.
The Bible says that when God decided to make the first human being, he got his hands dirty. He stopped down into the dirt and the muck and the mud of earth and formed this being the way he wanted it. Then he got close and blew air into his nostrils and through that breathe God formed Adam into a living, breathing human being.
God then put Adam in this place, a home. The home was called Eden. It was full of flowers and plants, food to eat and lots of water from rivers flowing in and out of it. In the garden was the tree of knowledge and the tree of life.
God made Adam a man who took care of the garden. Weeding. Picking fruit. God told Adam he could eat whatever he wanted but what was on one tree. We will talk more about that next week.
Then God said something that I want to focus on with you today…
“It is not good that man should be alone.” It is not good that we should be alone.
Have you ever noticed that superheroes always have sidekicks. Batman has Robin. Superman has Lois Lane. The Fantastic Four have each of the other three. It seems that only Wonder woman can do everything on her own.
Here is the key truth of this passage: We are not made to be alone. We are not made to be alone.
Now Adam was not without company. Adam had God’s company. We all need God’s company. And the Scripture shows God drawing closer and closer to Adam. In Genesis 2, the word “create” is used less and the word “formed” is used more. God touches Adam to create him. He breathes into him. He gives him a home, a place to live. He gives him a job. And when God creates Eve, he uses Adam’s parts to do so. God is growing closer and closer in relationships. Yet Adam was feeling alone.
God let Adam see if any of the animals were suitable for him. He met them. He named them. But they were not like him. He still felt alone. It was at this point that Eve came in the picture.
So in the beginning God also created a community. In the beginning it was a community of two, but it was a community nonetheless.
The Bible also says that Adam needed a “helper suitable for him”.
Now we hear the word “helper” and we think about “hiring help”. We think of someone that has an assisting and background role to play. Or worse yet, we think of someone who is a slave or submissive to another. Someone to come alongside Adam..but maybe we think..someone a little bit less important than…Adam
But this is not what this helper word means. Seventy-five percent of the time this particular word for helper is used it refers to God. God offering rescuing help. The Psalmist saying that God is “our helper and shield.” Helper means an indispensable partner. If Eve was created first, Adam would have been a called a helper.
In the beginning God created a community. What kind of community did God seek to create? Let us take a few minutes to explore this:
First, God created a community where we can find Helping hands. If you are like me or my wife, it is often hard to admit we need anyone else. But God created us to need one another and to depend on one another. Notice I said “one another”. We all have things to offer when we come to a church family, and we all have things where we need the help of others. Tim plays the organ. Not all of us can play the organ, but Tim does nearly every Sunday. We depend on Tim. It is good for us to have someone who is so gifted in music and adds so much to our worship. It is good for Tim to have a place where he can use his gifts and skills for God’s glory. Gracie is outgoing. She keeps track of people far and wide on the phone. She probably could not do the heavy lifting on a renovation project in the church or parsonage, but she can call people and help meet some of their needs to be heard, loved, and connected to one another. We depend on Gracie for some of that. I could go on and on about what so many of you bring to our church family, but the truth is you have ways of helping that only you can offer, and places where you need help and support that people in this congregation can give to you. As a community we are called to depend on one another this way.
God created us to be OPEN and authentic in Christian community. This is part of what God’s word is getting at when is says that Adam and Eve were “naked and not ashamed”. It is talking about a marital relationship in a sense of physical intimacy, but it is also talking about how God created community. Church should not be a place where we can only come when we have it all together. A church is a hospital for sinners, not a mosoleum for the saints. It should be a place where we can come and share our struggles and heartaches, and where we can find hope and healing. None of you are perfect. Neither am I. God created church as a place where we can be OPEN about who we are.
Christian community also functions best when it is MISSIONAL. When we have a purpose or direction. When a church family spends most of their time trying to survive and get along, it ends up getting nowhere. When we have clear mission, goal, and direction that gets us beyond ourselves, we get along better, we enjoy our church family, and we grow as a church family. Adam and Eve had work to do, caring for the garden. When they got away from the mission God had for them, as we will see next week, they got themselves in trouble.
Finally, a Christian community, we can see in Genesis 2, is meant to be EQUAL. Adam cries out “flesh of my flesh, bone of my bone”. It is the first quote from Adam, this excitement to see Eve. As we have seen earlier, God made Adam and Eve as equal partners, each with a role to play. Some of us may have the gift of leadership, some have the gift of helps, some have the gift of giving, but we shouldn’t bring the politics of the world into the church. One person is not more valuable than another in a church family. We all are indispensible members of the family of God.

What does all of this mean for us? What steps do you need to take in our church family to be more committed to God’s family? Let me three ways people need to connect to their church family to grow as believers.
1. We need a place where we can worship TOGETHER. Worship is not an option for spiritual growth in Christian community. It is a necessary habit as we seek to know God better. God gives us all we own. We owe him thanks enough that we can show up to offer ourselves to God in worship and praise.
2. We need a place where we can learn TOGETHER. Sunday School class. A Bible study. I am hoping that we can start another small group or adult Sunday school class sometime soon.
3. We need a place where we can serve TOGETHER. We become lopsided in our spiritual development when we are being ministered to, but are not ministering to others as well. Figure out where you are gifted. Offer those skills to serve the Lord and his church. If you are wondering where you fit, come talk with your pastor. I am full of ideas and dreams of things we might be able to do together.
Where I grew up, a lot of people felt they could do just fine worshipping God on their own. They felt at best God’s community, the church, was useless, and at best it was a racket. A well known preacher tells a story about how his dad felt, and how he changed.
(Read Craddock story)