Community Covenant Church - Sunday Celebrations

October 3, 2004

Our Purpose is to Incorporate
Ephesians 2:11-22; Luke 18:15-17

One of the great Bible passages describing our incorporation as followers of Jesus Christ is:

Ephesians 2:11-22
11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (that done in the body by the hands of men)— 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

Today we celebrate that one of the great purposes of the Church, because it is a great purpose of God’s, is to incorporate... to incorporate into one, people once divided.

Seven years ago (1997), a rapidly moving fire destroyed the Philadelphia home of Luz Cuevas. It was concluded that, tragically, the fire had killed and completely cremating her 10-day old baby daughter, Delimar. Amid the charred rubble of the family home, her small body was never found. The family grieved deeply before slowly moved on with life.
Six years later (just a year ago), Luz Cuevas was invited to a child's birthday party. There, a small dimple on the face of a six-year-old girl triggered an overwhelming instinct in Luz. She quietly told her sister, "Look. She's my daughter." The sister thought Luz was losing her mind, but this mother could not be convinced she was mistaken. Telling the little girl she had gum in her hair, Luz managed to take a few strands of hair from the child, hoping that a DNA test would prove her instincts correct.
The Philadelphia police confirmed that indeed the child was Delimar, Luz's lost daughter. Delimar had been kidnapped and raised by Carolyn Correa, who had started the fire to cover the abduction. So after six years of living a lie, spun for her from a pretend parent, Delimar returned home to be with her real family, and to discover how her life was meant to be lived. Citation: Joann Loviglio, Associated Press, in the Rocky Mountain News, (3-2-04)

Every once in a while we hear true story something like this one.
Children found who has been missing for years. Grieving parents, a web of lies constructing pretend lives in a pretend families. But then, children are miraculously found... disorientated for sure, until the reality of real parents, and real families sink in. Soon the joy and celebration of parents & siblings is understood and experienced by the lost children themselves, who at last realize that they are home.

Today, as we consider the second of five purposes which define us as the Church, I want you to keep the picture of that reunion in mind, for while the first purpose of the Church is to communicate the Good News of God’s salvation and His love offered to the world, our second purpose is to incorporate God’s children back into their true family, a family defined by faith. For....
1. Incorporation means welcoming in those, who by faith in Jesus, discover their Heavenly Father, and
2. Incorporation means sharing our lives with one another as sisters and brothers in the faith.

1. Incorporation means welcoming in those, who by faith in Jesus, discover their Heavenly Father
Despite the hopeful philosophies of humanity, not all people on earth are Children of God. The potential is there, but scripture is very clear, in numerous places, that it is only through Jesus that we can come to the Father. As Paul writes in

Galatians 3:26-27
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you
who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

Or even more directly, from

John 1:12-13
..... to all who received him (Jesus) to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God — children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

Incorporation begins when faith in God is expressed in word and deed. - Your very presence here this morning is an act of faith... an expectation that God will meet with you.
- Your attentiveness to the Word expresses your faith that God will communicate words of life to guide you on your path.
- Jim & Lisa’s faith in God... expressed through Olivia’s baptism, has defined the Christian Church as that family of God which helps us in our spiritual journey to a personal faith.... Olivia’s faith in a salvation offered to her by God through Jesus Christ.
- And, in a few minutes, Holy Communion calls the question of faith, faith in Christ’s blood... the blood of the new Covenant, and faith in the Body.... Jesus’ body broken for our redemption, but also his living Body, the Church.... the presence of Christ at work in the world today.
Incorporation begins when, by faith in Jesus, we come home to God, recognizing this sinful life as pretense, and discovering our true & eternal identity in Christ.
Jesus declared:

John 14:6
“I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.

He also declared:

John 15:5-8
5"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Incorporation into the Family of God begins with faith in Jesus Christ.

Is there anyone who cannot be incorporated into our family of faith?
The Bible record in:

Luke 18:15-17
15 People were .... bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. 16 But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17 I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

The two major lessons we learn from this encounter is:
1. All people are precious to, and welcomed by God into His presence. Even those set on the fringe by society...
- Whether their age labels them as “unproductive”,
- Or their nationality labels them as “alien” ,
- Or their position in life labels them as “weak”.
We also learn that...
2. The Kingdom of God is received the same way a child walks through life; with trust and reliance upon His parents.
>>> A lack of trust (faith) will block entrance into God’s Kingdom. Children, like Olivia, or newborns like Colby Matthew Hatch, serve God as role models for us as we seek to understand our relationship with God.

Are you a Child of God?
Have you responded with simple trust, to the Good News of God’s love and forgiveness offered to you in His Son?
If so, then “welcome” .... you have been found! Welcome into God’s family.

And as the Church celebrates such moments, let us remember that incorporation into the Church means more than a “welcome”,
2. Incorporation also means sharing our lives with one another.
The Church is a place where we are empowered to be “real” with each other. There is no need for pretense, for in coming to God we confess our mutual brokenness, and God’s extreme grace.
Our lives are no longer lived as they once were, to declare our superiority, or to make a name for ourselves. For as Children of God, we now recognize that our lives are about God and His will, and not about us and how God can facilitate our wills. For as we live as Children of God, God is glorified:
- God becomes revealed as our brokenness is healed.
- God’s love is spread, as we turn for our sinful ways, and walk in the ways of Jesus Christ.
- Our life stories become examples of God’s power to transform.

The Church is designed by God to be a wonderful place... a whole new world... a whole new family.. humanity’s true family, where we share common desires to worship God and to serve God, and to love each other as God in Christ has loved us. The Church is the place;
- where children are valued and welcomes.
- where teenagers are accepted and included, in spite of their need to be different, and to exercise independence.
- where adults are not alone to face life’s struggles and losses, but are surrounded with supportive friends who love them, and point them always to our hope in God’s promises and His faithfulness.
- where Jew & Gentiles, Men & Women, Slave & Free are made one

It is a place where people incorporate around the summary of all God’s instructions for life:

Luke 10:27
‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ ;
and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

In practical terms, this depth of incorporating love is described in

Acts 2:42, 44-47a
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. ..... All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.

In writing instruction to new churches, the Apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians: Galatians 6:2

2 Carry each other’s burdens,
and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

He wrote to the Romans:

Romans 12:15
15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. ˆ

Incorporation means loving, by sharing our lives, burdens, joys and sorrows with one another. And as we have done so, so publicly with the Lekas family, we also do that today after Worship, with John & Betty (Nilsen). For these two people, incorporated into this Body back in 1966, who have helped to incorporate many others over the past 38 years, are moving away. And as we share in their joy.... a new chapter of life, lived next door to Donna & family.. as we’ve seen pictures, and heard plans... as we genuinely rejoice with them... we also grieve with them, for we grieve the loss of community with them. Grieving is indeed the price you pay for loving someone so much. And while some people, fearful of that pain, choose never to love, the Children of God incorporated in the Body know a secret... for in Christ we find our comfort and an ongoing, eternal connectedness and love that cannot be swayed by distance.
We know that the Spirit of God that incorporated our lives, will continue to connect us in amazing ways.

These days, as Community Covenant seeks to reach out and grow in increasingly effective ways, we need to examine our structures for incorporation.
How do we welcome those just beginning their journey of faith into their new and true family of God? Are we excited about their presence and anxious to include them in family life? An image I had this Thursday, as I held Jim & Misty’s new little Colby, was that of Tyler and wondering how he will welcome his new brother. As the youngest in my family I never had to welcome in anybody new... anybody who might compete with the time I had with Mom & Dad.
But I think the struggle that all older children must have when someone new arrives, may be similar to the struggles a Church has when God welcomes homes new “sibling” for us to incorporate. So, how do we welcome them? And...

Where are relationships deliberately fostered?
How do we encourage spiritual maturation, unity in the faith and knowledge of the Son of God? (Ephesians 4:13)
How do we look for and cultivate the unique giftedness of God’s children, so that everyone’s spiritual gifts are used, incorporated for the work of the Body of Christ in the world today?

When a church family incorporates new brothers and sisters in Christ;
- from a warm greeting at the door,
to Baptism at the font and Communion at thee Lord’s table;
- from conversation during coffee hour,
to phone calls during the week
- From invitation to Casserole Caring,
to open homes and open hearts,
- from the discovery of spiritual gifts,
to their full expression in the ministries of the Church,

... we are called by God to be a Church who incorporates lost people into Christ. For all of us, sin abducted us from God’s family. Sin told us that “God was Dead” or that “God doesn’t care”.
But when the Good News of Jesus Christ was heard and trusted, faith broke through those lies, and in the Church we discovered our real family, our true identity.. an eternal relationship with our Creator and with our brothers & sisters in Christ.
What would it be like to recognize an abducted child’s face from one of these mass mailing coupons... a brother or sister whom you thought was dead but is now made alive? When the Church incorporates God’s children into their families, we are doing that very thing.

Let us recognize the loving and embracing arms of this family of faith as the arms of the Father, who welcomes home those who were lost. Recognize in the meal we are about to share, the baptism we’ve witnessed, and the fellowship we will celebrate with Nilsen’s, the joy of being incorporated in Christ, with a purpose to incorporate others.

1 Peter 1:3-4
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade —kept in heaven for you...

AMEN