The pastor was visiting a church.
It's a small church up in North Dakota.
And as he went into the small foyer there entryway, there were some greeters there and he was
shaking some hands and there was a big man that was there, maybe 6'4 or so.
He uh uh had a bushy mustache.
and the pastor went to reach for his hand, to shake his hand, and the man kinda pushed his arm down and grabbed hold of him right around the the torso here, and kinda picked him up off the ground.
And that was bad enough, but it got worse.
Because then the man kissed him right on the lips so that even his nose could feel the mustache.
And then he set him down and he says, That is the way we greet one another from my home country.
The pastor's wife, seeing what had happened, took a step backwards, stuck out her hand.
And shook his hand and said, That's the way we greet one another in the United States.
Have you ever taken time to look through the Bible and look at the the yeah the the one another text in the Bible?
There are a lot of texts that tell us that we are supposed to have relationships with one another.
One of those texts is yes, greet one another with
We'll get to that later in the series.
Uh but uh yes, the how do we relate?
to one another.
This one another or one anothering, as if you look in the bulletin, how I titled it, one anothering, I know that's not a word, but when I first saw it, I said, I like that word.
one another in is used over one hundred times in the New Testament, ninety-four verses.
Paul uses it, forty-seven of those top verses, instructing the church
about how to live together with each other.
It's fascinating to me the things that it says.
If you have your Bible there, open it up.
Well I guess I have it on the screen.
Galatians
Yeah, do I have it on the screen?
Yeah, Galatians 5, 17.
Prime example of where it uses one anothering.
It says, for our sinful nature desires what is contrary to the spirit.
And the spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature.
They are in conflict with
One another.
Are you ever in conflict with one another?
Or maybe you're in conflict with yourself, as the text seems to describe there.
That sinful nature
There are some versions read the carnal nature and the nature that is spirit-filled.
Paul describes it in Romans chapter 7.
He says, I.
.
Do those things that I don't want to do, and I don't do those things that I desire to do.
It's interesting as you read Romans 7 how he he writes that right in the midst of
between uh Romans six and Romans eight, because Romans six is a powerful chapter for overcoming sin in your life.
And Romans eight is even more powerful.
for overcoming sin in your life.
And right in the middle, Paul says, but I do those things I don't want to do, and I don't do those things that I want to do.
Makes you study.
Well wanna study what's going on and that's time for another series.
We'll go back to one anothering.
It continues there in Galatians, verse 19.
It says, Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery.
Fornication, uncleanness, new lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousy, outbursts of wrath, selfishness, ambitions, dissensions
heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, the like of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in the time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God
Paul here is is talking about relationally.
He's talking about what happens in in in relationships.
It's regarding our personal attitudes or our actions, how we re relate to one another, how we manifest our actions.
to each other the sinful nature versus the fruit of the Spirit
Paul and James both give us examples as you read through the New Testament of this sinful nature.
The negative aspects of the sinful nature.
It tells us they're having lusting for one another.
judging one another, depriving one another, biting one another, devouring one another, destroying one another.
provoking one another, envying one another, lying to one another, hating one another, slandering one another, grumbling against one another.
Does that sound like a fun church to worship with?
Does it make you want to be there?
Galatians 5, as Paul is writing there in Galatians, he also shares with us the positive aspect of things.
He turns there in Galatians 5, verse 22.
Some of you may have this memorized, or some of you may know how to sing it.
says but the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long-suffering kindness goodness
Faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Against such things there is no
Law.
And those who are Christ have crucified the flesh with his passions and desires.
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
We have this contrast here that Paul gives us here in Galatians chapter 5.
He tells us this is the negative aspect of things and the positive aspects of things.
But Paul, James, Peter, and John, I don't know if they were going off this list of the fruit of the Spirit, but they have imperative statements that they give to us as a church.
The positive way to live with each other, members of one another.
Devoted to one another, honoring one another, being of the same mind toward one another, love one another
Edify one another, accepting one another, instructing one another
Greeting one another, waiting for one another, caring for one another, serving one another, carrying one another's burdens
Bearing with one another, being kind to one another, submitting to one another, esteeming one another, encouraging one another
Another confessing sins to one another, praying for one another, offering hospitality to one another, fellowshipping with one another.
One thing is pretty clear.
There's one group that you would rather be with than the other group, isn't there?
Now some of you are thinking, you read through those things so fast, I didn't have time to write them down, I didn't have time to make it.
That's okay.
You can just go to the the the the Bible app that you use or the Bible on the computer that you use or the concordance that you use.
if you're still using the concordance and look up one another.
And you can get a list of the one anothering texts.
And you can look this up and you can do the research for yourself.
Or
Yeah, you may have guessed by now.
We have a series that's starting.
We're going to talk a little bit about one anothering.
Because one anothering is important.
How we relate to one another is important.
We can either have that the fruit of the Spirit that is evident in our church, or we can have the carnal nature evident in our church
And when I say evident, it is in each of us.
Each of us has the potential to have the carnal nature, or each of us has the potential to have the fruit of the Spirit.
But when it's evident in a church like that, what does it look like?
How does it manifest itself?
Paul tells us
If we happen to have that to that that church that is not so good, I would call that the Corinthian church.
If you're following along in your Bible, you can turn there, but I'm going to have it on the screen for you here.
First Corinthians chapter three.
Verses 1 through 4.
It reads, And I, brethren, could not speak to you as spiritual people.
I fed you with milk and not with solid food, for until now you were not able to
Receive it, and even now you are still not able.
For you are still carnal, for where there is envy, strife, divisions among you
You are not carnal and behaving are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?
For when one says, I am of Paul, and another I am of Apollos, are you not carnal?
Now, if you want to look at a carnal church, you can study the book of 1 Corinthians.
It describes a church that has
What do we say here?
I'll just say lots of problems.
It describes a church that is dysfunctional
It describes a church that is battling with all kinds of controversies within the church.
It doesn't sound like it is a fun church
I was thinking about this.
I was thinking, you know, the reality is what difference does this even make?
Is our eternal salvation based upon this?
I told this story a couple of times in the I think in a midweek service and and once in one of the groups that I was with, but I'm going to tell it again for the rest of you.
When I was in seminary, oh, I had a lot of fun in seminary.
I thought the greatest thing in the world was being a student.
I told Cheryl at that time I'm just gonna be a professional student.
I want to study all the time.
I loved school.
It was fun.
The most fun about it was not going to classes.
The most fun about it was not the learning that was taking place.
The most fun about it, I got to play ball.
I got to interact with people.
I got to be with
people that I enjoyed interacting with all the time.
My youth pastor there at the church when I was in seminary.
He took me sometimes and we played racquetball together and I loved playing racquetball with him.
It was a blast if I could beat the pastor.
That meant something to me.
One day after we finished playing racquetball, we got out of the the court there.
I was changing my my racquetb out of my racquetball shoes and
And getting ready to to go home and he he put his hand on me and he said, Dale, how's your relationship with the Lord?
You know, I grew up in the church.
I'd been around church people my whole life.
We don't ask those kind of questions.
We ask questions like, how are you today?
We ask questions that we think are relatively safe, or that opens up the opportunity for someone to share with us.
If they are so inclined to share.
How was your week today?
I mean, how was your week this past week?
But if they're not inclined to share, then
They don't have to share.
But he had just blurted out the words.
How's your walk with the Lord going?
Now, I had a walk with the Lord.
I had daily devotions.
The Lord and I were doing good, but this was an invasive question to ask.
I mean, it kind of took me back.
I was startled by the question.
But I answered it.
Told him about my devotional life, told him about my walk with the Lord.
I wasn't wasn't shy about it, but I've thought about that many, many
Many times since that time.
As a pastor, he was worried about me and my salvation.
He had the the you know how much nerve it takes to ask a question like that
I mean, you try it sometime.
You ask your your best friend, how's your walk with the Lord going?
You ask your spouse, how's your walk with the Lord going?
You ask somebody that you you you kind of look up to, how's your walk with?
And you see the kind of reaction that you get.
I'm going to tell you, most people
What did you just ask?
Is that your business?
That's a personal
Why would a person even ask that question?
Because
they're worried about you because they want you in heaven with them
They're not asking you that question so that they can judge you.
They're not asking you that question so that they can go tell other people about your relationship with the Lord.
They're asking that question because they love you.
And more than anything, they want you to grow in your walk with the Lord.
When I when I look at this one-anothering texts,
These one anothering texts, they are encouraging one another, uplifting one another, desiring the other person to grow in their relationship with the Lord
Uh, that's still a hard question to ask.
Maybe the pastor could get away with asking that, or maybe the the the Sabbath school teacher could get away with asking, or maybe the head elder can get away with asking that, but you're thinking, I don't know if I Okay.
Ask your grandchildren.
Ask your children.
Somebody that you have a safe relationship with and and try it out and see if you can encourage
Someone in their growth with the Lord.
Galatians five
25 says, since we live by the spirit, let us keep in step with the spirit.
Let us do what?
Keep in step with the Spirit.
Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
Paul is is using the words there.
He's using the the plural pronouns in this thing, so showing that there's a relationship going on, and he wants us to to build up the body of Christ, to encourage the body of Christ.
In verse twenty-six there, he realizes that the other words are going to tear down the body of Christ.
And he's seeking for us to not tear down, but to strengthen and to encourage.
These are our exhortations.
These are do we want to use the word commands
This is this admonition.
Paul isn't just, oh, let's see what I can think of to fill up space as I write this letter.
These are exhortations.
We are supposed to obey God's word, aren't we?
When you read these exhortations, you will find that it doesn't say if you feel like it.
It doesn't say if it is convenient.
It doesn't say if it fits your personality.
Now, those are excuses that we use sometimes for not doing it.
It doesn't really fit my personality to do it that way.
It's okay.
Scripture says, greet one another with a holy kiss.
If it's convenient.
I don't have time for it.
I'm a busy person.
I can't do that.
If you feel like it.
Some of these things we may not feel like, but they are, I know what you're thinking.
It's not part of the Ten Commandments, Pastor.
I don't have to do it.
And my response is, that's okay.
It's in the Bible, and this is part of love one another.
As I have loved you.
This is the desire that is on the heart of God.
That's why it's that's why it's put here in the Bible.
That's why it's it's written down.
We're to obey this.
And
We're we're to to to do the things that it says to do and avoid the ones it says don't do to one another.
The essence of these things is love.
Now I get to the place where I have to ask myself, can I really do this
I mean when yet when I go back and I look at those two lists and I say, can we do this?
My answer is No.
I'm I I I don't know how to how to say it any better.
Hello, my name's Dale and I'm a sinner.
I have a carnal nature.
And it is at war with the spirit.
And when I look at these lists and I say, can I do this?
I have to say, no, I can't.
I cannot do it, but Jesus can.
The only way it's going to happen in me, the only way it's going to happen in us is if we have Jesus in our hearts.
If we have invited him to be in our life, if we have uh have surrendered our will to him so that he can accomplish what he desires
In our life.
Notice what it says in John.
Oh, I already went past that one.
John 17, 20 and 21.
Jesus praying here.
He says, I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.
So he's just finished praying for the disciples, and then he says, I'm praying for those also that will believe in me through their word.
Who is that?
Us.
Jesus prayed.
Isn't that a great feeling?
I just love that thought that Jesus prayed for me
He prayed for us.
And he says, who believe in me through their word, that they all may be one as you
Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me
What is Jesus' prayer?
That we would be one
That means we're not bickering with one another.
That means we're not biting one another.
That means we're not devouring one another.
That means we're not offending each other.
That means that we are encouraging each other.
That means we are strengthening each other.
That means we are uplifting each other.
Do I say it?
That means we are greeting one another with a holy kiss.
That means that we are
This is why Paul prayed for the church of Ephesus.
Ephesians 3
16 through 19, we have a beautiful prayer there, Paul praying for the Church of Ephesus.
He's praying, he says he's praying that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might through his spirit in the inner
Man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith
That you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width, the length, the depth, and the height
and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God
Oh, isn't that a beautiful scripture?
I mean that scripture is it is
That's the prayer of Paul for the Church of Ephesus.
And I believe that's the the prayer of Paul for for for you and for me.
that we may know the love of Christ which passes us passes all knowledge.
We cannot even comprehend the the the the width, the length, the depth, the height
And that we may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Would you like to be filled with the fullness of God?
I mean, wouldn't that be something if we were filled with the fullness of God?
Oh, what would that look like?
Love, joy, peace, patience, yeah.
Ephesians 3 here, Paul continues on after
that's this this nice prayer he has a beautiful doxology 20 and 21 he says now to him who is able
to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think.
Wait a second.
What are we needing the God to do?
We just read it to know the love of Christ.
Surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Is it possible for us to be filled with the fullness of God?
Notice what it says.
Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us.
Can God do it?
Now I asked you before, can I do it?
Can we do it?
Not by ourselves.
But if we let God into our life, it says that he wants to come into us and he wants to to to use his power and he wants to work in us what we think is impossible
He wants to work in us to him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.
Amen.
I mean, this is a beautiful doxology that Paul is writing here of what his desire is for the church of Ephesus.
What his desire is for the Christian church at large, what his desire is for our church, how we relate to one another.
In the love of God.
Now Ephesians 3 is a fantastic chapter.
Go back and read it, look at it.
But Ephesians 4, we've looked at that a couple of months ago.
Anyone remember what Ephesians 4 is about?
Some of you are turning in your Bible because you didn't read it on the screen.
Ephesians 4 is that Paul is talking about spiritual gifts.
You remember when we talked about spiritual?
That was a long time ago, wasn't it?
We talked about spiritual gifts back in January.
Yeah.
And
Paul talks about spiritual gifts there in chapter four, and then he moves on from there in chapter five, and he
I want you to go to chapter 5 if you're looking it up there, or you can look at the screen, verse 18.
He tells them, Do not be drunk with wine.
And which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit
Notice the contrast there that Paul's talking about.
He says, don't be drunk with wine.
but be filled with the Spirit.
What do people act like when they're drunk with wine?
Okay, so some of you know some people that have been drunk with wine.
Maybe you've even been drunk with wine and you know what you act like.
You you you're I am told people are not themselves.
I'm not y I I don't frequently make a habit of being around those individuals and I have not tried it myself.
So I'm just going by what people have told me is that individuals are not themselves, they're not thinking straight, they're they they kind of
Have lost their inhibitions.
Don't process things with their frontal lobe.
They are just going with their bodily instincts.
Opposed to being filled with the spirit.
Now my question is, okay, what happened here?
My questi Yeah, did I lose this?
All of a sudden the sound disappeared?
Can you hear me?
My question is
Can you tell the difference between somebody that is drunk and somebody that is filled with the Spirit?
Don't answer that out loud just yet.
Because in Acts, when the Spirit came down upon the disciples, they were accused of being
Ponder that just a little bit.
You can go home and think about that this afternoon because I wasn't going to talk about it anymore.
I just when I saw that, do not be drunk with wine.
In which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another
In the fear of God.
Paul's desire is to to
Boost up the church.
Encourage the church.
He is talking about corporate concepts here.
And and we we think about sometimes we think about these things and all that doesn't have to do with my
Salvation, that's not a salvation issue.
But it does have to do with our salvation.
It has to do with with our salvation.
Moses was leading a bunch of people from Egypt to Canaan.
And when you go back and you read Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.
I don't know how Moses did it.
I mean, it seemed like the people all the time, what were they doing?
Complaining, bickering, fighting, and always bringing the problems to Moses.
Finally, they had caused such a problem, big problem.
God says, I'm gonna destroy these people
And I'm going to start over with you, Moses.
If you had been Moses, what would you say?
Yeah, go for it, God.
I'm here behind ya.
I saw what you did to the Egyptians.
I know you can do it to these this this stiff-necked people.
Moses pleaded with God and said, God, if you're going to destroy these people, blot my name out of the book also.
Moses was identifying with these individuals.
And Moses knew that if God acted like that
That's not the kind of God that Moses loved.
That Moses trusted.
That Moses had come to believe in.
And Moses knew that it was possible for God to do something greater with that group of people.
What is our desire for our church?
I mean we have, you know, we're kinda not not very far back, but we're kinda spread out.
I mean, do these people over on this side even like these people on this side or do we sit w where we sit because of our
political preferences or do we are we I mean what is our desire for our church family
I mean I look at this Alice gave me this wonderful thing called the the church directory app.
Is that what it's called?
Anyway, it it's got the whole membership on on here.
I I like this thing.
The problem is I look through here and half the people half the n pictures are missing.
That's problem one.
Problem two is the ones that are there
I haven't seen a lot of them.
Do you know where they are?
And then I was in Alice's office last week and
She hit something on her screen and a whole bunch of things popped into view.
And I said, I don't have those people in my directory.
She says, No, they're hidden.
And I'm like, hidden.
She says, yeah, we haven't seen them in a long time.
And I'm thinking, well, where are they?
Have they died?
Well, we haven't gotten notice of it yet.
Are they tired?
Are they discouraged?
Are they traveling?
Are they not here because they're working on Sabbath?
Are they not here because they have a substance abuse and they're they're they're not satisfied or discouraged to come to church and and face fellow members?
Are they going through relationship problems?
Do we even know what's going on in their lives?
And for me, I didn't even know they existed as part of our membership.
What do we want for our church?
Now when I looked out over the congregation today,
Uh I kinda looked and I said, we have a lot of people missing.
Some of our winter members have escaped.
Back to cooler
Country.
I mean that that's I know it's sad for us.
We don't like our winter members to exca and if you're watching, we want you back.
But I'm going to tell you, those of you that are here, this gives us a good opportunity to fill up the steeds with other people.
I mean, wouldn't it be cool if when the winter members came back they didn't have a place to sit?
Yeah, standing room only around here?
I mean that'd be uh we had 'em sit in the lobby and we had to have a TV in the lobby for overflow or uh the TV in the fellowship hall for overflow.
I mean that would be a great problem.
What is it we want?
For our church family.
Are we willing to go and seek those individuals that we are missing?
Do we want one another to to leave or to depart?
Are we are we biting one another, devouring each other, and causing people to to escape?
Are we trying to encourage and uplift and support one another?
I know last week the slides weren't working right.
This was last week's slide.
Where I finished last week with my slides.
But you remember the sermon when Jesus was talking with Peter.
And he asked Peter, Do you love me?
And Peter said, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.
Jesus said to him, Feed my sheep.
Who are your sheep?
You can start with your family, you can start with your friends, you can start with your co-workers.
You can also start with your fellow people, your fellow members in our congregation.
The way we treat one another, the way we handle one another.
The way we encourage each other, the way we we love one another, the way we greet one another are all very important.
In our relationship with Jesus Christ
I want to encourage you.
Feed the sheep that God has given you.