Privileges and Responsibilities

Privileges and Responsibilities
10-01-14

In any community, the most important privilege is that of simple belonging. The problem is, this leads to all kinds of maneuvering and list-making and gate-keeping behavior in order to make sure the Right Ones belong and the Others are kept out. (Each one, of course, considers himself or herself to be one of the Right Ones, and has his or her own definition of Others.)

The community we call the Christian church is not immune from this. Acts 6 is a good example. It tells the story of how the Greeks worried that Jewish widows were getting favored treatment, while their widows were being left out. There are plenty of other examples, not only in the Bible but in your own congregation. If you want to join a community where this sort of thing will never happen, good luck, but it won’t be one where there are any humans!

However, the Christian community does have armor and weapons to use against these misguided notions. If we can just remember it’s the community of God, and exists to bless “all the families of the earth,” we will be better able to recognize and defeat in ourselves the desire to puff ourselves up and defend “our rights and privileges.”

The fact is the privilege of belonging to this community means the privilege of being a servant, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Honest members seek to serve God first, and others second, trusting that God and the other members of the family will care for their needs. And, insofar as the members of the community are all trying to do this, the needs of all will be met, and fear will recede.

Perhaps no other passage in Scripture captures the essence of unity and equality that ought to exist in Christ’s body, the church, than that in 1 Corinthians 12:12-27: “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. . . As it is, there are many parts, but one body. . . . Those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”

All members are important no matter how seemingly insignificant their contribution to the body of Christ. Indeed, Paul argues that “those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor.” (1 Cor. 12:22, 23, NIV) Do we really take this seriously in our church communities, treating the “weaker” ones as though they are “indispensable” (God does think so, remember) and giving “unpresentable” members “special modesty”? Do we give “greater honor” to those who lacked it, “so that there should be no division in the body”?

The privilege of belonging to this community does not go to those who follow the regulations list the best, or look the nicest, or manage to finagle their way to the front. The privilege of belonging goes to those who humbly follow the Head, bending down to wash the feet of others.

And with those privileges come responsibilities. There are rules, no getting around it. Those who wish to be members in good standing of this community must do their best (which entails leaning on each other a lot) to live up to that Great Standard of self-sacrificing love. What do we do when someone fails to do this? Galatians 6:1-3 admonishes, “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”

Question: Which sins are most denounced in Scripture: sins of dress, action, diet, music styles, or sins of oppression, lack of love, unkindness, ignoring the poor, pointing fingers and backbiting?

Throughout the Bible, God has had a chosen people. In the Old Testament, it was the Israelites. In the New Testament, it was the early church. Today, we are God’s chosen people. And we have the responsibility of being good stewards of God’s church.

The believers in Ephesus, to whom Paul addresses his letter, were normal, everyday folk who had come to know Christ as Savior and were learning how to make Him Lord of their lives. In Ephesians 4:1-13, the apostle Paul implores them to “live a life worthy of the calling” (vs. 1, NIV) they have received by being patient, gentle, unified, prayerful, humble, and accepting of the roles assigned them by God.

Paul rightly understood that to “prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up” (vs. 12, NIV), required a spirit of sacrifice. This spirit of sacrifice was one way of preparing God’s people for “works of service.” (Ephesians 4:12, NIV) What would happen in our congregation if together we fervently engaged in the responsibilities of membership listed below?

“Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else. Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.” (1 Thessalonians 5:14-22)

“On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.” (1 Corinthians 16:2)

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:24-25)