Over the last while we have made significant progress as a
church when it comes to community. Relationships have grown. Bonds of love have
developed and been strengthened. And all that is good. Actually, it is very
good. Good relationships are a critical part of what it means to be a church.
What I'd like to do this morning is to build on that and encourage it. The
Scriptures have a lot to say about this. I’m going to read one passage that
speaks to it. Notice how it includes many different aspects of what it means to
be a church, a group of people who love each other.
Therefore, having put away
falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are
members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on
your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer
steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that
he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come
out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the
occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy
Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all
bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you,
along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one
another, as God in Christ forgave you. (