One strange herd

“Anyone who is to find Christ must first find the church. How could anyone know where Christ is and what faith is in Him unless he knew where His believers are?” Martin Luther

In the animated movie, Ice Age, when saber-tooth tigers attack a tribe of nomads, a mother and her baby attempt to outrun the man-eating beasts but they’re cornered at a raging waterfall. The little boy is discovered by a wooly mammoth named Manfred, a sloth name Sid, and a saber-tooth tiger named Diego. These three unlikely companions unite on a common mission to return the baby to his father. As the trio treks through a mountainous terrain of ice and snow carrying the baby, at one point the mammoth, sloth, and tiger realize they’re on an erupting volcano. The heat of the lava melts the glacier bridges atop the ice fields, separating Diego from the others. Isolated on a quickly melting island of ice, Diego jumps to reach the others, but falls short. Dangling from the edge of the ice field, his grip falters, and he falls. Manfred, unwilling to let Diego perish, leaps into a chasm after him and tosses the tiger upwards to safety. Diego, realizing the danger involved in the rescue, is moved by Manfred's compassion, courage, and sacrifice.

  “Why did you do that?” he asks. “You could have died trying to save me.” Humbly, the mammoth responds, “That's what you do when you’re part of a herd. You look after each other.” Amazed at the convergence of circumstances that has brought these three together, Sid finally muses aloud. “I don't know about you guys, but we are one strange herd.”

  One strange herd! That’s a pretty accurate description of a healthy local church. It is, or at least it should be, a description of us. A mix of individuals with different personalities, backgrounds, ideas and perspectives sometimes, who might never hang out together— except for the one thing that we have in common: we have been rescued from sin and death! We have the same Savior. We’re regenerate and we love Jesus. In one way or another, we’ve been transformed by the power of the Holy Spirt and God’s amazing love and mercy. And because of that, we hang out together. But even more than that, as the film illustrates in a cute way, as a “herd” of Christ followers, we look after each other—even if we might look a little strange at times.

  When our church, when any local church is what it should be, it becomes a place where our old nature and our old instincts begin to die. We begin thinking completely different about ourselves and the other believers around us. People who we might never have associated with before, or people who we never would have thought we’d speak to, must less befriend, suddenly become our brothers and sisters. And we find ourselves wanting to bring in more and more of those who might not belong anywhere else—we find a place for them. Our herd, our community, becomes a place of love, grace and service; a place where people experience the transforming power of Jesus at work in their lives.

  Something we don’t understand, even in a church family, is that we have very limited power and influence, as long as we function as individuals. The power of the Spirit flows and is so much more potent when we’re a community. There’s unity in the Godhead (Father, Son and Spirit) and God has designed us, as a redeemed people, to have that same unity.

  The very first thing that Satan did was divide the first couple. He attacked and continually attacks the local church to cause that same division. It was not Peter or Paul that God used to turn that 1^st century world upside down, it was the church – a community of committed believers. God’s plan hasn’t changed. Jesus loves the Church. Jesus died for the Church. It’s in the Church that His greatest power is displayed and that is first seen locally.

  The greatest unity most of us know today is that of a marriage or a family. Yet, God wants so much more for us. That’s why during the next five weeks we’re going to take a break from our series on Luke’s Gospel and focus on unity and community in the Grace Church family, Me to We: The Relationship Series. Spiritual community is our focus for 2015 because if we don’t first love one another, how will we ever share Christ’s love with a lost world.

  And I need to warn you. This will stretch you. It’s going make us uncomfortable. We like the status quo. But Jesus didn’t die so we could play “church” and have our souls periodically warmed. He calls us to come and die. If we will commit to obeying Scripture and submitting to the Spirit, God can do a great work both in us and through us that will count for eternity.  

  Part of the power of local church community begins so basically. We must first know one another. For example, we’re commanded to pray for each other. I’m sure God knows who we’re talking about when we pray for that tall guy who drives the Chevy BUT God wants so much more for us.  How can we pray for one another? How can we love each other? How can we encourage each other? When we don’t really even know each other?

  To be what God wants us to be is going to demand that we crucify ourselves. It’s going to mean that we die to our own agendas, schedules, desires and plans. It means that we must spend time with one another. It means that we have to be willing to be stretched. It means that we must see that person in the seat in front of us as Jesus does.

  For many, it’s going to mean joining a Sunday Morning Live class or small group. It’s going to mean that we don’t rush in at the last minute and then rush out on the last “Amen.” It’s going to mean having a meal with people where we hardly know their name. It’s going to mean stepping out of our comfort zones and stretching, actually spending time with people who aren’t just like us. Because Jesus didn’t die for clones. He loves and died for one strange herd! It’s His will that we love that same strange herd! But how can you obey and love people that you don’t even know?

  Can you imagine having someone tell you, “I love you but I can’t stand your kids”? Jesus loves the Church, so much that He died for it. We’re to love His Church too. It starts here. Because if we don’t love the Church, we really don’t love Jesus. It’s His Body, His Bride. If you love Him, you have to love His Church. Over the next few weeks we want to grow in our love for His Church and begin moving by His grace from Me to We. Yes, it will stretch us, yet it will be so fulfilling because we’re obeying, doing His will and then, because we are, experiencing His blessing!