FROM SIMMER TO BOIL AND OUR NEED FOR UNITY AS ONLY FOUND IN CHRIST.

FROM SIMMER TO BOIL AND OUR NEED FOR UNITY AS ONLY FOUND IN CHRIST, By Kevin Severns

First things first. I want to thank our elders and staff for continuing to wrestle with what reopening the building at Sanger Bible Church needs to look like. If there is anything I am confident of, it is that our leadership is continuously and diligently seeking God’s wisdom and direction on when and how we resume meeting physically. That diligence is born out of love for God and love for His people! (That’s a hint regarding the subject of this writing). 

While my impulse is to say “let’s get after it,” that attitude might indicate one of many areas of my life that God wants to work on. That aside, please continue to pray for SBC’s Leadership as they weigh the options and risks of re-opening and at what pace that takes place. These folks carry a heavy burden and the best thing we can do is to honor their leadership and continue praying for them!

So…think back to what life was like for you a year ago… six months… two months… last week. A bit over a week ago, I was (like many) starting to become really impatient. Working in ag, my job had been defined as “essential.” I was going to work every day, so I had the social interaction many others were having to forego. In the big scheme of things, I really didn’t have too much to complain about (but I still did, as my wife can attest to). The restrictions and rules that COVID-19 and the bureaucrats had imposed on my work, family, friends, and our church were really starting to get under my skin! Finally, there seemed to be some light at the end of this long “shelter in place” tunnel. The national focus began to be on progressively re-opening shops, restaurants, and previously closed businesses. And then…

On May 25^th, George Floyd was killed while under arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Instantly, cities across the country erupted into protest (as is appropriate in a “free” society) but it did not stop there. As I write this, we see public and private property being destroyed by riots, widespread looting and violence. People are being injured and killed. Law enforcement, government, and businesses are in the crosshairs of angry mobs – it is as if we’ve gone from a simmer to a boil and there seems to be no lack of people willing to turn the heat up even more!

Suddenly, my impatience with the COVID crisis seems pretty irrelevant. I hear civic leaders calling for calm and for people to “come together,” and while that is truly needed, it feels like that peace and unity has never been farther away than at this moment. Something is missing and our nation seems to be running faster in the wrong direction, looking for what that “something” is! If you follow Jesus, you know that “something” is actually “Someone.” Lest you think I’m just stating the obvious, let’s dig deeper. What I have to say from this point forward is both an observation and an exhortation:

In Matthew 5:14-16, Jesus says, 

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others that may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

If you are old like me, and grew up in the church, you’ve probably sung that little chorus “This Little Light of Mine” enough times that maybe (again, like me) you tend to neglect the magnitude of what Jesus is saying here in Matthew. In dark times, we are to stand out and be light to a world that is groping around, trying to find their way. “OK… yeah Kevin I get it… salt and light…” But wait – this is really practical! Let’s use Sanger Bible Church as an illustration.

Special News Bulletin!: SBC is diverse. We come from different ethnic backgrounds, cultural traditions, ages, economic conditions, vocations, political persuasions, etc. What a wonderful and healthy thing! That said, we need to be careful about becoming prideful because what we have did not come from us but rather our unity in Christ. If not for Christ, our differences could be the very starting point for division. The enemy knows that. Dividing is his specialty and he would like nothing better than to cause division and bitterness among us. Remaining one in Christ is not just a coincidental benefit of being a Christian, it’s a command from our Lord and it takes effort to execute! But what does that “effort” look like? Here is where I’m going to shamelessly “pile on” about a subject our dear sister Alexis Lozada masterfully talked about last week…

LOVE…

Jesus says in John 13:35,

 “By this all my people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another”.  

That love is lived out as we look out for, care for, support, encourage, exhort, admonish, forgive and defer to one other in love. It’s work, effort, action… and specifically not a feeling. Just a few weeks ago we read what Paul said in Philippians 2:2-7,

“…complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”

Whether they (or we) like it or not, God has declared us to be an example to “the world” of what unity looks like. It may not feel like it, but they are watching. Some will reject His call, but some will be attracted by what they see… IF they observe how we love one another. It’s pretty clear in God’s word that apart from Christ, there is no real unity, because without Christ and the influence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we simply don’t have the ability to love one another in the way God demands. 

1 John 4:19 says, “We love because he first loved us.” Again, the very ability to love comes from Christ!

We are called to be salt and light. We are to call out evil, injustice, oppression and tyranny. That said, Jesus gives us a clear prerequisite – “Love one another”! I can add nothing to what Paul said to the church at Corinth on the matter:

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)

My final challenge to you is to read all of 1 Corinthians 13. In fact, may I suggest a word study of the New Testament on “love.” Even if you’ve done it before, a “refresh” on the subject is never a wasted effort! So, “let’s get at it!” Let’s shine the light of Christ in a world that desperately needs His Love and Grace!

• Kevin

(Kevin Severns, more affectionately known as “sound guy” has served at SBC for over 20 years. His mustache has been known to impress even Chuck Norris and his love for Jesus and others is not just witnessed in his own life, but also in how it has spilled over into his kids as well.)