{"id":1037,"date":"2007-12-09T13:10:19","date_gmt":"2007-12-09T13:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/?p=1037"},"modified":"2020-11-27T00:43:37","modified_gmt":"2020-11-27T00:43:37","slug":"no-un-faves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/no-un-faves\/","title":{"rendered":"No Un-Faves"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Romans 15:1-13<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

December 9, 2007<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who are your faves?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your \u201cfaves\u201d is the latest marketing scheme by cell phone companies to not merely draw individual customers to join but entire tribes and clans and cliques of customers. Phone companies don\u2019t just want you, they want you and all the people you call the most to link up and commit to using the same cell phone company. In exchange, your inner circle talks and texts for free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One such company allows you to designate your five favorite people with whom you want to share unlimited free calling. They call these five people \u201cMy Faves.\u201d Another carrier calls the same free-call group your \u201cIN Network.\u201d Still another company calls this free group \u201cFriends and Family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Faves, the IN Network, Friends and Family all suggest that there\u2019s a small group of people around us with whom we are most interested and most intimate. We each have our own in <\/em>crowd. Nothing wrong with that; it\u2019s just the way it is. On my AT&T cell phone, I have a phone directory with phone numbers of persons who I call most often\u2014it\u2019s my faves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus\u2019 Faves<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we read about Jesus\u2019 ministry, he had his faves too. There was the trained ministry team of 72. There were the 12 disciples and the close friends like Mary and Martha. Then in the midst of that group, Jesus had the three he was closest with\u2014Peter, James and John.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But while Jesus had his favorites, he didn\u2019t have un-favorites. Those who were culturally shunned, like prostitutes and tax collectors, got an audience with Jesus. The ill, the crazy and the lame were not ignored, but instead Jesus sought them out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Jesus had any un-favorites, they were the religious elite who overlooked love and grace with legalism and restrictions. But even with these people, Jesus longed to gather his critics to himself, weeping over the Jews of Jerusalem who rejected him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Believing in Jesus\u2019 example of a community that welcomed everyone, Paul writes to the church in Rome that was experiencing Jewish and Gentile tensions. There were religious cliques in this church. There was an IN Network and an OUT Network. People\u2019s \u201cFriends & Family\u201d groups didn\u2019t include everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were some people in this church who had not matured in faith as some others have. They were rather weak and couldn\u2019t contribute as equally to the life of the church as those who had a stronger faith. Paul calls those who are strong to put up with the failings of the weak. Those with mature faith must be understanding and patient with those who may be less mature. They can\u2019t look with disdain upon those who are still journeying in the faith on paths that they have yet to trod.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s like we can\u2019t expect a young boy to carry a load that only a grown man could or a young girl have the same level of wisdom that a grandmother would have. Paul was telling them that there shouldn\u2019t be an IN Network and an OUT Network in the church based on the different levels of Christian maturity that people may be at.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mark of Christian maturation is caring for each other resulting in the ability of the whole church to focus on Jesus Christ and his ministry. Instead of just pleasing ourselves, we must please our neighbors for the good purpose of building up the neighbor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul tells the church that since Jesus first welcomed them when they were less worthy, they must now extend the same welcoming spirit to one another. While Christ has not forgotten his promises to Israel, Christ has also confirmed those promises and has made a way for the Gentiles to glorify God the same way alongside of the Jews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul then makes his point by quoting from the Psalms, Deuteronomy and Isaiah in verses 9-12 that the Gentiles are also integral to God\u2019s family. Not only the Jewish Christians are in the IN Network but the Gentile Christians are in the IN Network too. The Gentiles can glorify God too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FCBC Faves<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we read about Paul\u2019s encouragement to the Roman church, we can\u2019t help but to think of our own church community. Unless we in the church can get along with each other, there\u2019s little likelihood in our ability to positively influence the hurting and left-out people in the world. We can\u2019t set a good example for those who are still in the Out Network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s absolutely nothing wrong with the fact that almost everyone here sits in the same place or same pews. If I want to see who\u2019s here on a Sunday morning, I can just look up in that direction and see. It\u2019s natural that we have favorite seats, but does that mean that we have favorite people too? Are your faves sitting next to you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s nothing wrong with having your bridal party composed of 4 or 5 groomsmen or bridesmaids who are faves of family and closest friends since they are the ones who have nurtured this relationship, but does that mean that we have un-fave people?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How about the time when you dropped your business card in one of those fishbowls to win a free lunch with a group of your colleagues? There\u2019s nothing wrong with choosing 4-5 people out for a free lunch but not everyone can be invited. How would those people feel who\u2019re not in your faves?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Applying this passage today to ourselves means that we don\u2019t just rave about our faves, but we must embrace the whole body of Christ. How about the worshipers at the 9:00, 9:30 or 11:15 worship services\u2014how can they become part of our network?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the greatest strengths in our church is also perhaps one of our greatest weaknesses. Our commitment to be a \u201cbilingual and bi-cultural\u201d church means that we must learn to be superhumanly patient and understanding with one another so that we care for each other, resulting in the ability of all of us to focus on Jesus Christ and his ministry. How can we mature in our faith to add all these who are still in the OUT Network to be in the IN Network?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Living in Harmony<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Henri Nouwen coined the phrase \u201cvoluntary displacement\u201d to capture this idea of creating unity amid a difficult diversity. He writes, \u201cThe gospels confront us with this persistent voice inviting us to move from where it is comfortable, from where we want to stay, from where we feel at home.\u201d This shift, a movement of voluntary displacement, is away from self-interest and toward group-interest; away from me to you, from mine to yours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What this might look like is for you to change the places where you sit for worship where you are most comfortable and feel like home to another place where you may not feel that much at home. This means that while the Chinese-speaking members of our church are experiencing transition right now that it may be important for us to join them at their worship to support and pray for them. When we first started the new 9:30 English Worship, some of you began worshiping there to help it to grow\u2014now look at how it is flourishing! I was told that in the late 1990s when the attendance at the 10:05 service was so small that people from the 11:15 service came to the 10:05 service in order to build up the attendance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a spiritual challenge to think and feel from the perspective of another person, especially when that person is different from you. But this is what the mature Christian do in order to follow Jesus. They displace themselves from their privileges and rights, and place themselves in service to another. They fight off the attitudes that foster the un-faves category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul describes creating this kind of unity as living \u201cin harmony\u201d (v. 5).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we think about harmony, we are quick to define it to mean agreement and cohesiveness. It may be a part of this but it\u2019s more than homogeneity. Christian harmony rarely means agreement and homogeneity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We just heard the Men\u2019s Chorus sing. They sang in harmony of high tenor, low tenor, high bass and low bass. Combining all these parts create a unique sound in concert with one another. The sum tone is more complex and beautiful than the disparate parts. It\u2019s like when you are singing your part in the shower when it\u2019s only one-dimensional and your loved ones complain about how bad it is. But when your voice is joined with the other voices, we have a beautiful vocal harmony. This complexity of harmony is not accidental. It\u2019s practiced and trained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wendy Quan is a member of the WomenSing choir that sings first soprano, second soprano, first alto and second alto. This is what their music conductor, Martin Benvenuto wrote about their singing,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u201cThis group makes a very strong statement. I always think that choral music is somewhat about some sort of rebelliousness, a movement against a political or artistic status quo. And what better venue is there than a choral setting to surrender your ego to a good cause? People not only give of their time; they give up their cherished medium of individual expression, the voice. You have to abandon its narcissism for the well being of the whole ensemble. In this day and age, when there\u2019s so little selflessness, choral singing is socially a very healthy activity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Members of the WomenSing choir voluntarily put themselves in a group where we<\/em> is better than me and ours<\/em> is better than mine. They work hard, practice every week, and deliberately give up their individual egos for the good of the whole ensemble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We need to recognize that it\u2019s in our nature to develop our favorites and un-favorites, and even to think that such a state of affairs is normal\u2014even in the Body of Christ! But Jesus\u2019 example undermines this mentality. Living in Christian harmony means we practice the forgiving attitude that understands unity despite diversity in the body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So harmony, even in the church, takes practice and intentionality. Paul knows that it\u2019s so easy to have our un-favorites in the church. He prays for the Roman Christians to have \u201csteadfastness and encouragement to live in harmony with one another\u201d (v.5). Harmony in our church will require healthy conflict, direct communication, commitment to self-examination, and a posture bent toward putting others before ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grace<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You might be thinking that all of this sound pretty good and it\u2019s basically what the whole world is saying and trying to do. You are right\u2014the world can do almost anything as well as or better than the church. You need not be a Christian to build houses. You don\u2019t need to be a Christian to feed the hungry or heal the sick. But what separates the church from her culture? The one thing that world cannot do is that it cannot offer grace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The acceptance of each other, the thinking of others before ourselves, the unity and harmony that Paul commends to the church are not natural. They are gracious. The grace of Christ at work is inside of us and then it goes outside of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are all entitled to our faves, but a mature follower of Jesus will always be living the grace with room for the un-faves. It\u2019s grace that first led God to repeatedly invite the people of God to return to God\u2019s family through the covenants and the prophets. It\u2019s grace that God decided to come into the world as the Christ Child so that all who believe in the Son of God would be included in God\u2019s faves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul writes, \u201cThe root of Jesse shall come, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles, in him the Gentiles shall hope\u201d (v.12). It\u2019s God\u2019s grace that the Messiah comes to welcome not only the Jews but the Gentiles and all of us to be a part of God\u2019s faves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this season of Advent, let\u2019s us say \u201cNo to Un-faves\u201d at FCBC and in God\u2019s world. Because of God\u2019s grace, we are gradually drifting toward living in harmony with one another. I am happy to have all of you as a part of my faves!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let us pray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gracious God, we thank you for this wonderful and loving church that welcomes people as Christ has welcomed each one of us. Challenge us to go beyond and outside of our comfort zones so that we may understand the perspectives and outlooks of others and based solely on your grace, help us to strive for harmony and the unity in the Spirit. In the name of Christ whose root is of Jesse shall come to rule the Gentiles like us so that we may have hope. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Romans 15:1-13 December 9, 2007 Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco. Who are your faves? Your \u201cfaves\u201d is the latest marketingContinue readingNo Un-Faves<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[11,14],"class_list":["post-1037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-donald-ng-sermons","tag-fcbc","tag-romans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1037"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1719,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1037\/revisions\/1719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}