Today, I want to speak to a reality of our world … and what I believe God wants us, as followers of Christ, to do about it. What is the reality that I want to speak to? Walls. Walls that divide us … on the face of this earth—walls never intended by God to be erected in the first place…
As one who’s been to the Holy Land a few times now, I’m reminded of this reality every time that I go to Israel and see the big wall right there in Jerusalem, dividing Israel from the Palestinian West Bank territories—two peoples, created by the same God, yet not being able to live together without … a wall. We’re not going to get into the politics of that wall today, but suffice it to say that walls in our society are really a reflection of our sinfulness. Why can’t we love one another like Christ loved us?
The truth is, we have just as many walls right here where we live—in our communities … and most of us are just as guilty as those half-way around the world of not only putting up walls, but also of making sure that we keep those walls in place! We are so territorial, aren’t we? That’s another way of saying ‘selfish’; we’re imperfect, as human beings—so sinful—that this is the reality of the world as we know it today. It is a world of walls … but, is that God’s intention for this world that he created?
Listen now, as we go back to Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus (2:11-22, TEV), as he gets into another reality—a heavenly reality, which is a reality without walls, where all are melded together as one … with Christ as the glue that holds us together—Christ’s Spirit of Love at the center…
11 You Gentiles by birth—called “the uncircumcised” by the Jews, who call themselves the circumcised (which refers to what men do to their bodies)—remember what you were in the past.12 At that time you were apart from Christ. You were foreigners and did not belong to God’s chosen people. You had no part in the covenants, which were based on God’s promises to his people, and you lived in this world without hope and without God. 13 But now, in union with Christ Jesus you, who used to be far away, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For Christ himself has brought us peace by making Jews and Gentiles one people. With his own body he broke down the wall that separated them and kept them enemies. 15 He abolished the Jewish Law with its commandments and rules, in order to create out of the two races one new people in union with himself, in this way making peace. 16 By his death on the cross Christ destroyed their enmity; by means of the cross he united both races into one body and brought them back to God. 17 So Christ came and preached the Good News of peace to all—to you Gentiles, who were far away from God, and to the Jews, who were near to him. 18 It is through Christ that all of us, Jews and Gentiles, are able to come in the one Spirit into the presence of the Father. 19 So then, you Gentiles are not foreigners or strangers any longer; you are now citizens together with God’s people and members of the family of God. 20 You, too, are built upon the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, the cornerstone being Christ Jesus himself. 21 He is the one who holds the whole building together and makes it grow into a sacred temple dedicated to the Lord. 22 In union with him you too are being built together with all the others into a place where God lives through his Spirit.
Folks, today we’re going to talk about Stephen Ministry. And, the first thing that I want to say is that Stephen Ministers are those who help pull the walls of this world down! Just listen to some of the ways…
STEPHEN MINISTERS HELP PEOPLE WHO’VE FELT THREATENED BY HARSH, EXCLUSIVE ORGANIZATIONS. Every time I go to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem (which is what the Jews call it), I try and imagine the original Temple there in the center of that huge flat area where thousands have worshipped over the years; where the Dome of the Rock stands today, the original Temple of Solomon was constructed that would have been 4 times taller than the Dome that is now there—a huge structure … where God dwelled…
But, that Temple was a wall! And, it was one of those walls that Jesus came to break down. The Temple Mount was a series of concentric courts, each one a little higher, representing a higher holiness, as you progressed inward. The large, outermost court was where Gentiles (non-Jews) could pray. The next court inward was for Jewish women and children; closer still was the court for Jewish males over twelve years old. Then on the inside of this thirty-five acre tract, only Jewish priests—those born into particular families—could enter, because it was the actual shrine of their faith. Finally, the innermost part of this court—the holy of holies—was reserved for the high priest exclusively, and for him to enter only once per year. The Temple had been the focus of the Jewish faith for 1,000 years, yet by its very nature it was segregated, by race, sex, age, and family… It was a wall, wasn’t it? It was a wall to allow certain privileged people in … and to keep others out…
Of course, Jesus came not to do away with the Law, but to complete it—to make it make sense… In John 4:19-24 (TEV), Jesus is having a conversation with one of those dread Samaritans (who Jews were not supposed to even speak to). The conversation went like this:
19 “I see you are a prophet, sir,” the woman said. 20 “My Samaritan ancestors worshiped God on this mountain, but you Jews say that Jerusalem is the place where we should worship God.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the time will come when people will not worship the Father either on this mountain or in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans do not really know whom you worship; but we Jews know whom we worship, because it is from the Jews that salvation comes. 23 But the time is coming and is already here, when by the power of God’s Spirit people will worship the Father as he really is, offering him the true worship that he wants. 24 God is Spirit, and only by the power of his Spirit can people worship him as he really is.”
Jesus came to say that His Spirit was available to all … and if you opened your life up to His Spirit living in you, that was all it took for you to be … IN! Jesus was one who broke down walls; that’s what our Stephen Ministers will be doing too … in the name of Christ!
STEPHEN MINISTERS AID PEOPLE WHO HAVE FACED DISCRIMINATION IN LIFE. Just as the Samaritans (and other Gentiles) were discriminated against by the Jews, so too have the Jews been discriminated against by the rest of the world! Does anyone remember studying the holocaust in world history? If you’ve never been to a holocaust museum before, you need to go! Put it on your ‘bucket list’ as a place that you just have to experience! Once through that museum, you will know then just how low humanity can stoop…
Jesus, with a boatload of forgiveness (as the Jews were the ones who crucified him), came to break down the walls of discrimination, too! So, too, will our Stephen Ministers be about breaking down those walls … with the love of Christ!
STEPHEN MINISTERS BEFRIEND PEOPLE WHO FEEL ALIENATED OR LONELY, HELPING THEM RECONCILE WITH OTHERS. Jewish folks separated themselves from those who were non-Jewish. They did this very sincerely and for religious reasons. However, any time you build walls like this, you assume, if not create … hostility! Those who define themselves as an ‘in group’ of necessity … have to also define an ‘out group’—those on the outside of the wall that they’ve intentionally built…
That great poet, Robert Frost, once wrote a poem called ‘Mending Wall.’ In this poem, the speaker repairs his wall and ponders…
“Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.”
Perhaps. But, people still build them, don’t they? And, not just picket fences, but giant walls (and China gets the prize for the largest)! Frost’s poem goes on to say this:
“Before I built a wall I’d ask to knowWhat I was walling in or walling out,And to whom I was like to give offense.”
That’s the attitude of our Stephen Ministers! They will not just accept walls that have been put up by our society today; they will intentionally minister to those who have been alienated or forced into loneliness; they will work to break down those walls … in the name of Jesus!
STEPHEN MINISTERS WELCOME PEOPLE FOR CHRIST, HELPING THEM EXPERIENCE THAT THEY ARE NO LONGER OUT, BUT IN GOD’S RESTORED HUMAN FAMILY. A couple of problems happen when we start building walls to protect ourselves: You certainly do keep others out … but you also build a cage that locks you in!
That’s why Paul’s message to the Ephesians is so exciting! God’s message, folks, is one of FREEDOM! It’s even better than William Wallace’s cry at the end of Braveheart! Why? Because God’s freedom that he offers is for ALL! Paul’s proclamation is that the wall is down: God lets some people in to freedom … and some people out to freedom—but still freedom, because the wall is down!
Again, this is what Stephen Ministry is all about! Helping people to know that in Christ, they are no longer out … but they are now in—a vital part of God’s restored human family…
PAUL’S MESSAGE IS ALL ABOUT CHANGE; STEPHEN MINISTERS HELP PEOPLE THROUGH NECESSARY LIFE CHANGES. The temptation is always around to think in terms of ‘us’ and ‘them.’ As the old Scotsman quipped, ‘There’s the Scots … and those who wished they were.’
In Christ, however, Paul is very clear that there is no such thing as ‘us’ and ‘them.’ When people find themselves in a position of transition or change that probably they never even thought they’d be in—like unemployed, unmarried, and the list could go on and on, our Stephen Ministers will be there and available to walk through these times with those going through inevitable life changes…
STEPHEN MINISTERS ENCOURAGE PEOPLE WHO HAVE ISSUES WITH FAITH REALIZE THEIR GREAT VALUE TO GOD. Paul’s word for ‘temple’ is the one most used for the central portion of a temple, its innermost shrine, that part of the Jerusalem Temple called ‘the holy of holies.’
As Christians, we are bound together in Christ and live for Christ; in that sense, today we are the most holy of all holy places in the world! Each one of us who has opened our lives up to Christ living in us (Holy Spirit) … is a temple! Paul tells us in 1Corinthians 6:19-20 (TEV): “Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and who was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourselves but to God; 20 he bought you for a price. So use your bodies for God’s glory.” Stephen Ministers are those who help to remind people just how important and vital their lives are to God…
Going back to Robert Frost’s poem for just a moment … What is that ‘something’ that doesn’t love a wall? It’s the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ—the Spirit of Love … bringing us back together to God and to one another and granting this world true peace, like we’ve never known it before. May the Spirit of Christ prevail through the work of our Stephen Ministers, in all of our lives, and in this entire world!