Our text is Romans 12:15:

Love must be sincere…Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.

One of my professors warned, "There will be days when you do a funeral in the morning and a wedding in the afternoon. You will need to weep in the morning and rejoice in the afternoon. Your tears and your joy better be sincere." That advice comes directly from our text for today. Paul is laying out different shades of Christian love which is not rooted in feelings but in a decision of the mind to behave in certain ways.

Empathy is "the ability to understand and share the feelings of another." Sympathy, the capacity to share in another's pain or sorrow, is one side of empathy. To rejoice when another rejoices is the other side. This, I think, is the more difficult aspect. Think about it -- to rejoice with people who are rejoicing, even if we do not feel like it. Your loved one is dying of cancer, and someone else's is healed. And you rejoice with them. That's Spirit stuff.

We are equipped with a great capacity for giving and receiving love. Even the hardest heart melts before the innocent smile of a child or the antics of puppies. Yet these two sides of empathy are often locked up in the confines of selfishness. This may be because genuine, loving, empathetic involvement is debilitating and costly. To weep when you are more interested in having fun or to appreciate another's gain when you are suffering loss is hard, but necessary. Doing so helps us overcome our selfishness; it is an act of selflessness; it is sincere love.

The problem with this rejoicing is that someone else's success often arouses jealousy and envy in our hearts. Jealousy and envy, hatred and malice are our native bents. When we can truly rejoice with someone's success without envying them, we are demonstrating a transformed mind (12:2).

Not envying those that prosper but rejoicing with them, being truly glad that others have the success and comfort which we do not, and not despising those that are in trouble, but being concerned for them, and ready to help them: this is to do as God does. He delights in the prosperity of his servants (Ps. 35:27) and is likewise distressed in their distress (Isa. 63:9).

Where there is a mutual love between the members of the church, there will be such empathy. True love will interest us in the sorrows and joys of one another and teach us to make them our own.

But how do we get there? Philippians holds a key, "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength" (Phil. 4:12, 13).

When we learn to be content with out lot in life, because we trust God, then we can be an empathetic community.

As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our scripture is from Colossians 3:12-14:

"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience…Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity."

When are we involved in God's mission?

Christians often think that only activity connected to the church is involved in God's work. The implication is that God is not interested in our daily lives. But this is far from the truth. In the beginning, we were made to be involved in the development of creation, in other words, to work it. That design has never been revoked. Despite human rebellion and sin's negative effect on our daily lives, Christians participate in God's grand mission of redemption as we live out our daily lives.

When we praise God by the excellence of our work, we are exercising our proper vocation. We are serving God in the way he called us to serve him. Church work is not more spiritual or more in tune with the mission of God than carrying out our daily tasks. Our main purpose in life is not to serve the church, but to serve God; sometimes we serve God by serving the church.

Our gathering for corporate worship is not separate from our work. The common prayer that we can lay aside the distractions of the week to focus on God is misplaced. God does not want us to ignore our lives when we worship. He desires that we bring all of that in with us. He wants to hear our thanksgiving for the good things we have encountered. He wants to hear the confession of words spoken and of actions that harmed him or a human or anything else he created. He wants to touch us in our brokenness and pain. He wants to hear our prayers for the grace to forgive, for strength to resist temptation, for patience for that difficult person, for wisdom for that complicated problem.

Christian, you are on the leading edge of God's mission of redemption as you live in retirement, as you inhabit your situation for earning an income, as you live together as a family. The Holy Spirit is present with you always, nudging you towards the way of Jesus' kingdom, so that you embody love's kaleidoscope: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, a capacity to forgive.

The mission of God includes the renewal, restoration and reformation of all things (Colossians 1:19-20). Vocations in business, medicine, poetry, engineering, counselling, chemistry, marketing, construction, and finance all have a role to play in Christ's cosmic work of reconciling all things. As you live this week, gather a basket full of things you will bring with you the next time you gather with God's worshipping community.

As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

Wherever God takes you today, may He fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit and that you may live carefully—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity.

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings! The text is Acts 1:1-11. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection!

To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube. Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca

Dive In

1. Take a stab at defining Christian communal identity.
2. What comes to mind when you hear the words 'mission' and 'missionary'? How should we understand it?
3. The disciples ask Jesus about the kingdom. How does he shift their focus?
4. Four responses to the Holy Spirit were mentioned: which one comes easiest to you, which is the most difficult? How will you respond to the Spirit this week? Pay attention to the way the Spirit is moving in your life.
5. What does it mean to be a witness to Jesus? What should the church be devoted to?