Lakeside Family
Hi church! I’m relatively new here. Some of you may be newer than I. There are people who have been in this church for over 60 years. How do we all happen to be here? I’ve heard some old-timers’ stories: “At a moment when life was changing, someone said, ‘You need to come to Lakeside.’” Others may have experienced something very similar. Some are likely here because you were in great need of help, and you sensed that God met your needs through someone, maybe a minister, maybe a member, but someone at Lakeside was used by God to meet your need. Some may have been exploring churches, or maybe even exploring faith, when you engaged this assembly of believers and decided this is where you fit.
I’m here because I was at a point in life when I was making big decisions. I’d been married for 52 years and my wife died. I had forgotten what it felt like to be alone, really alone. Oh, I had friends, and I had a church that I loved and that church showed love to me, but after a couple of years of aloneness, I was open to the idea of another finding a woman who might become my wife. I was not looking to move from Lincoln, and I wasn’t looking for a new church. But I met this woman! [Photo—Paul and Sunny] I’d like to tell you how careful and cautious I was, but frankly, at the tender age of 75, I fell wildly in love with her. And a part of the package was that this is her church and she’s heavily involved with it. And actually, that was part of what made her appealing to me. We married and her church became my church. We each have our own story of how we happen to be here.
But how do you describe Lakeside to someone who knows nothing about it? [Stock photo of gothic cathedral]. Of course, we know it is not a building. “Lakeside is not like a gothic cathedral with a huge steeple and marvelous stained-glass windows.” [Lakeside photo] We don’t even say the church is a modern building with a big foyer, a central assembly hall and numerous other special purpose rooms. All this brick and mortar is simply a resource the church uses.
So again, how do you describe Lakeside? This may be where we need to do a major RESET
You can tell a lot about a place from its website:
THE LAKESIDE FAMILY
When you go to www.lakesidechristian.com you see the church referred to in RELATIONAL terms. You are invited to join “teams” of people who are “serving” other people. But the term that keeps popping up is “the lakeside family.” We need to talk about that. Do you realize how counter-cultural that is? Our culture is not pro-family. There are many forces—political, sociological—that do not respect the traditional family structures. In this church, we believe in the sanctity and integrity of the family. It is more than just a “religious value.” The family is the oldest institution on Earth. Long before Christ established the church, even before the Temple, or tabernacle, God called into being the family. God’s view of the family clarifies what it means to be the family of God. It means that the characteristics of a godly, nuclear family are patterns and behaviors we expect to see in the church, specifically in the Lakeside family. And it really was not especially creative. It comes from the Bible.
I would like for you to walk with me through several key scriptures to see what we can learn from the ways in which the Bible uses family terminology to enable us to RESET as Christians.
RESET BROTHERLY LOVE
“Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters. Outdo one another in showing honor” (Romans 12:10).
You know that the Bible uses different words for Love. This family kind of love is powerful, because it springs from who we are at the core. It is not sensational or erotic. It is simply putting our hearts and minds behind wanting for one another the same best outcomes we would want for ourselves. You never have to stand outside the door wondering, “Will anybody even care that I’m here?” In the healthiest family, love never is always reliable. Trust runs deep. The world may not be dependable, but my family is. Do you ever experience a day when the world seems to throw darts at you all the time? When you have a loving family to go home to it changes everything. That is what the church can be for you. It is a safe haven where you are wanted, honored, loved.
RESET YOUR SENSE OF DOING GOOD
“Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10).
This is not just a Boy Scout style of good deeds. We are self-consciously watching for who needs a hand. Where is an encouragement in order? It may be as simple as “Being there!!!” . . . Like you would for your own family.
--Good times—Weddings, birthdays, graduation, promotion. It’s hard to keep track of everyone, but when this person learns about that person’s good event. It is JOY for both.
--Hard times—(My Sibs drove over 6000 mi to be present for my wife’s funeral). There are people ready to put themselves out for you.—When you grieve, or when you have a personal tragedy, or when you lose your job, when your car breaks down, family cares.
--Grand times—Grandchildren in football, soccer, basketball, baseball, swimming, track. I once saw a woman in my age group cheering excitedly at courtside. I asked, “Do you really love this game?” “Oh no!” she exclaimed. “I don’t even understand it. But I love my granddaughter!”
Now, how does that translate to the Lakeside family?
The church sponsors activities in direct support of families. Remember the Spring Sundae Funday that took place on a Saturday? Families brought their children together for an afternoon that included games, hands-on learning, and ice cream sundaes. Families rubbed shoulders with other families.
In the summer on Wednesdays the church parking lot becomes a safe place for children to bike while the mothers hang-out together. Moms need to be able to talk to moms.
Our kids go the one of the best camps anywhere at Lake Springfield Christian Assembly, and they go with support of one another.
More intensive experience is at CIY conference, usually about 3 to 5 hours away—A Christ-centered, family supportive teen experience.
The weekly small groups offer a variety of life supports. Discussions and Bible studies may amplify the Sunday sermon, or maybe make sense of it. The group we share in has come to include a fellowship meal, family support systems, intense prayer. We also have fun—If games are played, they are a competitive lot. We wouldn’t miss it.
I see people in this church doing things to help others, and nobody else seems to know about it.
When someone has a need for meals to be provided—A death, an injury, a hospitalization, a phone call triggers more phone calls and in a short time a warm, home-cooked meal is delivered to the door of the family in need.
A group of men is ready to use their skills for special needs. Widows, single mothers, older people often benefit from these angels who know how to solve house problems, car problems—If it involves tools, we know men who have tools and are ready to use them.
At certain times of year teenagers from the church become yard warriors and the falling leaves don’t stand a chance.
The church foyer is a major need-meeting arena. Before, between, and after services some of us are on a tight schedule so we dash to our destination, but others are in conversational clusters— Sometimes they are just updating the news, but they are often ministry moments with first steps or follow-up actions on serious life concerns. The broad and diverse life experience in the Lakeside family makes the foyer something of an encyclopedic resource.
Whether you are a helper or one in need of help, this is a good family to be in. I recently met a woman in the midst of a disastrous situation, where her home was destroyed. She stated, “Lakeside taught me what love is.”
Let’s shift to a different scripture.
RESET YOUR VIEW OF HOW THE CHURCH DEALS WITH SIN.
“Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so that you also won’t be tempted. Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:1,2)
How does this happen in this family? If you look very closely at people here, you won’t see a smug, “we’re so good” attitude. In fact, we know that we mess up, we do dumb things—we sin. There is no “righteous police” squad out there, radar scanning with a “sinner detector.” But sometimes our brothers and sisters fall. When it happens, we don’t put them in a stock or pillory like the Puritans were said to have done. No, what may happen, whether with leadership action, or just one brother or sister to another, “I’m sorry for what you’ve gotten into. Can I help you get your feet back on solid ground?”
Let me give you an illustration that should embarrass no one.
A few weeks ago, I was working with the pre-kindergarten children during worship. (I think I’m a surrogate grandpa). I was sitting down on the floor talking to them, when a little girl whom I had just met came up to me and said, “I wanna do the trust fall.” (You’ve seen trust fall, usually where about 6 people together put their hands and arms in position to catch a person who falls backward.). But this child didn’t give time for me to respond. She simply fell. And I decided catching was the best option. But afterwards some things occurred to me. #1, She likely comes from a home where she is welcome to do the trust fall—and she experiences both the exhilaration of the free fall and the security of being caught. #2, She in church felt this same security as in family. She felt the love, caring, and reliability. That led her to take the risk. Would you like to do a trust fall right now? Maybe not.
That is akin to what may happen among Christian adults. One says “I can’t seem to break this addiction.” Or “I keep making bad relational decisions.” Or “I feel like so many bad things are happening to me and I just can’t cope any longer.” And the other says, “You don’t have to face it alone. Let me help you find help.” We take sin seriously, but we know that sinners themselves are among the victims of sinful behavior. Offering gentle accountability enables the fallen person to have hope for victory.
Now if you have been dreading the judgment of church people rejecting you because of your imperfection, you may experience a trust-fall-like exhilaration at the acceptance, but the greater value is in the partnership offered as YOU enter into the hard work miracle of changing your life patterns to where the sin does not fit anymore.
We need to look at another area
RESET YOUR TREATMENT OF PEOPLE DIFFERENT FROM YOU
“Don’t rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and the younger women as sisters with all purity. 1 Timothy 5:1,2
This speaks to generations up or down.
This is a multigenerational church! There are people in their 90s who join us in worship. They may not like the drums & guitars as much as younger ones do, but they love being a part of offering praise to God. Infants, virtually newborns, come through these doors each week. I doubt that they get a lot out of the services, but their parents are acclimating them to this part of their extended family.
The leaders actually have a dilemma. Society targets specific age groups. We have all experienced the generation gap. Sometimes we older folks don’t like the way younger folks talk, walk, dress, wear their hair, their piercings, their body art, . . . you name it—If it’s not like I would do it, I don’t like it! And when I really remember how I acted and presented myself when I was much younger, I don’t like that either. If the leaders wanted to avoid all discomfort, they would stratify the church: 8 a.m. for 60 and up. 9 a.m. for middle agers. 10 for young adults. 11 a.m. for teenagers etc. But Christ reached out to people in all generations—and so do we.
A dividing mentality could separate the church into different racial segments, different professional groups, social classes, income levels and so on. James targets such separation when he addresses his church family—
“My brothers and sisters, do not show favoritism as you hold on to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.” James 2:1
A few verses later TEV says, “If you treat people differently because of outward appearances, you commit sin.
It is divisive Christians that Paul addressed in Galatians—
“There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female: since you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3:28,29
That’s family! We even reset our DNA. Whatever divisions society may impose, our unity as the family of God overrides all alienation. We are family. God is our Father; Jesus is both Savior and Brother.
That leads to one more scripture.
RESET YOUR PERSONAL IDENTITY
“See what great love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s Children—and we are!!” I John 3:1
Our collective identity as God’s family gives us each a personal identity as children of God. For personal reflection, for relational decisions, for life activities, for career choices, my central identity must be an important factor and there is no part of my identity more important than this: I am a child of God!
The late Fred Craddock reflected on an encounter he and his wife had while vacationing in Gatlinburg, TN. Eating at a small café with a view of the Smokey Mtns, an old man in a flannel shirt and bib overalls approached: “You don’t look familiar. I’m Ben. Who are you?” Fred introduced himself and his wife. “What do ya do for a living?” When Fred said he was a preacher, Ben said, “Preacher, eh? Let me tell you a preacher story.” And he scooted into their booth.
“I grew up in those hills out there, and it wasn’t much fun. You see, I never knew who my papa was. At school the kids didn’t want to play with me. They called me names that hurt bad. Saturdays, when Mama took me into town for shopping, the town women got in my face, studying my features, trying to guess who my papa was. It was humiliating. But there was a country church I started going to. I was impressed by the preacher—a deep-voiced man with piercing eyes, always wore a swallow-tail coat. I’d slip in after church started, sit in the back, then slip out before dismissal to avoid dealing with people. But one Sunday I fell asleep in the back pew and I was awakened by the commotion of the exiting congregation. I tried to get out quick, but this forest of adult legs was in my way. I elbowed my way and just got through the door when I felt a hand on my shoulder. Glancing, I saw the preacher! He turned me to him, looked into my face with those piercing eyes and said, “Young man, whose child are you?” I thought “Oh no! It’s happening here, too.” But he looked even deeper and said, “Young man, I Perceive that you are a child of God!” Then he spun me around, slapped my backside and said, “Go out! Claim your birthright.” That made all the difference in my life.
Fred was really taken by that story, but he finally said, “Ben, when I was a boy my parents talked about a fatherless boy who grew up to be the best governor our state ever had. His name was Ben, too. Ben Hooper.” At that, the old man smiled, slipped out of the booth, “It’s a pleasure to meet you. God bless.”
And that’s my message to the Lakeside family. You are children of God.