“Getting Along To Go Along”
Thanksgiving we have the image of people coming together and just laying down all their differences, gathering around tables, eating pie, turkey, all the things that have been made and people have brought and it is a beautiful image. When we think of Thanksgiving, we think of the first Thanksgiving they all did this.
This isn’t really true, in fact the truth is at the first Thanksgiving there were no women. They were still on the Mayflower waiting for the men to come back and tell them things were safe. There were only a few men and they were celebrating with some Native Americans the Wampanoag (indians), the celebration was more of a demonstration of an alliance because just prior to that, the Pilgrims had robbed the Wampanoag of their corn and grain from their store houses and even robbed their graves to get the clothing off of those who were buried because of the brutal weather. The Wampanoag offered an alliance so they can gather together.
Getting along has never been easy, even from the time of Cain and Abel, it is not easy and it is not pretty. From marriages, neighbors, employers, employees, nations. Think about it, why do we have marriage counselors? Why do we have police officers? Why do we have united nations? Why do we have courts? We struggle as people to get along and yet we all want it, it’s just so hard in getting it and yet real Thanksgiving is built around people getting along
Psalm 95:1&2
1 Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.
As you read these verses what jumps out at you? Let us... because real celebration is celebration that happens in cooperation with one another, real Thanksgiving is Thanksgiving that takes place when we come together and we share with others the good things that God has been doing in our lives and others celebrate with us as we celebrate with them.
Real Thanksgiving should be a gathering of people who get along with one another.
Getting Along To Go Along
Go along with people so that you get along with them so that you maintain your security, you maintain your position, friendship with others, you conform for the sake of not being left out. People understand that is not a good thing. Going along just to get along and yet when we say that, there is a piece of it that feels right. Shouldn’t we get along? If we get along shouldn’t we go along too?
Today, we are going to look at what it means to get along with one another, and while going along to get along isn’t what God ordained, I do believe that getting along to go along is what God ordained, there is a difference between the two. There is a difference with just going along to get along and getting along to go along.
This is a great passage, it is a passage that we move into this transition that based upon all the things that God has done, that we are now called and compelled to do. As we look at this passage we are going to look at how to get along to go along, because we get along to go along with God. If we are going to go with God we have to get along with each other. In first John we’re told, if you say you love God and hate your neighbor, then you lie. Because you can’t love God and hate your neighbor. You have to get along if you want to go along with God.
Hebrews 10:19-25
19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence
Confidence is what brings us boldness its what gives us a sense of security, esteem and a willingness to risk because we are sure of the outcome
to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
We always have someone who is always interceding on our behalf, always watching over us and ministering to us.
22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Use Your Head:
You use your head by first recognizing. Why am I looking to get along with people? Because people aren’t easy to get along with. People don’t seem to get it right and understand that what we want is in everyone’s best interest, right? People have a hard time getting along and we have a hard time getting along with people. Getting along with people just for the sake of getting along is just going along to get along.
Getting along when you use your head is different. Because you base it on a knowledge that you have been made whole in Christ, you base it on a knowledge that you are in love with an everlasting love and that you have been freed up to be fired up to go out and do for other as God has done for you in Christ.
Using our head means that we seek to get along with others, not for what we want from them but because of what God has already done for us. With the understanding that the deal has been sealed with Christ Jesus’s Blood. With the understanding that we can now go before God and ask anything because we have a high priest that ministers to us and he has cleansed us and we don’t have to feel guilty about anything. We don’t have to walk around in shame before anyone. We can get along with people because we use our heads and recognize that we don’t have live dependent on what other people think. I can get along with someone and not worry about weather they are going to accept me or reject me. I can get along knowing that if I get hurt trying to get along with others, ‘I have a God who is big enough to heal me’
I can use my head and recognize that I don’t have to worry about anything, and I worship a God whose got everything in his hands and he has called me to get along, not only so I can go along but I can help others to go along and to show them how to go along and experience intimacy with him.
When I use my head when it comes to getting along with people and I understand that all that God has given me. I can go out and I can consider others. I can take people as I find them because God took me that exact same way. You will be surprised that you will find that there is more there than you thought.
Getting along also means that I’m seeking who they are, what they struggle with, I take people as I find them, I look for what they need, I don’t judge their flaws and I don’t worry about them judging mine. What does it take to get along with others? Just a willingness to use your head, willingness to consider others, to show them that you care because you are willing to listen, your willing to show up, it doesn’t require a whole lot, the reason we struggle to get along is because we think everybody has to agree. If they don’t think like us then maybe we are wrong? If you want to get along you have to consider others.
Use Your Heart
Consider how we might spur one another on to love. That is the ultimate motivation, there is not greater motivation than affection, because affection is all the inspiration we need.
Affection happens when we are willing to be just VULNERABLE, when we are willing to just let people see inside of us. When we are willing to let people to see the bad as well as the good, to see us laugh and to see us cry, it’s when we’re willing to show them we are not afraid of them or competing against them, we don’t fear them but we want to know them and we want them to know us.
Affection happens when we are willing to be CHARITABLE, when we show them that we care more on what they have to say then what we have to say. We look and we listen with interest, because that will melt someone’s heart. How many people in an average day/average week look you in the eye and listen to what you say intently and ask even helpful/probing questions to know you better?
Affection happens when we are willing to be HUMBLE, not to be the person who wants to speak first to get the attention, to be a person who is TEACHABLE, that we are willing to listen to others, to hear others, learn from them, God has put us in this battlefield where there is room to grow and to know and we don’t have to be narrow, because God is anything but narrow.
Affection happens when we are willing to be AVAILABLE, to make yourself available to them so they know you care about them. Nobody cares about how much you know, until they know how much you care. Same way that people won’t care what you believe until they see how you behave.
Use Your Hands
Consider how we may love and spur each other on to good deeds. Affection has to show up in ACTION. You want to get along with people you do something for people, you show them that you are willing to put your time and resources first for them.
Your willing to look and find a NEED and try to fill it, to find something broke and try to fix it. that you are willing to show up and roll up your sleeves and work and labor on their behalf. The WILLINGNESS to put yourself at steak for other people and not worrying about if I fail or will they thank me for it, and not worrying about ‘well I don’t have enough to do the whole thing, why bother it won’t make a difference’. Every good deed makes a difference.
Use Your Hope
That we are willing to engage, willing to connect, willing to be there and not run away, we are willing to show up in people lives if they are having a bad day, we’re willing to do it in the context of church and worship that we don’t give up on each other and continue to pray for one another even if someone is having a hard time. We don’t get in the habit of just shrinking back quickly. We encourage people, lift them up, and share the gospel. We are called to get along with people and not give up.
Notes taken by: Lorelllawrence@comcast.net The notes is for you to have for review in the series, also to reflect on during the week.
God Bless,
Sermon by: Pastor Frederick Williams