Paul describes a radical, yet wonderful way of life for us, where envy and jealousy and competition and comparison do not permeate our relationships...where we all belong to each other, and we are for each other, and we count each others sufferings our own sufferings and each others victories as our own victories.”  

This can only happen in the church, in Christ’s body where we are spiritually joined to Christ and spiritually joined to each other.  But this takes a complete shift in our hearts in the way we see each other. This is NOT how life really is out in the world! As Paul said, “We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.”  People are not truly “for one another” out there.  Just read twitter for 15 minutes.  True oneness takes the miracle of God’s love poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.  And it takes each of us working to keep this oneness in the Spirit.  

Where this revelation of oneness in Christ’s body is not taught, or practiced, churches can become places of gossip, criticism and division, instead of this remarkable love and unity and acceptance. 

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We are still individuals.  And in one sense, we each run our own race, and fight our own fight, and suffer our own trials.  But that is NOT the whole story! And it would be wrong to view our Christian journey as solitary pilgrims struggling through life all on our own.  Some may actually find a certain appeal to the lonely life.  But that’s not quite right.  We may feel like we are isolated and alone, inside our own bodies.  But Romans 12:5 says “we are members of one another.” We are not only joined to Christ in a deep and profound way, we are joined to one another.  Why do we suffer with those who suffer and rejoice with those who are honored? The next verse tells us why!  Because “You are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”  1 Cor. 12:27

We are each a part of something bigger than ourselves. “In one Spirit we were all baptized into one body”.  We are joined in the Spirit to each other!  God did that! We have a oneness the world does not know!  We are not just on the same side or the same team, we are part of the same Body.  MLJ said the church is an organic, vital, living spiritual union with Christ and with one another.  Christ’s prayer is being answered, “That all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.”  (John 17:21) I don’t fully understand that, but I am to be one with you (and you are one with me) as the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father!  

Many wonderful things blossom in our relationships when we know that we are a part of one another.  We care deeply and genuinely for one another.  We love one another.  We are devoted to one another. But one of the highest ways that we show we belong to one another is that we enter into the sorrows and the joys of one another. “We rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” We feel that we are suffering when any one of us suffers.  And we feel that we are being honored when any among us is honored.

Our hearts are THAT attached to each other because we understand, that we are members of Christ’s body and members of one another.

Competition and resentment, comparison and envy and strife evaporate from our hearts as we see that we are apart of each other.  In our oneness in Christ, we simply belong to each other.  I feel that you belong to me and I belong to you.  We are for each other.  We come to church and feel that we are coming home.  

We are not here to impress each other.  We stop comparing ourselves with each other! We stop thinking that we are better than others.  And we stop being anxious that we don’t measure up to others.  In fact we just plain stop thinking so much about ourselves.  

We begin to lose our excessive self-focus, our excessive self consciousness.  William Newell begins his commentary on Romans 12:15 saying, ‘Now here is a verse that takes us out of ourselves!” And it does!  God puts us in the church, makes us members of each other and frees us from ourselves, and thinking only about ourselves.  Of course we experience our own feelings. But our love for one another and our oneness with each other, pull us out of ourselves, to be engaged with how OTHERS are doing and what THEY are feeling.  

We all know feelings of sorrow or joy, in our OWN hearts for our OWN situations.  But now, we so belong to one another that we enter into the drama, the sorrows and joys of one another, and into the suffering and honor of one another.   

We are to be so closely intertwined with one another that we are not only be aware of what is going on in each other’s live, but we can deeply feel it.

MLJ said jealousy and envy are the big problems in our human relationships.  And the highest a natural person can attain to is to NOT show jealousy and envy.  People smile and applaud one another, then they are envious and resentful, plotting and scheming behind one another’s backs.  But because the Spirit makes us one body, we aren’t just trying to NOT show our real resentment and envy!  We actually feel joy for one another’s success. “One member is honored and all the members rejoice with it.” MLJ “You cannot help yourself because whatever happens to the other is really happening to you”.   

And the paradox is that we do much better ourselves living as members, in close community with one another! 

Dennis McCallum said, “Until we accept that the relational and spiritual side of life – love with God and love with others – is where our fulfillment and satisfaction lie, we will continue to feel that other things are more important.  We will refuse to let God AND HIS PEOPLE encroach into our time and affections beyond minimal level.”  God made us for love!  He made us for love with him and with one another.  Let us actively pursue loving God and this loving engagement with one another.  

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Now I want to say something about our emotions since this verse speaks specifically to the emotional realm of our lives.  

First: We must acknowledge that we are a people of sorrow and joy.  God made us that way.  We feel life deeply, both highs and lows. Whether we like it or not we are emotional beings.  There is suffering and honor, ups and downs, adversity and prosperity. And we feel that!  Life affects us inwardly!  One of the ways we connect with events, and people and truth is with our emotions.  Often we feel things before we can understand them, or put into words what we are going through!

*Our emotions are constantly with us.  Someone said they are closer than our skin. That’s true because they are experienced in our inner person. Our emotions are powerful.  At times they come with great intensity.  

Having deep and strong feelings or expressing emotions is not inherently bad or weak, or sinful.  It is not more spiritual to express less emotions!  Just as it is not more spiritual to express more emotions! But...

Look at the stories of the NT church and you godly people showing strong emotions and deep feelings!

When Paul left Ephesus, after they all knelt down and prayed together, “They all wept openly as they embraced Paul and kissed him.” BSB   It was an emotional parting!! There was sorrow and longing and deep feelings. 

At Athens Luke said Paul’s spirit was provoked within him by all the idols he saw everywhere in the city.  Paul was ticked off!  He felt strong emotions about rival gods being worshipped!

Paul wrote to Timothy, “As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy.”  2 Timothy 1:4 ESV There is nothing wrong with shedding a tear with each other, or in front of each other. 

We have deep feelings because we are made in the image of God, who has deep feelings! Randy Alcorn said, “In Scripture, God is said to enjoy, love, laugh, take delight, and rejoice, as well as be angry, happy, jealous, and glad. ...we should consider that our emotions are derived from God’s. While we should always avoid creating God in our image, the fact remains we are created in his. Therefore, our emotions are a reflection of (God’s emotions) and sometimes (because of our sin) a distortion of God’s emotions. To be like God means to have and express emotions.”

Jesus was acquainted with grief. He wept over Jerusalem, and over the death of his friend Lazarus.  Jesus felt compassion for the crowds of people. 

But Jesus also was anointed with joy above all his companions.  Luke 10:21 says Jesus “rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit”.  He said he wanted HIS joy to be in us, so that our joy may be complete! (or perfect)   

The Holy Spirit has emotions. We experience the joy of the Holy Spirit.  We also experience the grief of the Holy Spirit, when we allow bitterness and anger a place in our hearts, or speak harsh words to one another.

God fully understands you and your emotions. He feels your deep sorrow and your greatest moments of joy. He created you with the capacity to feel those things.

That does not mean we let our emotions dominate our lives and decisions. In fact a big part of life is learning how to live with our emotions, and manage our emotions. Some of our emotions are fueled by sinful passions and ungodly thinking.  A big part of our sanctification is to be led by the Spirit in the realm of our emotions, and to walk in the new emotions imparted by the Spirit into our hearts. 

BUT….The point is...we are emotional beings. Our emotions, our tears, our happiness, are such a significant part of who we are.   And BECAUSE we are members of one another, we enter into the disappointments, pains and sorrows of others, AND into the happiness, joy and blessings of others. 

So we need to know more than facts about each other, like where you work, or what you had for lunch. We need to become interested in what is going on in each others hearts!  We can say, “How are you doing?”  And then show that we really want to take time to hear.  

Parents, we need to take time to not only hear what our kids are saying, but also to understand what they are feeling.  Paul said, “Fathers do not provoke your children to anger.”  IE Be aware your children’s emotions, don’t unnecessarily frustrate them to point of anger.  That doesn’t mean we should pamper bad attitudes.  But children have emotions just like we do, and take that into consideration into our instruction and discipline. 

*Before we give answers to people, even good Bible answers, we need to show that we care about what people are experiencing on the inside!  Jesus wept for Lazarus and Mary and Martha even though he knew he had the answer to his death.  I think everybody has heard that when wives share a problem with their husbands they don’t want a glib, detached 3 step solution.  They want their husbands to understand what they are going through and to feel that with them as they work toward a solution. 

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Some examples from scripture will help us see what this looks like.  Here is an example of NOT rejoicing with those who rejoice.   When the prodigal son cam home,“the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. But, “The older brother became angry and refused to go in.”

-The older brother refused to rejoice with fathers joy or to rejoice with his brother’s honor.  We are not to be like that.  It is really selfish and mean spirited to rain on other people’s parade. It reveals that we need a new work of grace in our heart to rejoice when others are honored. If you have a tendency to let others celebration turn you towards self pity or resentment, ask God to do a new work in you!

Here is a good example of rejoicing with others. 

When Elizabeth gave birth to John the Baptist..Luke 1:58 “And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.”  This is the way it should be in the body of Christ.  We hear of some blessing or mercy someone has received and we go rejoice with them!

Luke 15:8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one.” She lights a lamp, and sweeps the house and searches carefully until she finds it! “And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’

We all want others to rejoice with us when we rejoice. One of the greatest gifts we can give to each other is to enter into one another’s joy. 

Here are examples of sorrowing with those who sorrow.

Hebrews 13:3 Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.  “As though in prison with them”.  If someone has suffered a long time in some situation we should feel for them and often think of them and pray for them and encourage them.  

Job said, “Have I not wept for the one whose life is hard? Was my soul not grieved for the needy?” (Job 30:25) Job’s righteousness was demonstrated by the way he entered into the sorrows of others.  One of the greatest gifts we can give someone in sorrow is simply to sorrow with them, to shed tears with them.  

Final comments:

*This verse gives us a very important reasons to faithfully meet together. If we are to bear one anothers burdens we must know what those burdens are. We do that by being engaged in the body!  If you are the one who is weeping!  Come so others can weep with you.  If you are celebrating, come so we can celebrate with you. It is a safe place for tears and joy!

*Don’t use this verse to become an accuser, or to put a demand on others to understand you and what you are going through.  It it a word to US to enter into the sorrow and joys of OTHERS. Others will understand our sorrows and joys as we are faithfully engaged with others in the body!  But the focus is for us to enter into others joys and tears.

*Prayerfully consider how you can go deeper with others and be more engaged with others in the church body.  Let’s surrender our lives to the ministry of serving one another!