Telos (Part 4)

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Community

Ephesians 4:1-6,11-16

Intro

OPEN – Team Matters
Start with a trash can and a stack of paper. Begin your time by balling up the pieces of paper and tossing them one by one into the trash can. Start close and then back away each time you make a shot. Keep tossing for a while and notice how the audience responds when you make one (or more) of the shots.
In my experience, when I make a really difficult trash can shot in the normal routine of life, my first response is to look around and see if anyone else happened to see my miraculous basket! This is usually met with either a massive letdown when I’m the only one who saw it, or an uplifting “nice shot” from someone if they were so lucky to have witnessed by feat of athleticism.
This is true of any type of celebration in life, isn’t it? When a football player scores a touchdown, he is almost immediately pummeled by teammates congratulating him for the score. It happens in all sporting events, and even in a classroom or office setting! That’s why we have the amazing invention of the “High 5”: so we can celebrate victories with other people. Here’s what we can discover from this: We Are Designed For Community.

Scripture

Ephesians 4:1-6,11-16
“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all…Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors & teachers, to equip His people for works of service, so that the BODY OF CHRIST may be built up until WE ALL reach UNITY in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ…
You see, we are created to experience community! But this is not just for the sake of community, but community exists so that we can reach UNITY as God’s family. God has placed us under unique spiritual authority for the purpose of preparing us to become more like Jesus. That requires a maturity that comes with chasing after unity.
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, WE WILL GROW to become in every respect THE MATURE BODY OF HIM WHO IS THE HEAD, THAT IS, CHRIST. From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”

Pray

Help us connect with others as we connect with you

Story

Me trying to play a 2 player game solo

Application 1

The concept of team is important. At times teams can be frustrating.
But community is deeply connected with our purpose, our “Telos”.
THE NECESSITY OF COMMUNITY
As we have unpacked this concept of TELOS, we have discovered that our lives have purpose. The beginning purpose is, as God’s creation, followed by a life lived focusing on Jesus, and ultimately the purpose of our lives should be to honor and glorify God in worship. It would seem that these things could all be done individually, right? I mean, we talk about having a “personal” relationship with God, so it doesn’t need to involve other people, does it? When you start a relationship with Jesus, however, you become part of His family. It is not just a ticket to go to Heaven; it is an invitation to join an eternal community. Following Christ is not just an individual sport; it is a team sport! Here’s is what Paul has to say about it in his letter to the church at Ephesus:
Our growth and maturity as Christ-followers is dependent on living in and experiencing COMMUNITY.
So often we minimize the importance and impact that community is designed to have in our lives, but as Paul outlines in his letter to the Ephesians, a major byproduct of maturity is unity. Maturity isn’t just about learning more about the Bible, or memorizing Scripture. Those things are of massive importance, but true community is vital as the landscape for our spiritual growth to take place.
You can add INFORMATION on your own, but you can’t GROW and MATURE as a Christ-follower without COMMUNITY.

Story 2

Story of me having to carry my brother up a mountain trail
But he had the money for lunch cause I forgot my wallet

Supporting Scripture

1 Corinthians 12:12-20
“Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.”

Application 2

THE DOWNSIDE TO COMMUNITY
Now that we’ve established how necessary community is to our relationship with God, let’s be honest: COMMUNITY is NOT EASY. Take a glance back at the history of the church and see just how difficult it is for us to achieve unity! As humans it is so easy for us to focus on the way our differences can separate us from each other in the church. On a smaller and more personal scale, how often do you and your small group, or you and your family, or even you and any other individual person ever really experience unity?
Thankfully, God used Paul to address this struggle even before you and I had to deal with it. In his first letter to the church in Corinth, who was dealing with some tension of their own, he uses the illustration of a body to show us how diversity and unity can and should work together.
God’s purpose, TELOS, is for us to grow as a community and function not as random individuals, but as working parts of ONE body. Here Paul goes back and forth between focusing on our need to be ONE BODY and the reality that we are made up of individual and diverse parts. Isn’t it great how God designs us to aspire to something more than ourselves, and then gives us a document that speaks to not only the struggles involved, but also how we can overcome those obstacles to achieve what He was called us to?
Community is never simple or easy because it involves the coming together of diverse people. Here is what we must learn now if we ever hope to experience community and unity the way God designed it:
True Community Starts Where Pride And Selfishness Ends.

Conclusion

CLOSE
Story of Sick Bees – If you haven’t spent much time around bees (and no one blames you…they tend to sting people) there is an interesting phenomenon that happens in the bee community. When one bee gets sick, a virus or something like that, it will choose to stay away from the hive. The bee will actually fly off away from the hive, its community, to die on its own. Biologists say they do this for the “safety of the hive” so that the rest of the bees can avoid catching the virus and keep on being productive bees. However, if we are honest, this is how we can see community, too. Too often we act like sick bees that choose to avoid the intimacy of community.
We all know our own vulnerabilities, our sins, and our shortfalls. That knowledge makes us feel as if there is no community that would really accept us if they knew who we really are. So when we are around other people we stick to surface topics like clothes, celebrities, sports, and talking about other people. But every one of us walks around terrified that people will find out who we really are, and once they see us clearly, we’ll become unwelcome in the community.
This Is The Sad Reality Of Humanity, But It Is Even More Sad When It Becomes True Of The Church.
We are not bees! God created our desire for community and designed community to be a place where we come together under Jesus regardless of our sins and problems. It is because we are imperfect that we need Jesus and can therefore experience His community in the first place! When we take that aspect out then our natural reaction to community is just like the bee…to protect the hive from the virus that is our sin.
God Designed Us To Need Community. Without It You Can’t Grow.
God Designed Community To Mature Us. Without Us, It’s Not The Same.
This Week, Drop Your Guard And Let Community Happen.
Optional Closing Thought
This is a great chance to highlight the community that your environment offers. Whether it is small groups, Sunday morning classes or discipleship/mentor groups, take some time here to either focus on how students can be involved in those communities. Or to crank it up another notch, take a few minutes to share the story of someone in your ministry who has been affected by Biblical community. This could be on video or in a live interview or testimony.

Pray

God help us live in community the way you designed us too
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