Growing in Christ - Community
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 4 viewsNotes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Big Idea:
Big Idea:
Growing in Christ requires Christ-centered community
Intro:
Intro:
Hey Church Online - thanks for joining us today!
We’re continuing in our “Growing in Christ” series, believing that for 2023, God is calling our church to spiritually grow up so we can fulfill our 2023 Vision of “Moving on up.”
Last week we discussed growing in God’s truth in order to grow in Christ. Spiritually mature people are people committed to the Scriptures; that is, the Bible.
And part of properly understanding the Bible is learning the entire story. The apostle Paul discussed this with the Ephesian Christians. He told them...
for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.
And for us, the “whole counsel of God” involves understanding how both OT and NT, from Genesis to Revelation, is important. As Paul also wrote...
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Today, I want to practice declaring to you the whole counsel of God. I want to start by sharing a story from the beginning, the first part of this book, from the book of Genesis...
… But let me set it up first:
In the beginning, God created everything, including Adam and Eve, the first humans (Genesis 1).
But they chose to rebel against God and that sin broke the world (Genesis 3). Nevertheless, God promises to one day save the world; but humans continue to reject God, despite His goodness and love.
Things get so bad that God decides to judge the rebellious world through a flood (Genesis 6); yet, there was one man who loved God - Noah. And God saves His family. They build an ark and are spared from judgement.
Eventually, Noah’s family repopulates the earth and a man named Abraham is born. God chooses Abraham to be the father of the nation who will bring forth the Savior. Abraham believes God’s promise and therefore becomes the father of our faith too (Genesis 12).
But Abraham has problems… one being… he can let his fear override his faith. And when he does, he makes poor (and even sinful) decisions. Can anyone relate?
… One of these moments is in Genesis 20. Abraham is traveling with his wife Sarah and they arrive in Gerar, which is near the southern border of Palestine.
Here’s the thing: Sarah is beautiful. And Abraham is AFRAID that the people will kill him to steal his wife. So, his plan was to tell everyone, “She’s my sister.”
Wasn’t a great plan because while it preserved Abraham’s life… he still lost his wife!
And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.
However, God chose Abraham and Sarah to bring forth the Savior, not Abimelech and Sarah… and so God intervenes...
But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.”
[Say, “God ain’t playin.”] But verse 4 says...
Now Abimelech had not approached her. So he said, “Lord, will you kill an innocent people?
And while there’s much more to this story… I’m gonna stop here for the purpose of our message today. If you’re interested in hearing how this ends, let me encourage you, go read it for yourself!
[And for those who have a One-Year Bible, you likely have already read this story!]
But look at what Abimelech says, “Lord, will you kill an innocent people?” God said, “Bro - you’re a dead man.” But Abimelech interprets that as “All of ya’ll about to die up in here.”
Furthermore, look at what happens when Abimelech confronts Abraham...
Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done.”
Again, notice, “me and my kingdom.” Why does Abimelech keep bringing other people into his business?
Because if I lived in Gerar, I would’ve been like, “Don’t bring me into this!”
But that’s because, by default, I interpret the world thru a Western, modern filter… one that elevates INDIVIDUALITY! But this happened thousands of years ago, in the Ancient Near East (not the West). And in their culture, community superceded the individual. And that’s what we see here.
The sin of one man impacted the many. The judgment of one affected the entire community. And while it IS biblical to appreciate our individuality, we must also learn (or remember) the value of community, because it’s an important topic in Scripture - that we often miss!
Today, I’d like to discuss the truth that:
Growing in Christ... requires biblical community.
We cannot grow in Christ in isolation. We need community because that’s the way God designed it. And that’s also why “community” is part of vision statement (our purpose statement) here at The River Church.
Again… if you haven’t memorized it (and you should if this is your home church)… our church’s vision statement is...
Loving Jesus as we build community and bring joy.
This is who we are. This is what God has called us to. God has called us to emphasize community - to build community… to highly prioritize relationships.
And here’s why this is important for us today… we live in a culture that teaches the opposite. In addition to overvaluing individualism, we live in a cancel culture. If you don’t like someone (for whatever reason) you can cancel or ghost them (disappear on them like they don’t exist).
If Abimelech was a modern king, we might cancel him. He did something wrong. We don’t want to be associated with him. Cut him off!
But there’s a problem with that… that’s not the way God created the world to work.
We’re not just a bunch of random, unconnected individuals occupying this physical space called earth. We are people made in the image of God, called to a purpose, and created to live in community.
Therefore, and especially in the church, if or when we embrace a “cancel culture” mentality, we damage our growth in Christ. Because the cutting off of one person doesn’t just impact the individual, it affects the entire community… just as we see in Genesis 20.
Actually, we see this principle directly referred to among God’s people (the Israelites) as God gives Moses instructions about how His people should live and think...
“If the high priest sins, bringing guilt upon the entire community, he must give a sin offering for the sin he has committed. He must present to the Lord a young bull with no defects.
In the Kingdom of God, specifically, in the church - the body of Christ, we’re all connected. That’s why, if we want to grow in Christ, we must grow together.
And that’s why Paul, in Ephesians 4 (which is in the NT - teaching the whole counsel of God) as he’s teaching us to grow in Christ, he teaches on community… check it out...
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Let’s do a little Bible study for these six verses...
Exegesis:
Exegesis:
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,
Okay, Bible Study 101… when you see a “therefore,” you should ask, “What is it there-for?” And the “therefore” of verse 1 refers back to the first 3 chapters, where Paul taught on our new identity in Christ.
When we put our faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior, everything changed. The Bible actually says we became a brand new person!
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
And because Christ has given us a new identity, we should live in a new way. And that’s what Paul is calling us to… starting in verse 1 but continuing for the next 3 chapters. He’s saying, “Let me teach you how to grow in Christ.” He will discuss a lot of things (a lot of things we will study over the next year), but to start, he says...
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
One of the first things Paul says we should learn about our new identity is, “We should be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” In other words, “Be committed to biblical community!”
Isn’t that crazy? Out of all the things he could start with, Paul chooses COMMUNITY. He could have started with:
Study the Scriptures because God’s word is extremely important.
Stop living in sin because that’s extremely important.
Do good works that glorify Your Father in Heaven - extremely important!
But... he starts with community… Why?
I’d like to suggest, based on my study of the passage (and really the whole counsel of Scripture)… that...
Our new identity in Christ REQUIRES LIVING IN COMMUNITY.
Like… the Christian life doesn’t work without it. At best, isolated Christianity is incomplete and deficient. Let me further show you this by digging deeper into our passage.
Look at verses 3...
eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Let’s start at the end of the verse with “in the bond of peace.” Picture it this way… there is this sphere or realm of peace. And every molecule that exists in this sphere is saturated with peace; therefore anything that enters this sphere is completely connected to peace.
When you became a new creation in Christ, you jumped into this sphere.
For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son,
And now, in every way possible, you are bonded to peace.
Let’s dive even deeper… when you put your faith in Jesus, His perfect sacrifice on the cross was applied to your life. Before that moment, you were enemies with God.
Did you know that?
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
Before we surrendered to Christ, our sin made us enemies of God, because sin is active rebellion against God. But Jesus took away our sin on the cross and made us right with God. So now... we have peace! This is something Paul taught earlier in Ephesians...
In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.
We now have peace with God. And this isn’t just “maybe peace,” like when you get into a fight with a friend or spouse and you’re like, “Are we good?” And they say, “Yes.” But… we’re still a little suspicious because their body language or tone is a little off.
We don’t have have that kind of peace. Because of Jesus and His perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice on the cross (meaning, what He did was more than enough to pay for all our sin), we have perfect unshakeable peace with God!
But that’s not all…
For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.
In Christ, we not only have peace with God, we have peace with one another. Before, sin caused us to separate, but in Christ, we are a family, connected, saturated, baptized, by the bond of peace. WE ARE A COMMUNITY!
And going back to...
eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Notice how Paul doesn’t say, “Work to create unity!” The world has work to create unity because they are in bondage to sin, which separates them from God and one another. We are bonded by perfect peace in the Holy Spirit. By the blood of Jesus, we belong to God’s family. We don’t need to manufacture community, it already exists! We just maintain it. In other words… we just need to prioritize and value COMMUNITY!
And Paul’s not preaching on the importance of community yet...
There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
As he calls us into community, he does so using language that talks about the Trinity: God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All co-equally God, distinct in persons, but one in nature. And why does this matter?
It matters because God doesn’t just teach about community, it’s who He is! God exists eternally in community. That’s what makes community infinitely important. Nothing God does happens outside of community!
Furthermore, the Bible says we are made in God’s image. That being said, community is ALSO built into our very nature. Therefore, we do not properly exist or operate without it. That’s what you often hear me warn against isolation.
Isolation is a byproduct of sin because sin separates.
On the other hand, community is from God, because it is who He is and what we are designed for!
And this becomes even greater considering our new identity in Christ. As the church - as Christ’s body, we must exist in community, because He exists in community.
Which is why Growing in Christ requires biblical community.
How do we live in community? (v. 2)
How do we live in community? (v. 2)
Well, according to our passage, community is built on two things… and we see them written in verse 2...
with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
In this verse, I see two specific phrases...
First, we learn to live in community through humility. You’ve likely heard humility defined this way:
Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.
I like that. I actually think it’s biblical, because in Philippians 2, we see Paul speak about humility in a similar way. Using Jesus as our perfect example, he says this...
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
If you want to grow in community, you must grow in humility, which means… STOP PRIORITIZING YOUR PERSONAL PREFERENCES. Despite what the world around us says, IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU! IT’S ABOUT GOD. And God call us to humility.
So, while self care is extremely important, and while you as an individual are highly beautiful, unique, and gifted by God, you are also designed for humility. We know this because Jesus, the perfect Human, was humble. And He’s the standard!
Now, the second part of Ephesians 4:2 says, [have] “gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love.” There are a lot of things in this phrase that could help us practice community...
Like gentleness, which can also be translated “meekness.” Now meekness is not weakness, but rather it is “strength under control.” It’s like a powerful, tame horse.
There’s also patience. We could translate it as “long-suffering.” We should be willing to suffer for the love of our community.
Which is connected to “bearing with one another in love.” We endure difficult circumstances for those we love.
And while all those phrases are helpful, I think the key is the seemingly insignificant word “with,” found between “gentleness” and “patience.” It’s the Greek word “meta.” And in this context, it means to “be existing in the midst of close community.”
How do we practice community?
In humility, we value the bond of peace over our personal preferences.
We choose to plant ourselves into community (we choose to “meta”)- into relationships where we have real opportunities to practice gentleness, patience, and enduring love.
The evangelism of community.
The evangelism of community.
Before we close, let me give you one more reason why building community is important to growing in Christ.
As I mentioned earlier, canceling people is common today. Everyone does it. And when the church does that too, we look just like the world. We don’t stand out as lights in the dark… we just blend in with the darkness…
But when we love people… when give grace (accepting and loving people who don’t deserve it)… when we invite people into our homes, family, community… when we tell people, “You belong!” Now, that’s different! That’s light in the darkness. And that’s both different and attractive. More than that, it’s how Jesus lived.
And growing in Christ means living more like Jesus!
Response:
Response:
As we close, I’m not gonna give you steps today. I want you to simply consider a few things and pray about committing...
Have you considered that God created you for community?
Have you considered that - no matter what you’ve heard, what you’ve experienced, what you personally think, what you’ve done, and what others have said about you… the truth is… to God… YOU BELONG. You matter to God and He is inviting you into His family.
Finally, once you’ve considered those things, PRAY! Start a conversation between you and God about how to commit to community:
Maybe that means turning from your sins (repenting) and putting your faith in Jesus for the first time, so you can truly belong to the family of God.
Maybe that means finally committing to church. Maybe you’ve been hopping around to different churches. Or... only showing up to church when it’s convenient.
While the Kingdom of God is not about Sunday attendance, and while the universal church is a real thing (meaning all biblical churches belong to the family of God). The biblical practice of community is experienced through the local church. That is, the group of people (in your local community) who live as a family and gather for worship, in the name of Jesus. Local church matters because it’s really difficult to live in community without proximity.
Maybe this isn’t your home church. That’s fine… but you need to find one. And you need to commit to that community. But maybe this is your home church. If so, let me encourage you… pray, then commit… because you belong here. You are part of our family.
And if you commit to the family of God, you will grow in Christ. Let’s pray...
Father, makes us one, as You are one. Forgive us for our sin. Forgive us for prioritizing separation or our personal preferences. Help us to be humble, gentle, and loving… eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Help us to build community! In Jesus name, amen.
Thanks for joining us for Church Online. If this was your first time joining us, fill out a Connect Card. We’d love to say hi and send you a gift. Also, if you have prayer requests, would like to know more about TRC, or you decided to follow Jesus today - we want to hear from you. And there’s an easy way to do that on our website (riverchurchct.com), or follow the links in the comments below, or you can text TRCConnect to 94000.