Why God Brings Us Together

Have you ever wondered why these other people go to this church?

I mean, you look around here, especially if you’ve been here for a while and you ask “what are you doing here?”

And you don’t mean it like - YOU?!?! What are YOU doing here??? I’m surprised to see you in church today...

You’re more like these people here at church, especially the ones I don’t know well… what purpose do they have in my life?

What purpose do the people that are older, younger, married, single, with children, without children, empty nesters, pre-k parents, teenagers.... what do the folks that are different from me really have for me?

It’s a good question.

Cecil is a woman who was a member of a church that I used to pastor.

During the season of life we were there she had a great husband, a couple of adult children, and a teenager.

Cecil had a perspective though about her life that I want to commend to you today.

Cecil believed it was import to always have people that she was discipling, and people in her life that were discipling her.

So she reached out to women in the church that she didn’t really have to.

Younger women who were recently married, maybe had small children… but were kind of trying to figure things out.

She didn’t have to - but she felt compelled to help these young moms and offer herself to them.

So once a month she’d have a group of women over, do a cooking project with them or something like that, and talk about God’s word and disciple a group of ladies in our church.

My wife was a beneficiary of Cecil’s discipleship.

And that’s what we have for one another.

The question is worth asking - who are you being discipled by and who are you discipling?

It’s one of the reasons God designed the church to be multifaceted, diverse, like a human body with various parts and functions - so that we can help each other grow!

This morning I am going to challenge each of about our relationships within the church and encourage you to look at the members of this church, see one another, as those who you can disciple and those who you can be discipled by.

Let’s open our Bibles to Luke 1.

I want us to see why God brings us together.

We’re going to use this passage today to look at the benefits of being in a discipleship relationship.

This story is about two godly women who God is using to advance his mission and how a singular point in their relationship together displayed God’s profound work.

It illustrates for us three benefits of being in relationship with each other:

In relationship we experience God together (Luke 1:39-41)

The first benefit of being in relationship together is that we experience God together.

This is the infancy narrative of Jesus as told in Luke’s Gospel. Luke is concerned with giving a reliable account of the “the things that have been accomplished among us… so that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught” (Luke 1:1, 4).

So he is setting up the story of Jesus and his life with giving the background and details surrounding the birth of Jesus.

Luke wants to show that Jesus’ birth is a fulfillment and a display of God’s activity in the world to accomplish his Word.

So God sets up what we might call a “preview of coming attractions” - he sends a teaser/trailer to wake up everyone to see his work in the world.

It was a familiar story line, one that would clue people in to God’s work very easily.

An old, barren, child-less woman would conceive a child with her husband.

This is Elizabeth, pregnant with the child (John the Baptist), God described as one who will be:

Luke 1:15–17 (ESV)

15 …great before the Lord… and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

And then in the story there is Mary.

She also receives a miraculous word and work of God.

She is a unmarried, teen, virgin and it is announced to her that she will conceive a child in her womb from the Holy Spirit.

God reveals to Mary that Elizabeth, who is a relative, is also expecting and pregnant

Luke 1:37 ESV

37 For nothing will be impossible with God.”

So these two women, one old and barren, past the age of child-bearing. One young and a virgin, are both pregnant by God’s power and work.

And they receive much encouragement and support from one another.

Mary travels to Elizabeth (who lives in the a town in Judah) to see the truth of what God has told her.

Not only does she have her own story to share of God’s work in her life, but she wants to hear and know first-hand the power of God in the life of her relative.

Now as Mary enters the house and greets Elizabeth something physical happens:

The baby (John) leaps in her womb!

There is a joyful recognition that Elizabeth is pregnant, and Mary is pregnant as well from the Holy Spirit.

God is at work!

God is confirming to these two women what he is doing is true and good and the means by which he is unfolding his redemptive plans.

Can you image that experience of God’s affirmation and activity that these two women share?

Every time the families are together it probably was brought up.

Whenever Mary would think about or talk with Elizabeth it was in their memory.

The boys would implicated with the memory when they grew up.

“John, you jumped 30 ft inside your moms womb when Mary came over pregnant with Jesus! Lifted your mom right off the ground…”

Apply:

This is a really powerful thing we should do more often - identify where God is at work and share it.

I call it “Evidences of Grace” and I begin every single staff meeting with our team here, and with our Life Group Leaders and Worship Team asking them to identify and speak out where God is at work.

While you can journal those things and think about them yourself, the benefit to each other that this provides is massive.

It’s one of the benefits of our relationships together.

Expository Thoughts on Luke, Vol. 1 Luke 1:39–45: The Virgin Mary’s Visit to Elisabeth

We should always regard communion with other believers as an eminent means of grace. It is a refreshing break in our journey along the narrow way to exchange experience with our fellow travellers. It helps us insensibly and it helps them, and so is a mutual gain. It is the nearest approach that we can make on earth to the joy of heaven.

You should have someone you share “evidences of grace” with regularly.

Again Ryle has said that “friendship doubles our joys and halves our sorrows.”

Having a discipleship relationship with other believers that you can share your experiences of God and his grace.

The Lone Ranger, solo Christian, is unheard of in Scripture.

We should always be thinking about who is discipling us and who we are discipling.

Who are you experiencing the goodness of and grace of God with? Who are you discipling to look for those things? Who is discipling you to experience these things?

So benefit #1 - relationship help us experience God together

Benefit #2 of being in relationship with other Christians:

In relationship we encourage one another (Luke 1:42-45)

Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit and she in great excitement speaks.

Literally she eulogizes - speaks highly and favorably of someone.

It seems that the Holy Spirit disclosed to her mind that Mary was pregnant and the child was the Son of God.

So she’s very ecstatic about God’s work and blessing on Mary.

Consider how encouraging these words would have been to a young, virgin girl who had recently discovered that she was pregnant because God choose to use her to bring into the world the Messiah.

She may have felt discouraged, confused, anxious at the reputation she would have for being pregnant and not being married.

Yet Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, speaks words that build up, encourage and support.

Luke 1:42–45 ESV

42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

Her exclamation carries four facets

She eulogizes Mary - “highly favored above women”

She eulogizes the Baby - blessed is the child in your womb.

She identifies grace - why should I be the one the mother of the Lord should visit?

She prompts towards flourishing - happy (makarois) - is the one who believed there would be a fulfillment (v. 45)

I take from this a posture of two things we should do in our discipleship relationships to encourage each other.

Eulogize each other

Remember God’s grace // “blessings” point us to God’s grace

Why wait until someone is dead to encourage them and point out God’s grace in their life?

There is a drought of encouragement in our lives today. No one can be over-encouraged.

The world is full of hate, hurt, bitterness, anger, division, criticism, and complaint.

Not false flattery - but true encouragement and lifting up the other.

Our world is in destroy mode.

All across the board we’re verbally taking down other people. Most of whom we don’t know, but we feel that we have the liberty to slander other people on social media just because it’s there.

For the follow of Jesus is should be different.

We have limitless resources to eulogize and build up, to bless others with our words.

That’s what our tongue is for - to bless those made in the image of God, not to curse them!

We’ve been the recipient of blessing immensely.

And followers of Jesus have it in no short supply!

Christ didn’t come for you because you were doing great and needed applause because of your perfect performance.

You and I were so far off the mark, so filthy and lost in our sins.

We were like the thief on the cross next to Jesus spewing completely vile and hate-filled blasphemy against him.

And yet, “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” - Rom 5:8

If you struggle to encourage and bless, or eulogize others then friend, look to the cross of Jesus Christ and the word he speaks towards you - you are dearly loved - and let that warm your heart to encourage and bless.

Keep looking to Christ until your heart gets there to encourage others!

Exhort to believe God’s promises

This isn’t rebuke, condemn, bury under the heavy hand of “I’m right”

Exhort means simply to help someone else remember what is true.

Elizabeth says ‘blessed/happy’ are you Mary because you believed what God said

Do you see the encouragement there?

Great - you trusted God, let’s keep going.

Exhorting one another is encouraging one another to listen to God’s word about our world and our situations and believe his true and greater promises.

It’s walking alongside another believer and saying “you know what, you hear a lot of things these day, the voices are non-stop and loud, but let’s listen to what God says!”

This of course means you know what God says in the Word and can direct someone else to what he says, it takes wisdom and maturity, but we can point each other again and again to what God says and encourage each other to believe him.

You may just want to tell your friend about God’s nature - he is good, gracious, glorious, great!

God is faithful - he never fails at keeping his promises, believe him!

We need each other to encourage us and we need to be encouragers!

We need each other to exhort us and we need to be exhorted!

Who is doing that in your life? Who are you doing that for?

Benefit #1 - We experience God together

Benefit #2 - We encourage one another

Benefit #3 -

In relationship we envision God’s plan in our lives (Luke 1:46-56)

What is God doing in the lives of two pregnant women?

One past age of bearing children, the other a virgin teen girl...

Unfolding his redemptive plans for the world.

Now it’s Mary’s turn to exult.... She says (or sings) this amazing prayer about the faithfulness and work of God.

I’ll save the deep dive of the content of the prayer for another message but the outline looks like this:

1) Mary exults with a praise about God’s work in her life (vv. 46-49)

God has elevated her (all generations will call her blessed)

God has done mighty things for her

2) Mary invites all to fear him (v. 50) - his mercy is for all

3) Mary points to future work in which the Messiah will enact in his coming. (vv. 51-55)

God is faithful to his promises!

By speaking/sharing this with Elizabeth we’re seeing a mutual reminder and focus on God’s promises and work in Christ.

We might ask, What is God doing in our lives?

On one hand we could agree with John Piper when he says, “God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them.”

But I want to be aware of the three… how do I know those things?

That’s why relationships as Christians are necessary and beneficial.

With Bible open, and in community together, we can see and envision his work in our lives and in the world.

It’s when we get alone that we are in danger and can’t see well.

Verse 56 states that Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months.

Perhaps this song was something that Elizabeth and Mary reflected on often together in the three months that Mary was there.

The template of the song is helpful to envision what God is doing and it’s a helpful structure for you in a discipling relationship…

Talk about God’s work in the past (v. 46-49)

What has he done? Where has he been faithful? Who is he?

Talk about God’s work in the present (v. 50)

How is Gods’ grace hitting home in your need right now?

Talk about God’s work in the future (vv. 51-55)

What is God doing in the world? What are his global purpose and promises? How are you living in partnership with his purposes?

Conclusion:

So why are you here?

Why is that person across the room, who you don’t know here?

Why is the friend that you are in a Life Group with part of this comunity?

What has God brought us together? — to build up each other in Christ!

So we all become like him.

So who are you discipling, who is discipling you?

That person that you need might be here today… would you reach out, open up, and seek to grow?

That person that needs you might also be here today… will you open your life and heart and begin to help them become like Jesus?

We all need a discipleship relationship - it’s how the church grows together, how we see Christ and his work in our lives and remember the gospel!

Who are you being discipled by? Who is discipling you?