Church-Week 4

Unity with Christ Means Community with Believers

We sort of covered this idea in the first message - that a church was universal and local, but not individual.

But we’re getting into the meat and potatoes of it. What does it look like to be a believer - if we say that believers need to exist in community?

Two core scriptures show the realities of it.

Acts 2:42–47 NIV

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Acts 4:32–35 NIV

All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.

“Devoted to Teaching and Fellowship”

This word devoted means, give all our time and attention towards something.

And Paul says - they were focused on receiving teaching.

This isn’t just a singular thing. Paul talks about how there will be people with the gift of teaching. It’s not meant to be just a single person per group.

But the early believers knew - the more I understand this, the more I wrestle with these truths - the better.

It wasn’t enough for them to just read a verse out loud and go, ok, now i’m done for the day. They weren’t there just to be able to repeat or recite. They were there to take the truths of the bible and bring them inside themselves, and apply them as much as possible.

But they were also devoted to fellowship. Fellowship was both meals and prayer together

Christianity is by DEFAULT a community-based faith. ‘The body is incomplete with you , and you are incomplete without the body’.

In fact, a healthy community is an integral part of the evangelistic efforts of any church.

We are an incredibly individualistic society. And sometimes we open up parts of our lives and let other people in, but that’s nowhere near the biblical ideal of community. Luke says that the early believers had ‘everything in common’.

We’re here to help each other grow in Christ together

And this is two parts. Grow in Christ, and Together.

And either priority by itself doesn’t work well. They need to be put together.

We can’t just be getting better - by ourselves

And we can’t just be hanging out together, but never changing or growing

This is a big part of what we try to provide every sunday - a chance to learn and grow, and a chance to connect.

But Sundays - as good as they are, they aren’t enough.

You learn info about the bible here - you experience the importance of it every other day

Gathering together regularly, wrestling with the how to apply - that’s where the bible really takes hold

There’s a really, REALLY simple way for you to apply this one today:

Help Someone Feel More Connected

What’s the single strongest factor that any person considers about whether or not they will stay in a church in the long run. It’s not the pastor, preaching style, sermon length, music style, service style, type of seating, service time, nothing. It’s whether or not that person feels like they belong.

I was in a big church once, and that church had a bunch of small groups, and one of those small groups had an internal rule - ‘Anyone alone at church is a crisis’. As much as they were there to grow together, get to know each other as a small group - they knew the mission.

Use your time and your focus to help someone feel welcome. Get to know someone you don’t recognize, or don’t know well. Spend actual time with someone else outside of your social circle.

We don’t have to be close knit with everyone, but everyone’s gotta be close knit with someone.

This is how we build our next point - that they were

“One Heart and Mind”

This is probably the toughest one.

It doesn’t mean that there was no disagreement or difference on any topic. What it means is - we take great pains to understand and to focus on the actual source of our unity.

If you go to a convention, or a concert, or anything like that, odds are, every person there is sharing some general interest. I want to get this thing, to meet that person, hear that band, learn about this topic, etc. It’s a unity of similarity.

The people there could be said to be in unity, because they all share common interests.

But we’re more than that.

Ephesians 4:3–6 NIV

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.

In the church - it’s not about ‘common interests’ or ‘common styles’. It’s about all the “ones” that we share in Christ.

There’s one body - that means that there’s one church.

We’re a local expression of that universal truth.

But to be a part of the body of Christ is for the infinite God of the universe to say, ‘I’ve accepted that one into my family’.

Who are we to tell God, ya, but, look at this guy. Maybe you didn’t notice that he dresses differently than I do.

One spirit working through each one of us.

If someone is following Jesus - they’ve been filled with the same Spirit you have.

In fact, the act of becoming a believer is where God comes and he makes his home inside of us. The Spirit looks at us and says, ‘I want to be there with that person’. But we say - ‘Ya, I don’t.’

One hope for us all.

We all come with our own agendas, but God is drawing us all together towards HIS plan.

One Lord / faith / baptism.

We worship Jesus. Whatever language we do it in - we’re focused on the same person.

We preach the same approach to him by faith.

When we baptize, we dedicate people to the same lord and the same commitment

And the one God that we all follow

he’s over every one of us, working through every one of us, and in every one of us.

Whenever paul says, I want you to be of one heart or one mind or united, what he’s saying is,

The ONES you have in Christ are more important than anything else

Someone else seems very different than you? The Lord has made us one body - we’re MEANT to be together, close as family.

Someone has radically different skills than you? The same spirit that works through you is enabling them to serve .

Now this all requires a genuinely, life-changing, full commitment to Christ.

Paul readily acknowledges that many people will be here but not for the same reasons, the same faith, or the same Lord.

But even in that case. 1 corinthians 11, paul says, for sure there will be differences to show who’s actually right with God. But EVEN THEN, love and respect and honor each other. Our “rightness” (here in gigantic air quotes, because if we’re really in Christ, that’s not going to be something we can hold over someone else anyways) isn’t an excuse to drive someone away who isn’t the same as us.

You’ll always have your own ONES - so learn to give them up to Christ

Paul’s given us a series of questions to ask.

Are we in the same body? Do we have the same spirit? Do we recognize the same Lord? Do we follow the same faith?

And the biggest part about being the church is, learning how little all the other ONES really are.

Do we like the same things? Do we listen to the same music? Do we have the same kind of personalities? Do we come from the same place? Do we watch the same sport?

In comparison to The Holy Spirit in our hearts, belonging to the body of Christ, following Jesus with the same faith -these other ONES don’t matter.

So get rid of them. If Jesus is telling you, you don’t need this ONE. Then guess what? We don’t need that ONE.

But we like our ONES. We have them because they are things we enjoy.

STORY - I like to BBQ.

1 Corinthians 8:13 “Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.”

Paul says, however much you like steak - love your brother or sister more. And if you have to give one up - keep the person.

Because after all,

This is how Jesus loved us

1 John 4:10 NIV

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

The cross is the ultimate expression of God’s love. And God’s love tells us that Jesus would rather sacrifice His life than abandon His children.

And this is a message for every person out there who doesn’t know Christ.

But for those of us who do: What right do we have as believers to do any less? When we stand before the Lord, I want to be able to say - I know you sacrificed everything to be able to bring people in. And I tried my hardest to do the same thing.

Paul in 1 corinthians had 4 pillars of Christian Unity

Focusing on the cross (1 Cor 1:18-2:5)

Understanding true spiritual wisdom (1 Cor 2:6-16)

Recognizing the fundamental equality of all believers (1 Cor 3:1-23)

Treating Christian leaders appropriately (1 Cor 4:1-21)

‘Christianity is a God-directed, Christ-defined, other-oriented religion’ (NIVAC ephesians)

Our own ego is often the source of the biggest struggle.

any aspect of the christian faith that holds any power is held with other people. Even the very personal idea of salvation - God saves you, but he saves ALL of us, and knits us together.

This unity was not about conformity or similarity (God did not call us to unity in that we’ll all see it the exact same way, or agree on every topic).

The world has a very, ‘you do you, and i’ll do me’ mentality. But faith is, ‘we do what Christ says’.

Unity is based on two distinct emphasis - DIVERSITY and RESPONSIBILITY

Different is good, and you need to do things

Ephesians 4:11–13 “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and 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.”

Ministry takes place, in the body, to equip others for service - so that we reach unity and maturity

This verse isn’t talking about hierarchy (apostles/prophets/evangelists etc up top, congregation down low) but rather of function (apostles/prophets/evangelists role is serving and equipping)

Romans 12:6 “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. ”

Too many emphasize, ‘church is something others do for me’. Church is defined by, someone playing music for me, and someone else preaching to me.

Both are essential - but every single man, woman and child has a responsibility to build up the church. And every single one of us is essential.

A church can function without a worship team, or a preacher, or a building. It cannot function without unity, and without the corporate responsibility of the believers

If God’s love and power is really so great - we should be able to live in light of it in every possible area of our lives

John 13:35 “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.””

Unity and community are the easiest ways to both practice and demonstrate the transformative power of the gospel

This love NEEDS to not start in human motivation - it is supernaturally empowered

Our unity is not something we create - it’s based in the oneness of God and the gospel. God makes us one - we simply deny the parts of ourselves that try and make it otherwise

STORY - Some therapists will say in a healthy marriage, ‘there is no scoreboard’. That’s garbage. There’s absolutely a scoreboard, and you should try to win at every opportunity. The problem is - it’s not you versus your wife. It’s you AND your wife versus whatever problem that exists.

To first century jews, the individual was intimately tied to their community. ‘The individual does not have real existence apart from the whole people’ (Tyndale bible dictionary)

An early punishment for someone in Israel was ‘being cutoff from the people’. And this was a big deal.

This same fundamental connection ‘is the background for the intimate connection Paul makes between “the first Adam” and sinful humanity as well as between “the last (or second) Adam” (Christ) and renewed humanity (1 Cor 15:45–49; see also Rom 5:12–21)’ (Tyndale bible dictionary)

‘Unity with Christ means Community with Christians’

Galatians 3:27 “for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”

This kind of unity is supposed to be where traditional barriers of human society are overcome

‘There is no such thing as a christian in isolation’. This doesn’t mean that God rejects you unless you are standing next to someone. It means that God’s plan is for you to exist within a vibrant and personal community, not apart from one.

What does unity ACTUALLY look like?

(NOT SURE IF THIS FITS) Is it ‘satisfy your needs and desires privately, so long as it doens’t hurt others’?

This is the push of some human ways of promoting unity. ‘What does it matter, so long as no one gets hurt?