Like Jesus - Community

Introduction

I attended my first Souly Business men’s retreat almost 7 years ago and the beginning of the weekend, you get a chance to introduce yourself and you are supposed to answer a simple question: Why do you think God has you here?

I introduced myself and for that final question, I told this joke. Many people argue about what miracle of Jesus was his greatest, was it feeding the 5000, walking on water, raising Lazarus from the dead or what? I think Jesus greatest miracle was having 12 close friends at 30 years old.

The reason I shared that was because I was in my 30s and didn’t feel like I had any close friends and so I told the group, I was there to find my brothers. I certainly found them there. God has really blessed me with a great community of men.

And the beautiful part is, that’s not my only community. I have a really good community with many of you as well. My church is also my community. So I’m going to ask you this morning.

“Why do you think God has you here?”

PAUSE

Now, I can’t answer that question for you totally, but I will tell you this. I think God has you here in part…for community.

Good morning and thank you for joining us. If you are here for the first time welcome. If you are watching online, welcome.

We are in a series called “Like Jesus” and the point of this series is that God, through Christ Jesus, created us a model to follow. He is our chief example and our desire, our longing should be…to be Like Him.

Today we are going to talk about community. Jesus had 12 close friends. He had three really close friends - Peter, James and John. He also had people like Lazarus, Mary and Martha, who he was so close to that when Lazarus died, we get one of the most touching verses in the Bible, Jesus wept.

Jesus had community. He loved and cared for those who he surrounded himself with. He served them and cried over them. He modeled for us, how we should live in those things.

Today, I want to look at the Scriptures and what many call the Law of Christ. Join with me on the app, if you’d like to follow along with the sermon notes. We will also have some notes on the screen.

MAIN TEXT

John 13:34 ESV

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

Jesus in this passage is talking to his disciples and he gives them what is commonly known as the “Law of Christ.” The Law of Christ is a term that that Apostle Paul uses to describe loving others well. It’s a callback to this new commandment that Jesus gives his disciples.

He says that the Law of Christ is fullfilled when we bear one another’s burdens in Galatians 6:2 and he says that even though we are no longer under the Old Testament law, we are under the Law of Christ.

1 Corinthians 9:21 ESV

To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law.

This is an important text. We are in this series called Like Jesus and this text illustrates for us a couple of things.

We are to love others like Jesus loves us.

In order to be like Jesus, it requires you to be apart of the lives of others.

Listen, for many of us, we understand that we need to love others, but we have bought into the lie that we can do that without being involved in their lives.

This is the lie, that we can love others well from a distance. Jesus did not love others from a distance. He was in heaven and he came down to us. Got right up in our grill. He didn’t hide away and shout I love you, but he came down and dwelt among us.

In regards to community, Jesus was…

Deliberate - He sought after people. He wanted friends and disciples. He looked for them. He spent time with them on purpose.

Relational - He related to people. He laughed with them. Cried with them. Was fun to be around.

Vulnerable - Jesus was open about the secret side of his life. He didn’t hide things from others. He shared his struggles and invited people in (think the garden prayers before his death).

These are the three areas that we all struggle to connect.

We struggle to be intentional with relationships. We tend to wait for things to happen to us, rather than intentionally seeking it out.

We struggle to be relational. Most of our relationships now are virtual, even among co-workers. A lot of us live in a virtual world with texting and emails. You cannot hear someone’s laugh via text, instead we send an emoji. You cannot cry with someone over email, instead we send “our thoughts and prayers.”

We also really struggle on being vulnerable and I think that’s the cause of a lot of our depression. People put their best life forward on the social media apps. Facebook and Instagram has multiplied our ability to hide in plain sight. Aside from that, some of y'all don’t even look like your photo online, because of the filters.

But even if you aren’t online, most of us do the same thing at church. We put up a false self, a fake persona when we come here or go to work or just have to do some peopling.

With this in mind, let’s look at three things that being in true community requires and what it will produce if we have it.

Community Requires Intentionality

First things first, if you are going to be in true community, it will require that you be intentional. You don’t accidentally have community. It doesn’t happen by osmosis.

You have to intentionally seek it. STORY OF AUTUMN.

You cannot have community by just hoping for it, or thinking about it deeply. You won’t get it by waiting for others to reach out. You have to be intentional to find community.

What that means practically is that you are the one responsible for how connected you are here and in other communities in your life. Don’t be afraid to reach out to people. Please don’t wait for others to pursue you, reach out to them.

Don’t blame others for your lack of effort, for your lack of intentionality.

To be like Jesus, you have to pursue. Parable of the lost sheep, parable of the lost coin. Jesus pursues people.

Community Requires Presence

True community is not online and its not distant. Jesus was present with his disciples. God doesn’t just bark orders from on high, he came down and tabernacled with us. He dwelt with us. He lived out bodily presence.

Today, we are told many lies. Here’s two I can think of quickly.

You can just watch church online, you don’t need to actually go.

You don’t need to go to church, you need to be the church.

These are obviously lies because community requires presence. And here’s another indisputable fact, you need community. There are so many people dealing with anxiety, depression, feelings of helplessness, bitterness, unforgiveness, hurt, trauma and so on.

All of these things are eliminated or alleviated through community.

God created us as Christians to be present. He created us to be part of a body - his body! It’s called the body of christ not the individuals of Christ.

1 Corinthians 12:27 ESV

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

In other words, you can’t be the body of Christ by yourself. You can’t be the church on your own. You must be present.

We live in a world where we like to say that God is at the top of our priority list, but we only come to church once a month. That’s being double-minded.

You can’t say I’m apart of the church without attending it. That’s like someone saying they are married, but they don’t spend time with their spouse. God expects for us to be a part of a local church body, present in the body and participating.

And there is a purpose behind all of this. God’s desire is that you come to church and build up others and be edified or built up yourself as well. That’s the point. That’s why I can confidently say that being present in the body helps alleviate depression and anxiety.

Community Requires Confession

For us to be truly relational people, we have to be vulnerable. The Bible talks about a tool given to every believer to help with this. It’s called confession.

Now, I’m not talking about the Catholic form of this, going into a dark booth in anonymity and spilling your beans. And to be honest, protestant churches don’t do a great job of modeling this historically.

But this is what our home groups should be allowing for and modeling. When we gather together in a smaller group setting, that is an opportunity for us to let down our walls and be vulnerable with the body.

Now, some of us hear confession and we think it is only referring to the confession of sins and certainly it does allow for that. But it is also talking about confession of struggles. It’s actually, I think, referring to any place in your life that needs healing. That’s the confession we need and that confession must be made in community

James 5:16 ESV

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

I heard the latter part of that verse taken out of context for so long that I didn’t realize it wasn’t a standalone verse. But it’s not. It’s connected to this same thought. When we confess and pray for each other, there is great power in that type of prayer.

But this verse also holds another key to community. True godly community produces something.

True Community Produces Healing

When we come together in true community, we are healed. Like Jesus brought healing to Peter and James and John, healing their inner conflicts and inadequacies. He brought healing to his friends, even raising Lazarus from the dead. He brought healing to the crowds, healing the sick and casting out demons.

All of that was not done in a hidden room somewhere, but out. Out in the open. Out where others could see. Out where others could receive. Jesus did his ministry in the public.

He wasn’t a lone ranger, he was part of his body, in fact, Paul calls him the head of the body.

Now, one thing I want to end with is a warning. Communities are messy. If you haven’t been hurt by someone in this church, hang in there, you probably will. If you haven’t been hurt by me, not intentionally, but just something I said or did, rubbed you the wrong way, guess what? It’s probably coming. It’s not intentional, but we are just human.

And honestly, it’s in that place that we actually do find true community.

While we would like to avoid the mess and enjoy deep and intimate community, God says that it is in the very process of working through the mess that intimacy [and true community] is found.

Todd Wilson

We can’t avoid the mess and still be in a body. There’s no way. The churches Paul wrote letters to all had problems, but they all enjoyed true deep community.

In other words, if you want this type of deep community, you are going to have to get your hands dirty. You are going to have to climb into someone’s mess with them.

Conclusion

“Why does God have you here?”

Join a home group

If you watch online, resolve to come in person.

Come and share your gifts with the body.

Come to prayer night.

Join the Bible College.

Join the women’s group.

Serve.