The desire for community
Notes
Transcript
The history of community
The history of community
We are starting a new series this week and each week - I want you to feel challenged to be part of this church.
-To go from attending to belonging. To go from showing up to making this a home. To go from, “I’m just here” to “let me pitch in”
Built For Belonging: The Community of Believers
Last week was Easter and one of the major things we talked about is this loneliness epidemic we are part of nowadays.
-Political divide
-Social media
are only making things worse and the suffering is only growing in our culture.
In each of us there’s a great desire for community - TO BELONG. To have people we can say - THESE ARE MY PEOPLE. THIS IS MY FAMILY.
It’s because it’s part of our factory default. It’s how God created us. For it’s how God himself is. Let’s do a little history of community and belonging.
One of the core beliefs of Christianity is that God has always existed. There was no beginning for God and no end. And that’s hard to wrap our brain around because everything in our life has a beginning and end.
-And in the beginning - before God created. There simply was God. A Triune God. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The three-in-1.
-In community. The Father loving the Son and the Spirit. The Son loving the Father and the Spirit and the Spirit loving the Father and the Son.
This is important theology even if confusing. For God has everything he needs inside and from himself. He isn’t lacking anything to be complete. He isn’t ever IN WANT or IN NEED. For in community in the Triune God, God is complete.
He created out of LOVE and overflow of the community. In fact, we see this when God speaks into creation in the very beginning.
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Let US make mankind in our image. To be like us. To “Rule and Reign” like us. This “us” is tough to grasp if we don’t have Trinity understand of Father, Son, and Spirit.
And then God created not one human but 2. Male and female, He created them.
When Genesis zooms in on this picture in Genesis chapter 2. We see a understanding of loneliness.
The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.
But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.”
That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.
It is not good for man to be alone. From the beginning God, said - man is not meant to be lonely.
This is in the perfect garden, in which man walks with God, communes with God, and there has yet to be any sin.
Yet God - said, there needs to be another human for the human to relate to.
He needs a “helpmate” is the literal Hebrew word here.
Helper, assistance, a resource, a lifeline…
a person who contributes to the fulfillment of a need or furtherance of an effort or purpose
This isn’t a word that means “beneath” or “lower” for the same word is used for God multiple times throughout the scriptures. That God will be our helpmate. A God who comes alongside, to help, resource, assist, provide, and be a person to BELONG TO.
Now, the scripture moves it with Adam and Eve towards procreation and marriage. That man and woman shall become ONE.
But this idea of community, this helpmate, is not a sexual term either. Man or woman doesn’t need marriage to be fully human. But they do need EACH OTHER. They do need COMMUNITY.
So we see right off the bat, this idea of community woven into the DNA of humans.
-For it’s how WE are created.
-It’s a gift from God in the garden.
We need to keep moving… for DIVISION becomes part of the fall.
-Adam and Eve decide to break God’s one rule. And chose autonomy over communion with God. Listening and obeying.
And Genesis 3 talks about how division is now part of the FALL — the SIN that plagues our world is DIVISION.
And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
To the woman he said,
“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”
WE choose AUTONOMY and now we GOT IT. We have it. Enmity is part of the water we now drink. We look for ways to divide more than to unite. We look for hate more than love.
And we see this quickly shape up in the history of COMMUNITY. When Cain kills his brother Abel… And his punishment is another banishment further from community.
Genesis 4:10–16 “The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.” Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” But the Lord said to him, “Not so; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. So Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.”
This will become a theme throughout scripture now.
-Nation will rise against nation.
-People against people.
-Brother against brother
-Father against son and son against Father.
-Mother against daughter and daughter against Mother.
We will see wars, backstabbing, murders, treason, narcissistic rulers, rape, mocking, and on and on. People will no longer look to see each other has HELPMATES but as enemies and people that come against our AUTONOMY.
We will see God begin to set up a people to be the example to the rest of the world. To be a new pattern and to be a new people. The Israelites, which has all of it’s own twists and turns.
But in Numbers we see the example set forth by God for his people.
Tabernacle at the center of the camp (where the presence of God resides).
The Levites will camp around this and then each tribe will camp in formation behind the preceding tribe.
This is to be a community under God, around God, centered to God, the source of power, strength, and comfort. A community that is with God.
This illustration is a paradigm for our formation as Christians.
We are to center our whole life around the presence of God and arrange it accordingly.
But it’s also a paradigm for how God views community and BELONGING.
-God be at the center. Arranged around him.
This would then be a model that would later be brought forth by the church. Even the modern church. But we are getting ahead of ourselves a bit in the history of community.
For then Israel settled into their new home - called the Promised Land. Good kings, bad kings, but overall it was a slow decline away from this idea. This community. Kings against their people and people against their king. Which would be people against God and kings against God. It was a mess.
There were kings that came to reform it, but it didn’t stick. Eventually the prophets said, enough is enough. God will send kingdoms from far away to take care of my people.
And Assyria and Babylon would come swooping in ransacking and destroying the Israelites and their two kingdoms of Israel and Judah.
Bringing the people into EXILE.
The exile is where this community theme gets brought forth again. That there would be a remnant and the Jewish people would find ways to build synagogues and still worship their God. To do things that would set them apart, like diet and dress to remind them of what they lost.
But also would build a new community IN EXILE.
Jeremiah 29:4–7 “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.””
Make your home in Babylon, pray for it, bring peace to it. And continue to be the remnant until God draws you home.
And while there was return to Israel in the book of Nehemiah and we see things try to be reestablished again… it’s all pointing to a Messiah that can re-establish his community. With God at the center again.
A Messiah that is good at bringing in lost sheep, and helping those on the fringes, and gifting, equipping, and empowering people that normally wouldn’t be the ones you would think.
Mark 1:16–20 “As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him. When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.”
What do you see in the way that Jesus calls his disciples?
All these things are mentioned in John:
-Families you are from and belong to
-Occupations
John 1 adds in the calling of other disciples with mention of:
- locations/towns/places you are from
-other teachers you’ve followed (John the Baptist)
Jesus calls these people to leave all that and build their lives around HIM. That’s a huge point.
-To be a disciple in that day and age was to leave all else and put your Rabbi first and primary. Live, sleep, work, walk, go wherever he goes.
-To be his apprentice.
This is the NUMBERS thing again but now with the Messiah, Jesus at the center.
Jesus’ plan though is to die, to take our sins and nail them to the cross, rise again, and bring us new life. So we can live with forgiveness and grace. Empowered by it and walking in it. But as he unfolds this plan to a group of disciples that have followed him for three years… they are troubled.
John 14:1 ““Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.”
“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”
Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
“All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
Jesus is implying the Spirit will come and bring peace. The Holy Spirit will show you the way of love and will empower you, be an advocate, and will teach you and remind you. Will make a home in you.
1 John (the same author) reminds us that - this is seen and lived in COMMUNITY… BELONGING.
We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.
Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.
Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.
It goes on to say…
For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
Ok that brings us to today… more or less.
Jesus’s death, resurrection, and sending of the Spirit has now brought forth a beautiful community called the CHURCH.
The antidote to loneliness.
The lighthouse in the storm.
The bride of Christ.
The house of God.
The garden of Jesus.
The body of Christ.
All this is part of the community. But it doesn’t happen if you don’t step into it. The church can’t be the church if you don’t jump in.
God has a solution for the loneliness epidemic and it’s more than just “Jesus” it’s the community of Jesus.
You were built to belong. You were built to belong to each other and to Jesus.
If you are feeling stuck, incomplete, out of sorts, lean into Jesus but also lean into each other.
Learn to listen, learn to share, learn to help and care. Learn to build the church together. Side by side. Arm in arm.
This is just week 1 - we have much more to talk about in this series. But today your challenge is TO LINGER after church. Meet someone, ask a deeper question. Take the conversation a little further than just “hey.”
-if you are watching online, your challenge is to come next week and stick your feet in the waters of this community.
Be part of the community of God, belong to something bigger than yourself. Don’t let the devil convince you to be autonomous but instead let Christ convince you to belong to Praise Covenant Church.
Let’s pray.
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How can understanding the nature of the Triune God deepen our sense of community within the church?
In what ways can we reflect the love and community found within the Trinity in our interactions with one another?
How does the concept of 'helpmate' challenge our understanding of relationships in the church?
What are some specific actions we can take to embody the community ethos that God designed us for?
How does the story of Cain and Abel illustrate the consequences of division in our communities?
In what ways can you actively contribute to creating a sense of belonging in your church community?
How can you practically support someone in your community who might be feeling lonely?
What steps can you take to move from just attending church to genuinely belonging to a church community?
How can you encourage deeper conversations with others in the church and build meaningful relationships?
What are some practical ways to center your life around God's presence and make community a priority?
