God's design for growth

Intro

There is something about natural disasters that bring us all together.

I’ve been thinking a lot, this week about the word community. Often when we think about community, we think of it as phyiscal noun. A place where we find ourselves. I liked the defition below the first, where community is defined as a fellowship.

I’ve been personally examining what communities I am currently a part of. I’ve got my church community, or family rather. I have my work community. I’ve got my school community. I’ve got a community of friends in my life. I have of course my community of family, and also now the family community I have married into. I spend a lot of my time in 3 local area communities, such as Boone, Banner Elk, and even Mountain City. I also think a great deal about communities I have grown up in, in Charlotte, and Asheville, and Collegedale, Berrien Springs, MI, all my families roots to the states of Alabama and Florida. Then there is common interests communities, I’m apart of. I belong to sports fan communities, many of you know my love for disc golf, Ive been a part of 2 disc golf clubs. Playing regular golf even just occasionally, has placed me in a larger comunity people. Reading books, often can place you in extended communities of people. And of course social media places you suddenly in communities of people living all spread out.

a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals. I’ve been personally examining what communities I am currently a part of. I’ve got my church community, or family rather. I have my work community. I’ve got my school community. I’ve got a community of friends in my life. I have of course my community of family, and also now the family community I have married into. I spend a lot of my time in 3 local area communities, such as Boone, Banner Elk, and even Mountain City. I also think a great deal about communities I have grown up in, in Charlotte, and Asheville, and Collegedale, Berrien Springs, MI, all my families roots to the states of Alabama and Florida. Then there is common interests communities, I’m apart of. I belong to sports fan communities, many of you know my love for disc golf, Ive been a part of 2 disc golf clubs. Playing regular golf even just occasionally, has placed me in a larger community people. Reading books, often can place you in extended communities of people. And of course social media places you suddenly in communities of people living all spread out.

I want to go on record, as telling you, of all the communities I am a part of, the community of faith I am a part of is the most important to me. My faith community extends into my family, how I choose to carry myself within other communities. It all comes back to my community of faith. Like it or not the communities we are apart of affect us. Our community of faith has the ability to empower us to affect positively the other communities we are a part of. When I started studying the Biblical purposes of community, I started to connect that God designed intentionally for us to be in communities for us to grow. Today we are going to look at God’s design for growth, through community. Before we go further, lets take a moment to pray.

One of the movies I enjoyed as a kid and still do today, is Homeward Bound. It was a movie made based on the novel and older movie, called “the incredible journey.” In homeward bound, tells the story of 3 pets, 2 dogs and a cat that escape their dog sitter who lives in a wilderness part of the state fearing their owners had abandoned them. The newest member of the pet gang is Chance, a young athletic pitbull mix. He was adopted from the pound, where he had been abandoned previously. He isn’t suprised to be left behind by his family. But Shadow, the wise old Golden Retreiver and Sassy the cat, believe something bad has happened, and head out through the wilderness to find their family, who had only left the pets temporarily. As the pets navigate the rugged countryside, they disagree at times but ultimately each of them has a crowning moment that saves the others. With Shadow, it was loyalty and instincts, mentorship, with Chance, it was improvisation skills, and with sassy, well she was the only one able to fish and feed her two canine companions. Ultimately, despite their obstacles, they do make it home to the family, largely because of helping each other all the way. At the end of the movie, Chance comes to the realization he has found a real home.

It may sound strange, but a churched community can be as diverse as 3 pets. Different personalities, different skill sets, also different weaknesses. For some of you even, you might never have spent any time together whatsoever, except for the fact that you are apart of the same church community.

When the church is working right, it becomes a place where our old nature and our old instincts begin to die and we start thinking completely different about the people around us. People who we might never have associated with before, or people who we never would have thought we would befriend, suddenly become our brothers and sisters. And we find ourselves wanting to bring in more and more of those who might not belong anywhere else—we find a place for them. And our herd, our community, becomes a place of love and service; a place where people experience the transforming power of Jesus as work in their lives.

When the church is working right, it becomes a place where our old nature and our old instincts begin to die and we start thinking completely different about the people around us. People who we might never have associated with before, or people who we never would have thought we would befriend, suddenly become our brothers and sisters. And we find ourselves wanting to bring in more and more of those who might not belong anywhere else—we find a place for them. And our herd, our community, becomes a place of love and service; a place where people experience the transforming power of Jesus as work in their lives.

If there is one theme that permeates Paul’s letter to the Philippians, it’s this theme of sacrificial love and service. It’s the way that Paul introduces himself and Timothy right in the first sentence in 1:1, where he says, “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus.” It’s at the heart of chapter 2; the famous passage which describes how Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords descended to become one of us; even more than that, he descended to become servant to us.

Paul was in prison, when he was writing to the philippians. He was at a point where he may have been tempted to feel alone. But the context seems to suggest, his real concern was for his community of believers he was connected. His feelings were for their own feelings loneliness and possible disconnect with God. This is a letter; a letter from a friend to a group of friends. From a very real person with real problems, feelings and character, to a real group of people with their own unique character and issues. He is far from his home. Far from his friends. Unable to carry out the calling that he is so passionate about, which is to share the message of Jesus with whoever he can, wherever he can. And in this prison, he feels an incredible sense of distance from his friends in Philippi , people that he cares deeply about.

But he has not been completely alone. Things are not all bad. Paul has a couple loyal companions.

He is far from his home. Far from his friends. Unable to carry out the calling that he is so passionate about, which is to share the message of Jesus with whoever he can, wherever he can. And in this prison, he feels an incredible sense of distance from his friends in Philippi , people that he cares deeply about.

This is a letter; a letter from a friend to a group of friends. From a very real person with real problems, feelings and character, to a real group of people with their own unique character and issues.

What makes Philippians 2 so meaningful is the impression that two of his very good friends, Timothy and Epaphroditus, have been around. And what we see in these verses is how they have served as connecting points between him and the church in Philippi . They have blessed him as friends right there in prison. But they have also been a link between him and his faraway friends.

We see this in the way that Paul speaks about Timothy. In verse 19, Paul talks about how he hopes to send Timothy to them as soon as possible. You’ll notice that in his description of Timothy, the servant theme comes right to the front again. you have your bibles turn to Philippians 2:19

Listen to how he talks about Timothy in verses 20-23:

I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel. I hope, therefore, to send him as soon as I see how things go with me.

19 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. 20 For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. 21 For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. 22 But you know Timothy’s proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel. 23 I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me, 24 and I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also.

One of the important pieces of background information that his helpful to know about the letter to the Philippians is that one of the issues that the Philippian church was struggling with was over bad teaching by self-focused teachers. There were people at work in the community who were trying to gain power and authority over everyone and were willing to talk down Paul in order to get what they wanted.

His response to the leadership crisis in Philippi is to send two of his friends to them to address the situation. In these two friends we see the ingredients of true community.

The first is Timothy. What you’ll notice about Timothy is that he doesn’t get sent to Philippi to help resolve their issues because he has such great credentials in teaching and leadership. It’s not that he has more skills. The one qualification that makes Timothy the perfect person to visit them is his character: he has a servant heart. He is completely unselfish. His main goal is not to focus on his own interests, but that of Jesus. Timothy lives his life in complete contrast to the teachers in Philippi .

With just a few short words, Paul adds Timothy to the list of examples that he’s been using to teach the Philippians what servanthood really is. He began with Jesus, quoting a marvelous hymn in chapter 2:

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

Then in chapter 2:17, he gives his own testimony, talking about how he is being poured out like a drink offering, which is an incredibly vivid picture of suffering for Jesus. And then points out Timothy, who truly takes an interest in their welfare and is focused on Jesus in everything. It is the faith and character of Timothy that makes him eminently qualified to deal with the unbalanced leadership in Philippi . They are out for their own gain and advantage. Timothy is all about Jesus and only Jesus.

So the first example of community is Paul’s friend Timothy. His second example of community is his friend Epaphroditus. We know a fair bit about Timothy because we can read about him in other places in Scripture. But this is the only place in the Bible where we read about Epaphroditus, so we know nothing of his background.

Timothy and Epaphroditus provide the perfect set of gifts for a hurting church. In Timothy, we see someone who embodies Truth in a beautiful way. Because of his character, he is the perfect person to model what it means to have the mind of Christ, to counteract the craziness that’s going on in the church. Timothy doesn’t just know the Truth of Jesus, he lives it.

Well, if Timothy embodies truth, then perhaps we could say that Epaphroditus embodies love. Specifically, he represents Paul’s love for the Philippians. Going back to the idea of community, that we are gang of pets like in homeward bound, brought together, in their desire to be back with their owners, so are we in our desire to be with Jesus, Timothy and Epaphroditus gives us a beautiful example of what it looks like to help foster beautiful community. They embody the two ingredients that help the church function at its best: truth and love. Let’s take a closer look at just who Epaphroditus was and how he demonstrated strong Christian love.

Epaphroditus seems to have been sent to Paul by the Philippian church. They were so concerned about Paul’s condition in prison, that they sent someone to go and care for him on their behalf. If, as we believe he was, Paul was in Caesarea , than the journey from Philippi took more than a month, most of it by ship. This was no small commitment of time and money. We know that it was a challenging journey because Paul tells us that Epaphroditus became so ill on the way that he almost died.

a closer look at just who Epaphroditus was and how he demonstrated strong Christian love.

Epaphroditus seems to have been sent to Paul by the Philippian church. They were so concerned about Paul’s condition in prison, that they sent someone to go and care for him on their behalf. If, as we believe he was, Paul was in Caesarea , than the journey from Philippi took more than a month, most of it by ship. This was no small commitment of time and money. We know that it was a challenging journey because Paul tells us that Epaphroditus became so ill on the way that he almost died.

So the Philippians sent Epaphroditus to Paul to encourage him. Now, after he has been with him for a while, Paul is sending Epaphroditus back to the Philippians, likely carrying this letter with him.

What’s so interesting about Epaphroditus is the way that Paul introduces him in verse 25. He calls him, “my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier.” These are fascinating words. Bible scholars point out that each word in the original Greek language holds deep meaning, each one deeper than the one before it. These descriptions build on each other, and so it appears that that Paul is using them intentionally. And each of these words serves as a great picture of how a community of Christ followers can grow deeper in Him.

The first word that Paul uses to describe Epaphroditus is “brother.” It’s a favourite word of Paul’s. He often describes the people he is connected to as brothers. It was an inclusive word. Today, we would use the term brothers and sisters. A number of modern translations reflect the spirit of Paul’s tone here by doing exactly that, replacing “brothers” with “brothers and sisters.”

With this word, Paul is letting the Philippian Christians know that he has a connection with them that goes beyond the fact that they just happen to share the same faith in Jesus. They have a heart-connection with each other. They know each other. They have worshiped together and experienced God together.

The second word that Paul uses to describe Epaphroditus is “fellow worker.” Here, the connection goes to another level. Now it’s not simply about a personal connection on a faith level. This is about serving together. Paul and Epaphroditus didn’t just hang out together as friends, they worked together. They have served as partners in the mission that this has been powerful for Paul.

The second word that Paul uses to describe Epaphroditus is “fellow worker.” Here, the connection goes to another level. Now it’s not simply about a personal connection on a faith level. This is about serving together. Paul and Epaphroditus didn’t just hang out together as friends, they worked together. They have served as partners in the mission that this has been powerful for Paul.

Epaphroditus was not content to just watch from the stands, he had to get onto the playing field. He’s in the game. And when Paul thinks about Epaphroditus, he can’t help but think of all they have accomplished and experienced together as they served God. Together, they have made a dent in the Kingdom of darkness and were used by God to make a difference. There is a sense of rich accomplishment and satisfaction in their relationship. “Epaphroditus, you are my fellow worker, my partner, my teammate.”

The final word that Paul uses to describe Epaphroditus is an interesting one: “fellow soldier.” Here, Paul borrows some war imagery. He takes the fellow worker analogy and presses it even further. Paul thinks about how they went through the trenches together and how Epaphroditus was willing to sacrifice everything to make ministry happen. Even coming to see Paul was a huge risk, and he almost lost his life in the process.

Epaphroditus’ thought was, “Paul needs help, so I’m going to go and help. That’s what friends do for each other. I’m going to go, no matter what happens to me. If I don’t make it, I don’t make it. But if I do, Paul gets blessed and the gospel gets out there.” As a fellow soldier, he laid down his life for Paul. It is an amazing illustration of true community.

Epaphroditus’ thought was, “Paul needs help, so I’m going to go and help. That’s what friends do for each other. I’m going to go, no matter what happens to me. If I don’t make it, I don’t make it. But if I do, Paul gets blessed and the gospel gets out there.” As a fellow soldier, he laid down his life for Paul. It is an amazing illustration of true community.

This final description of Epaphroditus reminds us that at the centre of healthy community is sacrifice. We are fellow soldiers fighting a battle and if we are going to be effective for God, we must be prepared to lay down our lives for one another. It’s one thing to like each other as brothers and sisters and feel a heart connection. It’s another thing to step out and serve together, working for God. But when we see ourselves as fellow soldiers, in the trenches together, our concept of community becomes that much deeper.

There are times when we experience that ourselves.

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There are times when we experience that ourselves.

The challenge for each of us is to walk the journey of Epaphroditus. For some of us, we need to move from being observers of the church community to a place where we embrace the people of this body as brothers and sisters. It may be that we need to take a step toward membership. We need to begin embracing each other, not just those we know or have known, but those who maybe we haven’t spent much time at all with. It is a very significant decision to embrace a community of believers as your own, and see yourself as on a journey together. If you haven’t yet taken that step, come see me, or one of our other members, and lets take the step of embracing each other.

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We need everyone here to do the work, that God has placed before us. When I say everyone, I mean everyone, all ages, all backgrounds. Its been our collegiate group that has truly taken the initiative to grow their own community, through small groups and with a dedicated focus toward mission. They don’t believe they are the leaders of the church tomorrow, they are embracing being leaders today. God’s spirit is working through them. By each of us coming from a unique and differnt community, we have the ability to work with different skill sets in this our faith community. We have the opportunity to bear each other’s burdens and be the blessing God is looking to pour out on others.

The challenge for each of us is to walk the journey of Epaphroditus. For some of us, we need to move from being observers of the community to a place where we embrace the people of this community as brothers and sisters. It may be that we need to take a step toward membership. We need to begin speaking of our church as “our church,” not just “your church.” It is a very significant decision to embrace a community of believers as your own, and see yourself as on a journey together. If you haven’t yet taken that step, I encourage you to speak to an elder or someone you trust to talk about how you can join the family as a brother or sister. And what we want to say to you is that Jesus welcomes you and we welcome you to experience life as brothers and sisters together.

Brothers and sisters. Fellow workers. The final challenge is for those who may see themselves as fellow workers but need to press that another step forward. Perhaps God is inviting you to see yourself as a fellow soldier. That raises some significant questions: What does it mean for me to really live sacrificially for the Lord? Where is God calling me to surrender my life? What does it mean for me to step out and faith and trust that God will work through me if I let him? Is the Holy Spirit nudging me toward some kind of deeper commitment, to pursue a specific calling?

24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

True community doesn’t happen overnight. But when each person in the family begins to wrestle with their own place in the church and takes a step toward deeper relationship, slowly, the community grows. People who would normally never hang out together begin to love each other and even lay down their lives for each other for one simple reason: Jesus laid down His life for us. It is my prayer that our community would become a place filled with people who know each other as brothers and sisters, fellow workers and fellow soldiers. To the world, we might look like one strange herd, but when the love of Jesus flows through us, they’ll desperately want to join in this amazing journey of faith—together.

24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.True community doesn’t happen overnight. But when each person in the family begins to wrestle with their own place in the church and takes a step toward deeper relationship, slowly, the community grows. People who would normally never hang out together begin to love each other and even lay down their lives for each other for one simple reason: Jesus laid down His life for us. It is my prayer that our community would become a place filled with people who know each other as brothers and sisters, fellow workers and fellow soldiers. To the world, we might look like one strange herd, but when the love of Jesus flows through us, they’ll desperately want to join in this amazing journey of faith—together.