Grow In Community
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· 3 viewsYou are made for community, and your community is remade by the gospel.
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Introduction: Community in Crisis
Introduction: Community in Crisis
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We’re walking through our current series which is taking through our mission / vision as a church.
We exist to glorify God by making disciples through gospel-centered worship, gospel-centered community, gospel-centered service, and gospel-centered multiplication.
The first half really describes why we exist, the second half describes how we accomplish it.
Connect in Worship, Grow in Community, Serve Each Other, Go and Multiply
Illust – Cheers – “Where Everyone Knows Your Name.”, Friends
History of loss of community in West (Putnam)
According to sociologist Robert Putnam community engagement in America has been in decline for the last half century. People are just not as involved in the community or in community groups like they used to. There are many reasons for this change some of which are:
Family and social structure
Transportation and mobility
Electronic entertainment
Physical structures
It’s not helped by the fact that in America, we celebrate independence:
- It has it’s own holiday
- freedom = independence
- we have private property
- personal rights
Sociologists recognize this lack of community engagement is not a good thing. They recognize that isolation among people is bad for a society. Every time and culture has found places for community.
Today we have an additional hurdle to community:
Real vs. Imitation Community
In imitation community we offer a painted, veiled picture of ourselves.
In imitation community we offer a painted, veiled picture of ourselves
Time and openness are necessary for real community to happen.
Don’t you wish there was a place where everyone knew your name?
Definition of Community
A place where you know and are known.
This is a feature of what God intended for his church and it is what we see in the early church.
Acts 2:42-47
English Standard Version Chapter 2
42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
“The new converts didn’t merely add Christianity to their already busy lives, but devoted themselves to their Christian experience. V 42 is a compact description of Christian discipleship.”
D. A. Carson, New Bible Commentary
This is not just a sermon on small groups or Sunday schools it goes much deeper than that
If we are going to be a church that promotes and lives out gospel-centered community we must understand 4 things:
Community existed before people.
Community existed before people.
God exists in community.
God exists in community.
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Gen
Although this may not be a statement of community but rather a use of the “royal plural pronouns.”
Take a look at:
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Matthew 28:19
You belong in community.
You belong in community.
English Standard Version Chapter 28
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016), .You belong in community.
Also,
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
We, plainly see throughout Scripture that:
john
God is one.
The Father is God.
Jesus is God.
Spirit is God.
All three coexist at the same time.
Community existed long before people were on the scene.
This is important because it started with God - the idea of community is not a human convention. We get our definition and, through the gospel, our redefinition of relationship and belonging from God.
You belong in community.
You belong in community.
llust - some of you remember high school. Walking uphill both ways, doing math without calculators, etc. Remember the dreaded lunch table. you had the jocks, the geeks, the drama nerds. Before school our main community was our family and despite what your brother said you always belonged. School was the first time we needed to find where we belong.
For some of you it was a painful time - where will you belong?
This is because you belong in community - you were made for community.
Belonging is a yearning of every soul because it was woven into the fabric of every soul.
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” 19 Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said,
“This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.”
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” 19 Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said,
“This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.”
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
Gen 2:
We were made to first be in community with God, and then in community with others. Sin destroyed both but the gospel can fix both.
This longing for belonging is not unique to you or me. It’s not unique to Americans. Everyone is looking for a place to belong. It’s one of life’s greatest questions - “Where do I belong?”
If you remember from Ephesians that Jesus through the gospel fixes broken community with God and each other, and reconciles back to God and each other.
The gospel community in the church MUST be a place where people feel they can find belonging through Jesus. Unfortunately, many view the church like the high school lunch table - applying labels to people before they ever walk in.
If you’re here today and you don’t know Jesus, you are welcome here.
As we as a church gather in different ways - different gospel communities - flocks, men’s groups, women’s groups, etc. - would someone who does not know Jesus feel like they could belong?
Defeaters of Community
Defeaters of Community
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together
Now for the believer, the question is not whether or not you will be a part of the community of believers (because you are in Christ), the question is whether you will live interdependently in the community (as God intended) or independently apart from the community.
Sin
Community is not for you.
Community is not for you.
Illustr - “Survivor” (in it for ourselves) vs. Hurricane cleanup (community for each other and a vision/purpose)
True community is not for your consumption, it is for your participation.
Many times the church is described as a family and family is not a spectator sport!
Illust - Dickinson Domains
“. . . Community as a gift of God’s grace for the purpose of exalting the Son and making him known. In other words, community is not about us; it is about God. Community is an instrument of worship, a weapon against sin, and a tool for evangelism — all for the exaltation of Jesus.” Brad House
Nowhere in Scripture do you see a verse that says, “Gather together and have others tend to your needs and desires.” Instead:
2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
Rom 12:3-
3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
NIV = Each member belongs to all the others
The gospel community is the place for you to use your gifts.
When you come to church, or you attend your small group, are you looking to see how you can participate or are you looking to see what the group can give you? If your needs “aren’t met” you’ll leave?
The God-in-community made people in the image of his community to participate in community for the glory of his community. It is to display God’s glory and for the expansion of the gospel.
You grow in gospel community.
You grow in gospel community.
It may be a bit counterintuitive, but you will grow more when you participate in community than when you consume community.
Changes in relationships change you.
Illustr - being a parent changes you
Smaller gospel communities are about application of the Word - Confession and Repentance
We spoke last week about how Sunday morning worship is NOT the church - it is a gathering of the church, but we worship out in the local community because the church is in the local community.
You can’t practice the “one-anothers” without others . Many Scriptures about discipleship assume you are in a gospel-community with other believers.
5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Here’s the thing. Most of these attitudes, growing experiences, practices of gifts cannot be accomplished in a Sunday morning worship service.
I want you to look to the person next to you and tell them the area of sin in which you struggle and ask them to help keep you accountable. Just kidding.
The point is, in a service like this you may know who is sitting next you, but you may not really KNOW them. That kind of intimacy can’t happen in a group this size.
We spoke last week about how Sunday morning worship is NOT the church - it is a gathering of the church, but we worship out in the local community because the church is in the local community.
Sunday morning worship is about Connection - attraction, proclamation of the Word, Conviction
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Smaller gospel communities are about application of the Word - Confession and Repentance.
1 cor 13:
If you only attend a worship service one a week, (walk in and consume the service and head home) and beyond that have little to no meaningful connection with other believers who can encourage you, hold you accountable, annoy you, then you are short-changing yourself and stunting your spiritual growth.
I’m not saying you can’t be a mature Christian alone; I am saying you are not meant to mature as a Christian alone.
Are you really involved in that kind of community? We use the phrase “Walking together for the next step in a Jesus-first life” and this is why. Are you in regular community with other Christ-followers who really know you - your struggles, fears, victories?
I honestly fear there are some maybe many at GMC who would feel they don’t truly belong. They don’t have anyone to walk with toward a Jesus-first life. It’s not helpful. It’s not biblical. We will by God’s grace, become a place where everyone belongs - where even those who don’t yet know Jesus feel like they can belong with the hopes it will lead them to believe.
1 cor
Smaller gospel communities are about application of the Word - Confession and Repentance
Smaller gospel communities are about application of the Word - Confession and Repentance
Illustr - being a parent changes you
The cross is displayed through gospel community.
The cross is displayed through gospel community.
Perhaps the greatest evangelistic tool we as the church have today is changed people living out their changed lives in a world that desperately needs change.
Illust - the Burger King employee eating at McD’s does not evangelize Burger King well.
47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
The culture witnessed all that God was doing as they were engaged with the people around them and God “added to their number.”
Notice I said in a world and not in a church.
(Perhaps the greatest evangelistic tool we as the church have today is changed people living out their changed lives in a world that desperately needs change.)
If we live our changed lives within these four walls we will be the only ones who see and benefit from the effects of the gospel.
If our neighbors, coworkers see
In his book, The Gospel in a Pluralistic Society , Lesslie Newbigin says
“I have come to feel that the primary reality of which we have to take account in seeking for a Christian impact on public life is the Christian congregation. How is it possible that the gospel should be credible, that people should come to believe that the power which has the last word in human affairs is represented by a man hanging on a cross?
I am suggesting that the only answer, the only hermeneutic of the gospel, is a congregation of men and women who believe it and live by it. I am, of course, not denying the importance of the many activities by which we seek to challenge public life with the gospel– evangelistic campaigns, distribution of Bibles and Christian literature, conferences, and even books such as this one.
But I am saying that these are all secondary, and that they have power to accomplish their purpose only as they are rooted in and lead back to a believing community.” - Lesslie Newbigin
If our neighbors, coworkers see and experience what the gospel can do and they see and experience the belonging that the gospel can bring, they will be drawn to the gospel.
Sometimes the front door to the church is your backyard. People may be hesitant to walk in the front door to the church for whatever reason, but they will have little hesitation to walking through the front door of your house.
It’s the environment of grace and the gospel in action.
What makes a community a “gospel-community?”
It is a community that has a DNA shaped by the gospel. They have these three gospel DNA components:
Gospel / Worship
Community
Mission
With these three DNA components the gospel community creates the environment for discipleship. It follows our discipleship process of our church because it is the church.
All three
All three components are necessary for a healthy discipleship environment.
community + mission = community action group
gospel + mission = evangelistic group
gospel + community = inward-focused Bible study
The community of God is vital to the mission of God.
The people of God have always been a missional people.
God placed the Jews in the center of the known world.
Believers are called a Kingdom of Priests.
everyone needs and longs for community - gospel community displays what the cross can do
- The Christ followers living in gospel community together is perhaps the greatest evangelistic tool we have.
The Christ followers living in gospel community together is perhaps the greatest evangelistic tool we have.
“Our communities should be the most palpable expression of the gospel within the church.” - Brad House
If you show love, reconciliation, patience, care, support, etc. in your community that is shaped by the gospel, the world will take notice because this is drastically different than how the community of the world operates.
- “Subjective measurements can be difficult, but what doesn’t lie is our response to adversity and trial. Shake a man, and you will see what spills our of his heart. Watch a community address sin and adversity, and you will see if the gospel has taken root in their lives.” - Brad House
8 and
“A stone of stumbling,
and a rock of offense.”
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
The world out there will never see the church in here if the church in here stays here, but if the church in here takes the church out there, the gospel will be seen.
I am suggesting that the only answer, the only hermeneutic of the gospel, is a congregation of men and women who believe it and live by it. I am, of course, not denying the importance of the many activities by which we seek to challenge public life with the gospel– evangelistic campaigns, distribution of Bibles and Christian literature, conferences, and even books such as this one.
But I am saying that these are all secondary, and that they have power to accomplish their purpose only as they are rooted in and lead back to a believing community.” - Lesslie Newbigin
As our gospel communities engage with the culture around us, we evangelize the culture around us.
Illust - Which would have helped you make friends in school? if you were invited to the “other” lunch table or if a few form that table came to you?
35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
- In Community:
- We have a reason to celebrate
- We have an avenue for compassion and care
- We have the opportunity to forgive
Does your view of small groups have a place for mission? Is it possible to view our small groups as a way to evangelize and advance the Kingdom? There are people you know who are dying to belong. We have the answer for them to truly belong.
Sometimes I think we are not that much different than in high school. We’re sitting at our lunch table with our community looking at the loners sitting by themselves or floating trying to find a place to belong. Will we actually get up and sit with them? Will we take our community to theirs?
Conclusion
Conclusion
Are you in community?
What is keeping you from being a part of a gospel community?
sin - “Isolation is our response to sin.”
Sometimes it is our own sin that keeps us from community.
Sometimes it is the sin of others
hypocrisy
gossip
fear - will we be accepted?
We want a place to know and be known; however, we fear the revealing process because with a community you have the possibility of either being accepted or rejected
What defeats both of these defeaters of community - grace.
“Christian brotherhood is not an ideal which we must realize; it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate.”
fear
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together
Do you go to church or do you belong to church?
Are you in a gospel community
- Is your community making a gospel difference in your local community?
- Yes, I will host.
- Yes, I want to belong.