How to do community well
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Intro
Last week I spoke on the dangers of isolation
and I suggested the original purpose of God is battle isolation is community
today I want to deal with how to do community well
Now I’m not suggestion a commune where everybody sells eveything and we all coister together on a rural farm!
although that might not be a bad idea considering what’s coming!
but i am saying we need to expand outside of the 2 hour window on Sunday morning
Community is all about building genuine relationships
both with believers and unbelievers
yes unbelievers should be a part of our community!
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.
When God birthed the Church He did not do it is soley through the 12 apostles.
Instead He brought all the believers together.
Each one received the gift of Holy Spirit.
Why did God do it this way?
The gospel message is based on relationship.
It restores our relationship with the creator of heaven and earth.
But it also has horizontal relationships has well.
Social interaction is a basic need of every human being. Even if you are a introvert!
Prisoners are punished through solitary confinement
I’ve already shown what can happen if that basic human need to belong is broken.
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Christian community is simply sharing a common life in Christ. It moves us beyond the self-interested isolation of private lives and beyond the superficial social contacts that pass for "Christian fellowship."
The biblical ideal of community challenges us instead to commit ourselves to life together as the people of God.
We know all too well that maturity takes time.
We know less well that it also takes our sisters and brothers in Christ.
It’s a process that is revealed in the "each other" language of the New Testament:
Love one another,
forgive each other,
regard each other more highly than yourselves.
Teach and correct each other,
encourage each other,
pray for each other,
bear each other’s burdens.
Be friends with one another, kind, compassionate, and generous in hospitality.
Serve one another
submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
This list just scratches the surface, but it is enough to remind us that we need the community of faith to grow up in Christ.
Christian community is the place of our continuing conversion.
Its goal is that, individually and together, we should become mature, no longer knocked around by clever religious hucksters, but able to stand tall and straight, embodying the very "fullness of Christ"
So what is community?
Community is:
Community is:
1) A WAY TO SEE CHRIST IN OTHERS
1) A WAY TO SEE CHRIST IN OTHERS
When my brothers and sisters love and accept me, I feel Christ’s love, too.
When I confess my sin and they forgive me, I know that God forgives me, too.
When they pray for my brokenness, I know that they are sharing in the healing work of Jesus.
In our dog-eat-dog, enemies-with their teeth-bared world,
to have our Christian community surround us with compassion and encouragement lightens our loads, strengthens us, and gives us the courage to keep on trying.
2) A SOURCE OF ACCOUNTABILITY AND GUIDANCE
2) A SOURCE OF ACCOUNTABILITY AND GUIDANCE
Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.
Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.
Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.
3) A PLACE TO PRAY AND WORSHIP
3) A PLACE TO PRAY AND WORSHIP
Pray together
Pray together
What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.
With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,
“For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”
Worship together
Worship together
Praise the Lord!
Praise God in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in His mighty expanse.
Praise Him for His mighty deeds;
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.
Praise Him with trumpet sound;
Praise Him with harp and lyre.
Praise Him with timbrel and dancing;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe.
Praise Him with loud cymbals;
Praise Him with resounding cymbals.
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord!
speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;
What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.
4) A PLACE TO SERVE
4) A PLACE TO SERVE
Kennedy spoke his famous words, "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."
JFK was speaking about his country,
But this is even more true when speaking about the church.
A big error by many christians is they look for a church that will meet their needs,
Have the right music, offer the right programs, and services, preacher doesn’t speak too long etc.
Instead I believe instead of looking what the church can do for us, we should be looking for what we can be doing for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
Do you have the gifts and talents that the church is willing to use.
For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;
5) A WITNESS TO THE WORLD
5) A WITNESS TO THE WORLD
“By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
The way the world will come to the truth According to Jesus, is the way they see the church shows love for one another.
It’s not our doctrine or dogma, its not the music or the preaching.
its not whether or not we do things the world is in agreement with!
the way they church is meant to stand out is by the visible love we show for one another.
6) AMBASSADORS OF GOD'S LOVE
6) AMBASSADORS OF GOD'S LOVE
Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,
One Christian community spends enormous energy trying to meet the plight of the homeless.
Another works to rehabilitate homes of the poor and the elderly.
Yet another quietly yet actively pursues a ministry of prayer and healing.
And still others focus directly on evangelism, on feeding the hungry, on getting justice for the oppressed, and on much more.
Each community with its particular mission is a guerrilla unit establishing a beachhead for God’s peaceable Kingdom in a hostile world.
7) GETTING SMALL
7) GETTING SMALL
For community to be specific and personal enough to reach its potential, we need groups small enough for everyone to be directly involved.
The practice of the earliest Christians suggests a small scale. They often met in each other’s homes for meals and teaching, for worship and prayer
And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common;
and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.
Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart,
And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.
When he knocked at the door of the gate, a servant-girl named Rhoda came to answer.
When she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her joy she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate.
They said to her, “You are out of your mind!” But she kept insisting that it was so. They kept saying, “It is his angel.”
But Peter continued knocking; and when they had opened the door, they saw him and were amazed.
But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had led him out of the prison. And he said, “Report these things to James and the brethren.” Then he left and went to another place.
Conclusion
A CALL TO COMMUNITY
A CALL TO COMMUNITY
The practice of Christian community, quite simply, makes the gospel a lived reality.
It embodies a specific, personal way of life together in Christ.
It strengthens us to live the life to which we am called; it conveys God’s life and power to the world at large.
And it is necessary.
When we imagine that we, as Christians and humans, can live in total independence and self-sufficiency, we are deluding ourselves.
God, from the beginning, never intended that we should go through the world "alone."
We simply cannot experience fully the power and delight of life with God without also being drawn into life together with our sisters and brothers in Christ.
Without experiencing such life together, we will not discover how wonderful the news about Jesus really is.
Community is not to be feared, but welcomed.
The risks don't go beyond those it takes to follow Jesus.
The reward is to enter into life as God intended it to be lived from the beginning.
How can we balk at an offer like that?
Closing Prayer