Authentic Community

The picture so far

Total Surrender as an act worship motivated by everything God as done

The Spirit begins to transform, no longer conformed, thinking changes

Come to grips with who we really are, thinking with sound judgment not too high not too low

That is all inward then comes the outward, our place in the body, and grace gifts

Whatever the gift use it and fulfill your place in the body of Christ

Today we will see that the outward look reveals authentic community

Are you ready for the message God has for us? Cool , let’s begin

Pew Bible pg 760

Romans 12:9–13 NASB 2020

9 Love must be free of hypocrisy. Detest what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor, 11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, 13 contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.

That brethren is a picture of Authentic community. Remember our mission statement - Look at bulletin and read together

Now we learn how important this picture is to Amazing Grace!

Love Free of Hypocrisy

This love is the agape love

Love of sacrifice and service - The cross and the towel

Loving affection and regard with concern

Love free of false masks - develop

This means this is a genuine love

The sense of the word for hypocrisy is insincerity by virtue of pretending to have qualities or beliefs that you do not really have

Why some Christians spend so much energy in creating, wearing, and keep up the mask, it is exhausting

It requires a great deal of trust to be authentic with brethren.

How many times Christians get hurt by leaders and fellow Christians when there is no authenticity

It destroys the body

Paul is saying our love should be authentic and real!

Detest Evil Cling To Good

The word for detest

Means to find repugnant, hate strongly, To shudder with horror

That is definitely counter to culture would you not say

But then we have seen in verse 2 we are not conformed to this world

As body we are to detest what is evil, not exalt it

Evil is a word that means morally objectionable behavior

Cling to what is good

This word is the sense of come or be in close contact with; stick or hold together and resist separation

Held firmly like glue or cement

Good is moral excellence

Look at what this picture is saying as the Spirit works in us we detest evil and refuse to let go of what is good - Really Develop this image

A Devoted Community

I want us to really think about this image here

The Greek word for devoted only appears in this verse, only place in the New Testament

It means loving in a way characteristic of the relationship between husband and wife, mother and child, father and son

It denotes the delicate affections mutually rendered by those who cherish one another

This devotion is then found in brotherly love the greek word philadelphia

This the affection naturally befitting the relationship between siblings

What is Paul saying? You are a family, siblings of God, devoted to one another!

Then the picture reveals something interesting about authentic community

He says give preference to one another in honor

You can say this another way out do one another in showing honor

Did Paul really say that?

How many of you are competitive?

Yeah but its not a race this is a natural out flow of the authentic love and devotion that a community of believers should have for one another!

Then he says don’t lag behind in diligence

Diligence implies we have something to be excited for something to accomplish

We at Amazing Grace want to build an authentic community, Paul says then don’t lag behind, be diligent!

Don’t be lazy, timid, lacking ambition!

Instead be fervent in spirit!

Fervent is to be enthusiastic or excited

To become emotionally inflamed, like boiling water!

It is to commit yourself completely

In this case serving the Lord

We have hope as a community and that should cause us to rejoice!

We all as individuals and a body will face tribulation

An oppressive state of physical, mental, social, or economic adversity

We are to persevere, be persistent, refuse to stop even in the face of the evil thrown at us!

George Wooten in a poem wrote: This present life is hard at best but we must strive to complete the test for our redemption draweth near as we endeavor to persevere.

Paul tells us to be devoted to prayer

Devoted is to persevere in some activity or cause to the point of devotion in this case its prayer

Prayer is our direct line of communication with God so we as a body give ourselves to it

Contribute to the needs of saints

we begin to care for every member of the body

If a saint has a need rise to the occasion and give if you can, not just money, could be time or talent.

There are many different kinds of needs and many different ways to contribute to those needs

Then practice hospitality

Practice is to carry out or participate in an activity, in this case hospitality

This is kindness and welcome of guests and strangers!

DO YOU SEE HOW THIS PICTURE IS BUILDING!

Something about these verbs

There is something I noticed about the Greek verbs in verses 4-13

These Greek verbs: We, we have, so we, we have, teaches, exhort, give, lead, show mercy, abhor, cling to, give preference, fervent, serving, rejoicing, persevering, devoted, contributing, practicing

They are connected to Romans 12:1

Romans 12:1 NASB 2020

1 Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

Every one of these verbs in verses 4-13 is tied directly to the verb “present” verb in Romans 12:1

Think about what God is saying here!

See how important total surrender is?

Authentic community is impossible without it.

We cannot fulfill our mission without all of us, every single one of us, doing this act of worship!

Without presenting our bodies in total surrender the body does not work properly.

This is why Paul’s urging in verse one is emphatic, the action is so very necessary!

Not one thing in Romans 12:2-13 is possible without the action of presenting yourself as a sacrifice to God!

There is also a great deal of order in these verses because not one thing is possible without the other, we can’t skip to the parts we like!

Chip Ingram in True Spirituality: “Authentic community is more that sipping coffee and sharing Bible verses in a living room. It’s more than being nice to one another in the hallways of church, and it’s even more than dropping off food when someone has a baby or is coming home from the hospital. Authentic community demands that the real you meets real needs…for the right reasons in the right way.”

You see when you give your life to God in total surrender as an act of worship the Spirit immediately begins His work in your life

You take the mask off and come to grips with the real you

The transformation then rolls into other areas of our life

Our Gifting

Our place in the Body

How we effect the community believers - our place in building authenticity

Conclusion:

So let’s take the masks off and begin to deal with who we really are

Let the Spirit of God work in your life

Let the Spirit teach you why this is so important in the building of authentic community.

Recognize that authentic community happens when the real you shows up to meet real needs for the right reasons in the right way

We need to also understand this transformation happens in small groups, we are calling these life groups

So get in a life group - we have three (the Wingfields, Here at Gathering Grounds, and the Fry’s), let me know if you want information to join

If these don’t work then let’s get one going - I have ideas for two more so some of you will be hearing from me soon

Life Groups is the only way transformation will happen and the building of authentic community is fulfilled.

Music - Song

Let us pray!