A LIVING, HOLY
COMMUNITY
Acts 2:42-47
Where do you find your sense of
community? Where do you fit in and know
that you belong, that you are accepted, valued and perhaps even loved?
In an era
dominated by individualism and independence as primary drives in our lives, it
is getting more difficult to find genuine community anywhere. The family used to provide that first level
of community where our sense of worth was nurtured and our character was shaped
through the loving influence of both immediate and extended family. Disintegrating family life has dealt a
severe blow to the community.
Neighborhoods also used to offer a back-up to families as it once
provided a legitimate model of that old African saying, made popular again as a
title to Hilary Clinton’s book, “It Takes
a Village to Raise a Child.” There
was a sense of community where we lived, where everyone had lived for
generations in the same communities and watched out for each other. With the flight to the cities for jobs and
the massive urbanization of our culture, those kinds of communities are
becoming rare.
But from the
earliest days of the church, it was clear that believers were gathered together
in such a way that they enjoyed the unique “fellowship of the Spirit” as their
hearts were bound together with a profound sense of community as the body of
Christ. The passage in Acts 2 describes
some aspects of that special bond formed around the fundamental issues of their
new-found faith in Jesus Christ: apostles’ teaching, fellowship, breaking of
bread and prayer. Their community
developed around their pursuit of their common ground of beliefs and practices
to which they were continually devoting themselves.
THESIS: In an age where relationships have become more and more superficial and community has faded as a memory of less complicated times, the church offers hope that loving relationships and dynamic community are actually a major aspect of who we are and what we do as the body of Christ.
The problem is
that people want to have the benefits of community and the blessings of
relationships, but they still insist on isolating themselves and insulating
themselves into their own realms of individualism and fierce independence.
I. THE
CONFLICTING INTEREST IN COMMUNITY
--Most people would like to think of themselves as
“community-minded” but usually want to be in the driver’s seat to determine
what that means.
Here at PBC as our attendance and membership have increased,
maintaining a sense of genuine community continues to prove to be a challenge.
In our MasterPlan 2003-2004, we
have recognized that unless we make community a matter of congregational
emphasis, we could find ourselves with a building full of people who neither
know nor care for the others around them.
That is hardly the model of the body of Christ we want to present!
A. A DEEP DESIRE FOR COMMUNITY BUT A DESPERATE DEMAND FOR PRIVACY
--As much as people will admit that they desire community,
they have to face the fact that they may desire community but they demand
privacy and the freedom from having to answer to anyone.
You see this in the way people respond to invitations these days. We have developed the habit of postponing
our responses as long as we can to hold out for the possibility that something better
might come along. We want to have
community but not if it means that we give up our rights to do exactly what we
want when we want.
B. A GOOD REASON TO SEEK COMMUNITY BUT A STRONG RESISTANCE AGAINST
RELATIONSHIPS
--Folks will agree that there are plenty of good reasons to
be involved in a community, but they fight stiff resistance in their own
hearts.
--They want to belong and be loved, but they do not want to
pay the price of having to give up too much to get the benefits of strong
relationships.
We’ve observed the break-up of so many marriages
because one or the other or both partners refused to give themselves to
building the kinds of relationships needed to grow together in their marital
union.
--No, in an
ideal world for many people, they would like to have all the dividends of good
relationships with none of the investments!
II. THE
CHRISTIAN’S COMMITMENT TO COMMUNITY
--As followers of Christ, we know the value of strong,
Christian fellowship that develops warm, meaningful community in the body of
Christ.
--This kind of fellowship, or community, appears throughout
the New Testament church and is most often referred to with the Greek word koinonia
(fellowship, partaker, mutual relationship,
partnership, communion, bound together)
--Biblical Fellowship consists of three elements:
Giving – Community grows when hearts give freely and generously
with no thought of return
Receiving – Community deepens when needs are met fully and humbly
with no hint of embarrassment
Sharing – Community happens when love flows unconditionally and
mutually with no interest in keeping score
--Therefore, we are committed to building biblical community
here in the body of Christ.
A. A
BY-PRODUCT OF FOLLOWING CHRIST TOGETHER
--However, fellowship that arises from our walk with Christ
must never become the goal of our walk with Christ.
--If we make it our priority to build community as the
target of our efforts, we will always fail.
--Genuine biblical fellowship and authentic community grow
out of our commitments to follow Christ together with others heading in the
same direction, loving the same Lord and then discovering how to love each
other in the process.
We learned this lesson years ago here at PBC when we
tried to create fellowship by getting people together for that purpose. Soon enough, we figured out that the
gatherings felt contrived and artificial since there was no real reason to be
together other than to get to know one another. That was sufficient initially but was not enough to sustain any
long-term relationships since there was no common agenda, no real reason to
continue meeting just to exchange pleasantries!
That is when we discovered that
fellowship was thriving among those groups gathering for Bible study. As they studied together, fellowship and
community grew naturally. Fellowship
thrived among those assembled for work projects…working side by side in a
missions project developed relationships, weeding the flower beds with others
gave people a chance to connect, working in the nursery united hearts in a
common endeavor, and so on.
Pursuing a godly calling with
others doing the same thing built fellowship and community in a way that
directly targeting the development of fellowship never could!
B. A
BLESSING IN SEEKING CHRIST TOGETHER
--When God builds a worshiping community of devoted
followers of Jesus Christ, He makes sure that what He builds consists of the
proper ingredients for fellowship.
--When the New Testament refers to fellowship, it nearly
always has to do with the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, that unique
relationship we can share with each other because God has made His home in our
hearts.
Philippians 2:1
If therefore there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any
consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection
and compassion…
1.
Christ-centered Convictions
--In order for the community of Christ to build in the body
of Christ, all of us must have His interests at our first priority.
Matthew 6:33 33“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all
these things shall be added to you.
--If we try to add other things, even good things like
fellowship and community, without seeking first His kingdom, whatever we end up
with cannot possibly be worth very much.
Although many people are drawn to church because of
their need to be loved and to belong, they will not be satisfied with that if
it comes to them only on a human level.
They must find all they need in Christ first and only then will their
sense of community and belonging be satisfying in their relationships with
others.
How many people do you know who
have abandoned the church because of the insufficiency of Christ versus their
disappointments in people?
2. Common
Values
--One reason we must develop Christ-centered convictions as
the starting point for genuine community is that our values and beliefs form an
integral part of the foundation for our fellowship together.
--If the things we value are substantially different, and if
our estimations of what is true and right are essentially problem points for
us, we will have great difficulty getting beyond superficial relationships.
--What we truly value and treasure provides the common
ground for true biblical fellowship and an authentic Christ-centered community.
One of our Core Values here at PBC is “The
Accountability of Small Groups” because we understood early in our life
together that community depends upon spiritual relationships anchored in common
values which are affirmed in small groups in places where those values can be
practiced and accountability to them maintained.
3. Caring
Hearts
--Sometimes we can become overly focused on some aspects of
our calling as a church and lose sight of other matters of great value to
Christ.
--We know that there is a fundamental commitment here at
Providence to the Great Commission, Matthew 28:18-20, where we are told to make
disciples of all nations.
--What we can overlook in our zeal to obey that Commission
is that Christ also issued a Great Commandment to His disciples:
John 13:34-35 34“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one
another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35“By this all men will know that
you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
--In fact, the distinguishing mark of Christians is supposed
to be the way we love each other!
4.
Consecrated Lives
--The community of those who belong to the Lord must be a
holy community of people who have been set apart by God to live lives of
distinction—consecrated lives.
Joshua 3:5 Then
Joshua said to the people, “Consecrate
yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.”
Leviticus 11:44-45 44‘For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves
therefore, and be holy; for I am holy. And you shall not make yourselves
unclean with any of the swarming things that swarm on the earth. 45‘For I am the LORD, who brought
you up from the land of Egypt, to be your God; thus you shall be holy for I am
holy.’”
--Living holy lives calls upon us to accept our roll as
those who are viewed as different, sometimes even peculiar or odd to the point of being completely out of step with
the world around us.
--Since we do not belong to that world any more, we have
been given a place, a home, a special community of faith which is designed to
be our place of belonging.
5.
Consistent Vision
--The vision we see and embrace defines much of who we are
and what we do.
Proverbs 29:18
18Where
there is no vision, the people perish…
--It is the way we long for things to be one day, the
passionate pursuit of our hearts, the desire that sets our agenda and directs
our steps.
--A true community will be composed of those who are in
pursuit of the same vision—consistently moving in the same direction together
in the company marked by the special fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:42
42And
they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to
fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
--We have committed to a consistent pursuit of a vision that
asks of each member that we continually devote ourselves to evangelism,
edification and exaltation—the more each of us embraces that vision, the
greater our sense of community will grow!
--In other words, to the extent that you have set your heart
on pursuing the vision God has given us as a church, you will find yourself
enjoying the fullness and life of the fellowship of the Holy Spirit here in a
community where you belong and are loved and accepted.
Many who have not found their place in the community
have not filled their position in the calling God has for them. They have watched as others have entered in
but have remained on the outside looking in, wanting the fellowship but not
prepared to invest in the vision of following Christ together. Individualism has
created a barrier, an independent spirit has held the mission and vision of the
church at arm’s length, and the dream of finding true community has gone
unfulfilled. We still have hundreds of
members who have confined their involvement to occasional worship attendance,
who have ignored the Bible study classes and ministry opportunities, and yet
still wonder why they cannot feel “plugged in.”
In the early days of our church,
fellowship with one another was rather simple.
Being few in number, interaction happened with little effort and
relationships formed almost by default!
Today, however, with so many more people around, it can actually be
harder to form connections with those we know and care about, who also know and
care about us.
One of the loneliest places to be is in the midst of a large crowd
where you know no one and have to watch others enjoying what you do not have—a
relationship with someone with whom you can give, share and receive the things of life that are
important to you. That could be the
mall, a sporting event, or a worship service—if you are not a part of the
community, you can feel displaced and lonely.
Therefore, as we
prepare to move into a new ministry year with the MasterPlan 2003-2004, we want
to encourage a greater commitment to community on the part of each member. We want each of you to know that you are
loved and that someone cares deeply about you.
We also want to make it possible for you to engage in meaningful
relationships that reach out to others.
Community grows as we see the glory of Christ together—giving freely, receiving gratefully, and
sharing humbly.
May Jesus Christ
be glorified and all His people blessed as we grow together into a community
with authentic fellowship and genuine relationships for all who come our way!
May 18, 2003
© David Horner 2003
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