Sermon Cloud

What Makes Us Tick? Why do we do some of the things we do? And why do we focus on certain priorities or practices as a church? Now if you were here last week, we looked why we long to live for something than bigger than ourselves and concluded that everybody worships something. But we worship Jesus, we exalt Jesus above all else because He gave His all for us. Living for and celebrating Jesus is the number one thing that makes us tick as a community of faith.

Now this morning, Adam is joining me at our little coffee table as we look at this whole phenomenon of community. This idea that we are made for each other! I mean think about this: No one wants to do life alone. Everywhere you look people are drawn to community: we tailgate together, frequent the same watering holes, join the same clubs, and rally around the same common interests. We can’t stay away from each other. But if we do, if we isolate ourselves from one another, everyone who has anything to say about that says that’s really unhealthy. When you see alone people, they are not fulfilled people. In fact when you think of people in isolation it’s not good. Prisoners are put in solitary confinement as a form of punishment. When we first saw picture of the Romanian orphanages in the late 80’s what our hearts went out to those neglected children who were starving for human touch. We instinctively know that we are made for each other. Even when Tom Hanks played the role of a modern day Robinson Caruso in the movie Castaway, we didn’t think it all that weird that he made up an imaginary companion out of a volley ball, even giving him a name and carrying on conversations with it. Seeing that we know that we were made for each other. Even at the end of the movie when Wilson floats away, Tom Hanks is distraught – crying out for Wilson, crying out for the companion he could not save – and do we think that’s strange? No, we identify with his anguish of being all alone.

That’s why we long to know and be known, to understand and be understood and to be unconditionally accepted without fear of loss, betrayal or rejection. There is something about how we were created that tells us: we are made for each other. There’s something in our hearts that tells us that community is not just a good idea – it is essential for living. So, Adam and I are going to unpack this concept of community from God’s perspective. And hopefully by the end of our time together today, God’s design for community will be more than just be a good idea, but it will be something we will intentional pursue. So, Adam, this is a huge part of who we are and who we want to be. Where do you think we should start?

Adam: Why does God think that community is so important?

Larry : Great question. I’m glad we’re starting here. Because Community is part of who God is! God is holy, loving, good and just. But at the core of who God is there exists a unity and harmony between each person of the Trinity: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have always lived and worked together in perfect relational harmony. And when God created us He wanted us to experience this reality, this harmony in relationship with each other.

And so the Bible tells us that, We were made in the image and likeness of God… So it makes sense then, that when God creates in His image, He creates community. That’s why God says in Genesis chapter 2, “It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.” So God took a hunk of flesh and bone from Adam’s side and personally crafted a woman to be his perfect compliment and companion. And for a while life was good – they enjoyed perfect harmony with each other. They were both naked and felt no shame in the presence of one another.

But then the Bible tells us this perfect harmony was destroyed when they rebelled against God’s command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They now experienced discord – they blamed each other for the wrong they did. They now experienced shame – they were no longer secure in their nakedness and covered themselves. And they now experienced fear and hid from God. And ever since that day, every relationship struggles with the same stuff: conflict, insecurities, and fear - the loss of community.

But it has always been God’s desire is that we recapture His original design for us: that we recapture harmony or community in relationship This desire for us is expressed by Jesus in his prayer for us in the upper room, not long before he was handed over to be crucified: "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” John 17:20-21 Jesus died for us so we could be restored to relationship with God, but also with each other.

Adam: So how do we recapture God’s design for community?

Larry: Community is something that already belongs to us in Christ: Before coming to faith in Christ, most of the world makes their connections with each other based on things we have in common. If we share the same race or religion, that’s a start. If we share the same social or economic status, it’s easier for us to connect. But these things don’t guarantee that we’ll experience community. But once a person comes to faith in Jesus Christ, we get a brand new connecting point: The Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us, For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 1 Cor. 12:13

So we have this spiritual bond in Christ. That’s why you or I can travel anywhere in the world and have an instant connection with another believer – we share the same Spirit, we have the same Savior, we’ve experienced the same forgiveness, and we pray to the same Father.
Community is something that already belongs to us in Christ.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer: “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. The more clearly we learn to recognize that the ground and promise of all our fellowship is in Jesus Christ alone, the more serenely we shall think of our fellowship and pray and hope for it.”

This sounds so simple, but as I look at our church and our culture, I’m often troubled by the reality of why so many people are reluctant to embrace this community that Jesus has made possible. So, Adam, maybe you can answer this question for us: "If community in Christ is something that we already have why don’t we live there?"

Adam: That’s a great question. Because we can talk about these truths all day and never really step into them. To answer this question we have to have a firm grasp on what really sets Community in Christ apart from Community in golf, or scrapbooking. Unlike, a hobby Jesus brings a whole new paradigm for community. The way Christ embraces us sets a pattern for how we embrace community in “Him”.
There are two ways to look at community, through human acceptance, and through spiritual acceptance.
Human acceptance: We look at people as to what we think they should or could be… “Do you measure up?” Human acceptance looks at people for who they should or could be. We have all experienced this in our life. Maybe it’s acceptance from friends, parents, coaches, teachers, or co-workers, but we’ve all experienced it. Someone accepts you, but is constantly asking “Do you measure up?” are you hitting the mark? Are you working hard enough, are you being as good a friend as I am, are you getting the right grades, are you fast enough, or strong enough? We went to the South Albany football game the other night. It was a case study on Human acceptance. Football players, cheerleaders, the band, the student cheering section, so many people trying to prove that they “measure up.” That’s human acceptance, but Community in Christ does not operate on human acceptance, it operates in a different paradigm.

Spiritual acceptance: Spiritual Acceptance looks at people through God’s eyes and says, “Christ measures up in you.” In the community of Christ, we drop our old way of acceptance. We choose to take on God’s criteria of acceptance. “For while you were still sinners, Christ died for the ungodly.” This doesn’t sound like we did anything to deserve acceptance here, in fact, we deserved the opposite. But when we are covered by Christ, God looks at us and we measure up in every way, forever, always. When we live in Christ, God accepts us completely, and that can never be changed or lost or manipulated. This is what Community in Christ looks like. Instead of seeing each other and saying, “They don’t hit the mark,” we become people who see each other through God’s eyes. Part of the problem is that human acceptance creeps its way into Christianity. We think that we are better than other people and we measure how “good” of a Christian they are. Then the church is not a community of Christ, or of grace, but a community of people who are no different than the world, they just have some beliefs about Jesus in Common. When I look at a brother or sister in Christ, I don’t see them and judge them, I see Christ measuring up in them. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1 This is an unchanging, forever kind of acceptance that is completely foreign to the world. But if we want to live in the community of Christ, we have to see each other through God’s eyes.

Larry: So if we’re used to connecting with people based on the things we naturally have inn common (and in the Bible we don’t see God telling us to just look for and love those most like us) How is God’s way of connecting with others different?

Adam: Nowhere in the bible do we see God command us to just love the people that we have things in common with. So how do we know that God wants more from us? I think we see the perfect example in Jesus. I’ve created a little diagram of the model that Jesus brings. To accompany it, we will read Phillipians 2:5-8. Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion. Philippians 2:5-8 (The Message)

You see Jesus had perfect community. He lived in a perfect relationship with the Father and the Spirit. Everything was great for him. He had community with ones that were “like” Him. But, God saw a problem. Humanity was disconnected, out of community with God. I’m thankful that God didn’t respond by just saying “Here’s our perfect community over here, come and join us.” Instead, he sends the son. Jesus leaves this perfect community for something else. Jesus didn’t cling to his status as God, but emptied, unlimited himself and became a man, and not just a man, but a slave. This is God’s model.

So let’s say we are seeing each other through God’s eyes, we are experiencing community and it’s rockin’ and rollin’ for us. But then we see that there is someone that has no community. And God’s model is to just say, hey come join our community. WRONG! Could you imagine if this was what Christ did for us. We’d be hopeless. No, Christs model is that he left his community and met us on our turf. What better way for God to meet us on our turf, than to actually become a man. John writes in his gospel that Jesus “Took on flesh and moved into the neighborhood.” God’s model for community is not a distant impersonal invitation, but a close personal relationship (he relates to us), and draws us into community this way. This is what we are called to. Not a distant impersonal invitation, but to find a way to meet people on their turf, relate to them, and invite them into the community we have…the community we have in Christ.

Larry: What if I quit expecting people to do community on my terms and chose to do community on God’s terms? What if instead of us encouraging new people to request a community group, that those of us who are experiencing community the way God intended would go to new people and not only see them as Jesus sees them, but befriend them like Jesus would, and bring them with us into community? And what if we began to see community as part of the mission, not just a benefit of salvation? What if we began to adjust our lives to make room for people who are not like us? What if we began looking for ways to connect with people where they are, and not where we’d like them to be? Think of what you could do for someone – to make them feel safe, to meet their need of being known, and loved. I think that’s the idea of why God would have us pursue community, not just for ourselves, but for the sake of others.

Could we make that our mission? You see, today is Community Group Launch Sunday. And yes, we’d love to see everyone participate in a community, not just because Christ prayed for this and not just because He died for us, but because we were made for each other.

Today, we have some people who are committed to helping us experience community the way God intended – our community group leaders. As we launch a new season of love and acceptance, we know this is not always the easiest ministry. We need the Spirit of Christ to help us. So we need to pray. And so if you are a community group leader, would you come forward at this time, and would our elders join us as we set these leaders apart to help us fulfill God’s purposes for us. Would you all stand with us as we pray.

Prayer: Dear Jesus, teach us to see every person as you see them. Help us to serve people the way you serve. Help us to be includers, encouragers and helpers. And change our hearts so that we would connect with others the Jesus way. Give us the strength, the courage and the love of Christ to help bring others into the community of Christ. We ask all this, in Jesus name and for His glory, Amen.