- Beginning last week with prayer & wisdom – we’re going to spend the next few weeks talking about the 7 pillars of a discipled life. This week I’m going to touch a little bit on community.
- I’ve heard a lot of people through the years say something like this, “I don’t have to go to church to believe in God.”
- I don’t disagree with them; I spent a chunk of my life with that same philosophy – so why is it that we bother to come to church? Why are we spending our time and resources to build and maintain an organization like this?
- Aren’t there plenty of people out there that are living good, honest, and productive lives without needing to be a part of the church?
Biblical Community in Acts
- Acts 2:42-47 – They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. 44And all the believers were together and had all things in common; 45and they would sell their property and possessions and share them with all, to the extent that anyone had need. 46Day 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, 47praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.
- This is the community that everyone wants to go back to. Understandably so, it’s biblical. But what’s also biblical is the fact that God allowed persecution for the sake of pushing the church out of Jerusalem and into the rest of the world.
- This is why, 2000ish years later, we have so many different ideas on how church should look based on culture, opinion or preference.
- So, in 2026, who’s to tell us as rural northwest Pennsylvanians how we should follow God?
- Can’t I just have faith to myself and surround myself with people who share my interests, even if they’re not believers themselves?’
- What about all the secular philanthropist organizations out there that are doing a lot of good in the world? What’s wrong with doing what Jesus said to do without having to be a part of a church?
- Keep to myself and watch online, or keep up with my favorite YouTube preacher?
- Keep it just me and the Holy Spirit. I don’t need anyone but God telling me how to believe!
- Luke 11:23 – The one who is not with Me is against Me; and the one who does not gather with Me scatters.
- Charles Spurgeon: “Satan always loves to find the Christian alone. He knows that if he can isolate a sheep from the flock, the wolf will stand a better chance of a meal.”
Challenges & Benefits
- Let’s start off with being honest about Christian community – it’s hard. We don’t want to paint some kind of utopian view of what God’s people are like here on earth, because we’re all at different stages of repentance and maturity. We mess things up.
- But I hope to show you why it is that despite all our faults Christian community is far above and beyond superior to any other by the end of this message, and why it’s essential for growing in Christ.
- Engaging Christian community can be a lot like swimming. I hate swimming. When you first get in the water it’s usually pretty cold and it takes a while for your nervous system to adjust to it. At first, the only thing its registering are threats and everything in you tells you to get out and back to where it’s warm.
- When I first came into Christian community and began to engage, knowing that I wanted to be discipled, I brought a LOT of mess with me. It was one of the most uncomfortable things I had done up to that point, and I had been in jail. I slept on a steel plate attached to a cinderblock wall with no pillow. I knew about that kind of discomfort.
- Even though God spoke clearly to me about it, it didn’t change the fact that mentally and emotionally I was not excited. My brain was sounding the social alarm. I didn’t fit in with this crew. They were too good for me. They would see me and expose me for the fraud I was. There’s no way I could ever measure up to the standard of God or his people.
- I grew up around the church, and I still came back in with this mindset. How much more do some of you who weren’t brought up with any idea of what Christian community was like? Or worse yet, have been wounded by one.
- God doesn’t always heal us the way we wish he would. Especially when it comes to emotional wounds and traumas. The only way to heal those kinds of issues is by actively facing them in a safe environment. Faith requires active involvement – this is a vital lesson of being a disciple
- What I found was a safe environment to just be me. I was a confused, lost, and hurting soul who had learned to act tough by necessity, but had also genuinely experienced transformation through Christ and wanted to learn what it meant to walk that out.
- I needed people to come alongside me and be patient and non-judgmental with me while I learned to live a brand-new life.
- One of our core values – Transformation Through Relationship – “We don’t fix people; we walk with them”
- Henri Nowen: A Christian community is “a healing community not because wounds are cured and pains are alleviated, but because wounds and pains become openings or occasions for a new vision.” – author of Wounded Healer
- This is what God was trying to do with the Israelites during the Exodus – give them a new vision of the possibilities of life. But instead of accepting his healing, they chose to complain.
- Hebrews 3:12-13 – Take care, brothers and sisters, that there will not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. 13But encourage one another every day, as long as it is still called “today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
- The quickest way to short circuit the healing, and discipling work that God wants to do in our lives is to find reasons to complain about what’s going within a community without being willing to be a part of a peaceful solution.
- It’s easy to find a community to be a part of that is focused on faultfinding. But as Bill Johnson says, “Complaining proves nothing but that you can hear the voice of the devil.”
- Here’s how the Bible defines godly community:
- Key “One Another” Passages
- Love one another: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” (John 13:34)
- Serve one another: “Through love, serve one another.” (Galatians 5:13)
- Accept one another: “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” (Romans 15:7)
- Forgive one another: “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32)
- Encourage one another: “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:11)
- Be humble toward one another: “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another.” (1 Peter 5:5)
- Bear burdens: “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2)
- Pray for one another: “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” (James 5:16)
The Supremacy of Christian Community
- John 13:35 – “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another”
- What Jesus says here is absolutely key to living a discipled life – There is a love that is available in Christian community that is a higher, deeper, and wider love that can be found anywhere else. It’s not that you’ll always find the perfect expression of this love – the beauty of Christian community is that this is where you can BECOME this love.
- Ephesians 4:1-6 – Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit, just as you also were called in one hope of your calling; 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.
- If we go to a church looking for people to fulfill our need for love we’re always going to end up disappointed. But if we become love and plug into a community with shared values, we’ll experience oneness with Christ, and fulfillment in how we’re able to express the love we’ve been given toward others.
- Now Let’s zoom out for a minute so that we can catch a glimpse of the bigger picture and see the supremacy of godly Christian community.
- Jesus is the lamb who was slain since before the foundation of the earth (Revelation 13:8). That means that before anything that we know of ever existed, there was a plan of salvation in place. Everything good about who we are as human beings comes from Him. Everything that has been contrary to our sinful nature and everything that has mercifully preserved us up until this point is because of God’s plan for building a Kingdom community.
- Jesus said that the greatest commandment was to love God and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-39); and that no one has greater love than that he would lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13).
- Let’s meditate on this for a minute
- Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
- Who in your life has impacted you for the Gospel?
- How have you impacted others for the Gospel because of what they’ve done for you?
- When Jesus walk talking about laying his life down, he was alluding to his own sacrifice on the cross to kick this whole thing off. But he was also alluding to those who would follow his example.
- How have you laid down your own self interests for the sake of impacting someone else’s life for the furthering of the Kingdom of God on earth, even in ways that may seem small to you?
- Titus 2:11-14 – For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people, 12instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and in a godly manner in the present age, 13looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, 14who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, eager for good deeds.
- A huge part of living a discipled life means to engage in community, become love, and perform good deeds for the sake of glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ. Not because we’re looking for a reward, or because we’re looking to escape hell, but the very good things we do are the reward when we feel the pleasure of God in doing them.
- Becoming love and performing good deeds is what Revelation describes as all of us as his people becoming the Bride of Christ. Clothed in a spotless white gown that represents the righteous deeds of the saints (Revelation 19:7–9).
- How would you like to stop having to search for the love you need and become it instead?
- How would you like to crucify the fears, limitations, and selfish desires of your flesh and build out this Kingdom that we’ve been adopted into? A kingdom that takes you from glory to glory instead of disappointment to disappointment?
- Ask God to fill you afresh with His Holy Spirit this morning, repent of anything he shows you that’s standing in the way, and ask Him how he would like you to engage with the community He’s placed you in, to bring richness and encouragement to the rest of the body of Christ.
Notes that Probably won’t make the message:
59 Key One Another commands
100 ‘one another’ references altogether
20% of the New Testament is concerned with interpersonal relationships – The other 80% is concerned with the framework of why we should act out that 20%.
Instead of just giving us a list of do’s and don’ts to follow regarding relationships, the Bible spends a considerable amount of time giving us the “why” behind how we treat each other. It makes sure that we understand why love towards others is a natural overflow of the love that we receive from God.
Complaining proves nothing but that you can hear the voice of the devil – Bill Johnson
Community – Common Unity
John 17:20-23 – “I am not asking on behalf of these alone, but also for those who believe in Me through their word, 21that they may all be one; just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 The glory which You have given Me I also have given to them, so that they may be one, just as We are one; 23I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and You loved them, just as You loved Me.
Philippians 2:1-4 – 1Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, 2make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. 3Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves; 4do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.
Galatians 6:6 – Share all good things with those who instruct you in the Lord
Isaiah 52:7 – How beautiful are the feet of those who share the good news
Psalm 16:3 – As for the saints who are in the earth, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.
There have been times I was convinced that I was hearing from God on something. Good things, but as I talked it over in community with other Christians more mature than myself, I began to realize that I tend to be a lot more zealous than wise sometimes.
The love that we share as Christians is the heartbeat of Christ on earth that circulates His cleansing blood in every area. Cleansing whatever we touch with the purifying power of His blood.
Ekklesia – local governing body – this is the term Jesus used for the church
