Live Life in Community

Is Christian Community a feeling, a behavior, a relationship, or all of these?  Is Christian Community a noun or a verb? If you ask Google for a definition, you will be greatly misled. This vehicle defines Christian Community so loosely they include Mormonism in their description.

Christian Community can be witnessed at your places of worship. You may also experience a taste of it in a small group, which gathers for the express intention of sharing life, faith, and love for Jesus Christ. These small groups become family, a community that cares and supports each other.

When trouble arrives, and it most certainly will someday, Christian Community surrounds and uplifts with words and actions. Offers of comfort, support and genuine care are available here too. We act as Jesus would and provide for the needs of our hurting and or grieving brothers and sisters.

In this world of convenience, of pulling into our garages and closing the door behind us as we complete our workday, there is something to be said for a new sort of community. We need each other, we grow from our times with each other, and we learn that life isn't a spectator sport. The good life is experienced with other people. Not alone. Live from the heart.

Click here to listen to the sermon on The Heart of the Matter from Sunday, July 21, 2019

Romans 3:21-28

Continual Community

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke breadin their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, (NIV)

Acts 2:42 is a very popular verse, often referred to by small group leaders as an example of Christian practices. These four strong points illustrate how we live out our lives as followers of Jesus. They are noteworthy and worthy of our embrace: Teaching, Fellowship, Breaking of Bread, and Prayer. These are things we do to strengthen our faith and our witness. They are how we live out continual community.

Teaching- The teachings of Jesus and of His disciples are all in the Bible. Reading these stories and emulating their lessons will make us strong in our faith. When we study together we gain insight from each other.

Fellowship - One-anothering is often how we refer to living out our lives together.  Doing life together is so much better than trying to go it alone. We 'sharpen' each other when we hang out.

Breaking of Bread - Remembering Jesus and His sacrifice for us is accomplished each time we share the meal of Holy Communion. This blessed meal is meant to be taken in community.

Prayer - Prayer changes us. Prayer changes those around us and it can change our circumstances too. Prayer makes all the difference in the life of a Believer of Jesus. Praying with others is a powerful tool which can change hearts also.

Acts 2:42-46

Just Like Mr. Rogers Neighborhood

We are conditioned to be self-absorbed; to focus our life-lens on self. The word on the street, the general consensus is, it is all about me. Television commercials reinforce our importance every time their product is introduced. The advertisements shout, "you deserve a break today." We come to believe that we cannot exist without a ...(fill in the blank).

This is nothing new, but as we become more and more sophisticated, so does the concept of our own needs while they blossom into huge egos. Lost are the days of taking care of one another; of looking out for each other at the expense of ourselves. We easily forget just how much we need one another, how much we need the companionship and fellowship of others.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18)

I am happy to share that my neighborhood is like one from the days of Father Knows Best, or Leave it to Beaver.  If you were raised in the 50's you understand what I mean. Those were the days when many lived in a neighborhood where everyone knew each other.  As I get older and dare I say, wiser, this is important to me, an attraction even. My neighbors go through life caring for each other; being attentive to a possible need.

We are designed to be in community. That is why God created Adam and  Eve. We are created to be in communion with God, and also with one another. This will play out in peaceful co-existence when we genuinely live with love for each other in our hearts.

1 Corinthians 1:7,18-23

It's Personal

He was a sharp, young man—a “millennial,” by chronology, and a devoted follower of Jesus Christ. So, I was eager to hear his thoughts on his contemporaries’ openness to the gospel. “With my generation,” he said, “you cannot begin with truth. We value beauty, love, and community, so you have to start there. Ultimately, everyone will have to deal with truth, of course, but you cannot lead into the conversation with it.” While the message was disappointing in a way, his insight provided helpful guidance for one wanting to connect with people raised in a postmodern age.

Like it or not, we live in an era that is, in part, defined by a deep mistrust of truth. We’ve been taught that truth doesn’t exist at all or that it is elusive and largely unknowable, difficult to ascertain at best. Constrained by skepticism, we find ourselves with little more than personal experience to define reality, and “truth” becomes arbitrary, ours to define by fickle feelings as unique as the shifting shadows we cast.

But even cloudy thinking cannot block out “the Father of heavenly lights,” for His truth still breaks through the fogs of uncertainty and illumines even the soul of the skeptic. And if there is a silver lining to the prevailing worldview of doubt, it might be this—people who do search today for what is real do so more cautiously, and when we discover the One who is “faithful and true,”¹ we are willing to pay a greater cultural cost to accept Him.

What do we find, then, when we step into the invisible kingdom of God through the unseen doors of faith? Beauty is personal; it has an Artist. “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”² Love is personal; it has an Origin. “God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.”³ Community is personal; it has a Home. “In Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”⁴

Greater even than the beauty we behold, the love we savor, and the community we embrace is the God in whom they exist, whose image they portray. Regardless of era, irrespective of age, we can trust him, “For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”⁵

Lord, lead us out of doubt and distrust, that we might rest in the reality of Jesus, who loves us with an everlasting love. Amen.

“Every good and perfect gift is from heaven above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first-fruits of all he created. (James 1:17, 18)”

¹ Revelation 19:11
² Isaiah 6:3
³ 1 John 4:8b, 9
⁴ Romans 12:5
⁵ Psalm 110:5

United We Stand Tall

Some of us don't look forward to the holidays or family gatherings because of feuds and disharmony among siblings or parents. We often dread coming together for celebrations when there is fear of the drama which is sure to ensure.

Such tension takes the fun out of times meant for laughter and happiness. But, that is the way we are sometimes; unforgiving, and holding grudges for long periods of time.

There is a comforting sense of peace when we experience unity. When people are loving and tolerant of one another, family gatherings can be fun and a great place for memory making. What are your holidays like? Do you look forward to them or feel like just skipping the whole thing?

“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s Temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?” (1 Corinthians 3:16)

Whether it is the family community or our church community, we are called to love one another; to get along and to overlook someone else's shortcomings as they overlook ours. None of us is perfect, so we must often simply agree to disagree and be done with it. 

Many of us know from personal experience that differences in opinion or belief fade when face-to-face with tragedy. Somehow our perspective changes and that which was so important once - doesn't hold water any longer. That is how it will be when Christ returns. 

So why not try to get to that place now and enjoy each other and our differences.

1 Corinthians 3:1-17

1 John 1:1-10

Fellowship is important to Christians.  After spending a week in the workplace, the classroom, or the neighborhood, it is necessary to come together as the Body of Christ.  There is nothing quite like spending time with your Spiritual Family.  They can rejuvenate, refresh, and recharge our spiritual batteries.

I built a number of strong relationships at my Ohio church and I learned to love so many of the folks Dave and I worshiped with weekly.  I never missed church on Sunday unless I was sick or out of town.  Monday was guaranteed to be a good day because I was able to spend time with people who believe as I do.  In fact, leaving that fellowship when I moved to WI was very difficult, just like loosing family.

That is the way it should be.  We have been created by God to be in community with one another.  We need each other and it is only right that we grieve when we leave that setting.  By the same token, it takes a long time to get that same feeling when joining another/a new Community of Believers.

"We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete." (1 John 1:3-4)

Getting involved in a Fellowship of  Believers is encouraged in scripture, it is written about and also sung about in our praise music.  If you aren't totally immersed in your church family, what's holding you back?  You don't know what you are missing.  It will be your joy complete...

Read 1 John 1:1-10 here

Listen to 1 John 1:1-10 here

Build Up the Community - 3 John 1-13

Don't you find it wonderful to know you have so many friends at church?  When I would assist during service on Sunday with announcements, I wasn't nervous because I knew the folks in front of me liked me and wanted only what was best for me.  If I did flub something, they would laugh right along with me, never at me.  That is Building up the Community, one person at a time.

"It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it." (3 John 3)

John is writing to a good friend, Gaius and acknowledging his faithfulness to the truth, speaking highly of Gaius' actions.  John's words are building Gaius up for the community. We all need the proverbial 'pat on the back' once in a while.  Who have you encouraged recently?  Is there a new believer who could use a kind word, a faithful worker who moves in the back ground silently but faithfully?  Build up the Community of Believers one person at at time.

"Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God." (3 John 11)

Read the 3 John 1-13 text here.

Build Up Our Communities Acts 2:40-47

Peter warned and pleaded with the people of Israel. “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation!” How many years ago was that? That sounds like the same message we’re hearing today. Are we living in a corrupt and indecent generation again, or still? All these years and we haven’t figured out how to fix it? Weren’t we given another chance to start over when the floods came? Why do we keep gravitating toward evil? If God is so strong and mighty, why does it seem satan is winning? Why are we believers the minority? WHY IS THIS SO HARD?! I have lots more questions than answers!

A majority of this scripture comes under the heading of The Fellowship of the Believers. It appears that if we belong to a safe little church community, we can get together, be baptized, do good things for others, praise God, and in turn enjoy everlasting life in his favor. That’s pretty comfortable, but ignorant don’t you think? Oh yes, I’d prefer to dream about how I am doing all the right things here on earth and will one day hear those humbling words. “Well done good and faithful servant,” but something tells me it’s going to take more than simply being part of a fellowship of believers.

My church offers many small groups, ministries, and serving opportunities around the world that are very organized and well executed. I love that about the church, because my brain is not always systematic—you can verify that with my husband. However, this may not be for everyone. I am not comfortable in large overly organized systems, so simply take direction from the message painted above the foyer as I exit the sanctuary each Sabbath. It reads, “You are now entering the mission fields.” I do believe that all the world is a mission field. Whether organized or not, we are called to minister to, and be an example for others. Perhaps it’s a neighbor, co-worker, or even your child’s “friend” who you would prefer had not entered into your life at all. Stepping outside of our fellowship circle may not be comfortable, but it can make a difference in this world, one heart at a time.

Read the Acts 2:40-47 text here.

True Community Acts 2:40-47

Have you ever been a part of a group that totally clicked? It is a pretty cool feeling when you are effortlessly understood and accepted. Community can happen through a sports team, parenting group, or even a group of coworkers who bond together, unified under a common goal or interest. These are powerful groups, but there is nothing like being unified with a Christian community.

Our scripture passage today shows true community at work, “And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.”

This type of community can only happen through the power of the Holy Spirit. We have seen glimpses of this today, through house churches, small groups, and when churches rally together after tragedies and natural disasters. The Holy Spirit is the only one who can lead us to be sacrificially generous and blessed by the joy that type sacrifice offers.

If you have not experienced this type of community find out where you can plug in at your home church. It is exciting to be a part of group who is blessed to be a blessing.

Read today's passage at Biblegateway Acts 2:40-47

1 Corinthians 3:16-23

When I was in grade school, fifth grade to be exact, I learned about the etymology of words. While I wasn't a particularly engaged student at that time, I was fascinated by this type of study. Digging into the deeper meaning or original meaning of words was exciting. (I know, some of you are gagging right now.)

The Scripture text today is about the temple. "Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?" (1 Corinthians 3:16). I dug into the word temple to see its origin.

I know that temple is used here to mean us, Christians; we are temples of the Holy Spirit, a place where the spirit of God dwells. This is really big stuff, not to be taken lightly! Temple comes from the root tem signifying cut; cut out of the blue heavens for sacred uses. We have been separated for a higher use, a dwelling for the Holy Spirit.

As temples we are also community, a Christian community where we are all drawn together as Christ's body on earth. The Life Application Commentary says, "Corinth boasted many pagan temples and shrines, but there was only one temple for God--the Corinthian Christians were it! We can say the same today. Because we as believers are a temple for the Holy Spirit we ought not cause division, because that destroys the temple.

To read the text for today go to Biblegate and 1 Corinthians 3:16-23