Three Simple Practices Part 2 | August 18, 2024

So these three S's are

kind of symbolic in

reminding us of the

linkage that we have

all the way back to

the early church and

some of the stuff that

we do as a church.

Isn't just because

it's sort of a

tradition or an

idea or neat concept

that popped up in

the seventies, and

so we, we do it.

It really ties us

all the way back

to the early church

Jesus's disciples

and what they did

and how they lived.

These three S's over

these three weeks want

to kinda lay before

us as we come outta

summer and move into

fall and some of the

really neat things

I think that God

has on the horizon.

Last week we talked

about this Sunday

worship gathering.

How important it is

as followers of Jesus

Christ, that one of

our priorities is

this idea of Sunday

worship gathering.

Sunday, the first

day of the week, as

the early church kind

of stepped outta the

shadow of the Jewish

Sabbath and into

their identity as the

ones who follow the

risen Savior, who by

no coincidence, rose

on that Sunday, that

first day of the week,

and the early church

gathered regularly.

To worship, right,

to express praise, to

listen to the apostles

teaching, to hear, to

share, to break bread,

to commune together.

And they worshiped

this risen savior,

and they did that

as a body together

on a regular

habitual practice.

Right?

And they said,

don't neglect,

don't forsake,

don't abandon.

The regular habit of

gathering together as

the body of Christ.

Right?

And this word

gathering is such a

beautiful picture that

come together, right?

To move from where

you are to a place

of gathering and.

To be with

right to come.

And with that imagery

of not being alone and

not being isolated and

not being separated,

but instead being

in relationship with

God, his people in

that space, it's

part of why, uh,

we had to razz my

dad and Rusty for

bailing today, right?

Because we just

got done talking

about this

important priority.

And then where

are those now?

In fairness, they had

that scheduled a long

time ago, and, and

it's also a good thing

to remember this too.

This isn't a

legalistic approach

to, uh, man, you

should never, ever

not be in church

on a Sunday.

Uh, that's, you can

get to the extreme

of recognizing

that now that I've

attended church

and I have perfect

attendance, I got

all the stars in my

little sticker chart.

Heaven Cha-ching.

Well, that's not

actually how it

works either, right?

You remember that

whole phrase like

going to McDonald's

doesn't make you a

french fry, right?

Going to church

doesn't make

you a Christian.

You have to have

a relationship

with Jesus Christ.

But when you have

a relationship

with Jesus Christ,

the gathering of

the body, the.

Fellowship of

the believers.

That's an important

thing and ought to

be a priority for

us, and we ought

not to neglect that.

And there's times

where there's things

going on and we're

going places and

we're on trips and

there's events and

activities, but as

followers of Jesus,

we need to really stop

and say, what should

my priorities be?

Where does God fall?

Where does the

gathering of the body

of Christ fall in

that priority list?

And ask some hard

questions maybe

about our scheduling

and what we do.

Well, today we're

gonna talk about

this second priority

practice of the early

church followers of

Jesus for generations

and its importance

and significance.

The early church made

a priority of Sunday

worship gathering.

Absolutely.

And they also called

each other to be

sagacious Sagacious.

Now, I don't know if

you know that word,

but they called each

other to this state of

having or showing keen

mental discernment

and good judgment.

I'm just kidding.

It really?

No, the crisis sent

me this, this week

and I was gonna put it

up to mess with them.

'cause they were

like, seriously, we

guessed Sagacious.

How did this happen?

I had no idea what

Sagacious meant.

Thank you guys for

trying, eh, not that

we're doing today, but

uh, I did think maybe

it would be in good

mental discernment

and judgment to go

ahead and share that

word with you because

now you've increased

your vocabulary.

And maybe we should

be people who are

sagacious, but,

uh, it was worth it

to me, just so you

know, to watch Eric

and there so puzzled

wondering, did we

seriously guess it?

Good job guys.

Thank you for

that word.

Appreciate that.

No, not Sagacious,

sorry, but

be sagacious.

It's wonderful,

wonderful word.

Um, anybody ever heard

that word before?

Just that moment

right there together.

Ryan, what are you

teaching in your

fifth grade class?

What are you doing?

These kids?

Okay,

let's talk later.

'cause I don't even,

I don't even know what

you're talking about.

Sunday morning worship

gathering a super

important priority

practice and the early

church was heavily

involved in this.

Small group.

Discipleship.

This was a priority

practice of the

early church.

In fact, we can go

back to Acts chapter

two in this section

we call the Fellowship

of Believers, and you

won't be able to see

all that up there.

But the disciples,

after following Jesus

and choosing to come

into faith in Jesus

Christ, they devoted

themselves to the

teaching the apostles

into fellowship,

into prayer, into

breaking bread,

and they met daily

together as the body

of Christ doing life.

Together and they,

and they prayed

and they encouraged

one another.

They communed

together.

They met in the

temple courts.

They also met in

people's homes.

And all of life was

this sense of we're

followers of Jesus

and it's our identity.

It's who we are and

it's what we do.

And so they not

only gathered as

Sunday morning

worshipers in this.

Sense of a corporate

body experience,

but they also were

partaking in smaller

group discipleship

experiences in their

life, and that's not

something cool that

came in the eighties.

It's not something

cool that somebody

came up with in a

book and we're like,

we should do small

groups in the church.

It's cool idea.

No, no, no.

This is something that

the early church was

involved in doing.

For thousands of years

gathering together as

the body of Christ,

not just in that

Sunday morning worship

experience, but other

times throughout

the weekend in other

places for a really

significant purpose.

And we're gonna

unpack that a

little bit today.

This word small,

probably is best

understood in contrast

to its Big Brother.

Big, right?

The word big

seems to kind of

make small seem.

Well, I.

Tiny, doesn't it?

And if you're part of

a generation in here

that identifies with

one of these three

baby boomers, gen

Xers, millennials.

We all have certain

characteristics.

We got the Gen

Zers and then, then

we got the gen.

We don't know what

we're doing yet, sir.

I dunno what that is.

But there's a lot

of different things.

Our generation that

we kind of grow up in

kind of has as pillars

of foundational

ideology, right?

The concepts of

how we do life

and world views

and, and all these

different things.

Well, if you're part

of, let's back all

the way up to the baby

boomer generation.

The baby boomers

had this mantra.

And it goes like

this, and you

might recognize it.

Bigger is better.

Bigger is better.

Right.

And if you were

part of the baby

boomer generation.

Having a bigger house,

having a bigger tv,

having bigger square

footage in whatever

it was that you

owned, having a bigger

footprint and a bigger

stamp, and having

bigger cars and bigger

vacations and bigger

everything, defined

value, smaller was not

as valuable as bigger.

Bigger really

mattered.

And bigger defined

what was best.

It's interesting to

watch some of the

swing in the pendulum

of younger generations

who are sort of like

minimalists, right?

And trying to live

in tiny houses.

And the boomer

generation is like.

You're living

in a shed.

What are you doing?

Right?

Like it doesn't make

sense and living

in a shoebox trying

to make life work.

Or some millennials or

Gen Z people who only

have like a couple

of pans when God gave

you this huge drawer

and it cabinet where

you could shove 80

pans you'll never

use into, right.

Like, 'cause it's

better to have a

big kitchen set.

Right.

Jamie Hart working

through our own bigger

and better kitchen

set issues right now.

Sorry, it's kind of.

In my heart.

Um, but is bigger

always better?

Is this a, is this a

principle that really

ought to be part

of how we do life?

I was thinking about

this for myself and

I was like, you know,

when we got married,

my waistline was a 29.

Now it's a 28.

No, actually

that's not true.

I can't lie right

here on the Yeah, it's

a little bit bigger

than it was now.

You may be like

trying to sell it

like I do, like Jamie.

There's so much more

of me to love now

than there used to be.

Bigger is

better, right.

But I'm not a hundred

percent sure that

bigger is better.

And I was part

of the Pepsi

generation, right?

My dad grew up where

you had to, like I, me

lived in kind of a, a

small little town in

northern Illinois with

not a lot of money.

And he would get

like, you know, the

nickel, soda bottle

kind of thing, right?

And you get like

one Pepsi if you

were good that year

kind of vibe, right?

And I grew up in

the generation.

Where we got free

refills, right?

And we got big cups.

'cause bigger

is better.

And we learned that.

And then my doctor

told me recently

that that's not

helping me as much

as I thought it was.

You know what

I'm saying?

So bigger being

better isn't always

a definition of

quality and yet in

our culture it's

still linkers as kind

of a status, right?

You need a bigger

house, don't you?

I always get kind

of cracked up when I

see bigger and bigger

and bigger houses.

'cause I, you

know what?

I see more and more

and more square

footage to vacuum

more toilets.

You get to scrub.

Lucky.

I wish I could

be like you and

really be somebody.

I mean we have,

yeah, nevermind.

We'll move

on from that.

Okay.

But, uh, if you like,

go to our good friend

expert, uh, let's

see if he's on here.

Google.

And you type in

the word small

to kind of find a

definition, right?

It's gonna have words

like this, okay?

That's not helpful.

They're small.

A size that is

less than normal.

Small means less

than normal.

Second definition

is insignificant

and unimportant.

Still in the, the

fabric of our culture,

this idea of big being

better is still how we

kind of are wired and

how we tend to think.

And I'm not always

sure that that's

the best thing.

And it seeps into the

church and how we do

church and we think

a bigger congregation

and a bigger building

and a bigger crowd.

Is definitely better.

And you know, it,

it's nice to have a

big crowd and it's

nice to, to be able

to do some big things.

But I talk to people

every day all the

time who get lost

in the big crowd and

they hide in the big

crowd and they just

check their box that

they showed up at a,

an event and go home.

And this whole

following Jesus

thing doesn't seem

to be much more than

just a quick crowd

like experience.

There were big crowds

that followed Jesus.

But man, Jesus was in

a small group and a

big group sometimes,

but Jesus got away

with his disciples

and unpacked things.

Jesus spent time

with smaller

groups of people to

help them see and

understand, right?

It wasn't always just

this big, big piece.

In fact, when we

look at this idea

of less than normal,

insignificant,

and unimportant, I

would challenge you

that if you look

into scripture,

we serve the God

who kind of flips

everything upside

down, doesn't he?

Like small guys like

you know, David,

the insignificant

kuan, worthless one

becomes the greatest

king probably in

the history of all

of Israel, right?

Israel a small,

minuscule nothing.

That becomes the

chosen race, the

chosen people of God.

God is in the business

of taking the less

than and making it

more than He's in the

business of taking

the insignificant,

the things that don't

seem like they matter

that much, or we're

not as talented or

as impressed by or

impressive by the

world's standards

and making things

eternally significant,

far beyond what

the world might

say has value and

significance, and

people who feel

very unimportant

oftentimes.

Become in the

halls of eternity,

incredibly important.

And one day when we

stand before the Lord

in eternity, we're

gonna have a whole

different perspective

on what we said

was significant and

important and small or

large, or meaningful

or not meaningful.

We're gonna see things

in a whole different

light, and God is

in the business of

taking things that

sometimes look like

they're worthless

and insignificant by

the world standards.

I.

Man, I'm making them

something amazing.

And so I say that as

we talk about small

groups in some ways

to help us see and

remind ourselves that

there is tremendous

value in something,

in a smaller package.

But also you might

feel insignificant

and small.

You might feel like

you don't matter

or you're chasing,

measuring up to the

world's expectation

and standard of being

great and significant.

I think Jesus said if

you want to be great.

Be the servant of all.

If you want to be

great, become really

small in your own

eyes and let the

Lord exalt you.

Maybe that's not

what I was talking

about Totally, but

if we're gonna touch

on the word small,

we gotta hit a little

truth there, right?

So as we think

about small group

discipleship

size comes into

play here, right?

And it, and it has

a, a piece to this,

the definition of

the word group.

One definition is a

number of individuals.

Assembled together.

Now without the

word small, we're

not sure what that

number is, right?

But when we throw

that word small on

there, we know this

isn't a big group

of individuals.

We're not talking

about crowds, right?

And if we go back to

Acts chapter two, and

we look into what we

just saw a few minutes

ago, they broke bread

in their homes and

ate with gladness.

There were thousands

of people coming to

faith in Jesus Christ.

And I don't know how

big your house is, but

thousands of people

probably don't fit

in your house, right?

And so it's pretty

easy to assume

here from the

scripture that.

Groups of people that

were smaller in number

were meeting together

regularly, breaking

bread in their homes,

praying, encouraging

one another, doing

life together, right

in a smaller capacity.

And then over in

Roman 16, five, we

see things like the

church that meets

in their home.

And, uh, it would

be really fun, I

think, to go to Tom

and Shannon's for

church next Sunday.

In fact, if you don't

make it here, um,

maybe we should all

just take a little

field trip and

that could be fun.

Just pile around

your house and all

try to shove in.

From the hot tub I

takes from the hot

tub, probably not.

Let's meet here.

That's gonna

work out better.

But uh, yeah,

that's just gonna

work out better

all the way around.

But the church

meeting in homes and

in smaller groups is

a biblical concept

that's been around

for a long time, a

number of individuals

assembled together.

Another definition

is this, two or

more figures forming

a complete unit.

And if you're like me,

this sort of jumps out

at you two or more.

That kind of reminds

us of something in

scripture, doesn't it?

Where Jesus says,

for where two or

three, gather in

my name, there I

am with them, even

two who would come

together in the name

of Jesus to gather.

Jesus says, I'm

gonna show up.

So check this out.

This is kind of cool.

This hit me not

a big math guy.

Um, but check

this out.

Two or more figures

forming a complete

unit in the church.

You're never.

Ever gonna have

a small group

of just two?

You can't, right?

It's always gonna be

a minimum of three.

'cause if just two

of you show up, Jesus

is gonna join you.

Right?

And so you're never

just two of you

hanging out alone.

That's kind of

a cool picture.

And don't forget,

we do this thing.

We're like,

oh, there's

only two of us.

Negative, right?

Small, insignificant,

unimportant.

But Jesus says.

There's two of you.

I'm coming.

That's kind of

a cool picture.

We gotta rearrange

how we think about

this word small

sometimes, because

God may be able to

do more work in that

small setting, right?

I love our church.

You guys are an

incredible family.

You do a great job of

trying to be inclusive

and love everybody

and have conversations

together and engage.

But let's be honest,

there's not a lot

of space right here

in this moment for.

For, uh, a

question, right?

Even just a

clarifying question.

Wait, could you say

that one more time?

I kind of missed that.

Or, oh, that might

tie, does that

apply to this?

Like, while I would

enjoy that, not

everybody maybe in the

room would too, right?

If we just derail

on rabbit trails

everywhere, right?

And we have to

be sagacious,

it's not gonna

work if we don't.

So we have to use good

metal judgment, right?

And wisdom.

But smaller groups

are places where you

can ask a clarifying

question and you

don't have to feel

silly or awkward

or embarrassed, and

you have a voice.

Where you matter

and, and you fit and

you belong, right?

You're not just

sort of like left to

wonder and ponder.

You can actually talk

together and engage

Jesus' disciples, man.

They would come to

him after he talked

to the crowds and

they would say, could

you explain to us the

parable of the sower?

Right?

Because we don't

really understand.

It sounded really

good and we were like,

yeah, listen to what

Jesus says everybody.

What are you saying?

Right?

Like, 'cause

sometimes you need

to get in a smaller

space to be able

to unpack and have

conversation and gain

more understanding

and that's cool.

That's part of the

design of it, right?

Okay.

This isn't the whole.

Definition here.

Two, A number

of individuals

assembled together.

There's that

word together.

Don't forget it means

come and with, right?

You don't just sit and

not engage, you go,

and you're not alone.

You're with others.

There's a sense of

belonging, right?

So a number of

individuals assembled

together, having some

unifying relationship.

So it's a number,

a small number of

individuals who are

coming together.

Having some unifying

relationship.

This word

relationship, the root

idea here of being

related to have some

commonality, right?

A sense that you

belong to this

group and in small

group discipleship

as the church

for generations.

It's centered

around this idea

right here, this

word actually being

disciples who are hip.

Very important.

Don't miss that one.

Oh no, sorry.

That one kind of

jumped out to me

when I changed it.

Right.

We share something

in common in a small

group discipleship

experience as

followers of

Jesus Christ.

And what is it?

Oh, we're disciples.

And what does

that mean?

Well, it means being

a follower, but not

just a follower of

anybody or anything.

It means being

a follower of

Jesus, right?

That's our unifying

relationship.

When you walk into

this building and

you see other people,

you may think to

yourself, I have

nothing in common

with the person right

across that aisle.

Oh, but do not let

the enemy isolate

and separate you

from the family of

God and your faith

community because you

are related, because

you're followers of

Jesus Christ, you are

his disciples, and

you share something

more common and

strong as a bond.

Than probably any

stupid sports, you

know, connection

or random job that

I used to work at

that you now work

at kind of vibe.

You guys have a

powerful connection

as followers of

Jesus Christ.

And maybe like

the word small,

this word follower

gets a negative

term, doesn't it?

You're just

a follower.

You're such

a follower.

Sometimes we're,

we're a little

arrogant and prideful

and following.

Jesus is about

humility, right?

And we call him

Lord for a reason.

We're not,

Lord, he is.

And as followers of

Jesus Christ, we're

called not to like.

Let Jesus co-pilot

with us and give

us some advice as

we navigate life.

We're called to get in

the backseat and say,

Jesus, take me where

you want me to go.

I'm following you.

You are leading,

you are in charge.

You are the

Lord of my life.

And I submit to your

lordship, right?

And this word being

is cool because it's

this idea of a state

of being, right?

It's active.

I am not some passive

follower of Jesus.

I am in the

process of being a

follower of Jesus.

What does it

look like to be a

follower of Jesus?

Well, I sit at church

one day a week for a

few minutes and listen

to a bald guy rant.

Isn't that what

followers of Jesus do?

Probably not.

I mean, hopefully a

little bit of that,

don't get me wrong,

but there's a whole

lot more to follow in

Jesus than showing up

on a Sunday morning

worship gathering

and sitting there.

Sure, we come and we

worship and we engage.

We do those things,

but man, there's

a whole lot other

days in this week

that Jesus wants

you to follow

him and the small

group discipleship

experience.

It kind of puts you

in an environment

with other people who

are trying to figure

out what does it look

like to follow Jesus.

Part of what we're

gonna be doing in

this, uh, this cool

practicing the way

nine week small group

initiative we're

gonna launch is to

put you in a group.

If you want to be

part of another group

of people who are

saying, I'm gonna

try to follow Jesus

and we're gonna hit

these nine principles

one each week and

explore it together

and see what it's

like to try to follow

Jesus in this space

and in this space.

Right.

Because when you

meet together as

a small group for

discipleship, notice

it's not just a

small group, right?

Like we're gonna watch

the Colts together.

Come on over.

It's a small group.

I want those

groups too, don't

get me wrong.

But a small group

that's designed around

being a follower

of Jesus is gonna

focus on things like

fellowship together.

Encouraging one

another, supporting

right sharpening.

We're gonna look

at teaching and

learning and growth.

We're gonna look

at praying together

and spend time

experiencing being

prayed for and praying

for other people.

And there's this

sense of breaking

bread together, right?

This idea of

communion.

That's really tied to

this relational sense

of communing with one

another, which really

creates a cool sense

of community, right?

That we do life

together in a

space where we're

experiencing support

and encouragement

and all the more

scripture says, right?

As the day approaches.

Well, I'm really

excited about this

initiative that

we're gonna take as

a church, and I want

you to know this isn't

the only way to be

obedient to the Lord.

In, in finding a way

to connect in small

group relationship.

There's a lot of ways

and there's a lot of

groups and there's a

lot of opportunities

for you to do more

than just check

a box on a Sunday

morning and say, I'm a

follower of Jesus now.

'cause I did

this experience.

The church of Jesus

Christ met every

single day together.

Did life together.

Sometimes that's

hard to do in

our environment,

and I understand

that for sure.

But do not neglect to

be part of the body.

Do not neglect to

engage in some of

these really important

priority practices

that God has called

us to as the church.

These aren't fancy

old church traditions.

These were things

that the church did

at the beginning.

And that we ought to

continue to follow

in because of how

significant they are

in our development

as people who are

following Jesus, the

encouragement we bring

to one another and

that we find from one

another, and God has

great purpose in this.

Do not neglect

gathering regularly

as the body of

Christ to worship

and to encourage.

Don't neglect

that so important.

Don't reprioritize

that as sort of a

optional thing in my,

in my month, should

look at her month

and be like, well, I

already know there's

at least four or

five days that are

locked up for me.

'cause they

matter really

more than anything

else going on.

Right.

Should have those

conversations

as you look at

your scheduling,

because it matters

that you're here.

It matters that

you listen.

It matters that

you worship.

It matters that you

share, and I really

want to encourage

you to explore what

it looks like in

your context to find

a way to engage in

some small group

discipleship with

other believers,

not for me, and not

for a great program

that Dax can help

oversee on some

night of the week.

But so that you can

experience what God

has for his people

as you model some of

the priorities that

he's laid out for us.

And you're gonna

have to be sagacious,

use good judgment to

figure it all out.

Lord Jesus, thank you

for these practices

and these principles.

Really these

priorities of how your

church has lived and

functioned and done

life for millennia.

And Lord, you know,

our busy, hectic,

modern schedule and

all the technology and

all the distractions

and all the priorities

that bombard us.

And Lord, you don't

scold us or beat us

up with these truths.

I think you just

invite us into

relationship.

And so this morning,

Lord, rather than

a, a ton of guilt or

shame or conviction

about all the things

we could be doing

better that we're not.

I pray, Lord, that

for each of us, you

would just give us the

courage to take one

little step towards

you in these areas of

saying to our family

and to ourselves, and

we're gonna make sure

your priorities are

our priorities, and

we're gonna try to

engage in some ways

that are important.

Lord, thank you for

every person who's

part of this family.

Thank you for your

huge family worldwide

and throughout all of

time we're connected

to some pretty

amazing people and

some pretty flawed

people that you've

loved and called

into relationship,

and thank you

that we're counted

among that number.

I pray, Lord, you

guide us this week.

Guide us in discerning

what it is that you

want us to do and

how you want us to

prioritize our life.

That we might honor

you and experience

everything you

have for us.

In Jesus name

we pray, amen.

Amen.