The Gospel-Centered Community - Created for Community

So this morning we're thinking about community and think about how all of us, when we're born, we're born with a natural desire that we want to be accepted.

Right, we want to be loved, we want to feel part of something right Family.

We have friends, we have places that we like to go there we can fellowship with people.

That's just a natural thing.

We don't like to be the one left out, right?

When you're a child, you're a kid, you find out there's a birthday party and everyone gets invited, but you, okay, that doesn't make you feel good.

Right, we want to feel accepted.

That doesn't make you feel good.

We want to feel accepted.

Sometimes we just want to go where everybody knows our name and they're always glad we came.

Some of you know what I'm saying.

Others you need to Google TV shows from the 90s.

I actually put that in for our little pastor, tyler, because I know how he loves his 90s references and he's not here today to be praying for him because he's not feeling well, he's sick, but pray for him.

But, yes, we like that community, we want to be part of community.

And why is that?

Why is that need in our lives to be part of community?

And we're going to start out with Genesis, genesis 1.

We'll just start right at the beginning, right, go right to the beginning.

Genesis 1, 26 through 27.

Then God said let us make man in our image.

We're going to stop there for a second and acknowledge the fact that God is acknowledging the Trinity right.

We always say we're Trinity Community, church, and here we see the Trinity right, our.

We're going to make God and we're going to make man in our image.

We have God, the Father, god the Son, god, the Holy Spirit, one God, three persons.

God is a God of relationship.

And he goes on and says let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

I'm so thankful that we have a God that's relational.

Are you thankful for that?

That he created us in his own image?

He created us with that need in our lives to be part of community, to fellowship with him.

Think of the God of the universe that created all that we see, all that we are.

He's omniscient, he's omnipresent, yet he wants relationship with us.

Is that not just a wonderful thing to realize the power of God, that he's able to do that and wants that in our own lives, to see that?

So that's why we have that desire right, because he's put it inside of us as people that are created in his image.

We're created for community, created for family.

What did he create Adam?

They walked in the garden, they talked together, they fellowshiped together.

He created Eve, the foundation of family, man and wife together, instructed them to be fruitful, to multiply, to grow their family, the basis of community right there.

Think about how wonderful it was to be in the Garden of Eden.

God created this probably most beautiful place you could ever imagine on earth for them.

And there they are, fellowshipping with God, walking with God.

He'd come down and he'd walk with them and he would talk with them and they would look at his creation and they would just enjoy all the things that were there.

What a wonderful time.

That must have been right.

What an awesome time God fellowshipping with man.

You know to think of that, that he created them for that purpose to fellowship with them, fellowship with them.

So if God is relational and we're created in his image and we have that inward desire to be part of relationships, to be in relationships, to be part of community.

Why is it so hard?

Why are relationships so hard?

Why is being in community so hard?

Because we were created for community.

So then, why is it so hard?

Because we know in our lives that feeling of community where, remember when you were young, you just couldn't wait to be with your friends.

It's my privilege to be able to work with our kids and our teens and to see them.

They don't have to be encouraged to be part of community.

Okay, right, have you ever seen that they get a message or a call from a friend?

All it has to say is hey, you want to get together.

Yeah, there's no mention of where, there's no mention of when or what they're doing.

They just want to go.

They just want to go and be in community.

They don't care what it is, as long as they're together and in community.

But as the years go on, that desire for community, that sense of community kind of dwindles.

Maybe we've been hurt, maybe we've experienced some bad things, and where did that all come from?

We're going to go back to Genesis.

Genesis 3:1–8

Chapter 3, verses 1 through 8 is where we're going to start reading and thinking about what happened and why we're in the situation we are in now.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

And he said to the woman did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?

And the woman said to the serpent we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.

But the serpent said to the woman you will not surely die, for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.

Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked.

Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

All right, so here we see the fall right, the fall of man, adam and Eve, falling into sin, and realize this.

We like to focus on the fact that they took the fruit and they ate it, but the real sin was in their hearts, where they had that sin of unbelief.

Right, god had given them the word, god had shared the word with them, but instead they listened to the word of the enemy, they listened to the lies of the enemy and didn't believe and trust in God's word, but decided to trust in the enemy's lies and as a result of that, then they took of the fruit, then they ate the fruit and their eyes were opened.

So we see a lot of selfishness there.

Right, we say, well, god's way says this, but if I go this way, I can be like God.

We see selfishness entering into picture and I was thinking about this on how so often community relationships, family things are destroyed when we become self-motivated.

Right, our interests are all self-based.

There's stories told of a man who was shipwrecked on an island, been there for many years and wanting to be rescued, and finally one day a ship passing by sees him and comes on shore to rescue him.

And when they get there, the captain's looking around and says, oh, are you here by yourself?

And the man says yeah, I'm here by myself.

And the captain says well, why are there three buildings?

And the man says, well, that one over there, that's my house, that's where I live, that's where I eat and that's where I live.

And he said and this one over there, that's my church and that's where I worship.

And he said and the other one over there, that's the church I used to go to.

Now we laugh.

But is that not a sad commentary of where we have gotten as people who should be involved in community, that we allow selfishness and things like that to break our fellowship, to cause us not to be one with another?

And as we look at the fall of man and the sin that happened there, you think of the time before the sin, how Adam and Eve walked with God and talked with God.

And the moment that they sinned what happened?

Relationship was broken, right, the relationship between God and man was broken.

No longer were they in the garden, they were cast out of the garden.

No longer did God come and walk with them and talk with them and just fellowship with them.

Because of the sin, because now they were unrighteous, because now there was judgment, because we know that the penalty for sin is death, and that entered the world.

And you see, in the relationship between Adam and Eve, husband and wife blaming each other, blaming situations, blaming circumstances all around relationship damaged situations, blaming circumstances all around relationship damaged.

No-transcript.

Cain is upset because Abel's sacrifice is accepted and his is not.

He's selfish, not willing to accept that kills his brother, right, the ultimate betrayal of family and of trust.

And we see how that sin affected relationships.

We like to think about all the other things that sin brought into the world Death, pain, sickness but it also, when we look at our relationships and we look at the way that we interact with people and community, we have to acknowledge the fact that because of sin, these things have been tarnished, these relationships have become difficult for us because we are self-motivated.

And it's not about how I can serve others, but what's in it for me, if we look at most of our relationships, most things we do, it all comes back to how is this going to benefit me?

What am I going to get out of this?

Is this worth my time?

All those things that we consider when, the fact is, we should be thinking about how to serve others and how can we be a blessing to others, and not what's just in it for ourselves.

And as the years went by and time went by, you see the world getting worse.

But guess what?

There's good news.

There's good news.

Neil preached good news last week the gospel.

Is it not amazing that, even though man turned their back on, god chose to believe?

The lie of the enemy told God that we're going to follow this direction, we're not going to follow after your ways.

That God still wanted fellowship with man.

Is that not amazing?

Does that just not tell us what a wonderful God we have?

And in spite of man turning his back on God, god still wanted relationship with us.

He still wanted community with us, right?

So we saw that we were created for community.

And the good news is God was not going to allow Satan to have this victory that break in our relationship with God, that break in community.

Satan thought he destroyed it, but God said oh no, that's not the case.

So what does God do?

Through the gospel, god the Father, says to God the Son, go to earth.

And Jesus willingly comes to earth, becomes flesh, becomes man, dwells among us, lives a sinless life, becomes the perfect Lamb of God, is offered up as a sacrifice for our sins, pays our debt that we would have to pay.

Our debt is paid.

We become righteous Now that God, when God looks at us, no longer are we cast out, but he looks at us and sees the blood of Jesus and he sees the righteousness of Jesus and we are made righteous through that.

The judgment, the justice that is needed to happen is paid for because of what Jesus has done on the cross.

And now that relationship, that fellowship, that togetherness is there again.

God has restored that.

No longer do we have to be estranged from God, but Jesus being the mediator between God and us.

And now we can come to the throne, we can lift up his name, we can praise him.

He's still there, he's listening to us, he wants to have community with us all because of what Christ did on the cross.

Is that not a wonderful thing to see how God was not phased yes, he was not phased by what the devil was trying to do but that his relationship with us, his community with us, was so important to him, so important to Jesus, so important to the Holy Spirit, that he would come and fill us with his presence.

It's not just an awesome thing that not only were we created for community, but we were redeemed for community.

Let's check out Romans 5.19.

For as by one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.

Adam's sin, eve's sin.

Satan thinks there's victory there, but not so fast, because Jesus says that's all right, I'm going to step up and I will be that sacrifice.

And because of what he did on the cross we are made righteous.

Such a wonderful, wonderful thing the Lord has done for us because of his desire to be in community.

So we are redeemed through the blood of Jesus.

You say redeemed.

Are you not happy to be redeemed?

And now are we?

Not only redeemed from sin, but relationships are restored and there's healing that can be there Healing between husbands and wives, between fathers and sons and mothers, daughters, family relationships, even within the body of Christ.

We now have forgiveness.

We now can see each other and forgive one another and walk in community, all because of what the Lord has done for us.

Such a wonderful promise, such a wonderful thing God has done for us.

So Jesus makes us righteous, and his fellow believers, and we are redeemed.

Let's check out 1 Corinthians, 12, 12 through 14.

And I just love seeing what God has done here.

For just as the body is one and has many members and all the members of the body though many are one body, so it is with Christ, for in one spirit we were all baptized into one body, jews or Greeks, slaves or free.

You see what God has done here.

He created us in his image.

Satan comes along, tries to break that relationship, tries to destroy that relationship.

It is broken, but Jesus comes, satisfies the judgment.

We become one with God and not only are we made in his image, but now we're referred to as the body of Christ.

Is that not great to see that?

Imagine Satan thinking ah, what do I have to do?

Right, because of God's love for us and his desire to have that community with us.

Now we are called his body, the body of Christ.

This is where we see the redeeming power of God in community.

Right, and we're redeemed for community.

It's not just for one, but for the many.

We have many different people here today.

You all have different lives, different histories, different stories, but God has brought us all together, right, no matter what our race, color, history, where we're from none of that matters to God.

But he loves us and wants community, wants fellowship with us and in turn, gives us the strength to do that.

The Holy Spirit's there to fill us and give us the strength to live that life that's pleasing to God, and also that we can be together and in fellowship with Him and with one another.

And Romans 12.2,.

This is a great thing, because we are not only redeemed from sin, but we're also redeemed for purpose.

Right, we're not to just be saying, okay, I'm redeemed, I'm saved, all right, where's my seat Now?

I can just sit here and watch how things go, right.

No, we know that Christianity is not a spectator sport.

We know that we are involved, that God has purpose for us, and that purpose is not to make sure that you're happy with everything you do.

Sorry to disappoint you, but that's not God's purpose for our lives.

Okay, god's purpose for our lives is to bring glory and honor to Him lives.

Okay, god's purpose for our lives is to bring glory and honor to him.

Right, and as we're doing that, let's look at Romans 12 too.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that, by testing, you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

We're to be transformed.

We're different.

Now, now that Jesus has died and the power of the Holy Spirit dwells inside of us, we should be different.

We should be transformed.

We should not still be dealing with the attacks of the enemy the way we used to.

We should be able to walk in victory.

We should be able to get along with one another.

We should have the Lord working in our families, in our marriage.

We have the Word of God that instructs us, that tells us what we need to do and how we need to do it.

God did not just say, okay, you're saved, now Good luck.

No, he didn't say that.

What did Jesus do?

I will give you a comforter, I will send you a helper, the Holy Spirit.

And the Holy Spirit comes and we're saved, and the Holy Spirit comes upon us.

We're filled with the Holy Spirit so that we can live this Christian life.

Like we said, it is not easy sometimes to stay in community, right, it's not easy in relationships.

I'm sure if we could take some time and talk about all the experiences we've had, I'm sure many of you have some crazy stories about some crazy relationships, right, things that have been done.

So it's not easy.

We need the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

We need that Holy Spirit's power.

How can we be transformed without it?

How can we think that, all right, I'm good now, I'm on my way to heaven, that's good enough, right?

No, we need to be bringing glory and honor to the Lord, and the only way we can do that is through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The only way that we can live this life and be a good testimony to our neighbors and to our friends and to our coworkers, to our family members, is by applying the Word of God in our lives, and others can see the power of the Holy Spirit.

Are we perfect?

No, do we still live in a world that's tainted by sin?

Absolutely, we see sin all around us and it's such a hard thing sometimes, but to know that the power of the Holy Spirit is inside of us.

That gives us the strength to say no to the things we need to say no to, to say yes to the things we need to say yes to, to be with that person.

That maybe is just really hard to be with right, but they need you, they need your comfort, they need your instruction, they need you to walk with them through a situation.

It's not always an easy thing, but the power of the Holy Spirit's there so that we can do that, to empower us to do that for our community, for believers, for each other.

As Mark was talking about the triads, that's what it's about.

There are days that I may be really weak, but a brother, a friend, another believer can call me, can say hey, you know what I was praying today and your name just popped in my mind.

Holy Spirit just wanted me to give you a call to see if you're okay.

Right, that's the power of the Holy Spirit.

That's what community is about.

It's not just about ourselves and what we can do for what's best for us but what's about for others.

What's best for us but what's about for others.

And moving on, I want to read in Acts 2, 42-47, talking about the New Testament church right, the Holy Spirit has come.

People are filled with the Holy Spirit, they're excited about the things God is doing and they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers, and all came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles and all who believed were together and had all things in common and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as they had need and, day by day, tending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes.

They received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to their number, day by day, those who were being saved.

This is the example of what their church should be right.

This is the example.

This is what God intended for community Not bickering, not fighting, not worrying about color of carpet and all those other things, but getting together and praying for one another when one has need, being there to meet that need, at whatever cost it is.

Sometimes it's easy to meet a need.

When you have much right, it's easy to do that.

I'm the most patient driver you'll ever see, at four in the morning when nobody else is on the road Okay, and some here may know that that's a problem.

It's easy when there's no conflict, right.

It's easy when everything's going our way.

But when things get tough and times get tough and there is no money and there is no job or there's stress between family members, that's when we need our brothers and sisters, right?

That's when we need this New Testament church, this community of believers that will lift one another up, encourage one another, strengthen one another.

Think about these.

These are some things that God has told us as believers, love one another, honor one another, comfort one another, agree with one another, get along, serve one another, be kind to one another and here's a really good one Forgive one another.

We want community If we want to see transformation in our own lives.

Forgiveness has to be there.

Guys, we cannot go forward in our Christian walk if we harbor bitterness, unforgiveness.

We have to let go, we have to forgive.

We've been forgiven.

Imagine if Jesus held all of our wrongs against us.

He didn't.

He forgave our sins.

Every one of them did not hold it against us.

And yet we as people sometimes cannot get over things that people do to us Because of pride, and I'm not saying it doesn't hurt.

People hurt people, don't they?

We hurt each other.

We hurt each other deeply.

Unfortunately, many people are hurt in church.

Many people are hurt in family.

We're not glossing over that or denying that fact.

But the power of the Holy Spirit is there to help us, to help us forgive others.

And that's what the Lord is asking us to do as part of community to walk side by side with people that may be difficult, people that may not, in our own eyes, deserve our attention.

But do we deserve God's attention?

No, we don't right.

But the Lord wants us to be that.

He wants us to be fellow believers in community, serving God shoulder to shoulder, walking together in unity.

Let's check out 1 Peter, 5, 8 and 9.

Be sober-minded, be watchful.

Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.

I know we've all experienced that.

Yes, we all not experience the attacks of the enemy.

Is it not good to know that when the enemy attacks, not only do we have the power of the Holy Spirit, but that we also have fellow brothers and sisters that we can call, that we can contact, that we can say hey, I need you to join with me.

I'm under attack.

I just these temptations, these situations, these things, they're just getting me down.

I just need you.

That's what the body of Christ is about.

Right, we are the body of Christ together, many parts, one member in Jesus' name.

That's what the community is about.

That's why these triads are important.

That's why it's important, as believers, that we get to know one another, for when one is hurting, as Mark pointed out maybe you're here and someone else is here and that person can help you get to that point.

And there's another believer who's farther along and we help one another.

And sometimes that may mean a word of correction, and we have to be humble and willing to accept that, because our walk with the Lord, our walk in sanctification, is far more important than our selfish desires, and that's what we're striving for.

That's what we need to see in our own lives and in the lives of others.

I'm so thankful that there are people, even in this congregation, that have walked with me and are willing and brave enough to say, hey, you know what you need to work in this area, or this needs to be done, or encourage me in what is going on and point out the things that are good.

A well-rounded view of the gospel is what we need to understand the forgiveness that God has given us, and because he's forgiven us, we need to forgive others.

The last verse I'm going to read.

I know it's kind of fast, but we have a good surprise for you at the end here.

It's like Thanksgiving dinner.

You know every course gets better and better and finally you're like there's actually dessert.

I can't believe it.

But in Revelation 7, verse 9 and 10, and this is a verse my kids in the room here, all of our children's church, you ought to recognize this verse because we sing a song Every people, every tribe, every tongue, every nation, and we point to all the places.

Revelation 7:9

We'll sing heaven's song and this is just such a great verse of encouragement.

After this I looked.

This is John receiving the revelation that God is giving him.

After this I looked and behold a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice.

Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the lamb.

We're not alone.

Elijah thought he was alone.

God said no, elijah, you're not alone.

Many more have not bowed their knees.

And is it not encouraging that in every land, every tribe that God has reached out, there's believers?

All over this world There've been believers for generation to generation to generation not bowing their knee?

Be encouraged, we are part of this community, this community of believers.

Is that not encouraging to see that?

Do you ever feel alone?

Don't feel alone.

The Lord is with you, holy Spirit is with you and you are in a community of believers.

And, yes, we are not perfect and we fail and we hurt each other.

It's family, right, it's family, but we need to be forgiving and we need to love one another and realize that there is an enemy.

Adam and Eve, their biggest problem is they didn't recognize the enemy, did they?

They didn't think about there is an enemy that's trying to distract us from the love of God.

They didn't recognize him and they fell to the lies of the enemy.

And the enemy continues to try to lie to us and say our fellowship with God is destroyed.

It is not destroyed.

Our fellowship with God is restored, it's redeemed and now we are able to live in victory.

So let's be encouraged today.

Let's remember that the victory is the Lord's and that we have a God that wants community with us, in spite of all of our faults, all of our weaknesses, all of the many times that we fail.

And sometimes I'm amazed.

I'm like Lord.

How could you still love me?

How could you forgive me over and over?

But he does Amen, and we need to share that message with others.