Community

Great, great time of worship this morning.

Great to see all of you here today.

My name is Russ, and I'm one of the pastors here at Church at the Grove.

I'm excited that you're here.

Week two of this series called Transformation.

Transformation.

And so I want to um just would you repeat this after me?

Do not be conformed to the world.

But be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

And so that that word transformed, last week we begin this series, transformation.

And really what we're trying to understand over these three weeks is how do we change?

How do we change?

And what what do we mean by change?

That word transformation in the Greek is metamorpho, and it's it's where we get the word metamorphosis, and it and it it's literally the understanding of how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly.

Butterfly.

And so it's that process of metamorphosis.

So what is that for us?

So are we, what are we?

When we're caterpillar, are you autocalipillar?

Are you a caterpillar?

I can't even say it.

Caterpillar?

You say it.

You hand you the mic.

Caterpillar, what does that mean?

Spiritually, what does that mean?

That's really us before we are in Christ.

What does that mean to be in Christ?

Jesus is Christ.

Christ is the word Messiah.

The anointed one.

It's a title.

His name was Jesus, the Yahweh, which is literally means the way of salvation.

And so Jesus came to bring life to us.

He lived his life modeling what it was to live a perfect holy life.

Now he could do that because he was at the same time God and human being.

And you say that blows my mind.

Well, it blows my mind too.

It's the mystery of the gospel.

It's a mystery.

How can Jesus be God and man at the same time?

Because there is a mystery.

God, listen, you ever understand that, then your God is too small.

Because God is big.

I can't understand everything about God.

And so the gospel, the good news is that Jesus became one of us.

He modeled what it was like to live a holy life.

He was perfect in every way, which means he was able to be the spotless lamb who would give his life ultimately to be sacrificed.

The writer of Hebrews says once for all, so there would never have to be another sacrifice.

No more sacrificing lambs day in, day out in the temple, no more blood running through the streets of Israel.

And so Jesus is sacrificed for you and for me, and for those of us that put our faith in Jesus.

And so the end of the story or the part of the story is not that Jesus just hung on the cross.

He was buried into the tomb, into and put into a tomb, and then he was bodily resurrected.

Amen.

Those of us that are Pentecostal would get really excited about that.

Amen.

Hallelujah.

We hallelujah for the cross and the empty tomb.

And so, yes, yes, and so Jesus has changed us.

But here's what many of us think man, hallelujah, I've got a ticket to heaven.

I've got the end of my life is death.

But what about between now and then?

What about between now and then?

Jesus is not the end.

It's not the finish line, it's the beginning line.

It is the starting place.

It is a starting line.

And then we live our life going through metamorphosis, going through transformation.

And we've got to learn how are we changed?

How are we transformed?

Last week we talked about the importance of the word of God and the teaching of the word.

And the most important thing is that you have a plan to change.

Now let me tell you something.

All of you are being formed into something.

You are being formed into something.

And so if you don't have an intentional plan to be formed into the image of Christ, then that means you have an unintentional plan to be potentially formed into the image of the world or whatever sounds better to you.

I say this all the time to my kids.

If you listen, this is true.

We got how many kids gonna take part next weekend?

100 and something.

Yeah, I mean, we don't we don't know because they're all signed up at the last minute.

Over 100 students will gather in a weekend retreat next weekend.

I'm telling you, most young people don't choose their friends.

They gravitate to where they're accepted.

And so it's in it's so important.

I've taught my kids this you intentionally choose who you want to be your close friend because whoever you hang out with, you'll end up acting like them.

You will become who you act, who you hang out with the most.

And so last week is if you don't have an intentional plan, you have an unintentional plan, which means I'm just gonna let anything and everything form me into the image of whatever is going on in this world.

No, I want to have an intentional plan.

I want to be formed into the image of Christ.

Do not be transformed, do not be conformed to the to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

And so it's important.

It's important for us to understand.

So week two of today, week two of this series today, today is about community.

Last week was about teaching of the word, the teaching of the word.

Today is about the community and how we are transformed by the relationships that we have in the body of Christ.

Now I grew up the youngest of three boys, which meant that every time I was on the playground, I was chosen last.

I was the youngest kid of three boys, so I've hung out with all the friends of my two older brothers, right?

So we're playing kickball.

And I'm I'm I'm wanting to be like the big boys.

Nine and seven years older than me.

We're playing basketball, we're playing baseball, we're playing whatever, we're playing out on the playground, and you what do you do?

You you establish two captains, they're the oldest and the biggest and the best, and they start picking.

So who gets picked last?

The youngest and the smallest and the weakest.

And so I knew what it was like to be picked last a lot of my life.

Just would y'all say, Oh, for me, just for a sec.

Yeah.

Now tell me to get over it.

So if you said get over it and you enjoyed it, you cannot be a counselor.

You're not you're not called to count be a counselor, right?

Counselors can't say get over it.

Counselors have to say, you know, tell me how you feel.

No, that's why I'm not a counselor.

And so the importance in the body of Christ, listen, when when a person walks into this building or they walk into a community group or they walk into one of our events, it's important that we pursue relationship with them.

And make sure they aren't picked last.

Do you understand that?

There's somebody that is doggedly pursuing relationship with them.

Every person needs belonging and needs to be included.

Now, if you are in here and you are young in the faith, or maybe you've been a Christian maybe for many years, but you just have never really been developed as a disciple, then you need to intentionally pursue connection with somebody that can encourage you and help you grow and be transformed into the image of Christ.

So today is about community.

We gravitate to where we're accepted, we become like the people we hang out with the most.

And so, as we said last week, you can have all the right information, but without the proper relationships and people in our lives, we'll never live out the information that we have been given.

And so true transformation must include community.

Say that together with me.

True transformation must include community.

And so that's why we're in community groups.

That's why we say, hey, build relationships, get into a serve team.

One of the people in a group recently said this isn't it a shame that we could spend potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars to hire a counselor in order to have someone to talk about our problems and issues with.

When all we simply need to do is have other believers that we can open up and share with.

So that's why we encourage people to get counseling.

We encourage people to have to have that option.

Sometimes it's needed.

Sometimes it's needed.

But a lot of times we need relationships.

And so Paul says this, and we did a series on this recently, so I'm not going to go into great detail, but I want to read this passage out of 1 Corinthians 12 that speaks about how all of us are critical to one another.

A spiritual gift is given to each of us.

Paul says he's talking about us, the church, believers, so we can help each other.

To one person, the spirit gives the ability to give wise advice.

To another, the spirit gives a message of special knowledge.

The same spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else, the one spirit gives the gift of healing.

He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy.

He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit.

Still, another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said.

It is the one and only spirit who distributes all these gifts.

He alone decides which gift each person should have.

Now, what's the point?

Every person has at least one gift.

All of you have a spiritual gift.

Every person who is a believer in Christ has a spiritual gift.

What is the most important part about that in today, what we're talking about today, is you are needed.

You matter.

Your gift matters to somebody else.

There's somebody in this room that needs encouragement from someone else.

There is someone in this room that might need prayer from another person.

A person might need healing.

A person might need a miracle.

A person might need a word of encouragement, a word from God.

We listen, these gifts are all given to the body, not just given to the one or two leaders who speak or preach.

They're given to all of us.

And the apostle Paul goes on.

He says, All of you together are Christ's body, and each of you is a part of it.

Here are some of the parts that God has appointed for the church.

And he does.

He talks about leaders.

He said, apostles, first are apostles, second are prophets, third are teachers, then those who do miracles, those who have the gift of healing, those who can help others, those who have the gift of leadership, those who speak in unknown languages.

He says, Are we all apostles?

No.

There are those that are have leadership, responsibility, gifting, and are called to lead.

Are we all prophets?

Are we all speaking the word?

Preaching the word?

Are we all teachers?

Do we have the power to do miracles?

Do we all have the gift of healing?

Do we all have the ability to speak in unknown languages?

Do we all have the ability to interpret unknown languages?

Of course not.

So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts.

And here's what Paul is teaching.

He's helping us understand, and one of the best ways to help you understand this is just how we grow up as human beings.

The process of maturing in our relationships.

There is this place of dependence, right?

When a baby is born, we had a new baby just born this week, right?

Praise God.

A miracle baby.

We've got multiple miracle babies in our church.

Praise God.

So a baby is born.

I mean, you just do you go sit the baby in the corner and and throw them a box of Cheetos.

Now, after about six months without any sleep, you're praying for that.

No, you you what do you you you have to get up and feed the baby every so often.

You have to, you have to, there's absolute dependence on the parent.

But what you want to happen over a period of time is for there to be more and more independence.

We love it when our babies start talking.

We love it because we know what they want.

We love it when they start walking.

Isn't it funny?

We love it when they start walking.

But when you have three that are running through the house constantly, that's a whole nother thing.

But there is a there's a point that all of us parents, it's one of the most precious times in the life of our children when they can get up all by themselves and pour cereal and milk into a bowl so you can continue to what?

Sleep.

It's independence.

I don't think that's what Paul's talking about.

It's not our point.

But there's independence.

What is it, what is maturing like for us spiritually?

And it's similar to parenting and seeing a child.

They they learn to take care of themselves, they learn to feed themselves, they learn to think for themselves, they learn, they grow, they physically, but we also grow spiritually.

We are growing spiritually.

We are completely and wholly dependent upon the word of God, that maybe a teacher or discipler or the community or the teaching in the community, and then we can grow and we can discern on our own, we can feed ourselves, we can hear God for ourselves.

But Paul wants us to get to a place that's not just independence.

He wants us to get to a place, that's what he's talking about in 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, other places in the scripture, there's something spiritually that happens that's not dependence, it's not independence.

What is it?

It's interdependence.

I need you.

I need you.

You need somebody else in this room.

You need somebody else.

You need you are here at 9 o'clock, but you need somebody else at 11 o'clock.

You don't know them yet, but God's gonna cross your paths and you're gonna you're gonna be interdependent.

Stephen Covey says interdependence is a higher value than independence.

Interdependence, this is when we are mutually dependent upon one another.

That you have things, you have things that I need, I have things that you need that works in tandem.

The great philosopher, great philosopher by the name of Phil Jackson said this.

He said, the strength of the team is each individual member.

The strength of each member is the team.

Phil Jackson, he's actually a coach, but a bit of a philosopher.

And so true transformation always includes community.

Every great story we see, every story we love in the world of stories and movies and books, all stories include interdependence.

The Chronicles of Narnia, the Lord of the Rings, the Avengers, the uh the Ghostbusters.

I'm kidding.

Um uh I mean you you could go on and all uh J.R.R.

Tolkien and he writes, it's all of this is there's interdependence in these stories.

Where the character, the main character has an issue, and he can't solve or resolve the issue by himself.

And here's what Christopher Mith and John Patterson say in their book, Slow Church.

I love that title, Slow Church.

They say spiritual formation occurs primarily in the context of community.

Spiritual formation occurs primarily in the context of community.

Long-term interpersonal relationships are the crucible of genuine progress in the Christian life.

People who stay grow.

People who leave do not grow.

It is a simple but profound biblical reality that we both grow and thrive together, or we do not grow much at all.

And a lot of us, if I sat down and had a cup of coffee with you, and I heard your story, there's probably a handful of people over the course of your life that have invested in you.

And they may not all be in this room.

I've been in a handful of churches in my life, and I still have some of those relationships with other people that I that they still speak into my life, and I am still dependent or interdependent upon them.

And so we We've got to learn how to mature to a point where we can hear God's voice and then process what God is saying through the lens of the gospel.

What is the simplicity of the gospel?

Jesus said the kingdom of God is here.

It's now.

Mark 1, 14.

The kingdom of God is here.

Then he says this repent and believe the good news.

And all, most, if not all, of our spiritual growth comes down to that simplicity of the gospel.

Repent and believe.

For example.

So we entered into a season that if you have a liturgical background or if you have been a believer, you know what this past Wednesday was.

It's the season of Lent.

And this past Wednesday was.

So what is Ash Wednesday?

What is Ash Wednesday?

It's the day when all Baptists make a fool of themselves by asking the Catholic person at work why they have dirt on their forehead.

Now some of you don't understand what I'm talking about, don't know what I'm talking about.

But I remember when I first asked a Catholic person on Ash Wednesday, you've, or I said something to my boss.

John, you've got something on your forehead.

He said, Well, Russ, it's ash.

I said, Oh, will you mean to wipe it off?

He said, No, he said, I I went I went to Mass this morning, and the priest put ash on my forehead.

So I mean he he gave me an explanation.

I still didn't have a clue.

Let me tell you, this is a brief Baptist explanation.

Ash, all in Scripture.

Listen, listen, this past Wednesday was Ash Wednesday.

Ash all through Scripture.

Read it.

King David commits adultery.

God uncovers it through the prophet Nathan.

And so what does King David do?

He covers himself in ash, sackcloth, and ash.

And so the ash is symbolic of sin and the dirtiness and the cleansing that we have to have to walk out of that sin.

And so you know what Ash Wednesday is?

It is a recognition as we head toward Easter that we are sinful and we are dirty.

And we need salvation.

And so Wednesday, I read a devotional.

And it just and the devotional, I just it nailed my heart.

It nailed my heart.

And so the Lord spoke to me.

And so I have a decision to make.

When the Lord speaks to you, do you just move on?

As if nothing happened, or what do you do?

You repent.

And then you believe.

All over again.

The same gospel that led me to the first step of trusting Jesus is the gospel that helps me process my everyday sin and then to walk in Christ's likeness.

Repent and believe.

What do I have to believe?

I need to believe that Jesus saved me.

Jesus is enough.

Jesus died and rose again for me.

Jesus promised me the Holy Spirit, and He will never, ever let me down.

His promises do not go unfulfilled.

He will lead me and guide me.

Repent and believe the good news.

I have to preach the gospel to myself every day.

Now, you think, Russ, how does that, you know, I can understand when I first come to Christ, there maybe I'm not, what I struggle with is not the same thing that I struggled with before I was a believer.

More of my struggles are probably internally, pride, things that I think I may not even say them, but I still need to repent and listen and repent and believe the good news.

And so when I am covered in ash and I'm recognizing my sin, that I need to believe and trust that Easter Sunday is coming.

Amen.

And even though I struggle today with sin that is yet to be dealt with, my hope and my trust and my future is in the hands of the one who gave his life for me.

Yes.

And so that's what we, that's how, that's a little bit of a picture of how you process.

And so I need to process that with somebody.

So my wife might be some part of that, but I need sometimes having, I need to have a man, I need to have a circle of guys that will help me process those things and help me grow in my faith.

Listen to this community, listen, community.

This is Mike Breen, the guy that discipled our whole staff.

He says, community help bring helps bring clarity.

And when we have a sense of clarity about the next step, we grow in confidence.

Community leads to clarity.

Clarity gives us confidence.

When we are confident, we can be courageous.

So community plus clarity equals confidence and courage.

Or you can settle for being individualistic.

You know, us prideful Americans, we can be individualistic and then we can just remain covered in ash and never walk in the freedom of Jesus.

We compartmentalize our lives.

I checked the box.

I showed up at church.

I even read a scripture this week.

And so compartments and confusion equal conflict and crisis.

Is anybody with me?

No, it's not easy.

It's not easy.

That's why I know somebody's walking in here every Sunday that will not hear the love and the gospel of Jesus if they are not first warmly welcomed with a smiling face.

Now, those people out there who are welcoming, they are obnoxious and in your face at times.

And I'm not talking about anybody in particular, Pat Hardin.

But you.

But thank God for Pat because he is doggedly pursuing relationships.

And here's, listen to this.

Courtney Martin says this.

If you want to live like this with other people, you need not move somewhere special.

You need only be intentional about asking them to embrace interdependence with you.

And then ritualize that commitment.

What does ritualize mean?

It's like liturgy, it's just doing something over and over again.

So it's like community group or going to church or meeting for coffee with somebody on a regular basis that will ask you tough questions.

We often fantasize about the village growing up around us spontaneously as if frequent reciprocity will magically appear in the cracks of our over-scheduled lives.

Rather than wishing for intentional community, listen, listen, we have to doggedly pursue it.

Make it concrete.

Make, listen, it's putting it on your calendar.

It's being vulnerable.

Make it real.

Even if you're earnest and vulnerable, just make it real.

Create communities like these.

Creating community, um, creating communities like these, creating community at all requires shared space and time.

It requires a genual commitment to slowing down.

So here's the question.

Do you want to change?

Because I'm telling you, the gospel.

Gospel starts with the teaching.

Jesus came, Jesus died, Jesus rose again.

Genesis to revelation.

Hearing it, reading it, but it also includes a community, relationships.

The gospel is the body, is us, you and I together.

Interdependent.

And it's being willing to sit in, listen, sitting in ash is being able to, I need to tell somebody why am I what's my ash for?

What's it there for?

What's it there for?

Somebody needs to know my dirt.

I don't want to tell anybody my dirt.

The only way I'm gonna get clean and have accountability and experience the freedom of Christ is to sit in my ash, repent, and believe.

The good news.

Man, it hurts.

When God nails you, if you're in the Word, if you're in community, you're gonna get nailed regularly.

The Holy Spirit is a relentless pursuer of our sanctification.

So let's spend a moment.

Can we spend a moment just kind of listening to what the Lord might say?

In the Old Testament, in the old all the old city gates, when I went to Israel this past June, and you go to all what are called tells, these mounds where former cities existed, and they have uncovered and revealed the city walls.

There's an entrance into the city through the city gate.

All of the city gates have a seat.

They have a seat by the city gate, and it's where the old wise leader would sit for people to come and discuss how God was working, or to have that wise leader speak into a dispute between two families.

Now, we don't need a city gate with an old wise leader sitting there.

You know why?

Because we have Brandon.

Just look at Brandon.

When you think of Brandon, Brandon, you think of an old wise leader because he just got a good beard.

Young man, but but a good beard.

You know why we don't need the old wise man at the gate?

Because we have the Holy Spirit.

But the Holy Spirit is in each one of us.

And the Holy Spirit wants to do a work.

And he might want to do it this morning.

So could we just spend a moment in prayer?

Let's just spend a moment in prayer.

We're gonna close.

What if we spent the last part of the service listening, listening to how God might want to use us to encourage another person that happens to be sitting in the same gathering on a Sunday.

And I'm going to tell you that what I'm potentially asking you to do, for probably the majority of you, it would terrify you.

But for some of you, you need to step out of your comfort zone and you need to listen to the Holy Spirit, and He will push you towards somebody to speak a word of encouragement.

And it might be somebody you know.

Most likely it is somebody you might know some of their circumstances.

Father, would you speak?

Would you speak?

Would you use one part of the body to encourage another part of the body?

Yeah, we may we be willing not to selfishly do something that would be about us, but may we be willing to step out and to tell somebody we're praying for them.

We love them.

We're so thankful for them.

I see Jesus in you.

Father, would you speak?

Can I go first?

I'm gonna go first because I want to give you an example.

Can I?

Can we just turn the lights up just a little bit if it's possible?