Sermon Tone Analysis

Good morning again… glad you’re here.

We’re in a series going through the vision and direction of our church family - Our vision is to stay faithful to what God has called us to be as a local representation of the Bride of Christ.

We’ll be in Rom.

12:4-5 and a lot in Phil and 1 Cor… but before we go any further let’s pray together again to seek God’s intervention as we study His Word:

PRAY

You can’t do this alone… no, literally.

Have you ever tried doing something by yourself that literally can only be done with another person?

Seesaw, good conversation, love (can’t love in isolation, not bc supposedly that love is a two-way street, but bc love isn’t a feeling so it requires someone present for you to enact love toward.

Can’t do what alone?

- Faithfully follow Jesus.

Be the Church.

Great Commandment (John 13:34-35):

As I have loved you, so you should love one another.

- How can this be possible without ministry to and with one another?

Great Commission (Matt 28:19-21):

Make disciples as you go. - How can this be done without engaging others?

Now I bring this up bc we are in a series reminding ourselves that a church family needs to keep a clear focus an who we are in Christ and what the church does.

Let’s review briefly the way we have been describing Paul’s overall message to the Colossian church we began with a couple weeks ago:

We Are His.

(Col.

1:13-14) Him We Proclaim.

(Col.

1:28, 2:3)

So that’s who we should aim to be.

What do we need to always be working on so that we can become who we aim to be?

Our description to help us stay focused in ministry: We are calling ourselves and others to… Believe in Christ, Belong to his body, Be Trained in truth, Be Strong in ministry

We must stay grounded in what, or more appropriately who, we Believe: Our faith does “not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (1 Cor.

2:5) - So too we emphasized of course the foundational importance of God’s word, not only for all of our lives but particularly in our regular gatherings as I whole team.

We want the teaching to come from God’s word bc he is the one we believe and so we want to have God speak to us, not men.

In our series, that brings us today to… Belong - understand how you can and should play a role to be partners in the body of Christ.

Romans 12:4-5

How serious, how diligent are you about your privilege and responsibility to and for other members in the Church?

BELONG: Members One of Another

Church Membership isn’t what we think it is… not if we compare it to what we normally think of as membership in other contexts.

- sign here, pay your dues, show up for meetings if you want… but we’ll give you a card to carry and little perks/benefits of being a member with us.

Membership in the body of Christ means that we are responsible to and for one another.

Now this sermon organization is gonna be weird, if not for you than at least for me.

We usually have some application interspersed through the points and then if we are able to break it down to being super practical, we normally do that at the end.

Well, today I’m gonna put the practical application to you first and then go on to hopefully inundate you with God’s truth so that you know that you should and can do this.

Plain as the nose on your face: We must be doing life and ministry TOGETHER.

How?

Easy 135 of One-Anothering

Being a disciple is a relationship in which we know and grow in Jesus.

So too "doing discipleship" with someone else is to have a relationship with them to help them know and grow in Jesus.

So simple and so natural for Christians that you're already doing it… but you might need a little help in being intentional, so here's the "EASY 135" of One Anothering.

ONE Goal - To Know and Grow in Jesus

THREE Statements that capture a vision for multiplying Christ's disciples:

(not original to me, but I don't know who to blame…)

Think Big - God’s glory, among all the nations.

His church flourishing among every people group.

Start Small - Focus on a few, like Jesus did.

Go Deep - Invest at depth in those few, so they will be equipped to do the same in the lives of others.

FIVE Simple Steps to Follow:

Be a Friend.

- Find a person to invest in and nurture the relationship.

Make a Plan.

- Choose content and context.

- time, frequency, book/topic/passage

Serve Together.

- Include them in ministry you do to both observe and do.

Evaluate Progress.

(and the process) - spiritual development, adjusting system, etc.

Reproduce.

- (Expand, duplicate, or whatever you want to call it) Press into other relationships to widen the circle and form new circles.

Let’s go now to (bc that’s just practical suggestion, and if it helps you it helps you… I hope it does)… to the more important and explicit evidence in God’s Word for… Should we do this, can we do this, and what happens if we don’t do this.

Quick survey of two church letters by Paul (besides Colossians), one positive example and one negative.

- Philippians: what true partnership in the gospel looks like.

1st letter to Corinth: the chaos of divisive self-promotion and “going it alone… doing our own thing”

Philippian Partnership: One Mind

That word in v. 5 is koinonia, which means oneness, unity of active participation because of a common purpose and passion.

So Paul will go on being a sappy pastor and say:

But then he turns his attention in this letter to reminding them what this partnership can and should mean among them: One way to conduct themselves... based on one unified mindset with one supreme example—Jesus Christ.

What mind?

The humble servant sacrifice of Jesus for the sake of others.

- THINK OF OTHERS!!!

So...

Does Paul mean for them to tackle this individually or corporately?

(“lightbulb” says Mr. Gru)

He continues this plural instruction:

Shining together

(rest of ch. 2) Paul then gives examples of men from his own team (Timothy and Epaphroditus) who don’t just look out for their own interests but are fully investing in the cause of Christ by spending themselves for the sake of others.

In ch. 3 Paul says that we are those who put confidence only in Christ and not in the flesh (v.

3), and then gives himself as an example to follow of right focus of what we have gained in Christ:

He goes on to talk about himself not having “arrived” at some special spiritual state but to be passionately pursuing Christ to be like Him (vv.

12-14).

And THEN he says,

If you think you’re not somebody to follow, then you’re not following the right person and right people.

Who is Paul’s confidence?

Christ.

Paul sends Timothy because Tim is copying who?

Paul.

- You’re not following the right examples, who are following Christ with humility like Paul, if you think you can’t be of any benefit to someone else who is either outside of Christ

Examples to follow in our family?

*** Seriously.

I could probably do this all day.

In chapter 4 Paul gets practical and personal with one-anothering, speaking directly to Euodia and Syntache to be reconciled and calling in another true companion to help these women.

(vv.

2-3) Before Paul rounds out the end of the letter thanking them for sharing in his ministry by helping to monetarily provide for his need, He launches into a rapid-fire summary of the kind of church they should BE… not that they will succeed at this as isolated individuals, but that they can do it together:

How can we have this kind of “oneness” without investing in the ups and downs, the doubts and dreams, the dangers, disasters, and deliverance of God in one another’s lives?

We can’t!

So it’s incredibly important that we be truly unified in purpose and in practice, building up and holding each other accountable to true partnership in the body.

— Here’s what happens with a lack of clear leadership direction and a lack of commitment on the part of all members to be responsible to and for one another: