Faithful Together
Joshua LeBorious
The Mission of Edgewater • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 13 viewsWe are reminded that God graciously enters the holy place and brings us together to Him. We are encouraged to make Christian community a priority.
Notes
Transcript
Individual Christians
Individual Christians
I have a question for you all this morning, can I be a Christian without joining the church?
Yes, it is possible. It is something like being:
A student who will not go to school.
A soldier who will not join an army.
A citizen who does not pay taxes or vote.
A salesman with no customers.
An explorer with no base camp.
A seaman on a ship without a crew.
A businessman on a deserted island.
An author without readers.
A tuba player without an orchestra.
A parent without a family.
A football player without a team.
A scientist who does not share his findings.
A bee without a hive.
Community versus Isolation
Community versus Isolation
And we want to say “yes” to that question. Well, maybe we don’t here in this room right now - because most everyone here wants to see Edgewater grow, but overall, we live in a society that values, even idolizes independence and self reliance. We do what we want, when we want, how we want. And if something doesn’t align with that, if our church doesn’t align with that, we take our business elsewhere. We treat church like we treat the buffet at Golden Coral - pick up what you want, ignore what you don’t, and disregard how healthy things might be for ourselves and those around us. We want to say “I don’t need to go to church to be a Christian.”
But that’s not what God’s Word tells us. Ecclesiastes 4:12 tells us that
And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
We so often want to stand alone, to say that we are self sufficient in our faith, to say that we don’t need a church or a community. But that single cord, it breaks.
Sometimes we acknowledge the value of community for us, and we end up like this. We go to church for only what we get out of it, whether it is the worship music, the uplifting feeling, the message, the fellowship - but we’re just hanging on individualistically. We aren’t really focused on the community, on the church.
And if this is our attitude, if the church is only about what we need and about what we get out of it, if we try and do it on our own - we fail. The cord breaks. We risk losing our connection with Christ, we risk our faith.
What’s the Alternative?
What’s the Alternative?
I really want to drive this point home. So those cards I gave you as you walked in, I want you to have them in your hand. Keep them closed still - and if you opened yours already, shame on you, but I forgive you - just pretend you didn’t open it yet.
Whoever had card 1, can you open your card and read it out for everyone?
That’s great, but what do you believe in? What does that mean? Who is your God? There are a lot of unanswered questions by that statement alone. So let’s try another card, whoever has 25, can you open your card and read it out for everyone?
Again, we’re left with a lot of questions, a lot of details missing, a lack of support. So let’s read our cards together. Whoever has 1, read 1. When they’re done, whoever has 2, read 2. And so on and so forth.
*Everyone reads their cards*
Together, we just recited the Nicene Creed. This is a powerful example of what community does. By ourselves, we’re always missing something. And what’s worse, without our contribution, we’re leaving others without our support. And that’s why our passage from Hebrews 10:23-25 says
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Community is a Gift
Community is a Gift
And I want to drive home the point that we don’t go into community for what it does for us. We live in community because that’s what God commands us to do and so we can serve our fellow Christians. But that’s not to say that God doesn’t build us up in incredible ways through the community that surrounds us. It fills our deep, instinctive need for community - a need that this pandemic and all of the isolation our world suffers has highlighted. It gives us people to pray for us. It gives us a place to ask our questions and address our doubts. It gives us people to build our head, hearts, and hands to faith. It gives us people to love us, no matter what. It gives us people to encourage us. It gives us people to challenge us, to stir us up. It surrounds us with a tangible experience of Christ’s love, with people who will point us to the Savior who lived, died, and rose again for us. With people to speak God’s forgiveness and love to us. Just consider this morning. The worship we have together is possible because we’re gathered together. The forgiveness you recieved, the message you’re hearing now, anything I do for Edgewater - it’s only possible because you all have gathered together as a church. Christian community, the church, is an incredible gift that connects us to Christ and to each other as His people. It’s such an incredible gift that we closed our mission statement with it,
Deeply rooted in faith, Edgewater proclaims the love and forgiveness won by Christ's death and resurrection through outreach and service. We nurture Christian development through worship, education, and prayer that we would be a faithful community that serves one another and the world.
Enjoy It
Enjoy It
So enjoy it. We have a hike at Mt. Baldy on Friday, we have a women’s retreat at the end of the month, we’re doing a trunk-or-treat on Halloween. We have an incredible community that Chris and I have been able to experience these past three months - Edgewater is an incredible blessing, a great community. Each and every person here is blessed to be a part of it. You are all loved, you are part of a family, you are an irreplaceable part of God’s community here. Amen.