Authentic Community
Living A Life God Can Bless • Sermon • Submitted
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· 2 viewsA picture of Authentic community
Notes
Transcript
The picture so far
Total Surrender as an act worship motivated by everything God as done
The Spirit begins to transform, no longer conformed, thinking changes
Come to grips with who we really are, thinking with sound judgment not too high not too low
That is all inward then comes the outward, our place in the body, and grace gifts
Whatever the gift use it and fulfill your place in the body of Christ
Today we will see that the outward look reveals authentic community
Are you ready for the message God has for us? Cool , let’s begin
Pew Bible pg 760
9 Love must be free of hypocrisy. Detest what is evil; cling to what is good.
10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor,
11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;
12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer,
13 contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.
That brethren is a picture of Authentic community. Remember our mission statement - Look at bulletin and read together
Now we learn how important this picture is to Amazing Grace!
Love Free of Hypocrisy
Love Free of Hypocrisy
This love is the agape love
Love of sacrifice and service - The cross and the towel
Loving affection and regard with concern
Love free of false masks - develop
This means this is a genuine love
The sense of the word for hypocrisy is insincerity by virtue of pretending to have qualities or beliefs that you do not really have
Why some Christians spend so much energy in creating, wearing, and keep up the mask, it is exhausting
It requires a great deal of trust to be authentic with brethren.
How many times Christians get hurt by leaders and fellow Christians when there is no authenticity
It destroys the body
Paul is saying our love should be authentic and real!
Detest Evil Cling To Good
Detest Evil Cling To Good
The word for detest
Means to find repugnant, hate strongly, To shudder with horror
That is definitely counter to culture would you not say
But then we have seen in verse 2 we are not conformed to this world
As body we are to detest what is evil, not exalt it
Evil is a word that means morally objectionable behavior
Cling to what is good
This word is the sense of come or be in close contact with; stick or hold together and resist separation
Held firmly like glue or cement
Good is moral excellence
Look at what this picture is saying as the Spirit works in us we detest evil and refuse to let go of what is good - Really Develop this image
A Devoted Community
A Devoted Community
I want us to really think about this image here
The Greek word for devoted only appears in this verse, only place in the New Testament
It means loving in a way characteristic of the relationship between husband and wife, mother and child, father and son
It denotes the delicate affections mutually rendered by those who cherish one another
This devotion is then found in brotherly love the greek word philadelphia
This the affection naturally befitting the relationship between siblings
What is Paul saying? You are a family, siblings of God, devoted to one another!
Then the picture reveals something interesting about authentic community
He says give preference to one another in honor
You can say this another way out do one another in showing honor
Did Paul really say that?
How many of you are competitive?
Yeah but its not a race this is a natural out flow of the authentic love and devotion that a community of believers should have for one another!
Then he says don’t lag behind in diligence
Diligence implies we have something to be excited for something to accomplish
We at Amazing Grace want to build an authentic community, Paul says then don’t lag behind, be diligent!
Don’t be lazy, timid, lacking ambition!
Instead be fervent in spirit!
Fervent is to be enthusiastic or excited
To become emotionally inflamed, like boiling water!
It is to commit yourself completely
In this case serving the Lord
We have hope as a community and that should cause us to rejoice!
We all as individuals and a body will face tribulation
An oppressive state of physical, mental, social, or economic adversity
We are to persevere, be persistent, refuse to stop even in the face of the evil thrown at us!
George Wooten in a poem wrote: This present life is hard at best but we must strive to complete the test
for our redemption draweth near as we endeavor to persevere.
Paul tells us to be devoted to prayer
Devoted is to persevere in some activity or cause to the point of devotion in this case its prayer
Prayer is our direct line of communication with God so we as a body give ourselves to it
Contribute to the needs of saints
we begin to care for every member of the body
If a saint has a need rise to the occasion and give if you can, not just money, could be time or talent.
There are many different kinds of needs and many different ways to contribute to those needs
Then practice hospitality
Practice is to carry out or participate in an activity, in this case hospitality
This is kindness and welcome of guests and strangers!
DO YOU SEE HOW THIS PICTURE IS BUILDING!
Something about these verbs
Something about these verbs
There is something I noticed about the Greek verbs in verses 4-13
These Greek verbs: We, we have, so we, we have, teaches, exhort, give, lead, show mercy, abhor, cling to, give preference, fervent, serving, rejoicing, persevering, devoted, contributing, practicing
They are connected to Romans 12:1
1 Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
Every one of these verbs in verses 4-13 is tied directly to the verb “present” verb in Romans 12:1
Think about what God is saying here!
See how important total surrender is?
Authentic community is impossible without it.
We cannot fulfill our mission without all of us, every single one of us, doing this act of worship!
Without presenting our bodies in total surrender the body does not work properly.
This is why Paul’s urging in verse one is emphatic, the action is so very necessary!
Not one thing in Romans 12:2-13 is possible without the action of presenting yourself as a sacrifice to God!
There is also a great deal of order in these verses because not one thing is possible without the other, we can’t skip to the parts we like!
Chip Ingram in True Spirituality: “Authentic community is more that sipping coffee and sharing Bible verses in a living room. It’s more than being nice to one another in the hallways of church, and it’s even more than dropping off food when someone has a baby or is coming home from the hospital. Authentic community demands that the real you meets real needs…for the right reasons in the right way.”
You see when you give your life to God in total surrender as an act of worship the Spirit immediately begins His work in your life
You take the mask off and come to grips with the real you
The transformation then rolls into other areas of our life
Our Gifting
Our place in the Body
How we effect the community believers - our place in building authenticity
Conclusion:
So let’s take the masks off and begin to deal with who we really are
Let the Spirit of God work in your life
Let the Spirit teach you why this is so important in the building of authentic community.
Recognize that authentic community happens when the real you shows up to meet real needs for the right reasons in the right way
We need to also understand this transformation happens in small groups, we are calling these life groups
So get in a life group - we have three (the Wingfields, Here at Gathering Grounds, and the Fry’s), let me know if you want information to join
If these don’t work then let’s get one going - I have ideas for two more so some of you will be hearing from me soon
Life Groups is the only way transformation will happen and the building of authentic community is fulfilled.
Music - Song
Let us pray!