The Illusion of Community

by Revd Jeff Fry

I.       Intro

A.   At one time most people in the western world agreed that it is worthwhile to be committed to things like the church, their work/job, the government, etc...

B.   Nowadays, our focus is beginning to change.  We have seen how some of these institutional commitments have caused us heartache and trouble and have let us down.  Take the family for instance.  Many of us have grown up in dysfunctional families in which there was a high rate of divorce due to the commitment to institutions like jobs, etc..

C.   I am a perfect example of that.  My parents divorced when I was 12 years old.  My father was a work-acholic and my mother had had enough and that was that.  They divorced.

D.   This happened to many my age.  And its had its effect on us.  We mistrust institutions and have turned to friends and our own family in which we find purpose, and meaning (as opposed to work).

E.   We are trying to build community amongst our friends and family in order to get the most out of life.  Yet we don't know what true community looks like because we lack the good role models in our lives to show us it. 

F.    So what is true community?  How can we form true community together that will add meaning and purpose and direction to our life?  What does God have to say about true community.  After all God lives in community - the Father , the Son and the Holy Spirit.

II.    True community is servant leaders, members taking responsibility for one another and members having a mission outside themselves.

A.   State

1.     An amazing example of true community in the early church is found in Acts 2:42-47.

a)    Acts 2:42 "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. ⁴³ Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. ⁴⁴ All the believers were together and had everything in common. ⁴⁵ Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. ⁴⁶ Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, ⁴⁷ praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."

b)    What can we draw from this amazing community of believers in the early church? 

2.     First, notice that they devoted themselves to their servant leaders.  They respected them and they submitted themselves to their teaching.

a)    Every community needs good leaders in order to survive.

b)    What would the small community of a family be like without the parents who lead it?

(1)  The simple answer would be "chaos".  Development and maturity would come to a stop.   I can imagine what my two girls (5 and 3 1/2) would do and not do  if we weren't there. 

(2)  Their development and growth would be severely impeded.

(3)  Without leaders, a  community fails to move in the direction of growth and development like it should.  Without good leadership communities have been known to deteriorate, weaken, self-destruct and die a sudden death. 

(4)  A true community needs true leaders who will serve the community like the apostles served these first believers in the early church.

(a)    Aside: Notice that the leaders were authentic leaders - they weren't ordering the people around or taking advantage of them.  They weren't abusing them.  Instead they were serving them and teaching them.

3.     Secondly, the members of the community were committed to one another.

a)    When someone had a need, the others helped them out.  The attitude was: "my things are your things.  My possessions are your possessions and if you need something of mine, then it's yours".

b)    So, even when a situation called for sacrifice these people stayed together and helped each other.  That is commitment.  Something that we are running low on in our day of cohabitation and low commitment to other institutions such as work and church, etc.. 

(1)  BTW,  studies have  shown that cohabitation is a positive affect on a relationship?  What does it lead to?

(a)    couples who cohabit have a much higher divorce rate than couples who do not cohabit before marriage (from 1/3 to as much as 80% higher divorce rate)

(b)   cohabitations tend to be much more violent than marriages (80% to 400% more violence in cohabiting relationships than in marriage relationships.)

(c)    One study found that female cohabitees are eight times more likely to be murdered by their partners than wives by their husbands

(d)   cohabiting people are generally less happy and more prone to depression than married people

c)     Please note: the believers in Acts 2:42-47 weren't so muchcommitted to the church as an institution, as they were committed to one another.  That's because the church is the people, not an institution.

(1)   the word "church" in the Greek NT  is literally "the assembly" or "the gathering" of people together.

(2)  At its most basic level it is a community of believers.  Not a building, not an institution, and not a structure.  Remember, big church buildings didn't come into being until Constantine, the Roman emperor (280 - 337ad), became a Christian and started to build cathedrals.

d)    In short true community loves one another and is committed to one another.

(1)  Jesus said, "John 15:13 NIV BibleGreater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

(2)   

4.     Lastly, this community blessed those outside its community.

a)    This means that it wasn't focused on just itself.  It was missional. 

b)    Our God is a missional God.  God looked beyond himself and His own people.  His salvation was for all people, not just the Jews.  God sent His son to the world to save all nations from sin at great sacrifice to Himself.  God is missional.

c)     God has commanded us to be missional. 

(1)  "Go make disciples of all nations …" (Matthew 28:18-19 NIV version of the Bible). 

(2)  John 20:21 " [Jesus speaking] … As the Father has sent me, I am sending you".

d)    That's why I said in the email I sent out to everybody this week that I knew that our football outreach into the community was in line with God's heart and that God would bless us for it.

e)     True Christian community looks beyond just itself to a hurting world and reaches out to it with the love of Christ. 

B.   Apply

1.     Our mission as a church is to love God, love one another, and love our neighbour. 

2.     We are establishing membership in the next two weeks.  I would like everyone who wants to become a member of our church to sign the "Church Commitment" form and hand it in to me by next Sunday so we can establish who our members are. 

3.     This "Church Commitment" form is all about love or in other words true community.  It's about not only getting but being committed to the good of others.  It's about saying, "yes, you are my friends and I am committed to living in Christian fellowship with you.  On Sunday 16th September those of you who decide to become members will recite this together with me at our service and we will pray for you all. 

4.     If you are not a member of a church in the local area and are not ready to take membership with us, then I encourage you to find a church in the local area in which you can become a member.  The NT everywhere assumes that a local church is functioning.  Paul sets up elders and deacons in the churches (e.g. Acts 14:23 among others) which he plants in order to oversee the members.  These members are assumed to be coming together regularly to celebrate the Lord's supper and observe the ordinance of baptism.  That's the biblical, New Testament church. 

C.   Pray

D.   Lord's Supper

For questions or comments or further information contact:

 

Rev Jeff Fry

Darwin Park Community Church