Masterpiece Series

The Point: YOU ARE A MASTERPIECE. ACT LIKE IT.

ME:

Good morning, Gateway Church. It is great to have you with us today. This morning we are starting a BRAND-NEW teaching series called ONE!

Series intro/set up:

Independence. It's one of the core values of American culture. We are taught from an early age to be self-sufficient. We are told that being able to fend for yourself is a sign of strength and maturity. It's a preferred trait.

Those who can't go it alone are viewed as week or at least as "less capable" than those who can.

We value independence and individualism above almost everything else. But we weren't created to live that way. It may feel counter-intuitive, but the truth is that we are created and called to live in community.

Let me say that again, only this time let me make it more personal.

YOU WERE CREATED AND CALLED TO LIVE IN COMMUNITY.

God creates man… and then says, "It's not good for man to be alone."

And not just because there wouldn't be someone to pick his underwear up off the floor or move the dirty dishes to the sink…

But because GOD WIRED US TO DO LIFE TOGETHER. HE CREATED US AND CALLS US TO DO LIFE IN COMMUNITY.

The problem is that most of us don't want to do that. Not because we are anti-community.

• We don’t' want to do it because we don’t understand it.

• We don't want to do it because we have been trained to do life independently.

• We don't want to do it because we don't know what we're missing.

We DON'T WANT to do life in community because

We DON'T KNOW HOW to do life in community.

And as a result, most of us are far too focused on being an individual. But that individualism is robbing us of the JOY and STRENGTH and HOPE we are so desperate for. And the only way to break the habit of doing life alone, the only way to experience the life we were truly mean to live is to learn how to do live in community.

And that's what this series is all about. For the next several weeks we are going to explore what it looks like to live life in community… not just as a group of different individuals, but we're going to learn what it looks like to LIVE AS ONE!

And this is far more important than most of us realize. Not just because doing life alone leaves us lacking, but because we are each wonderfully and uniquely created to be a part of a COMMUNITY and through that COMMUNITY to transform our world.

That means we must learn to do life together. We must learn to do life with others, even when life with others is difficult. But when we learn to do life as a united community, there is nothing that can stop us.

WE:

So, if we are going to learn to live in community… do life in community… transform the world as a community. We need to understand a couple of things about ourselves.

And that's what I want us to explore today. Go ahead and open Bibles to EPHESIANS 2:10. In the house bible that’s on page 799.

Question: Have you ever discovered that one of the reasons you struggle to connect with others is not THEM, but rather it's YOU?

This takes some time and some honest thinking…

• Multiple failed relationships - what's the common denominator?

• Multiple jobs that ended badly - what's the common denominator?

• Can't find a place to connect… never feel like you belong… etc. - what's the common denominator?

I'm not saying there aren't times others have left us out or have rejected us. I'm not saying that we have never been the victim of other's hurtful actions. But, if we're honest, most of the time, when we don't do well in community, it's because of US.

And I think it's because we don't understand who/what we are, nor do we understand who/what others are.

And if we are going to learn to live in community, we must learn what we are and what that means for how we live our lives.

So… What am I? What are you? And how does that impact my life?

Let me give you the short answer.

YOU ARE A MASTERPIECE

And how does that impact my life?

YOU NEED LIVE LIKE A MASTERPIECE.

Or to put it another way.

YOU ARE A MASTERPIECE. ACT LIKE IT!

GOD:

And that's THE POINT: YOU ARE A MASTERPIECE. ACT LIKE IT. That's the ONE THING I want you to get today. YOU ARE A MASTERPIECE. ACT LIKE IT. If you get nothing else, get this: YOU ARE A MASTERPIECE. ACT LIKE IT.