What on earth are WE here for? That’s really the question we are asking over these 40 Days of Community. God has placed us here on this earth, in this place, and at this time for a reason, for a purpose. We are not here by accident. We are part of God’s plan. God’s #1 reason for bringing us on this earth, as Jesus said it we are here "to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength," and to "love each other," that’s called the Great Commandment in the Bible. We are here preparing for what God wants us to be doing for eternity, being in loving relationship with God and others. Eternal life with God is a place of love and relationships. It’s not golfing everyday or fill in your favorite activity. It’s about love, and we are here to practice. It sounds simple enough, doesn’t it, but if we are honest with ourselves we realize it’s not easy, in fact it’s impossible to do completely because our natural tendency is not to love God and others. Our natural tendency is to be self-centered and look out for ourselves. Sure we might love our family, or our spouse, those who love us in return but we rarely love all people, or love God and put his priorities ahead of our own. Jesus said, "if you love me, obey what I command."
First, we need God to change us from the inside out, to change our hearts, to place a love there if we are to accomplish what God has placed us here to do, because otherwise we won’t do it. Jesus came to this earth so we might be changed from the inside out, to cleanse us, to change our hearts, heart surgery if you will, and to change how we think. I start here because without being changed inwardly you won’t change your behavior outwardly, you won’t live out God’s purposes for you here on this earth. You might give it your best shot, but eventually you will fall back into your old patterns of behavior. We receive God’s love by receiving his Son, Jesus said if you love me, my Father will love you. Perhaps your first step this morning is to realize you need Jesus to change your heart.
How do we love God and love others? Four years ago we did the 40 Days of Purpose campaign and explored these five purposes God has given us to demonstrate our love to him and others: 1) We worship God, 2) we fellowship together (connect with each other developing deeper relationships with other Christians), 3) we grow spiritually (that is to say we grow closer to God and become more like him), 4) we serve one another, 5) we reach out in God’s love to those in our community who are not connected with God and his family. Over the next six weeks we are going to look again at each of these in more detail, but the big difference between the 40 Days of Purpose and the 40 Days of Community is the word "WE" and "together," what on earth are WE here for, because it’s not just about me and what God has placed me here for. It’s about "WE", God has created us to fulfill his purposes together. What we are going to discover is that it’s impossible for me accomplish God’s purposes on my own, I need others. I need God’s family. I need Christian community to fulfill God’s purposes, because we are "Better Together."
I realize this goes counter to our American cultural. It’s the exact opposite of what you’ve been taught your entire life. In America we have been taught that independence is what it’s all about. Our nation was founded on the Declaration of...Independence. The pioneer, the cowboy, the astronaut, the scientist pushing the limits, going where no person has gone before. "I don’t need anybody to help me, to tell me what to do." We have been taught to think that success and happiness is the result of being independent. While independence can have its perks, it is unfortunately not part of God’s plan, and therefore we are seeing the results of where independence is leading us in our country, isolation, loneliness, depression, greed, and to be perfectly honest with you we tend to become more self-absorbed, caring less about others or about God. Eventually independence leads not to happiness but to emptiness and lack of fulfillment. Why? Because we are not doing what God placed us on this earth to do, we find the greatest fulfillment when we love God and love others. Independence is not God’s answer. God’s answer is community, interdependence.
Notice what the Bible says there in Romans chapter 12 (v. 5, NLT). Let’s read it aloud together, "Since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other and each of us needs all the others." Turn to the person next to you and say, "You need me." Go ahead. "You need me." All right. Now also, I want you to say, "I need you." Go ahead. "I need you."
Whether you realize it or not, we do need each other. God wired you and me, all of us, in such a way that we can only fulfill his purposes for our lives in community, in his family, in relationship to each other. It’s impossible to accomplish all of God’s purposes without other Christian believers. And over the next 40 days, as we look at what on earth are we here for (God’s purposes for our lives), we will look at how we are meant to live out purposes in community (which is why we are calling it the 40 Days of Community).
Today we are going to look at why we are better together, and go through some reasons why God says we need a church family.
Now the Bible often calls your spiritual life, your walk. Throughout scripture, it tells we’re to walk in the light (1 Jo. 1:7), we’re to walk in love, we’re to walk in the truth (3 Jo. 1:3), we’re to walk in obedience to God (2 Jo. 1:6), we’re to walk as Jesus walked (1 Jo. 2:6). Why a walk? Because life is not just a sit-down thing, it’s a journey. You’re meant to be always moving forward, growing. There is a destination to get to. Imagine your spiritual life is like a journey, and we are walking, do you have anyone walking with you? Hopefully Jesus is walking with you because you have asked him into your life, but I am talking about other people. Do you have a spouse, Christian friends, a small group walking with you, or are you walking alone? God never intended for us to walk this walk alone. He wants to walk with us, and he intends for other Christians to walk with us.
Now some of you say, "Well what’s wrong with walking alone? I like to walk alone. I prefer to be by myself, in fact other people slow me down, they bother me, they don’t see things the way I see them. Remember God’s primary goal for our life is to learn to love each other, and we cannot learn love without walking with others on the journey. So he says, "I want you to practice learning to love by giving you others to walk with."
Let me give you a few reasons we need other Christian to walk with us on our spiritual journey:
1) We need someone to keep us going when we want to quit.
We all need others to prod us forward in our walk because there will always be days, weeks, perhaps months or years we don’t feel like loving or doing good deeds. The Bible says, "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24)." If we are going alone there is no one to keep us going to keep us moving forward. There’s an old Zambian proverb, ’When you run alone, you run fast. But when you run together, you run far.’ In the Bible Paul says we are running a race to receive the prize for which God is calling us heavenward in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:14). It’s not about how fast you run, some people say, "you’ve only got one life to live you might as well play hard," live life in the fast lane so to speak, or live seeking pleasure. In the Christian life it’s not how fast you run but how far you run, getting to the finish line to hear Jesus say "well done good and faithful servant." Our finish line is eternal life with God. When others run with us, we keep spurring each other on, and keep us focused on what God has us here to do.
This past Olympics, I happened to catch some of the men’s marathon. In the lead were African runners from Kenya and Morocco and Ethiopia, and unlike the other runners who were running alone for most of the race, these men, many of whom trained together, were running in a pack together, until nearly the end. Part of the reason for running in the pack was competition. But by running with others helps us keep going when things get difficult. We won’t finish our race here on earth at the same time, but we need others to spur us on in our faith. There are times when you want to give up but if other people are walking or running with you, they keep you going. When I am at a low point in my faith or going through a tough time, I can have a Christian brother or sister keep me going, and I in turn can help them when they are low.
2) We need other Christians to watch our backs
I need people who will watch my back, who will look out for me, defend me, who will protect me, who will stand up for me when I need somebody to stand up for me.
Philippians 2:4 says this, "Look out for one another’s interests, not just for your own." Now that’s a countercultural statement because in America, everybody says, "It’s all about me. It’s all about my needs, my interests, my hurts." And yet the Bible says, "Look out for one another’s interests." How are we watching out for other people?
In the military this is a big deal, they take it very seriously, you watch your fellow soldiers back, and they watch yours, they cover you. They make sure to protect you from the enemy. We have an enemy out there who is aiming for us, and the government can’t save you from it, because it’s not terrorists. It’s Satan. And he hates us and he wants to defeat us, he wants to mess up our life, and make us totally ineffective. He wants us to miss God’s will. He’s planning how to get you to waste your day, to get angry, to get impatient, to get lustful, to get worried, to get fearful and all these other things, to get depressed. And he’s going to pull whatever works on you, on you.
Let me ask you, do you have anybody looking out for your soul? To help you avoid falling into the enemy’s traps. Let’s be honest, we all have blind spots, weaknesses, areas where we are prone to fall into temptation, and if we try to go it alone we will be more likely to stumble and fall. When we have a few trusted Christian friends we are close to, who can be honest with us, they can hold us accountable to our weaknesses and help steer us in the right direction before we make a big mistake in our life. The Bible says with a multitude of counselors, there is success. Why? Because they help prevent us from making a dumb decision with our life. A Christian friend can tell you if you’re walking in the wrong direction.
How many prominent pastors and Christian leaders have we seen fall over the years over some sin because they tried to do it alone, they didn’t have a close Christian friend or small group who they shared their struggles without judgment yet who could also call them out on the carpet when they saw them heading in the wrong direction.
Question: Who’s watching your back right now, spiritually? And whose back are you watching out for? You can’t expect anybody to watch out for you if you’re not watching out for anybody else?
3) We need someone to pick us up when we fall
NLT Ecclesiastes 4:10 If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But people who are alone when they fall are in real trouble.
Who do you have to pick you back up when you have fallen, when you’ve blown it? The church is meant to be a place where we are picked up when we are weak, stumble, and perhaps even fall. We don’t treat each other like cowboys treated their horses when they had a bum leg, what did they do? They shot ’em. We aren’t here to shoot our injured, but to pick them back up, and help them regain their footing. We are a place of grace.
4) We need someone to ENCOURAGE us.
Another reason we are better together is because other Christians help us and encourage us. The Bible say in 1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
Notice Hebrews 10 says this, "Let us not give up the habit of meeting together, instead let us encourage one another." I need people to encourage me in my daily walk, and I need to encourage other people. And he says, "How do you do that?" He says, "By meeting together."
5) We need others to CELEBRATE AND WEEP with us
What am I talking about here? I’m talking about the ups and downs of life. Let’s be honest, at some point you are going to have a crisis in your life, it’s inevitable. You or someone in your family will experience medical problems like cancer, death, divorce, it could even be happy times like the birth of a child. God never promised us he we would avoid crises even if we follow him, but he did give us a spiritual family to be with us during tough times. God never intended for us to go through trying times alone. In the Bible it talks about the church as a body connected together, working together, it says
TEV Romans 12:15 Be happy with those who are happy, weep with those who weep.
In other words when we have our ups and our downs we go through this together as a family. When I’m waiting for the bad news or when I’m weeping, when I got the bad news, I need people in my life, and so do you. You may say, "well I’m not going through a difficult time right now, I don’t need anyone." No, you may not be, but remember it’s not just about ME, it’s about WE. We will face a crisis, but perhaps right now we are able to help others who are going through a difficult time. God wants us to be part of his family so we might be available to help his children when they are going through tough times. Perhaps right now you need to be the one who is available to offer your shoulder for someone to cry on, to cry with them, to provide a meal or two, to write a thinking of you letter.
Now as your pastor, I feel this one really deeply because I see it every day in our church. There are many situations in life that nobody should ever have to go through alone. Nobody should ever have to sit alone in a hospital, waiting during a life or death surgery. No woman should have to wait alone while she’s waiting back for a lab test from a problem pregnancy. No one should ever have to stand at an open grave alone. No man or woman should ever have to spend the first night alone when his wife dies or her husband dies. And no man or woman should have to spend the night alone when the wife walks out, or the husband has walked out. I could go on and on and on.
Jim and Annie there for Robin when Charlie died, stayed with her.
Here’s God’s plan, First Corinthians 12, "If one member suffers, all suffer together."
We were not meant to face the crises of life alone. You need the support network in your life now because you don’t know when the crisis is going to come, you will have the support of you spiritual family. And the time to prepare is now.
You don’t find those kind of relationships just coming in and out of here on Sunday morning for worship. You see, you could come to church every week for your whole life and still not have this kind of relationship. It only happens when we decide to get to know a few other Christians in a smaller setting, which is why we are asking you to participate in a small group for these 40 days, that’s only six weeks. You can’t learn about community without being in community. You’ve got to experience it to learn it. We have a list of small groups which we will send around, and we want full participation so you can get everything God wants you to get out of these 40 days, so we are asking those of you who haven’t signed up to take a step of faith and try it.
In these groups you’re going to watch a message each week which ties in with the sermon called, ’Better Together,’ and then you’ll just talk about it. The only way you’re going to get this teaching is to be in a group. Your small group leader is also going to give you this book today, called "Better Together, What On Earth Are We Here For?" And it is 40 daily readings on how we live out God’s get better relationships, how to build better relationships. And so, you’ll be reading through this every day.
In fact those who are small group leaders will you stand up right now and stay standing for just a minute. I want people to applaud you. Okay, look at these hosts. Yeah! Yeah, this is unbelievable.
For those who haven’t filled out your little ’My Commitment’ card. Would you pull this out? There are four check boxes of ways to participate in the ’40 Days of Community.’ First is participating in all seven weekend service. Second is set aside daily time with God using the 40 devotions from the workbook "Better Together." If you signed up for a small group, your leader will give you your books today. Which brings us to the next one, join a 40 Days of Community weekly small group. These groups begin this week depending on which day and time you choose. Serve my community in love by participating with others in a community service project. These community service projects will be done in your small group, but if you can’t be in a small group but would still like to participate you can see Dave Patch. Then sign your name there at the bottom. The more you participate in the more you make yourself available to God’s work in your life.
