Message
“A Supporting Community”
My mother has a large property and there is a path that leads from the front to the back. It is completely surrounded by trees. At night it is a very scary place. It is absolutely dark, even when the moon is shining. When you go down that path by yourself sometimes you just start running because you give yourself a scare. But if you have a few people with you the feeling is very different. You can do it because you have support. And it isn’t as scary. Unless someone is hiding in the bushes along the way and they jump out and scare you – which used to happen quite often.
We know that applies to aspects of our ordinary life. The same is true for our Christian life.
There are so many people who are trying to walk through their spiritual life on our own – and it isn’t working. You see when you step out of the community you start to lose your fire – it is the same as what happens to coals. When a coal is in a fire it stays warm with the other coals. Take the coal out of the fire and it will burn for a while; but soon it starts to go out. Spiritual fervour easily dies when we are on our own.
Now let’s recognise that sometimes we can be in a situation where we have no choice but to stay away. When a child comes to faith and their parents are not Christians – well that can make it hard to get to church and be part of a faith community. The same is true in relationships where one partner is not a believer. Yet these are more the exception than the rule.
The reality is that we don’t always like the fact that being part of a community means being willing to be accountable. In isolation it is so easy to allow ungodly behaviour to flourish and to become trapped by our addictive behaviour. In community it is so different.
Which is why Jesus invented an antidote to isolation.
The church
The body of Christ
The community of believers
This is Jesus’ invention to help us have support when we are going through dark times. Which is a very different purpose to how the church is often portrayed.
• Often the church is seen as being out of touch and ... dare we say it ... boring.
• The church is a place where all the hypocrites gather to make themselves feel better.
• Sadly the church is seen as a place of scandals where people have often been hurts and abused.
That is what has happened. But that is not how Jesus wanted it to be.
As a supporting community the church is a place of spiritual security.
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ. (Matthew 16:13-20)
Do you see where the spiritual security is? It comes from focussing on the fact that the gates of Hades will not overcome it. Now I don’t know about you, but I have never seen or heard of a battle where gates were used as ammunition.
Think about WW1. The soldiers are waiting in the trenches for the attack signal. The signal comes ... “charge!”. Then out of the trenches come a group of soldiers carrying a gate on their shoulders. They hoist the gate into the enemy trench yelling, “you better watch out … there is much more where that came from”. It just wouldn’t happen would it.
A gate is not an instrument of attack. It is an instrument of defence. Which means that the church is not some sort of punching bag for Satan; the church is the organisation which goes out and presses against the gates of Hades …
… against Satan’s domain
… against the hopelessness of torment.
… against the stubbornness.
… against sin and death.
… against the desire not to follow God’s way.
The church goes out against all of this
and rebellion is turned into repentance.
and judgement is turned into grace.
and hopelessness is turned into forgiveness.
and the gates of Hades groan and crumble as the church overcomes.
Through the church Jesus is bringing a group of people together who can support one another in the spiritual darkness.
But that is not all as a supporting community the church is a place where people from different backgrounds, social classes and standards, are made into one body.
They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 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, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47)
The word “devoted” is a key word. To be devoted means "to attach oneself", or "to hold firm", or "to spend much time in". As a church we are meant to be involved together … we are meant to be strong together.
Think about a laminated beam for a moment. It is made up of many pieces of wood which have been joined together. Individually the wood in not strong enough to hold the weight. Together it has strength. But when it is together, and then you take away a few layers, then the strength of the beam also diminishes. That is what are called to do – all the pieces are together doing their part. When some are not fulfilling their calling then we are weakening our ability to be effective.
That is what devotion means. But notice that it is a focussed devotion.
We are devoted to the Apostle's teaching. To discover what God is telling us about Jesus.
We are devoted to fellowship. A fellowship which should lead to a deep sharing of our lives together. A fellowship which makes us into people who are desperate to build up and carry each other.
We are devoted to the breaking of the bread. We don't come to the Lord's table as eggs in a carton – together in one place but fiercely individualistic. We come as an omelette – ready to mix, ready to share, ready to help one another be what God wants us to be.
We are devoted to prayer. We bring each other’s concerns and struggles before the Lord. We don’t just ignore the real issues.
Through this process we become one. And people will look at the church and say, "Wow, look at what is happening among that group of people". People will notice that we are not just some club seeking to offer a few services. We are the community of faith that cares intently for each other and anyone else who joins us
But that is not all. As a supporting community the church is a place where we are equipped to help each other through every aspect of life. In the Bible there are a whole heap of passages which help us to understand what practical fellowship looks like. Over the years these passages have become known as the “one another passages”. There are over 40 different “one another” passages in the Scriptures. Some of these include:-
• Love one another
• Serve one another
• Accept one another
• Forgive one another
• Build trust with one another
• Be patient with one another
• Do not be conceited to one another
• Admonish one another
• Be compassionate to one another
• Carry one another’s burdens
This is how the church is meant to function ... this is what Jesus had in mind. What an impact such a church would have.
But that is not all. As a supporting community the church is a place where everyone has a ministry.
It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-13)
In the family of the church we all have a part to play. God has given some ... called pastors and teachers ... the very specific task of preparing God’s people for works of service.
A pastor is not someone who is paid to do all the work while everyone sits back and watches. A pastor replicates himself. He gets people ready. He makes sure they are prepared for the task.
The Bible uses the same word to describe the actions of James and John in Matthew 4:21 where they are their nets for fishing. Such preparing involved cleaning the nets of seaweed, then fixing and torn or damaged sections, and then folding the nets so that they would not tangle next time they were used. All this preparation was done so that the nets would be ready to catch more fish.
In like manner the pastor prepares – because in the church all believers are equal in dignity before God. You might see yourself as just a regular, everyday, garden-variety Christian. But God doesn’t see you that way.
In God’s eyes there is no such thing as a distinction between clergy and laity.
In God’s eyes we are spiritual equals in every way.
Now some of us are spiritual babies. And some of us are on our L-plates. Some of us have greater maturity and wisdom and some of us have less. But all of us are equal. We all have a ministry.
That is what it means to be part of a supporting community:-
• to have spiritual security.
• to be made into one body.
• to help each other through every aspect of life.
• to develop our ministry.
It is a core value of the Scriptures ... and a value we hold strongly.
A Supporting Community
To provide a caring environment of unity, love and fellowship.
What are you going to do to make sure that you are seeking to build out church into this sort of community?
Prayer
