The Blessed Life
Part 2 – The Shared Life
I. Introduction
You can choose to live your live based on luck. However, if you do that you must also be prepared to experience a hit or miss type of life. Luck is fleeting. Luck can’t be counted on. Luck gives you no guarantees. That is why I am challenging you to alter the way you live from trying to live lucky to learning how to live blessed. Living blessed comes with guarantees. You can live blessed even on bad days.
You will remember that I mentioned to you last week that I believe there are 4 ways we must live in order to step into a blessed life. The first way we must live is to live a generous life. I challenged you because it seems that most of us seldom even do what is required much less move into the generous level. Without generosity you will never become the mature believer that Christ desires for you to become. I realize that generosity goes against our nature, but as we discipline ourselves to become generous we engage in killing our old man.
So, today I want to examine another step in moving into a blessed life. I believe in order to be blessed you must not only live a generous life, but also a shared life!
II. Background
Just a quick refresher that reveals God’s desires to bless us! In Genesis 5:1-2 that I read to you last week we discovered that from day one of man’s life on the planet God reveals that He desires to bless us.
Then in Duet. 28:1-14 we see a long list of the ways He wants to bless those that obey Him. It is summarized in
Duet. 28:6
6You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.
Blessings on every turn. Blessings from every direction. So we are to be blessed.
So as we did last week, I want you to say this with me so that I know we are in greement . . . “The Generous Life is a Blessed Life. The Shared Life is a Blessed Life!”
So how does living a shared life factor into this blessing?
III. Tet
Acts 2:38-47
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” 40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who 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 (FAVOR EQUALS BLESSING) of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
IV. The Shared Life
a. A shared life cannot be uncommon!
We know that a shared life is uncommon! We just don’t see it very often. However, we know from the Genesis account that God knew that an unshared life is an unhealthy life. He didn’t want us to be alone! That was more than just about a spouse. It was divine insight that man needs relationship! Jesus Himself models for us that a shared life cannot be uncommon and that a shared life is needed. In Mark 3:14 we are told, “He appointed twelve that they might be with him.” Did you catch that? To be with Him! To share life with Him. That passage could have said, “To serve Him, to work for Him, to worship Him, etc.” All valid. However, He wanted them to be with Him – relationship . . . shared life!
We begin to share our lives when we find common ground. We live a shared life when we can relate to one another from a place of common victory, common struggle, or common pain. If we are going to share our lives we must share our souls? When is the last time that you celebrated a victory with someone in this room? When is the last time you shared a defeat with someone in this room? When is the last time you shared pain with someone in this room? Have you shed any tears or shouted any praise with anyone in this room? How about anyone on your row?
My fear is that the shared life has become uncommon! Therefore, the blessed life has also become uncommon!
Please don’t misunderstand me, we all share our lives. We all have soul ties (we usually hear about soul ties in a negative way) . . . the problem is that most of us have them with the wrong folks. We share our victories, our pains, our deepest emotions with folks that we have no business sharing with and soul ties are usually created by what we share! We are to have soul ties with the members of the body!
Who are you tied to? Acts 2 says the folks were together and had everything in common! Who are you together with in this room? Most of us never get to this place at the church we attend because of the next truth!
b. A shared life will cost you!
To live a shared life will cost your most valuable commodity . . . time!
We have relegated “together” to Sunday morning, but Sunday morning’s effectiveness is really determined by how together we are the rest of the week. Sunday morning remains shallow and surface if we haven’t gone deep with each other throughout the rest of the week. Without having a week’s “together” we have nothing to build on. You don’t build foundations on Sunday you build on the foundations that are already established Monday thru Saturday.
Some of us are more together with our coworkers and neighbors, but who do you expect to be there in the hard times. Who does Scripture declare is designed to carry each other’s burdens? Your coworkers, unless they are saved, are not equipped to shoulder what weighs on you. They can’t give you godly or healthy solutions or advise. You are trying to pull from them what those that you are together with in the body are supposed to supply!
Every day . . . they weren’t living a shared life because they went to church together 1 time a week (although they did meet together at church – in the temple – don’t forsake the gather together of yourselves). We have fooled ourselves to think we are more connected than we really are! Life . . . together . . . better!
Let me give you a litmus test for you to determine if you are sharing your life with anyone!
We are given a glimpse into how to spend our time to ensure that our lives are shared. Fellowship together, eat together (we like that one), pray together, worship together, and get into one another’s homes! Hanging out in His house isn’t enough – open your house to one another.
Who passes that test? Who have you fellowshipped with, eaten with, prayed with, worshipped with and been in their home? Those are the folks you are sharing life with! Some of you have been attending our church for months and even years and you haven’t allowed anyone to pass the test!
We must fight against what our society is teaching us which is to keep everyone one at arm’s length. Don’t let anyone see your pain. Don’t let anyone get a peek into your soul. We don’t need porches anymore because we don’t want to get together with anyone! But, if we aren’t living a shared life we aren’t living a blessed life!
We must also fight against our own comfort zones! I can’t get some of you to stay 2 seconds after service for fear you might actually have to talk to someone. I am a private person – well this isn’t about your preference this is about wanting to be blessed!
c. A shared life will uncover you!
Notice what Acts says, “45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.”
Question . . . How did they know there was need unless they were involved enough in someone’s life to see the need?
Surely you aren’t naïve enough to think we are the first generation that has learned to put on an act do you? You don’t think we are the first group of people who know how to smile and act spiritual even though our life has gone to hell in a hand basket do you?
Most people resist a shared life because it means that our masks are ripped off and we are exposed for the weak, needy and vulnerable person we really are.
We are terrified of being real with one another and that fear keeps us from being blessed! If you are going to share life you are going to have to allow someone to uncover the need in you and you are going to have to uncover the need in them.
Many of you are in need right now. You are in need of someone to love you through a painful place in your life. You are in need of encouragement. You are in need of fellowship. You are in need of a friend. And many of you secretly resent the church and the members in the church because they are not responding! My challenge to you is how are we supposed to know? We have all become so adept at hiding our needs that no one can even see our needs!
A shared life will expose your need, your fear, and your pain.
A shared life will expose your apathy. When you see a need and don’t really care!
A shared life will expose your selfishness. When you have the means to meet a need and withhold the resource for your own use.
A shared life will expose your suspicions. Don’t tell me you don’t have any! We all do.
A shared life will expose your faith, your love, and your Jesus!
And that is the greatest part of shared life!
d. A shared life leads to salvation!
As people see the safe place, the love, concern, and common life we have they will want what we have! When they realize they can be real, loved, and cared for rather than talked about, ridiculed, judged, and avoided they will stream in from every walk of life and they will be loved into relationship with Jesus!
The greatest witnessing tool you can ever use is to live a shared life with other believers and as sinners see the beauty of our fellowship they will see what they are missing! Jesus preached this message to His disciples in John 13:35 . . . By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Your shared life screams Jesus! Is it any wonder that we don’t see souls added daily? We aren’t living the shared life! We have tried other witnessing tools and forgotten the most effective one!
Peter may have said it best . . . 1 Peter 1:22 “Now that you've cleaned up your lives by following the truth, love one another as if your lives depended on it.” John comes on even stronger, 1 John 3:14 “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death.”
Our sharedness reveals LIFE!
A man spoke with the Lord about Heaven and Hell. "I will show you Hell," said the Lord. And they went into a room, which had a large pot of stew in the middle. The smell was delicious and around the pot sat people who were famished and desperate. All were holding spoons with very long handles, which reached, to the pot, but because the handles of the spoons were longer than their arms, it was impossible to get the stew into their mouths. Their suffering was terrible "Now I will show you Heaven," said the Lord, and they went into an identical room. There was a similar pot of stew and the people had the same identical spoons, but they were well nourished, talking and happy. At first the man did not understand. "It is simple," said the Lord. "You see, they have learned to feed each other."
V. Closing
Challenge you to reexamine your life. Is it shared? Are you experiencing favor because of the sharedness of your life? Is anyone drawn to Jesus because they see how connected you are in a safe place?
