The Community Paradox
🗣️ Speaker: Pastor Tom Van Kempen
This week's sermon was all about community, which Pastor Tom emphasized through the Greek word "koinonia." He reminded us that real community is more than coffee and donuts; it's about sharing life's highs and lows and living out our faith together. We learned from the early church in Acts, who met daily in homes and the temple, discussing Jesus, teaching, and growing together. Pastor Tom highlighted three points: we're created for community, sin complicates community, and the church is where we find true community through Christ. Ultimately, Pastor Tom encouraged us to strengthen our connection by joining small groups to experience authentic fellowship and support in our spiritual journey. The takeaway is that we thrive best in community, knitted together by faith and love.
Additional Info
The info below was generated by an AI from the audio recording of the sermon.
The Importance of Community in Our Lives
Community is a vital aspect of human existence, yet its true depth often goes overlooked. Many of us equate community with simple social gatherings, coffee breaks, or church service once a week. However, the biblical concept of community, derived from the Greek word "koinonia," signifies so much more — it encompasses fellowship, communion, and a deep connection that goes beyond just casual interactions.
Understanding "Koinonia"
The term "koinonia" has been reiterated throughout recent discussions, emphasizing its significance in forming genuine relationships with others. It involves living life together, sharing both joyous and sorrowful moments, and celebrating the presence of God amongst us. It's about the daily rhythms of life, as illustrated in Acts 2, where believers met together regularly, both in public and private settings, fostering a rich community focused on spiritual growth and mutual support.
Humanity's Design for Community
From our inception, humanity has been designed for community. Genesis 2:18 highlights that it is not good for man to be alone. God created us in His image, which reflects a community of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As social beings, we crave connections with others. Recent studies suggest that a significant percentage of individuals seek companionship and understanding over mere solutions to their problems. This desire for connection is crucial in navigating life's challenges.
The Complication of Community by Sin
Sin complicates our natural inclination towards community. Many people harbor a love-hate relationship with others, fearing potential hurt from intimate connections. Experiences of "church hurt" can lead to vows of isolation, preventing true healing and growth. Despite the pain that past experiences may cause, it’s essential to recognize the power of forgiveness and the potential for restoration within the community.
God's Strategy for Reconnection Through the Church
God’s plan is to use the church as a means to reconnect with one another and with Him. In Acts 2:47, we see that the early church thrived on the foundation of togetherness and mutual support. It’s through participation in small groups that individuals can build relationships that foster spiritual and personal growth. Small communities allow for deeper connections, where everyone knows each other's names, recognizes needs, and provides encouragement and support.
Emphasizing Small Groups for True Connection
In larger gatherings, it’s easy to become just another face in the crowd; however, in small groups, individuals have the chance to share their lives authentically. This environment allows for the practice of the "one another" commandments found in scripture — to love, forgive, serve, and encourage one another on a regular basis. The more we invest in these groups, the more we reap the benefits of true community.
The Strength of Interconnectedness
The metaphor of redwood trees illustrates the strength found in community. With shallow roots that interconnect over expansive distances, they stand strong against powerful winds. Similarly, when members of the church come together, supporting and uplifting one another, they create a solid foundation that withstands the storms of life.
The Call to Embrace Community
In conclusion, it is essential to actively seek out and embrace community, despite past hurts or anxieties. The church is God's chosen vehicle for this purpose, designed to cultivate relationships that nurture us spiritually and emotionally. By stepping into small groups and fostering connections, individuals can experience a profound sense of belonging and support.
Take Action: Join a Community Group
If you haven't yet found your place in a small group, now is the time to take that step. Seek opportunities within your church or community to engage with others. It may be a simple act, like signing up for a group, but it could lead to profound changes in your life. The richness of community awaits those willing to invest their time and hearts into the lives of others. Embrace the gift of koinonia and witness the transformation that comes from belonging to a community.
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Use the questions listed below as a launching point to discuss the sermon points together as a family. These are great for dinner table discussions and small groups.
Discussion Guide: Unity in Faith
1. Reflect on Community: Pastor Tom mentioned that we were created for community. How do you currently experience community, and in what ways do you think you could deepen these connections?
2. Dealing with Hurt: How can we overcome past "church hurt" and open our hearts to be vulnerable with others again?
3. Real-Life Connections: Reflect on social media in your life. Do you find it enhances your sense of community, or does it create a divide? Why?
4. The Role of Small Groups: What role does a smaller setting play in creating a deeper relationship with those in your church?
5. Living 'Koinonia': How can you practice real koinonia within your church community this week?
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Historical Context of Acts 2
The Book of Acts, primarily written by Luke, details the founding and spread of the early Christian church after Jesus's ascension. The events in Acts 2 occur during Pentecost, a Jewish feast marking the giving of the Law to Moses, celebrated 50 days after Passover. During this time, Jerusalem was filled with Jews from various regions, making it a pivotal moment for spreading the Gospel.
The early Christian community formed in a Roman-occupied Jewish context, where followers of Jesus faced religious and political challenges. They lived communally, sharing resources as echoed through the Greek concept of "koinonia," a reflection of their dedication to living out Christ’s teachings. The emphasis on daily meetings in homes and the temple highlights the blend of public worship and personal fellowship, offering an adaptive model for worship amidst a diverse and often hostile environment.
Understanding this period’s oppressive conditions underscores the radical nature of their commitment to the communal life portrayed in Acts—defying Roman rule and traditional Jewish norms reinforced their identity as a collective body in Christ.
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Introduction
Today we're going to talk about something very special called "community." Do you know what community means? It's like being part of a big family or group where we love, support, and take care of each other, just like Jesus teaches us! Pastor Tom talked about how God created us to be together with other people. Are you guys excited to learn how we can have true community?
Scripture
Acts 2:42-47 (NIV): "They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who 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 favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."
Craft: Community Collage
Materials Needed:
Old magazines or colored paper
Glue sticks
Scissors
Large poster board
Markers
Instructions:
Gather and Cut: Each child can look through the magazines and cut out pictures or words that represent community for them (like friends, family, food, church, etc.).
Glue: Once they have a collection, help them glue the pictures and words onto the large poster board to create a collage representing community.
Discussion: After they finish, ask them to share what they created and how it represents their understanding of community.
Game: Community Circle
Materials Needed:
A soft ball or stuffed animal
Instructions:
Form a Circle: Have the kids stand in a circle.
Pass the Ball: Start by passing the ball around the circle. When someone catches the ball, they have to share one thing they love about their friends or family (it could be a trait, an activity, or something they appreciate).
Community Connection: After one round, explain that just like we share in this game, we can also share our love and support with others in our community.
Discussion Questions
What do you think is the best part about being in a community?
Can you think of a time when your friends or family were there for you? How did that make you feel?
Why do you think it’s important to help others in our community?
How can we show love and support to someone who may feel lonely?
Wrap Up with a Prayer
Let's bow our heads and pray together.
"Dear Jesus, thank you for bringing us together as a community. Help us to love and support each other every day. Show us how we can help those who are lonely and remind us to be like the early believers who shared everything together. Thank you for loving us and for teaching us to love one another. Amen."Let's remember that we are all part of God's big family and that together we can make a difference in each other's lives!
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Good morning. It's good to see you in the house of the Lord today. I just got a text message from Daniel. He says that there is someone from the Philippines watching us online this morning, which is pretty cool. We've got Lisa and Bill and Kathy and Diane and Jerry and Jane and all kinds of online worshipers with us today.
So we've got people all around the world in the first service. You know, praise and worship is such a remarkable time because you're talking to God, you're singing to God. You're experiencing God. And so I sang that line in that last verse that says that my bones are singing. And all of a sudden, I started laughing because I was reminded of Bob Hope.
Who remembers Bob Hope? A bunch of you. Okay, so Bob Hope said this one time, he said, my knees are creaking, my joints are cracking, my stomach is gurgling, and my ears are ringing. I'm not only getting older, I'm getting noisier. And I just.
That happened right in the middle of that praise and worship song. And I'm like, the Holy Spirit has a great sense of humor. No doubt about that. I was reading this week in a church service sign book. Have you ever seen one of these?
Some of the silly church signs that are out in front of a church. And in this church sign book, I saw this one in big letters at the top of the sign, it says, we care about you. And then on the bottom, it says, Sundays at 10am only.
Like, I don't think that's what they meant, but that's the way it came across. And so maybe you saw the video that we played. There were some things in there that we were trying to communicate in regards to this idea of community. Would you just say that with me? Community.
Say it again. Community. We've been talking about this Greek word, koinonia, and we've probably brought it up at least five or six times just in the three months that I've been here. And I just sense that God's trying to. To get us to understand that community is way more than coffee and donuts in the lobby.
Are you hearing what I'm saying? Community's Way more than just having coffee together. It's way more than just even meeting Sunday mornings in church or in Sunday school. There's something more required when it comes to community. I was excited by the communion service last week because we talked about community, we talked about koinonia.
So today I want to help you live out what we actually did around the table last week. Now, how many of you were here last week? So you saw about 10 or 12 people literally come forward and join me at the communion table after service. At least a dozen people said, I wish I would have come up to. And you were probably one of those people because you sensed in that moment that God was doing something unique.
God was knitting our hearts together in something more than just a club type atmosphere. He's causing us to enjoy one another, to appreciate one another, to even love one another. Who can say amen? This is what fellowship really is. Sunday morning communion without living in daily community is hypocrisy.
Listen. Acts, chapter 2, verse 46. It says every day they met together in the temple and in their homes every day. Acts chapter 5, verse 42. And daily say daily, daily in the temple and in every house.
They did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. So when they were going into each other's homes, it wasn't just for tea and biscuits. They were talking about Jesus, they were teaching Jesus, they were preaching about Jesus, they were living life together with Jesus. Who can say Amen? That's what's taking place.
And so community, koinonia is about sharing the highs and lows of life. It's about rejoicing with those who rejoice. It's about crying with those who cry. Acts chapter 2, verse 41, 42 and 47. These are our primary scriptures for today.
And we're going to be looking at these on the screen here. And I want you to see something. Now you might notice I usually preach out of the new King James version, but today it's the Cebu and I'm going to explain that a little bit. There's a reason for this. The scripture says those who accepted Peter's message were baptized.
We've already gone over that. 3,000. God brought about 3,000 people into the community, say community. So on that day, and the believers devoted themselves to the apostles, teaching to the community, to their shared meals, and to the prayers the Lord added daily to the community, those who were being saved. And so I picked this translation because of the word community used in these three different verses.
Because as a good pastor, I have three Points for today's message. But before we get to that, I want you to see that in the original language, that first, community doesn't even have a word. The authors actually just put that in there because they thought that it added to the understanding of the scripture. So in their minds, they're thinking this. The day began with 120 people, then 3,000, or approximately that number, 3,000 souls.
The Bible says get saved. So now you have a church of 3,120. So rather than just saying group or rather than just saying them, this particular translation says that they were added to the community. And the reason is is because a similar word is used in the next verse. It's actually this word that we've learned to love, and it's the word koinonia right here.
Now we know based upon the last couple of weeks of teachings that koinonia means what? Fellowship. That's right. Who can tell me what FED group stands for? Fed.
What does FED stand for? Fellowship. Fellowship. E stands for what Evangelism. And D stands for what?
Discipleship. That's right. So today is Fed Group Sunday. We're trying to get you to go on out into the foyer. And if you're not a part of a small group in intimate setting, we want you to go out there and sign up for one of these other groups.
We want you to get together in a smaller group because we believe koinonia, we believe community actually takes place better in small groups than in a big group. Who can say amen? I mean, it's hard to have fellowship with 500 people. It's easy to have fellowship with 2 or 4 or 8 or 10 or 12 in that type of environment. But this word last week, koinonia, we heard it also means communion.
And so you've got koinonia means fellowship, koinonia means communion, and koinonia means community. So koinonia is way more than we think it is. It's not casual, but it can be casual. But it's so much more than casual. It's deep, it's intimate, it's rubbing shoulders together, it's spending time together.
It's investing our lives in other human beings. It's caring deeply about one another. It's living out the various one another scriptures that are found in the Bible on a regular and daily, say daily, daily basis. So my three points for today begin with this one. Humanity was created for community.
The reason why the New Testament is filled with so many references to fellowship and community and koinonia is because that's how we were originally designed. That's how we were made. That's how God created us. We all possess what I call a community gene. And what's exciting about this is we were made this way before sin ever entered the world.
This is found in Genesis 2:18. And the Lord God said, it is not good that man should be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him. No sin. God just made a decision.
You know what? When it comes to humanity, I'm going to make them, like, remember, created in God's image. And God is God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. God has eternally existed in community. And he desires for us to live in community.
We crave connection. Social scientists tell us this all the time. According to Psychology Today, 90% of people who go to counseling, they don't want answers. They just want someone to talk to. They just want to connect with another human being.
And our modern culture actually works against this. First, our focus is on individual rights. When I was growing up a long, long time ago, there was this idea of rugged individualism. We had to be our own man, our own person. The.
The captain of our own ship. Burger King back in the 70s, introduced this Diddy, hold the pickles, hold the lettuce. Special orders don't upset us. All I ask is that you let us serve it.
What a bunch of selfish people in the audience.
I mean, think about it. That came out 50 years ago, and it is indelibly marked in your minds and your imagination. Why? Because this is how American culture really is. I bet you there's not a single.
Maybe there's one, okay? But most of us, when we go to a restaurant, we expect good service. We expect to get what we order. We expect it to be to our liking. And there are people around this world who don't even get to eat this week.
They don't even get to eat today. And we're complaining about a steak that might be one shade different from what we originally ordered it. I'm here to tell you that this individualism is not the best thing in the world. Doing life alone is not the way to make life work. I remember living out in California for a number of years, and especially in the LA area, they have what I call these HOV lanes.
Do they have HOV lanes here in Florida? Yes. High occupancy vehicle lanes. And one of the things I learned, especially in Southern California, is if you want to get anywhere, you better have a partner in your car. Because if you don't, it's going to take you an hour to go 8 or 10 miles because it's bumper to bumper.
But if you have another human being, and sometimes some of those HOV lanes, you need a minimum of three. And if you have three people in your car, you're zipping by and you can get 10 miles in 10 minutes, you move quicker when more people are in the car. The same is true of life. You get to your desired destination faster if you're willing to put up with the inconsistencies in another human being's life. If you're not, it's gonna result in isolationism.
There's individualism and there's isolationism that wars against how God created us. Over 20% of all Americans say they are either often or always lonely. And 73%, 3 and 4, say it's because of social media. Wait a minute, I'm missing something. Because isn't the promise of social media that we are closer, that we get to have friends?
I mean, I have 3,000 friends on Facebook. I must be really popular, right? Most of those people don't know me. Most of those people don't even care who I am. They don't care what I'm going through.
Facebook changed their original mission statement and their new one in 2017 is this. Give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together. Have they succeeded? No. The situation's far worse.
Here we are eight years later, and people are more fractured and more separated than they have ever been. People are less engaged in social and civic clubs. Less people go to church. Less people are eating together. Less people, 50% less, are having friends over to their house.
A Facebook conversation with someone in a foreign country is easier than talking to your next door neighbor. We've lost the ability just to say, hi. I love the Family Circus, that little cartoon that's in the newspaper or online sometimes. And little Billy, I think he's like 5 years old, and this is what he said. He said, fingers like mittens, better than gloves because they don't get lonely that way.
And I was just like, yeah, they get to hang out together.
I'm just telling you, collaboration is a wonderful thing. The Bible tells us in Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes 4, that two are better than one.
Everyone doesn't believe that. I love being married. I was going to say, who loves being married? But I don't want to be disappointed by what I hear.
I love being married. About 10 years ago, I was preaching a series about breaking bad habits, and I did not think I had a bad habit. But my wife did. She thought that when I would leave for work in the morning, if she was already gone and I didn't fix the bed, she thought I was a slob for not fixing the bed. And I never saw the logic behind fixing a bed because you just messed it up again later that evening.
Okay, but to make my wife happy 10 years ago. Now think about this. She put up with me for 30 years because we're celebrating 40 years this. This year. And, yeah, not many people make it 40, do they?
So 10 years ago, I promised that I would never leave the house with the bed unfixed, that I was gonna fix it every time. And I've not let her down not one single time since. That I can remember. I think I fixed it. If I'm the last one out of the house, I fix it every single time.
If she's the last one, she typically fixes it every single time. But you know what I learned? It's hard to fix a king size bed by yourself.
We have one of those fitted sheets that go on first. And I'm telling you, the first time I did it, I'm like, oh, she's gonna be so proud of me. I'm gonna fix the bed. She's gonna be so happy. And I put that first corner on and kind of straightened it out here, and I pulled it down to the end and I put that second corner on, and I'm like, man, I'm such a good husband.
And I get over here and I yank it, and that corner comes at me and I'm like, wait a minute. Wait, wait a minute. How does Robin do it? She's so much smaller than I am. So I pull this one up, and I pull it, and right when I get it tight, this corner snaps at me.
And I think, it took me 15, 20 minutes to fix the bed. So yesterday, Saturday is our sheet cleaning day. So we washed the sheets yesterday, and together we fixed the bed and we did it in like 30 seconds. Easy peasy. That's because the Bible says two are better than one.
She's been a wonderful companion. The Bible goes on and says that when there's two, there's more synergy, there's more warmth, there's more. There's more strength. That's why Robin and I complement each other greatly. We were completed, incomplete.
And it's when we come together that we become one who can say amen. But listen, the same is true about the church. Do you understand that when we go running our separate, different directions, we are a divided group. But when we come together, either in the big service, even in a small group, the vision that God has for our church, when we come together, that's when the scripture says we are baptized into one body. Jesus even said, I want you to be one, the same way that God and I are one.
This idea of oneness, community unity is all through the scripture. We can't do this by ourselves. First Corinthians 12, 21 and 22. The eye cannot say to the hand, I don't need you. On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable.
I need your encouragement. You need my encouragement. I need your talents and your gifts. You need my talents and my gifts. A accountant in London was having stomach issues, but he didn't like going to the doctor.
But he broke down because the pain was just getting too great for him. So he goes to the doctor and has all the MRIs and X rays and all that kind of stuff. And they find out that his gallbladder is inflamed and that he needs to have his gallbladder removed. And he didn't want the doctor to do it. He said, no, no, no.
And the doctor said, well, you're gonna have a major problem. You could possibly. He goes, I'm not going to have you do it. And so he goes on home and he makes the decision to take out his own gallbladder.
And guess what? He died. Exactly. He needed the doctor, but he thought he could do it all on his own. We can't do life on our own.
Now here's the issue. Point number two. Sin has greatly complicated our community instinct. Sin has greatly complicated our community instinct. This is what I call the community paradox.
We all have this love, hate relationship with people. Charlie Brown put it this way. I love mankind. It's people I hate.
Aren't we all that way, just to a little degree? I mean, I want as many friends as possible, but I don't like getting hurt by people. I love people in my corner, but I hate when they say mean things and do mean things and hurt my feelings. And when that happens, I want to withdraw. When that happens, I want to pull away.
And I find that there's this ebb and flow when it comes to. Even in the Christian community. We want it and yet we run away from it. We need it, and yet we shrink back from it on a regular basis. And a lot of people call this church hurt.
Have you heard that phrase before? And we make ourselves this little vow in our heads. I'm Never gonna let them hurt me again. I'm never gonna let this happen again. Now listen, I know there have been some pretty evil things done.
And in the name of Jesus Christ, I understand that. But we as Christians have the power within us to forgive, we have the power to release, we have the power to be healed in Jesus holy and precious name. And we have the problem that through our pain to actually bring healing to churches and people all across America who can say amen to that. That's what God desires for us to do. Yes, I know sin makes people selfish.
In 2013, the Word of the year was selfie.
Because these things had only been around for about three or four years, remember? And everyone was doing this. Ah, right. Did you know there's a dozen people that die in the United States every year by taking a selfie? They fall off a cliff, they get hit by a train or a bus or a car.
They fall in a New York City manhole and die. We have a dozen people every year who are so consumed with themselves that they take their own lives and they don't even know it. But before you know what I'm going to do, I'm going to take your picture. Okay, I got it going right here. Okay, this section right here.
Everybody smile. 1, 2, 3. I got it over here. 1, 2, 3. I got it.
This section right here. 1, 2, 3. One person was picking their nose. I won't say who it was. Okay, right here.
One, one, two, three. Got it. So now I'm going to post these online this afternoon.
Here's my question. If you go look at it, whose picture are you looking for?
You're not looking for the person in the row in front of you, are you? Even though there's 100 people here, 130 people right here, you're going to look for your picture. Why? Because we're all just a little self consumed because of sin. Sin causes us to look out for number one, where God wants us to look out for other people.
But because of this desire to protect ourselves and love ourselves and take care of ourselves, sin makes me fearful of what you might do to me. Sin makes you fearful of what I might do to you. Sometimes I think the church is like a bunch of porcupines trying to stay warm in the wintertime by huddling. Can you get an image of that? Can you get an image of 500 porcupines getting together like this and it's 32 below zero?
So what are you going to do? Are you going to go for the heat? Are you Going to be able to put up with the quills that are poking into you once in a while. Do you know those things are there very loosely. The average porcupine has 30,000 quills.
The average Christian has more than that.
Amen.
And yet God commands us to love one another, to not allow offense to get in the way of the small groups that we're a part of, of the church that we're a part of. I learned a long time ago that the greatest pains of life are relational, but the greatest pleasures of life are also relational. If we cut ourselves off because of past pains and not allow God to heal us, we're gonna miss out on some of the greatest joys that we could ever experience. And those joys happen in church with other people in small groups. We need to pull out the quills that offend us as quickly as possible.
Because one of the porcupine's greatest offensive weapons or defensive weapons, is once that quill gets into one of his enemies. Over time, it goes deeper and deeper and deeper. When we allow pain quills to stay in our lives for a period of time, it begins to fester and poison and produce bitterness and anger and all of these negative feelings. And we say no to what it is that God is calling us to do. And so what we end up doing is we listen to sin, which satisfies us with counterfeit communities.
You might say, pastor, what are you talking about? Well, we want to still get God's reward. We want the benefits of community without using God's strategy, which is an all in strategy. It's all or nothing in God's community. So we look for community without investment.
And I see it every time I go over to the villages, town squares. Listen, Robin and I are probably gonna go over to Lake Sumter and get something to eat after church today. And the bars are gonna be crowded with people. There are going to be hundreds. I mean, it's green weekend, right?
St. Patrick's Day. People are going to be drinking beer and straight shots of whiskey, and they're going to be around those bars and around those tables, quote, having a good time believing the message of the television series cheers from the 80s and 90s. Making your way in the world to takes everything you've got, taking a break from all your worries. Sure would help a lot.
Wouldn't you like to get away?
Now? Listen? Get away to where everybody knows your name. I thought that was church.
Now, in a big congregation like this, it's hard to know everybody's name. But in a small Group. You can know everybody in your small group. They can know you. You can be known.
You can know other people. You don't have to listen to the trash of this television series which leaves nothing more than empty souls, lonely hearts and shallow lives. That's what you find at a bar. You don't find true community. You can go to a frat or a sorority, and it's not real community.
Oh, they say they're brothers and sisters, but that's as long as you have money, power or influence. As soon as you don't have it, they forget your telephone number. They don't know who you are. Communities can be based on anything superficial. It can be a hobby.
Oh, yeah, it's like the joke. I can't remember it completely, but. But a guy went out with his buddy golfing, and they were together for 18 holes, and he comes back and his wife says, well, how's Johnny doing? And he goes, I don't know. And she goes, well, weren't you with him for 18 holes on the golf course?
And he goes, yeah, but we didn't talk. I'm just like, yes, we do talk. That's what Christians do. Third, and finally, God's plan is to reconnect with you through the church. Do you guys understand that?
It's not you and God alone. It's you and the in Jesus Christ, who's the head of the church, which is his body. When you reconnect with God through Jesus Christ, you also reconnect with the church. Acts, chapter 2, verse 47. They praised God and demonstrated God's goodness to everyone.
The Lord added good daily to the community. Those who were being. Oh, crud. I do this every time, don't I? I have to erase, then I can do that and give you the next verse.
He added to the community daily, such as were being saved. So it begins. Remember, the first verse is about how many got saved. So we reconnect to the source of life, Jesus Christ himself. Who can say Amen?
See, I love God's consistency in the Bible. First Corinthians 1:9. God is faithful who has called you into fellowship. God has called you into Koinonia with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. So that Koinonia with Jesus is supposed to lead you into Koinonia with the church.
And his body speaks of. Of that interconnectedness that we talked about earlier. I started thinking about this and how many of you have ever gone to Northern California and you've seen the redwood trees? Let me see. Redwoods.
Redwoods, yeah. Aren't they beautiful. I mean, there's something amazing and majestic about the redwoods. They tower between 300 and 350ft in the air. Some of the trunks are so wide that they actually have trees that they have hollowed out the trunk.
The tree is still alive. And they put a road through the trunk and you can drive through the trunk of the tree. Now this is what makes it so amazing. Although These trees are 300, 350ft in the air, their root system only goes down to 3, 6 to 12ft. That's it.
So you ask, how in the world do they stand up? Because they got the ocean right next to them. They've got these storms coming in, typhoon winds. Just like hurricanes, they don't fall down ever. They can live to be over 2000 years old.
So when they dig down, they've discovered that although the roots only go down 6 to 12ft, they spread out 60 to 80ft and they interconnect with all of the trees around them. So although if they stand by themselves, the wind would easily knock them down. But when you get 100, 200, 500, 1000 of these big beasts standing next to each other, nothing, and I mean nothing, can knock them down. They are strong, they are secure, they are firm, and they live longer than any other living thing on the planet. That is a picture of the body of Christ.
In Jesus name, who can say Amen. We're supposed to be redwoods. We're supposed to grow strong and mighty and powerful. But we can only do that in connectedness. We can only do that together.
But of course, the church is also described as a building. That means we're not perfect. That means we're still going and we're still growing. And we cannot allow the challenges of relationship to keep us from entering into the intimacy that God has for us both as a community and as and in small groups. Even if you've had a bad experience in the past, God can turn it around.
In Jesus name, please say Amen. So that's when we begin to realize real relationships in life. We begin to realize that Acts 2:46. Every day they met together in the temple and in homes. Now we know why they were.
This wasn't a once a week kind of Christian faith. This was a 24 hour a day, seven day a week Christian faith. I used to wonder, why can someone be a Christian for 30 years and not mature? Why was Hebrews chapter 5 even written? Isn't it just natural to grow?
But it's only natural to grow if we do it God's way. And God's way means that we're yes, going to Bible studies, but it also means that we're a part of groups that are small enough to challenge us on a one on one basis. I believe small groups are one of the keys to long term success as a Christian. In small groups we experience, listen, greater care because our needs are quick identified and addressed. In a big sanctuary like this, sometimes we don't even let our needs be known.
I've actually had people call me or come by and complain that I didn't see them in the hospital. And I go, did you tell anybody? And they go, no.
How am I supposed to know? Am I married to you?
You gotta let people know in a small group. You know what, if you don't show up for a small group and there's only 10 people there, they're gonna call you. If you don't show up here today, I might not see it. There's a lot of people in this room. There's two services.
People can come and go at different times. I'm not gonna see everybody. But in a small group you will be noticed, you will be seen, you will be known in Jesus name. But listen, it has to be safe. And in these safe environments you can live out those one another commandments.
In these safe environments you can greet one another because you'll see everybody. You can greet everybody by name. You can encourage one another, love one another, honor one another, respect one another, accept one another, serve one another. It's in small groups of one another versus are lived out on a regular basis. And this will help us renew our broken lives.
Listen, the power to change our lives is not in doing it all ourselves. It is in our connection with God and our partnership with his body, the church. Community builds people. Community builds character. This is why Hebrews 10:24:25 says this and let us consider how we can spur one another on toward love and good deeds.
Not giving up, meeting together as some are in the habit of doing. You can't give up. You've had a bad experience. Don't give up. Try a different group.
Go to a different house. Come to a different Sunday school class. There will be one that fits your needs. There will be one that will minister to you supernatural. In Jesus name.
Do not give up. Who can say Amen? But be ready. Be ready. Is this horse country?
Are we living in horse country? I took a drive up to Ocala a couple weeks ago. I saw more horses in 20 miles than I've seen in my entire life. The horse capital of the world. I saw equestrian places, I saw horse jumping things.
I was like, wow. But horses understand a spur, especially racehorses, and they know what a spur is for. A spur is not to be gentle, it's not to be kind. It is to incite. It is to irritate, to change your direction or your behavior.
And that should happen in all, say all, all small groups. We shouldn't get upset because someone spurs us on to love and good works, because someone challenges us. I mean, this is one of my favorite things. When I'm done with a sermon and I go on out into the lobby area and someone comes up and pastor, that hurt. And I'm like, what do you mean?
They go, it hurts so good. Because they know that this isn't supposed to be just all fun and games in here, that there's some discipline that takes place, there's spurring that takes place. Small groups, that's even more effective because you know exactly where everyone in your group is. If there's real authenticity taking place, if you can trust enough to share what's happening in your life, things can really go forward in a beautiful way. Proverbs 27:6 puts it this way.
Wounds of a friend can be trusted. We can trust our small groups. We can sharpen each other's skills. I think of the different teams that I've played on. I'm talking about athletic teams.
I remember in high school, specifically my sophomore year of high school, I remember there was like 150 boys that tried out for the basketball team. Think about that, 150 boys. We actually had six freshman teams in my high school. Six freshman teams, two sophomore teams, a JV team and a varsity team. That kind of spurring makes your team better.
That kind of rubbing up against each other, challenging each other, making each other better, was a good thing for the team overall. And so what ends up happening is we get bigger, stronger, better in all of these areas. So the thing that's missing then is encouragement. We need some positivity raining down. And my basketball team had like a 30 some game win, winning home streak at one time because of the encouragement from the audience and the cheerleaders.
Any cheerleaders here in high school? You were a cheerleader? Let me see. I see one there. Anybody cheerleader?
Yeah. Anybody else a cheerleader? I mean, the cheerleaders were so awesome. At my school, I mean, we'd be down by 11 points and it's midway through the third quarter and all of a sudden, yes, you can. Yes you can.
You Guys are so awesome. Yeah, I'm just telling you. And then the crowd would start getting into it and they would start kicking their feet on the stands. The noise would get overwhelmingly loud and for some reason our hearts would just spring. We'd think, we can.
They just said, we can, we can do it. And we would come back and win games we should have lost. I mean, our corporate started getting this reputation. You don't want to go to Aberdeen Central. They have this great home court advantage and everything.
And it was so psychological. I was watching. I wasn't watching this. I read this. An ABC correspondent was interviewing a young soldier on the eve of Desert Storm.
And this is what the question was. How do you think the battle will go? Are you afraid? And the soldier said, no, we'll do okay. I'm not afraid.
I'm not afraid because I'm going to be with my family. And in the background, all the other soldiers were back there and they started shouting, tell him again. He didn't hear you. And so this time the soldier goes, this is my family and we'll take care of each other. And I'm thinking, soldiers understand the need for one another.
They understand the need that everyone has to become a family. How much more the church in Jesus name, we need each other. And before you say Pastor, you're exaggerating how important this really is. David Mathis in his book Habits of Grace describes Koinonia with these words. Koinonia is an all in life or death collective.
It's a venture in the face of great evil and overwhelming opposition. God was a genius in creating the church and creating this idea of living together and sharing together and ministering together and walking hand in hand together and laughing together when we laugh and crying together when we cry. Because half of you probably don't even have family here. Half of you retired from up north somewhere and you're here by yourselves. Or some of you, your families aren't even Christians and you're a part of this all by yourself.
No, you're not. You're a part of the body of Christ who can say amen?
Would you stand with me, please?
We can find strength in numbers in a way that these soldiers and the world just doesn't know. Yeah, I know the saying, me and God makes the majority. But that was never God's plan. His plan from the very beginning was me and my church and God can do anything in Jesus name. Would you bow your heads please?
Heavenly Father, we come to you in the precious name of Jesus Christ. And I pray Father God that today some will be encouraged to get back in the saddle. I know groups don't always work. I know that some are good and some are not quite as good. But Father God, we can never give up.
You have a sacrifice strategy. You have a plan. And it was clearly articulated even in Jesus own life. Yes, he. He fellowshiped in the crowds.
He even had a group of 70 around him. But his small group were the 12 disciples. His small group was, was Peter, James and John in those, those small intimate settings. That's where the disciples really matured. That's where they became the men that we later on learn about in the epistles.
That's who we really appreciate in the Book of Acts. Not the scared Peter, but the courageous Peter. That's who we all desire to be. We want to be a mature Christian. So help us, Father God, do what is necessary.
Help us to go out into the lobby and if we never been a part of a small group, help us to have the courage just to put our name down on a piece of paper, to sign up in some way, shape or form to join the choir, to go to a Sunday school class, to be part of, yes, this big church, Oxford assembly of God, but simultaneously be a part of a small group where people really get to know me and I get to know them. Bless this congregation today. I pray in Jesus holy and precious name. And together everybody says amen and amen.
