Compelling Community

Wes Terry

Core Values • Sermon • Submitted 4 months ago • Presented 4 months ago

0 ratings

· 2 views

Notes

Transcript

INTRODUCTION

For the past few weeks we’ve been exploring Romans 12 and the core values at Broadview Baptist Church.

We’ve been reminding ourselves at the start of 2024 that God is fundamentally concerned with who we ARE above and before what we DO.

We’ve said that a life-giving culture gets created in a church when people hold life-giving values.

When the values are wrong then then culture of a church gets toxic. When the values are right, everything else gets in line as well.

So how do we articulate our core values at Broadview? They can be summarized under the following five statements.

We make Jesus known wherever we go.

We foster tangible encounters with the Living God.

We teach biblical truth that transforms lives.

We build community that serves like Jesus.

We welcome people as they are.

Compelling Community

Today we’re talking about Church as a community. Fundamentally that’s what a church is.

The church isn’t the building or the staff or the ministry programming and language used to describe it.

The core of a church is it’s people.

The church is the redeemed of God who’ve been called out of their sin into new life in Christ and covenanted together in love with one another. That’s the church.

Which means if we don’t value building community we don’t really value what makes the church a church.

In today’s passage we’re going to see that building genuine community in a local church requires certain ingredients and expectations. It’s one of my favorite passages in the New Testament.

WE BUILD COMMUNITY

I want to explore the first half of this value through the lens of verses 3-5. Romans 12:3-5

Romans 12:3–5 CSB

3 For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one. 4 Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, 5 in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another.

If we’re going to build community that serves like Jesus there are three foundations on which it must be built.

Grace

Humility

Unity

There are lots of communities out there that serve a lot of people and do a lot of good. But Christian community ought to look different than the rest.

It ought to be a compelling community because the thing they share in common is unlike anything else in this world and the way they love each other is with a love that nobody has ever seen before.

Grace

Let’s start where Paul begins in verse 3 with the word grace.

This verse is really like a puzzle because he uses words that Christians throw around all of the time but we often use these words with lots of theological meaning attached to them.

Whenever you interpret a text it’s important that you not initially attach a theological meaning to word being used before you first use the dictionary meaning and understand that word in relation to it’s context.

In that case, what does the word “grace” mean here in the context Paul is using it?

One thing it doesn’t mean? It doesn’t mean salvation. We’re saved by grace through faith but that’s not what Paul has in mind here given the context.

Lexically the word grace just means undeserved favor. Grace is a free gift.

But in context Paul is talking about ministry, spiritual gifts and service.

Essentially he’s saying his ministry as an apostle is a grace gift from God.

Each of us should be able to say the same thing as well.

It’s by God’s grace that I now serve as a pastor in a local church.

It’s by God’s grace that you do what you do in the body of Christ.

It’s by God’s grace that God has you doing what you do for his Kingdom.

In other words, it’s not something we earned or deserved. Our gifts and callings are not like Thor’s hammer - you must be worthy to wield it. It’s the opposite. None of us are worthy. (Gal 2:7-9; Eph 3:8)

So the first thing we must do if we want to build supernatural community is see our ministry as a gift of God’s grace.

Humility

Which leads to the second layer of supernatural community: humility.

See yourself as you really are.

When you see your ministry as a grace, it’s much easier to see yourself as you are.

And that’s humility. Humility - in this context - is a sensible judgment of self.

It’s not thinking more highly of yourself than you ought to think nor is it thinking more lowly of yourself than you ought to think. It’s thinking with sober judgment.

The reason I think Paul has to deal with the issue of pride before he deals with the issue of relationship and service within the church is because the presence of pride in a person undermines their ability to contribute to genuine community.

Pride goes before a fall.

Without humility you’re relationships within the church will be all wrong. You can treat people nicely and write them little nice notes. But it won’t be received or helpful because it’s coming from a toxic well in the heart.

Without humility your serving in the church will be all wrong. You could be the most gifted and talented person in the world! If you have pride in your life you’ll do way more damage than good.

Humility is the virtue that makes us most like Jesus. (Phil 2:4-5)

Defining Pride

So how do we know whether we’re humble or proud?

According to Paul it’s not by looking at the things that we do for others but the way we see ourselves.

Pride is defined internally not externally, the way we think not the way we behave.

You could have a really charismatic person with great boldness and achievements and him still be a very humble person.

On the other hand you could have a really quiet introverted person that has levels of pride and ego that go through the roof.

It all boils down to how they see themselves.

Pride is essentially a lie that we believe about ourselves. About our own self-importance, our contributions or the indispensable need others may have for us.

That’s why I think the analogy of sobriety versus drunkenness is so helpful. (sober ESV, KJV)

You know how when people drink to much they think their “ideas” in that state better than they actually are. It sounded good and looked good when you were drunk but as soon as you got sober you got an awakening to the truth. That’s this word!

And for people with pride they think their ideas and contributions are way more important, true and helpful than they actually are. It’s an inaccurate view of the self.

Defining a Measure of Faith

Instead we should think of ourselves with sober judgment as “God has distributed a measure of faith to each one.”

Again - be careful not to attach a theological meaning to the word faith here. Faith can mean many things but the meaning of a word is derived from it’s context.

Faith is a sense belief or conviction. (assurance of things hoped for, conviction of things unseen)

God has given each person a measure of faith which - in this context - is related to spiritual gifts and service within the local church.

So in that context I don’t think it can mean “saving faith” or even “theological knowledge about God.”

Rather, faith seems to be more in line with this idea of spiritual confidence to “do” a certain thing. A person’s measure of faith is their spiritual ability to “walk the walk” and not just “talk the talk.”

We “walk by faith.” We “live by faith.” Applied to the context of spiritual gifts we teach by faith, serve by faith, give by faith, show mercy by faith. It’s not coming from the self it’s coming from the Spirit that lives within us.

Putting It Together

To put it all together Paul is saying “whatever it is you do for the Lord be mindful that it’s a gift of his grace and your ability to do what you do has been measured out by the Lord so don’t go beyond that in how you think about your usefulness or importance.”

An analogy I heard the other day is if you went into a shop and the tools could talk and a hammer jumps out and says, “Look at me! I’m the best tool in the tool box.

Sure you could a screw driver but why do then when you have a hammer! Sure a shovel “might” work - but wouldn’t it be better if you used a hammer!”

Of course not. Each tool has been built a specific way for a specific purpose

When you try and use a tool for something it has no capability for then it just ends up poorly for the tool and the person building with it.

We need to see our gifts and calling as a grace.

We need to see our selves with sober judgment.

Unity

When those two things are in place we’ll have the third layer of supernatural community: unity.

Romans 12:4–5 CSB

4 Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, 5 in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another.

Unity is wrapped up in the very etymology of the word community. com- with , unitas - oneness.

But this unity isn’t a unity of sameness or commonality. This unity is a unity of diversity.

The analogy Paul uses is that of a human body. A human body is made up of all sort of different parts but each part is inextricably linked to the whole.

If each part doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do then the whole suffers.

So the thing that makes our Christian unity unique in the local church is that we’re commited to one another whether we like it or not.

I think that’s what makes the church so special.

You’re connected with people in the church that you would otherwise probably never naturally connect with outside the church!

You don’t just disassociate with your brothers and sisters in Christ because to do so would be like cutting off a body part.

You don’t do that casually and when you do (church discipline) the goal is restoration and reintegration into the body so you can get back to the way you were originally meant to be.

Application

I think there are two things we can take away from this truth very quickly.

Celebrate Our Diversity

Reject Gift-Projection

First, celebrate diversity. Diversity isn’t something that we should shy away from in the local church. Diversity isn’t a weakness, it’s a strength.

I think sometimes (our church includes) we try to work around our diversity instead of pressing harder into it.

This can be a diversity of age demographics, cultural backgrounds or race, political or theological leanings and overall cultural inclinations.

There are some churches you walk into and everybody looks the same way, talks the same ways, likes the same things and agrees on basically everything. How boring!

Diversity can be a blessing from God if we’ll allow it to be and it’s also a way we can display a kind of community that this world cannot do.

Because the Gospel is the only power on this world that can break down the cultural/racial walls of hostility that separate us outside the body of Christ.

Secondly, we should avoid “gift projecting.”

Gift projection is when you project onto others the way God has gifted and oriented you.

People ought to dress the way I think, talk the way I think, have the same theology that I have on secondary or tertiary issues, serve the way I serve, etc etc.

Gift projection is something that we do naturally. We don’t even have to try. It’s just part of the human inclination.

But we must avoid it and reject it like the plague. Because God has designed every local church with a level of intentional diversity.

It’s part of his sovereign plan. So be true to how God has made you to be.

Be humble in being you. But be the you that God created you to be.

THAT SERVES LIKE JESUS:

When our community is built on these three foundations we’re ready to serve like Jesus served.

Serving like Jesus is what the second half of this passage is all about. Romans 12:6-8

Romans 12:6–8 CSB

6 According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts: If prophecy, use it according to the proportion of one’s faith; 7 if service, use it in service; if teaching, in teaching; 8 if exhorting, in exhortation; giving, with generosity; leading, with diligence; showing mercy, with cheerfulness.

Building on the foundation of grace he laid in verse 3 Paul now moves to more practical discussion of spiritual gifts and serving in the local church.

He makes three basic points:

Every member has been gifted.

Every gift is for the good of the body.

Your gift does no good until it’s deployed.

Every Member a Ministry

First, every member has been gifted. “According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts.

I reject this notion that every believer has only one spiritual gift or is uniquely gifted in only one kind of way. I think we can have multiple gifts and they even change from season to season.

I also reject this very narrow defining of spiritual gifts to only include the various “gift lists” in the New Testament. There are a handful of these lists, no two are the same and they do not present themselves as some exhaustive representation of how God has gifted the church.

A better way to think about Spiritual Gifts is the confluence of what you’re naturally gifted at, what you have a spiritual burden and passion for and what others affirm or are helped by through you in the context of the local church.

Every single person who has trusted in Jesus for salvation has been gifted for ministry. It’s a feature not a bug.

It’s not for the super Christians or only those oriented towards service. It’s for EVERYBODY.

That’s why our discipleship pathway for EVERY MEMBER includes a requirement to “bless others on a team.”

By that we mean, use your gift to bless people in and through our church family.

Romans 12 Gift List

Now Paul does mention a variety of gifts and I think it’d be worth our time to examine them briefly. (we don’t have time to do a deep dive)

Prophecy

Service

Teaching

Exhortation

Giving

Leading

Mercy

The use of seven gifts is probably intentional by Paul as these gifts are somewhat sweeping and broad to encompass many many spiritual gifts under these larger umbrellas.

Some refer to these seven gifts as the “motivational” gifts of the Spirit.

I want to attempt to give you a one-two sentence definition of these gifts for clarity.

Prophecy: a unique ability communicate God’s truth so that others can hear.

In the OT this gift had a dimension of “foretelling” and there are debates around the extend of foretelling with NT prophecy or even the continuing of this gift now that the canon has been completed. We don’t have to jump into those debates as fascinating as they are.

I’m personally in the camp that this gift still exists today but that it is primary an ability to discern what God is saying to a particular people at a particular time and communicate that word so that it is understood and properly received.

Service: a unique ability to meet practical needs so that others are helped.

This is what I call a high percentage low visibility gift. For every 1-2 people who have a platform gift like prophecy or teaching or even leadership. There are 10-12 people with the gift of helps making it possible. Our church runs on people with this gift.

This gift is so important that God designated an entire office in the church so that people would have models they could look to as they grow in that gift and deploy it in their own way.

Teaching: a unique ability to explain spiritual truth so that others can learn.

Teaching is not just the ability to understand what God says but to explain it in a way that other people can understand it as well. Every pastor of a NT should is supposed to have this gift. But it goes beyond the pastor to many many lay people as well.

All of our small group leaders likely possess some level of a teaching gift. From the preschool wing to the largest adult education class.

Exhortation: a unique ability to encourage and motivate so that others will act.

If teaching is aimed at learning then exhortation is aimed at ACTION. These are people who just make you want to storm hell with a water pistol! These are the people who keep all the other gifted people going when they want to quit and give up. They write the notes of encouragement and give those life-giving words when you need to hear it most.

Giving: a unique ability to leverage personal resources so that needs can be met.

This word has an emphasis on being generous with one’s OWN resources. It’s easy to be generous with somebody else’s money. When it comes to being loose-handed with your own money it often requires a special grace from the Lord.

People with the gift of giving don’t just give away their wealth for the benefit of others. They do so with a level of joy and generosity that it defies the norm or expectation.

Leading: a unique ability to influence people so that they get where they need to be.

As one guy put it - leadership is influence. It’s not just your position of authority. It’s your unique ability to get people to move where God is wanting them to go. A good leader will take a group of people where the NEED to go when they probably wouldn’t go unless they had somebody to lead them.

Leadership includes an element of vision and seeing what needs to happen. Leaders see what’s coming before others and beyond others. But the primary emphasis of spiritual leadership is diligence and perseverance.

Mercy: the unique ability to empathize and help so that pain can be alleviated.

Mercy is such a special gift. My mother has the gift of mercy. I just did a funeral for somebody who had the gift of mercy. Mercy isn’t just helping people. Mercy isn’t just feeling sorry for people. Mercy is a combination of sympathy AND action.

Often people with this gift end up serving a “mercy ministries” like funeral meals, hope mommies, foster care and adoption.

Defining < Deploying

However we define these gifts, the emphasis from Paul seems to be less on the theoretical definition of the gifts and more on the practical application of DEPLOYING the gifts.

Each gift is followed by a statement of “be about doing the thing you’re gifted to do!”

Prophecy? In proportion to your faith!

Serving? Then serve!

Teaching? Then teach!

Exhortation? Then motivate!

Giving? Be generous!

Leading? Be diligent!

Mercy? Be cheerful!

Whatever you’ve been gifted to do, DO IT and that with all of your heart.

The other thing I’d say is that each of these gifts also act as a spiritual responsibility for everyone.

Outside of leadership, I could take this list of seven and show you at least one or two passages where these kinds of activity are expected from ALL believers.

Prophecy: (1 Cor 14:1, 39)

Service: (Gal 5:13; 1 Peter 4:10)

Teaching: (Col 3:16; Heb 5:12)

Exhortation: (Heb 3:13; 10:25; 1 Thess 5:11)

Giving: (2 Cor 9:7; Gal 6:6)

Leadership: (might be exception but certainly applied men & parents)

Mercy: (Mat 5:7; Gal 6:2; Luke 6:36)

What makes these seven things go beyond a mere responsibility to the level of spiritual gift is the joy you receive in exercising them and benefit others receive when you do.

So whatever your gift is, be about doing the thing God has gifted you to do!

When you think about these seven things which ones really resonate with your heart and make you want to get out of bed and go to church in the morning: which is it?

Whatever that word is ask yourself this question: are you deploying that gift in this body?

Beyond Positions & Titles

You don’t need a title or an official position to bless other people in this church.

The only thing you need in order to deploy your gift in this body is for YOU to be here and another person to be present!

The Lord will give you many opportunities if you’ll just show up and evaluate your circumstances in light of this cultural value.

You can teach even if you’re not a small group leader.

You can exhort in the hallways between each worship service.

You can lead from the second chair or third chair or even the fourth.

You can show mercy because there are people hurting all over this church.

The question isn’t has God given you a gift. He has!

The question isn’t will your gift be good for our body. It will!

The question is are you using your gift to bless others in our church? If not, why not today?

CONCLUSION

We are building community at Broadview Baptist Church. We are building multiple little communities in our small groups, care groups, d-groups and mentoring groups.

Where humble people put themselves in relationship with other brothers in sisters in the name of Jesus Christ with sincere love and devotion a community is being formed.

But it’s not enough to just be “part” of that community. We want you to belong but not “just” belong.

We want you to join us in building it out even more. We want and expect you to serve (if you’re a member.)

But not just to serve. The last part of our core value is that we “serve like Jesus.”

We’ve already addressed the primary way that we embody the spirit of Christ: humility.

We also embody the ministry of Jesus when we come not to be served but to serve.

The last way our building community and serving others embodies Jesus is when we do all of those things from a place of sincere love.

Romans 12:9 CSB

9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Detest evil; cling to what is good.

Taylor is going to take this idea and expand it next week for our last core value but let me leave you with this thought.

All of God’s gifts must operate from a place of love lest they tear down the body of Christ instead of building it up.

The body of Christ is built up and established in love. (Eph 4:16)

Without love our spiritual gifts and serving become a noisy gong and clanging cymbal. (1 Cor 13:1) We are nothing and we gain nothing by a loveless service in the local church.

But when our service comes from a place of love and humility - THEN it becomes a Christ-like love.

And THAT kind of community is compelling and attractive.

So let’s put our hands together and build that kind of community for the glory of God.

Related Media

Related Sermons