Church of the Nazarene – East Rock
Building Blocks Part 4
Community
Welcome to our teaching series “Building Blocks”.
Building Blocks is focusing on the essential features, the basics, of the Christian life. And it’s not intended just for new believers in our midst, but as an important refresher for even those of you who are veterans of the faith.
Today we continue looking at the foundational practice of community.
The currents of the world have always been pulling us apart, but now with the advent of social media and on the heels of the pandemic, those forces are amplified.
Isolation, loneliness, depression, anxiety are all on the rise at historic rates because of the powerful pull into isolation.
Here is the truth for us today: We were created for community.
Introvert, extrovert, doesn’t really matter. You were created for life together.
When we find ourselves swept away into isolation and individualism, we find ourselves far from the heart of God.
Our Lord had no vision for believers in isolation.
He called for us to be IN COMMUNITY with each other while at the same time impacting the COMMUNITY in which we find ourselves.
So, we are community impacting the community.
John 17:20-21
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
Who is Jesus praying for? YOU and for me, and for generations before us. He is praying for the people who will believe through the message of the first disciples.
What’s Jesus prayer for you and for me?
That we would be one.
He asks the father to move mightily, exert his power and influence in our lives that we would be united together- reflecting Jesus connection with the father.
We cannot go through the scriptures and find that community or togetherness is optional. It’s the very heart of the Lord for his people.
Independence and isolation, just won’t ever fit.
As the church, we don’t have community because we are all from the same place, or we all like the same things.
Our connectedness, our unity is a spiritual reality that comes through Christ.
So, if you are in Christ, you are in community.
John 17:21-23
that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
Just a few verses before this, Jesus prayed that his disciples would not be taken out of the world, but that they would be sent into the world- He sent them on mission
Here, Jesus prays that our community, our unity, would be a witness to the world of his great love.
Think about that, the way that we come together, in unity, living out this mission is how the world will see that Jesus Christ is real and alive and powerful!
We are a community together in Christ, and we have a mission to bring hope to our world.
We are a community impacting our community.
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Thank you for your partnership in the Kingdom of Christ!