Latest / Crossway Radio / Living a Legacy - 2026-11-07_LAL The DNA of the Church: Biblical Community part 1

Transcript

Living a Legacy - 2026-11-07_LAL The DNA of the Church: Biblical Community part 1 · Crossway Radio

0:01
S1: The Bible clearly teaches that you cannot be a healthy
0:05
S1: Christian unless you live in community with one another. That's
0:10
S1: not a strategy. It's not a good idea. It is.
0:14
S1: It is a mandate in the scriptures. It is what
0:17
S1: church is.
0:23
S2: Hello and welcome to Living a Legacy with Doctor Crawford.
0:27
S2: Lawrence Crawford served as senior pastor of Fellowship Bible Church
0:31
S2: in Roswell, Georgia. Well, it's become a regular part of
0:34
S2: our church's vocabulary. And I'm talking about the word community.
0:38
S2: And as Crawford just said, it plays a big role
0:40
S2: in the health of the church. But how and why?
0:43
S2: We'll take a look at that today in Crawford's message
0:46
S2: titled Biblical Community. Now, this is all part of a
0:49
S2: series he gave at Fellowship Bible Church called the church's DNA.
0:53
S2: In recent messages, we've looked at how the church's DNA
0:56
S2: is to be made up of God's Word. Our great
0:59
S2: command and our Great Commission. And by the way, you
1:02
S2: can hear those messages on our website. Living a legacy
1:07
S2: biblical community is very important, but there are some warnings
1:11
S2: to be aware of, particularly as it relates to small groups.
1:15
S2: And Crawford will touch on those in the first half
1:17
S2: of the message today. Our text is Romans chapter 12,
1:21
S2: verses five through 18, Romans chapter 12, verses five through 18.
1:26
S2: Here's Crawford on living a legacy.
1:29
S1: We're not talking about ideas that we've come up to
1:32
S1: describe ourselves, but how do we align ourselves with what
1:35
S1: God has said about us? And one of the things
1:39
S1: we wanted to make sure of is that, you know,
1:41
S1: we needed to align ourselves to the banks of a river.
1:45
S1: A river that doesn't have banks is a swamp. It
1:48
S1: gets stagnant. It's not going anywhere. But God has established
1:52
S1: the banks to the river. And so we identified that
1:56
S1: that that really, really the two banks of the river
2:00
S1: is the great commandment. Those who love God passionately and
2:04
S1: love others unconditionally. And the Great Commission to make disciples
2:09
S1: of Jesus who do that? Well, what does that mean? Well,
2:14
S1: the rest of the series, these four missions, four messages
2:17
S1: after that first message, we're talking about the four main tributaries,
2:21
S1: if you will, just to keep with the imagery here
2:23
S1: that flow into this river of our mission. The first
2:27
S1: one we began with last week was the Word of God,
2:30
S1: the Word of God, the Word of God. In fact,
2:33
S1: Jesus said as he described what making disciples was, was baptizing.
2:38
S1: Identification with Jesus and teaching them to observe all that
2:42
S1: I've commanded them. What I tried to underscore last week,
2:45
S1: and this is very important for us to nail down.
2:48
S1: What I try to underscore last week is that followers
2:50
S1: of Jesus are not those people who make occasional forays
2:54
S1: into the Scripture to get something that they need when
2:57
S1: they're going through a hard time, but that we live
2:59
S1: under the canopy of the Word of God. In fact,
3:03
S1: in fact, in fact, living in the Word of God
3:07
S1: is what followers of Jesus do. That's who we are.
3:11
S1: That's what we do. And we accept it as God's voice.
3:17
S1: Not just words on a page, but it is the living,
3:20
S1: active voice of God. And so we need to love it.
3:23
S1: We need to learn it. We need to live it,
3:26
S1: and we need to share it. Those are the four
3:28
S1: big relationships we have with the Word of God. Now, today,
3:34
S1: we want to talk about living in biblical community, biblical community.
3:39
S1: I want to keep going back to something else that
3:41
S1: I've been saying repeatedly here. In order for us to
3:45
S1: have a healthy Christianity and a healthy church, we need
3:49
S1: to keep these three things in wonderful, dynamic tension. If
3:55
S1: they get out of tension or out of balance with
3:57
S1: one another, we're headed toward dysfunction. The first one is
4:01
S1: our personal relationship with Christ. That's foundational. The second one
4:06
S1: is living in dynamic community with one another. And the
4:10
S1: third one is aligning ourselves with cause and impact on
4:15
S1: the world in which we live. Any church that does
4:18
S1: not hold those three in dynamic tension, if they lean
4:22
S1: more toward personal relationship with Christ, you find isolated, disenfranchised
4:28
S1: people who share the gospel a lot, which is really wonderful.
4:32
S1: But if people all live and we just focus on community,
4:35
S1: what ends up happening down the road is this we
4:38
S1: become an excuse. The expression incestuous in our Christianity, ingrown
4:44
S1: and incestuous, and we get terribly secondary about issues. We
4:48
S1: become spiritual cul de sacs. Or if we go to
4:52
S1: the other way and all we do is outreach, outreach, outreach, outreach, outreach,
4:56
S1: we become terribly superficial. There's a lot going on, but
5:01
S1: there's little to deliver on that. And so as you
5:03
S1: see the church, the body of Christ, and what God
5:06
S1: is doing in and through the church, through the New
5:08
S1: Testament and through history, it's living with those three dynamic
5:13
S1: tensions that causes us to be healthy. And so we're
5:16
S1: talking about the second tension today, living in community, living
5:21
S1: in community with one another. And let me just summarize
5:24
S1: the entire message. And I promise you, I'm getting to
5:27
S1: chapter 12, and I'm not going to spend a whole
5:28
S1: lot of time on the five one another's there. But
5:31
S1: I do want to unpack them. But I want to
5:33
S1: set something up here. The summary of what I, I
5:36
S1: want to say today is this, and that is that
5:39
S1: we cannot be healthy Christians unless we live in community
5:43
S1: with one another. I know that we're all things individual,
5:47
S1: all things private, all things personal, all things mind, I
5:52
S1: get it. That's the moment in history in which we live.
5:54
S1: But the Bible clearly teaches, clearly teaches, not even subtly teachers,
6:01
S1: but overwhelmingly teaches that you cannot be a healthy Christian
6:06
S1: unless you live in community with one another. That's not
6:11
S1: a strategy. It's not a good idea. It is. It
6:15
S1: is a mandate in the scriptures. It is. What church is,
6:20
S1: is not mystical. It is not some sort of like,
6:23
S1: superficial spiritual relationship that we're to assume. It is real.
6:28
S1: It is real. When people come up to you and say,
6:31
S1: you know, I can go to church at home and
6:33
S1: watch it on TV. I'm attending church. No you're not.
6:38
S1: You can't go to church by listening to a message.
6:41
S1: You can't go to church by seeing a dude on television.
6:44
S1: You can't go to church by watching a DVD. You
6:48
S1: can't do that. You can get information. You can get
6:53
S1: some answers. You can understand the scriptures. You can do
6:56
S1: some Bible study, but you can't go to church unless.
7:02
S1: Now I do understand that sometimes in isolated situations and
7:05
S1: what have you, we're sick or whatever. You can't be there.
7:08
S1: But but but but the Bible commands us to not
7:11
S1: to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. And the reason
7:14
S1: for that, if you would study the one anothers in Scripture,
7:16
S1: is the reason for that, is that dynamic community was
7:20
S1: meant to be lived out in contact with flesh, eyes, heart, hands, feelings,
7:26
S1: to see, feel, experience. The smile, the greeting, the touch,
7:32
S1: the love of the Lord Jesus. And it's that sense
7:37
S1: of spiritual, physical drafting that brings profound encouragement to our souls.
7:44
S1: So be done with the superficial statements that I can
7:47
S1: go to church by sitting at home. No, you can't,
7:50
S1: because you're not in physical contact, breathing contact with the
7:56
S1: peoples of God. To put it another way, you can't
7:59
S1: keep a fire burning with one log. We need each
8:05
S1: other to stay bright and to keep burning. The Bible
8:11
S1: clearly teaches that strength and encouragement is found in relationship. Yes,
8:18
S1: Jesus is enough. Yes, God is enough. Yes, there are
8:21
S1: those moments where all you have is him. But God intended,
8:26
S1: as we'll see later on, for us to have our
8:28
S1: sanctification needs met in community with one another. You cannot
8:34
S1: be whole unless you're with one another. He wants us
8:39
S1: to feel the encouragement of the Lord Jesus as we
8:42
S1: look at someone who's weeping over my loss. We want
8:47
S1: to feel the encouragement of the Lord Jesus. When somebody
8:50
S1: else is quoting a Bible verse that I know, but
8:53
S1: it's coming from their mouth to my heart. And so we, we, we,
8:58
S1: we get strength from one another. Balance and perspective is
9:03
S1: found in community. Christians who are not living in community
9:07
S1: with one another tend to have distorted thinking. Let me explain.
9:13
S1: I just want to be vulnerable with you. Most of
9:15
S1: you probably don't realize. Most of you would assume that
9:18
S1: I am an extrovert. Actually, that's not true. I am
9:24
S1: an introvert. Now get this. Who loves people? It's true.
9:28
S1: That's what I am. A little bit weird. And that's
9:30
S1: not all that weird. There's a number of guys, by
9:32
S1: the way, in ministry who happen to have that profile.
9:34
S1: I'm an introvert who loves people, and the classic definition
9:38
S1: of introvert is this, uh, in the classic sense, I'm
9:42
S1: an introvert that loves people. Meaning? Meaning, I mean, people
9:45
S1: are not draining to me necessarily. I mean, to be
9:48
S1: honest with you, everybody can get to that point at
9:50
S1: a certain point. Uh, they're not necessarily draining to me,
9:54
S1: but here in the classic sense, I don't get my
9:56
S1: energy by being around people. I get my energy by
10:01
S1: being alone, by thinking, by praying, by considering things, by reading.
10:09
S1: I don't have to have a lot of people around
10:12
S1: me for me to feel good. I can do a
10:14
S1: lot of things by myself and feel great. That's I don't,
10:20
S1: you know, I don't have to have a crowd for
10:23
S1: me to feel comfortable. In fact, they get in my way.
10:28
S1: But one of the things I've had to learn. So
10:30
S1: you got to know that God's my bent are not
10:33
S1: naturally drawn toward groups. I that's not my natural bent.
10:41
S1: I'm not naturally drawn towards small groups. I'm not naturally.
10:45
S1: Now I am drawn toward groups of people that I
10:47
S1: know very well. That's really. But I'm not naturally drawn
10:50
S1: that way. But I have learned through the years I
10:53
S1: gotta do what I'm not meant to do in order
10:56
S1: for me to be healthy. Some of you, some of you,
10:59
S1: need to step out of your immaturity and quit defining
11:03
S1: everything growth based upon what you want to do. You're
11:08
S1: not going to grow if you just keep doing things
11:10
S1: that you want to do or that you're meant to do.
11:13
S1: You got to step out of your comfort zone and
11:16
S1: do the things that you're not meant to do, but
11:19
S1: that's necessary. I've learned in my journey that I need
11:23
S1: to get out of that study, get out of that book,
11:27
S1: and run toward a group of people who love me.
11:30
S1: And that's what the Bible is talking about. So this
11:33
S1: is not advertising for our small groups, mind you. This
11:36
S1: is talking about the theology of community in the scriptures. Now,
11:39
S1: hopefully there won't be a single person in this church
11:42
S1: that's not a member of a small group. Not because
11:45
S1: we're counting numbers in our small group, but because we
11:48
S1: need everybody to be cared for. Forget the tad bit
11:52
S1: of negative overtone here. But what we ought to be
11:56
S1: careful of and pay attention to before we get involved
12:01
S1: with groups, I want to give you five big warning
12:06
S1: signs to be careful of. And these things have. Yes,
12:11
S1: I've had some experience with these five things, five things.
12:14
S1: And I'm sure that there are many more. But five
12:15
S1: things to watch out for. Number one is this. Be
12:20
S1: careful of groups that focus on. Out of balance truths
12:25
S1: out of balance. Truths. What do you mean by that?
12:28
S1: I mean that, you know, the truth that they're teaching
12:32
S1: is true, but they're constantly teaching that truth. Be very
12:38
S1: careful of that. If you've been in group for a
12:41
S1: while and all you're doing is talking about identity in Christ,
12:43
S1: identity in Christ, identity in Christ, identity in Christ, identity.
12:46
S1: Christ is true. It is powerful. And I would even
12:49
S1: say that's fundamental. I'm just using that as an illustration.
12:51
S1: Or you're in a group that all they're talking about
12:53
S1: is the filling of the spirit. The filling of the
12:54
S1: spirit is filling of the spirit, the filling of the spirit.
12:56
S1: That is true. But if that's all you're talking about forever,
12:59
S1: are you are you talking about Prophecy, prophecy, prophecy, prophecy.
13:01
S1: What ends up happening is that truth gets out of
13:04
S1: balance and pretty soon it becomes distorted and it becomes
13:07
S1: fertilizer for error. So I would I would warn you
13:11
S1: to be careful of staying in groups, staying in groups
13:17
S1: that have become a tad bit, um, uh, imbalanced when
13:21
S1: it comes to certain truths. Number two, be careful and
13:26
S1: watch out for groups that demean others and, err, gossip
13:29
S1: in the name of sharing and transparency. Watch that, watch that. Um,
13:38
S1: and I'm going to go there with, with this, um,
13:41
S1: there's some folks who have been so wounded hear me
13:45
S1: on this and I'm, I'm really nervous because I want
13:47
S1: to say this right. There have been some people who
13:49
S1: have been so wounded, so wounded, that they get together
13:57
S1: with other people and they share their wounds, they share
14:02
S1: their wounds, and they think and they think that transparency
14:07
S1: is everyone recycling the pain and the wounds in their lives.
14:15
S1: That's unhealthy. Now I need a whole attention here. We
14:18
S1: are members, one of another, and we should be in
14:21
S1: groups where we can share our hearts and share our struggles.
14:24
S1: But sanctification means that we don't keep rehearsing the wounds.
14:28
S1: We move toward wholeness. We move toward health. We move
14:34
S1: toward overcoming. We move toward victory. So be careful of
14:39
S1: dominant personalities and people who have issues and they they
14:44
S1: interpret sharing as me. Having let you know how everybody
14:50
S1: has hurt me and who hurt me and who wounded me.
14:55
S1: But you keep taking laps around that same mountain. People
15:01
S1: who are drawn to these groups. Often they're looking for attention,
15:05
S1: but not a community. They're looking for attention, but they're
15:10
S1: not looking for community. And you must distinguish between the two.
15:14
S1: The inordinate looking for attention means that there's some stuff
15:17
S1: that needs to be dealt with that's not healthy. Thirdly,
15:22
S1: be careful of groups that are exclusive and unwelcoming. Now,
15:27
S1: this is a little hard because we've got to be careful.
15:29
S1: I mean, I don't think there's anything wrong. You know,
15:32
S1: we will have groups probably in our community where we live.
15:35
S1: We might reflect the same socioeconomic demographic or people that
15:39
S1: work the same, or we have our kids are maybe
15:41
S1: at the same season of life or, or this kind
15:44
S1: of thing or, or so I'm not talking about just
15:47
S1: because your group reflects a certain dynamic or a certain,
15:50
S1: or even even the fact that you've known each other
15:52
S1: for a long time. I'm saying something more. I'm saying
15:56
S1: something more. Be careful of a spirit of exclusivity. Remember,
16:03
S1: your small group is not a fraternity or sorority. Your
16:09
S1: small group is a visible representation of the heart of
16:12
S1: God and the church of the Living God. In the
16:16
S1: context of human history. And it must not be a limiter.
16:21
S1: There should be compassion. There should be love. There should
16:25
S1: be an environment in which we. We are welcoming. And yes,
16:28
S1: I mean, even though, you know, if we had a
16:30
S1: small group in our neighborhood, it would look like our
16:33
S1: middle class neighborhood. That's fine. But always have a gut
16:39
S1: check about your attitude and about exclusivity. You don't want
16:45
S1: to communicate that to people that you're not welcome because
16:48
S1: you ain't like us. We're going to see that a
16:49
S1: little more later. Number four, be careful of groups that
16:53
S1: focus on the leader's platform and gifts. Now, this is
16:57
S1: this a little tricky? Those of us who have strong
17:02
S1: passions and we are. We have leadership gifts. I'm I'm
17:06
S1: I'm talking to leaders here this morning. Those of us
17:08
S1: who teach Bible studies, we've got leadership gifts. There is
17:11
S1: an Achilles heel that we have. We need to be
17:15
S1: careful that we don't have a group just to shop
17:18
S1: and showcase our abilities or our knowledge of a certain content.
17:23
S1: That's not the reason for the group. The reason for
17:26
S1: the group is not so that you know what my
17:28
S1: passions are. And you know what I know about the subject.
17:31
S1: There's a little bit of a of a perspective here.
17:35
S1: The reason for the group is not for you to
17:38
S1: recognize me. The reason for the group is for me
17:41
S1: to help you to be everything that Jesus wants you
17:44
S1: to be. The leader is the servant. He is not
17:49
S1: the center of attention. Did you hear what I said?
17:54
S1: The leader in the group is a servant. He's not
17:57
S1: the center of attention. And then finally, be careful of
18:02
S1: groups that are not transparent and accountable to the leadership
18:06
S1: of the church. Now, I think I can say this
18:09
S1: with some credibility because anybody that knows me is that,
18:12
S1: you know, I've got a number of issues, a number
18:15
S1: of problems. I have another struggles. And I, I have
18:18
S1: my own areas of insecurity just like anybody else does.
18:23
S1: But I have zero threat about anybody having any group
18:27
S1: in this church, zero threat. In fact, we talk about
18:30
S1: that as elders that really, you know, part of the
18:33
S1: price that you have to pay for empowering, releasing people,
18:35
S1: sometimes it's going to get messy and this kind of thing.
18:37
S1: So I'm no high control freak when it comes to that.
18:40
S1: And I don't like permission environments. I want people, people
18:45
S1: to be free to do what God's called them to
18:47
S1: do and that kind of thing. But here's, here's, here's
18:50
S1: a sin issue, though. Sin issue. If there is a
18:55
S1: group that has an agenda that they don't want the
18:59
S1: leadership of the church to know about. Don't you come
19:02
S1: close to that group. God does not bless hidden agendas.
19:10
S1: God does not bless indirect routes. What we do has
19:17
S1: to be on the table. If you don't like something
19:21
S1: that's going on here, join the club. I don't like
19:23
S1: some of the stuff that's going on here. Let's talk
19:24
S1: about it. Put it on the table. But let's not
19:26
S1: do our little alternative to it. And and only give 60%
19:30
S1: of the information while we go off and do our
19:32
S1: own thing. Now we call that church plants. You'll get
19:36
S1: that a little later on. Healthy groups should be marked
19:41
S1: by love, truth, transparency, honesty, sincerity. And here's the one
19:49
S1: voluntary accountability. Be careful of any group that's asking you
19:56
S1: to disclose your heart under pressure. Now we should be
20:02
S1: open and transparent. But if somebody asked me if I
20:06
S1: walk into a group, I've been here for three weeks. Crawford,
20:08
S1: tell me about all the deep failures and struggles of
20:10
S1: sin that you have underneath your heart. I'd say, no,
20:12
S1: that's none of your business. Now, if I know you
20:17
S1: and love you, and we've developed that relationship, and I
20:20
S1: don't feel the pressure to do that, I probably will
20:25
S1: remember that all accountability biblically is voluntary. And so be
20:31
S1: careful of strong leaders that want to demand. We call
20:34
S1: that cults. All right. I probably have over communicated, as
20:41
S1: my kids would say when I was growing. They're growing
20:43
S1: up biblical community. Community is what we do and it's
20:48
S1: who we are. Biblical community is what we do and
20:54
S1: who we are. The word community literally means sharing that
21:00
S1: which we have in common come unity. Sharing that which
21:06
S1: we have in common. The strong biblical word for that
21:09
S1: is that that that that John unpacks in first John
21:12
S1: is the word fellowship. It is koinonia. We have trivialized
21:16
S1: that word, we have hijacked it, and we have taken
21:19
S1: all the intentionality out of the word because we call
21:22
S1: Christians getting together this afternoon, having some sandwiches and watching
21:26
S1: the Falcons play. Boy, we had great fellowship. No you didn't.
21:29
S1: You just had some Christians together watching the Falcons. The
21:32
S1: word koinonia is a very specific term in the scriptures.
21:36
S1: It means sharing that which we have in common around
21:40
S1: the person and life of the Lord Jesus in such
21:42
S1: a way that it makes us more like him. That's fellowship.
21:47
S1: That's fellowship. And so when we talk about community, it
21:52
S1: is not just us liking one another. It's not just
21:55
S1: us talking about issues. It's not just us doing life together.
22:00
S1: The focus of our community is the life of Jesus.
22:04
S1: I could bottom line this by saying that the focus
22:06
S1: of every small group should be the same focus that
22:09
S1: Jesus had with his small group. You know what that is?
22:13
S1: Making disciples. And so the focus of every small group
22:17
S1: should be the same focus that Jesus had. We want
22:21
S1: you to be like Jesus Crawford, not like not like
22:24
S1: Crawford with his viewpoints. I want you to be like Jesus.
22:31
S2: Doctor Crawford, laureates here on Living a Legacy. Our current
22:35
S2: series is titled the DNA of the church. In today's message,
22:39
S2: Crawford described that DNA as four tributaries that flow into
22:43
S2: the river of the local church. Now, last week, we
22:46
S2: examined the tributary of a regular diet of God's Word
22:49
S2: and today the tributary of biblical community. Next week, we'll
22:53
S2: hear the second half of this message, which we'll look
22:56
S2: at the one anothers of Romans chapter 12 and these
22:59
S2: one anothers have to do with how biblical community can
23:02
S2: challenge us to be more like Jesus Christ. I hope
23:04
S2: you'll join us once again right here. If you missed
23:07
S2: out on parts of today's message, you can hear all
23:09
S2: of it online at living a legacy.org. Living a legacy.org.
23:15
S2: Listen on your computer or smartphone. Your emails are a
23:19
S2: great source of encouragement for all of us at Living
23:21
S2: a Legacy. Please take just a few moments to get
23:23
S2: in touch with us and let us know you're listening.
23:25
S2: It's so easy to forget to do after the program
23:28
S2: is done, so make a quick note to yourself to
23:30
S2: send an email this week. Connect through our website. Living
23:33
S2: a legacy.org. Look for the contact link there. Living a
23:38
S2: legacy.org for Crawford. Lawrence. I'm Bill Davis. Thank you for listening.
23:44
S2: Living a legacy is a production of Moody Radio.