Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / August 4, 2024 | The Good Life - A Shared Life

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August 4, 2024 | The Good Life - A Shared Life · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Good morning.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Good to be with you.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Starting a new series this morning.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's called The Good Life.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: And for this morning and the three weeks after, we're going to be looking at basically places where our lives are sort of being pulled in a direction that needs a little bit of correction.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: And you might be familiar with the so many different versions, but the story there are two fish swimming in the ocean, and one of the fish says to the other one, he goes, You'll never believe it, but they pulled me out of the water and I made it back.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: And the other fish says, What is water?
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's not even that funny, but it is the the point, the point that it sort of presents is that uh oftentimes we don't always know the influences around us and how they can be shaping us and molding us.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: And uh really the good life in particular is looking at how uh like our US culture is drawing us in certain directions uh where we need correction so that we can more um fully live out the gospel that God has called us to.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to be clear, some of the things that we'll talk about are just not good.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they're not good influences, and then some of them are sort of neutral.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's just sort of the way things are, and that's the one that this morning kind of falls into.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, as a nation in the U.S., we are really focused on the individual instead of kind of the whole, the collective, the community.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: This this comes across in so many different ways, but you've probably seen it just in the last few weeks on Olympics coverage, right?
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like we are, yes, we are USA USA, but you know, I was watching the news and um the Simone Biles had done her like whatever, triple axle kick flip, 1080 thing that she got all the points for.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: And um the whole coverage was about her winning the gold medal.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: I think it was in the vault or something like that.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: And like the ticker tape at the bottom was the U.S.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: women's gymnastic teams wins all-around gold medal.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like the the sort of representative of the whole, it was we were more interested in a generational talent, but nevertheless the individual instead of the group.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so, again, it's not necessarily that that is bad, but rather we recognize that that is how um, in many ways, our nation thinks of itself is individually.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: And this is true in our founding documents, which are sort of baked into it.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we wanted to protect individual liberties and individual rights, and much of that is fantastic.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but as you sort of continue with that identity, um, and you continue to think more as an individual rather than as a group or as a family or as a community or neighborhood, um, when you think about the future, most of the time we are thinking about our desires and ambitions rather than those around us.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, we it's not just the Olympics, in a lot of areas of life.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: It could be business, sports, social movements, uh, churches, we are much more like to lift up an individual as kind of like the example of success rather than lift up the whole group.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: So all of that comes together, and we say, well, then how does that affect our faith in God?
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: Because it would be silly to think that growing and living in a certain culture hasn't shaped the way that we view the Lord.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's just a natural part of these things.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: And the difference is whether we're the fish that knew it was in the water or the fish that uh didn't.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so when we look at Christianity, one easy example to talk about would be uh here in the U.S., Western Christianity in general, but here in the U.S., we have a fascination with a personal relationship with Christ, individual decisions, and uh uh individual salvation.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not to say that the rest of the world like doesn't care what you each individual has, whether they've trusted in Christ or not, but so often that is the way that we think about our faith in God is I have a relationship with God.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: Not as often do we think about how that relationship is supposed to be in context with a community of believers.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, one of the things we're going to look at is why the good life is the shared life this morning.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: It is that the Lone Ranger Christian is actually an unhealthy outcome of kind of U.S.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: and American Christianity.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Rather, that the healthiest expression of living out the gospel in this area is that we are individuals living within a shared community of faith that we draw strength from and we pour back into.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: And that has been the case since the very beginning.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Our first text this morning is Acts chapter 2.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: And this is this is uh Christ has died, he has resurrected, he has ascended, and now the early church in Jerusalem is trying to figure out what to do.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: Thousands of people are coming to faith at a time.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: It is exploding in growth, but they are a movement of uh, it's not even church as we would conceive of it today, because everybody is meeting in the other one's homes.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: And they are um gathering together at the temple in Jerusalem for teaching.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: This is before everybody is being persecuted.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so they're experiencing this life of faith that is new for them.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: And it's always good to look at what when at the very beginning, at sort of like year zero for the Christian church, um, what were they doing in these early places?
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: How were they living?
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: It says they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Now all the believers were together and held all things in common.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all as any had need.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple and broke bread from house to house.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: So, from the beginning of the Christian faith in Jerusalem, fellowship with other believers has always been a necessary and critical part of having a healthy church.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: The first sentence in this passage, there are four things listed, but in the Greek they break up into two groups of two.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: The first two, uh the apostles' teaching, which would be discovering the word of God, and to the fellowship, which would be connecting with God's people, those things are the primary activity.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: The second two, breaking of bread and prayer, describe what fellowship looks like.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Though all of these things are activities of the church, the two main functions from the very beginning has been discovering God's Word and connecting with God's people.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: And that is how a healthy church, the healthy church began, and what we have always been trying to maintain.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, in this passage, the it mentions four different times that those believers in Jerusalem were together, spending time together in fellowship, in each other's homes, breaking bread, which would have been both having meals with each other, and then normally using the elements of that meal to then uh perform the Lord's Supper together.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: They didn't do it just once a month like we will be doing today.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: But nevertheless, I want you to see in this passage that being a part of a fellowship of believers, which for our purposes is basically what we're saying is church, um, but being together in that faith community is not a ministry tactic.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: It is not something to try and grow a church in and of itself.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: It is not something that some strategy used to bring about some whatever.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like, this has just been part of what living the Christian life has looked like from the very beginning.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: We discover God's word, we connect with God's people, and we do both of those things at the same time.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: So you can already begin to see how in many cases our connection with a faith community is seen as far less important than just hearing and discovering about the word of God.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact, we often think the strength of our individual relationship with God then is used to pour into a church.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: And rather, what we see in the early church in Acts is that a shared community of faith was then what poured into and strengthened the individual relationship with God.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's not necessarily chicken and egg that we can't tell which one should come first.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: Rather, it is that there is a shared fellowship which then strengthens and emboldens the individuals to go and carry out God's will to the best of their abilities.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason why this has always been the model is because individuals living and breathing within a shared community of faith represents and reflects the body of Christ himself, and in fact the gospel.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: First Corinthians twelve.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: For just as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many, are one body, so also is Christ.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: For we were all baptized by one spirit into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all given one spirit to drink.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: Indeed, the body is not one part but many.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: If you're following along in your Bible, then we'll skip down to verse twenty four.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the less honorable, so that there would be no division in the body, but that the members would have the same concern for each other.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: So if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: If one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Now you are the body of Christ and individual members of it.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so as Paul is talking here about the uh the body of Christ, he pulls out two different things, right?
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: He is pulling out the individual and the community aspect.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: And what he is saying through this passage is that they are not in opposition to each other, but rather that they work together.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of times when we think of um sort of the uh uh well, a lot of times we think we say, I'm an introvert or I'm an extrovert, right?
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: I need to be with people or I need to be by myself.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a way of thinking when it comes to the individual and the shared life that puts it, individual and shared, on a spectrum.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: So as much to say that, well, if you're telling me that I should go and be a part of a community, that means that I'm less of an individual.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm taking away sort of what whether it's my time by myself or what makes me unique or distinctive as an individual, part of my identity.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like the more you're telling me to draw into this life with other people, the less I'm able to be myself.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: And what we see in the body of Christ is rather instead we are all part of a big shared group, and then the individual is within it.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so we are all uh sort of individuals having a unique, special, God-ordained identity that are working together and living together and supporting one another such that the shared group is an expression of our individual identities.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, and another way you could say is then what we see within this shared identity are all of these other individuals who are with us.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's not that we take one away to do the other.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: Rather, the uh body of Christ needs diversity, it needs different skills, backgrounds, personalities in order to be healthy.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: And Christ's church body is healthy when our individual identity is expressed within a shared community, not outside of it.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: So, therefore, we get back to the image of the body, and there are all the parts of the body that are kind of funny to hear Paul talk about.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, There are ears, there are noses, there are eyes, there are toes and fingers and all these things, and he's like, and we are all different.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so he affirms, again, the fact that God has, you know, God knitted us together, and our mother's womb.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like, God has made us individually with unique skills and backgrounds and personalities, but that we find the greatest fulfillment when we then use that, leverage that for his kingdom.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so, as we're doing that, we support the mission itself.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: We have roles in the church that are more forward-facing, like what I'm doing right now.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: And some of you are like, my greatest nightmare is going and talking in front of a bunch of people.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, okay, well, I do that for right now.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: And then you have people who are across the street who are working in our children's ministry over in the cab, and they are, or a nursery, or any one of the other things, they they enjoy more of a background role.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like both of these things are needed for the expression of God's kingdom here in the church.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then we see beyond this, and beyond, you know, who is serving in what capacity, it is not just that we are sort of giving our time and our talents, but also that as individuals, we are unified on a mission.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so you have to see that it rises above just service opportunities, though that's a part of it, but it goes above that and it says we're all pointing towards the same thing.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to think of, if you've ever seen a nature documentary and you have a school of fish, right?
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: And and like each individual within that school, and you'll see a shark come for it, and a hole will open up, and the shark will pass right through, and then it'll close.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, okay, well, obviously, all of these fish are individual fish.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yet it seems like there's this uncanny ability that God has designed them with to be able to move as what seems like an entire uh unit, and yet we know that it is made up of many parts.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: I think this is a good image that nature has given to us.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you can think also of the birds in the sky when you see, you know, thousands, tens of thousands of birds, um, that sometimes it can seem like a dark cloud is moving towards you, and you can see these shapes forming.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: They're one.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: I think this is actually a good representation of the body of Christ.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um if your mindset is overly focused on the individual aspect, then what ends up happening is you just see church as a place to go, maybe say hi to some people and leave.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: You see it as a place where you come and maybe sing and listen to a message and then disengage.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: That is a very individual expression of our Christian faith.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: But instead, what we should be is a united group of people that are all pushing forward towards one mission, which is leading people to life in Christ.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: And we do it not by all, now, on the other hand, you can't go to the furthest end of the other extreme and say it's not that we all look the exact same or all have the exact same role or function, because we need that diversity and individual personality within our body to be able to be healthy.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's when we balance these two things together, Christ's church thrives, right?
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so, again, as the good life is just rebalancing us, we're saying, you know, maybe in the U.S.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: we might be a little bit too focused on the individual and not what can be accomplished with the group.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: What can be done there and how God has designed the church to be the body of Christ.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: Our third and final passage we're looking at this morning is that in order to be that beautiful image, it takes effort and intention.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: Hebrews 10 says, Let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other and all the more as you see the day approaching.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: So you might have seen this passage before, and in fact, we used it a couple months ago, one of many, many passages, uh, when we introduced the church covenant as part of our membership process.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: And we used this as a way to describe what we believe is God's design for a healthy community of believers, and furthermore, what it means to commit to that healthy group of believers.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um but I want you to see in this passage, which is sometimes sometimes used a little bit like a hammer, you know, go to church, go to church.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to see the why that's presented in this passage.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Hebrews 10, it talks about uh what is now expected of us as we live in freedom in Christ.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: And what it says here is that we have a responsibility to one another to consider and encourage each other.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: And it is impossible to do that in the way that God has designed if we are separated, right?
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I know that social media and kind of modern technology has made it so that we see shortcuts to communication through every single relationship, right?
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's so easy, easier than it has ever been before in history to be connected with people uh that we are just acquainted with in our life, right?
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: The the number of people that we have who we know through, if you're into technology, social media, those kinds of things like followers and and friends.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: But like how many of them would you say hi to at Walmart, right?
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's definitely not the full number.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so we also understand that social media and and everything about it, even just texting, is an approximation of what true uh community and love and connection is supposed to look like.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: It is sort of the the the uh lesser version of the greater, which is that there is nothing which compares to eye contact, a hug, a handshake, listening to somebody for five or fifty minutes because it turns out that their life is unraveling.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like there is nothing that compares to human-to-human connection in person.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: This is why we know there has been so much fallout from when everybody had to be separated for like a year and a half during COVID.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: And we said, setting aside everything, right, just the fact that we couldn't be with other people hurt us and harmed us, and it and it was very revealing that it turns out social media and email and texting doesn't make up for what personal connection does.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: So my point being that when we say that God has called us to encourage one another, and then the other side of that coin is to be encouraged by those around us, that it is not possible for us to carry out that God's will in that way if we are separated from the body.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: It just doesn't work the same.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, as a side note, though, it is not legalism to say that you should be going to church, right?
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: Legalism would be if it was like you've missed church, so you can't come to church, or you've uh weren't with us last week because you're on vacation, and so you need to do, you know, like 50 push-ups or something of that sort.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like that legalism is when we attach extra and extraneous things onto the life of Christ that God has called us to, and then are basically judging somebody's ability to be a good or bad Christian based upon these things.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: You are lesser or you are greater, you don't have the freedom in Christ.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: However, it is not legalism to say that we should do the things that God tells us to do in his word, one of which being, in this case, that you should not make a habit of your absences.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so here's where I take just a little detour to talk for a second about live streaming.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: Listen, live streaming is a great tool.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: And we have people watching from a fire stations, we have people who are on vacation right now, we have people who physically cannot make it to church because they are sick or they are injured or they maybe don't even have transportation.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like, there are a number of ways in which live streaming, the video, like it enhances the ministry of the church because of what it is able to accomplish.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: In many ways, it is a good thing.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: But like most of technology, it has a dark side.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: And that dark side is that it can become a crutch, it can enable the exact thing that Hebrews 10 is telling us we should avoid, which is that we would make a habit of our absences.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact, that if somebody is just using sort of the video to stay at home and their PJs all the time, and never wanting to really go and do the things that are required to be in a healthy community, but rather, again, just kind of seeing church as we're seeing what I'm saying.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: As just all that they need to be a healthy Christian, right?
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: That I just need to hear the message.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: I just need to kind of do my devotional, and then I can continue.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I have my personal relationship with God.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: I pray to Him.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, man, we are missing out.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to be healthy.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to have a full life in Christ.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: And in order to have that full life in Christ, you have to understand that it's not the individual, it is the shared that is necessary.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: Or in fact, that we need both of them together, right?
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: So often we just pick one.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so when we get to this final passage here, kind of rounds out a couple of points we were making.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: I'd love to summarize those points briefly, and then I have actually kind of a longer, what I hope is a practical section for take-home points, application.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: So, oh.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: Forgot that one.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: This is gonna be good.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: Let's back up like two minutes, okay?
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: This is gonna, it works out so well.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: In order to be healthy, you need to do the things that God has called you to do.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: And if you are um thinking that you can not be a part of a shared community and still be healthy, it reminds me of the exercise advice given out in the 1950s, which made us look very silly, and then you realize that it was handed out by a cigarette company.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: I promised that hit better during the first service when people hadn't seen it yet.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: But my point is, right, you get this.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's like to think that we can be as healthy as God wants us to be without doing the things that God has called us to do is like thinking we can smoke two packs a day and do knee lifting and trunk bending, and we are going to be healthy and vibrant, right?
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's missing the point here.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's what all this was about.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, uh, let's go ahead and recap a couple points.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, a healthy worship of God has always involved a healthy church community or faith community from Jerusalem to Topeka.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: This is true actually, even before the church of uh the Christian church, when we look in the Old Testament, I mean, all of the expression of faith was done in community.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: But in particular to our case, in the New Testament, under the New Covenant of Christ, from the very beginning, it has been discovering God's word and connecting with God's people.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: This has been how we are supposed to live.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact, if we want to be healthiest, we'll do these things.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: Second, Christ's church body is strongest when our individual identity is expressed within a shared community, right?
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: So the body is strongest when both the whole and the parts are understood.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact, how every single part is necessary for the whole to function well.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: We are to both be individuals within a shared community.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: And third and finally, we cannot accomplish the will of God to care and encourage one another when we are separated.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: We can approximate these things, but they ultimately do not come to the level, like I cannot hand out a casserole through a screen, right?
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so the need for connection and impersonal connection is critical, right?
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: We cannot live streaming, watching it online does not, it's great for vacation, right?
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's great if you have to work.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: It is not great for a lifetime of following after Christ.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: So a couple points that I think, bless you, are going to be really helpful.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: Find a healthy church community and stick to it.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: For the sake of your personal faith and obedience to God, if you are physically able to attend a church, you should find a church that teaches the Bible and commit to it.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, anybody who has come to our pizza with a pastor, which is our kind of like newcomer event, um, knows that I have said the exact same thing.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: That, you know, my, right, I'm a bit of a homer here.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: I think that TBC is a great place to live out your faith in Christ and to grow closer to him.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: But my greater concern is that you, as an individual, as a family, perhaps find the community of faith where you can invest most deeply.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: As long as it is a church that is teaching the Bible, right?
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: We're all we're all on the same team.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so you need to be able to find a place where you can live out that individual identity within a shared community.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: But you also need to commit to it, right?
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so what that looks like is, you know, here at our church, we we are a bigger church, and so it takes a little bit more effort for you to find that community than just coming in and leaving.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know, when I when I was growing up, um, before I came to TBC, I went to Shawnee Heinz United Methodist, and uh before later on in life, you know, my first church job, I was at a church down in Texas, and both of those congregations were under a hundred people.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_00: Going there for a couple years, it's not difficult to just like by virtue of bumping into them, get to know every single person in the church.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: That doesn't happen here, right?
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so what it takes is you kind of go in one step or maybe four steps deeper to intentionally find that community.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of options.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: You can be in a small group, you can volunteer, you can be in one of our support groups.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: It would be like Grief Share or Divorce Care or Caregiver Support Group.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you can be in one of the many Sunday school classes.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: We have some more coming up this fall.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, be in a Bible study.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: You can invite people into your home, you can be in a prayer group.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like, there's so many different examples of these things.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, they're really not that hard to think of.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but instead, you need to sort of take that extra step to either talk with somebody at guest services, somebody on staff, or go to our website and click on the big button that says, you know, connect.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we need to take the extra step to do these things because even if you're coming to church and you're here physically at TBC, if you are not taking that next step to develop relationships and build that community, it is probably not going to happen naturally.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: It is we are large enough that we can be sort of ships passing in the night.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: And furthermore, for your health, you need to find that group of people so you can live out all of the things that God has designed you to do.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: So if we are church hopping or coming once a month or watching online for convenience, it is not just hurting TBC's ability to grow a strong community.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: It is hurting your ability to grow closer to Christ as well.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, live out your individual calling within the church community.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I've said this.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: God has uniquely gifted you with a background, skills, and a personality that has a home in the body of Christ.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: Now, as Paul says, some are toes, some are fingers, some are ears, right?
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: We've probably got a belly button somewhere around here.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: But nevertheless, you are an individual within a shared community.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so there are, you have a responsibility, right?
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: A call upon your life to sort of engage in that community in a way that respects the identity that God has uniquely gifted you.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: The personalities, the gifts.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: So we do.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: We have, you know, we have school teachers, bus drivers, insurance agents, financial advisors, we have social workers and retired electricians and stay-at-home moms, and so many people who are coming together and furthering the mission of the church because God has uniquely given them these abilities.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's fulfilling for them, it's fulfilling for the mission that we are on here.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think some good questions if you're not in that space is to say, what do you enjoy doing?
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: What skills do you bring to the table?
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: Where are your passions?
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: How can your story help someone else grow?
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: Where is God wanting you to grow?
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but having said that, there is still an element, right, of individual expression that is then balanced by the whole.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: So if you came and you said, you know, I have a real, I feel like God is calling me.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: I want to use pigs as support animals, and I want to be able to provide counseling through that, I'd say, we don't, we don't have a ministry for that, you know?
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's not really something that we provide.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_00: So there is still an element where these two things meet.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: It is, how has God made you?
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: What has He made the church to do?
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: How can those things work together?
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're somebody who maybe isn't very passionate about that, you say, you know, I mean, when I think about all the things that I want to do, I don't really feel that convicted.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: I don't really feel pushed, I don't really feel drawn towards connecting in that way.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: And say, well, maybe it's because you're not close enough to the action, you know?
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's because you you're not seeing, you're not close enough to be able to see how God is moving and changing lives and not just through salvation, but sanctification and grace and mercy and just connection, encouragement, all these wonderful things that God is doing through our church, but through many others.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're just not close enough to the action to be able to understand why it's so important.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe the next step is actually getting off the sidelines and onto the field so that you can see how God might use you in amazing ways.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: Third and finally, it's that we are to encourage one another and be encouraged by others.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, without a doubt, one of the main purposes for living out the gospel in a faith community is that we might develop a righteous attitude through service to others.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_00: The Christian identity is one which is um selfless to the point of the cross.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_00: This is actually will be another good life message that we'll talk about later.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but ultimately the attitudes of encouragement that Hebrews 10 had talked about are things that require us to sort of give of ourselves to other people for their betterment, but also, again, because we're talking about the group for the entire church's betterment as well.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: When you and I act as God has called us to, it helps the individual and it helps the group.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_00: And okay, I mean there's another whole list here of things that you can do to encourage.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: You can give a kind word, deliver a meal to a couple with a newborn, write a letter to someone who's sick or lost a loved one, spend extra time in the lobbies looking for those not in conversation already, preferably after the service is over, not before the service.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: Greet new people at the church, intentionally make new relationships, affirm those who are serving in volunteer roles, follow up with people who are struggling or absent, lift one another up in prayer, and on and on, right?
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: The ways in which we can be an encouragement to others are nearly endless, but we have been called to have basically an endless supply of encouragement for those around us.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, there is there is another side to this, which is that part of your the will of God is that you individually would be encouraged by others in the church.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: And that actually this is one of the hardest things for some of us to find.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: And you'd say, well, that sounds weird because I think just about everybody likes encouragement.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, but there are a couple problems with finding it.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're somebody who feels like you are maybe not being encouraged by the body enough, here are a couple things to sort of poke and prod with.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, first, some of you either feel, and I know this because I've talked with so many who say this, some of you either feel like you don't deserve encouragement or you actively push it away.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: You would say things like, um, my problem is not as big as their problem, my disease isn't as advanced as theirs, my prayer request isn't as important, and so on.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_00: We basically play this comparison game, and there's always somebody who is going through a worse time than you are, mostly.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh there is a possibility that we can be pushing back when people try and just bring that love and encouragement to us and say, no, no, no, no.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: But what happens when you do that, you know, is you're you're taking away somebody's ability to be an encouragement to you.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: Why don't you see there's a give and a and a take here, and it's a two-way street, and as you are receiving in those seasons of life where you really need the encouragement from the body, you need to understand that other people have that responsibility to give it to you.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: You need to let them.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, though, if if you're feeling like maybe encouragement isn't coming through, are you here consistently enough to develop the relationships that bring encouragement?
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um there is a reason why when we were going up through school, uh we our friends just ended up being the people that we were uh with next to uh every day in and day out.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_00: There's a reason why we normally connect with people we work with, is because our consistency and connection with them naturally builds those relationships.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so sometimes someone might come to church and they you know they haven't been here for two or three months, and they'd say, Well, why you know why did nobody call me?
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_00: Why did nobody say that I was gone and want to know where I was?
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, did they have a reason to think that you should be here?
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_00: Did they have a reason to think that your absence was unusual?
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like, did they have, did they know what's going on in your life?
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like, have you been vulnerable enough in those relationships and consistent enough in them to uh be able to have other people come and say, hey, I missed you, I love you, what is going on?
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_00: This isn't always the case, but sometimes it is.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, that you cannot consistently expect support from a community when you're not giving it yourself.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: You can't, there are definitely seasons of life, right?
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_00: Ecclesiastes tells us this.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_00: There's a time for weeping and a time for mourning.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_00: There's a time for joy and there's a time for life, right?
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_00: There's a time for all of these things, and sometimes you are just going through it.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_00: And what you need is not to necessarily worry about baking the casserole, right?
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_00: But receiving it.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_00: That is part of what God has designed for this purpose as a comfort and a balm to what ails you in this moment.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_00: But if that is the lifetime expectation, right, that you will always be able to draw from the community and never pour back into it.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_00: Not only have you missed the point, right, but you're going to find that that's a very bitter end because you're going to see that people are not giving you the encouragement because they have never received it from you.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so we want to encourage one another and be encouraged by others with that final element being maybe a little bit requiring a little bit more intention than we expected.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_00: So, in sum, the good life, right, in this case is the shared life.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_00: The good life is not the individual Lone Ranger Christian just sort of blazing, you know, with a machete, just hatching their own trail through the jungle, right?
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_00: Rather, we are walking on a path that has been cleared by others.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_00: And that as we walk on that path together and support one another, we find not that our individual identity is suppressed, right?
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody's saying that you're not who you are, um, but we are called to live out that expression within the community of believers according to God's will.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_00: And as you're doing that, not only are you going to find that it is fulfilling because it is how God designed it to work, you're going to find it exciting because you're going to see God's plan and his mission moving forward with even greater urgency because we're accomplishing it the way that he has called us to.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, you're going to find a lot of joy because you're going to realize that what you have been, you have, Genesis says, it is not good for man to be alone.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_00: And if we are thinking that we can do this whole thing by ourselves, man, we're missing out.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_00: We're missing out.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_00: The church is missing out because you're being too much of an individual, and you're missing out because you are not receiving the community blessings that are part and parcel of that Christ-like gospel life.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_00: So a shared life is the good life.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I want you to see these things.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to know that it's been around and it's been this way since the very beginning.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to know that the greatest fulfillment is being an individual in a shared community.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I want you to know that you have a job to encourage one another and be encouraged.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_00: And if you do these things, you're going to find that it is a good life.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_00: Here in a moment, I'm going to pray, and then after that, we are going to take the elements together as a church.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_00: And what's really unique, you know, about this morning as we're going to take the Lord's table, for anybody who's trusted in Christ, you're invited to do that.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: Is that this is one of those things we saw back in Acts chapter 2 from the very beginning of the church.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things that united them, brought them together as a church community, showed that unity, right?
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_00: Was the fact that they were going to take the body and the blood of Christ as a symbol of their salvation and their hope for the future, right?
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_00: It was something done together as a united church, which was the shared, the unity, the connected community aspect.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_00: But in addition to that, it was also a reflection on how Christ has died for each one of you individually and me as well.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_00: You have trusted in Jesus as your Savior.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_00: You can take these elements here in a moment, and we'll celebrate together as a church.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, we come before you today.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_00: I thank you for the way that you have designed our lives to work.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, you made us to be relational beings.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_00: You made us to desire and find fulfillment in relationships.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_00: And God, you have for every person given us the opportunity to do that through the local church.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_00: God, it is not that being in pews and chairs is the only way to be in Christian community.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_00: But rather, Lord, that you have given churches a mission and a responsibility to carry out the Great Commission.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_00: And God, I pray that we would do it well.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_00: I pray that we would carry out your will to the best of our abilities, Lord, both in our individual lives and what it means to be a shared and united community focused on the purpose of the cross.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, as we take the elements of communion here in a moment, Lord, may me we may we remember what your blood and your body represent as our sacrifice and our forgiveness unto new life.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's in Jesus' name we pray.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_00: So if you want to take the elements, we'll eat them and drink them together as a church.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_00: And here's what Paul says.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_00: For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_00: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, and when he had given the thanks, broke it, and said, This is my body which is for you.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_00: Do this in remembrance of me.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_00: Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_00: For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_00: Father, we thank you for today.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, we thank you for the body and the blood of Jesus Christ.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_00: It is the sign of our salvation, and it is the sign of our hope for the future.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, I pray that we would carry out your will to the best of our abilities.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, so that we might be healthy, so that your church might be healthy, and so that others might come to faith in Christ and have a healthy relationship with you, Lord.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_00: We know that right now, those who have rejected you, God, and your salvation, the relationship cannot be more broken than it currently is.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: And yet, Lord, we desire, because you have given us this desire, to seek those and draw them close to you.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_00: Help us to be ministers of your word, Lord.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_00: Help us to be examples to those around us.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_00: Help us, God, to be a people united in one purpose for your kingdom.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, we thank you for these things and also for the power of your Spirit, Lord, your Holy Spirit as He rests within us and gives us the ability to do all of the things that you, the Father, have called us to do.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_00: Love you.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_00: See you next week.