Grace
Emmanuel Church
Pastor Sam
Chess
Why We Need Each Other
I’m going to
preach a truth to you, this morning, that is the exact opposite of
what you’ve heard most of your life. It’s countercultural..
(5 syl) (it’s
totally different than what you’re culture tells you is true)
This truth is
the key to overcoming fatigue,
This truth is
the key to overcoming fear,
This truth is
the key to overcoming failure,
This truth is
the key to overcoming frustration..
The anecdote to
all these things is a strange little concept called:
community
CommUNITY
We Americans
love our independence. Our nation is founded on the Declaration of
Independence. We are the most independent thinking people on earth…
and we take great pride in that fact….I do.
1) We reach the
pinacle when we become “financially independent”
2) The goal of
many in our country is to own a small business where “you can be your
own boss” (That’s over-rated)
3) Our nation
has come to stress relational independence. It has become a badge of
honor ( at least on many TV shows) for an adult not to fall into the
trap of being committed to one person for life… but to enjoy the
independence of sharing their company with every lucky person they
meet.
Independence =
Happiness
Yet, oddly
happiness is not on the rise. More people are counting on chemicals to
help them cope with life. Suicide rates continue to rise.
Truth is:
God did not
design happiness to florish in a climate of independence,
He designed
happiness to grow in a climate of interdependence!
You’re whole
psychological makeup was designed to function in community with other
human beings. You’re spiritual makeup was designed by God to function
in union with other human beings.
(Romans 12:4-5)
Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members
do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form
one body, and each member belongs to all the others. (NIV)
Whether we want
to admit it or not..we need each other! God wired each of us in such a
way that we can only fulfill His purposes for our lives in community,
in relationship with each other.
We will look
deeply at your need for interdependence with other people and how
harmful it is , to you personally, if you choose to isolate
yourselves… let’s start today with five fundamental reasons why you
need other people…specifically why you need other Christian people to
be a vital part of your daily lives.
I. I need others
to WALK with me to be an active part of my spiritual growth.
(Colossians
2:6-7) As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk
in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith,.. (NKJV)
I just finished
a whole series on ‘Walking with God”. I trust you understand that life
is a spritual journey preparing you for eternity. Scripture beats a
constant drumbeat of; walking in the light, walking in love, walking
in obedience, walking in the Spirit, walking as Jesus walked, but the
point I want you not to miss this morning is that:
You were not
designed to walk alone!
And is not a
sermon on the benefits of marriage. This is a sermon on the benefits
of community. Many married people are very lonely. Even though two
people live together in the same house, it doesn’t guarantee that they
are living in community. Unfortunately many Christian people who are
linked together in community are closer than some who are linked by
marriage.
But many people
like to walk alone. They don’t want the burden of answering to other
people, they don’t want the time restrants of having to care for
others. They want to get there own way all the time, not some of the
time, they don’t want to have to compromise their ideas and cooperate
with other people….
Thus the reason
for this message: God did not intend for you to live in independence,
in isolation. You were wired to live in relationship with other
people. If something short circuits that in your live, you need to
know there is a problem.
When God first
created man, he immediately said:
(Genesis 2:18)
And the LORD God said, "It is not good that man should be alone… (NKJV)
We always use
this in the context of marriage, but the reality is, not all human
being will be married all their lives…. There is a deeper thought
here. God doesn’t approve of lonliness… (living in isolation)
1) It’s safer
when you are walking with others
2) It’s more
supportive when you are walking with others…Life is not a 50 yard
dash, it is a marathon (proverb: When you run alone you run fast, when
you run together, you run far)
3) It’s smarter
when you are walking with others…When you are walking alone you may be
walking in the wrong direction and there will be nobody to point it
out to you. (Proverbs: In the mulitude of counselors, there is safety)
Community is
God’s answer to Loneliness… we need people in our lives to balance us,
we need Christian people to help us practice relationships. Jesus said
the second most important thing in all of life was to learn to love
our neighbors as yourself. That will never happen if you isolate
yourselves from the very people you are to learn to love. Particularly
true in our church family relationships:
(Hebrews 10:25)
Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of
doing, but let us encourage one another.. (NIV)
(Ephesians
4:15-16) …. may grow up in all things into Him who is the head--
Christ-- from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what
every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which
every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying
of itself in love. (NKJV)
I need others to
walk with me..
II. I need
other’s to work with me
(Ephesians 2:10)
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (NKJV)
Many of us live
exhausted lives. I don’t think that was ever intended by God to be the
case. I really believe, If everybody were sharing the load of life the
way God intended it to be shared, no one would have to carry more than
their share.
It’s been an
addage in the church world for as long as I can remember, and possibly
in the rest of the world as a whole: that 20% of the peole do 80% of
the work.
(Ecclesiastes
4:9) Two are better than one, because they have a good return for
their work: (NIV)
Since September
we, as a church, have had many occasions to work together, sweat
together. I’m always amazed to be working with one or two others and
be trying so hard and getting so little done: then when the GRACE
crews show up; It is amazing how much we do in a very short time.
Community is
God’s answer to fatigue!
(Galatians 6:10)
Every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all,
starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith. (Mes)
Snowflakes, in
themselves, are hopelessly fragile…. But if enough of them stick
together they can shut down a whole city!
Point 3:
Intro: The Watch: 1 A gift 2.
ticking anachronism 3 statement
III. I need others to WATCH
OUT for me.
Look out for one another’s interests, not just for your own. Phil. 2:
4
Countercultural! It’s not ALL ABOUT ME! It’s about one another.
"I do need others to watch out for me.
Watch your stuff. Good neighbors vs. Neighborhood watch
Watch blindspots; side of the van or spinach; spiritual blindspots.
Watch my back; whose watching your spiritual back?
You can’t DO life alone because you need others to 1, 2, 3.
You need others to watch out for you and regularly and continually.
Keep being concerned about each other as the Lord’s followers should.
Heb. 13:1
CF post 911 with post fall-of-Adam; spiritual battle=fighting the
devil: impossible to do it alone. Never straight on, always deception.
3 important ways : habits you can’t break; hurts you can’t forgive,
and hang-ups you can’t change.
Indirect attack: problems, circumstances, and relationships
Listen to Ecc. 4 A person standing alone can be defeated, but two can
stand back to back and conquer, and three are even better for a rope
of three strands is not easily broken
Therefore: small groups.
Example of the workings of the watch.
Community is God’s answer to defeat.
If one person falls, another can reach out and help, but people who
are alone when they fall are in real trouble. Eccl. 4: 10
IV. I need people to KEEP
WATCH with me.
To wait and weep with me.
The darkest hour is just before dawn. Keeping watch on a boat, in a
life: There are times we should not be alone.
Encourage one another and strengthen one another. 1Thes. 5
Irony of isolation vs. need for community
You should be like one big family, full of sympathy toward one
another. 1 Peter 3: 8
How heavy is this watch? How long can I hold it up? Cf. Ex17; 8
Bear one another’s burdens and in this way obey the law of Christ.
Gal. 6: 2
Community is God’s answer to DESPAIR.
Be happy with those who are happy and weep with those who weep. Rom.
12:15
Tears in a small group? Pray!
V. I need others
to Witness with me
The whole point
of the 40 days material (Rick Warren) that we do every other year is
that you have a mission in life. Your life has a purpose. The message
of your life must be shared with the world before you breathe your
last breath. If you don’t find that purpose, and fulfill that purpose,
and let the world around you hear you sharing that purpose, then no
matter what else you might achieve in life, your real reason for being
here, on this earth, will not have been accomplished.
What I’m telling
you, and what Pastor Jace is telling you is that your interaction with
other people is part of that life mission and:
You simply
cannot achieve what you were put on this earth to do in isolation!
But Sam, how do
you know I’m not just one of those rare types that God has gifted to
live in isolation?…. That would explain why I can’t stand other
people!
Actually…no! God
says, the way the world around you knows you are a believer, knows
that your life is following a pattern set by someone bigger than
yourself, knows that you are following God’s pattern for your life has
to do with how they see you interacting with others.
(John 13:35) By
this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one
another." (NIV)
(John 13:35)
Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my
disciples. (NLT)
Odd, isn’t it?
The world
doesn’t know you love God because you tell them you love God. The
world knows you love God because you show them you love other people!
The building up
the road isn’t going to prove one thing to our community about this
church and our God. It’s going to take us living in “community” to do
that. We’re going to have to go into that community and show them that
we love them and each other. We don’t need to fear letting our lives
witness to them. We probably would if any one of us was trying to do
it alone
(2 Timothy 1:7)
The Holy Spirit doesn’t want you to be afraid of people, but to be
wise and strong and to love them and enjoy being with them. (LB)
God’s answer to
fear is Community!
Phil 1:27b You
are working together and struggling side by side to get others to
believe the good news. (CEV)
We need each
other, We need other believer to walk with us, to work with us, to
watch out for us, to wait for us, to wait with us, to weep with us and
to witness with us.
Spiritually: We
need, not, a Declaration Independence but a Declaration of
Interdependence.
