A biblical community is built on truth!
Devotions this week based on the Message: “BELIEVE: Week 16: Biblical Community”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Randy Frazee entitled, “BELIEVE.”
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
A biblical community is built on truth.
Acts 2:42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
At the center of this first Christian community was the truth of God’s Word – the apostles’ teaching. In fact, the truth of God’s Word is at the heart of a truly biblical community. After all how can you be a biblical community if every person in that community isn’t devoted to the words of the Bible? You can’t.
The truth of God’s Word is foundation and fabric of every biblical community. It is that Word that teaches each of us who God is, what love is, what humility is, how to live at peace with one another and so much more.
Truth is also the foundation for key components of the Christian community.
A biblical community seeks to know, understand, and speak the truth.
Ephesians 4:25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body.
Satan is the father of lies. So anything that is not truth from God or just truth in general doesn’t have a place in the body of Christ. Satan loves to infiltrate his lies with a little bit of truth to make them more appealing. So a biblical community is vigilant around the truth of God’s word and has honest conversations when that truth is being compromised.
Speak the truth in love. Condescending, judgmental, unloving conversations have no part in the body of Christ. Here’s the encouragement if we need to confront lies and falsehood:
Ephesians 4:15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
Colossians 3:9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
So what does speaking the truth in love in a biblical community look like? Here’s a few examples of how the truth working in my heart and life can make me a stronger member of biblical community
- I spend time daily in the truth of God’s Word to allow it to guide and affect every aspect of my life.
- When a brother or sister in Christ confronts a sin in my life, I receive it with joy that they were willing to speak the truth.
- I allow the narrative of God’s truth to form my opinions, worldview, and perception of the events around me and help others to do the same.
- Lying is just not an option…as little or as “white” of a lie as it may be.
- I use the truth in love, being discerning how and when and to whom to share the truth. (i.e. while a comment may be true, it may not be loving, build some one up, or need to be shared.)
The Truth sets us apart. Be humbled that we are entrusted with God’s Truth. Be gentle in speaking the truth. Always be guided by the truth!
John 17:17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
Apply: What can you do to build a community of truth in your local context?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for your truth and building my heart and life around that truth. Let me be used by you to always bring your truth to the church community I am part of. AMEN.
A biblical community can be destroyed!
Devotions this week based on the Message: “BELIEVE: Week 16: Biblical Community”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Randy Frazee entitled, “BELIEVE.”
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
A biblical community is a community of grace.
Or is it?
I hope it is. However, truth be told, it easier to believe and teach love and forgiveness and grace than it is to practice love, forgiveness and grace.
But you and I wouldn’t be the first to struggle with this.
The Apostle Paul wrote these words to a group of Christians in the region of Galatia:
Galatian 5:15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
Like a human family, a family of believers can struggle to get along at times.
We can be mean.
We can hold grudges.
We can be judgmental of others.
We can be critical.
We can be condescending.
We can be cold.
We can be unforgiving.
We can be ___________________.
Who wants to be part of a community that has these characteristics.
I wouldn’t think anyone does.
Charles Spurgeon once said, “Beware of no man more than of yourself; we carry our worst enemies within us.”
The reason a biblical community can “bite and devour each other” is because each person has a sinful nature that is wreaking havoc on the work of God’s Spirit. The sinful nature leads us to all of the above reactions.
So what is the solution? How about working with God’s help to do the following:
- Ephesians 4:29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen… 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
- Colossians 3:12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.
The reality is Satan wants to destroy a biblical community and he will work inside each of us to love grace for ourselves, but fail to show grace to others. He will get us to treasure forgiveness for our sins, but invite us to hold grudges against someone who wronged us. He will allow us to bask in the love Jesus has shown to us and give us excuses why we don’t have to show love to others.
So to develop and maintain a biblical community, we must seek the Spirit’s help to do the following:
James 4:7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you.
Did you hear the promise in this? Grow closer to the love of God and God’s love will come closer to you. And as God’s love, grace and forgiveness fills you, you too can be part of filling a biblical community with his love, grace and forgiveness.
Apply: Which attribute encouraged in the passages above would make a difference to your church community if you intentionally worked to do better yourself and encourage others to do the same.
Prayer: Lord, help me with your Spirit to be a catalyst against Satan and for your Spirit to develop a biblical community that focuses on and lives out your love, grace and forgiveness. AMEN.
A biblical community is humble and patient…
Devotions this week based on the Message: “BELIEVE: Week 16: Biblical Community”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Randy Frazee entitled, “BELIEVE.”
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
Sin divides. Always has. Always will.
The church is not immune from divisions that come as a result of sinful people coming together seeking the forgiveness and love of Christ at the cross.
In fact, if you have been in a church for any length of time, you probably have experienced some sort of division over some issue that could be a serious doctrinal straying from the Bible or a matter of opinion over paint colors in the church remodel.
Or perhaps you are or know someone who is staying away from the church because of the division or “politics” in a church. So indirectly divisions in the church divide someone not even in the church from the church.
Satan loves it when a “biblical community” is a divided community.
It’s no wonder the Scripture encourages:
Ephesians 4:3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
A biblical community works to maintain unity…true unity.
So how do we build a true peace in the community of believers? Here’s a few thoughts to reflect on.
Ephesians 4:2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
Pride easily creeps into our hearts and can affect how we interact with others. Sure we may say a friendly “Hello” or we may smile as we pass by an individual, but we can think, “I would never want to hang out with them.” Pride can come up when we look down on how others parent their children. Pride can come up when we look at how others are dressed and make a judgment about them. Pride rears its ugly head when we think our ideas are better than someone else’s. Pride comes up when we wonder why no one said thank you for financial gifts or volunteer effort that was given.
And division happens inside my heart with someone else or the church as a whole.
So the Apostle Paul says, “Be completely humble.” A biblical community is filled with people who are humble. Humility realizes that its about Jesus, not them. Humility seeks to understand someone’s situation and seeks to help, not judge. Humility serves with the satisfaction it is done to the Lord and doesn’t need accolades from others. Humility realizes that what makes us all the same is we are all sinful people in need of the forgiving, saving work of Jesus and we are just grateful to gather together around the cross.
Impatience. How long do we have to put up with so and so’s behavior? How come that person can’t get on board with the rest of us? Why does that person always speak negatively at meetings? Why can’t they give up that addiction? How many times do we have to financially help that family? And the list goes on. We want everyone to be at the level of Christian living we are at (assuming we have “arrived”…hmm, pride…) or do things the same or think the same and we become impatient when it doesn’t happen. And Satan loves it.
So the Spirit says, “Bear with one another in love.” I’ll add, “…just as Jesus has born with you in love.” Think of how many times we do the same sin and need forgiveness. Think how slow your mindset has been to transform into the mindset of God. Think of how long it has taken to you to overcome a pet sin of yours…or how you still fall for it? The point is the patience of God is deep and his love for you is wide.
So…we get to share and live out that love with one another. Yes, at times it is hard. At times it doesn’t come easily.
But we go back to the cross and see the humble service of Jesus and the patient love he has shown to us.
Satan hates it when we are humble, patient and loving. The Spirit loves it.
And that’s what a biblical community does.
Apply: How are you prideful, impatient, or unloving? Repent and ask the Spirit to show you how to be humble, patient and loving.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for your humble, patient love for us prideful, impatient people. Help us to be the same to the people in our church family and the community around us. AMEN.
A Biblical Community Loves!
Devotions this week based on the Message: “BELIEVE: Week 16: Biblical Community”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Randy Frazee entitled, “BELIEVE.”
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
Life is meant to be done in community…especially the Christian life.
Over the years I have heard people say, “I worship God on my own.” Or, “I don’t have to go to church to be a Christian.”
On the one hand, we could agree, but to be honest, I always think (and perhaps have said), “That’s weird.” God didn’t intend his followers to be isolated.
However, I think a better answer is, “You’re missing out.”
Without a community around us we miss out on the blessings others bring to us and the opportunity to be a blessing to others.
Yesterday was Valentine’s Day. The community of faith is to be one where love is received and love is expressed. Here’s a few examples:
- John 13:34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
- Romans 13:8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
- Galatians 5:13 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.
- Ephesians 4:2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
- 1 John 3:11 This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.
- 1 John 4:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
- 1 John 4: 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
Love is the reflection of God’s love for us. Let that be at the center of our hearts, the center of our church and the center of every relationships.
Apply: Which of these passages speaks most to you. Spend a few minutes to memorize it!
Prayer: Lord, thank you for loving us first. Help us to always love others.
What does biblical community look like?
Devotions this week based on the Message: “BELIEVE: Week 16: Biblical Community”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Randy Frazee entitled, “BELIEVE.”
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
What does a biblical community look like?
I remember a segment on the morning news years ago called, “Shabby or Shiek.” The viewer had to look at two models and determine which one was wearing a very expensive outfit and which one had an expensive look, but at bargain prices.
It was hard to tell because they looked very similar.
Expense isn’t the point, but experience is.
Can you tell a biblical community from any other community?
If one were to take a snapshot of the community in which you live and a snapshot of your church community, could you tell the difference between the two? Perhaps similarities would be in demographics and the type of people which are in each (although that is not always the case). But could you tell the difference in how people interact in each? How people are treated in each? How people engage in each?
Let me start this week’s devotions by being the first to repent of ways I have not exhibited the love and grace in Christ in our church community and ways that have left the experience in church not much different than the community around us.
Let me start this week again in the grace of God and asking for his Spirit’s help to be part of and build a truly biblical community that is both encouraging to those who are part of it and attractive to those who interact with it.
Immediately after Pentecost, the group of Christians were described in this way:
Acts 2:42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Three things stand out about this group of Christians:
- They grew in their faith as a community.
- They shared all aspects of life as a community.
- They readily welcomed others into the community.
The community of believers was the place where faith and life intersected. The cross of Jesus and his saving work was realized by all and was the place to which and from which all the activities of the Christian church originated.
God designed and formed this community by the power of his Spirit. He designed people to be in community with him and with each other. It was what he created at the beginning and desires all to enjoy on earth until the ultimate manifestation of community is experienced in heaven.
But Satan wants to destroy this community. He wants Christians to look just like the rest of the world and the church to look worse than the rest of the world.
So this week we are going to ask the Spirit of God to start in each of our individual hearts to strengthen our community with the Lord. From that point ask him to strengthen the community of believers we are part of so we too experience the blessing of growing in faith together, doing life together, and welcoming others into the family of faith.
Apply: Evaluate the three areas of Christian community in the place you are. Which is strongest? Which can use some help? How can you be part of strengthening the biblical community you are part of?
Prayer: Lord God, thank you for creating and designing the church to be a community that comes together around the cross of Jesus to do life and faith together. Help me to grow in my relationship to you, my connection with others, and to be a catalyst for strengthening the bonds of faith in the community in which you have placed me. AMEN.