Day 19
Purpose Driven Life
Cultivating community
you can robust community that develop a healthy lives with God and enjoys its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other treating each other with dignity and honor.
James 3: 18
they committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles the life together, the common meal, and the prayers, Act 2: 42
Community requires commitment
only the Holy spirit can create really fellowship between believers but he cultivates it with the choices and commitments we make
it takes both Gods power and our effort to produce a loving Christian community
unfortunately many people grow up in family with unhealthy relationship so they lack the retaliation skill needed for real fellowship, they must be taught how to get along with and relate to others in Gods family
NT is filled with instruction on how to share life together
*** cultivating community takes honesty... you will have to care enough to lovingly speak the truth
"speak the truth in love "
Ephesians 4:15
"an honest answer is sign of a true friendship "
Proverbs 24:26
Real fellowship whether in a marriage, a friendship, or your church, depends on frankness, in fact the tunnel of conflict is the passageway to intimacy in any relationship
until you care enough to control and resolve the underlying barriers, you will never grow close to each other
when conflict is handled correctly we grow closer to each other by facing and resolving our differences.
" in the end, people appreciate frank more then flattery "
Proverbs 28: 23
Sadly thousands of fellowships have been destroyed by a lack of honesty Paul had to rebuke the Corinthians church for their passive code of silence in allowing immorality in their fellowship since no one had the courage to confront it he said
"you must not simply look the other way and hope it goes away on its own. bring it out in the open and deal with ... better devastation and embarrassment than damnation.... you pass it off as small thing.. but it 's any thing but that.... you shouldn't act as if everything is just fine when one of your Christian companions is promiscuous or crooked. is flip with God or rude to Friends, gets drunk or becomes greedy and predatory, you can;t just along with this treating it as an acceptable behavior I'm not responsible for what this outsiders do, but don't we have some responsibility for those within our community of believers?
1 Corinthians 5:3-12
until you care enough to confront and resolve the underlying barriers, you will never grow close to each other
when conflict is handled correctly we grow closer to each other by facing and resolving our differences
*** Cultivating community takes humility
self importance
smugness
stubbornness
pride destroys fellowship faster than anything else
pride builds walls between people
humility builds brides
humility is the oil that smoothes and soothes relationships
clothes yourselves with humility toward one another
"because God apposes the proud but gives grace to the humble "
1 peter 5:5
you can develop humility very practical ways by admitting your weakness by being patient with others weakness by being open to correction by point the spot light on others
*** cultivating community takes courtesy
courtesy is respecting our differences being considerate of each others feelings and being patient with people who irritate us
truth is we all have quirk and annoying traits but community has nothing to do with compatibility the basis for our fellowship is our relationship to God: with family
*** Cultivating community takes confidential
only in the safe environment of warm acceptance and trusted confidentiality will people open up and share their deepest hurts needs and mistakes
confidentiality does not mean keeping silent while your brother or sister sins it means that whether shared in your group needs to stay in your group and in group needs to be dealt in the group no gossiped to others about it...
"gossip is spread by wicked peopl they stir up troulble and break friendships "
Proverbs 16:28
God is very clear that we are to confront those who cause division among Christian !!!
They may get mad and leave your group or church if you confront them about their divisive actions, but the fellowship of the church is more important than individual
***Cultivating community takes frequency
frequent regular contact
to build genuine fellowship
Community is built not on convenience
"when I feel like it"
but on conviction
"I need it for spiritual health"
9 Characteristics of Biblical Fellowship
- true feelings - Authenticity
- encourage each other - mutuality
- support each other - sympathy
- forgive each other - mercy
- speak the truth in love - honesty
- admit our weakness - humility
- respect our differences - courtesy
- not gossip - confidentiality
- make group a priority - frequency
Day 19
Thinking about my purpose
Point to ponder community requires commitment
Verse to remember "we understand what love is when we realize that Christ gave his life for us that means we must give our lives for other believers " 1 John 3:16
Question to Considr: how can I help one cultivate today the characteristics of real community in my small group and my church?
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Continuing.... 40 Day Challenge
Day 19 -- Cultivating Community
C
ommunity requires commitment. If you are tired of fake fellowship and you would like to cultivate real fellowship and a loving community in your small group, Sunday school class, and church, you will need to make some tough choices and take some risks. Cultivating community takes honesty. Real fellowship depends on frankness. In fact, the tunnel of conflict is the passageway to intimacy in any relationship. Until you care enough to confront and resolve the underlying barriers, you will never grow close to each other.
Cultivating community takes humility. Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less. Humility is thinking more of others. Humble people are so focused on serving others, they don't think of themselves.
Cultivating community takes courtesy. The truth is, we all have quirks and annoying traits. But community has nothing to do with compatibility. The basis for our fellowship is our relationship to God: We are family.
Cultivating community takes confidentiality. Only in the safe environment of warm acceptance and trusted confidentiality will people open up and share their deepest hurts, needs, and mistakes. Confidentiality does not mean keeping silent while your brother or sister sins. It means that what is shared in your group needs to stay in your group, and the group needs to deal with it, not gossip to others about it.
Cultivating community takes frequency. You must have frequent, regular contact with your group in order to build genuine fellowship. Relationships take time.
When you look at the list of characteristics, it is obvious why genuine fellowship is so rare. But the benefits of sharing life together far outweigh the costs, and it prepares us for heaven.
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