City Life Starter

I. THE WORD: Ephesians 4:11-16 – 11

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,  12  for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,  13  till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;  14  that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,  15  but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—  16  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.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. As Paul has been inspired by God, what is he saying here, from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, what Christian community is?

2. Did you come to Jesus all on your own, or did it take someone or a group to reach you? Reflect on that and see if you could have “led yourself to salvation through Christ.”

3. What is the ultimate purpose of the community?

Paul is writing to the church at Ephesus, established in A.D. 53, as churches were spreading rapidly after Pentecost in Acts 2. Paul had visited Ephesus several times. At one point, he was a prisoner in Rome and was visited by messengers from various churches. One of those messengers was a man by the name of Tychius of Ephesus. Paul wrote this letter, which makes up the book of Ephesians, and sent it with Tychius. This was a letter of encouragement and described the nature and appearance of the church, and challenged believers to function as the living body of Christ on earth, having unity and community in their commitment to Christ and their use of spiritual gifts.

What Christian Community Involves

I always like how Pastor Christ breaks the word community up, Common + unity – a common unity. Our common unity is Christ first and foremost. Christians share a common life in Christ. In a Christian community, there is to be no self-interested isolation of private lives for we are to love one another, forgive each other, regard each other more highly than ourselves, teach and correct each other, encourage each other, pray for each other, and bear each other’s burdens. We’re to be friends with one another, kind, compassionate, and generous in hospitality. We’re to serve one another and submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

A Christian community is the place of our continuing conversion. We are all becoming more and more like Christ. It is not just a flip of the switch. It’s a process, a chiseling away from the old self. Maturity takes time as we all know, but what we know even less is that it takes the community for each of us to grow up in Christ as the Scripture in reference implies. A Christian community is where we embody Christ’s presence on earth. When we love others, they should feel Christ’s love. When we pray for someone’s brokenness, we are taking part in Christ’s healing and restorative power for others. We can be fully engaged in showing compassion and encouragement that’s desperately needed in a broken and hostile world. We show love to overcome evil.

In a Christian community, we teach one another and is a safe place to hold one another accountable. The accountability factor is huge. At one point in my Christian walk, I reached a point of burn-out in the church. I was doing so much, working like a dog at work, then putting so much work into the ministry of the church, and not enough time and energy into my family life. Things started to suffer, and I knew something needed to change. I stepped away from less important responsibilities and knew I needed to establish boundaries in my life that would keep me from doing too much. With the help and support of my wife and church family, I could establish boundaries, and if I got near to crossing it, they were there to hold me accountable. I shared my calendar, dates of work, what I would work on, and times frames to work on it. I could be held to this if I wasn’t doing it or if I started to overwork. This was huge and freeing in so many ways. Without community from my church family, I would be in no better position today.

In a Christian community, as we hear what God has taught others, it teaches us. This, not a superficial setting, as some smaller gatherings, might be, but rather a place to get personal and creates a safe place for vulnerability to take place. In this setting, our self-interests are put aside since we come to serve one another and share what God gives us.

More importantly, the value of community is more than just strength and maturity. It bears witness to the power and presence of God in the world as we are the light of the world. Our unity and mutual love that distinguishes Jesus’ disciples will demonstrate that Jesus was indeed sent by the Father.

Furthermore, such communities mediate God’s love and carry the ministry of reconciliation. Everyone can participate. A community is not a place to spectate, but to take an active part in. God did not intend for us to go at it alone. We cannot experience the full power and delight of God without also being drawn into life together with our sisters and brothers in Christ. Without experiencing such life together, we will not discover how wonderful the news about Jesus is.

Relationships in a Christian community matter. The reason we must hold ourselves accountable for our relationships is that mutual love in a Christian community is super-hard, but is one of the main ways the world will see who Jesus is. Jesus has brought incompatibles together! So, we must never give up on each other and must pursue each other in love so that the world not only sees us but sees the presence of God and is drawn to Him.

“Christians come together not because they form natural commonalities, but because they have all been saved by Jesus Christ and owe him a common allegiance. In this light, we are a band of natural enemies who love one another for Jesus’ sake. That is the only reason why John 13:34–35 makes sense when Jesus says: “A new command I give you–Love one another as I have loved you.” . . . Christian love and community will stand out and bear witness to Jesus because it is a display, for Jesus’ sake, of mutual love among social incompatibles”. – D.A. Carson, Love in Hard Places

PRAYER

Lord, I trust in You. Let your purpose become my mission. I place my priorities under your control. I want to use what you have given me to equip others for service. Break down any barriers, divisiveness, or any discriminatory thoughts I may have because I belong to you and am not my own. We have all been saved by you and I owe you my everything. Open my spirit so it receives your Holy Spirit to enable me to live utilizing Your power, laying aside evil desires, submitting to Christ, and seeking to love others in and living life in a community so that your presence is made real and made known to the world. In Jesus’ Name, Amen!