Christian Community - The role of Scripture

Late this week, I posed the question: If you were stranded on a desert island with no hope for rescue and you could choose one book and one book only, what book would you want on the island? Would you take:

• Les Miserables (Lay Mee-say-hrabl), a lengthy and superb adventure about overcoming oppression?
• Robinson Crusoe, the fictional account of man stranded on an uninhabited island, hoping to glean some tips or hope for the future?
• The Boy Scout Handbook, which includes lots of tips on First Aid, camping and knot tying? 
• The SAS Survival Handbook For Any Climate In Any Situation? 
• The Holy Bible?

Would your faith and spiritual journey be so intact that Scripture is all you would need when faced with isolation, starvation, lack of housing, lack of medical care, lack of food, and lack of resources? Would Scripture be enough?

Why is this so important to our discussions of Christian Community?

A Christian Community is defined as “followers of Jesus” who are engaged in life together. Just like a neighborhood, neighbors know one another well. Neighbors care for one another. Neighbors look out for one another. Neighbors warn and caution one another? Neighbors both encourage and correct one another. Neighbors contribute to the whole of life together.

But, what separates secular community, which can be found in neighborhoods, workplaces, and recreation, is that every single member of the Christian Community is and must be a confessing follower of Jesus Christ. Focus on that word "confessing" follower of Jesus. In Romans 10:9, Paul reminds us "that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Confession. There is no such thing as a private or secret Christian. There is no hiding from it. There is no saying, "It's between me and the Lord." People must know that you follow Jesus.

Confessing followers of Jesus (Christians), through the Holy Spirit, become a part of the universal Christian Community. That's why I could feel very at home last week 3,000 miles from Lexington with a Lutheran congregation near Sacramento, CA. The spirit binds us regardless of silly signs out front. But, those signs also bind us in local churches, which are also Christian Communities. And, then Sunday School classes and small groups within churches become even more intimate Christian Communities. And, let me tell you, it's those Christian Communities like our Sunday School class that I love most of all. I deeply love them.

But, understand. No one can come to any Christian Community except by way of the cross and the resurrection of Jesus. And, the only way - the only true and trustworthy way - we can understand God, Jesus and faith is through Holy Scripture. Southern Baptists believe so deeply in Scripture as the voice of God that in a list of what Southern Baptists believe, Scripture sits in the No. 1 position. Here's what Southern Baptists believe about Scripture:

"The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God's revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation." Click to read what Southern Baptists believe.

Within the Christian Community, Scripture - The Holy Bible - becomes our playbook, our authoritative guide, and our compass for daily living. Believers join Christian Communities and believers anchor their lives in Scripture.

Unbelievers will turn to pulpit personalities, the emotion of worship services, the feel-good of service projects and say things like, "My loyalty and involvement here makes me a good Christian - a good person."

No! Only a lonely and personal walk with God through a lonely and personal faith in Jesus identifies a person as a follower of Jesus, and gives that person entrance into the Christian Community. And, then, only through that lonely and personal faith can a follower of Jesus fully embrace the worship, fellowship, the missional service, the encouragement and the correction of the Christian Community.

What do we call the unsaved person who sits in a worship service? We call that person a spectator. That's the best we can call them. What do we call the saved person who sits in a worship service? We call that person a member of the Christian Community. The unsaved person does not own a Bible, or owns one only as a living room centerpiece. For the believer, there is no book that trumps Holy Scripture - not for a deserted island, not for the advice and counsel of a single day.

And, I would argue that the person who does not turn to the Bible for counsel and advice, who does not touch the Bible except to dust the cover, and who does not even own a Bible, well, that person can't possibly call himself or herself a follower of Jesus. I would approach that person with the love and prayer and encouragement that I would approach any lost and unsaved person; not condemning them, not judging them, but expectantly praying and begging God for the opportunity to share my faith with them.

To follow Jesus, and not be led astray by false prophets and warped churches, a believer must personally be engaged with and led by Scripture . . . every single day.

How in the world could I be an employee if I didn't own, read and use an employee handbook? How could I be a quarterback if I didn't own and use a playbook? How in the world could I be a Boy Scout if I didn't own a Boy Scout handbook? How in the world could I be a mechanic if I didn't own and use a manual that helped me understand how to fix cars?

How in the world, then, can I call myself a follower of Jesus and ignore Holy Scripture that says of itself in Revelation 22:18: “ I solemnly declare to everyone who hears the prophetic words of this book: If anyone adds anything to what is written here, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book. And, if anyone removes any of the words of this prophetic book, God will remove that person’s share in the tree of life and in the holy city that are described in this book.”

Do you know of any other book, any other guide to Christian living, anything on Amazon.com that takes itself so seriously as to say, “If you screw around with this book, you will be removed from the tree of life?" If those words don’t convict you and me of the importance of Holy Scripture to the life of a true believer, I don’t know what else to say to you.

When your children or family or friends come to you for advice, do you say “well, experience tells me” or “here’s what I think” or “here’s what I read in a John Piper or John Maxwell book” or do you say, “Let’s explore what Scripture says about that.” This alone convicts me of the role of Holy Scripture in my life, my dedication to following Jesus, and my place in Christian Community. Holy Scripture is the playbook for the Christian and the Christian Community to which he or she belongs. Nothing else.

Closing thoughts:

• If you need a Bible or a study guide, my advice is to visit a LifeWay Christian Bookstore. I can't speak for other Christian bookstores, but I know the employees of LifeWay are followers of Jesus. Just tell them, "I need a Study Bible that I can easily understand, and that has a built-in commentary that can help me understand Scripture's meaning for my life."
• Read the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Reads Acts and Roman. Chase the cross-references and read the commentaries.
• Pray the Psalms. You don't know how to pray? Read the psalmist's prayers aloud to God. It counts. He loves it.
• If you have questions, my recommendation is to visit www.got questions.org. There are hundreds of thousands of everyday questions with answers that are full of Bible references.

As we move forward in Christian Community, Holy Scripture will be our playbook. And, those who cry out “Lord, Lord” will anchor their lives in it, and let it truly be, as Psalm 119:105 states, “a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”

Christian Community - Others

By Chuck Cordovano - For most of my life I was a loner.  I always seemed to feel alone and grew to be comfortable alone.  And being comfortably alone, I became self centered.  I spent many years alone and in pain and I drank alcohol to ease my pain.  I learned at 44 years old, I didn’t have to live alone and in pain.  I learned that through the grace of God and Jesus on the cross I was saved and I learned that other believers would help me in my time of need. Today, I believe Satan feeds on our loneliness so we must come together to fight Satan.  We must care for and help others.  When we work together and help one another the devil flees and looks for easier prey.

In Matthew Chapter 4: 1-11, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert where he was tempted by Satan.

“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.”  Matthew 4:1

Notice Jesus was “led by the Spirit… to be tempted.”  We are guided by the Spirit in everything we do, even when we are tempted to sin.  We also have been given free will so we choose, after the temptation, to sin or not.  Jesus, alone in the desert, was tempted by the devil.  The Life Application Study Bible points out that the temptation of Christ shows us the following:

• That Jesus is the Son of God because he overcomes all Satan’s temptations
• We, too, will be tested and knowing this we should be alert and ready for it
• Satan is real and always trying to get us to live his way or OUR way – not God’s way
• Temptation itself is not sin, we sin when we give in to temptation and disobey God
• Jesus wasn’t tempted when he was in the temple or at his baptism, he was tempted when he was alone, hungry, and tired.

Satan’s temptations of Christ focused on three important areas of human nature:

1. Physical needs and desires
2. Possessions and power
3. Pride

Hebrews 4:15 says that Jesus, “faced all the same testings we do, yet did not sin.”  Jesus, as man, experienced what we experience and is there to help us in our pain and struggles.


So, in 1999 I was working at Lowe’s in West Columbia.  I was 41 years old.  A year earlier I left my job as a National Accounts Manager with a major cutting tool manufacturing company where I had worked for 5 years and had been very successful.  I had decided to start my own business and wanted to know more about the Home Center Retail/US Hardware market.  I wrote many business plans, unfortunately, all on cocktail napkins.  I like to say I went from making $70,000 a year to $7.00 per hour.

As miserable and alone as I was, the Holy Spirit was with me.  I did everything I could to ignore God.  I didn’t listen when he spoke to me through others.  I hung out at the worst bars I could find.  I never went to Church – that thought never crossed my mind.  I didn’t pray.  I was right where Satan wanted me.  But the Spirit is stronger than Satan.

In 2001, I was as miserable and alone as I had ever been.  In my deepest despair, I prayed and Jesus spoke to me – no, he yelled at me… “You don’t have to live like this anymore!”

“What do I do, Lord?” I asked.

“Listen to others.” He said.

Did I listen?  No!  It was Masters weekend and I liked to drink during major sporting events and the Masters was a 4 day major sporting event.  By Sunday night I was beat down and Jesus spoke to me again, “You don’t have to live like this, listen to others.”

The next day, I checked myself into rehab and I began to listen to others.  The first group of “others” I had to listen to – the first community I was a part of, was alcoholics and drug addicts.  Looking back, I see that my healing began through community.  After the rehab community came the intensive outpatient community and them the AA community.  But AA doesn’t work without “a God of our understanding.” The God of my understanding was Jesus so I needed a Church community – Washington Street United Methodist Church.

In 2003, I started my business representing companies to the Home Center retailers and National Industrial Distributors.  Businesses are about making money but by this time I had changed.  I decided the purpose of my business was to “bring businesses together” and that I would look at my business as an opportunity to help others… there’s that word again.

At this point in my life, I needed to get some exercise.  I’ve always played golf and tennis.  Golf can be a solitary game so the Spirit leads me to tennis.  There is a huge tennis community in Lexington and I found myself playing with others, even joining teams!  And I met Windy.  The Holy Spirit gives me, an old, undeserving drunk the greatest gift of all – family.  Windy, Taylor and me – wow!

Windy & Taylor were attending Gateway Baptist Church and I was attending Washington Street United Methodist Church, but not for long.  Together we found our Church home, after visiting many Churches, at Lexington Baptist Church.  Jan Kinard tells Windy we should visit the V class.  Jimmy thinks I won’t make it long because I dress up to much for Church – look at Jimmy today!

Look at Ecclesiastes 4:9-12:

9 Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. 10 If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. 11 Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? 12 A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.

I am here today, sober for 12 years, with a family, a member of Lexington Baptist Church and the V Sunday School class.  People even invite me to be on their tennis teams.  I have a business and care about my clients and customers.  I have friends, not people I drank with in bars, but people with whom I worship.  Two years ago I went to North Dakota with members of this class to teach young boys and girls to play football.  I learned so much from those men and those children.  For one week I was a part of that community; a community of sharing and giving to others in a place far away from home.

My family, this Church, this Sunday School class, all of you, are important to me.  Life isn’t about me, it’s about others.

Why do people join Christian Communities?

Everyone on the planet is a part of a community – or a group of people – even if it’s involuntary as in being a member of a family. But, beyond family, most people will join one or more groups. Why do people join groups? Why do people join Christian Communities - churches, small groups, Sunday School classes?

First, a bit of social psychology
In 2008, Michael Hogg, Zachary Hohman and Jason Rivera published a social-psychological report about this very topic. Why do people join groups? Here are three reasons they discovered:

1. The Sociometer Model. This model argues that people have a need to belong, and that self-esteem is a meter of successful group belonging. Have you ever seen those resumes or introductions that list a person’s group involvement going back to college or high school? Greater inclusion in groups equates to higher self-esteem.
2. The Terror Management Theory. This theory asserts that people join groups to reduce their fears of death and that groups provide “safety in numbers” and “shared beliefs.” It’s comforting to be with others who share the same world view and to hear similar views that provide a sense of meaningful existence. 
3. The Uncertainty-Identity Theory. This theory argues that people have a need to reduce uncertainty about themselves and their place in the world, and that group identification reduces that security. Who am I and Do I Matter? 

Hogg, Hohman and Rivera argue that each of these - in part - can be involved in a person’s decision to join a group, but that most people who join groups fall into the Uncertainty-Identity Theory category while searching for the meaning of life: I want to matter to someone; I want my life to count for something.

I believe we have people who join Christian Communities for each of the above reasons.

• Sociometer: "My neighbors get up and go to church therefore I need to go to church. If I don't go to church, and my neighbors do, I am 'falling behind' my neighbors."
• Terror Management: "The world is big and I am small, and there is safety in numbers. I will join a church so that if bad things happen to me I will be surrounded by people who can help me." Or, "If I don't connect to a church, bad things will happen to me. God is there; the bogey-man is out here. I don't want the bogey-man to get me."
• Uncertainty-Identity: "I need to be a part of something larger than myself so I will identify with a group. Churches are full of good people, I am a good person - I can find my place in the world at church."

There's another reason that I run into periodically. I call it The Business Networking Model: "I am in sales and service, and there are a lot of potential customers gathered at the church under one roof. This will be like shooting fish in a barrel." (Don't laugh, I have seen this ilk come and go, come and go, come and go throughout my life.)

But, NONE of the above is why followers of Jesus come to a church.

The reason that 70-80 percent of North American churches, including most steeple churches, are in decline is because we have approached church believing people join it like Hogg, Hohman and Rivera talk about groups. 

We have said things like, “Come and belong here” or “Find sanctuary here” or “Find your place in the world here” and while we all agree that, yes, those are relevant messages – they are only relevant messages after someone has repented of sin and confessed Jesus as Savior.

Consider this:

• People are made in the image of a Sovereign, Powerful, Almighty, Omniscient, Omnipotent God, who knows all, sees all, hears all at the same time for everyone and sorts it out. When I consider the mind-warping magnitude of God, I think of the Book of Isaiah, which the prophet fills with descriptions of God. Read Isaiah 66:1: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool . . . My hands have made both heaven and earth; they and everything in them are mine. I, the Lord have spoken." EVERYTHING is God's - you and me, and everything we claim to own.  Does that sound like anything of this Earth? What about Isaiah 40:18-26, where God hangs the stars and calls them each by name, forgetting not a single one? Supernatural. Wind-warping. 
• Return with me to Acts 2, Peter says in v. 17 . . . In the last days, God said, “I will pour out my spirit upon all people." This sovereign God pours out His spirit (The Holy Spirit) upon all people, inviting people to (v. 21) call on the name of Jesus. "And, anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." God, through the Spirit, calls each man, woman, boy and girl to be saved through the sacrifice of His son. Again, Supernatural.
• Now, got to Acts 2:43-47, Luke writes: "Believers were added, by God, to the church."

The church - including church groups like our class - are Supernatural entities formed by a Supernatural God, who is Sovereign over all the Earth and to whom every man, woman, boy and girl will one day be accountable. And, as people come to know Jesus as Savior, God adds "the believers" to the church. And, Acts 2:44 says these believers "shared life together." They sacrificed and poured into one another. No where - not one place in Scripture - is the life of a believer defined by sitting and watching others do the work of the church.

People may join booster clubs, hunting clubs, book clubs, garden clubs, charities, card-playing clubs, neighborhood associations, and professional organizations. But, people do not join churches. God adds believers to churches. That's why you will always hear me say to people, "Be where God sends you; be and do what God calls you to do."

Today's problem

Today, friends, we have people who have penetrated the North American church as they do all kinds of other Earthly organizations, and they have warped the frame of the church. We now have consumer churches, where people come for their own benefit, to sit and listen and consume information. For these consumers, all you hear them talk about is how church has "made my life better" or "I am fed at that church." That consumerism attitude - "it's for me and about me" is the ultimate sin, turning the Supernatural work of a Holy God into something sinfully self-serving.

The church is a Supernatural group that trumps every group in your life. Attendance and membership is not something to be taken lightly, and I argue won’t be taken lightly by those who know and follow Jesus, are sent by the Holy Spirit  to join the church and who are tangibly working to share life with one another.

Where are you? Regardless of your spouse, or your friends, where are you?

Do you know Jesus as your Savior? Can you point to a mile marker on your life and say, “Here, right here, is where I surrendered my life to the risen Savior.” And, then can you point to a second mile marker and say, “Right here is where I joined with xyz church because it’s where I knew to my core that God was sending me.” And, can you say, clearly, right here, this “is where I saw the church differently – not for what I got from it, but what I gave to it. And, I am now giving to it."

Last . . .
Do you know why, in church, 20 percent of the people do 80 percent of the work?

In the booster club, we call it laziness or just being sorry when 80 percent of the people watch 20 percent do all the work, but in the church we call it what it is . . . lostness or living without a Savior. Lost people latch onto a church as a social organization content in watching others do all the work . . . for them. I believe it is impossible to know Jesus without connecting to a church, and without being involved in that church. Because, what God sends you to do (the church), The Spirit will cause you to be restless until you are doing it. You cannot sit idle in a church and be filled with the Spirit that comes from salvation. That kind of restlessness would be unbearable.

As St. Augustine said, "You awaken us to delight in your praise; for you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.” The measure of your restlessness for the things of God may be a sign of your fellowship – or lack thereof – with God.

What is Christian Community?

What is Christian Community?

A community is a group of people, living in the same place, feeling a sense of fellowship as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests and goals.

What is fellowship? It’s a friendly association around shared interests.

Within these definitions, a Christian Community is really a gathering of believers – people who have repented of sin and live as followers of Jesus – within the same geographic area, in friendly association, and sharing interests – interests like evangelism, fellowship, baptism, missions, ministry, and discipleship.

What did Jesus do when He began His ministry? Look at Matthew 4:18-22. Jesus called two sets of brothers to be his disciples. And, that grew to 12. And, these men, and probably others who not as set apart, traveled with Jesus. They became a Christian Community. They were connected; they were involved in life together.

Now, we turn to Acts 1 – the disciples are now referred to as the apostles. They are still together. In chapter 2, following Pentecost, Peter launches into his famous sermon to the people, where in v. 40, “Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, ‘Save yourselves from this generation that has gone astray.’” Beginning in v. 43, “(then at the close of Peter's sermon) a deep sense of awe came over them all” and v. 45 “they sold their possessions and shared the proceeds with those in need. They worshipped each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity – all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And, each day the Lord added to their group those who were being saved.” Do you see the community in that – people engaged in life together?

Christian Community took a giant step forward, and what was born then continues today through the Universal church, through the Baptist denomination, through Lexington Baptist Church, and into our Sunday School class. We, in this class, we, are a Christian Community. We live in the same place, we share lives – highs and lows – that are generally similar, and our interests and goals – sociologically – would be very similar.

Now we go over to Acts 6. The community was rapidly multiplying, and there were rumblings of discontent. Those who spoke Greek complained. Those who spoke Hebrew complained. The Greek-speaking Jews said their wives were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food. So, the disciples called a meeting. They said, “It is insane for us to be administering a food program. We should be teaching and preaching the word of God.” So, a committee was formed, and this committee was anointed to judge. Organization occurred, giving us a glimpse of the community's seriousness. One of these on the committee was Stephen.

Stephen was arrested and then he preached a lengthy sermon, infuriated the Jewish temple leaders, and was stoned to death. This launched a season of persecution against the church, but guess what – it didn’t dissolve the church; persecution strengthened the church. The community was strengthened by adversity and persecution. Forged by fire. That is a central theme to following Jesus – persecution and adversity leads to a deeper faith.

I was about 12, and was at home alone one evening – my parents had gone to dinner and a movie – and my brothers were at my cousin’s house. A prisoner on a Georgia chain gang escaped and was on the loose in our rural part of the county. Of course, I had no idea, but my granddaddy called and told me to get my things ready – he was coming to get me. And, he did. And, back in his house, I watched as our little community came together. Everyone turned all their lights on, men loaded their guns, some women loaded their guns, conversations took place by telephone – back and forth.

I had seen all these people come together in the Brookwood Baptist Church cemetery, just up the road, when someone died. But, this was different. This was sharing life in a different kind of way – in fear and trouble. Arm-in-arm, shared geography, shared ideology, shared commitment to family, and looking out for one another. (Community looks out for one another).

My grandfather suddenly realized that his renters, who lived in a remote house he owned down at the end of his farm, had no telephone. They did not know the potential crisis at hand. And, so he and my uncle Coy, and cousin Billy, drove down to the rental house, and brought the family back to my grandfather’s house.
It was community. To this kind of commitment and caring for one another, we lay the layer of Christianity.

Now, it’s possible for you and me to be involved in Christian Community that overlaps several different churches in Lexington. Not all of my Christian friends attend Lexington Baptist Church. Within the worldwide Universal church of Christ, I am in a macro community all of these believers – all over the world.

For the purposes of our discussion this fall, we will look specifically at our Christian Community – this Sunday School class, primarily. And, why membership and participation are important. In fact, we are going to look toward a new chapter in January 2014, building a database of everyone's spiritual gifts, skills, hobbies and interests. Beginning in 2014, what we do together is going to look and feel different, moving into really being community the way the New Testament calls us to be. We are going to be on this journey together and invite people to join us.

And, yes, we are going to talk about formal membership. Yes, we are going to stress membership because in Acts 2:41, “Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to that community. They joined with the other believers and devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship.”

That’s the earliest statement of the earliest “church” as we know it. People were added and they joined, and a byproduct of that was devotion.  Devotion is defined this way: “Love, loyalty, or enthusiasm for a person, activity or cause.” You and I will quickly say, we are devoted to family, but when’s the last time you and I claimed devotion to Jesus and to His prescribed Christian Community? Get ready. Be praying now about your future with this class. Membership and Devotion – not to me – but to Jesus and to His people will be an expectation . . . as it should be for all those involved in Christian Community.