Jesus. Community. Mission.
Week 2 | Community
Dean Pollard
August 20, 2023

We are a community of people learning and living the way of Jesus.
Our mission is to be and make disciples, daily being formed into the image of Jesus.

  • 36 percent of American adults say they are lonely almost all the time

  • 51 percent of mothers with young children say they are lonely almost all the time

  • 61 percent of Americans ages 18-25 say they’re lonely almost all the time

Busyness- achieving + accumulating
Individualism - comfort + convenience
Hyper mobility - bounce from place to place
Non-committal- fear of disappointment

  • What is God’s plan for the local church?

Ephesians 2:1 We were “dead in the trespasses and sins” .

Ephesians 2:5 God “made us alive together with Christ”.

Ephesians 2:15–18 “that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father”.

The gospel alone creates this unity
- The cross is how Christ put to death hostility.
- What else could ever bring together two peoples with such different history, ethnicity, religion, and culture?

What is the purpose for this unity?

Ephesians 3:10 “that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”

  • Jews and Gentiles had nothing in common except hating one another.
  • Because of the one thing they do have in common—the bond of Christ
    they live together in astonishing love and unity.

Gospel driven community has two dimensions

1) Wide -it stretches to include such peoples as different as Jew and Gentile.

  • Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, “If you love those who love you, what reward do you have?” (Matt. 5:46).

  • Apart from supernatural power, some people would never unite together.

2) Deep -The Gospel doesn’t just bring people together to tolerate each other, but to be so tightly committed that Paul can call them a “new humanity” (2:15) and a new “household” (2:19, NIV).

  • Community that is supernaturally wide and deep makes the glory of God visible.
  • This is who we want to be––A community of people learning and living the way of Jesus; being and making disciples daily being transformed into the image of Jesus

1 Corinthians 12:27 (NIV): Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

Peter 5:8 (NIV): Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Acts 2:41–42 (NIV): Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Things they devoted themselves to
1. Apostles teaching and preaching of the Word of God
2. Fellowship

Hebrews 10:24 (NIV): And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds

Hebrews 10:25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.