Jesus Is Creating A Church That Can Change The World:
It starts with
Then moves to
While using our
All of THIS happens in the context of GROUPS, which are a massive part of God’s Plan.
We need pretend-free relationships. And when you find THAT place, it changes your life:
That place where you are completely authentic, and yet completely accepted.
That place where you are completely vulnerable, and yet completely valued.
That place where you are completely unmasked, and yet completely understood.
That place where you are completely you, and yet completely belong.
That place where you are completely known, and yet completely loved.
We long for this, and when we find it, it changes you forever. When you find this, you run to it.
After we receive GRACE and begin to GROW, we GO and use our GIFTS. And part of this is stepping into GROUPS. GROUPS are Pretend-Free Zones, but how do we create them?
Creating GROUPS (Pretend-Free Zones)…
1) We Authentically
James 5:16 (NLT):
“16 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The
earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.”
That’s what a Body does. A Body cares for and heals and helps itself. This is basic and fundamental to following Jesus. You cannot follow Jesus if you’re not functioning in the context of a community of other Jesus followers.
2) We Authentically
More Than Anything, People Long To Be Seen, Heard and Understood. Exodus 3:6-8 (NLT) “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God. Then the LORD told him, “I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey…”
Our Lives Are Changed When We Allow People To See Us! The Good Samaritan helped because he “saw” the wounded man as he really was!
The Greatest Single Thing For Your Mental & Emotional Health Is “Pretend-Free Zones”: Groups Where We Have Healthy Relationships.
George Vaillant, Harvard professor of psychiatry: “the only thing that really matters in life are your relationships to other people.”
A one-way relationship can’t end loneliness. Only two-way relationships do that. Loneliness isn’t the physical absence of other people, but it’s the sense that you’re not sharing anything that matters with anyone else. To end loneliness, you need a sense of being seen.
3) We Authentically
Hebrews 10:24-25: “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Community is A>B>C:
o A >
o B >
o C > Care
The phrase “one another” occurs 100 times in the New Testament. About 59 of those are specific commands teaching us how (and how not) to relate to one another. This is true Christian community and what proves us as Christ-followers (John 13:35):
Love one another (John 13:34 - This command occurs at least 16 times)
Be devoted to one another (Romans 12:10)
Live in harmony with one another (Romans 12:16)
Build up one another (Romans 14:19; 1 Thessalonians 5:11)
Accept one another (Romans 15:7)
Care for one another (1 Corinthians 12:25)
Serve one another (Galatians 5:13)
Forgive one another (Ephesians 4:2, 32; Colossians 3:13)
Be patient with one another (Ephesians 4:2; Colossians 3:13)
Be kind and compassionate to one another (Ephesians 4:32)
Encourage one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11)
Submit to one another (Ephesians 5:21, 1 Peter 5:5)
Galatians 6:2: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” > “GET UP UNDER THE BURDEN”. Jesus followers create community where they know what each other are going through and know how to get up under the burden with one another so they can help carry each other’s burdens. And when we carry each other’s burdens, we fulfill the Law of Christ.
This is a big deal. This changes communities. Once upon a time, it changed the world.
Proverbs 11:24-25 (NIV): “One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.”
Isolation leads to depression, while community leads to completion. Content informs, but community transforms. We need Pretend Free Zones because life change happens in GROUPS and CIRCLES. Life change rarely happens in rows.
And here’s what happens in every GROUP: We go from authentic SHARING, to being SEEN, loved and accepted as we are, to being fully SUPPORTED.
Every church should have Pretend-Free Zones.