How to Experience Authentic Community

This is the Chippengrim sermon podcast brought to you by Living on the Edge.

In this podcast, you'll hear Chips teaching unedited and from beginning to end.

Chip titled today's message, How to Experience Authentic Community.

Did you ever wonder why so many Christians get spiritually stuck?

I mean, the Bible is very, very clear.

It says, if any man, if any woman isn't Christ, the old things pass away.

He holds all things become new.

And yet, you know, you meet people and I mean sincere, good, I don't mean slackards.

I mean people that really love God, they've seen transformation in some very significant

areas and they're even in the Bible on a regular basis and they really want to grow and yet

they hit a ceiling or they stall.

There's just some area that just seems to, you know, the temper just never seems to get

under the spirit's control where how they say certain things, the way they judge people

or there's a little private eating disorder over here, an addiction maybe even on the internet.

And then they feel terrible and they promise God and they recommit their life about 25 times.

And then they just feel stuck.

That's where Andy was when he came and talked to me, except I would have never dreamed

Andy was stuck.

Andy came when I was pastoring another church many, many years ago.

And I met him in the first 10, 20 minutes.

I thought, wow, we were really growing at the time and we're longing for leaders and

he moved in from out of town and I met him, at his wife.

Just got to know him and it was just like, wow, I just so got a heart for God.

God up in the mornings was spending time with God.

I saw his family.

He had been through, been a Christian for quite a while, so he'd been in leadership positions

and churches.

And anyway, it was a great guy, I mean, warm and caring and I would never have dreamed

that there was a little pocket, sort of a little pocket in Andy's life that he was stuck.

And he asked if we could grab a cup of coffee and he had something he really needed to share

with me.

I said, sure.

Andy, be glad to.

And we sat down and he began to tell me about that compartment that had been sealed

off that he tried so hard and he was stuck.

He said, you know, it started when I was about, oh, eight or nine years old and a Sears

catalog came in the mail and I was flipping through it and found myself in the lingerie session.

Then later I found some magazines underneath my dad's bed.

By the time I was a teenager, I was fully addicted to at least soft porn.

When the internet happened, it was just like over, overwhelming the access and the privacy

that you could have.

And he said, Chip, I have prayed, I've fasted, I've memorized verse, I've begged God, I'll

go for a few weeks or a few months and just my whole life, I mean, my wife, I love her,

I'm absolutely committed to her, my kids, I've tried to do all, but this, I'm stuck.

And then he shared with me, he said, I heard something on the radio about this group of

people and they are meeting and he said, for about the last six months, I've been driving

45 minutes on Thursday night and I'm meeting with this group of people and I got unstuck.

The answer to why he was stuck despite God's word and all the rest came when he met with that

group and I'll tell you a little bit more about it. But as you see on your notes,

part of the answer is that the greatest seed in the greatest soil cannot grow in the wrong

environment. You might write Luke chapter eight or Mark chapter four parallel passages and

Jesus is talking about calling himself, he's the sower and what he sows is the seed and the

seed is God's word and the soil is the human heart's the various reception that the word of God

receives. And if you know the story, some is on the path and some on the rocky soil and

it's just the condition of different people's hearts and some where it's thorny and others

is good soil, good and honest heart, people who are really honest and really want to grow.

But here's what I want you to get, the greatest seed God's word and the greatest soil a good and

honest heart cannot grow in the wrong environment. There's certain things in your life and in my life

in every believer's life, transformation won't occur no matter how much you're in the Bible,

no matter how honest and desiring your heart is, apart from you being in this environment where it

can occur, what I want you to see is there is a specific ecosystem or environment that God has

that brings about transformation when the seed of God's word in your heart and mine is there.

And if it's not there, certain things you just get stuck. Notice in your notes, a little biblical

background here, the command of Jesus requires very specific ecosystem or environment.

The very last night on the earth, he'd wash their feet and then he turned to them and he looked

him eye to eye and he said, I want you. This is the new commandment to love each other in the same

way I've loved you. Sacrificially, authentically, lay down your life for one another, but it requires

an environment. The second is the example of Jesus requires a very specific environment.

When he wanted to change the world, he started by teaching and he went and there was

multitudes and thousands and thousands of people and he did miracles. But then when he wanted to

get the team together that would change the world, he stayed up all night, he prayed all night and

he chose 12 to be the text as with him. The multitudes heard the truth, the 12 learned to live the

life. There was an environment that they needed to be in for all that truth to get down on their

soul and their life and their relationships. The practice of the early church and its impact

argue for the same environment. You know the story, they were committed and asked to the apostles

teaching and to the fellowship of gathering together and to the breaking of bread and to the Lord

supper and says then they gathered how in the temple courts in Peter or John or someone would

preach and teach all these brand new Christians and then where from house to house. Finally, the

church history passed and present confirmed this specific environment for spiritual growth and

transformation. And whether I could take you back to the Moravians or the Wesslies or the Welsh

Revival and they would get these little societies together or I could take you to Korea that was,

I mean, completely non-Christian five, six decades ago and the cell movement or the small group

movement now spanning the earth. Here's what I want you to get. The specific environment or ecosystem

in which the seed of God's word in your heart that's honest and good and wants to grow is authentic

community. It's authentic community. Notice the form that it takes is a small group. I mean the

group could be three people, four people, ten people but that's just the form, that's the container.

Never ever confuse just being in a small group with authentic community.

I've been in small groups that there's no authentic community, haven't you? You ever gone to

small group and someone opens the Bible and reads a little bit and maybe you watch a little part of

the DVD and someone says, well, what did you get for question four? What did you get for question seven?

Oh, that's nice. That's nice. And then some deep question is asked and the answer is, oh,

maybe I should probably not work so much. Okay, thank you for sharing so deeply.

Are there any prayer requests? Yeah, my hip really hurts. It really hurts, you know?

And then you need to kind of get over with that. Then you get up and the ladies are over here.

Did you hear about that Nordstrom cell or Macy's? Do you know what's going on there?

The guys who are over here are going, man, those giants are doing it now. The 49ers, I'll tell you what,

that linebacker. And then you eat a few more little treats and you get in your car and say,

what in that grade? What was? But just don't call it authentic community. It's a good start.

It's a connection. You know some people. But authentic community is deeper.

Authentic community is this environment where people lay down their lives for one another.

Authentic community is where you take a group of people and they say, you know what? We're going

to change the world and they were around Jesus. Authentic community is living under persecution

and hearing God's word and going from house to house to support one another to live it out.

In fact, it raises two very important questions. Question number one is what is authentic community

and then question number two is how do you get it? And the answer to both those questions is in

Romans chapter 12 verses 9 to 13. If you're just new with us, we're going through the chapter in

Romans 12. And then verse 1, we learned that what God really wants from all of us is what? He wants

us surrendered to him, all we are, all that we have. In verse 2, we said there's an enemy of our

soul. There's a world system that's trying to woo and seduce our heart away from our Savior.

And we're not to be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of our mind

to be separate from the world's values. And we looked at verses 3 through 8 and we learned that

we're not to think too high or too low but to have a sober self-assessment to know where we

fit in the body. And now what he's going to talk about is serving in love. He's going to talk about

what kind of relationships are we to have as fellow believers. And if you look at your notes there,

in verse 9 you're going to see that authentic community is the real you showing up.

Verse 10 is going to say that the real you needs to meet real needs. And then in verse 11 he's

going to say the real you needs to meet real needs but for the right reason. And then

verses 12 and 13 the real you needs to meet real needs for the right reason and do it in the right

way. For some of you you're where my friend Andy was. You love God. You have a good heart.

You're taking in God's word but you're stuck. There's a ceiling. You have these outbursts of

anger and you feel terrible about it. You have issues in your life that you know you don't want

and you've told God I'm sorry and you want to change and you've tried hard to change but you still

don't see any radical transformation. I'm telling you this moment on this day may be God's answer

to the environment in which some of those things you struggle with so long he can change.

But it doesn't happen alone. So let's look together what is authentic community and maybe more

importantly how do you get it? First from verse 9 authentic community is the real you not a

projection of yourself. So you can't have authentic community unless the real you shows up.

authentic community he says let love be sincere hate what is evil cling to what is good the two

characteristics of the real you showing up is one authenticity and two its purity where the word

says let love be sincere circle the word sincere and right above it hypocrisy. Paul is borrowing

from the Greek of his day and in the Greek theater of that day they were all male actors

and so if you were a good lesbian you could be able to throw your voice and you could play a male

part a female part an old person a young person and that dressed up in different costumes and then

there would be a mask that you would wear so you would throw your voice and Paul takes that word

for the mask and that's this word he says let love be without the mask without hypocrisy let the

real you show up yes you got to be discerning and you got to be careful of who you share the real

you with but he's saying that authentic community isn't just getting in a small group it's when

the real you showing up and you let people see who you are progressively wisely discerningly

in fact jotting your notes if you were Acts chapter 5 this is important I mean this is beyond

important some people never experienced this their entire Christian life and they can never

figure out why they don't experience the transformation power that God has promised us in scripture

now I didn't grow up as a Christian I never opened the Bible till I was 18 and so my first trip

through the New Testament was like oh wow I mean really that was like Matthew Mark Luke

John I mean I didn't know the names of stuff and then I got to Acts and I figured out okay this

is the early church history and you know Jesus ascended he went to heaven and then chapter 2 the

church is born in chapter 3 you know he and John are you know doing miracles and it's pretty

exciting stuff and then you get to chapter 5 and the church is exploding and so there's all

these needs I mean tens of thousands of people are now in the church in a very short amount of time

and about 80 percent of them are slaves and a very small percentage are pretty affluent people

some inherits household and others and they did this in this time of emergency they did this sort

of unusual thing where they all came together and they said we need to help each other we need to

be devoted to one another and so in chapter 4 it gives an example of this very wealthy man who

had a piece of property and in Cyprus on this island which is the equivalent of like downtown San

Francisco or Manhattan in that day and so he sells it and he takes the money and he says look I

mean I don't know this for sure but you know I got a second home you know this is a piece of

property you take this to meet the needs of the people in the church they're really hurting

and I think a buzz happened in the church where wow I mean it was so sacrificial it was so generous

and people were like boy I guess this is what it means to love one another and his name was Barnabas

and I think Barnabas got this reputation because they started calling the son of encouragement

and the story goes on in Acts chapter 5 and jot that down because before your head hits the pillow

you ought to read it it's not very long it's very interesting but I'm a brand new Christian and I'm

reading this and so there's this young couple I'm guessing they're young maybe they're not young

but Ananias and Sapphira and and so they kind of look around and they think wow everyone's

talking about Barnabas we wish people would talk about us like that we sure wish people would think

were that generous and loving and kind and so they hatched this plan and the plan is here's what

we're going to do we're going to sell this piece of property and we'll get the money and we'll

tell people that we we sold it for this much money and like we gave it all away but we'll really

keep back the money for us so we'll kind of have our cake you need it too we'll appear generous

and loving and sacrificial but we'll still have the major part of the money and so you know he comes

and talks to Peter and God reveals to Peter what's going on and Peter says Ananias why have you

lied to the Holy Spirit before it was sold it was yours after it was sold it was yours you aren't

compelled to give a little or a lot the issues integrity and then right there bam he dies I mean

literally drops dead and the young men come and pick him up for what his hypocrisy the very first

sin in the church his hypocrisy and the judgment is death his wife comes a few hours later and I'm

I'm thinking Peter's gone I sure hope she's not in on this and so he says Sephira it's good to

see you how's things going oh pretty good how's the kids I'm adding just a little and he says to her

so did you sell this piece of land for such and such a price oh yes you know Ananias when you're

married to such a generous loving kind amazing husband like I have and we sacrificial have given

it all away I'm again reading between the lines and Peter looks at her and I think just with

sadness in his heart and said the young men's feet who took away your husband she'll take you

away as well bam she dies on the spot and it says a great fear came among the church yeah are you

kidding now you got to understand can you imagine if you've never read the Bible before and this is

your first time through the New Testament and your brand new Christian you're thinking so this is

what happens to hypocrites I'm in trouble I mean literally it was like whoa in fact if God

was acting in this way I think he was gonna make a point see if hypocrisy gets in the mix it's

like leaven and bread and spreads and when people aren't authentic the message of Jesus would have

been wiped out within a few years and so God wanted to demonstrate how important this was

and I often thought later when I was a pastor if if God did that for like 24 hours and in the

church all across America all of us would have to turn in our pastors badges and become morticians

probably a lot of us pastors would need other pastors who were doing better than us to bury us

but do you get it do you really get that church quote was never ever intended to be a group of

people that come to an event and feel like in some way they're doing something morally positive

because they come to event and listen to someone talk about God and even sing a few worship songs

to him and then file out and live life their own way and not be absolutely connected to one another

and have a safe environment where the real you shows up and you know why the real you doesn't show up

the same reason the real you doesn't show up in me he says let love be without hypocrisy and then

it says cling to what is good good hate what is evil literally the word is a poor what is evil

it's that picture it's a we're I remember doing a word study on this and it's a picture of being

on vacation for like three or four weeks whoever gets that much time but that's really hypothetical

but you've been out of town for a while and there's a carton of milk or some fruit and you open the

carton of milk to smell up the seat and it's oh have you ever done that and the smell is so bad you

want to throw up that's this word it says a poor evil most of us are spending this I'm wonder if

this is wrong how close can I get to sin without falling in so people in counseling will ask me

questions like well is this rating this rating this rating in this movie is you think it's okay

if I can do this or you know we're dating right now and we're doing this this and this is that

really sexual sin or can we or you know we have so much money and I want to know is it the grosser

is it the net or is if it could I take a percentage and you know it's always it's kind of like how

instead of what's it say cling to what is good that's completely the wrong question the issue

isn't how close can I get to sin quote without sinning it's how close can I get to God

how pure can I live because when you're pure not perfect pure the real you can show up

because you can be honest and you know one of the most powerful and significant experiences you

will ever have in your life is being in a small group of people that's really safe

that really love you and you really love them and the real you shows up the real you that's

making great progress the real you with the frustrations and hurts and struggles the real you with

the real problems and as you bring your struggles you're not judged your loved and the real you

that needs help get support and the real you that needs accountability and as we all do an

occasional kind of review can you know what what are you thinking you kind of violated our trust by

that see that's fundamental part of authentic community and a lot of people never have that

and so enormous amounts of energy what we what we end up doing instead of allowing God to

transform us the energy is we have to do sin management and so we're spending all this energy

trying to either hide or deal with our guilt or deal with our shape or drown it out with

food or work or money or shopping or speed and so when the real you shows up that's the

beginning of authentic community but it's beyond that it meets real needs not superficial or

convenient ones authentic community doesn't happen when you do a little nice thing or a little nice

thing here and it doesn't really cost you very much authentic community happens when the real you

shows up notice it says devotion be devoted to one another and brotherly love humility giving

preference to one another in honor real needs getting met always involves devotion on our part

and humility the word devotion here is strong he's saying you need to be committed to one another

and lay your lives down for one another like you would for blood relatives I mean for people that

you feel this moral responsibility for and he says be devoted to one another how in brotherly love

fellow Delphi that's the word we named a city in Pennsylvania by that it's this commitment of family

love of being there for one another of doing whatever it takes I thought I knew what it meant to

kind of be devoted and love I was a new Christian and after probably I guess it was about five or

six years I'd been coaching for a couple years after school and Trees and I were married and we

had two small kids at this time and so I mean I was shocked literally shocked that God called me

into vocational ministry I thought I just can't imagine ever him being able to use someone

like me and I'm a teacher I'm a basketball coach I can't imagine being a pastor but he made it

clear so we went to school and after about a year there built some relationships we stayed in

little apartment complex actually it was a huge apartment complex but it was like these apartment

here apartment here apartment here apartment here they were little quad things and so you really

got to know the people you shared one hallway and I came home after school it was in my first or

second year and Trees' eyes were all red I said honey man what is going on you okay she was all

I spent all afternoon with Pat you know right across the hall I said well what's going on she goes well

her husband left her I said oh you gotta be kidding and they've gotten really close they had

little boy the same age as my little boys they were all about five years old and she goes it's

worse than that bank accounts are emptied he left her they have a like two or three week old

newborn and she has no money and we just prayed and cried I thought wow so you know I'm

thinking my heart's really going out to her so I'm thinking it's really spiritual so honey you

want to pray for her she goes well actually we did that but I've been thinking about it and we

talked over dinner she goes I think we should in two days her rent is due and they're going to

kick her out if she doesn't have rent money and I think we should pay for her rent

and my portfolio at this point is very easy to keep I can keep it in my head

we don't have a savings account because there was no need we had a checking account

and I made under a thousand dollars a month on straight commission as I went to school full time

so I said honey if we pay for Pat's rent our rent is due in 10 days and the moment we pay for her rent

we will have ten dollars in our checking account she said I know oh you know when you marry

above yourself it's really not very good at times you know it's so I was like you know what okay

but you know what it was it was being devoted isn't like oh I hope it goes well for her I heard

she had cancer you know that family's going through a rough time got a little bit lab a blue no

no it's like we're in this together she's family and so again I'm figuring I'm probably going to

have to learn how to be a pastor someday might as well start now and so okay Lord here it is we

write the check and by the way it was not noble I think people get this idea that when we take big

steps for God yes God most of my really big steps are like yes God you know I don't really want

to do this I'm pretty but okay I'm going to claim your promise but my God will supply all my needs

according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus you said I'd do that and the context is giving

being generous Philippians 4.19 I'm standing on that passage our rents do no money we have a

three-day grace period first day grace period no money second day grace period no money third day

hey yo you know which part of this verse am I misinterpreting or you know what's the deal

and that day in the mail that day an envelope came you know business side envelope and in the

left hand corner it had a football helmet that was green and yellow and it was from Lombardi Avenue

I got a letter from someone from the Green Bay Packers what's like are you you know what is this

so I opened the letter and the letter says hi Chip I'm sure you don't know me I met you about

six years ago or so I was a senior in high school at the time and you taught a Bible study in San

Jose and I later went on and played college football and I was the first quarterback taken in the draft

and I'm playing for the Green Bay Packers now and when you taught that Bible study all I can tell you

I can't really remember what you said but something happened that changed the spiritual trajectory

of my life and I've never forgotten it and I'm not thought of you for six years but this is weird

out of the blue you came to my mind and I'm supposed to send you this thousand dollars

I think it was just like oh you know what you know what happened I got to experience authentic

community this is how God works this is normal he puts people in your life that you have some

more time than they have you have money that they don't have you have energy that they don't have

you have spiritual gifts that would help them that they don't have and you don't not and think

well I went to church I read the Bible went on a mission strip you think I'm a part of this

community and that need is a red light going off on my soul to love them and I will tell you what

man we got tight with Pat I mean it was like 20 years later it got a postcard

Tracy you know I saw somewhere you and Chip and I just want and you know picture of her

in her grown son and the little one and you know our hearts were connected to Pat why

because wherever your treasure is your heart follows it and then I got to see that God also

that was the first of many lessons I mean that was I mean that was a like whoo whoo and after that

in the last 30 years we've done that scores of times scores of times never knowing for sure

how God supply my testimony he always does and what we've experienced is God see at the end of

the day you know what most Christians don't know God is real he's not a philosophy he's not a

formula he's not a moral code Jesus is a person and he's real and he loves you and he made promises

and he wants you to stand on him and you take risks what you're called faith and you love one

another and people get love through you and then he supplies when the real you meets real needs

through devotion and also through humility because at the end of the day you know what you have to

think more of other people than yourself jot in the corner of your notes Philippians chapter 2 if you

will verse 3 and 4 the Apostle Paul says I mean think of how all in encompassing this do nothing

out of selfish ambition or vain conceit but in humility consider others as more important than

yourself what would that change your small group would that change your family

each of you should look not only for your own interest but also the interests of others

in fact he goes on to say have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus

that although he existed in the form of God he didn't regard equality with God

a thing to be grasped but he humbled himself taking the form of a bond servant becoming obedient even

unto death humility humility is putting other people giving preference where you lift them up

had the privilege of working with someone that's modeled this for me and there's a number of people

that do it but I just have the longest history with a guy named Greg he came out of the Silicon Valley

early days of Palm Pilot later went to Cisco project manager later was a volunteer over in Santa

Cruz and 40 or 50 volunteers did light sound real super techie guy when I went to walk through the

Bible he came with me and was just he's just a manager of just tremendous ability and that is

living on the edge went out on its own he ran all of living on the edge the broadcasting the money

the finances the operation everything and we started to grow and there was a guy came along he

wrote a strategic plan for us and he'd let a huge ministry in the United States and I'll never

forget he met with me said this is really exciting and I think God's in it I'd like to help you

fulfill it and little humility I said well I now know kind of what you've done in your life and

you now know all of our books I could pay you maybe half of what you've ever made this is an amazing

downward mobility opportunity for you and he looked at me said I'll take it and Andrew came

and in the next three and a half years he tripled the size of everything that happened at living

on the edge but here was the interesting point Greg is really good into the people and roles and

personnel and HR and all that stuff I'm not and we sat down the entire executive team of living

on the edge me and Greg it's two of us you know and he said if we hire Andrew you need to know

something I said what's that and about six months he needs to lead the whole organization and I

need to be just over broadcasting and just technology because his gifts and what he'll bring

he's far better he will bring what I don't have and there's no way the ministry will be what God

wants it to be unless he has that role so I'm just telling you that you know he needs to become my boss

now when's the last time you ever worked or met anyone who had the power to hire someone

that when he hired them he knew they will become greater I will become lesser he will have a higher

role make a higher income and I will move down because I want to serve you serve God and the mission

is what matters you know what that's called giving preference see when you walk into a small group

or when you walk into church or when you are in your family and sit around at the table which I

hope you do all of us either have one or two sets of lenses on one lens is who asked me a question

who cares about me why didn't anyone give me a hug how come everyone seems so happy no one cared

about me I went to the small group and no one seemed to really listen but I was telling my story

and I'm lonely and I need a friend and what about and what about and that's one set of glasses

and other people go with the set of glasses and say I've got needs and God knows what they are

but I wonder who he wants me to be a conduit of grace in this small group or when I get home from

work I'm absolutely tired I don't want to talk about all that stuff I went through but I bet my wife

or my husband or some of my kids they're going to need someone that's alive and caring and I want

to engage and find out how can I put them above myself how do I give them preference and here's

the weird part those people who do that experience amazing joy and people flock around them

because Jesus said give and it'll be given unto you good measure press down shaking together

running over back into your lap for in the same measure that you give and it may include money

but he wasn't talking about money in the same measure that you give it'll be given unto you press

down shaking together and running back see that spiritual ceiling where we get stuck is often the

real you doesn't show up and if the real you doesn't show up often we're not meeting real needs

we're just meeting convenient or superficial needs but then he says not only does the real you and

me need to show up and meet real needs but he says you need to do it for the right reason not to

please people he says not lagging behind indiligence fervent and spirit serving the Lord

not lagging behind indiligence literally the word is slothfulness the literal meaning of it is

not being slow fervent and spirit is a picture of water coming to a boil it has this idea of you

know like when the bubbles come up right just before the you know when it's when it's boiling

this this this energy this passion this focus fervent in spirit not obligation duty I guess

I got to do this gotta go to go to this group and so and so has a need I mean what do you think I

guess we ought to help them blah blah blah that's not the picture and notice the focus isn't what

will I get or will people think better of me I'm not going to be slow about the prompt things that

God gives me I'm going to be filled with enthusiasm that comes from God and I'm going to do it not

even just for them but to serve him how many of you have ever been like talking with a close friend

or been in a small group especially Bible study and someone in the Bible study said hey would

you all pray for me I'm lazy and I need help with my laziness can I see those hands see most people

especially Americans none of us think we're lazy but part of it is we have a a warp view of what

laziness is we think laziness are people who watch seven hours of TV play four hours of video games

and eat chocolate bombons on the couch for days on end they're lazy biblical definition of laziness

is not doing what needs to be done when it needs to be done a lot of we mask our laziness with good

things God speaks to your heart and he says you need to apologize to so-and-so and so you think oh

wow I think I'll go read a chapter in the Bible or pray guess what it's not God's will to pray a

read a chapter in the Bible when he says go apologize to so-and-so see laziness is refusing to do

what needs to be done when it needs to be done and we have all kind of denial and avoidance

and he says in your motives don't be slothful be enthusiastic notice at the bottom of your notes

genuine service to God is characterized by diligence excellence in what we do and how we do it

and enthusiasm passion to serve God and love people not please people or impress people

my dad was a an alcoholic a great guy in general but just one of the roles in an alcoholic

family is making peace and fixing things well once I came to Christ I didn't I didn't realize it

it took me a while to get going spiritually and when I finally got going what I found out was

I was still trying to fix things and work out my dysfunctional issues now in the body of Christ

and what I found is this group of people who call themselves Christians and I was genuinely

transformed and lots of great things were happening but I found if you memorized a lot of verses

and you served people and if you said the right things and you just kind of went off the charts

and your performance orientation to quote what look like loving people you got a lot of strokes and

affirmation and so after a slow start I went nuts I memorized hundreds of verses I was in this

Bible study led this Bible study wasn't this group did this I mean I was just like a maniac

I was such a maniac that there was times I thought I make myself sick and I had this opportunity

you know if you were a leader on this campus you could go to this special thing in the summer that

only a few people could go to and you memorize these verses and everyone would go to this city and

you'd get a job and then there'd be you know like a hundred or 200 and you'd be on teams of five

you would have a team leader and four people and you know they would help you grow and you got a

job and you did evangelism it was like a a house for spiritual growth and it was really really

beneficial but this particular group had a very structured approach to sanctification or how

you grow spiritually and their approach combined with my warped personality and background was like

the perfect storm to create a Pharisee and so I I really thought by the end of that summer I mean

you need to do this you need to do the Bible study you need to share your faith you need to do this

by the end of that Bible study you go to the end and your team leader would meet with you individually

and kind of give you an evaluation and say as you go back to your campus here's something to

think about to really help you grow your campus ministry and you know some of the people who

talking and they were little uptight like wow this might be very threatening I'm thinking this

is going to be great because in my private world I'm thinking I'm more disciplined than anybody

here I if they were going to give an all-star most valuable Christian award

you know so I'm supposed to have this meeting with John my team leader and I literally can't

wait I'm thinking I'm finally going to get some pats on the back that I really deserve and

he's going to tell me just you know it's probably you Hudson Taylor Dawson-Tropman Martin Luther you

know you and the boys are going to make a big impact someday you know I mean it was so sick

and let me let me pick up the story because it's too embarrassing to tell

John was quiet he's my team leader and had a very understated approach to his leadership

I was honestly looking forward to the meeting and I secretly hope that he'd notice the discipline and

what I modeled for the other members of my team the servanthood that I've demonstrated

in our relationships and the knowledge and faith that were rapidly developing in my life

I'd worked hard and was ready for that good pat on the back our meeting didn't go as I expected

although I was full of zeal and performed well throughout the summer John's evaluation stunned me

his assessment of my spiritual growth was far different than my own but very few words

he said he appreciated getting to know me throughout the summer and that God had revealed three

verses on his heart that he wanted to share with me handed me the note cards and said I pray

God really speaks to you as you go back to your campus anti-climatic so I've got these three

three by five cards with verses that he had handwritten out the first one said for my now seeking

the favor of men or of God or am I striving to please men if I was still trying to please men

I would not be a bond servant of Christ Galatians 110 I thought hmm that's interesting verse

second verse John 544 how can you believe when you receive glory from one another and you do not

seek the glory that is from the one and only God there may be a message here all doubt was removed

by the last verse Luke 1615 and he said to them you are those who justify yourselves in the

side of men but God knows your heart that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the

side of God see the real you can show up and you can meet real needs and you can do it to serve

you like I did to get affirmation to get strokes to play a game inside the Christian community

where you appear loving but what you really do is you end up using all the verses that you know

and all the good deeds that you have to create a little world where you just

send a different hologram of a fake and phony person that's working out your own dysfunctions

to get people to accept you rather than say I am accepted in Jesus and the acid test of your motives

is always when you get treated like a servant when no one notices when they don't say thank you

when you're not rewarded when you feel like you know the only one that sees what I'm doing is

God the only one that seems to really care is God and in your heart of hearts if you can say

oh yeah that's right I'm serving an audience of one people's response people's strokes people's

affirmation God when it comes or if it doesn't come that's not why I do what I do

it's the real you meeting real needs for the right reason and finally it's in the right way

authentic community is always going to be played out in the context of pain and difficulty and

challenge in a fallen world it's really really hard to make the time for authentic community

it's really hard to be honest when your bombarded and so in the right way is not in your own strength

not in what you can do not in the power of your personality not as Jesus is some sort of ideal model

I'm going to work hard and I can love people and I can be real and I can do this and this is how

much money I have this is no no no he says your focus the right way is there's an upward focus

and there's an outward focus and it says you need to rejoice and hope that's a mindset not rejoice

in circumstances or people's response he says what do you need to do persevere in tribulation

in other words in the midst of when it's difficult you refuse to give up because you're going to do

life with this group of people and it's hard and everything in you wants to give up but you refuse

and you're going to help people make it through and your resource is going to be devoted to prayer

you're going to you're going to have multiple times where I don't know how I'm going to pay my rent

I don't know how I'm going to solve this problem I don't know how I'm going to heal this marriage

I don't know how I can break this addiction but God I'm asking for your help

and I'm going to share my life openly in an authenticity with a group of people that are safe

and we're going to go through this together and there's an upward focus it's not your resources

the spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in every child of God you have all the power

you'll ever need but that power gets accessed through his word and through the community of God's

people and that power gets accessed as you pray one of the greatest evidences of genuine humility

and dependencies your prayer life and I've been there you know what when your life basically

is like you get up you grab a cup of coffee you get in the car you run you're going there's a big

meeting gotta do this with your kids gotta make a big decision and you do all that and you're not

on your knees saying God I don't know what to do God I don't have the wisdom God I don't know how to

do this with one of my kids God I need please when you're not doing that what you're saying to God is

I know you created the world I know you're all wise I know you everything you know everything is

happening today tomorrow and forever but I really don't need that kind of help I think that's

the definition of arrogance isn't it our prayerlessness basically says I got this one you just

keep that world spinning handle this one and God is opposed to the proud gets grace to the humble

that's tapping his supernatural resources and so there's an upward focus and then it's followed

by an outward focus an outward focus says notice what it says it's just contributing to the needs

of the saints practicing or pursuing hospitality it's where he says there's an outward focus the

resources are there's times where God's going to ask you to contribute the real meaning of contribute

is contribute like give money away to people in need give time away give things away to someone that

doesn't have what you have that's a brother's sister in Christ contribute to the needs of the

saints fellow believers and when you do that's like what about me God says I got that one covered

and then it says pursuing hospitality literally the phrase is pursuing strangers

so you can get into authentic community I think this is added at the very end for a very important

reason it can be us for and no more we got the greatest Bible study we're really close we're so

authentic we're open we can share anything we're super supportive we've been doing this for 25

years with just us wow goody for you I wonder if there's anybody else in the church that might have

needed this in the last 24 or five years who are the people that are unlovely who are the people

that are lonely who are the people that need you to pursue and open your home and open your heart

and invite him to a meal who are the people that need you to be the presence of Jesus

see this this is what breaks the ceiling this is how you get unstuck the seed of God's word

in a good and honest heart the soil in the environment of authentic community the real you

meeting real needs for the right reason and the right way is where supernatural transformation occurs

it mattered so much to Jesus notice how he closed his last prayer recorded in scripture he says my

prayer father is not for them alone his disciples pray also for those that will believe in me through

their message that's us that all of them notice maybe one father just as you are in me and I

am in you may they also be in us the Trinity has authentic community and Jesus is praying to the

father that we could experience what they experience and then we could experience with them and

then look at the purpose clause so that this is why this is so important so that they may believe

you sent me the greatest apologetic on the face of the earth is when you love authentically

brothers and sisters with the real you meeting real needs for the right reason the right way

those outside of Christ will understand and believe that Jesus could be their savior too

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