You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.
Our passion is to experience and express grace.
Join us.
We're thinking this morning as we've already begun celebrating God's love about relationships
in the family of God.
And as we get started this morning, I want us to look briefly at a passage in Ephesians
3 that orients this topic in the broader conversation that we've been having about our core commitments,
about being a church that God would use to bring revival and renewal.
See, it's really easy to think that relationships within the church are about this inwardly focused,
self-serving idea, but they're actually at the heart of the others-focused, outwardly focused
mission that God has called us to.
We see that in Ephesians where Paul's writing to a church and he's telling its members about
God's grace that has come and rescued each of them.
That's where it starts.
But very quickly he moves to say God's grace hasn't just come to each of you individually,
but to a whole community of you.
That actually Jesus in the cross has rescued Jew and Gentile and brought them into one family.
That's chapter 2.
It's the work of Christ on the cross, the bond of His love that unites.
And that group that's united, he then says this is where the remarkable power of God is at work,
to do things that they couldn't even imagine doing.
He says the way you plug in to that power that He's going to show through you is through knowing
more and more of His love.
This is what we've been saying the last three weeks, that the church must be focused on Jesus.
That when we are, God promises to do amazing things, to build His kingdom, to storm the gates of hell through us.
And that of course we are utterly dependent upon Him, His power that is going to be working if that's going to happen.
So as we figure out what does it look like together to depend on Him today,
one little phrase in the midst of this conversation in Ephesians,
says the necessity of vital relationships within the church.
This love of God is what we must grasp more and more for His power to flow through us.
And it is experienced, this one phrase says,
together with all the saints.
In other words, what Paul's saying in one sentence,
a church prayerfully dependent on God for its Christ-centered mission must lock arms in meaningful relationships.
Locking arms with each other to move outward.
Listen to this glorious passage in that light.
Ephesians 3 verse 17, this is God's holy word.
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
may have power together with all the saints
to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.
To know this love that surpasses knowledge,
that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,
according to His power that is at work within us,
to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus,
throughout all generations, forever and ever.
Amen.
Let's pray together.
Father, all glory is Yours.
May there be glory to You in this place,
in this community,
as we know and love and reflect our Savior more.
May they know You because they see Your love in us.
Through that we ask for the glory of Jesus.
Amen.
It's been a long time since I agreed to participate in a three-legged race.
You may have been in one before.
If you're at all like me, it's fraught with danger.
If you're like me, a person who is very competitive
and who believes that everything should be done at full speed,
all the time, no matter what, three-legged race is.
It's not where you should start.
The idea, of course, is to move in sync with your partner
across the finish line, right?
Seems fairly simple.
The catch, of course, is that you each have a leg tied together.
If you've never been to a field day before,
you know how disastrous these can be.
And if you haven't seen it, let me tell you the secret.
The key is that bond that is connecting the two legs.
It has to be tied really tightly to keep you together.
Working with your teammate to move at the same pace,
to support each other,
to cross the finish line and win the race together.
If that bond gets loose or you try to win the race alone,
no matter how good an athlete you are,
it will get ugly very fast.
This is usually the way it ends,
and the finish line is far in the distance.
It's simply not a race that you can win on your own.
We've said that the same is true
for the mission God has called us to
as His people in this world.
We're designed to lean on each other.
It's together with all the saints
that our vision of God's love grows.
We say that, but we love to try on our own, don't we?
And we often end up face down in the grass.
We've bought into the lie
that me and Jesus is enough, really.
That surface relationships and social media connections
is really deep community and all that I'll ever need.
That having a busy schedule where I see lots of people,
that that qualifies as true community.
That's one I believe a lot.
We like the perceived safety of anonymity, don't we?
We fear being exposed if we move out of our isolation
and we're truly known by someone.
We've been hiding behind fig leaves
since the very first sin in the garden, haven't we?
We all do it differently,
but do you feel that reality in your life?
That you have that tendency to do that?
Let me ask you a couple of questions.
Is there anyone at all
with whom you have shared your secret sin struggle?
Who has a hunting license in your heart and life
to ask you hard questions?
Do you ever feel like no one at church
or maybe no one at all truly understands you?
Have you had friends from church get divorced
and you didn't even have any idea
they were struggling or having any trouble at all?
When was the last time you redirected plans you had made
based on input from a brother or sister?
See, all too often we try to run on our own, don't we?
We think, I got this.
I can win this race.
I'm strong.
I'm fast.
Plus, it's risky to involve anybody else.
All too often the church is sprawled
face down across the grass
with legs loosely dangling from each other
rather than running in sync
towards our neighbors bound tightly together.
No one has ever won a three-legged race
or brought revival on his own.
The bond for our three-legged race, if you will,
is Jesus.
He unites us to each other
in a way that must produce
radically different relationships
from what most of us are used to.
What kind of relationships develop
in a Christ-centered community?
One where his influence is primary,
where his word directs our relationships.
What's different when the bond of Jesus unites us?
Well, first, and there are a lot of these.
I'm just looking at a couple this morning.
We value people not because of what they offer us,
but because of who they are.
Relationships in this world often form
because someone helps us.
We invest further in the relationship
because they offer us laughter
or support or advancement
in some sort of way, right?
You do this all the time.
They help the team succeed.
It makes me look good or feel good
to be with them.
Value comes from something you do.
In God's family, it must be different.
We value people, period.
They are not a means to an end.
We don't see them merely as tools.
People are valuable in themselves
as created in the image of God,
a relational God within the Trinity
who creates us to reflect that image
in relationship with each other.
And then people are valuable and significant
as children of God.
In his family, the bond of Jesus unites us,
whether you improve my social status,
whether you help me get the project done,
whether you have money to contribute or not.
All the saints, valuable in one body,
one family.
We say in our core commitments,
we genuinely love people
and are committed to developing
life-giving relationships.
These relationships where people are valued
for themselves.
It means that we genuinely listen to each other,
that we sincerely seek to understand
each other's perspective.
We even share of ourselves
and of our lives with each other.
Listen, we've all been in relationships
where we know we're not valuable
to the other person, right?
They didn't really care about what I said.
They never shared vulnerably with me.
They just got what they needed from me
and moved on.
What I had to offer was valuable.
I was not.
They and I stayed safely hidden.
We didn't have to know each other
to get what we needed, perhaps,
from each other.
Jesus creates a different kind of relationship.
Secondly, the bond of Jesus
produces relationships
where sins are regularly confessed
and forgiven.
Listen to James chapter 5.
Therefore, confess your sins to one another
and pray for one another
that you may be healed.
This is to be normative in Jesus' church.
It's the way we're to relate regularly.
When was the last time you sat down
with someone outside your family
and confessed specific sin?
It seems a little scary,
like something really bad
must have happened, right?
God's word says this is normal.
This is how we relate to each other.
It's a pretty tight bond, isn't it,
that Jesus creates.
See, because our value
comes not from our performance,
but from being in His family,
we're freed to be honest
with each other.
See, because that's true of all of us,
because I'm never the only sinner
in the conversation,
because we all are sinners
saved by grace,
I never open up and confess a sin
to an innocent party
who can look down on me
and condemn me.
I'm always confessing
to a fellow sinner
who has forgiveness in Jesus
to extend to me.
We share our sins
and pray for each other,
and there's healing
in that kind of prayer,
that kind of relationship,
James says.
There is, isn't there?
Have you experienced that?
Healing in my relationship with God
and healing in my relationship
with my brother or sister
because we look to Jesus together.
Our experience of that bond
grows stronger,
and we're pulled together
to run the race better.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes
in his classic book
on Christian community,
Life Together,
in confession,
the breakthrough to community
takes place.
Sin demands to have a man
by himself.
It withdraws him
from the community.
Sin wants to remain unknown.
Hiding, right?
That's why we don't share
and confess much.
Sin pulls us away
and wants us to keep it
to ourselves,
and Bonhoeffer says
there's danger there
in being pulled away
into isolation
with our sin,
but the gospel of Jesus Christ
breaks in
and allows confession
that brings the sinner
back to the fellowship
of sinners saved by grace.
Bonhoeffer concludes this,
beautiful.
If a Christian is in the fellowship
of confession
with a brother,
he will never be alone again
anywhere.
Yes.
Yes, as we confess
and we forgive each other.
And listen,
to us natural hiders,
that sounds a bit scary,
doesn't it?
I know it can
to think about
stepping out there
and being exposed.
It's not really worth the risk.
Why would I bother?
But God is telling us
in His Word,
this is the kind of relationship
I've created you for.
To know this
and to enjoy this.
I've sent my son
so that you can have
the safety,
the ability
to have this kind of
honest relationship
where people know
and they forgive
and love,
and they love the real you.
the sinful version,
not merely the Facebook version
of you
that some of them like,
but they know and love
and forgive the real you.
One more unique thing
about relationships
through the bond of Jesus.
We delight
to carry each other's burdens.
In the world,
relationships are typically
you scratch my back,
I'll scratch yours, right?
Community does come.
It comes when you invest
in others.
You give to them.
You serve them.
And when you need help,
they'll give back to you.
They'll be there for you.
They'll carry your burdens.
I remember watching this
unfold at our school
a few years ago
when one family
who seemed to lovingly
and tirelessly
serve everybody
in every situation
had a child
that had surgery.
And all of a sudden,
out of the woodwork,
everybody came out
because they'd been served
by this family
so many times.
They thought,
how can we support you?
How can we help?
We're all in.
And that's beautiful
and wonderful
and good in community
that you respond
to help someone
who has helped you.
Y'all,
biblical community
goes far beyond that
and is so much more glorious.
It says something
a little different.
Jesus has carried
all my burdens,
poured himself out
for me
to overflowing,
served me so consistently
that I am delighted
to do the same
for all of you,
whether you've personally
poured into me
or not,
for all of you,
and especially if Jesus
has brought you
into his family too,
right?
Say,
come on, preacher.
That's what it's like.
That's what Jesus does,
doesn't he?
He pours himself into us
so that it will overflow
from us to others,
not so that we'll see
who we owe lately.
That's community
created by God's word
and his spirit.
Doesn't your spirit resonate
with that truth,
with that reality?
It's not because
it's my words,
it's God's word.
It's right there
in James 5,
the passage we looked
at earlier.
You're suffering,
you're sick,
you're struggling
with sin,
share those things,
pray together,
mourn with those
who mourn,
rejoice with those
who rejoice.
Galatians 6,
2,
carry one another's
burdens
and so fulfill
the law of Christ.
This passage
in Galatians
is in the context
of our sin,
burdens of sin,
spiritual burdens.
In Acts chapter 2,
the picture
of the early church
that we read
last week
says they were
committed
to the fellowship
among other things.
Carrying each other's
physical burdens,
sharing all they had
to care for each other's
physical needs,
right?
I love how this
church family
here at Southwood
does this.
We've experienced that.
We as a church
are not perfect.
We want to keep
growing here
in this area.
But brothers and sisters
helping others
walk through
healing from an affair.
Crying and supporting
each other
through the loss
of a loved one.
Just this week
showing up
to help someone
recover from a car accident.
And that church member
that was in the accident
this week
said of the love
that she'd received
not just in that moment
but over the previous months,
I don't know
how I could ever
repay all of them.
You don't.
We're family.
That's what being
a community
of grace
means.
You don't
repay anybody.
You just look
for the next person
who's got a burden
that you can help carry
because Jesus
has already
carried yours,
right?
Y'all,
this is the kind
of community
God is making us
if we will but
lean into Him,
trust Him,
let His love
overwhelm us together
so that it overflows
from us.
See,
Ephesians told us
it was all about
experiencing God's love,
right?
That's where
the power was from.
It told us
we needed
all the saints
to grasp
the height
and width
and breadth
and depth
of God's love.
All the saints.
It's a pretty
broad term.
Involves a lot
of people,
some of whom
you've probably
never met.
With whom
does the bond
of Jesus
put us
in relationship?
We're going to
talk about this
more in our last
core commitment
where we see
particularly
the beauty
and the priority
of loving
the least,
the lost,
the littlest,
the lonely,
and the left out,
even beyond
God's family.
But for today,
let's stop at
what all
the saints
means.
It means
at least this.
I need
way more
than those
like me
and those
I like.
Way more
than those
like me
and those
I like.
this is
where the
power of
the gospel,
the beauty
of Christ-centered
community
really becomes
evident
because Jesus
bonds together
people who are
otherwise
different.
Remember,
he makes
enemies
family
who love
each other
for Christ's
sake,
even if there's
no other
reason.
We don't
gather out of
mutual admiration
we like
each other,
but out of
shared admiration
we love
God
because he
has loved
us.
See,
apart from
Christ,
the power
of self-pursuit
and my own
preferences,
it puts me
in relationship
with people
who are like
me.
It puts me
in community
with others
that I
naturally
and easily
click with,
who root
for the same
football team,
who vote
for the same
party,
who like
the same
worship style.
Listen,
Jesus doesn't
need to be
around for
you to
connect with
people like
that,
right?
That's how
you naturally
function,
pursuing what's
comfortable for
you.
But Jesus
puts me in
different
relationships.
He puts me
in relationship
where our
differences,
which are
usually divisive
in other
arenas in
life and
keep us
apart,
are actually
desirable
people because
they show
us what?
Greater
dimensions
of God's
love.
Remember,
that's what
we need
all the
saints for,
right?
Grasping a
greater vision
of God's
love.
Think with me
for just a
minute how
people different
from you
enlarge and
expand your
view of
God's love
as you live
in relationship
with them,
valuing them
personally,
confessing and
forgiving sins,
carrying each
other's burden.
We could go
on all day,
but think just
a few examples.
When you share
life with a
materially poor
brother or
sister and you
listen to them
well, you might
get a glimpse of
depending on God
to provide one
meal at a
time.
Like God
thought was so
important to
teach his Old
Testament people,
his daily
love may become
sweeter to you.
love.
When you engage
in relationship
with a married
couple, you may
see a broken
but beautiful
picture of the
love of God
and people
bearing with
one another
through deep
sin and
offense.
Forgiving as
God has
forgiven them
and his
persistent love
may become
more glorious
in your eyes.
But when those
of us who are
married engage
in relationship
with an
unmarried
brother or
sister, you
may realize
afresh the
reality that
God's love
is so great
it provides
fulfillment and
identity apart
from my family
or my sexuality.
You might learn
the joy of
singleness that
such brothers as
Jesus and
Paul knew.
And God's
love may become
more satisfying
to your heart
than you realized
it could be.
I wish you
all would have
the privilege
I have to
know former
prostitutes,
ex-convicts,
recovering addicts
who find freedom
from their shame
in this forgiving
and cleansing
love of God.
By the way,
if you listen
long enough
to people's
stories in this
church, you
will know them.
If you confess
sins to each
other, you'll
learn that.
And your
ability to
comprehend the
love of a
God who makes
you new
will grow.
I wish every
newlywed couple
in the church
could have been
in my small
group to watch
Miss Betty
love Mr. John
through his
last few years
of life as he
struggled to
know where he
was or what
was going on.
As I got to
watch them
together, I
witnessed the
patient and
tender love
of God in her
that treasures
us in our
weakness.
in a new
way that has
helped me
in my
marriage.
Younger
people struggling
to hope in
God's promises
as they
parent.
They may see in
older people's
stories a God
whose love is
faithful to his
promises even
when it doesn't
look like it.
Older people
struggling to
maintain a zeal
for the kingdom
in their later
years may see in
younger people's
stories a God
whose love is the
only hope of the
next generation.
God's love is
so great.
I still have a
purpose to
testify to that
love and it's a
great purpose.
You get the idea
of how beautiful
God's design for
his church is?
We're a family.
Same loving
father, same
older brother,
same indwelling
spirit.
This is why we
need to lean into
these deep
relationships with
each other so we
will experience his
love more and be
empowered to share
that love so that
my neighbors and
Huntsville and the
whole world will
know more of his
glory.
Let me talk to you
for just a couple
minutes as we close
about our new
Connect communities.
I really want to
encourage you all to
participate in these
Connect communities as
we pursue these kind
of life-giving
relationships.
To be clear, I hope
you realize as we
talk this morning that
these kind of
relationships where
we're confessing sin
and carrying burdens
and valuing each
other, they don't
take place in one
hour a week in a
room of 30 people.
We got way too many
sins and burdens for
that, yes?
Yep, we don't have
time for mine next
week.
So it's not just
there, but God's
word is calling us,
challenging us to
lock arms with
brothers and sisters
more often than on
Sundays.
Breaking bread together
in each other's homes,
helping each other out
day by day, praying in
every situation.
Those relationships take
time to foster, don't
they?
And they're well worth
it.
Even our precious time
that is so valuable is
well worth the
investment.
So think of connect
communities as places
that we come together
around God's word, not
as placing you at the
destination of
relationship, but rather
moving you down the
path of relationship.
They're called connect
communities for a
reason.
You may well meet a
brother or sister there
with whom you develop
deeper relationship
beyond the group.
We will urge each
other there toward
meeting regularly in
small groups to share
and confess and forgive
and pray more.
So if it's a three
legged race that we're
on, the connect
community is not the
finish line, but rather
the starting line where
you find your partner,
where you get bound
together through Jesus
and his word to run the
race together.
together.
Y'all don't go home to
run alone.
Lean into the
relationships that God
has made us for.
You know, the tightness
of that bond that we have
in Jesus is so vitally
important.
But no matter how tight you
tie that bond, most of the
three legged races I run in
end up with people scattered
on the ground.
Relationships, even in
Jesus, even in the church
are messy, aren't they?
Yes?
Can we get amen on that
one?
Yeah, okay.
Come on, we gotta pick our
spots here.
That seemed like an easy
one.
It's messier than
isolation, than hiding
alone, isn't it?
But that's actually another
reason that relationships
are worth the investment.
It's not merely that Jesus
unites us in relationship.
But these relationships
drive us back to Jesus,
don't they?
Because when I get tied
tightly to a brother or
sister and rub up against
them, my selfishness and my
weakness and my insecurity
become exposed.
And I see it.
And I see my need for a
Savior and a cross again.
But guess what?
I'm not the only one who
sees it.
This is the scary but
beautiful part.
My brother or sister sees
it too and is right there to
point me to the Savior we
both have who will never
leave us.
Two are better than one.
For if they fall, one will
lift up his fellow.
But pity the one who falls and
has no one to help him up.
Praise God for a Savior.
And because of him, brothers
and sisters to help us up.
Let's pray.
Father, we confess our need of
you again.
We need your help.
Father, we need your love.
And we especially this
morning need your spirit to
acknowledge that we need
each other.
Father, show us that this is
what you've created us for.
That we might be known and
that we might be loved.
And you have loved us like
that.
Thank you for being the one
place we know we can be safe.
Father, would your love
transform a community like
this one that people would
begin to experience more and
more safety among each other
that they've found in you.
Help us to love as we have
been loved.
Thank you, Jesus, for your
love.
Show it to us again this
morning.
It's height and width and
depth and breadth that it
would change our hearts.
We thank you and we pray in
your name.
Amen.
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