Today I'm Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.
Someone has said the greatest social disease in America today is loneliness. We all long to be deeply connected and I want you to know that God has a plan for developing genuine, beautiful, intimate relationships and He wants you to experience that kind of connection with others. Today we're going to talk about how you can experience authentic community. Right now, right where you live. Stay with us.
Uh Why do so many sincere, Bible-reading, God-loving Christians still feel spiritually stuck?
Well, today on Living on the Edge, Chip Ingram tackles that very question, revealing the surprising answer: community. It's not about trying harder or doing more. According to scripture, transformation requires a very specific environment. And most of us have never truly experienced it. In today's message from his series, God's Dream for Your Life, Chip takes us into Romans chapter 12 to show us what authentic community really looks like and how to get it.
Chip title 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 is in Christ, The old things pass away, behold, 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. And then they just feel stuck. 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. 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 washed their feet and then he turned to them and he'd look them 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. 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 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? Authentic community. 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 in 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 in 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 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 Maybe 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. See, 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 write 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 thespian, 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 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 a mask. without hypocrisy. Let the real you show up.
Yes, you gotta be discerning and you gotta 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 is showing up and you let people see who you are. progressively, wisely, discerningly. In fact, jot in 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. In chapter 4, it gives an example of this very wealthy man who had a piece of property 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 to call him 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.
So there's this young couple, I'm guessing they're young, maybe they're not young. But Ananias and Sapphira. 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 we're 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 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 and eat 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 issue is 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 is hypocrisy, and the judgment is death. His wife comes a few hours later, and I'm thinking Peter's going, I sure hope she's not in on this. And so he says, Safira, 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 sacrificially 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 he said, The young men's feet who took away your husband shall take you away as well. Bam! She dies. On the spot.
And it says a great fear of Came among the church. Yeah, are you kidding? You're listening to Living on the Edge, and Chip Ingram will continue today's program in just a minute. Today's message is part of Chip's series God's Dream for Your Life, and you can hear it anytime at livingonthege.org. Whether you want to revisit what you've heard today or pass it along to a friend, this message and hundreds more are available online.
You'll also find small group resources and opportunities to help you live out God's dream for your life. It's all there at livingontheedge.org.
Well now here's Chip.
Now, you gotta understand. Can you imagine if you've never read the Bible before, and this is your first time through the New Testament, and you're a 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 going to make a point.
See, if hypocrisy gets in the mix. It's like leavening bread. It 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 God did that for like 24 hours 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 he Do do you do you get it?
Did 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 an 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, hate what is evil. Literally, the word is abhor what is evil.
Most of us are spending this, I 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, or this rating in this movie? Do you think it's okay if I can do this? Or, you know, we're dating right now and we're doing this, 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 gross, or is it the net?
Or is if I can I take a percentage? And, you know, it's only, it's kind of like, how. Instead of, what's it say, cling to what is good. 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? Yeah. 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.
You're loved. And the real you that needs help gets support. And the real you that needs accountability, and as we all do, an occasional kind of rebuke. And you know, what were you thinking? He 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 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.
Okay. Food or work. For 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 in brotherly love, humility.
Giving preference to one another and 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 it says: be devoted to one another, how, in brotherly love. Philodel The, that's the word. We named a 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, six years, I'd been coaching for a couple of years after school. And Teresa and I were married, and we had two small kids at this time.
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. You know, I'm a teacher, I'm a basketball coach. I can't imagine being a pastor. But uh he made it clear, so we went to school and After about a year there, we built some relationships.
We stayed in a little apartment complex. Actually, it was a huge apartment complex, but it had 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 Teresa's eyes were all red. I said, honey, man, what is going on? Are you okay? She goes, oh, I spent all afternoon with Pat, you know, right across the hall.
I said, well, what's going on? She goes, well. Uh her husband left her. I said, Oh, you gotta be kidding. And they'd gotten really close.
They had a little boy the same age as my little boys. They were all about five years old. And she goes, it's worse than that. The 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 $1,000 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 $10 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? And so it 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.
No, no, it's like We're in this together. She's family. And so, you know, 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.
And 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 to do that, and the context is giving, being generous. Philippians 4:19. I'm standing on that passage.
Our rent's due. 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, which part of this verse am I misinterpreting, or 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 Lombardy Avenue. Hi Got. A letter from someone from the Green Bay Packers.
I was like, are you, you know, what is this?
So I open 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 um 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've 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 $1,000.
I mean, it was just like, oh, 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 nod and think, well, I went to church, I read the Bible, I went on a missions trip. 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. Men We got tight with Pat. I mean, it was like 20 years later, he got a postcard. Teresa, you know I saw somewhere you and she had da da da.
I just want a picture of her and 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, ooh, ooh. And after that, in the last 30 years, We've done that scores of times. scores of times, never knowing for sure. How God supplies 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 them, and you take a risk, which are 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. This is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Today Chip unpacked what it really means to do life together. Not just showing up to a small group, but letting the real you show up, meet real needs, and experience the kind of transformation that simply cannot happen alone. That's the heart of God's dream for your life.
Now, if today's message resonated with you, we'd love to help you go deeper. At livingonthege.org, you'll find small group resources and practical tools built around this very series, designed to help you and the people you care about build authentic community. What makes Living on the Edge different is simple. Chip doesn't just explain what the Bible says. He shows you how to live it out all week long.
And that kind of practical, life-changing teaching is only possible because of friends like you who believe this mission matters. Would you consider partnering with us today? Your monthly gift creates the stability that keeps this program on the air and reaching people across the country and around the world. When you sign up, you're not just supporting a radio program. You're investing in changed lives and a legacy of biblical discipleship that will outlast all of us.
To give, visit livingonthege.org or call us at 888-333-600. Yeah. Even easier, use our mobile app. Just click on the Heart icon and follow the instructions.
Well, now here's Chip. You know, as we wrap up today's program, I I guess the question I have for you is that if uh a non Christian overheard you talking or was sort of at the next table at a coffee shop and Heard you kinda talking with a friend. Would they hear you talking about other people, or would they hear you talking about information? Would it be just sports or what's on sale? Or would they kind of eavesdrop and think, wow.
I wish I had a relationship with someone that was that deep, that real, that vulnerable, and that authentic. If you don't have close friends, then you need to launch a small group. Or if your family doesn't have these kind of relationships, and don't get me wrong, I know it's hard. You gotta go there. Because at the end of the day, relationships are what matter.
and deep relationships that matter can't happen without authenticity. And you need to be wise about who you do it with. But it'll be the greatest thing that ever happens because when the real you shows up and the real you gets loved. It's awesome, and that's God's plan. I'm Dave Durhy with a final question.
Are you serving God or just serving your image? Join Chip Ingram and discover what it really means to love people the way Jesus did. Tomorrow on Living on the Edge. Wow. Today's program is produced and sponsored by Living on the Edge.
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