1863. Community – Growing Together, Part 1

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. Today's sermon is the first part of an evangelistic message preached at the beginning of the Bob Jones University school year by Dr. Alan Benson. The title of his message is Growing Together in Community. Take your Bibles tonight and open them with me, if you would, to Ephesians chapter 4.

Ephesians chapter 4. The connection in these messages has been an identification of things that draw us or things where we, in a sense, try to find belonging. One of the areas in which I think that is most pronounced in our world today is trying to find, if you will, a group, an organization, somewhere where I fit. It's a sense of corporate belonging.

Do I have community? So far we have talked last night about identity. And I hope that you have been wrestling with the truth of being in Christ, both if you are not a believer, and by God's grace I've heard some marvelous testimonies today. I heard one of a young man that trusted Christ as Savior. I heard one just tonight of a young person that has struggled with assurance of salvation, but has settled that they are in Christ and peace has come. This morning we talked then about, in a sense, a dynamic that God carries out that moves us, in a sense, from having our identity in Christ to understanding how I'm to live in light of that identity. And we explored together adoption, that He is my Father, He is my Abba, and that life to be lived is now to be lived as His child, rather than striving that I get to actually live for Him as His child.

I hope that truth is sinking into your heart and is rejoicing your heart tonight. So I want to look tonight at the third piece, if you will, and that is community. Community. Where do I belong?

Where do I fit in? And I want us to see tonight that God has a plan for us in community, and that in that plan then there are dynamics about my sanctification that He expects to be furthered and carried out because I live in a relationship with other believers. God uses them in my life, and God uses me in their lives, and together we serve God as we're made more like His Son. Ephesians chapter 4. Let's read together.

You follow along as I read. I'm going to begin in verse 1. I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There's one body and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore, He saith, when He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men, now that He ascended.

What is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things. And He gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplyeth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

The Lord will add his blessing to the reading of his word. The book of Ephesians has been called, rightly called, I think, the Epistle of the Church. The letter presents more specific truth about the church than any other epistle in the New Testament. For example, Ephesians chapter 1, Paul writes, and hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body. Ephesians 3, 10 and 11, to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. In Ephesians 5, in that passage of Scripture that we so commonly know and understand with regard to understanding the pictures of marriage, he actually writes in the middle of that in verse 23, after describing the husband's relationship to the wife, he says this, even as Christ is the head of the church and he is the savior of the body. He mentions in verse 30, for we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. And in verse 32 he writes, this is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

The epistle breaks really in two halves. Chapters 1 through 3 are belief, chapters 4 through 6 are behavior, or if you will, chapters 1 through 3 are doctrine, and then chapters 4 through 6 are the responsible duty in light of that doctrine. And you will find this pattern, that behavior is always impacted by belief.

Sooner or later we will actually act in light of what we actually believe. And that's really something that Paul sets up in his writings in most of his books. And so tonight as we look at this passage of Scripture and we talk about community, I really want to do two things. I want to talk about the essentials of the church. And I want to share with you some thoughts about your relationship to church while you're a student here at Bob Jones University. And then from that I want to take some principles and apply them to the fact that these are truths that affect a faith community.

And I want you to understand without apology, you have come to a faith community. We are not a church, we don't pretend to be a church, we don't want to be a church, we don't want to replace the church. But we are a community of faith. When you come, you come as one who is regenerated and our mission is only possible in the lives of those who have been born again and are regenerated because we exist to grow Christ-like character.

That's our goal. That can't be done when Christ isn't present. And so I want us to understand then some of the dynamics of living in a faith community based upon that truth. We have just recently finished a course that we're calling Church Matters.

It's named that way for two reasons. One, because we want you to understand that church matters. It matters in the life of every true believer. But then secondly, there are matters about church that you need to understand.

So every new student as part of your involvement in Pathways will actually complete this course as part of that program. I encourage every one of you, it will take you about 30 minutes total to go through the lessons that are there because I think it will be really, really helpful to you in understanding what it is that God says about His church and thus what I should be looking for in a church. And some of that is about understanding just the nature of the church doxologically.

What should it be if it's going to honor God the way that it should be according to the New Testament? But then even more than that, where do I belong? Where do I fit? Am I supposed to be a part of the church? How do I get involved? Am I just a consumer?

Am I just a spectator? Or does God have a role for me to play in the church, even as a college student? And so I would encourage you to go take a look at Church Matters. Those new students, again, you will do it as part of that program. And every student coming to Bob Jones will go through this Church Matters curriculum. But maybe you're here and you haven't necessarily done it in this form. I want to encourage you to do that.

I think it will be really helpful to you. As we look at Ephesians chapter 4, I want us to see a few things together. As we unpack this idea of, first of all, there is doctrine and then duty, or belief and then behavior. I want to set the stage for chapter 4 by actually going back to the beginning of the book and not preaching the whole thing, but I want us to understand there are some essentials about the church. First of all, we need to understand that a New Testament church is one that derives its doctrines from the New Testament.

It derives its doctrines from the New Testament, and this is what we find in chapter 1. You see, friends, it is God's Word that has the power to change lives. It is through the Word of God by the Spirit of God that we are saved. It is then through the Word of God by the Spirit of God that we are sanctified. Lives are changed by the activated Word of God working in the heart of the child of God. If a church is to gather, and according to the book of Ephesians, gather in such a way that Jesus Christ is glorified in the church, and the work that God is doing is to glorify Himself through the saving of and redeeming of His image bearers, and thus seeing them transformed into the likeness of His Son, it makes sense then that God will be glorified in the church when the church actually finds its source of authority, its doctrine in the Scripture.

It's not just in well-crafted lectures, it's not just in entertainment, it's not just in social gatherings. You see, the heart and soul of the work of God in the church is the Word of God. The church He describes when He's writing to Timothy, who's the pastor at Ephesus, is the pillar and ground of the truth. Secondly, then you come to chapter 2 and you find that a New Testament church develops its principles and practices for church life from the New Testament. What in the world is a church supposed to do? We're living in an age where actually we look to all kinds of dynamics in the culture, and I think attempting to meet needs, we actually begin to build marketing plans based upon those needs.

I am not here tonight to tell you that meeting needs is a bad thing. What I am here to tell you is that actually being market-driven to determine what a church should or shouldn't do actually isn't God's plan. That actually is sourced in the authority of the Word of God. Why do we do what we do?

How do we do what we do? The principles and the practices are sourced in the New Testament. Then thirdly, a New Testament church actually displays the life of Jesus Christ, and this is what you find in chapter 3. That as we actually function as a body, what we are longing to do is put into practice in visual form the priorities that Jesus lived by, the salvation that Jesus carried out for us. We are to become, in a sense, a living demonstration of the gospel, or if you will, of the life of Christ. And so these are essentials of the church. And thus Paul writes in chapter 3 and verse 10, so that, in order that, or for this reason, that through the church the manifold wisdom of God may be made known to rulers and authorities in heavenly places. You see, the church belongs to God.

It's His. It's described as, we hear throughout this book, as His body, He is its head. And thus belonging to Him, He has a plan for His church.

And that plan is, what is its truth? And how does it carry out that truth in principles and practices? And what does it look like as a display to a watching world for God's glory? And God says to us that He plans that through the church, the world would see, and the principalities and powers, the rulers and authorities in heavenly places would see the wisdom of God. That being said, do you think it's optional for a child of God, one who now finds his identity as being in Christ, one who is adopted by God and now is a son of God, to decide that church is optional? You see, these are essentials of the church, and because they are, they make the church essential. And this brings us then to chapter 4, which is the beginning, if you will, of the conduct or the behavior section, and I want you to see that as we come here. Not only the essentials of the church in leading up to this passage, but then the essence of the church. The essence of the church.

What is the church all about? And I think as you look at chapter 4, you begin to see Paul describing the nature of the church, and what it is, and what God is doing in and through it as he gives a description of God's working in order to bring about the church. I want you to see that as he describes this, I want you to see that there's a sense in which, through the church, our identity is provided in verse 1. I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, Paul, is finding his identity in the fact that somehow he is related to Christ.

I hope that comforts you. There's something about being rightly attached to a community of faith, that there as a person of faith, you find your identity settled within that community. Because I belong to the Lord, and you belong to the Lord. And he uses terms here that define this idea of being captured or captivated or being held by or belonging to the Lord. Going to church, you will find a sense of belonging because you find people there who with you also belong to Christ. Then secondly, I want you to see that not only is through the church our identity provided for us through Christ, but also I want you to see that it is preserved.

It actually is reinforced, and that's what he does then in verses 2 and following. How should I conduct myself? What does it look like for me to walk in a worthy manner of, in a sense, the vocation? This is more than just my career, but the pathway which I'm supposed to follow, my life pattern to which I've been called.

And he says that I should walk in this way with all lowliness and meekness, if you will, humility and strength under control. Then in other words, there is something here that is greater than me. I don't have to come here and try to make my way or find my place or push my way in, or I don't have to come and blow the trumpet about my own accomplishments and my own abilities in order to have somebody like me so that I might feel like I belong. So many places in life, that's exactly what happens. I try to find my identity in my career, and what must I do in order to feel like I belong?

I have to strive for more. I get pushed to position. And there, because I'm reaching accolades, maybe I'm forced to actually push others aside. And I actually do damage to relationships because I'm looking for a deeper sense of belonging in my career. What does it look like whenever I strive to find my sense of belonging in a relationship? I will tell you, over time, whenever you find your identity in a relationship, you will begin to do damage to that relationship. Why?

Because you are putting more weight on that relationship than it could ever bear, and it, without fail, never fails to turn to some sense of control. You see, we're actually instructed by Paul here to actually come to church, and we actually come with a different mindset. A mindset that actually approaches a community with a freeing thought that this isn't all about me. I come with lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. God has miraculously provided for us, through the gospel, not just the means of individual salvation, He actually has provided then for us a place of belonging.

His body, the church, a community. That there we can come and without striving, actually by surrender, find true belonging. In light of that then, I want us to take some principles from this. And I actually want us to contemplate then an understanding of a faith community.

And these truths will then apply to you as you go and look and search and find and hopefully settle into and serve in a church. But then I hope also then they'll actually shape the sense of community here at Bob Jones University for you as a student. Walking into a place like this can be daunting. So many people, so many different backgrounds. What are they thinking?

What do they think of me? And if we begin to focus on that, it can actually become overwhelming. And so I want us to understand some principles from this passage of Scripture that apply to church and actually I think apply to how we live together in community.

And find in this community the right sense of belonging. So I want you to see first of all that living in faith community calls for a commitment to living in recognition of God's authority. Living in recognition of God's authority. Paul started out by describing himself as a prisoner of the Lord and he called the Ephesian believers to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith they are called. So I want you to notice then down in verses 8 through 11 he says this, Wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. One of the pieces of the gospel that I think we don't rightly give its right place is the ascension. We talk about the gospel being the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It actually is the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. And Paul doesn't leave it out when he talks about the mind of Christ in Philippians 2. He actually talks about the work of God in Christ being re-enthroned, if you will, after his earthly work.

And here talking about the ascension actually is helping us recall the authority that Christ has and thus he is the one that's going to provide for his church. You know, we're going to live together in community as believers. It actually doesn't start with a commitment to one another.

And this is true of any community. Do you know a good marriage isn't merely just built on a human commitment to one another? It actually is built on a covenant relationship that two people have with their God toward one another. And there's a sense in which if we are going to rightly live in community, it begins with a commitment to living in recognition of God's authority. That there's going to be things about our relationship that God speaks to. Young people, I want you to know that as you come to the stage in your life, many of you are going to be looking to relationships to find belonging. You'll begin, if you haven't already, to date and thus move towards the God-ordained path towards marriage. But there's some of you in that dating stage who need to listen and listen carefully. If you hope to have a relationship that will truly provide you humanly with the right sense of belonging, you will start by making the decision that that relationship is going to be marked by a commitment to living in recognition of God's authority. Not going outside His boundaries, not going outside His established parameters for human relationships. You know this is true of friendship? The best of friendships are friendships that are lived in light of the fact that God is my authority, so therefore I won't take advantage of you. I won't mistreat you.

I'll bring it all the way down, maybe even to a more rudimentary level. There are some of you that for the first time in your life are living with somebody, and they didn't necessarily choose to live with you. There's part of living in that room that is living in a sense of community, and you need to rightly live in that room in light of God's authority. Not take advantage of people, not make them have to put up with things they shouldn't have to put up with. It's a commitment to living in recognition of God's authority, but then I want you to see there's a commitment to valuing individuals. A commitment to valuing individuals. We find this in that opening language in verse 2, with all lowliness and meekness with longsuffering forbearing one another in love.

We find it then at the end of this chapter in verse 32, where Paul says, And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. You see, we ought to value individuals. You know, that means that we don't get ourselves in cliques and in groups and step outside the bounds and make fun of people. One of the dangerous things about finding and living in community is that communities actually can exclude people.

Because we have found common characteristics or things that we commonly enjoy or things that we want to do that we then exclude people. The right kind of community actually has a commitment to valuing individuals. You see, this requires an atmosphere marked by Spirit-empowered, Scripture-informed, Gospel-saturated tolerance. We say that again, it requires an atmosphere that is marked by Spirit-empowered, Scripture-informed, Gospel-saturated tolerance.

That's actually what he describes here. You know, there's this reality in life, people can be annoying. That's part of life. We're not all the same.

We talk about it as a miracle. Every one of us made individually with different abilities. We look different. We think differently.

Every one of us, a unique creation of God. But there's also the other side of that. And that is that there are people in your life that don't do what you want to do, don't act the way you want to act.

They don't follow out your routine or schedule. I remember back when I was a student, I think it was my junior year, I had two roommates, and they for the most part got along. But there was one very important issue in life that they completely disagreed with. And that was whenever it was time to go get a shower. One of them actually believed that the room had to feel like the Antarctic in order to come back from a shower. And so he wanted the air conditioner cranked as low as it could go. The other believed that the room needed to feel somewhere like the Sahara Desert. And do you know what they would do? They would intentionally almost make each other late, because they wanted to be the last one to go to the shower because that guy got to set the thermostat.

I couldn't find any reconciliation in that. It was like, guys, can we meet in the middle? No, it's got to be hot.

No, it's got to be cold. These are the irritations of life. Do you know, to genuinely have community the way God intends it, there must be a work of the Spirit in the heart that causes me to look at others and think of them in ways that cares for them. It takes my strength and subdues it, if you will, for a right purpose. It's meekness. It is having humility of heart that this doesn't have to all be about me. It's lowliness of mind.

Long suffering and forbearing. It requires an atmosphere marked by the passionate, persistent recognition and development of an individual's God-given gifts, talents, and abilities. You see, the right kind of community doesn't just see people as they are and say, that's fine, you do your own thing.

Actually, it actually values people. And through the dynamic of friendship, through the dynamic of giftedness, that we actually end up not just working together, but as we do, God empowers that to shape our lives. The New Testament are filled with injunctions about one another's. These are things that we do in relationship with each other. And thus you see two of them at the end of this passage. Be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another. Unfortunately, that's where we'll have to end this sermon preached by Dr. Alan Benson from a Bob Jones University evangelistic service. Join us again tomorrow when we'll hear the conclusion of this sermon about growing together in community on The Daily Platform.