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Jun 17, 2018

Relational Wisdom #2: Community

Passage: Proverbs 17:17

Speaker: Brian Land

Series: Proverbs

Category: Grace Brevard

Keywords: community, hope, wisdom

We are born by and for Gospel Community. God in his very essence is community (1 John 4:8 “God is Love”) being Three in One. Out of His being God created us in his image, declaring that it’s “not good” for us to be alone (Gen 2:18) because our core engine demands the fuel of community. But we are more prone to self-centered community, which is an absolute oxymoron, using others at our convenience for our benefit. But the Gospel invites us to enjoy more. As we give of ourselves, we become more of ourselves; as we are loved, we are able to love; as we join together in mutual honest vulnerability, we become a built together into the impenetrable temple of God.

Worship Order

Prelude: Music Special - Human (by Caroline Owen)

We could have lived alone;

We could have been born full-grown;

Life written out like A B C;

Never have to solve a single mystery                    

Of being human.

 

Imperfections are beautiful,

Creativity, oh, is what makes us human.

Hit my head on a countertop;

The tallest person in the world

Has been everyone else’s height;

Has felt everyone else’s plight

Of being human

 

Imperfections are beautiful,

And discovery, oh, is what makes us human.

Time will show us

Many different sides of ourselves,                            

But we’re different from the apes,

‘Cause we’re like Somebody else.

 

Life takes

So many twists and turns;  

Feels like we’re running in circles,

But one day we will stop and learn,

And realize that we were

Tracing love in cursive

 

Imperfections are beautiful,

And discovery, oh, is what makes us human.:

Oo, it’s what makes us human

Oo, makes us human

Call To Worship: 1 John 4:7-12,19 ESV

Songs:

Reading: Philippians 2:1-2,4-5 ESV

Prayer: The Peace Prayer (by St. Francis of Assisi)

ALL: Lord, make us an instrument of Thy peace;

LEADER: Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is error, truth;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

And where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

Grant that we may not so much seek

To be consoled, as to console;

To be understood, as to understand;

To withhold, as to forgive

To be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;

And it is in dying that

we are born to eternal life. Amen.  

Sermon Title: “Wisdom in Relationships 2: Community”

Central Text: (various Proverbs on gospel relationships)

Illustrations:

Response: Confession & Pardon

Confession of Sin:

ALL: Almighty God,

you continually love us, but we have not loved you the same.

You call, but we do not always listen.

We often pursue selfish ambition, injustice, greed;

wrapped in our own concerns

and not loving our neighbors as ourselves.

God of grace,

help us to admit our sin,

so that as you come to us in mercy,

we may repent, turn to you, and receive forgiveness;

Through Jesus Christ our Redeemer.

Assurance of Pardon: Psalm 103:8,9-12 ESV

ALL: 8  The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

10 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

Benediction: Romans 15:5-6 ESV

Communion: John 15:13 ESV (up as Elements are taken)

Post-Service Text: Proverbs 18:24 ESV

Related Scriptures:

John 15:12-15 ESV

Discussion Questions & Applications:

  1. How has community/friendship been powerful in your life?
  2. What are the costs and benefits of strong, deep community?
  3. What barriers keep you from engaging deep community
  4. Do you struggle with having a lot of acquaintances rather than a few really close friends? Why?
  5. Are you able to give and receive correction among your friends? Why is this so important? Why is this so difficult
  6. Read 1 John 4:7-12 (below). What sticks out to you? How do you define this kind of love? Where do we get it? What does it look like in real life?
  7. In what way (according to John 15:12-15) is Jesus our friend? Does this reduce Jesus too much?
  8. How is the sacrificial friendship of Jesus infinitely MORE than an example for us to follow but the actual motivation and power to search out and thrive in community?

Quotes:

  • “Let him who cannot be alone beware of community... Let him who is not in community beware of being alone... Each by itself has profound perils and pitfalls. One who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feelings, and the one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation and despair.”   ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Life Together)
  • “The integrity of a friendship depends as much on spiritual resources as it does that of an individual.”  ~Derek Kinder
  • In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights than my own to show all his facets... Hence true Friendship is the least jealous of loves. Two friends delight to be joined by a third, and three by a fourth, if only the newcomer is qualified to become a real friend. ~ C. S. Lewis (The Four Loves)
  • C.S. Lewis (a reflection on the results of the loss of his friend Charles Williams).“In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights than my own to show all his facets. Now that Charles is dead, I shall never again see Ronald’s [Tolkien’s] reaction to a specifically Charles joke. Far from having more of Ronald, having him “to myself” now that Charles is away, I have less of Ronald…In this, Friendship exhibits a glorious “nearness by resemblance” to heaven itself where the very multitude of the blessed (which no man can number) increases the fruition which each of us has of God. For every soul, seeing Him in her own way, doubtless communicates that unique vision to all the rest. That, says an old author, is why the Seraphim in Isaiah’s vision are crying “Holy, Holy, Holy” to one another (Isaiah 6:3). The more we thus share the Heavenly Bread between us, the more we shall have.”

Sermons & Docs:

Friendship by Timothy J. Keller

Proverbs 17:17

The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis

Making Space: Friendship by Jeff Vanderstelt

Proverbs 18:24

Media:

6.17.18 Album