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Message Notes 📝

Online Church Service – God's Better Story on Community - Part 1

by Simon Elliott

Introduction

Over the last three weeks, we have started to unpack God’s better story on:

Identity
Sex
Gender

We have sought to remind ourselves what God says in scripture on these three fundamental issues.
We have not focused on biblical prohibitions, but rather on the biblical boundaries that God gives us to release us into fullness of life (John 10:10).
We are aware that many of these boundaries, though not all, stand in stark contrast to the narrative of our culture – especially in a city like London.
We have said repeatedly that we are not seeking to judge or condemn that culture, but we are seeking to live our lives based on the narrative of God’s WORD, rather than our WORLD.
Over the next two weeks, we are starting to unpack what God desires for his community – his church – in that world.
How do we continue to build a community which is inclusive and welcoming to all whilst holding on to God’s better story when it comes to Identity, sex, sexuality, and gender?
How do we continue to build a community that is biblically orthodox and radically inclusive?
This week, we will focus on our individual calling within community, and next time, we will look more at how we live as community.

Vision and Values

I know I have just asked you to remember what we have been looking at over the last three weeks.
Well, now I want you to cast your mind back to what we have talked about over the last couple of years.
Our Vision and Values.
Back at the start of 2023, we spent time reminding ourselves of who we are and why we are here.
We unpacked our identity using seven words:
Son – Father – Spirit – Grace – Community – Kingdom – Love
We are image bearers and Kingdom bringers.
Created in the likeness of God to bring the Kingdom of God to every sphere of our lives.
Seeing Salvation, Sanctification, Signs and Wonder and Social Action.
In our:
Neighbourhoods, our social groups, our workplaces, and in the areas around our gathered communities.
Why am I reminding us of these foundations?
Because they are our foundations.
We are not seeking to build a holy ghetto to which we retreat from the world.
We are seeking to build a community that speaks prophetically and powerfully into our world.
Such a community is built on the example of the Son, the Grace of God, and the foundation of unconditional love for one another and for the world in which we love.
So, to answer the question:

“How do we continue to build a community which is biblically orthodox and radically inclusive?”

We must keep focusing on Jesus, on grace, and on the agape love of God

We start (and finish) with Jesus

Hebrews 12:1-2

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

Matthew 3:16-17

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

Colossians 1:15-20

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Acts 1:1-2

In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen

1 Corinthians 12:27

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

What should the church be like? We should be like Jesus!
Jesus explains, expects, and empowers the church to declare and to demonstrate the Kingdom of God.
The church not only seeks the kingdom of God, but it also seeks to model the character of Christ:
When Jesus encounters “sinners” in his ministry, he was able to balance:
Purity and holiness
Compassion
A call to change and walk free of sin (Not always successfully e.g. pharisees, rich young ruler, the crowds who deserted him).
Jesus did make explicit the need for radical change – but these calls were made to people who had often been attracted to his radical love, purity, and acceptance.
Jesus was a “friend of sinners” (Matthew 11:19).

Jesus disciplines his disciples when they seek to:

judge others (Luke 9:54, Matthew 18).
limit someone’s access to him (Matthew 19, Mark 10).
see themselves as superior (Luke 9:46 – who is the greatest?).

Jesus seems to be especially compassionate and protective of those who are caught in sexual sin:

Woman at the Well (John 4).
Woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11).
Woman who washes his feet (Luke 7:36-50).

We are called to be a community that carries the likeness and models the character of Christ.
Jesus models for us self-control – he was tempted in every way but was without sin (Hebrews 4:14-16) without becoming self-righteous - I did not come to judge the world but to save it (John 12:47).
How do we faithfully follow the example of Christ?

Grace and Truth

John 8:31-32

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Ephesians 2:1-10

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Titus 2:11-14

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

Colossians 4:6

Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

Jesus operated full of grace and full of truth – so must we.
We need to know the truth.
We need to know and believe God’s better story on identity, gender, and sex.
We also need to know and believe God’s better story on money, ambition, hospitality, and care for the poor!
That is why we are doing a series like this one.
It is why we will continue to teach systematically through scripture.
Jesus knew the word of God in his day.
We need to know what God says and trust his word.
The first thing the devil does in the garden is to challenge the word of God.
When the devil tempts Jesus in the wilderness, he challenges the word of God.
Is it any wonder that in our lives he will seek to challenge the word of God.
God’s truth matters.
But God’s truth is challenging.
One of the reasons that as a believer, I have no foundation or permission to judge others is that I know that when I hold my life up against the truth of God – the Word of God – I fall short.
The Old Testament is challenging enough – and then Jesus raises the bar:

Matthew 5:27-28

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. “

Therefore, alongside truth, I need God’s grace.
God’s truth sets an impossible bar if obedience is the foundation of my faith.
Praise God that the foundation of my faith is God’s grace.
By grace, I have been saved, and by grace, God will complete the work he has started in me.
Aha, I hear you say – so obedience doesn’t matter – we don’t need to worry about truth!
By no means.
Obedience is not the foundation of my faith – but it is the fruit of my faith.
Jesus knew his identity was in God the Father – an identity declared over him before he had modelled full obedience.
But Jesus lived out the grace of God through perfect obedience.
So we are saved by grace, and grace then enables us to be obedient to truth.
What is more, because we are saved by grace, sanctified by grace, and grace enables us to take personal responsibility for living out God’s better story and saying NO to sin.
We can have genuine grace for others – both those who are part of our community and those who are not yet part of our community.
A community of truth and grace is not defined by how we handle one another’s successes; it is defined by how we lovingly and authentically handle one another’s failures.
As we will unpack next time – real grace accompanied by real friendship creates authentic community.
In short, we judge others when we forget that we are ourselves totally dependent on the grace of God and we hide our brokenness and sin from one another when we become afraid we will not receive grace from others.

This all sounds like hard work!

This all sounds a bit like hard work.
That is because it is.
Following Jesus – living in the good of his truth and his grace – is difficult.
Think for a moment on how Jesus describes discipleship:

Luke 9:23-25

Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?

Jesus is our model.
What Would Jesus Do? is still a great question to ask ourselves in our journey of grace.
The follow up question is how would Jesus do what he is calling us to do?
Luke tells us elsewhere in his writings:

Luke 4:1

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,

Luke 10:21

At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.

Acts 1:4-8

Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Acts 7:55

But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

Jesus lived out truth and grace, full of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus taught his disciples that his return to the Father was essential for the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on their lives (John 14-16).
Peter connects the first believers with the promise of Jesus built upon the prophetic promise of the Old Testament (Acts 2 and Joel 2).
Paul then connects the ongoing filling of the Holy Spirit with the believers' call to live holy lives in a depraved generation:

Ephesians 5:3-5

But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God…….

Ephesians 5:15-20

………Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Friends, we will not live in the good of grace and within the boundaries of God's truth by simply working hard.
Our salvation and our sanctification are an ongoing work of the Holy Spirit.
The currents of our culture will constantly pull us away from the safe harbours of God’s best for us.
If you will permit me to mix my sailing metaphors.
We need to drop our anchor into the solid base of God’s truth about our identity in him and our heavenly Father's best for our sexuality and our relationships.
And we need to hoist our sales into the wind of God’s Holy Spirit that we might set a course for our lives that is not determined by the undercurrents of our secular culture.

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