The Core Value of Community ~ 1 Peter 1:22-25

November 2, 2014 ~ New City Church of Calgary ~ Pastor John Ferguson

Intro: Linus to Lucy: I love mankindIts people I cant stand.

Fyodor Dostoevsky: I love mankind, he said, but I nd to my amazement that the more I love mankind as
a whole, the less I love man in particular.

Facebook in a Crowd: Seven hundred friends, and I was drinking alone.

Sociologists coined the new term, crowded loneliness.

Is this the way it is supposed to be? Can things be different? What does Christianity say about community?
What kind of world did Jesus envision for his followers?

Were in the middle of a three part series looking at the DNA of NCC: Gospel, Community, & Mission.
When a person becomes a Christian, s/he is given all three of these gifts, but often times the Christian fails
to grasp the signicance of each one. So in a sense, each disciple must be converted to all three.

When we join with Jesus, we join his community and his mission.


1:22 Having puried your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one
another earnestly from a pure heart,

A. The central command: Love one another earnestly from a pure heart.

1. The human design: love of God & our neighbour (cf. Matthew 22:34-39)

2. The human problem: self-centered love

Stott, Like salvation, sin is a word that belongs to the traditional Christian vocabulary. I am not
a sinner, people often say, because they seem to be associating sin with specic and rather
sensational misdeeds like murder, adultery, and theft. But sin has a much wider connotation
than that. What the Bible means by sin is primarily self-centeredness. For Gods two great
commandments are rst that we love him with all our being and secondly that we love our
neighbor as we love ourself. Sin, then, is the reversal of this order. It is to put ourselves rst
our neighbour next when it suits our convenience, and God somewhere in the background.

3. The Christians calling: Love one another earnestly from a pure heart.

love = agape = unconditional, a love that is committed to the good of others
earnestly = Gr. Stretch or strain

-
Earnestly in Greek is a word that was used to describe a horse straining earnestly to
win the race.
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It is also used of Christ when we prayed earnestly in the Garden of Gethsemane sweating
drops of blood (hematidrosis). Cf. Luke 22:44.

from a pure heart = i.e., without ulterior motives

B. The Supporting Reasons

1. Reason #1: You have puried your souls by obedience to the truth.

a. Initial purication from believing the gospel?

2 Thess. 1:8, those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

b. Subsequent purication by our obedience to the truth?

2 Corinthians 7:1, Since we have these promises, let us purify ourselves from everything
that contaminates body and soul, perfecting holiness our of reverence for God.

c. Result: you have a sincere brotherly love (Gr. phileo)

Sincere : not polite distance; not tolerance or mere acceptance of their being,
but sincere love without pretense or hypocrisy.
new family relationship
Imagine what it would be like if Calgary was known as the city of brotherly love! How is
it going to get that reputation? What if your obedience to the truth included intentional
engagement in actively participating and loving Jesus people?

23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and
abiding word of God; 24 for All esh is like grass and all its glory like the ower of grass. The grass
withers,and the ower falls, 25 but the word of the Lord remains forever. And this word is the good
news that was preached to you.

1. Reason #2: You have been born again through the Word of God.

a. 1:3, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope.
b. 2:25, this word is the Good News that was preached to you.

***Key Point: This Gospel (1) births Christians and (2) births Christian communities of love.***

2. We are meant to know, and to be known. IOW, in our life together, we are meant to display a different
way of being human, one marked by agape love.

Main Idea: We value true community because the Gospel
brings us into relationship with Jesus and with Jesus people.

Application:
1. Realize that lone rangers are dead rangers.

You were never designed to live the Christian life in isolation. You cant live the Christian life in isolation.
All the One another passages of the NT presuppose life together in community.

Rom. 12:10, Outdo one another in showing honor.
Gal. 5:13, Through love serve one another.
Gal. 6:2, Bear one anothers burdens.
1 Thess 5:11, Encourage one another and build one another up.
Heb. 10:24, Stir up one another to love and good works.
James 5:16, Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another.
1 Peter 4:9, Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.

There is no NT Christianity without a vital and living connection to Jesus church.


2. Love what Jesus loves.

Ephesians 5:25, Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her]

John 13:35, A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, you
also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for
one another.

1 John 3:16, By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives
for our brothers.

Christ loved his Bride the Church enough that we was willing to die for her. Do we love his bride enough
to live for her?

3. Take the next step towards true community.

At NCC, we say that we want to not only meet in rows, but also in circles.

Community groups are a great way to practically live out this command to love one another.

Pray about how you can practically implement this core value of Christianity, of Jesus, and of NCC.
Rearrange your priorities.


Conclusion: Imagine

1 Thessalonians 4:9-10, Now concerning brotherly love, you have no need of anyone to write you for you
yourselves have been taught by God to love one another. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and
more.

John Stott, The Contemporary Christian, We proclaim that God is love, and that Jesus Christ offers true
community. We insist that the church is part of the gospel. Gods purpose, we say, is not merely to save
isolated individuals, and so perpetuate their loneliness, but to build a church, to create a new society, even
a new humanity, in which racial, national, social, and sexual barriers have been abolished. People
searching for community ought to be pouring into our churches. For there are Christian communities all
over the world where true, sacricial, serving love is to be found. Where such Christian love ourishes, its
magnetism is almost irresistible.