Talk ideas for VV

People and community is what you can't get online. You can get great teaching or good worship on the computer in the private isolation of your own home but we can not get that sense of belonging in any of the four spheres.
Even in the public and social we cannot truly belong without real human interaction. Social networks help us to sustain relationships and to launch or relaunch friendships but only as a starting place. It never makes it into what Jesus would describe as community.


Bruce did a teaching on this a few years ago http://hoowhat.blogspot.com/search?q=community

I was talking to a friend the other day about church and what's important in church, he was sharing why he goes and what he looks for in a church. So he said that he loves to worship but it is less important to him than the teaching because he can go onto itunes and listen to worship any time. And then I asked if he goes onto itunes and listens to sermons at all. he said yes, he was not growing through the local church that he was attending's teaching and he did go online for those too. So as we were talking we stared to realize that in our times today the thing we need most out of the church is the people. (which i think is a really good thing) we can basically have our own little church service from the isolation of our own homes but in this we never belong anywhere except on the web by ourselves. All the information and even the artistry are available to us outside of our local church but The one thing that we can't replace is the sense of belonging. Life is more than information and artistry. Those things are important but they are not real people. They are not community.

A sermon I was listening to,.. online, had an interview with a man who was talking about a community outreach program that this church body initiated. He said that even if the government can help, "you can't get a sense of community from the government." Why is that so important? Because man was not meant to be alone. We have struggled with it since the garden. Sometimes we think that God is all we need. And that is true, but God himself said that it is not good. Genesis 2:18 Adam had God's company in the garden but he did not have the company of the church. He was alone. The next Eden will be different. It will not be one man in relationship with God it will be one bride in relationship with Jesus. And this one bride is made up of many body parts. Each part has their own function and all are important. This is the way it will be when Christ sets up his new eden. (Rev 21:2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.) Jesus is ready to meet this whole group of people, 'his people, as vs 3 says. This is what Jesus is looking forward to.
This time we are many united in one body. Each one of us has a special part to play. No one is useless and no one is any more essential than any other part.
We need each other. No man is an island.
"most of us still feel that, if we have anything at all to show, it is something we have to do solo." -Nouwen In the name of Jesus


Two ways we need each other: (belonging and as a body)
Belonging to community
public
social
private
intimate
Henri nouwen talks about some of the ideas here in moving from sol-com-min.
talks about jesus praying on the mt alone, so we know solitude is necessary. And a quote that I love from that talk is

Personality and giftings.
Every good gift comes from God. He gives gifts such as wisdom and discernment to anyone, anyone, who asks. Other gifts are unique and serve special functions.
Hud says we all have a life purpose and statement. All of ours is different.
We have different passions, giftings, natural talents, personalities, and we are all in different worlds. No one else lives your life. No one else is in connection with all of your friends and has the opportunities you do. No one else sees the same hurts and needs that God exposes each one of us to. We are unique.
And our uniquness is what makes us depend on each other. God made it purposely so that we could not be independent. Independence from God is what moved man from God in the garden. Independence from each other is what is moving man from himself.
It is what either shows the world what following Christ is all about or give the world another reason to turn their backs on God and go their own way.

(Unique in personality,function, yet all called to bear the same image)
Yet, we are all called to be in Christ's image. There are certain things that bond us together. Christ calls for unity. Paul calls it fellowship and a united body and one people. But what is being in Christ's image. If we are all in Christ's image does that mean that we should all look the same? Act the same? Make the same jokes, watch the same movies, dress the same way, listen to the same music, and like the same speaker? How can we all be in the same image of one man and still be individuals?
(what christ's image is not)
First let's take a look at what Christ's image is described as in the bible. We know that it can't refer to his physical image because they never tell us what Jesus looks like. We know it is not referring to what jobs we have because Paul says to some they are called to be apostles, some evan, some etc. And he says to new converts to stay in their current job. They don't all need to drop their job as tax collector like Zaccieus, or roman soldier like ? or
It is not a matter of what music we listen to. Scripture describes these things as unimportant. It is a matter of taste. Not of Christ. Special days, what foods we eat, books full of rules. These are not the things that determine if we are in Christ's image.

(What being is Christ's image is)
Being in christ' image is a

(how we get there- holy spirit, connecting with God)(Story about prism and being away from family and needing to cling to God instead of man.)
Christ is the head of every man. So we need him. In fact, everything I say about community will be basicly worthless without a real vital relationship with Jesus. (you can ignore all that is above if without this next part because is is the foundation of our faith and the rock we stand on.
Henri Nouwen puts it like this,
‘If we do not know we are the beloved sons and daughters of God, we're going to expect someone in the community to make us feel that way. They cannot. We'll expect someone to give us that perfect, unconditional love. But community is not loneliness grabbing onto loneliness: "I'm so lonely, and you're so lonely.’ It's beloved grabbing onto beloved.
We need to draw from Christ first. Our love and our daily bread. He is all that we need and the satisfier of our souls. Not the people around us. They are will never fulfill us like Christ can.
Community without Christ is like Babble. God know that it is not good to have great community without communion with Him. If we try to save ourselves and forget that we have a need for a savior. We cannot live the lives we are called to live without God. It is impossible. We cannot resurrect ourselves, we cannot save ourselves from sin. It will always twist itself into new types of sin like pride or selfishness with out being rooted in Christ. He says, 'you can do nothing apart from me.' Nothing of kingdom worth that is.
Yet God calls us to community. In our solitude, our quiet times spent with God, He will always calls us to reach out to other people, to be in community with them

(Call to ownership.) Can be grumblers and complain that where we are is not where we want to be. Like the Israelites did in the desert of Sin, or we can be agents of change in this broken body. In this broken and lonely world. We can be gateways of the invisible love of God pouring out into our physical world. All that we need to do every good work is available to us right now.
"20May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." -Hebrews 13
This God who raised Jesus from the dead, he has that much power, has the ability to equip us for good works. And he has the power to work within us to change mature us and purify us and grow us.
Not tomorrow or next year, right now. God equips those he calls. And he calls us all to be united in love in a world of division.
Don't


It is not a matter of what job we have. It is a matter of what we do in the job we have. Will we be like zaccieus before he encounters jesus or z after he encounters Jesus.