Kaleo San Diego Church

INTRODUCTION

This morning we are going to be looking at reasons behind our culture of loneliness.

Solomon is going to teach us extremely valuable lessons relating to our community and friendships.

But before we get to the text, it’s necessary for me to give you a good backdrop of how we got here and what are some statistics to help us see how this has affected our culture and our church body.

First thing we need to do is start with God in Genesis, then I’ll give you the stats and then we’ll get to the passage we’re studying.

CREATION

The first thing we need to establish in discussing community is creation by the Trinitarian nature of our God.

The foundation for the creation of the world lies in the triune reality of God. God is Father, Son, and Spirit. This is the social nature of our God, and the world exists as the outflow of this Trinitarian relationship.

Creation is a Trinitarian act. Its work is the result of all three persons of the eternal Trinity.

Each person in the Trinity fulfills a unique and specific role. Essentially, the Father creates the world, through the Son, by the Spirit.

The role of the Father

The Father fulfills the primary role in the act of creation. He is the foundation of all that exists.

1st Corinthians 8:6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.

The Fathers will forms the foundation for the existence of all things. The world exists by the will of the Father.

Revelation 4:11 "You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created."

The Father is the goal of all things. Every creature exists for the sake of the Father, for the praise of His glory.

Psalm 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.

The Father is the source of the existence of the world. All creatures have their ultimate being in the Father. Paul’s quotation from the Greek poets was:

Acts 17:28 "for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring.'

Just as the Father shares his deity with the Son, in love, the Father freely makes the world and shares his existence with it, in love. It is an act of the nature of a God that is a God of community.

The role of the Son

The Father functions as the foundation of creation, the role of the Son is that of being an agent of creation. He is the one that shows the proper relation of creation to the Creator. He is the “logos” the very though and mind of God, made flesh, though eternal with God.

The son then creates as He is given the task from the Father, to clearly demonstrate to us what the mind of God intended to convey as He created all things. The son does this perfectly, and therefore is the perfect representation of God’s creation.

This is driven from the community that the Father and Son have shared from eternity. As the Son humbly demonstrates His dependence upon the Father, He shows all creature are to look humble to God as the fountain of their life.

As the creature follows this pattern, they participate in the relationship that the eternal Son enjoys with His Father. As this occurs, creation models itself after the pattern of a loving community that the Son demonstrates, he is indeed the one Paul describes in Colossians 1:17 “in whom all things hold together.”

The role of the Spirit

So as the Father is the foundation for creation and the Son is the agent of creation, the Spirit is also involved in creation. The spirit is the divine power that is active in creating the universe.

Genesis 1:2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

The function of the Spirit is again an outworking of the Trinitarian relationship. The Father who eternally loves the Son creates the world in order that it might share in his existence and with the intent that the world would love Him after the pattern of the Son’s love for the father.

What binds the Father and the Son in the power of their relationship is the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the one through whom the Father fashions the world. The Spirit is the personal power of God, it is the binding dynamic between the Father and the Son, by which all things exist.

God creates “community”

God’s purpose in and for the creation He is shaping is to share in His existence and to enter into the relationship the Son enjoys with Him. The world exists in order to participate in the life of the social Trinity.

This is a central theme of the entire biblical message. From the garden, which opens the first act on the biblical story, to the vision of white-robed multitudes inhabiting a new earth, speaks of community.

God directs His program to the bringing about of community, which are a redeemed people, living within a renewed creation, and enjoying the presence of their God.

God states His intention early in the creation narrative. In Genesis 2:18;

Genesis 2:18 And the LORD God said, "It is not good that man should be alone..."

The goal of His divine activity throughout history is the gathering together of the community created by God, for His plan. God takes note of the aloneness of the first human in the Garden and tells us that it is not good.

SIN

As man was initially created as the image bearer of God, he was able to commune freely with God, commune freely with his wife, and was able to enjoy the fruit of perfect creation, which he was set to watch over under his care.

Yet when sin entered the picture, everything changed. He was no longer able to commune freely with his Creator:

Genesis 3:8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

Man now hid from God. This relationship of sonship, that was to be a pattern of the eternal relationship that God had with His Son, was now broken.

Man hid from the presence of God. He was now removed from the close communion that he had previously experience. Man now felt a fear for God that was unnatural. He no longer wanted to be in the presence of God, but instead ran away and hid.

This sin didn’t just affect his relationship with God, it affected his relationship with Eve. Their communion with one another was also radically affected;

Genesis 3:16 To the woman He said: "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you."

Once they had enjoyed a relationship of peace with each other because they had peace with God, now they will suffer the consequences of sin as it breaks apart family community.

Sin continued its devastating affect by causing a separation of beautiful creation with man.

The ground would no longer yield its increase to Adam without labor.

Genesis 3:17 Then to Adam He said, "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it': "Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. 18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. 19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.”

Man is now cursed with in imperfect creation, because of his sin. Because he was responsible for having dominion over this word to care for and be cared by it, the world now suffers the pain of sin in this broken community.

Romans 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.

This creation waits for the day in which it will be reconciled to God. It yearns for the day when sin is removed, so that perfect community can once again reign.

Romans 8:19-21 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

And as a child of God, we too yearn for that day. We wait for it, in hope, keeping our eyes fixed upon the day when all things will be reconciled with our God.

Romans 8:23 …even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.

We no longer show the image of the creator. Sin severs our relationships with each other. We are designed to enjoy each other in a rich fellowship, but now find ourselves exploiting each other and being exploited.

Women who are created in God’s image are now looked upon as nothing more than an object to be mastered by the ultimate predator, man, in his sexual perversion.

Children, who are a gift of God, are now hunted as sexual prey. They are treated as a wild beast as they are beaten and ridiculed by sinful parents.

And man, who is to carry the image of God and exemplify the relationship of the Trinity, is now obsessed with power and money. He is subjected to murder and war, hatred and envy, greed and domination, under the weight of sin. Sin alienates us from each other.

Where we are designed to be God’s friend, even His children, our sin leads us to live as enemies of God, under His wrath because of our ultimate hatred towards Him.

Instead of enjoying God’s presence, we flee. We live in fear, blaming God for His hostility towards us, while never thinking of our own hatred for Him.

Sin destroys the community God intends for his creation. And we are the ones that are responsible. Because of this loss of community, we no longer fulfill God’s design for us. We are alienated from our own true selves. We simply are not who we are meant to be.

Since our first parents, we have all been born into a world where we simultaneously long for friendship and community that is gracious, joyous, and endless, but continually find this longing unsatisfied because of the sin that continues to separate us from friendship with God and one another.

Over this last 25 years, our nation has undergone a drastic decline in formal and informal friendships, and organizations where people gather to make friends.

As an example, unions, professional associations, and civic groups have all experienced significant membership decline.

Yet ½ of all organization membership, charitable giving, and community service is connected to religious organizations, making the church and her ministries the number one connecting point for social friendships and social opportunities in our nation.

But, as spirituality has become more private and individual, attendance has declined in Protestant churches by 20% in just the last 25 years. Other indicators which signal a decline in friendship and community are listed below, and should help to explain the increase in depression and other emotional ills caused by isolation in our culture.

Statistics from Bowling Alone:

• playing cards is down 25% in the past 25 years
• the number of bars, nightclubs, & taverns is down 40%
• the number of full service restaurants is down 25%,
• the number of bars (including coffee) and luncheonettes is down 50%, but fast food outlets are up 100%
• having a social evening with someone from your neighborhood is down 33%
• attending clubs & meetings is down 58%
• family dinners are down 33%
• having friends over to your home is down 45%

Other Social Changes in America:

• from 1992-99 time spent caring for a pet was up 15%, time spent for personal grooming was up 5-7%, but going to church was down 20%, and having friends over to your home was down 20%
• from 1980-93 America’s #1 participant sport, bowling, was up 10% but bowling leagues were down 40%
• watching movies, concerts, and sporting events is up, indicating that culture has become less what we do than what we watch, making us a culture of observers and not participants- consider reality t.v.
• the average person living in San Diego has lived 3 other places in the past 10 years
• many San Diegans are unmarried and young, which affects having “roots” in one place. A spouse, children, and a home usually settles people.

The effects of mans solitary existence can be understood by studies that record the effects of a humans being alone for both short and long periods of time.

When you take a person out of community, whether it be in a correctional facility, prisoner of war, or even a willing self-removal from community, the effect vary but can range from;

• an increasing inability to tolerate ordinary stimuli; simple things such as noise –the ordinary, everyday noises of plumbing and heating systems working.
• hearing voices –even whispers,
• panic attacks,
• difficulty in concentration and with memory (example: inmates stated they could not concentrate to read) which can lead to disorientation,
• mind wanders,
• aggressive fantasies
• paranoia and other fears,
• doubt oneself and troubles in determining what is real, and
• problems with controlling impulses –sometimes with random violence.

Why is this? Because the design of the community of our God was that man too would experience a relationship of community.

Without this community being founded by our Trinitarian God, man is left with either solitary confinement, or a shallow copy of what a genuine community should be, which only adds to the problem because it has the appearance but not the substance of a legitimate, loving, community which connects its meaning and existence to the ultimate perfect, loving community, the Trinity.

So what does Solomon say are some of the reasons we have a difficulty having community and enduring friendships with one another?

Let’s turn to Ecclesiastes 4:4-16:

Reasons Behind Communal Breakdown

Jealousy/Envy

Verse 4- I have seen that every labor and every skill which is done is the result of rivalry between a man and his neighbor. This too is vanity and striving after wind.

The first reason you and I live detached and isolated lives, is because we are coveters. We are envious, we are jealous. We don’t like people having things that we don’t have and we want.

They may be rich and you’re poor, they may be attractive, you man not be, they may have well behaved kids, and yours are little demons that look like you, they may be smart, and your not, they have a boyfriend or girlfriend, you have to tie a pork chop around your neck so the dog will play with you. That’s how it goes. They have something that we want and it makes us jealous and envious.

It is had for you to rejoice with others when things are going well for them because you have a covetous heart and you can’t be joyous with other people.

How many friendships have ended because of something good that happened to you and your friend became jealous, or something good happened to them, and you acted out of jealousy? Of course, we’ll never admit that we are the ones that are jealous will we? Why? Because others will think we are jealous and since they aren’t we because jealous that they are not jealous.

I see this with single people. Someone falls in love and instead of their friend rejoicing with them, they end the friendship because they weren’t spending enough time with the one that was single.

Solomon is saying that the result of neighbors and friends feuding is because of jealousy, it’s because of coveting what the neighbor has.

We are not to work hard only because our neighbor might beat us at getting something. That is not a good motivator for putting in the extra hours. Some of you do this at work. You don’t slave at your job because you have a great work ethic, you slave at your job because you want to be the next guy to the promotion.

Jealousy and envy kills friendships and community. Our covetous heart even finds reasons for critiquing someone else who grows in Christ faster than they. It is absolutely crippling.

Solomon lists some other causes.

Laziness

Verse 5- The fool folds his hands and consumes his own flesh.

If you are a lazy person you will not have community and friendships. Why? Because community is not built only around what we believe, it is usually built around what we do with our time.

You develop friends at work, you develop friends at church or through the ministry you’re serving in, you develop friends at places that you give your time to help others. As you are working on projects in life, you end up working around people with like interests and that is where friendships are birthed.

If you’re lazy, nothing will happen. Lazy people don’t have the ambition to serve or participate in their church or their social networks, to participate in projects at their work or in their community, so they live disconnected lives socially and relationally. Why? Because their lazy!

These people have no interest in going anywhere or doing anything, but they are the first to talk about how lonely they are and how much they feel isolated from everybody.

Some of you struggle with friendships because you’re a jealous person, and some of you struggle with friendships because you’re lazy and refuse to take the effort to build friendships, which can be messy and time consuming.

Some of you are lazy and jealous. You are lazy and so when your friends call you to do something you say no, but your jealous because you don’t like it when no one calls to do anything with you and they seem to be having a great time without your presence.

If your friends keep calling you to do something with them and you continually say no because you’re lazy, what will eventually happen? They’ll stop calling. So you further isolate yourself from the very individuals that love you and want to spend time with you in friendship and community.

What else?

Discontentment/Dissatisfaction

Verse 6- One hand full of rest is better than two fists full of labor and striving after wind.

We need to be a people that live a two handed life- work and Sabbath.

People that only live a one handed life of work end up burned out and miserable because they are tired and weary from laboring.

Physically, if you don’t take a Sabbath rest you will get sick, you will live a lower quality of life, and your health will suffer and so will your relationships.

I used to do this all the time with my wife, I would work hard and then come home and want to sit and do nothing because I was so tired. But my wife didn’t think I should be tired because when she saw me all she saw was me sitting and wanting to do nothing.

It was because I wasn’t properly resting and taking care of myself. I wasn’t forcing myself to have a day where I could have down time with my family and just enjoy a meal or a movie together. I couldn’t rest because I would think and have nightmares about my work, so that when I did sleep it wasn’t a deep sleep.

If all we do is work, work, work, you will have no time for friends or community, and you will because very serious, very somber, and very unpleasant to be around. You end up looking like the before picture of a fiber ad. You become agitated and not very motivated to be with people.

These people need to learn to live out of both hands. One that works hard, one that rests well and enjoy the life that God has given us through all our labor.

There is nothing that causes my wife to glaze over like a deer in front of headlights than when I work all day and come home to talk to her about work all night.

I struggle with the right balance. It is hard to ensure that you are working hard, but not too hard, that you are resting well, but not too well.

Our country works more hours with less vacation than any other country in the world! We are given on average 36,000,000 minutes in our life and we will spend about 13 million working, that’s a lot of minutes laboring without enjoying the fruit of our work.

Greed/Work

Verses 7-8- Then I looked again at vanity under the sun. 8 There was a certain man without a dependent, having neither a son nor a brother, yet there was no end to all his labor. Indeed, his eyes were not satisfied with riches and he never asked, "And for whom am I laboring and depriving myself of pleasure?" This too is vanity and it is a grievous task.

This person worked hard, but it wasn’t because he had anyone that he needed to work so many hours to make so much money to leave to someone.

Why was he working so hard if he didn’t have to? He was greedy, and wasn’t satisfied with what he had, he needed more.

We all want more money, but you have to work more hours, for what, to buy more things, that we don’t need, to impress people we don’t like, because we don’t have any real friends who love us the way we are. Why? Because we’re too busy working and don’t have time.

Why are you working so hard? So you can make more money? Why? So that you can spend it all on therapy and medication because you have no one to do life with.

How many of you have golf clubs you don’t have time to swing? How many of you have books you can’t get to because you have no time? How many of you have or know someone that has a boat or motorcycle they don’t have time to ride? How many people have gym memberships that they can’t use? Why? Because they are too busy working to make more money to afford the dues to a gym they don’t have time to attend! How many of you have kids, or where the kids of someone that worked all the time and never had time for the children they said they wanted?

These people have friends, they have hobbies, they have kids, they have a church, that they could enjoy but they don’t because they are always working.

This is a goose chase without a goose.

We are supposed to work to live, not live to work. We make money to enjoy life, not enjoy life by making money. Money is a means to an end, it’s not the end.

If our goal is money, we have not properly defined what it means to be truly wealthy. If you think wealth means income, you will be perennially frustrated because our live don’t solely run off of financial capital. Some of you don’t have friends because you have chosen to work too much. You need to own that and rethink why that is.

More than likely the root is greed. It’s a selfish, self-serving, self-loving narcissism that tries to satisfy itself by feeding itself money.

If your goal is money, and you get that by working, you will have no friends. Why? Because friendships take time, and for you time is money, so the friendships get in the way and need to go.

Benefits of Community and Friendship

Effectiveness

Verse 9- Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor.

Amen! Do you really believe that two are better than one?

I got married because I realized that I didn’t like to be alone. Modern psychologists call this “co-dependency” and I think that’s a good term. I am co-dependent. I depend upon my spouse through this life. Why? Because two are better than one.

I realize that God has wired us to need each other. He has created man to need a woman and vice versa. This is not an evil thing, it is a beautiful thing.

How much would my wife feel loved if I said I was “independent” instead of “co-dependant?” Honey, I love you, but I really don’t need you to be happy. Wow, that’s romantic.

I don’t like waking up apart from my wife. When I travel, I don’t care how great the conference is, I hate being apart from Grace. I don’t sleep well, I get a little irritable. I am not as effective in my life apart from my wife.

For you, this means friendship which helps you become more effective in your life and ministry.

Getting up by yourself, getting in you care by yourself, going to work by yourself, having lunch by yourself, coming home alone without anyone there, doing you bills by yourself, and cooking your own meal and eating dinner by yourself is hell. It is not good that man should be alone!

For some of you here, if you don’t eventually enter into some kind of relationship with someone, you will become very strange. Some of you are already strange and now you know why!

We are more effective when we work together. There is a reciprocity that should take place with one another. If you need your car fixed, someone in your community can help you, if you cut hair then you can cut his hair. It works like a bartering system instead of a transactional system. We help each other do life with our skills and life becomes a little easier and little better. This is social capital.

We are a family according to Scripture, with God as our Father in a household of faith.

Help

Verse 10- For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up.

If we don’t have a Godly family and community, we end up having to pay for help from people we don’t know. Instead we should help each other when we are in need.

There will be a day when each of us are not doing well. If you have friends and have social capital, you have others that will come over and love you through your pain and suffering.

We shouldn’t have to go to strangers for help, it should come from our own family.

If you were in a car accident, or fell seriously ill, who would help you? Who would be there for you? Who would move in to help you, or who would give you their keys to drive their car?

Companionship

Verse 11- Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone?

This is great for cuddlers!

In this time, if you wanted to stay warm, you needed to have a friend to keep warm with.

This is also just good ole fashioned physical companionship and contact. How many of you long for physical contact that isn’t perverted and sexual?

In our culture, if you hug someone, it is immediately assumed that because their was human contact, something is going on with the two of them. Part of the beauty of living as a beautiful godly family is being able to give loving affecting to one another without it being sick and twisted.

It’s ok to love and hug someone. If you’re a guy, there is a place when it becomes a little uncomfortable so watch out, but you know when that is…hopefully.

Does your pastor like to hug? Yes he does. I came from a very affectionate family and I love affection. Not sick or perverted affection, but just a hug hello or goodbye.

We see this with the story of Job, instead of just coming a loving Job as family, they wanted to sit around and argue theology!

Protection

Verse 12- And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.

If you want to fight me, I’ve got friends who have my back. It’s protection. This makes sense, if someone is going to bully you, the chances are much slimmer if you have friends around you.

If you are a single woman, this means that your brothers in Christ will keep the freaks away from you.

If you have lots of friends, you are better insulated and protected from you enemies.

Blaming others for our isolation and sin

Verses 13-16- A poor yet wise lad is better than an old and foolish king who no longer knows how to receive instruction. 14 For he has come out of prison to become king, even though he was born poor in his kingdom. 15 I have seen all the living under the sun throng to the side of the second lad who replaces him. 16 There is no end to all the people, to all who were before them, and even the ones who will come later will not be happy with him, for this too is vanity and striving after wind

Here’s his point. Our society is filled with institutions and organizations. At the top of these institutions are people in charge. For this time, it is the King.

What happens very often is that people become unhappy with their lot in life and after looking at some of the reasons why, we understand why people are angry. But instead of owning up to their own sin, and their own jealousy, and their own laziness, and their own dissatisfaction, and their own greed, they blame the person at the top.

We only have two options to find blame. Either out there, or in here in our hearts. Adam chose to blame God and Eve. We have been doing this ever since.

So, someone comes along that is younger and will listen to you, you all agree that the problem is not inside of you but outside of you and so you tear down the current leader and place someone else in his stead.

With 2 weeks before election, do we see this? When listening to the debates, I heard John Kerry say that everything that Bush was doing was terrible and wouldn’t give him credit for anything that was going well, then he kept saying he has a plan, he has a plan for this, a plan for that, but never actually got to his plan. This is what I’m talking about. We tear down someone so that you can be on top, or not taking accountability for your sin and blaming your boss, your husband, your dad, your president, instead of asking whether or not the problem isn’t with them, but with your own heart.

The young guy has such great ideas and is really optimistic, until he’s king and he has people blaming him for their unhappiness and isolation. Why, because their not happy, so it must be that guys fault.

The reason you don’t like your job is not because of your boss, the reason you don’t like your church is not because of me, the reason you don’t like Christianity is not because of Jesus…it’s you.

The real reason you and I are isolated and lonely, is because the problem isn’t just out there, but it really is right here in your own heart.

Some of you will come to churches and feel frustrated because you didn’t get enough attention, instead of making an effort to engage, you blame your pastor, or the church because you refuse to see it as a personal problem.

You and I need to own our jealousy, our laziness, our dissatisfaction, our greediness, and call it what it is, which is sin.

Don’t blame everyone else. Changing an entire system will never fix what is inside of you. It’s much easier to blame then to do. It’s easier to be against for something than for something.

THE SOLUTION

The only solution that God has sent for us to be reconciled and renewed, is a new birth. Our sinful flesh can only produce more sinful flesh. There must be a supernatural act of birth for the dead.

The community God had intended can only be lived out in a context of this new birth. It can only be experienced in the context of new creations.

Jesus says to Nicodemus “you must be born again” that is that you must be given life from above.

Where man has created a gulf between himself and God, between himself and creation, between himself and others. Christ, who is the perfect God-Man, now comes to restore broken creation back to its original plan. Back to the relationship of sonship that is modeled with Himself and the Father.

Jesus comes as the only one that can reconcile us to God.

Colossians 1:13-14 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

God’s plan is to bring those that are out of His kingdom, into His kingdom. He does this by the Son of His love. Jesus redeems us, buys us from sin, satisfies God’s justice and grafts us into the community of His people. He literally “translates” us so that we can now dwell with Him, His creation, and His community that will exist for eternity.

Jesus comes as our great hero that takes us from solitary confinement of death and brings us into a right relationship with His Father, which is life.

He fixes what is broken. He gives us an identity. He makes us new creatures that now can experience what being made in the “image of God” looks and feels like as we live our lives immersed in Him.

Ephesians 2:13-22 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. 19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

How do we have an authentic community?

Community is not affinity. Affinity means “a natural attraction or liking to an individual or individuals like yourself.”

Affinity is a form of Idolatry. It is a form of self-worship.

To only hang around others that are “like yourself” is to think so highly of yourself that you want to be around you all the time.

This type of community never breeds compassion or grace. It only breeds self-absorbed, self-seeking, self-serving, self-loving people that are so immersed in themselves that they find it difficult to be around anyone not “like them.”

The practical work of the Gospel, means to develop a spiritual community of those that are not like you and I. It means to extend a hand to someone that is a stranger, not only from us, but a stranger of God.

It means that we are secure enough in community that we extend the community as an outward focus, not an inward one.

Community always reaches out, because God reaches out. Community breeds love and respect for one another as God loves and gives honor to each of those in His community.

In a practical sense, it is the Gospel. It is seeking out those that are lost, to reconcile them with something greater than themselves, from God, to God’s people.

It should be a reflection of the Trinity, where we each welcome and understand our role. We don’t bicker with one another because we don’t like the role we have been given.

Can you imagine Jesus complaining to Father about His role? Or the Spirit complaining to Jesus and the Father for having to dwell with us?

No, the trinity works together in a perfect cohesive unity that has roles and lovingly and willingly performs its role, even to the point of death as Jesus perfectly executed the Fathers plan for Him by dying on the cross.

The biblical community is humble. It looks at he submission and humility of Jesus to the Father, and welcomes that same pattern.

It sees the love that the Father has for the Son, and the Son has for the Father and it attempts to translate that to those that are without that kind of love.

The biblical community watches as the Spirit fulfills its missional duty by calling those that the Father has chosen and draws them to the feet of Jesus. It recognizes the role of the Spirit to show Jesus to those that are blind and it attempts to follow that same pattern by bringing people to the foot of the Son of God.

The biblical community understands that the Son is the perfect example of the Father and it lives to follow that example in everything it does as a community.

Does this sound like our community at Kaleo? If yes, then praise God for His maturing process as we seek to honor Him in our community. If no, than I pray God will grant us repentance so that we can seek Him in humility and confess that we have fallen short of His beautiful plan for friendship and community.

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