Devoted to One Another ~ Acts 2:42 June 30, 2013 ~ New City Church Calgary ~ Pastor John Ferguson

Intro: Facebook in a Crowd I found this article to be a fascinating critique of modern life and the way we navigate modern relationships in our modern century. It taps into the sense of the superficiality of life and relationships in our moment of time at the beginning of the 21st century. But what if we changed the title of this article to Me in a Crowd and applied it to your life? Do you ever feel like, despite the friends in your life, you going at it alone? Does it sometimes feel like non one wants to get together in real life anymore?

I imagine that if youve been in Calgary for any length of time, you are familiar with what sociologists call crowded loneliness? How is it possible that we can be surrounded by nearly 1.2 million people in Calgary and still feel soalone? Sodisconnected? Sounknown? What is it about Calgary that lends itself to being so easily lost in the crowd?

Ive been thinking about possible reason, and Ive been conducting informal surveys of folks in Calgary, and Ive come up with a list of Seven Obstacles to True Community in Calgary. Obstacles to community: 1. The impersonal dynamics of the city Sheer size of the city Busyness of the city The oxy-moron of neighborhoods

2. The dictates of the weather Winter forces us inside; summer forces us out to the mountains!

3. The prized value of privacy. We think of our homes in terms of a citadel. What goes through your mind when your doorbell rings unexpectedly?

4. The sacred reverence for individuality & consumerism. Devoted to myself & my interests. My default mode: I think of me not we. We approach everythingeven relationshipsin terms of Whats in it for me?

5. The preference for polite distance.

We hide our sacred reverence for individuality behind a faade of niceness.

6. The notion that people are messy. Ive got my own problems to deal with. Fear that if people really knew me, they would reject me.

7. The adoption of dead end strategies. Ive been hurt before. Ive been taken advantage of. Ive been disappointed. CS Lewis, The Four Loves, Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.

Raises a series of questions: 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? Devoted to Each Other Acts 2:42 TEXT Acts 2:42, And they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. o Koinonia = sharing a common life together Acts 2:42, NEB, They met constantly to hear the apostles teach, and to share the common life.

1. Moving toward one another in intentional relationship I John 1:3, that which we have seen and heard we proclaimed also to you, that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. The Gospel: God moves toward us in intentional relationship through Jesus Christ!

2. Moving for one another in willing sacrifice Acts 2:44-45, And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. o How can I help? Mi casa es tu casa. o IOW, they were willing to make themselves poorer in order make others richer. 2

o Their goal was to live out their identity as the people of Christ who had been blessed to be a blessing to others. 2 Cor. 8:9, For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

Main Idea: We are designed to flourish as a part of a true community where we are devoted to one another. Our default mode should be set we not me. What would it look like for me to be devoted to we? Application: 1. Embrace true community as part of Gods design for you. 1. Cheers theme song: Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name / and theyre always glad you came / you wanna be where you can see / our troubles are all the same / you wanna be where everybody know your name 2. You were created as a person-in-relationship. Part of our brokenness stems from the fact that our default mode is set to me. 3. This mirrors the Trinity: all for one and one for all. 2. Rebel against the status quo. 1. The solution cannot be more of the same. 2. Objection: Some day I pursue true community when my life is in balance. Myth: There is a perfect zen-like balance in life. Truth: Life is about managing priorities.

3. Beware of utopian visions of the perfect community Bonhoeffer, He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter

4. Take the next step in the pursuit of true community. 1. Identify obstacles: what has been holding you back? 2. Be intentional. Dont wait for someone else to do it. 3. Create something you want to be a part of, that you would want to invite others to. 3

5. Come back next Sunday! Heres whats on tap July 7: Loving One Another July 14: Welcoming One Another July 21: Serving One Another July 28: Praying for One Another Aug 4: Looking Out for One Another Aug 11: Encouraging One Another Aug 18: Showing Hospitality to One Another Aug 25: Forgiving One Another

Conclusion: 1. This isnt an optional thing. Our very mission as the church is at stake. 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, sacrificial, serving, supportive love is to be found. Where such Christian love flourishes, its magnetism is almost irresistible. Acts 2:47, And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

2. Envision a new kind of community that is in the city and for the city. 1. We must grow deep with one another so that we can grow out into the city. 2. We must be a new kind of society within our society; a new kind of city within the city so that we can be for the city. 3. Embodying authentic community is something we want to value at New City Church.