Clean House: Cultivating Christ-Like Community

October 30th, 2022/Casey Middle School

Story: The Redeem Team

“When you play in the NBA, you’re playing for a particular city, a particular market. When you’re playing for your country, those lines go away,” Bryant said in a 2015 interview. “We’re all together, we’re all playing for USA basketball. It carries a great honor with that, that goes beyond winning an NBA championship.”

Intro:

Passage: 1 Peter 3:8-12 CSB

8 Finally, all of you be like-minded and sympathetic, love one another, and be compassionate and humble, 9 not paying back evil for evil or insult for insult but, on the contrary, giving a blessing, since you were called for this, so that you may inherit a blessing.

10 For the one who wants to love life and to see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit, 11 and let him turn away from evil and do what is good. Let him seek peace and pursue it, 12 because the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do what is evil.

Pray:

Background:

The author of 1 Peter is Peter. One of Jesus' twelve disciples and among the inner circle of Jesus' closest companions. He’s writing to christians that are experiencing persecution and suffering. A theme in first Peter is hope in the midst of suffering. Throughout this letter Peter is outlining for the believer how they are to live amidst trials, suffering, and persecution.

When the pressures and hardships of life are the most intense, we tend to blame and accuse those that are closest to us.

Title: Cultivating Christ-Like Community

Big Idea: The result of a Clean House will be a life of Christ-life behavior.

How can we do these things, because Christ demonstrated for us how it is to be done.

Main Points: 5 Ways to Cultivate Christ-Like Community

1. Like-minded - This love is evidenced by a unity of mind

   1. 8 Finally, all of you be like-minded and sympathetic, love one another, and be compassionate and humble
   2. “Unity does not mean uniformity; it means cooperation in the midst of diversity.” - Warren W. Wiersbe
   3. Unity does not mean uniformity; it means harmony in diversity.
   4. “If, then, there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, 2 make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.” - Philippians 2:1-2
   5. “11 I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by your name that you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one.” - John 17:11
   6. “21 May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe you sent me. 22 I have given them the glory you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one. 23 I am in them and you are in me, so that they may be made completely one, that the world may know you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.” - John 17:21-23
   7. “Biblical unity is oneness of purpose, not sameness of persons.” - Dr. Tony Evans
   8. Retaining uniqueness, headed toward the same goal.
   9. Illust: Football. There’s one goal line, but different players on the team. Redeem Team… one mission!
   10. If you want to WIN, you must first be ONE!
       1. Question: What if God is calling you to work with someone not like you, doesn’t share the same gifts, and doesn’t think the way you think?
       2. I believe it’s in those moments of intentional relational effort, that we are truly becoming perfected and strengthening that which is lacking in ourselves, as we work toward the GOAL of God’s will in the world.
   11. Members of the body of Christ MUST work together in our differences and even celebrate our diversity for the advancement of the Gospel. We may differ on methods, but we must align on the message of Jesus Christ!

   12. Story: Ps Jules

       1. The moment when we said “We need Ps Jules.”

          13. In a world divided, we need a church united.
          14. Illust: When you tune 100 pianos to the same tuning fork, then you are going to get unity of sound with the uniqueness of instruments. We have too many tuning forks. So we have discord and competing sounds in the culture. - Dr. Tony Evans, building on a picture from A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God
          15. “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.” - a 17th-century saying (Rupertus Meldenius), often wrongly attributed to Augustine
          16. Unity, diversity, and love are critical components to understanding the Spirit's work in the body of Christ.

       2. How to fight for unity when you don’t feel like it or when things get hard:

          1. Press in privately
          2. Pray
          3. Serve
          4. Compromise
          5. Honor publicly
             17. “I have never yet known the Spirit of God to work where the Lord's people were divided.” DL Moody
             18. BIG IDEA: The result of a Clean House will be a life of Christ-life behavior.

2. Sympathetic - Another evidence of love is sympathy, a sincere “feeling for and with” the needs of others.

   1. I want to slow down, put myself in other people's shoes, listen to their stories, and do my best to understand their lives.
   2. When you live with sympathy and empathy, then you go from gossiping and slandering people to protecting and celebrating them! You go from a hater to a slayer!

   3. “15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.” - Romans 12:15

      1. When you hurt, I hurt! When you cry, I cry! When you praise, I praise! When you celebrate, I celebrate!
      2. Somebody look at your neighbor and say “We’re in this together!”
      3. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.
         4. Sympathy is the understanding of individuals, not affirmation of their behavior.
      4. Some people are afraid to truly connect with others because they fear that in their emotional connection they are affirming potentially damaging behavior.
      5. On the other hand, some people are very emotionally connected, but they lack biblical convictions and end up affirming both the emotions and behaviors as their “truth”.
      6. One leads to detached individualism while the other leads to moral relativism. Neither approach will result in biblical sympathy.
      7. Jesus is our example of biblical sympathy. We see this illustrated in John 1:14 “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
      8. And Luke 6:31 “Just as you want others to do for you, do the same for them.”

3. Love - seeing and treating one another as family

   1. The church is not like a family, the church IS family.

      1. Since you have purified yourselves by your obedience to the truth, so that you show sincere brotherly love for each other, from a pure heart love one another constantly. - 1 Peter 1:22
      2. “Honor everyone. Love the brothers and sisters. Fear God. Honor the emperor.” - 1 Peter 2:17

      3. “Above all, maintain constant love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins.” - 1 Peter 4:8

         2. Jesus not only demonstrates the greatest level of love in laying down His life for ours. He also challenges our understanding of love in relation to those around us.
         3. “27 “But I say to you who listen: Love your enemies, do what is good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” - Luke 6:27-28
         4. In family you don’t give up.
         5. Question: How are you showing love to those that hate and curse you?

      4. Say to yourself: Today I choose to pray! I choose to bless, I choose forgiveness, mercy, and love!

      5. Story:
      6. Turn your prayers to blessings. Bless what you see and want to see in others and watch God work!
         6. BIG IDEA: The result of a Clean House will be a life of Christ-life behavior.

4. Compassionate - Compassion alludes to kindness and sympathy, but there is something deeper, something more profound in its meaning.

   1. The origin of the word helps us grasp the true breadth and significance of compassion. In Latin, ‘compati’ means “suffer with.” Compassion means someone else’s heartbreak becomes your heartbreak. Another’s suffering becomes your suffering. True compassion changes the way we live. - Compassion Int.
   2. “We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.” — Dietrich Bonhoeffer
   3. In Boulder there are a lot of accomplishments, a lot of trophies and degrees on the wall, a lot of followers on social media, a lot of PR’s to celebrate, but how many of you know that there’s people hurting all over this room and all over this city!
   4. We’ve got to peel back the layers of perception to get to the reality and see people not for what they do or what they could do for you, but who they are and what they might be going through!
   5. A question to consider is “How am I suffering with ____________.” This should drive our prayer life to another level.

5. Humble - putting others first and celebrating others’ success

   1. “5 In the same way, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.” - 1 Peter 5:5
   2. “12 Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive.” - Colossians 3:12-13
   3. Humility looks good on you!
   4. If you want to be holy, you must be humble. Pride and arrogance produces humiliation, not a holy life.
   5. Let’s look now at the author again, Peter. The reckless, domineering, and arrogant disciple now bearing witness to a life of humility, compassion, and love! Imagine the patience and sympathy of Jesus!
   6. Humility leads to sympathy, compassion, unity, and love, because the focus is not on you! The story is not about you! There’s something bigger that God wants to do through you than what you want to do for others!

   7. Story: Visiting Agritopia in Phoenix

      1. “You can live an excellent life if you live by honesty, humility, and hard work.” - Jim Johnston

Question: Are these 5 characteristics true of how you treat other believers?

“The church is like an embassy in a foreign land. It’s where the rules and ethics of eternity operate within history.” - Dr. Tony Evans

“9 not paying back evil for evil or insult for insult but, on the contrary, giving a blessing, since you were called for this, so that you may inherit a blessing.”

You can repay evil for good, that’s the enemy's plan for your life. Or you can repay good for good and evil for evil, that’s humanity's plan for your life. Or you can choose the divine plan, loving your enemies, blessing those that persecute you, and demonstrating a life of mercy, grace, and peace.

If you are spending the majority of your time comparing, competing, criticizing, or controlling other christians, then you either have too much time on your hands or you have lost sight of the mission of God! Come back to your cause! Come back to your calling!

Pray for their healing, pray for their deliverance, pray for their family, pray for their breakthrough! Prayer changes both your posture toward them and the future of your situation.

Closing: We need to become ROOTED in Christ so that we can FLOURISH in the world that is desperate for HOPE!

BIG IDEA: The result of a Clean House will be a life of Christ-life behavior.

Communion:

“For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” - ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭11‬:‭23‬-‭26‬ ‭CSB‬‬