Has your group decided what you’re going to do for Super Tailgate Sunday?
On Sunday, Steven said something that I thought was powerful…
“Vicinity is not the same as community”
That got me to thinking about some ways I am in the vicinity of others, but not in community with others.
- I may be with a bunch of people in a movie theater, but I am not in community… I am just a spectator
- I may be with a bunch of people in Walmart, but I am not in community, I am a consumer.
How is the American church like these examples?
Is this really what we want? Superficial, passive, easy and convenient church? Do we really prefer vicinity over community?
I am sure you want much more than this. I know God wants so much more than this. He has made us family.
And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.
Galatians 3:27–29 (NLT)
Jesus has put a call on our lives… It is like the call to those original disciples. Mark tells us how Jesus called them out and named them. They were disciples for a reason:
They were to accompany him, and he would send them out to preach, giving them authority to cast out demons.
Mark 3:14–15 (NLT)
Did you see those three disciple characteristics? Talk about each one of them. What does it mean for US to have each of these?
- accompany him
- Sent out to preach
- authority over demons
See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are!
1 John 3:1 (NLT)
Talk about this: He chose me despite me.
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.
Ephesians 1:3–5 (NLT)
Are we, the church, good at discipling others, at having community? Or, are we good at being in vicinity?
Sure, actual discipleship is harder, that’s why:
As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.
Proverbs 27:17 (NLT)
What is my next step? Where can I go in this from here?