Re:Member Core Practices II
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning. My name is Spencer. I am one of the pastors here. We are continuing to go through our Remember series, which is an opportunity for us as a church to revisit our membership commitments and remember the things we're committing to. The first half of it was going through the first seven commitments of our membership commitment, which is the gospel. And these last seven that we're going through week by week are the practices that flow out of the gospel, the things that we commit to do as a church because Jesus Christ rose from the grave. So we're going to be in number nine this week, which reads, I will pursue deep, genuine relationships with others in the Mill City family through committing to regular participation in Sunday gatherings and a community group where I can love and serve others and ensure I am surrounded by people who love Jesus and love me.
So last week we saw the importance of what it means to cultivate a personal relationship with Christ. And this week we get to see what it means to as Christians who've cultivated this relationship with Christ, where God has placed us in the context of community. We are made as image bearers in humanity. Like we're made in the image of a communal God who eternally exists as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who, when he made humanity, made him, made us in the image of our triune God. And he saw that it was not good that man would be alone. That's who we are. We're made to be in community in the same way that a fish is made for water in the context of what it is placed. Humanity is made to be in community.
So that if you have a child who gets really excited about taking their pet fish to show and tell, and they don't do what every child or what every person who thinks about this has done is putting a fish in the bag, sealing the bag, and then taking it to school. If they just simply put the fish in their pocket and went to school, it's going to be a super tragic moment at show and tell when that fish is pulled out. Because fish are made for water. That's the context for which they are created. And we as Christians are made to be in community. And there are some folks who will say, yes, I think we're supposed to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I get that. But I don't love the church. I've got baggage, I got church hurt, or I decided. I don't really love organized religion. I think I can have a personal relationship with Christ. What I would say is that the scriptures don't bear that to Be true. That's a fish out of water. Like we're made to be in community. When you read the rest of the New Testament, it bears this out over and over again. So yes, we want to have a personal relationship with Christ, but the idea that you can do that disconnected from God's people is a very recent Western idea. It is foreign to the Scriptures. And I want us to see that today as we walk through this commitment to. I want us to see how we're called to live this out and what's at stake as we seek to commit to this.
So let me pray for us and then we'll walk through this together. Heavenly Father, I pray that you might help us see the importance of what it means to have life together. God, I pray that you would speak to our hearts. I pray that you would help us be compelled to believe the Gospel and then live out the implications of it. Community. As a church, we ask this in Jesus name. Amen.
All right. So why should we commit to deep, genuine relationships with one another in a local church? As I already said, part of that's how we're. How we're made. We're made to be in community, made in the image of a communal God. And the church has been doing this since day one. Our scripture reading that we had earlier is Acts 2, 42, 47. So we were in the previous verses leading up to that last week, coming into verse 42 or picking back up in 42 today. But it's it. This is what the church has done that after the church begins, it says in verse 42,
> And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 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. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
So that when we look at our commitment, you can really put it side by side with this passage and really the pattern that flows out of this passage that when we say I will pursue deep genuine relationships with others in the Mill city family, we can see in verse 42 they devoted themselves the apostles teaching and the fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayers, they were devoted to one another. They deeply valued fellowship together. That when we say through committing to regular participation in Sunday gatherings and a community group. We see that's what the church was doing. It says, day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes. They received their food with glad and generous hearts that they were as the church gathering together to go worship in the temple. Now later on, they're not invited. They end up having to. They're not invited to the temple anymore. They start to be persecuted. And then this forms into worshiping on the Lord's day, which is guided the church, as the church has come together to worship on Sunday, the day the resurrection happened for the last 2000 years. And also they gather together in homes, which is why we have community groups. We come together on Sunday and then we live in the. In the context of our community groups living out the implications of the gospel. We find it right here.
And what flows out of this passage when we say, where I can love and serve others and ensure I'm surrounded by people who love Jesus and love me, we can see very clearly in verse 44, it says, and all who believe 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 that they so radically loved one another and served one another. They were selling off property, they were putting in money just so others could. Their needs could be met. So we look at this passage as foundational for how we live out the implication of the Gospel as a church and the rest of the Book of Acts and the rest of the New Testament. When you read the letters that make up the rest of the New Testament, continue to teach this over and over again. That's why we have this commitment for our church.
So what I want to do is I want to slow down. I want to walk through each part of our commitment and help us see how the rest of the New Testament helps us understand how we're called to live this out as a church. So let's deal with the first part. I will pursue deep, genuine relationships with others in the mill city family. Okay? That's very specific language for a reason. When you look at the New Testament, there's a lot of metaphors for the the church. So if you look at Ephesians chapter three, you see, the church is called a temple in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
> In him the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
This picture of the church is all different building blocks of the temple that the Spirit has come to live and dwell inside of the church is also called a body. It says in Romans chapter 12.
> so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
That we're all collectively the body flowing into Christ, who's the head of the body. And all of us are just different members of that body. We get. In Ephesians 5, the church is called the bride.
> Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.
The idea of two becoming one flesh together, the bride, the church and Jesus Christ the bridegroom. It's called a holy nation.
> But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession...
1 Peter 2. There are all types of metaphors that we could choose to build off of with this language. We chose the language of family. There are passages like first Timothy, chapter three that says,
> if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.
That's the household family of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and a buttress of the truth. One of the most common words that shows up in the New Testament is the Greek word for brothers and sisters. Adelphoi over and over again referred to brothers and sisters in Christ. You'd be the passages that talk about fathers and mothers in the faith. So we went with the metaphor family that we are devoted. We want to be. Have deep, genuine, loving, Christ exalting relationships with others in the mill city family. And that's what you see in the early church. They were a family. So much so they believed that they were selling off possessions because you take care of your family, you make sure they don't have needs. They, they believe this and they lived like it was true. Because listen, you, you don't sell your stuff and give it away to someone if you don't believe it. Like you're not doing that with any other person. No, they, they, they believed the gospel and they lived as if it was true. Because they understood if Jesus rose from the grave, if the God man took sin upon the cross and judgment on our behalf and he actually walked out of the tomb and he ascended to the right hand of God the Father, that if that's true, then I'm all in that you live a radically different life. If you believe that is true. If you go into the casino and you are guaranteed, as the roulette table goes, that it is going to be on red and you got all your cash, that's a win. Put it on red. I'm all in on that. So they believe if Christ, he's alive. Well, I'm all in on this. So we're going to have all things in common. We're going to be a family together. They believe this and they live like it was true.
So I don't want us to be a church that just throws around the word church family and then doesn't live like it is true. A couple of months ago, I saw a video compilation of a bunch of churches like ours doing their opening announcements. And they just took the same kind of clip over and over again from a bunch of churches. And it was the same thing. It was, hey, church family. Hey, church fam. Hey, church family. Good to see you, church family. And I heard it over and over again, and a part of me died because I hate. I don't ever want to seem cliche. And they just, in a rude clip, they just, absolutely, just belittled the use of that phrase over and over and over again. So part of me looked at that and was like, oh, goodness, should we, I don't know, should we? Do we ever use that? Should we not say that anymore? I said, oh. And then I thought more about it and I was like, no, no, that's only trite and played out and cliche. If we say it over and over again but don't actually believe it, if we use it over and over again but don't live like that is true. But if we say it and don't back it up, then, yeah, it's super cringe. But if we actually believe this and own this, then, yeah, we're going to keep using it over and over again. Because being a church family takes investment. Being a family is investing. It's this Acts 2 devotion devoted to one another, which you see in these relationships that they have as they go deeper with one another throughout the book of acts. So we want to be a church that pursues deep, genuine relationships with others and the Mill City family.
And the next part says, through committing to regular participation in Sunday gatherings and a community group. Okay, let's tackle that one at a time. Tackle groups first. Committing to community groups, y', all, groups are not just an event that you put into your calendar. We say this quite a bit. It's not just a thing, a programmatic thing that you go to. No, your group is the people that you journey through life with. It's the localized expression of family in the church. So you walk side by side with and sure, we do. We have a time that is helpful for all the family. For us in our groups to come together. We have a group meeting time that we come to once a week, and that's good for us to do. To practice the rhythms that the early church practiced. Says they devote themselves to the apostles teaching, to studying God's Word. They devoted themselves to prayer. They devoted themselves to a fellowship meal. We want to do that. And that's what our groups do. They come together once a week and they eat a meal together, which is incredibly valuable. It is good for us to come together and eat a meal together. There's something that God has designed in eating a meal with someone else that brings depth and connection, that builds relationship that is valuable.
If you bring your dishes, you're bringing a bit of your personality. So if you volunteer boldly to take the Mac and cheese for the week and you don't bring this wonderful creamy casserole esque, but not over the top, like just simplistically wonderful, tasteful Mac and cheese, and you, like, throw a bunch of lobster in it and stuff, that just doesn't belong there, then we know some things about you. We've gathered some things that honestly probably should change with sanctification over time in the context of community. So there's a little your personality that comes, but also you just in conversation over a meal. This is universal. Have you ever traveled the world? People sit down together, even more so than Western culture, because sometimes we treat it like it's a substance to be consumed and not an opportunity to enjoy someone else across the table. But it's a universal experience to come to sit down and to talk and tell jokes and to laugh and to hug and to even cry like that. There's something that God has built in that. So we have that, that built into our groups. We're gonna eat a meal, and we're also gonna study the Word together.
We're gonna open up the Bible. And one of the things that I so deeply appreciate is that I can spend all week in a text studying it, getting to know it, putting together a sermon, and I can preach that text and I can show up to group. And then all of a sudden, when we have our time together and we're studying the Word, I'll hear someone say something that I didn't catch after hours and hours and hours and hours of being in it. And I love that that happens to all of us. When you study the Word. We should study the Word, as we said last week, privately. But we also. We're meant to do this corporately so that when you open up the scriptures together you're going to hear how the Spirit worked through this person to grab that insight, and you're going to go, oh, that's a wonderful. That's a wonderful interpretation. I hadn't heard that. I didn't see that. So we study the word together and it sharpens us and it grows us together. And then we pray together. Though our groups, we should pray and grow in praying together.
My wife and I, we led groups for a decade, and a couple years ago, we transitioned out of group leading and I got to be a part of a group. And our last group leaders did this so well that at any given time, they just stop and pray. Not just someone share something difficult and then move on from it. Not even just share something difficult and do what is actually good too, which is to give good news before you give good advice, but actually to just stop and pray. And they stopped and prayed multiple times. And I've so appreciated that as an aspect of life, to just stop and actually pray. Not to just say, I'm gonna pray for that, but to pause and just say, let's pray right now. So we pray together and we practice these practices as a group. But again, it's not just something that we do at a meeting time. It flows out of that, that we're texting each other, that we're getting together, hang out afterwards, that we're living life together. Groups of the people that you belong to. And it's essential, so essential that we, as a church, run our membership through groups like, you cannot become a member of this church unless you belong to a group.
And what happens over time is that as you have your people in your group and it is your people, like this is your people that you rock through the most difficult times, that they come alongside you, and then you get the opportunity to do the same thing with them that as you live with them over time, eventually, God willing, in the next, you know, a couple of years, like, your group's going to multiply. And that's always bittersweet. It's exciting because it creates more opportunity for space for new people, but also it's sad because you're not going to be seeing them every week, but you do that a couple of times as you belong to this church for a few years, and all of a sudden you've built genuine depth with a variety of people in different parts of the church. So that when you come here on Sundays, you see each other, and it's just wonderful. But our groups are essential. And if you have been coming around for a little bit and you are not plugged into a group, please, like we say this every week and we, we want you to stop by our connect table. We want to talk to you about our groups because this is where you get to see the goodness of the gospel lived outside by side in life together.
So we commit to groups that's valuable and important for us to live out the implications of the gospel and also committing to Sundays. Let's talk about that for a moment.
Hebrews chapter 10 says,
> And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
So our church is a collection of community groups, but those aren't individual house churches. That's not how we practice. The other churches that do that, that's fine. We don't. Those aren't individual house churches. There are community groups. So in order for us to Collectively Obey Hebrews 10, we do what the church has done for 2000 years. And all of our community groups come together here for a few hours on Sunday morning where we come and we fellowship and we remember and celebrate like we just did about how good Jesus Christ is. So that's what we do. We come together on Sundays in the tradition of the church for the last 2000 years. And we also live out the teachings of the New Testament on what the church is supposed to do when we come together.
Colossians chapter three says,
> Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
So that's the command, Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. And then the unpacking of how the Word of Christ dwells in us richly is teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Which means that when we come together in order for the word of Christ to dwell in us richly, someone stands up here after spending time in the text and prayerfully discerning how this is going to apply to our people. And they teach and we sing songs together like we just did. Psalms, hymns, spiritual songs. And what I appreciate about this is that the understanding here is that yes, that's all primarily to God in worship, but there's a one anothering aspect of that. It says admonishing one another in all wisdom with singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. I appreciate the horizontal nature of worship so that sometimes when I'm singing and if you sit in front of me, sometimes you hear that I'm a loud Singer. And I'm sorry, because there's a reason I'm not doing that. Okay. But sometimes I just, I stop and I just listen. And in a morning like this morning, I just so clearly hear the saints collectively singing joyfully, worshipfully. And that blesses my soul. It's wonderful to hear one another sing to the Lord.
But this is what we come to do on Sundays as we continue, as we also have prayers and we fellowship, we spend time together. And so one of the things I love doing is getting here and seeing other people. I love my group, but also seeing people that aren't in my group and seeing people that I love and having times to hug and to laugh and to cut jokes and to also maybe get away and to talk and to cry and to do the things that Christians are called to do. But here's the deal. You can't accomplish any of that if you aren't here on Sundays. You can. There's a reason why I don't look at the camera back there and say, hey, online campus, that's never going to be a thing, ever. We were at times debated, like, should we just, like, not even film this? Like, just. And it's like, no, like, we think this is valuable for those who can't be here. Literally can't be here. You can watch this when you're on vacation. That's. Yeah, it's fine. But we prioritize here, being here together as the church, because it's not just the songs, it's not just the teaching. It's being here and being here early enough to fellowship, which you should do is get here early enough to see one another, not do the express version of just running through this, but actually embracing one another, serving one another. This is valuable. And we want to continue to live this out together as the church.
So in groups and on Sundays, that's how we assemble as our church. So I want to focus on this last part that says where I can love and serve others and ensure I am surrounded by people who love Jesus and love me. Okay? So the church gets to do this, Love and serve one another. Now those are a few of the one another commands that we see throughout the New Testament. And there are a lot of them. And because we have to be concise with our commitment, otherwise you just say all the things some of the people that we had, even in this process, people make really helpful, like, what about this and what about that? It's like, yeah, no, that's great. We're trying to make this as concise as Possible, but yes, absolutely. So I could throw in a bunch of one another commands in here. We chose Love and service as kind of the header for all of that. But when you read the rest of the New Testament, you see all of these one another commands. I just want to go through a few of them. Let's start with what we got on the page, which is love one another. Should love one another, which means knowing how people are loved and truly loving them.
There are folks in this church who know that I love baked goods. They know I love sweets because they know I love a sweet tooth. And they love me because they bring things that are baked and wonderful. And that's some version of that with so many other people. This happens over and over and over again. What I love is that as a pastor, I get to see all of that. Not all of it, but a lot of it, at a bigger view. And I get to see all these examples of how people love each other in profound ways. And part of it is like, I want other people to know this. I want to be able to tell them. But then there's a little bit of like, yeah, I know, but we're called to do all of this. Not the left know what the right hand is doing. And we need to do things in a way that's for the glory of God, not for ourselves. I get all that, which is why we don't publish all of that. But boy, oh, boy, to sit in my seat and to see all the ways that people love one another is amazing.
Love one another. And that command goes from the Gospel of John all the way to the end. First John's loaded with it, and they keep going. Serve one another. Galatians 5, 13.
> For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
Serving one another. This is you using your gift and your abilities for the service of others. And again, I get to see this all the time. I get to see mechanics who turn a wrench 40 hours a week and would rather not do that once they clock out. Go and fix cars for other people in our church. I see people who build houses and work a trade, go and serve others with their time and their talents. I see people that are gifted in math, sit down with someone who's a kid that's not good at math, which I so would have appreciated growing up, and teach them homework. And that's what we're called to do, is to use how God has gifted you in service and to serve one another. That's not just in the regular Things that happen on Sunday, though, you should do that as well. Specifically Kid City. But also, that happens. And the one another service opportunities that happen regularly, week in, week out, serving one another.
It says, live in harmony with one another. Romans 12:16, which is living at peace with one another, which means surrendering sometimes your preferences, because it's not all about you surrendering your preferences for the sake of others to live at peace with one another. Y'. All, I have opinions. If you know me, you know that I have preferences, which, again, if you know me, unfortunately, you probably know that. But I don't get all of my preferences, and I appreciate them. I do. I don't get my preferences on Sunday morning. I get a say in what gets sung. And I don't even get my preferences with all the songs. Every now and then I'm like, you know what? Not my favorite. This is not. But then I hear y' all sing it, and I'm like, boy, oh, boy, praise God. It's not all about me. We shouldn't get our preferences. We should live in harmony with one another. We should live at peace with one another in a way that's consistently yielding in preference for and to one another.
We should bear with one another. Ephesians 4:2.
> with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love.
That means being patient with one another even when that person is difficult, which is so valuable. And that's one of the things I appreciate about our church and our groups, is that if you've been in groups long enough, you know, this is that there are some people in your group that if you didn't have Jesus Christ in common, you would never hang out with them, ever. It just. It's just true. You can be in group. I can be in group with someone who's like, I don't really love football. I don't love sports. I don't love music. You know, I'm just like, what? What? What's wrong with you? I mean, I can just go down the list of, like, what are we even going to talk about? And then I have more depth with them than I do with someone who loves football and loves sports and loves hunting and loves all the things that I love, because the most important thing about me is the most important thing about them, and that's Christ. And when you build that kind of depth on him, you realize, oh, like this. This is what's most important. You can be in group with someone who is just difficult. Like, your personality and their personality. It's just. No, it's just like, I don't. You are so different than me. And what I appreciate is that in groups you get to die to your own sin, die to your own selfish desires, and bear with them in patience and love them, even though they are so much different than you.
Bear with one another. Be kind to one another. Ephesians 4:32.
> Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
To grow in kindness towards one another. Which means that when somebody on the group chat says, hey, will somebody watch my dog while I'm on vacation next week? And you know, their dog is the worst, is the kind of dog that absolutely will cause financial damage to your home and emotional damage to you and your family. You say, yeah, I'll do it absolutely. Because my life is more than my things and my comforts. And I want to be kind to you. Be kind to one another. Forgiving one another. Ephesians 4. 32. To practice forgiveness. Because we say this quite a bit, if you are in groups, if you're a part of our church, at some point sometime you're gonna get your feelings hurt. I have to say that to people I'm in group with that as your pastor, I'm also now side by side in group with you. And at some point I'm going to sin against you. Please do not be shocked. I am a sinner and you're a sinner. It's going to happen because that's what we do outside of the work of Christ in us and the Holy Spirit changing us, we. We are wretched. That's just the truth. So knowing that when it happens, and it will happen, we get to practice what Jesus commands us to do in forgiving one another. So important and so vital that in Matthew 18, that the parable that's given is, if you don't do this, you don't really know. You don't know God, you don't know his forgiveness. So that's what I love in seeing in our church, is people. I can see it. All of a sudden this person and this person have had friction, and then all of a sudden God moves in their heart and they go to a different part of the building and they just talk and they pray and they cry and they hug and they practice what it means to be a Christian and forgiving one another.
Do a few more. Encourage one another. First, Thessalonians 4, 18, which, as I saw this week, and thinking about that, how that's directly used there in the verses that lead up to it, in verse 18, is talking about the work of Christ and the return of Christ, which is the gospel, out of the gospel, encourage one another, which that's good news before good advice. You guys, we're doing it. Encourage one another to look at people who are struggling to remind them of who Christ is and how he works, what he has done, and who they are in him. And going out of your way to bring encouragement to those who need it.
Bear one another's burdens. Galatians 6:2.
> Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
This is something that shows up in our care night content for groups that we should, as Christians, bear one another's burdens. That means y'. All. That means when someone is sharing something that is difficult to listen intently, do not, do not feel like you're being robbed because you don't have the opportunity to speak. Do not feel like you're just biding the time until they get done. Don't be thinking about other things. Don't be trying to move past them, to really sit in front of them and say, yeah, absolutely, I'm so sorry you're struggling with this sin. I'm so thankful that Jesus Christ died for that and he's empowered you to put that to death and I want to help you put that to death. To hear someone who's burying their sufferings and their trials and to just sit with them and to weep with them and to love them.
Bear one another's burdens. The church is called to do. And I'll do one more. Outdo one another in honor. Romans 12:10,
> Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
which for me, the way I think about this is almost competitive honor. And I see this, I see this in people in our church where they're showing deference here and deference here. And it's. Sometimes a part of me is like, oh, that's nauseating. Just someone just, just take someone, get in line and get the food. And I just like, no, but this is it. We're just showing honor and showing deference and caring about others more than ourselves. But this is what we're called to do as the church, to love and serve one another, growing in these practices together.
And it's good for us to be knit like that together with this. When I was in high school, I got to do a trip with my stepdad, went out to California for a two week road trip. We started in Sacramento, we drove to San Francisco, we went down the one to la, but we stopped in a town called Big Sur south of San Francisco and we spent a night there. And there is the edge of the redwood forest. So if you've ever seen redwood trees, they're massive. We don't have these on the east coast, but I mean, any tree like this on the east coast, okay, these things are massive. They're like 300ft tall. They're huge. You look at them just like, whoa. And there's so many of them. And it may surprise you to know that redwood trees actually have a pretty shallow root structure. Like, that's a pretty shallow Beneath the surface root structure. It's not a deep tap root. It's a gigantic, massive tree that just has its roots just below the surface, spread out across the ground. You may wonder, how in the world is something that big, that tall, that massive, how in the world does it stay and stand when wind and rains and floods hit? And the reason is, is that they. They're. They're part of a redwood grove, and beneath the surface is a bunch of redwood roots interconnected, locked together in a system of support that they're tied together in a way that helps them as the. As. As they're growing taller and the seasons are getting harsher, that they're able to bear through storms together because. But no, beneath the surface, they're so deeply locked and interconnected and strengthening one another.
And I cannot think of a more beautiful metaphor of what we're called to be as the church, as we serve one another, as we love one another, as we live out the implications of the gospel, to be so deeply knitted together and interlocked together in a way that when life is difficult and when suffering knocks us down and when sin is crouching at the door, that we're so deeply locked together as the church that when it hits, we stand. That when it hits, we might be moved for a moment, but we are built upon the rock that is Christ together in a way that we can get through anything. That's what the church is called to be as we live this out together. And that's why we have this ninth commitment written in the way that we do, that we are about one another, which means we need to be present. Like, it's bad when you're not here. It's bad when you're gone. It's bad when you. It's not just that. At group, if you volunteered to bring the meat for the meal, and then all of a sudden you just like, 10 minutes out say, God, I can't make it today. Busy. It's not just now we have to eat cheese tacos, which is the word, is that. No, like you, the Spirit works in you in a beautiful way that when you're not present, that's missing. It's not just that your seat is empty on Sunday. It's that the spirit works in you in a unique way, that when you're missing, it's lacking. We're called to be this together, and that takes devotion and commitment.
So let me read number nine. Altogether, I will pursue deep, genuine relationships with others in the Mill City family through committing to regular participation in Sunday gatherings and a community group where I can love and serve others and ensure I am surrounded by people who love Jesus and love me.
So as we as a church are considering in this recommitment process, as we're looking through all of this again, I want you to ask yourself, I want us to ask, am I committed to pursuing deep, genuine relationships? Am I committed to this? Am I hiding things from my life? Am I hiding the real me? Am I actually committed to pursuing deep, genuine relationships even when it is hard and sometimes it's hard? Am I committed to being here on Sundays? Am I committed to being here and worshiping y'? All? We have older saints that literally break bones and are just hobbling in here on Sunday because they see the value in this. They see how important it is. And at times when it's raining outside and it's cold, I just know I'm like, we're gonna have less numbers today. And it sometimes bears to be true. And I'm like, no, it's the rain. Am I committed to being here even though it's difficult? And we have the caveat, y', all, for those that are homebound and cannot be here, they literally cannot be here. We have the caveat for those who work jobs, they just literally cannot get out of the trying or they have an essential job. We have the caveat for those that are. That are ministering elsewhere on a Sunday morning, but that is a small, small minority. The rest of us should be committed. Let's commit at times for some of us, course correct. And being here on Sundays, am I committed to being to the people in my group? Am I committed to my people? Do I see the value in driving across town for our group meeting time, to actually showing up to the hangout times that we schedule at different times? Am I committed to actually reading the messages that come through on my phone and praying for that person? Am I committed to being a part of my group?
And I'll tell you, one of the things I tell folks that are going through difficult periods of time, they're struggling with Suffering or sin or brokenness, anxiety, depression, lust, et cetera, is that at some point you've got to, as you are fighting sin, pick your head up and not just look at yourself, but look at the people that are around you. Because part of our spiritual health is developed through one another in and that happens mostly through groups. Am I committed to groups? Am I committed to loving and serving one another? Am I committed to the practices that God has called me to practice? About a year ago at a family meeting, Chet printed out all the one another commands. And then our group leaders at the time, I think they made a magnet of all of that and gave it to us and putting it on the fridge and seeing these over and over again was just so helpful and so encouraging to see this is what Jesus calls us to be. And I get to, by the power of the Holy Spirit, live these out even when it is difficult.
So all of this, all of this is difficult and it cuts against the grain of culture, a culture that's so drunk on itself and the betterment of self. This is difficult. But if the gospel is true and if Jesus is alive and he is, it's worth it. It's worth the effort. It's worth from the hope of the gospel leveraging our lives for the sake of him and one another.
Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray that you might help us live out the implications of the good news that you came to save sinners and call them into a church that belongs to you to declare the excellencies of you who called us out of darkness into marvelous light and God. I pray that that you would help us see the value of that. I pray that there are folks here that do not belong to a church. I pray they would see the importance of trusting in you as their Savior and belonging to a church. I pray that there's anyone here that is hurting and suffering from bad experiences in the past. They would not grow in cynicism or fear, but they would take a leap of faith and belong. And that in all of us. You would grow in us a radical belief in the hope of the resurrection that empowers us to. To be not about ourselves, but about one another. In Jesus name, Amen.
We're going to come and we're going to close and sing and one final song. As I said earlier, may we be a people that as we worship, we worship joyfully. That may our souls be ministered to as we sing and as we listen and as we worship.