GOD’S COMMUNITY AND OURS Penge Baptist Church 29 th September 2013 Sharing God’s love in Community

Why community must be our priority God exists in community God in Christ modelled community Jesus dreams of oneness for all Christians

God exists in community “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…..” (Genesis 1:26) “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” (Deuteronomy 6:4) “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.” (Genesis 1:1-3) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made…” (John 1:1-3)

“For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18:20) “God as being exists in community; the natural and simple demonstration of God’s communal image for humanity is the gathering of the small group” (Gareth Icenogle) We need community – solitary confinement kills For God IS community and we are created in his image

Jesus modelled small group community “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.”” (Matthew 1:23) “Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him…. Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him.” (Mark 3:9,13) “Jesus invested 90 percent of his time with 12 Jewish men so he could reach the whole world” (Eugene Petersen)

Jesus’ passion for Christian community to be One “I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one.” (John 17:9-11) “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.” (John 17:20-21)

Why community must be our priority God exists in community as a small group God in Christ models community as a small group Jesus dreams of oneness for all Christians…. ….so we must weave community into our church life by a network of small groups