CHURCH IS BORING: Authentic Community

“And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of death will not overcome it”
Matthew 16:18.

“As you come to him, the living Stone --- rejected by human beings but chosen by God and precious to him --- you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ”
1 Peter 2:4-5

How do we see church? The most common misconception of the church is that it is a structure or a building, often times, with a cross on top. When Jesus spoke about building a church, he referred to people as like living stones that make up the church. Living stones are stones that are part of a structure; It is built on top of each other, designed to carry weight. Dead stones, on the other hand, are stones that are not part of any structure, and therefore, considered useless. We, as living stones that make up the church, must understand that church is about relationships.

TWO QUALITIES OF A CHURCH.

Authentic. The relationships among the church are genuine and real. They always last.

“One who has unreliable friends soon comes to a ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother”
Proverbs 18:24.

“I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare. For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ”
Philippians 2: 20-21.

Community. The friends we make in church accept us for who we are regardless of background. These are people who endure with us through the good and the bad times.

“Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God” Romans 15: 7.

Award-winning author and respected speaker on family relationships, Dr.Gary Smalley said, “Life is relationships. Everything else are just details.” We are all designed with a need to belong, a need to be accepted, a need to be significant. We are designed to be connected with one another. The church is about genuine connections where these needs can be met. The Church is an Authentic Community.

“The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone”
Genesis 2:18a.

“We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ” 1 John 1:3.