Spiritual Disciplines (Week 1)

We are currently in a series discussing 11 essential spiritual disciplines. Check out this post for an introduction to the series.

Community

When we think of spiritual disciplines, most of us jump straight to practices such as prayer, bible reading, and corporate worship. These are definitely spiritual disciplines and we will discuss them in the coming weeks. However, ultimately this study must start with a brief examination of community as a discipline.

At the beginning of youth group we showed this video that we put together earlier in the week. You are welcome to watch it, but to save you the time, it was basically a comical depiction of a dating game show. Each one of the contestants talked about hoping to find love on the show. Your parents are probably old enough to remember the original Dating Game. A more modern approach are the extremely popular shows The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. Honestly, I can’t stand the shows. No I am not taking some moral stand against the series, nor do I think if you watch them that you are in some way less of a human than myself. I just don’t like them. Most of America, however, disagrees with my taste. Each season has captivated audiences and taken over the social media world.

Why do these shows demand the attention of so many people? Why does every great movie, regardless of genre, have some sort of love story? Why is nearly every song written centering around relationships? Why…  because we were designed for love and relationship. Our Creator created us to love and receive love and we will do whatever it takes to experience that. The problem is, love and relationships in this world have been tainted by sin. Love, in our world, is simply a feeling. It is something that you can fall “in” and “out” of. Relationships are viewed as being there for our own benefit. We hangout with people who make us feel good or offer something we want. This perspective on love and relationships is what has lead to a society that is extremely lonely. We are able to connect with people instantly and at all times of the day/night (facebook, cell phones, twitter), yet most people would consider themselves lonely. Our relationships are shallow and short-lived. Where did we go wrong?

In 1 John 4, we read two extremely profound truths:

“God is love… We love because He first loved us.”

Most of us get our picture of what love is and what healthy relationships look like based on pop culture, our family, or our friends. The problem, for the most part, pop culture, our families, and our friends have no idea what either of these crucial elements of human existence are. God not only understands love and relationship, He is love. What does this mean? It means that his love is not based on an emotional feeling or what he is getting out of the relationship. God’s love is not on again, off again… it is a fact. God loves you because that is what He does and who He is. As I said Sunday night, if you do something that is against what God wants for you, He doesn’t go to his room, slam the door, and fall out of love with you. The fact is, he never fell in love with you in the first place. He just loves you. His love is an unconditional love. He just loves you. Period.

Once you understand this first statement, that “God is love”, the idea of us loving “because He first loved us” makes sense. The love that we have to offer on our own will always be selfish, empty, and short-lived. However, as we daily receive the love he has offered to us through the sacrifice of his son, Jesus Christ, we are enabled to love people in a way that is self-less, full, and eternal.

When talking to his disciples shortly before his betrayal and death, Jesus said these words:

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Reflecting on this verse, Francis Schaeffer penned these words:

“Our relationship with each other is the criteria the world uses to judge whether our message is truthful—-Christian community is always the final apologetic.”

What Jesus was telling his followers, and what Schaeffer was attempting to expand on, is the reality that in the end perfectly articulated arguments, wonderfully polished defenses, and the most righteous of political stands will never soften a person’s heart toward Jesus as effectively as them witnessing authentic, genuine, loving Christian community.

The world is looking for something real. At epic youth ministries we exist to invite students and families out of the status quo into relationship and mission with Jesus and one another. Our newly adopted tagline is “Be a part of something real.” This starts with being in a community of people who love Jesus, love each other, and love the lost.

The spiritual discipline of community is vital to your growth as a follower of Christ. If you hope to sustain the fire we discussed in the last post, you must be around other believers. When starting a fire, you don’t throw one log out there and try to light it up. It requires other wood, kindling, to help start the flame and sustain it. The truth is, a lone log loses its flame. We must intentionally choose to live in community with other believers for the sake of our own growth and our effectiveness in reaching those outside the kingdom of God.

“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the cornerstone.”  - Ephesians 2:19, 20

Next week we will be discussing the spiritual discipline of spending time in the Bible. Between now and then I would encourage you to read John 13 – 17 and consider joining one of our missional communities if you have yet to do so.

Regardless of where you are at this week, know this, the leaders of this ministry love you unconditionally, because God first loved us.