How to Speak the Truth in Love

 Ephesians 4:15 says, "Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ." Then, in 1 Peter 3:15 the author writes, "But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect". Throughout the New Testament, Christians are given the command to go out and speak the truth to the world. And every time, Christians are called to do this in a loving way, with gentleness and respect. So the question for today is: how do we speak the truth in love?

Whenever we ask this question, we have to consider who it is that we are speaking to. How we go about speaking the truth in love will be different if we are speaking to fellow Christians versus speaking to non-Christians.

Christians:

Let's first look at how we are to speak the truth in love with fellow believers. To do this, let's take a deeper look into Ephesians 4. For the sake of space, I was going to ask you to go read the chapter for yourself then come back, but then I figured I might as well just share it here:

1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it says:

“When he ascended on high,

    he took many captives

    and gave gifts to his people.”

9 (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.

20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. 28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

 Whew, that's a lot. Let's break it down.

Those who are "in Christ" (Christians) are called to live together in unity and maturity, and we accomplish this by being humble, gentle, patient, and loving toward each other. We are able to be this way with each other because we are all one in Jesus Christ - we hope in the same salvation, follow the same God, and live by the same Spirit which allows us to look past our differences. And we all have a role to fulfill within the community which, when everyone is doing their part, brings us together in unity and helps us all to grow in maturity.

When this is all done well, we are able to constantly look back to the Bible for answers and truth, and call each other out when we start to go astray - which prevents false teaching and wrong ideas from gaining a foothold in the church. This is why it is so important for each of us to read and know the Bible, so that we can point ourselves and others to the truth.

In order for this kind of community and life to be firmly established, each person in the community has to choose to put aside the ways and the thinking of the world. Instead, we choose to follow Jesus and His Word (the Bible). Anyone who claims to be a Christian is making the claim that they have made this choice. "Christian" means "little Christ" and we use the term to designate those who choose to follow Him.

Finally, at the end of the chapter, Paul gets specific with the kinds of behaviors we should or should not have toward each other. Speak truth, work diligently, be generous, speak only what is going to build others up. Get rid of unwholesome talk, bitterness, anger, rage, brawling, slander, and every form of malice. Instead, be kind and compassionate, and forgive each other in the same way that Jesus has forgiven you.

All of this is directed at those who believe in Jesus as they interact with others who also believe in Jesus. This is for those who are within the church, that we should hold each other accountable in a loving way. When people claim to be Christians but go against what the Bible teaches, we are called to challenge them on it. Why? Because in claiming to be a Christian, they are claiming to follow His Word (a.k.a. the Bible). Our challenge is meant to bring them back to the Bible, and show them how what they're doing or teaching goes against what the Bible says.

For example, we have been talking about biblical sexuality and identity in the last two posts (go read them if you haven't already). We have established that in the Bible, God instituted that sex is to be between a man and a woman in marriage. That is what He ordained when He created the world. Any deviation from God's design, from His order, is sin.

So, when someone comes along claiming to be a Christian and also claiming that homosexuality is not sinful, we are called to challenge them on it. Why are we called to do this? Because they claim to follow Jesus but also teach against what the Bible says. There is a disconnect between what they claim to believe and what they're teaching. Now, how do we challenge them?

First, we have a private conversation with them. We take them aside, asking questions to make sure we understand what they're saying. Then we point them to the Bible, like the passages I talked about in the post "Biblical Sexuality: Setting the Foundation". The goal is to show them the truth as found in the Bible, and the disconnect with what they're teaching. If, after this conversation, they refuse to accept what the Bible teaches, then we go and bring someone else with us, preferably someone with higher authority (like an Elder or Pastor). If they still won't listen, then we bring it to the church as a whole. Again, the goal in each of these conversations is to show them the truth of God's Word, and how they have gone away from that truth. If, after all of this, they still will not listen or accept the Bible's teaching, we are called to exclude them from the church.

Why is this? Some kind of punishment? No, net really. Essentially, what they have done is claimed to follow Jesus but rejected His teaching. That doesn't work, logically. You can't both follow and reject Jesus. The purpose of excluding them from the church is to demonstrate how serious this matter is: a Christian who will not submit to God's Word has a serious heart issue, and until they are able to recognize that and humble themselves and submit to God, their continued participation in worship and fellowship with other believers will cause a lot of damage. Not to mention that their beliefs will open up a pathway for false teaching to enter the church. This cannot be allowed to happen, which is why we are called to remove them from the church.

But, remember how Paul says we are to go about this: with love and gentleness, without unwholesome speech, slander, or rage. That means we don't yell, put them down, or curse them at any point in these conversations. Even at the point where we need to exclude someone from our fellowship, we aren't supposed to do it with violence or malice. Our goal, even in exclusion, is to bring them to a knowledge and acceptance of the truth.

Non-Christians:

But what about those who don't believe? What about people who are not Christians?

Romans 10:9-17:

“⁹ If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. ¹¹ As Scripture says, ‘Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.’ ¹² For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, ¹³ for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ ¹⁴ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? ¹⁵ And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’ ¹⁶ But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our message?’ ¹⁷ Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.”

Those who are outside the faith are not going to accept Jesus' teaching until they have accepted Jesus.

Read that again.

Our goal, first and foremost, is to share the gospel with non-believers. That's the truth they need to hear. If they haven't heard the gospel or haven't put their faith in Jesus, then nothing else the Bible says will mean anything to them. So, what is the gospel?

There is a God who created the whole universe, including you and me.

He established everything perfect and good.

But we rebelled against Him. This rebellion is called sin. We are sinners.

Sin separates us from God and will ultimately bring us death. There is nothing we can do to fix this problem on our own.

God loves us, even though we are sinners. He came to the earth as a man, Jesus Christ, and died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins.

He took our deaths on Himself, so that by believing in Him, we could have eternal life and be reunited with God forever.

This is where Paul's statement comes in - anyone who declares with their mouth "Jesus is Lord" and believes in their heart that God raised Him from the dead will be saved. Everyone who follows Jesus will be forgiven for their sin and made right with God.

Our mission, as given to us directly by Jesus, is to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey everything that Jesus taught. We "make disciples" by sharing the gospel with people and calling them to repent (turn from their sin) and believe in Him as their Lord and Savior. When someone comes to Christ, they cast off who they used to be and become made new in Jesus. They are called to let go of their old way of thinking and grab hold of the truth of God's Word.

People need to know that they are sinners, and they need to know that salvation can be found in Jesus Christ. Too often we see the church spreading a message of hate toward the LGBTQ+ community, focusing so heavily on the fact that they are sinners that we forget to share the good news - that Jesus has paid for their sin on the cross, just as He paid for our sin.

But, as Paul asked in Romans, how are they going to call on the name of Jesus if no one has proclaimed the good news of the gospel to them?

Now, not everyone is going to believe. Paul mentions how some of the people of Israel rejected Jesus. As we go about this, sharing the gospel, we have to expect that people are going to reject Jesus, and, consequently, reject us. But we still have to tell them about Jesus, because if we won't, who will? Each of you reading this have friends or coworkers who don't know Jesus. If you don't tell them about Him, who will?

The most important truth non-believers need to hear is that Jesus Christ came and died for their sin, and that He rose again to bring them eternal life with God. Everything else comes after that essential truth. If they won't accept that, they won't accept anything else God has to say through the Bible.

But again, how are we to do this? With love, gentleness, patience, kindness, compassion and respect. Without yelling, anger, slander, malice or cursing.

Anytime we are going to speak the truth to someone, here are some basic guidelines to make sure we are going about it the right way and with the right motives:

1. Listen before you speak. Try to understand where they're coming from as best as you can - don't just assume you know their perspective. Ask questions, let them clarify, and seek to understand.

2. Check yourself. Make sure your intentions are good - are you starting this conversation for their benefit or is there some other motivation under the surface?

3. Watch your words. Keep it simple and calm. Remember, you can't "unsay" anything. Your words can either bring them to a knowledge and understanding of the truth or they can tear them down and cause lasting damage to their life and faith.

4. Pray before, during, and after the conversation. Ultimately, God is the one who is going to work in their lives, so ask Him for guidance throughout the whole situation.

5. Trust in God. Trust that His Word is true, trust that He will help you, and trust that He will care for this other person.

Christian or non-Christian, we are called to speak the truth in love to others. This takes intentionality, it takes practice, and it takes trusting God in everything we say and do. Ultimately, our goal is always to bring people closer to God and to His Word.

Read the Bible Yo

 Let's start with a little game. Below are 10 statements. As you read each one, write down whether you think its a true biblical teaching or false teaching. You don't have to explain why you think its true or false, just determine which it is.

Things the Bible Teaches...??

1. Most people are basically good.

2. God accepts the worship of all religions.

3. The OT Law (Law of Moses) condemns children to death for cursing their parents.

4. Jesus was the first and greatest being created by God the Father.

5. Sin entered the world when Eve ate an apple from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

6. All people are created in the image of God and He loves them as His children.

7. Money is the root of all evil.

8. All you have to do to be saved is ask Jesus into your heart.

9. God will never give you more than you can handle.

10. God helps those who helps themselves.

Did you figure out which ones are true and which are false? What if I told you that only ONE of those statements is a true biblical teaching, and its not the one you think it is. The answer key (with an explanation for each) is in the comment section if you're curious.

If you got a bunch of them wrong, don't feel too bad, the wording got a little tricky and I even tricked some of the leaders last night with those statements. If you somehow got them all right, or came close, I am willing to bet that you were able to figure it out based on one thing: you've read the Bible.

Answer me this: have you ever felt like you can't talk about God because you don't know enough? Or have you felt like you can't talk about God because someone may ask you a question that you don't know how to answer? Or because you just don't know what to say?

How do we fix this? How can we know more? Where can we find answers? How can we know what to say?

The answer is simple: by reading the Bible. If you take nothing else away from any of my messages, take this: READ THE BIBLE. Know what it says. Consume it like New England Clam Chowder from the Cheesecake Factory after a 5-day fast (there's a story there). Take it in like cool water after a long summer day in the hot sun. Get lost in the Word of God like when you get stuck scrolling through TikTok until 4 in the morning.

Read.

The.

Bible.

Why is it so important for Christian's to read and know the Bible? Some of you know that I've recently gotten really into TikTok (my wife tells me I'm obsessed). Over the last month I've been interacting with a lot of false teaching (FROM CHRISTIANS) that has come across my For You page. I never knew how bad it was out there, even just within Christian circles. People who have a very poor understanding of the Bible are teaching whatever they want and calling it biblical. Then, people who don't know the Bible very well are believing them! This is a problem. When we don't know the Bible very well, we are going to fall into a lot of false teaching.

In Psalm 1, David talks about the blessing that comes to those who meditate on God's Word every day - it leads us to righteousness and keeps us close to God. In 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Paul tells Timothy "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work."

This letter, naturally, comes after 1 Timothy 4:8, where Paul tells Timothy "For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come."

We can see benefits to physical training. It keeps our body in good shape, allowing us to have a higher quality of life and live longer. There is value to that. But Paul here is saying that training in godliness has MUCH GREATER VALUE, holding promise both for this life, and the life we will spend in eternity with God. And how do we train in godliness? By reading Scripture. By spending time in the Word of God. It is what trains us to live as God wants us to live, and to draw near to Him in all things.

When we invest our time in the Bible like we are commanded to do, our minds are changed, our behaviors change, our lives change, our words change, our understanding is changed, and we are better able to identify false teaching. These are amazing benefits for this life, and as we draw near to God, these hold benefits for eternity as well.

So read the Bible. Meditate on it. Think about it. Memorize it. Act on it. The more we read the Bible, the more we will know what to say when people ask us questions. The more we read the Bible, the more we will know and be able to identify false teachings. The more we read the Bible, the more we will talk to people about the Gospel and faith in Jesus. This is because it is "out of the overflow of the heart that the mouth speaks" (Luke 6:45). What we put into our hearts and minds is what is going to come out of it. So the more time we spend in the Word of God, the more the Word of God will come out in our daily lives.

If you want to grow in your faith, to grow closer to God, and to have everlasting benefits in both this life and the life to come: Read the Bible.

Do You Love God?

 Before you read any further into this post, answer this question with a simple "yes" or "no": Do you love God?

Okay, now that you've answered the question, let's talk about what it means to love someone.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 describes some of the primary characteristics of love. And before we go into the verses, I need to make sure we are all on the same page here. We are NOT talking about romantic love, dating relationships, or marriage (although this passage is often read at weddings). We are talking about the attitude and behaviors that God calls us to have for others, whether we are particularly fond of them or not. Okay, so here are the verses:

        “4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not                 dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6                 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always          hopes, always perseveres.”

Patient, kind, protecting, trusting, persevering. None of these describe a gushy feeling toward someone. Instead, they are all practical and, dare I say, quantifiable. Someone can look at how you are treating someone else and determine if these things are present in that relationship. People can tell when you are patient or kind. They can also usually tell when you are envious, boastful, prideful, dishonoring, self-seeking, easily angered, etc. Do you see where I am going with this? When Paul (the author of 1 Corinthians) describes love, he describes in a very practical way. In one of his other letters, Paul gives us some more direct insight into what it means to love someone else:

        Philippians 2:3-4 - “3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility                 value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests          of the others.”

Selfish ambition is when we are willing to hurt others and throw them to the side in order to get ahead. The business world is full of selfish ambition - some describe it as cutthroat. It happens when you decide to put yourself first and everyone else last. Only you matter, and you will do whatever it takes to get ahead - that's selfish ambition. Vain conceit is similar, because it also elevates you above others. It is this idea that you are more important than anyone else and you deserve more than anyone else. Love cannot co-exist with these two mentalities. A selfishly ambitious person cannot truly love others, and here is why: to love someone, based on Paul's letters here, means that you put others first. It's not emotional, but rather a choice that you make to humble yourself and value others above yourself. They come first, not you. That is what it means to love someone.

This is how love works in friendships, with brothers/sisters/parents/children, in dating relationships and marriages, and in general in our interactions with people on the street. When we choose to put the needs or desires of someone else ahead of our own, we are demonstrating love for that person. On the flipside, if we claim to love someone, but only ever put ourselves first, then our "love" for them is just empty words. If I say "I love you" but then spread rumors about you around the church, I don't really love you, do I? Paul says that love is demonstrated by action.

Okay, so that's an overview of what it means to love others, but what about God? What does it mean to love God?

In Mark 12:29-31, Jesus shares the first and greatest commandment:

        “29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.             30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all             your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as                 yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

There is so much to unpack from these verses and we do not have the space to do it in this post. Basically, Jesus has taken all of the laws of the Old Testament and boiled them down to two main points: Love God above literally everything else, and love others. I mean, think about it, if you are loving God (putting Him first) with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength, what's left? Nothing. That's everything that you have and covers every aspect of your life. So, in everything, God comes first. These commandments create a bit of an awkward hierarchy of priorities for us, because according to this, our priorities should be structured as: God, literally everyone else, and then us at the bottom. God is first, then everyone else, then me. I'm last. It doesn't sound right, but this what the Bible tells us. In fact, this is the exact set of priorities Jesus demonstrated in His life here on Earth. Paul shares about it in Philippians 2:5-8:

        “5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in         very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7         rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human                likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to         death—even death on a cross!”

God came to the Earth in the form of a man (Jesus) out of love for us, so in coming, Jesus put God first (it was the will of God that He come). Then, in becoming obedient to death (and paying for our sins), Jesus put literally everyone else above Himself. He gave His life for ours. His example for us was: God, everyone else, Him. This is the mentality that we, as Christians, need to have. God, everyone else, me.

So, how do we love God?

Jesus tells us exactly how to love God in John 14:23-24 and John himself elaborates in 1 John 5:3:

        23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we         will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey         my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.”

        “3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not            burdensome.”

Anyone who truly loves God will obey Him. That's it. That's how we do it. We obey Him. We already talked about the fact that love is an action, and really, it is a choice that we make to put others first. When it comes to loving God, we have to choose to obey what He has told us to do. Love for God is characterized by obedience. So then, if we say that we love God then there ought to be evidence in our lives. People ought to be able to look at the things I do and say, "Yeah, Mike definitely loves God." After all, how do we know that God loves us? Because He put it into action. He sent Jesus and died to save us from our sins. We can look at what God has done and say with confidence, "Yeah, God definitely loves us."

What does that look like?

What does God want us to do? What has He commanded? Well, we have Jesus' summary of the OT Law: Love God and love others. But what else? For the Christian, Jesus has given some very specific commands which can be found in Matthew 28. Right before He ascends into Heaven Jesus commands His disciples to go and make disciples of all nations, to baptize those disciples, and to teach them everything Jesus had taught. This means that every Christian is commanded to be baptized, to make disciples, to baptize those disciples, and to help them learn God's Word (the Bible). If you are reading this and you claim to be a Christian (or you answered "yes" at the beginning of this post), have you been baptized? Have you shared the Gospel with anyone? Have you participated in someone else's baptism? Have you helped someone study the Bible?

These are just some of the things God has commanded us to do, and as Jesus said, those who love Him will obey His commands. These are the things which demonstrate our love for God. If we are not doing these things, not obeying God's commands, then how can we honestly claim to love Him?

If you read those things and you felt unqualified to do them, what can you do to prepare?

 - Read and study the Bible (by yourself and with other believers)

 - Spend time in prayer talking to God and asking Him to equip you

 - Find ways to serve others, both in the church and outside it

When we serve, especially alongside other Christians, we learn how to do it better and we learn from their example. Reading the Bible and praying puts God first and choosing to serve puts others above ourselves. These choices put us in line with God's totem pole of priorities: God, others, me.

Now, let's go back to the original question. With all of this in mind, as you examine your day-to-day to life (not just your feelings, what the things you choose to do): Do you love God?

If your answer changed to a "no" (or remained as a "no"), that's okay. I'm not here to judge or condemn you. BUT, don't stay there. Remember that love is a choice that we make, not a feeling that comes and goes. We have to choose to read the Bible, choose to pray, choose to share the Gospel, and choose to serve others. Every time we choose these things we are demonstrating our love for God. My prayer for you is that you will take these things to heart and change the way you live so that your life demonstrates a love for God. Amen.

Be There or Be Square (because you're not aROUND)

 Hey gang! We had a great night last night and I was so glad to see some familiar faces return to our Summit gathering! We got in a massive game of UNO (10 players!) and plenty of 9-Square action. Those of you who were unable to attend, you missed a fun "new" song we sang together - You Are Holy by Michael W. Smith. Check it out and imagine the guys and girls singing their respective parts. It was pretty sweet.

The message this week was focused on Fellowship. Last night, we answered 3 basic questions: 1) What do we mean when we say "Fellowship"? 2) What does Fellowship do/accomplish for us? and 3) How can we be devoted to Fellowship? To focus our attention, we used Hebrews 10:24-25 - “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

What do we mean when we say "Fellowship"?

Hebrews 10:24-25 uses the phrase “meeting together”. Taken very simply, Fellowship is whenever we meet together. But it is also much more than that. It means more than just “showing up”, being devoted to Fellowship means being present in the group and actively engaged in what the group is doing – if the group is praying, you’re praying. If the group is singing, you’re singing, if the group is playing games, you’re playing games, if the group is serving others, you’re serving others. You see what I am saying? I can easily “show up” on a Wednesday and be completely disconnected from the group – I can go sit in a corner and ignore everyone. So, when we talk about Fellowship, we are talking about being actively engaged with a group of believers in whatever that group is doing. It is about doing stuff together.

What does Fellowship do/accomplish for us?

A lot of the Christian life is impossible to live out on a Sunday morning (or Wednesday night) alone – evangelism, good works, serving the community, personal prayer and devotions, generous giving, life witness, etc. Most of that happens throughout the week, outside of our time at church.

Fellowship is part of the glue of all the other things we are to be devoted to. It forms the context for everything: we are taught in groups, we meet in groups, we pray in groups, we praise God in groups, we serve in groups. God set up the church so that His people would not be lost in isolation, sitting in a corner by themselves, trying to do His will. He set up the church so that we could be together and obey Him together. To build His Kingdom together.

All of the other things we talked about two weeks ago (teaching, prayer, sharing meals, true community, praising God, and welcoming new members) are meant to be done as a group, not individually. This is because God knows that human beings need companionship. We need each other. In a group, we can support one another, love one another, encourage one another, correct one another when we mess up or go the wrong way, and celebrate together when God works in our lives.

How can we be devoted to Fellowship?

-Show up. Make it a point to be here regularly.

-Be active when you show up. Don’t just come in and sit down – be active. Play a game, start an activity, strike up a conversation. Don’t just be a potato.

-Meet together outside of Summit or church on Sunday. And not just to hang out (not that that is a bad thing). Meet to go help someone, or to read the Bible together, or to witness to a friend (that’s right, that’s not supposed to be an individual thing, either). Meet together to pray, sing songs of praise, or to learn something new about God. Do it with food, after all, sharing meals is a thing we are supposed to be devoted to.

-Join a Bible Study. These are small groups of people meeting together to learn and grow – it is fellowship.

-Invite others to join you here, or to church, or to other events and activities. A lot of fellowship is about being invitational. It is only when we are inviting that we get the opportunity to welcome new members!

-And finally, for us here, you can use our Discord channel. That’s a useful social tool for connecting outside of Summit. You can chat, play games together, and communicate through Discord.

My challenge to each of you is to make the decision to be devoted to Fellowship. No matter where you are (here, in college, or moved to another state), don't ever give up meeting together with other believers. "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching."

In One Ear, NOT Out the Other

 Hiya folks!

Once again we had one of those smaller groups last night, but we still had a blast playing some 9-Square together. Saw some new faces as well as some old faces, but of course, all of those faces were wearing masks...

For this post, let's jump right into the message. Last week we looked at 7 things that the people of God were devoted to in the earliest days of the church: Teaching, Fellowship, Breaking Bread, Prayer, True Community, Praising God and Welcoming New Members. This week we focused in on the first one: Teaching. Now, we've already established that our group is fairly "devoted" to teaching, if you mean that as we have a message every week. However, we are not devoted like the early church was devoted.

Before we go any further, let me ask you. When it comes to school, do you ever ask yourself "When am I ever going to use this in my life"? I did, a lot in fact. I felt like we were learning just for the sake of learning. And you know how much of that knowledge I've kept? Not much. The knowledge went in one ear, stuck around for the test (usually) and then went right back out the other ear. When I think back to my youth group days, I think something similar happened. I mean, back then the leaders taught a message every week, just like we do now. But, I never did anything with them. I don't even remember any of them. 7 years of messages - gone. One could argue that some of it stuck, and I am sure that's true. However, at the time I wasn't applying any of it. We might hear a message on kindness, but I wouldn't be kinder after it. We might hear a message on selflessness, but I wouldn't be any less selfish after it. And here lies our issue with our devotion to teaching in our group. How many of you can honestly say that you actively apply every message shared on a Wednesday night? Is your life any different after hearing a message from God's Word? If the answer is generally "no", then you have a devotion problem. Listen to what James says in his letter to the churches:

James 1:22-25 - "Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the Word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in the mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues in it - not forgetting what they have heard but doing it - they will be blessed in what they do."

Let me ask another question: Have you ever pulled out your phone to check the time, only to do it again 2 seconds later because you already forgot what the time was? Yeah, I've done that, sometimes 10 times in a row. Or how about reading the same sentence 12 times before finally registering in your brain what it says? That's what James is talking about in this part of his letter. When we treat God's Word like we treat checking the time (unconsciously listening), we deceive ourselves into thinking we are doing what God wants us to do. But we're not. James is basically calling out these church people and saying "Yo guys! You're listening to sermons every week, and yet its like it is going in one ear and out the other! Quit it! Close your other ear!" He says to not be hearers only, but doers. When we "do", or apply, what God says in the Bible, James promises that we will blessed in doing it. It will go well for us and our efforts will not be for nothing.

So the questions is, how do we become doers and not just hearers? How do we devote ourselves to teaching?

I said it last week and I'll say it again - take notes. When I was a student, I only took notes at camps and retreats, and never at youth group. And do you remember how many of those YG messages I remembered? Zero. Even worse, I have no notes to go back to like I do with the camps and retreats. So not only did I not apply what I was learning at the time, but I have completely forgotten it! Just bringing a notebook and a writing utensil to Youth Group (and actually using them) can go a long way in devoting yourself to teaching. It will help you remember what has been taught (just as this blog is intended to do) and find ways to live it out in your life.

Another way to become devoted to teaching is to join a Bible Study when we offer them. It just so happens that we are starting two studies at the end of this month: How To Be a Man and Experiencing God. Each study we offer is unique and works through a different aspect of our faith, and each one contains specific applications to help you connect what you're learning to real life. With rare exceptions, these are group studies, which means you will be learning and growing spiritually alongside your peers. You get the opportunity to ask questions and discuss life application together, rather than trying to figure it all out on your own (which we were never intended to have to do). That is a huge part of the learning process, and I believe it is part of why virtual learning is so tedious. Plus, the discussion can be a lot more focused in a small group than in our Summit meetings.

The main idea here is to not only hear the Word of God, but to do what He says. Look for ways to apply each message to your life. For this one, that means bringing a notebook and writing utensil to Summit next week, and/or joining a Bible Study.

How can you be devoted to teaching?