Harpeth Community Church

Fellowship (Why Church?)

Dr. Bob Harrington

Do we really need Fellowship or this thing called church?

 1. You want a Church-Community so you can have ______________________who Guide You into all of God’s Grace and Truth (the whole counsel ofGod). 

1 Timothy 3:15 . . . . you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God'shousehold, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation ofthe truth.

1 Timothy 4: 6If you point thesethings out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus,brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you havefollowed.  . . . .Commandand teach these things.

2. You Wanta Church-Community for Group _____________________________ to Trust and followJesus’ Ways.

Hebrews10:24-25—“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love andgood deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit ofdoing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Dayapproaching.”

Hebrews 3:13-14-“But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that noneof you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.  We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till theend the confidence we had at first.”

3. You Want aChurch-Community to Develop Christ-centered ________________.

1 John 1: 7 But if we walk in thelight, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and theblood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be misled: "Bad companycorrupts good character."

Proverbs 27: 17 As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpensanother.

4. You Want aChurch-Community where you are under the ___________________ of Spiritual Elders.

Hebrews 13:17-Obey your spiritual leaders and do what they say. Their work is to watch overyour souls and they know they are accountable to God.  

1 Peter 5:1-2 To the elders amongyou, I appeal as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ's sufferings and one whoalso will share in the glory to be revealed: Be shepherds of God's flock thatis under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because youare willing, as God wants you to be.

5. You Want aChurch-Community that will hold you _______________________ and, if necessary, kickyou out.

Galatians 6:1-2 Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, youwho are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you alsomay be tempted. Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfillthe law of Christ.

Matthew 18:15-17 "If your brother sins against you, goand show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, youhave won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two othersalong, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two orthree witnesses.'If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and ifhe refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or atax collector.

6. You Want aChurch-Community Where You Get to ____________________ Jesus’ people.

Matthew 25:37-40 "Thenthe righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you,or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a strangerand invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  When did we see you sick or inprison and go to visit you?' "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did forone of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

7. YouWant a Church-Community where you _______________________ learnto accept, love, and live with the unlovable as Family.

1 Peter 3:8 Finally, all of you, live in harmony with oneanother; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.

8. YouWant a Church-Community that helps you Show Jesus ________________to the World through Good Works.

1 Peter 2:12 Live such good lives among the pagans that,though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorifyGod on the day he visits us.

Romans 12: 6-8—“God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well. So if God hasgiven you the ability to prophesy, speak out when you have faith that God isspeaking through you. If your gift is that of serving others, serve them well.If you are a teacher, do a good job of teaching. If your gift is to encourageothers, do it! If you have money, share it generously. If God has given youleadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a giftfor showing kindness to others, do it gladly.” 

9. You Want aChurch-Community to help you Reach and Disciple __________ People.

Matthew 28: 19-20 Therefore go and make disciples of allnations, baptizing them in^[a] the name of the Father and of the Son andof the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obeyeverything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the veryend of the age."

10. YouWant a Church-Community Where you _____________The Sacraments and Group Worship.

1 Corinthians 11: 23 -26 -- For I received from the Lordwhat I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed,took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This ismy body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me."  

Reality Church? (edited from www.dankimball.com)

The First Stage: We begin going to a church,exciting, thrilling, love Jesus, the church is exciting, all things new.

SecondStage: We begin getting involved, learn behind the scenes things, feelprivileged to know the church staff and leaders more personally, we are totallyexcited.

Third Stage: We see things and start to question,the thrill of the big church meetings wanes, as it seems more and morepredictable, the leaders seem more human now and not as special as first.

Fourth Stage: We start to get tired of serving inministry. It seems routine now and we only see it as fueling the big meetingthat we don't really like that much anymore. The leaders we once were in awe ofnow seem not only normal, but there is a suspicion of self-serving vs. servingthe church in their motives. We lose excitement and wonder if church is evensomething we should be part of. We grow more disillusioned by the day.

Fifth Stage: Total disillusionment, we beginfeeling bitter towards church leaders, and wonder why people don’t questionthings more. We sit in the big meeting and feel very alone. We look at thecrowds around us and don't feel like we belong anymore. Is church just aproduced big meeting? We are tired and it even angers us to see excited newpeople joining the church as we now know how it really works and how they toowill eventually become tired like we are and see church is a program andorganized religion.

Sixth Stage: We silently drop out of church. Weread the Bible and early church history and see that they often didn't havebigger weekly meetings in the early church. We read "house church"literature and begin thinking this is the real New Testament church. We getexcited about really doing church the right way and not the big organized way.We find a few other disillusioned Christians and either form or join some sortof small house church gathering. We want it to be simple and not"organized" or programmed or big, but pure like the early church.Everyone all sharing together, true community will happen here, unlike thebigger programmed meetings.

Seventh Stage: Fairly quickly, we realize it isn'ttoo easy leading people. Even in a small house church. People don't show up, oryou have people dominating conversations. There is the same bickering, somegossip, people whispering to others that they are not happy with how themeeting went etc. We sometimes try to sing worship songs with ten people and itfeels very odd. So you don't try to sing anymore, but do secretly miss thecorporate singing that happens in a larger group. Eventually we find the samedisappointments in the smaller house church that we did in the bigger programmedchurch, but at a different level. We get even more disillusioned, as we realizethat even the key leaders (including ourselves) and the people of the housechurch are just as messed up as the big church leaders and people in thosechurches.  We also feel subtlyuncomfortable that the house church feels a bit inward focused. Plus dealingwith little kids running around every week during your meeting certainly limitsyour full engagement into the Bible discussion.

EighthStage: We stopgoing to any church of any kind. We forget it all. Watch a lot of TV. Playvideo games. We go see movies.

Ninth Stage: We begin missing other Christians,and regular fellowship. We do some introspection and eventually deal with thedisappointments and high expectations that we had. We begin a new level ofmaturity and thinking about the church and church leaders.

We startthinking about our options. We don't want to go to a preaching-driven churchthat just has everything revolve around the senior pastor or the preacher, asthat subtly creates passive spectators who depend on the preacher to"feed" them weekly - rather than maturing as Christians whom shouldprimarily be "feeding" ourselves (since we aren't infants anymore).

Tenth Stage:  So, we slowly go back to ouroriginal church that we at first felt good in because of the overall vision andmission that drew us to it in the first place. We find that the leaders doadmit freely to you there are weaknesses and flaws and mess ups and ego issues,but still try their best to blend both the bigger meetings and smaller homemeetings for the purpose of the mission. They try to be organized, withoutbeing "Organized".  It'snot perfect, but we begin to enjoy and even more appreciate the benefits andmomentum of the church. But now we get involved with more realisticexpectations of what church is and understand the leaders are just like us,trying their best to serve Jesus. We become happy again with a balanced lifeand imperfect church family all serving on a mission together.

Small Group Questions

Care  (15 Minutes)

Ask two or three people to share their plans for theupcoming Christmas break.

Study  (30 Minutes)

READ and review Matthew 25: 31-46.  Why is this passage of scripture talking about church andhow Christians are to treat one another? What does it teach us about ouractions?

Review the 10 things that Bob Harrington said that each ofus wanted and were a part of church involvement. Which of these experiencesmost rings true for you?  Explainwhy? 

Which is the most persuasive reason to tell people to getengaged in church, in your opinion? Explain why?

What was the most encouraging part of the teaching onFellowship/Church for you from First Steps this week?  Why is it personally encouraging toyou?

Review you plans – as a small group – to Christmas carol andpass out invitation to our Christmas Eve service at the new church building.

Prayer  (30 Minutes)

1) As I look over the following list, I pray that I will take thefollowing specific step in the Ways of Jesus this week (pick one andexplain why)  . . .

• Intentional Love (for other people)
• Acceptance (of God’s Grace and/or Truth)
• Connecting (with God and/or God’s People)
• Service (to the church and/or the world)
• Leading (others in the Ways of Jesus)

2) Please also help me with your prayers for the following .. .