Investment in a community group exposes us to the practical teaching of Jesus in a way that moves us toward a growing relationship with Jesus...

This week we are looking at how consistently investing our time, in addition to consistently attending a corporate worship gathering, in a community group, will result in a growing and maturing relationship with Jesus. When you engage those who are growing and maturing in their relationship with Jesus, what you find is that they are not just talking about theology or doctrine; those who are being transformed by their relationship with Jesus Christ talk about how the message and teachings of Jesus and the letters that make up the Bible have changed their life.

You see, the message and teachings of Jesus and the letters that make up the Bible were not simply meant to be informative: the message and teachings of Jesus and the letters that make up the Bible are meant to be transformative. And when you engage people who are in a growing and maturing relationship with Jesus, their conversations are dominated by how the teachings of Jesus and the letters that make up the Bible have transformed their life. We see this reality revealed for us in a section of an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Matthew.

Wednesday we looked on as Jesus began to conclude His sermon by telling a parable. Now a parable is an earthly story designed to reveal a deeper spiritual truth. In parable Jesus explained that some people will choose to build and live out their lives upon His teachings. There are some people who will choose to put into practice Jesus teachings as they live in relationship with Him and others.  The decisions that they make on how they invest their time, treasure, and talents will be based upon Jesus teachings.

And as a result of those decisions, Jesus stated that when the rains, floods and winds come and slam against that house, it will not fall. In essence, Jesus is stating that the person who hears Gods commands and demands as communicated and explained by Jesus and acts by putting them into practice in their lives will not see all that they have built or invested in implode. Because, this morning, the reality is that the level of our spiritual growth and maturity is based on what it is built on. Jesus then continued His parable by talking about the second type of person in verse 26- 27. Let's look at it together:

"Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.  "The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell-- and great was its fall."

Jesus then continued His parable by introducing another character into the parable. Jesus explained that, unlike the person who builds and invests their lives upon the commands and demands of God that are communicated to us through the letters that make up the Bible, this person builds their lives on another foundation. It could be the foundation of prideful self­ promotion and position; it could be the foundation of money and possessions; it could be the foundation of pleasure. Notice that the houses themselves are identical in nature; the only difference between the houses is the foundations that they are built on.

But, as Jesus communicates in verse 27, the wrong choice of foundation has dramatic and eternal consequences. For those whose lives are built on anything other than Jesus teachings, when the storms of life that test the strength of our spiritual life come and more importantly, when we stand before God at the final judgment and the quality of our relationship with God is revealed for what it truly is, the collapse of all that has been built and invested in will be of epic proportions and the destruction will be complete.

You see, Jesus told this earthly story to reveal the deeper spiritual truth that for Jesus, it is not what you know; it is what you do that matters. Jesus point in this parable is that obedience matters. Simply knowing doctrine and theology is not enough; it is what you do with what you know that counts. And those who are involved in a growing and maturing relationship with Jesus live a life that is marked by life change, not head knowledge.

And intuitively we understand this, don’t we? Obedience matters. At the end of the day, God is not concerned about what you know; and God is not nearly as concerned about church attendance as He is about obedience. Jesus is not in Heaven taking roll. Church attendance makes you a Christian about as much as sleeping in the garage makes you a car.

Throughout His sermon, Jesus makes it clear that obedience is more important than knowledge or attendance. Whoever hears these words of mine and acts on them. Not whoever hears theses words of mine and memorizes them. For Jesus hearing and acting are inseparable.

Now that does not mean we should never come to church. What it does mean is that, as followers of Jesus, we should come to church for the right reasons. We should come to church not because it saves us or because it gets us spiritual brownie points; we should come to church to enter into an environment where we worship God and expose ourselves to the practical of Jesus and the letters that make up the Bible so that we can experience life change that results in us becoming more like Jesus in our character and conduct.

And it is here, in this famous parable that Jesus told to conclude a famous sermon, that we discover a timeless truth when it comes to why consistently investing our time in a community group will help us move on a spiritual journey that results in a growing relationship with Jesus. And that timeless truth is this: Investment in a community group exposes us to the practical teaching of Jesus in a way that moves us toward a growing relationship with Jesus.

People who are in a growing and maturing relationship with Jesus Christ invest their time, in addition to consistently attending a corporate worship gathering on Sundays, in a community group. And it is in community groups that we are exposed to the practical teaching of Jesus and the letters that make up the Bible that calls us to not only know more. In community groups that we are exposed to the practical teaching of Jesus and the letters that make up the Bible in close community that calls and challenges us to live a life that looks like Jesus because obedience to the teaching of Jesus matters.

But there is a tension that we all experience when it comes to the practical teaching of Jesus and the letters that make up the Bible that often cause us to hesitate or push back when we are exposed to it. And that tension comes from the fact that the teaching of Jesus and the letters that make up the Bible that calls for life change is not calm, quiet, or peaceful.

The teaching of Jesus and the letters that make up the Bible is often disturbing and unsettling. The teaching of Jesus and the letters that make up the Bible often causes discomfort for those who are listening. I say that because when Jesus taught people were often disturbed or upset. Let me give you just a few examples. In Luke 4:28, after Jesus gave a sermon, here is how the people responded:

And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff.

In John 8:59, after having a conversation with the religious people of His day, here is how they responded:

            Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him,

And we discover how the crowd responded after listening to what Jesus had to say in His most famous sermon, which we looked at earlier, in Matthew 7:28-29:

When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

The crowd responded to Jesus sermon with amazement. Now when it says that the crowds were amazed, it was not “wow that was a cool sermon”. It was not “wow, I was really fed today”. It was not “wow that really ministered to my heart”. The word amazed literally means that they were be filled to the point of being overwhelmed with fear. The practical teaching of Jesus and the letters that make up the Bible is uncomfortable, disturbing, and unsettling because growing and maturing spiritually is often uncomfortable, disturbing, and unsettling.

You see growth can often be painful; whether it is the growing pains that accompany physical growth or the growing pains that accompany a growing and maturing relationship with God. And just as a parent leverages practical teaching and explains to their children that growing pains are a natural part of the pathway to adulthood, as followers of Jesus, God leverages the practical teaching of Jesus and the letters that make up the Bible to grow and mature us spiritually.

This morning, that is what we are such big believers in community groups here at City Bible Church. That is why we have as a goal that everyone who attends C.B.C. would be investing their time in a community group. We believe that the circles that are community groups are betters than the rows of corporate worship gatherings because transformational spiritual growth occurs in community with others where those supportive and encouraging relationships can be developed where people can take that next step in their relationship with Jesus wherever you are at in that relationship with Jesus.

And, as a church, we believe that the earlier the better when it comes to community groups. That is why we have community groups for every age and stage of life here at City Bible Church so that every age and stage of life can be exposed to the practical teaching of Jesus. So with all that in mind, here is a question to consider: When will you take the step to get into the community that you need the most by being a part of a community group where you can be exposed to the practical teaching of Jesus?