Investing our time in a community group is essential because having close community around us encourages us to resist the deceitfulness within us...

This week we have been looking at why it is essential for us as followers of Jesus to be consistently investing our time in a community group. And to do that, we have been looking at a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of Hebrews.

We looked on as the writer of Hebrews basically commanded the readers of his letter to be careful and be on the lookout that the center and core of their being is not marked by a moral worthlessness that would result in them demonstrating a disloyalty and distrust of God. The writer of Hebrews wanted the readers of his letter throughout history to be extremely careful and be on the lookout to make sure that the center and core of their being was not marked by a moral worthlessness that resulted in a distrust and disloyalty to God that revealed the reality that they never had a relationship with God.

Now a natural question that could arise here is “Well, Dave, that sounds interesting, but how exactly am I supposed to do that? How exactly am I supposed to be on the lookout to make sure that the center and core of my being is not marked by a moral worthlessness that results in a distrust and disloyalty to God? How do I practically do that?”  If that question is running through your mind, I just want to let you know that that is a great question to ask. And fortunately for us, the writer of Hebrews provides the answer to that question in what he says next. So let’s look together at what the writer of Hebrews says next, in Hebrews 3:13:

 But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Instead of failing to be extremely careful and be on the lookout to make sure that the center and core of their being was not marked by a moral worthlessness that resulted in a distrust and disloyalty to God, the writer of Hebrews commanded the readers of his letter to “encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin”.

Now just like the previous verse, to fully understand what the writer of Hebrews is commanding here, we first need to define some terms. When the writer of Hebrews uses the phrase encourage one another, this phrase, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means to urge strongly, to appeal to someone. In addition, the phrase “day after day” literally means throughout each day. Finally the phrase, as long as it is still called today, conveys the sense of “as long as today lasts”.

So this command, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “I strongly urge you to strongly urge one another along in your relationship with Jesus throughout each and every day as long as the day lasts”. After commanding the readers of his letter, and followers of Jesus throughout history to strongly urge one another along in their relationship with Jesus throughout each and every day as long as the day lasts, the writer of Hebrews revealed the reason behind his command.

And that reason was so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. What is so interesting is that the word hardened here, in the language that this letter was originally written in, means to cause someone to be unyielding in resisting information. The writer of Hebrews then explained that what causes someone to be unyielding in resisting information is the deceitfulness of sin.

Now when the writer of Hebrews refers to sin here, he is referring to the evil and destructive power of selfishness and rebellion that causes us to do things that hurt God and others and that leads to us being separated from God and the relationship with God that we were created for. The writer of Hebrews point to the readers of his letter is that the evil and destructive power of selfishness and rebellion within humanity has the potential to deceive humanity in a way that causes humanity to become unyielding in their resistance to the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel.

And as a result of becoming unyielding in their resistance to the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel, the readers of this letter could find themselves in a place where the center and core of their being was marked by a moral worthlessness that produces distrust and disloyalty to God that would cause eternal separation from God. And because of the danger that the deceitfulness of the evil and destructive power of selfishness and rebellion posed, the writer of Hebrews commanded the readers of his letter to live in close community with one another in a way that strongly urged one another along in their relationship with Jesus throughout each and every day as long as that day lasts.

And it is here, in this section of this letter, that we discover a timeless truth as to why it is essential for us as followers of Jesus to be consistently investing our time in a community group. And that timeless truth is this: Investing our time in a community group is essential because having close community around us encourages us to resist the deceitfulness within us. Investing our time in a community group is essential because the evil and destructive power of the selfishness and rebellion within us will deceive us in a way that results in us becoming unyielding in our resistance to the message and teachings of Jesus. 

Investing our time in a community group is essential because an unyielding resistance to the message and teachings of Jesus reveals a moral worthlessness in the core of our beings that produces distrust and disloyalty to Jesus that causes an eternal separation from God. And because of the danger that the deceitfulness of the evil and destructive power of selfishness and rebellion poses, the writer of Hebrews commanded followers of Jesus throughout history to live in close community with one another in a way that strongly urged one another along in their relationship with Jesus throughout each and every day as long as that day lasts.

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. Community is not optional. Community is critical, because what you do is not optional, it is critical. 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.

In addition, if you wait to get in a community group until you need it, you will not have community when you need it. But when you are in close community as part of a community group, community is already there for you when you need them to be there for you. Community groups have the potential to encourage us to resist the deceitfulness that is within us because somebody can see the deceitfulness within us when we can’t see the deceitfulness within us. 

When we are in close community as part of a community group, those in close community can see when the evil and destructive power of the selfishness and rebellion within us begins to deceive us in a way that results in us becoming unyielding in our resistance to the message and teachings of Jesus. When we are in close community as part of a community group, those in close community can see when the evil and destructive power of the selfishness and rebellion within us begins to deceive us in a way that results in us getting sideways when it comes to our marriage relationship before we see it.

 

When we are in close community as part of a community group, those in close community can see when the evil and destructive power of the selfishness and rebellion within us begins to deceive us in a way that results in us getting sideways when it comes to our relationship with our children before we see it. When we are in close community as part of a community group, those in close community can see when the evil and destructive power of the selfishness and rebellion within us begins to deceive us in a way that results in us are getting sideways when it comes to your relationships as a single person before you see it. 

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? When will you take the step to get into the community as part of a community group, that can see when the evil and destructive power of the selfishness and rebellion within us begins to deceive us in a way that results in us becoming unyielding in our resistance to the message and teachings of Jesus.?

Or are you going to continue to expose yourself to the potential of the evil and destructive power of the selfishness and rebellion within us to deceive us in a way that results in us becoming unyielding in our resistance to the message and teachings of Jesus? Because, as we have discovered this morning, investing our time in a community group is essential because having close community around us encourages us to resist the deceitfulness within us...