Building Community | Growing Up

GROWING UP
Building Community

Week 1 SOUL TATTOO: You don’t grow up by being perfect, you grow up by Knowing God.

1 Corinthians 13:11 (NLT) 11 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.

CALL TO ACTION: Over the next few weeks:

SOUL TATTOO: We’re not just better together, we’re stronger together.

My faith is just between me and God.

It is personal, but it was never meant to be private.

‘Now that you believe, let’s talk about how you behave.’

Paul is dealing with:

Ephesians 4:1 (NIV) As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.

Paul isn’t calling them to more information, he’s calling them to maturity.

WHY COMMUNITY IS THE SOLUTION:

That’s why he uses body language:

Paul believed spiritual maturity was impossible without relational connection.

Ephesians 4:11–14 (NIV) 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.

Paul says without maturity we are:

Isolation makes faith fragile.

Ephesians 4:15–16 (NIV) 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.

Growing up spiritually means learning you’re better together than alone.

We grow up by being connected, not independent.

SOUL TATTOO: We’re not just better together, we’re stronger together.

BUILDING COMMUNITY & MATURITY:

1.) Growing up means moving from consumption to connection.

Maturity shifts the question from: “What can I get?” To “Where do I belong?”

Ephesians 4:16 (NIV) 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.

You don’t grow up by consuming, you grow up by connecting.

Community is where God moves us from spiritual childhood to maturity.

Small groups move us:

SOUL TATTOO: We’re not just better together, we’re stronger together.

2.) Community is how God stabilizes our faith.

Ephesians 4:14 (NIV) 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.

Isolation doesn’t make us strong, it makes us vulnerable.

Isolation makes faith fragile; community makes it resilient.

God often uses:

Avoiding community may feel safer, but it slows spiritual growth.

SOUL TATTOO: We’re not just better together, we’re stronger together.

3.) Maturity happens when each part does its work.

Ephesians 4:16 (NIV) 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.

Growing up means showing up and doing your part.

Small Groups work best:

PRACTICAL WAYS TO BUILD COMMUNITY:

Hebrews 10:24-25 (NLT) 24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

You don’t grow up by standing alone, you grow up as part of the body.

My one next step:

Direction, not perfection. One next step at a time.

SOUL TATTOO: We’re not just better together, we’re stronger together.