Wednesday Night Series - "How People Change", Week 1

How People Change

AT A GLANCE:

HOW PEOPLE CHANGE

Lesson 3:

Change is a Community Project

CPR Preview

• Central Point: God’s work of personal transformation is intended to take place within the community of God’s people.

• Personal Application: I need to be committed to a lifestyle of mutually helpful relationships.

• Relational Application: I want to help others pursue relationships that promote biblical growth and change.

The Big Question

What daily resources are yours because you are part of the community of

Christ? Are you taking advantage of these resources? What resources and

gifts do you bring to the body of Christ?

Scriptural Background:Belonging to God’s family

• Ephesians 2:14-22: For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.

Scriptural Background:Belonging to God’s family

• Ephesians 2:14-22: (cont.)For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Scriptural Background:Being loved as a family

• Ephesians 3:14-21For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Scriptural Background:Being loved as a family

• Ephesians 3:14-21 (cont.)Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Scriptural Background:Purified as a family

• Titus 2: 11-14For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Scriptural Background:Unity & diversity within the same family

• I Corinthians 12Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says "Jesus is accursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except in the Holy Spirit.

Scriptural BackgroundUnity & diversity within the same family• I Corinthians 12 (cont)

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,

Scriptural BackgroundUnity & diversity within the same family

• I Corinthians 12 (cont.)to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

Scriptural BackgroundUnity & diversity within the same family• I Corinthians 12 (cont.)

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body— Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body.


And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.


The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you.“ On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require.

Scriptural BackgroundUnity & diversity within the same family

• I Corinthians 12 (cont.)But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.


And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.

Illustrations

• Provide a personal example of how you have experienced the love of God through the body of Christ.

Group Discussions

• How does a vision of Ephesians 2:14-22 impact you as you think about growing in grace?

• Ask group to share experiences of Christian community that promoted growth in their lives.

Central Point, Personal Application, and Relational Application (CPR)

Central Point:• A Christian is not only a child of God, but a

member of the family of God.• Christians cannot grow to the fullness of God

by living independently of others.• Personal transformation takes place in the

context of redemptive community.

CPR

Personal Application:• I continually need to learn more about God’s

love for me in Christ, and I cannot do this alone.

• I need to understand my gifts and my role in the larger body of Christ.

• God calls me to be committed to a lifestyle of mutually edifying relationships.

CPR

Relational Application:• I want to pray for others to gain a greater

understanding of God’s love for them in Christ.• I want to help others understand and own their

vital place in the body of Christ.• I want to help others grasp the privilege and

responsibility of participating in intimate Christian relationships that promote biblical growth and change.

Make it Real (Homework)1. How does your life reflect your commitment to meaningful

relationships that help you grow and change? What things get in the way or serve as replacements for you? Here are some possibilities:

--The busyness of life (keeping relationships distant and casual)-- Being totally immersed in friendships that are activity- and happiness-based--Conscious avoidance of close relationships (too scary or messy)-- Formal commitment to church meetings and activities, but no real connections to people

Make it Real (Homework)

1. (cont.) --One-way ministry-driven relationships (always ministering to others but never allowing yourself to be ministered to)-- Self-centered, self-absorbed, “meet my felt needs” relationships that keep you always receiving but seldom giving.--A private, “just me and God” approach to the Christian life--Theology as a replacement for community. Knowing God as a life of study, rather than the pursuit of God and his people


2. What opportunities for redemptive relationships are already in your life? (Marriage, friendship, parents, small group, extended family, ministry partner, etc.) Are you committed to and experiencing the personal transformation that God has planned for these relationships? If not, what things are in the way?


3. If you do not have this kind of relationship in your life, what is God calling you to do so that you can participate in a redemptive community? Are there new relationships that need to be made? Present relationships that need to be strengthened or restructured? Relationships that need to be restored?

Wednesday Night Series - "How People Change", Week 1

Spiritual

Transcript of Wednesday Night Series - "How People Change", Week 1