Series: “Connecting with God” - Part 1
"You've Got to Get Connected"
Pastor Jerry
Ephesians 2:1-10
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We have just come out of one of the most unusual years in our life time: isolation due to the Global Pandemic! In many ways we need to start over in engaging again in normal activities and in re-connecting with God.
We’re going to look at the Lord’s Prayer and seven different phrases in it as our guide to reconnect. T
he Lord’s Prayer can recharge and change your life. With all the fearful events happening in the world is causing people to
feel more and more disconnected from each other and from God. People are scared and feel like they’re alone. I know that people just don’t feel as safe and connected as they did a generation ago when everybody knew everybody else who were their neighbors.
The Bible tells us very clearly that you were created for connections. In fact the very first thing that God said was,
“It’s not good for man to be alone.” We were made for connection. Why? Because we’re created in the image of God. The Bible says God is love and in order to love you’ve got to have somebody to love. There has to be loving relationships in your life.
However, we try to substitute all kinds of things for relationships and love. But nothing can take the place of connecting to God and connecting to each other. That’s what I want to talk about as we begin this new series.
I’m going to talk about getting connected spiritually with each other and with God.
The Bible says this in Romans 12:5
“Even though we are many individuals Christ makes us one body, and individuals who are connected to each other. Life is all about connections. Today’s message is
an introduction before we dig in to all the details in the weeks ahead.
The Bible gives us four different metaphors in the New Testament about what it means to be spiritually connected.
So what does it mean to get spiritually connected? It means four things.
- To be spiritually connected means it’s like being built into a building.
Ephesians 2:22 says,
“In Christ you are built together into a dwelling place for God.” It’s a temple built together for God. The most important thing about a building is this: the parts have to fit. Also, y
our life will be unstable too until you get connected just right. In a building the connected parts have to be connected or there’s no support. Each holds up the other part.
If you’re
not spiritually connected, there’s
nobody there to hold you up. There’s nobody there to support you when tragedy strikes. You were
not meant to go through life unsupported. That’s the idea of a building. You need physical support, emotional support, & spiritual support.
So what does it mean to be spiritually connected? It means four things.
First, it’s like being built into a building, that we support each other when things are going wrong. If you’re not connected spiritually,
you’re unstable.
- To be spiritually connected means it’s like being joined into a body.
T
he church in the Bible is described as the body of Christ. What Jesus Christ did when he was here in his physical body –he wants us to continue to do today. We are the body of Christ on the earth.
Everybody knows that in order to have a body it’s all got to be connected. You can’t have a disconnected hand or anything like that. The Bible says
“In Christ’s body we’re all connected to each other.” Notice not just to God but to each other.
Romans 12
“Just as there are many parts in our bodies, so it is with Christ’s body. We are all parts of it and it takes every one of us to make it complete. For we each have different work to do. So we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others.” We’re all different. We’re all important. Everybody’s needed.
Never confuse prominence and significance. Something can be prominent but not significant.
You may not be prominent in the body of Christ but you are significant. God says we all matter. Many parts, everybody’s needed. God says we belong n
ot only to Jesus, you belong to everybody else who belongs to Jesus. Each of us needs all the others.
You cannot grow spiritually without being connected to the church. Why? Because God says growth is all about love.
And you can’t have love alone. You’ve got to have people in your life.
This is absolutely essential. Not only do
you need the body of Christ for support, like in a building. But
you need the body of Christ for growth and if you’re not connected to the body of Christ you’re not going to grow.
- To be spiritually connected means it’s like being attached to a vine.
It’s interesting that Jesus, right before he goes to the cross, his last minute instructions to the people following him is to
“Live in me and I will live in you. A branch cannot produce any fruit by itself. It has to stay attached to the vine. In the same way, you cannot produce fruit unless you live in me.”
Jesus is saying you’re not going to have any fruitfulness, any productivity in your life if you’re out there on your own. You’ve got to stay connected.
“God’s Spirit joins himself to our spirit to declare that we are God’s children.”
What kind of fruit are you suppose to be producing in your Christian life?
“The fruit of the Spirit is this love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.” I don’t know about you but I’d like to be more. If you are not seeing yourself grow with more peace and more patience, guess what?
It means you’re not spiritually connected. Because, Jesus says, when you’re connected you’re going to bear fruit.
You need the body of Christ for support, like in a building. And
you need the body of Christ for growth, like being connected to a body. And
you need the body of Christ for producing spiritual fruit, like being attached to a vine.
- Being spiritually connected is like being born into a family.
This description of the church says we are God’s family. There are only two ways to get into a family.
You can either be born into it or you can be adopted into it. In the Bible God does both for you. It’s called being born again and it’s called being adopted into the family of God.
1 Timothy 3:15
“I want you to know how people who are members of God’s family must live. God’s family is the church.” We are the family of God. Church is not something you go to. Church is something you belong to.
Romans 15
“You will all be joined together and you will give glory to God Christ accepted you, so you should accept each other, which will bring glory to God.” Acceptance and approval are not the same thing. God accepts me no matter what I do. He does not approve of everything I do.
The Bible says acceptance is love. Approval is not love. The Bible says fifty eight times to love one another. It says pray, care, serve, help, encourage one another. Those are your family responsibilities.
I cannot fulfill God’s purpose by myself. It is absolutely impossible because the number one thing God wants you to learn in life is how to love.
Love God and love other people. That means you’ve got to be with other people. You can’t do it on your own.
It’s all about connections. What is love? Giving a person what they need, not what they deserve. That’s love. And that’s Grace!
What the new members did today was to commit themselves to a spiritual family: to the Boones Mill Church. That’s what God wants from us: to get spiritually connected to Him and to each other! Listen to this verse.
“I beg you brothers and sisters to be completely joined together by having the same kind of thinking and the same purpose.”
Here’s what life’s all about: (1) getting to
know God,
(2) learning to
relate to God and to other people in his family,
(3) growing in God,
(4) serving God and
(5) sharing God with those who don’t know Him. Those are the 5 purposes God has for your life and for this church.
What’s the first step? First you give your life to Jesus, make Him the Lord of your life and then
you give your life to a group of believers, to a church family. That’s the connection process. I invite you to do both.
