Balancing Identity and Responsibility in Christian Community

"Do you want to be a church that is an example that considers the wider body of Christ? We want to be a church that is an example that considers others and not just itself. It has your vision on its mind, on its heart. It has compassion and compassion for your kingdom and your people and your purpose and your plan and will just not please itself." [00:03:31] (41 seconds)


"So actually, the strong Christians are not just thinking about themselves. They're thinking about the weak when they do things. Right? And it says, each of us should please our neighbors for their good to build them up. So, oh, oh, so you're doing things now, not for your own good. You're doing things. You're doing things to help your neighbor. If you're thinking about yourself, you won't be there. You won't come. You won't participate. But you're thinking beyond yourself. And you're saying, no, I want to do that which will help my neighbor." [00:08:32] (35 seconds)


"because of god and and but because of god jesus said i'm going to accept those insults another day i won't accept it but because of god i'm going to get the insults that were falling on you they're putting on on me and i'm going to i'm going to accept it because i'm not thinking about myself and then verse four it says for everything that was written in the past was written to teach us to teach you and me in other words to teach us how to behave so that through endurance taught in the scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope and then he prays in verse five may the god who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind to what each other that christ jesus had so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify god the father and lord jesus christ this is so awful you know i'm saying every time you and i make a sacrifice for our neighbor and we're not just thinking about ourself we're glorifying god" [00:09:32] (66 seconds)


"didn't i um and what did i find to give to others but and here's how it works if you if you if your if your background is collectivist you don't have to have enough for yourself to give you just know that this is what you do right and this is why in the book of acts you see them doing all the time everybody took from what they had and gave it let's all share this right because god's heart is collectivist it's not individualistic you're individualistic from the point of view of acquiring strength of becoming strong so that you can be a blessing to other and this is why god god calls called god called abraham as an individual and and asked him to leave earl of the chaldees and go to a land that we should but his idea was not that i will bless you and you just buy a cigar and buy a swimming pool and live in a big house no i will bless you so that you will be a blessing his goal was always long -term blessing others but he realizes that if an individual isn't blessed then you can't go on and bless somebody else but what if in that journey abraham stops halfway and says i'm blessed now i don't want to do anything i've stopped then god can't fulfill his mission but but but god is thinking about the wider the wider community god is thinking about his church and god is thinking about the people that are in it and god is thinking about the world because actually when we even when we say the church he's not planning he's planning that everybody in the world becomes part of the church he's thinking about everybody else these are powerful truths and if you if you've lived if you've lived in an individualistic culture all your life it's very difficult to see it because everything you see is colored coded with me i what i want what i can achieve in fact actually if you've if you've lived in it and and both kind of systems have the extreme so if you lived in a collective system for way too long you want to get out because because everybody you're thinking of every time you're thinking about this you're thinking about that person and thinking about that person and for once in your life you want to think about yourself actually the truth of the issue is that um collectivism in itself is not godly by default it has to be managed within a certain context right so sometimes people think that oh and i could i could teach you maybe i don't think i'll get there today but otherwise i'm going to get distracted collective in itself is not always godly it can't be godly it can't be godly it can't be demonic just like individual individualism can be demonic but but my my point is that there's somewhere in the middle there that leans towards being collective is that is more scriptural you you're you're an individual you're blessed to be a blessing you're not blessed for yourself you and then you know and i and i argue this in our church all the time nobody was made for themselves the moment the church wakes up to that they will start completing their mission god did not make you i say i just made for myself i made for myself i made for myself i made for myself i made for made you sorry you can have stuff no god sent you here there's a problem for you to solve that is within the context of somebody else or" [00:10:39] (0 seconds)


"The good shepherds don't abuse. The good shepherds allow people to make free choices. The good shepherds respect boundaries. The good shepherds don't abuse. The good shepherds don't separate people from their natural families. And these are all components of spiritual abuse, by the way. The good shepherds do not extort people of their money, get them to go and take out loans. Good shepherds don't do that. But the bad shepherds do it, and they still get the numbers. We want to change that. So we want these people to find the good shepherds. They're people that have been damaged. They're people that have been damaged by what has happened now, and they won't go to church anymore. That has to change. We want healing. And we want the good shepherds to stand up." [00:54:17] (49 seconds)