Is Connecting THAT Important?... Part 3

This week I’ve wanted you to see how important, necessary, and vital it is to connect in a small group.

I have used two metaphor word pictures up to this point to help you see God’s design plan and how He desires that you connect. Today is the third word picture the Bible uses to answer the question, “Is Connecting That Important?” The first word picture metaphor we discovered in God’s Word stated, we are like a BUILDING (Ephesians 2:22). The next word picture the Bible uses to point us to connect is saying, we are like a HUMAN BODY (Romans 12:4-5; 1 Corinthians 12:12-27). We are like a building... We are like a body...

The Bible defines that being spiritually connected means we are like a FAMILY.

"I want you to know how people who are members of God’s family must live. God’s family is the church..." (1 Timothy 3:15 ).

This is my favorite metaphor for the church. It doesn’t take any explanation. Most people think that Christianity is a belief system. There are beliefs in Christianity, but it’s so much more. Christianity is a belong system. The Bible says we were born again into God’s family when we became a follower of Jesus. It also says that we’ve been adopted into God’s family. Both are great metaphors for what it should mean to be a part of the church. Because those of us who follow Christ are part of God’s family, we should accept one another and love one another.

Now let me be very clear here. We don’t approve of everyone’s behavior. That’s not love. If someone is doing something hurtful, approval is the opposite of love. But we must accept and love one another. Your family hasn’t always approved of everything you’ve done, but – I hope – they’ve loved you anyway. That’s a picture of the church that we want you to see at Celebrate.

We belong to each other. Christianity is a life and so it is to be shared. The point I hope top convey is that every Christian not only needs the Bible and not only needs prayer, but every Christian needs other Christians. There's no such thing as Lone Ranger Christianity. We need each other.

As a church, we at Celebrate encourage relationships and create many on ramps to build them. Our goal is not that you just come to church – meaning you walk in, you sit down, you watch the back of somebody's head for an hour, you get up and you walk out and that's it. How do you have a relationship looking at the back of somebody's head? It'd be kinda hard. We don’t want you to feel that you are just a number in the crowd.

In the past five years at Celebrate Church, we've had hundreds of first-time visitors. People come to a church for many different reasons. But people stay in the church for one specific reason. Relationships.

My hope is that you will find genuine and authentic relationships at Celebrate.