9-30-07
40 Days Kick-Off Sunday

Edited 20-minute Message by Pastor Rick Warren

You know, during "40 Days of Purpose," we talked about some very important things like: You're made to last forever, and that life is preparation for eternity because you're going to spend more time on that side of death than on this side. So, God expects us to practice on earth what he wants us to do forever in eternity. And we looked at the fact that God has five purposes for our lives. First, you're planned for God's pleasure, which means God wants you to get to know him and love him and that's called: Worship. Second, you're formed for God's family, so God wants you to learn to love other people in his family and that's called: Fellowship. Third, he wants you to… You were created to become like Christ, so he wants you to grow up to spiritual maturity, and that's called: Discipleship. Fourth, you were to shaped to serve God and God wants you to practice serving on earth so you'll be ready to serve him in heaven. And fifth, you were made for a mission. And so, God wants you to pass on the news about him and these purposes to other people.

Now, the big idea of "40 Days of Purpose" was that God has five purposes for your life. But let me give you a bigger idea: You were never meant to fulfill them on your own. You were created for community. And you can only fulfill God's purposes for your life in the context of community, in the family of God. In fact, you cannot even be what God wants you to be without being connected to his family because it's all about love. Now, during "40 Days of Purpose," we talked about the question: What on earth am I here for? During "40 Days of Community," we're going to look at the questions: What on earth are we here for?

From the very beginning of time, it's been God's plan for us to be in relationship to each other, not to be lone rangers, not to go through life on our own but to be in family and in community in God's family. When God made Adam and he put him in the Garden of Eden, it was a perfect environment. And yet, he looked down and he said, "It is not good for man to," what? "Be alone." God hates loneliness. And he doesn't want anybody to be alone. So, he created two institutions: Marriage and the church. Now, marriage only lasts on this planet. There is no marriage in heaven, Jesus said. But the family of God's going to go on forever and ever and ever. And we're all going to be related in God's family.

Now, the church is called the "community of faith." It's called the "community of believers." It's called the "community of the spirit." It's called the "family of God," and it's called the "body of Christ." You see, I'm not the body of Christ. You're not the body of Christ. But together, we are the body of Christ. It only happens in community. It only happens in relationship. None of us are the body of Christ in and of ourselves. Now, we cannot fulfill God's purposes for our lives because we were meant to do them through the body of Christ. Look at the next verse, Romans 12:5, and let's read this verse together, "Since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other and each of us needs all the others." Would you circle the word "belong" and the word "needs." "Belong" and "needs." We belong together and we need each other. We really do.

There's some things in life you'll never be able to do without other people in your life. So, during the "40 Days of Community," we're going to look at how we're better together.

Now, why are we doing this? Because the number one lesson in life is learning how to love. The Bible says, "God is love" It's his nature. The Bible says, "Love is of God." And the Bible tells us that the greatest thing God wants you to learn and practice here on earth is learning how to love. And that is the essence of life. Now, we have two goals in "40 Days of Community," one is to deepen the sense of love and community within our church. And second, to reach out to the community in love around our church. And that's what we're going to do.

Now today, I want us to look at the reasons why we need each other. And the Bible says there are five. If you'll take your outlines, the first reason we need each other, we need community, is this: We fellowship better together. We fellowship better together. Now, we see this model in the very first church in Jerusalem. In Acts chapter 2, it tells us about that church, it says, "All the believers continued together in close fellowship."

Now, what is fellowship? What is it? Well, the word in Greek is the word "koinonia" and as I shared in "40 Days of Purpose," it means being as committed to each other as we are to Jesus Christ. God is the father of the family and he looks down on his family, the church, and he says, "I want you guys to be as committed to each other as you are to me." Now sadly, joining a church doesn't guarantee fellowship. You can be a member your entire life of a church and never experience deep meaningful, significant relationships. You can… You can totally miss what it means to have genuine, heart-to-heart, soul-to-soul fellowship.

Now, you cannot fellowship with a crowd. You can't fellowship with 100 or 200 or 300 or 1,000 people because you don't even know them all. And you can't spend time talking to them all. When I talk about fellowship, I'm talking about four people or six people or maybe eight people. In fact, if you get more than 10 or 12 in a group, somebody stops talking. Somebody stops participating and they become more of a spectator. But fellowship happens when everybody is involved. And we all need that kind of involvement, even Jesus did. You know, when he went to the Garden of Gethsemane before he went to the cross, he took his small group with him. And he asked them to pray with him, why? Because everybody needs relationships.

You know, I could tell you personally that I could not do what I do without my small group. I depend on them. In fact, they helped me prepare this message and I can't tell you. Right now, we're going through four or five major crises in families in our small group, and we're praying for each other. And it draws us closer and closer together.

Again, what's the goal? Well, look at First Corinthians 14, "Let love be your highest goal." In "40 Days of Community" and in our small groups and in our fellowship, our goal is to learn how to really love because the Bible says "Love one another."

Now, here's the second reason we need each other, why we need community. We worship better together. We don't just fellowship better together. We worship better together. In fact, there are a number of benefits in corporate, in group worship, that you can never have in worship just by yourself. Now, the Bible talks about this a lot and the Bible, in fact, commands that we get together on a weekly basis. It's not optional. If you are a believer, God says, "I want you to get with other people in my family once a week and worship."

Look at this verse out of Leviticus chapter 23, it says, "You have six days to do your work." Did you hear that workaholics? "Six days to do your work, but the seventh day of each week is holy because it belongs to me. No matter where you live, you must rest and come together for worship." Now later in the New Testament, Jesus said, "I'm doing this for your benefit." This principle of you work six days and every seventh day, you take a day off and you worship. The Bible says the Sabbath was made for man. He said it's to keep you from burning out. And when we get together, we worship and it recharges us spiritually and physically and emotionally in ways that would never happen even if we said, "Well, I'm going to go out and fish and I'm going to worship God on my own." God says, "Well, that's fine, you do that too. But I also want you, once a week, you get together with my family." And you worship together.

Now, let me ask you: How committed are you to weekly worship? You say, "Well, I come whenever it's convenient. I come when the weather's good. I come when there's nothing on TV." No, God says, "You need it every week." On a weekly basis, you need to get in corporate, in group, in family worship with the family of God. So, my challenge to you is during the "40 Days of Community" that you not miss a single weekend. And in fact, bring somebody with you each weekend. And when you bring that person, you pray and say, "God, speak to me through this service in ways that you haven't before. Holy Spirit, speak to me during this worship."

Now, here's the third reason we need each other. We need community, we need the family of God. We grow better together. You grow in ways spiritually with other people that you will never ever grow on your own. Now, Ephesians 4 says this, verse 16, "Under Christ's direction, the whole body," that means the church, "is fitted together and each part helps the other parts so that the whole body," that's the church, "is healthy and growing and full of love." Circle that "healthy and growing." God wants you to grow and God wants your church to grow. That's the big idea. But here's the bigger idea: We do it together. We grow together. In fact, you can't really grow spiritually, this is going to shock you, you cannot really grow spiritually without being connected to a church family. Oh, you may get mental ideas. You may get Bible knowledge, doctrine. You may be able to say the right words, but you're not growing in the most important stuff, which is relationships. It's all about love. And you cannot build relationships if you're not in community.

You see, many religions say that the most religious or the most spiritual or the most righteous is the guy who hides himself in the monastery or in the cave, goes to the top of the Himalayas and he's the holy man because he's unstained by people. But God says, "No, that's not it. The most righteous person is in the middle of people, working and loving and learning in relationships." There'll many things you will never learn about life unless you're in community. You don't learn patience. You don't learn kindness. You don't learn unselfishness. You don't learn forgiveness. You don't learn love. All of those things are learned in relationship, in community, in the family of God.

And this is why the first step to spiritual maturity is to join a local church family and get involved because you need a family. Can you imagine a baby being born and you set it on the road and say, "Now grow up on your own"? A baby has to have a family to grow when it's born. When you are born again, you have to have a spiritual family to grow. If you don't have one, you're not going to grow.

That's why you need to be in a small group where you can get advice, personal advice, you can ask questions, you can offer advice, you can help other people. We need to be in a small group.

All right, here's the fourth reason why we need each other, why we need community, why we need fellowship, why we need the family of God. We serve better together. We serve better together. Now, God wants you while you're here on this planet to learn how to serve him. But there's some things you can't do on your own. And there's some ways of serving that we're better together. Paul talks about this in Philippians chapter 2, a book that we're going to look at during "40 Days of Community," he says this, "Do you have fellowship together in the spirit? Then, make me happy. By working together," that's serving together, "with one heart and purpose." He said, "I want you to be a Purpose-Driven church. I want you to have one heart and one purpose, and I want you to all be serving together for the same purpose."

Now, during "40 Days of Purpose," we talked about the big idea that you're shaped to serve God and you're uniquely shaped to do that. And every member is a minister. Here's the bigger idea: We were meant to do it together. And when we serve together, lots of benefits. It makes us more effective. We get more done. It multiplies our time and energy. We compensate for each others' weaknesses. We support each other when we get tired, when we get discouraged and we want to get burned out. There are other people there to help us. There are lots of benefits of serving together, rather than doing the lone ranger service on your own. It's why Jesus, when he sent out his followers, sent them out in teams. He did not send them out as individuals to serve. They went out as teams.

Have you ever helped the poor in a personal way… I'm not talking about throwing a few bucks in a plate. Have you ever helped a poor person personally? Have you ever helped a prisoner personally? Have you ever helped a sick person or a dying person personally? Have you ever helped the people that are marginalized? One day, you're going to stand before God. And Matthew 25 says you'll be judged on how you treated other people. And Jesus will say… He will say, "I was naked and you clothed me. I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, you gave me a drink. I was sick and in prison and you visited me." And we'll say, "When did we do that to you, Lord?" And he'll say, "Whenever you've done it to the least of these people, you've done it to me." That's what community is all about. Building community in the church and loving the community around the church. That's what it's all about. You know, it seems to me that today the body of Christ, that the hands and the feet of the body of Christ have been amputated in most churches. And all we are is just one big mouth. And the world knows what the church is against. But they don't know what we're for. And they don't see hands and arms of love, reaching out into the community. And it's time for that to change.

Now, here's the fifth reason why we need each other. We reach out better together. We can actually reach out into the world better together than we can as individuals. Somebody once said, "Snowflakes are frail but if enough of them stick together, they can stop traffic." I can't do a whole lot on my own. You can't do a whole lot on your own. But together, we can make an impact in a major way. But Philippians 1, Paul says this about that church, "I know that you are working together and struggling side by side to get others to believe the good news."

Now, how do we do that? How can we, as a church body, as the family of God, how can we reach our community for Christ together? Well, there are lots of ways. But let me give you three real quick ones.

Number one, by using our group to bring people to Jesus, our small groups, the group that you are in. Many of you, for the first time, were in a small group during "40 Days of Purpose" and you can use the group… There are many people who would never come inside a church building because it scares them to death.

A second way we can reach out to others together is by giving, by giving. Do you know that every time you give an offering in this church, it helps the church reach more people for Jesus Christ? It helps reach out and minister to the hurting, the poor, the sick, the lame, the blind, different people. It helps us reach out to people who don't know Christ yet, here and around the world.

Third way we can help reach out and that is by praying, by praying for our city. And by the way, that involves praying for other churches too. I hope you're praying for the other churches in this community. We pray for them. I pray for them. We're not in competition with any church. That's like two ants arguing over who's going to eat the elephant. Okay, there are plenty of people. Every church in Southern California could be filled to capacity, we still wouldn't be reaching everybody. We're all on the same team. If you love Jesus, I don't care what your label says, we're on the same team. And so, you should be praying for other churches. See, the "40 Days" experience started as a program and then it became a movement. And now, it's involving tens of thousands of churches around the world. And imagine what could happen if all of our churches who are doing "40 Days of Purpose" or "40 Days of Community" were praying for our communities at the same time.

Do you think that might bring a spiritual awakening in our country? Let me ask you this: Do you think our country needs a spiritual awakening? Do you think our culture needs a great awakening? Yeah, it does. And so, I've chosen Second Thessalonians 3:1 as the verse, theme verse, for this next campaign "40 Days of Community." Here's what we're going to pray, "Pray that the master's word will simply take off and race through the country to a groundswell of response." Would that be cool? If that we pray that the master's word will simply take off and race through the country, every state and then overseas to a groundswell of response, how is that possible? It's very simple. We've got to fellowship together and we've got to serve together and we've got to grow together and we've got to worship together and we've got to reach out together. And each one reaches one, it'll happen.

I decided a long time ago, I'm not going to waste my life. And I don't think you want to waste your life either. I think that's why God brought you here. Of all the people God could've been bringing to this historic event of the next "40 Days of Community," he brought you here. Why? So, you can watch it happen? I don't think so. God's put a big bull's-eye on your back. God wants to use you. You've never even thought God could use you. He's going to use you in the "40 Days of Community."

You see, you were made for five purposes but you're never going to fulfill them on your own. We need each other. You need me. I need you. We need each other. And so I invite you to join the greatest movement in the world, the kingdom of God, which is going to outlast everything else. Governments come and go. And our nation does need a new spirit, but there's only one organization that can bring it. It is the church of God because it's going to go on forever. The amazing exponential power that is potential right here in this room and in the rooms of all the churches that are participating in this is astounding, greater than nuclear power. Because when believers get together and they worship together and fellowship together and love together and serve and reach out and give and they join together, it is unstoppable.

Let's bow our heads. It's time for the church to start acting like the church that God planned and purposed. He designed his family, the church, to meet your five deepest needs and to help you fulfill God's purposes for your life. And God never meant for anyone to be alone, lonely. The truth is we were created for community. We were shaped to serve God, but we need each other. Would you like to be a part of a mighty movement of God? Then, I invite you to join us in the "40 Days of Community" and be a part of what God is going to do in this church and thousands and thousands of other churches. Pray this prayer in your heart: Dear God, forgive me for the times when I didn't think I needed other people in my life. I want to be a part of what you're doing on earth. I don't want to miss out. I want to be a part of your family. And I want to experience real community and fellowship. I am tired of superficial relationships. I want to learn to really love and be loved in a deeper way. Thank you for bringing me to this church family. Thank you for a place to belong and a place to grow and serve and share and worship. I don't want to be a passive follower anymore. Please bless my church family as we do "40 Days of Community." Help me to get into a small group so I can learn about community. In your name, I pray. Amen.