Biblical Community
A Sermon Series Designed by Pastor Daria Roesch
“In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity (love).”
Over the course of my doctoral work, I studied American culture, which is highly individualistic. Church, even in America, should be counter-cultural, reflecting God’s will and purposes for his people whom he gathers into one body called “the church.” After examining the traits of American culture, I then studied the Bible and the works of theological scholars to learn what the church should be and look like. As a result, I created a sermon series and a small group curriculum based on seven traits of a biblical community.
Six of the traits are from the book, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, by Lesslie Newbegin (ISBN: 9780802804266). Newbegin wrote that the Christian church should be characterized by praise, truth, being others-focused, equipping the priesthood (discipling the people of the church), hope, mutual responsibility, and to these I added grace. I will briefly describe these characteristics below.
Praise: The church should be a body of believers who come together to worship and praise God, for who he is as much as what he has done. (Psalm 145)
Truth: The church should boldly proclaim the truth that Jesus is God come to earth to die on a cross; he took on our sins and rose again so that all may have eternal life. Jesus is the only way to the Father. (John 14:1-6)
Others-Focused: The church cares for those outside of their building, whether they ever set foot in it or not. (Matthew 25:31-46)
Equipping for the Priesthood: God calls all of his people to be priests and the church is designed to disciple people into living out that calling. (1 Peter 2:4-9)
Hope: Our broken world is a place in desperate need of hope. Christians have the ultimate hope in Jesus and are to share it so that all may hear. (Hebrews 6:13-20; John 10:10-18)
Mutual Responsibility: We are to do good to everyone, especially to the family of believers. Rather than “me first,” like our culture, we should be “you first,” like God’s kingdom. (Galatians 6:1-10)
Grace: We are to extend grace to others because we have received grace from God. (Ephesians 4:29-32)
It is a blessing for me to be able to share what I learned over the two years of my doctoral program and two years of researching and writing my dissertation. Edgewood is already a wonderful Biblical community. May we always be so!
In Christ’s Service,
Pastor Daria