Your Christian Life Doesn’t Have to be Toxic - 1

Your Christian Life Doesn’t Have to be Toxic - 1

Subject:  The Disconnected Christian

By Rick Welborne

Ephesians 2:19-22 (NKJV)
¹⁹  Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
²⁰  having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone,
²¹  in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,
²²  in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Ephesians 2:19-22 (MSG)
¹⁹  That's plain enough, isn't it? You're no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You're no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He's using us all—irrespective of how we got here—in what he is building.
²⁰  He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he's using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone
²¹  that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day—a holy temple built by God,
²²  all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home.

--Tonight we are starting a new series called “Your Christian Life Doesn’t Have to be Toxic” and I believe it will be a time where we can see where we are in the body of Christ.

--We will look at very popular excuses that people have for not being faithful, for not being used in their gifts, for not staying in one place very long, for not being content.

Ecclesiastes 1:8 (NLT) ⁸ Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content. 

Philippians 4:11-13 (NIV)
¹¹  I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.
¹²  I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
¹³  I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

--We have looked at verses talking of being joined together and verses speaking of being content which leads me to our first symptom. I just can’t get connected…I feel so disconnected.

1. Being Connected is Vital.

--Getting connected is probably one of the most popular subjects around churches today.  Obviously, we want everyone who attends Life Church to get connected with us and to feel at home.

--This series of messages will give you opportunity to get upset or to do some self-examination and possibly get some things reconciled in your heart and mind.

--I, of course, love when someone comes to our church and they say they know immediately that this is home. They feel the presence of Holy Spirit and they feel that they are accepted immediately.

--All of us here at Life Church play a part in making people feel comfortable. People do not get connected  because they have unrealistic expectations when they come to church.

--They get in their minds…we will go in and 20 people will greet us, when we go in the sanctuary the Spirit will overwhelm us, 3 couples will invite us to lunch and bang…we are connected.

--That may happen but it may not…have you ever thought maybe you should come in with a heart of prayer asking God for His will to be done in your life…no matter who else welcomes you.

--Listen to the heart and vision of the lead pastor and see if it is biblical and relevant. Maybe you should pray and ask God, can my gifts be used here for Your glory.

--Maybe you should see if the church has a vision for the lost in outreach and missions…a church that turns inward dies, but a church that reaches out, grows…God’s church may make you uncomfortable. 

Bill Gothard – Many Christians live such unfulfilled lives because they have such unrealistic expectations from others. This is true in marriage and in church. Contentment starts with you.

--Listen, if you come late and leave early there is a good chance you will never get connected. You reach out to others…you reap what you sow.

--When Paul was first converted and tried to connect with the church, he was not accepted…he had only killed Christians…thank God he didn’t give up! I was not real accepted after my conversion!

Acts 9:26 (NKJV) ²⁶ And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple.

--Barnabas gave him a good recommendation and he became a premier voice for the Kingdom of God! What would the church have looked like if he would have been offended?

2. Where You Connect is Vital.

1 Corinthians 6:17 (NKJV) ¹⁷ But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

--Just a little more advice from someone who cares about you and wants to see you in a great relationship with God…you need to ask yourself…am I really connected to God the way I need to be?

--Does the church I attend or am thinking about attending give me opportunities to connect with God on many different levels?  Questions you may need to ask about connecting with God and His church:

A. Does the church welcome the presence of God…do they welcome Holy Spirit to come?

B. Does the church give ample time to worship the Lord and to spend time with Him?

C. Does the church have time for prayer where you can petition God for your needs and also pray for others?

Mark 11:17 (NIV) ¹⁷ "My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations'?" 

D. Does the church preach the Word of God in such a way that is biblical?

1 Corinthians 1:21 (NKJV) ²¹ …it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

E. Does the church, or more specific, the pastors, give an opportunity an altar call for salvation or rededication of their lives to God?

3. How You Connect is Vital.

A. Do not come thinking that you must fit in.  If you belong to Jesus, you are in.

Romans 12:3-5 (NIV) 

3  For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 

4  Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 

5  so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

B. Come in as a servant with the attitude of Jesus. Simply, come to serve.

Philippians 2:3-9 (NIV)
³  Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.
⁴  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
⁵  Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
⁶  Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
⁷  but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
⁸  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!
⁹  Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 

--I truly believe having the attitude of Jesus will fix a whole lot of issues about connecting.

C. Give yourself time to connect, and give the body you are connecting to time also.

--We live in scary times where not everyone is who they say or what they say. By faithfulness, consistency, and time people will see you for who you are.

D. Finally, become mature in the Lord and realize no church is going to be perfect.

Philippians 3:13-15 (NIV)
¹³  Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
¹⁴  I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
¹⁵  All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.