Over the years, I have heard people much smarter than me encourage Christians to think about your sanctification in terms of formative activities and corrective actions. Formative is the disciplines and habits built into your life – morning devotions, prayer, fellowship, Church attendance, etc. Corrective actions sometimes come directly from the Holy Spirit but a majority of the time they come from people God has placed in your life. Both of these means of grace are fundamental activities in our Community Groups and become a huge tool in God’s Rescue Plan.
Community Groups are a structure that helps us formatively build solid relationships, get into fellowship, apply God’s Word, have accountability, live out the one another’s, etc.
The problem is that when it comes time for correction, when we need to pursue someone wandering from the truth, it’s crucial to have a history with that person, to know and be known and have a bridge of friendship strong enough to handle the truth and oftentimes the difficulty that can come when we embark on an effort “to bring back a sinner from his wandering.”
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Here’s the beauty of Community Groups. By God’s grace we give ourselves to living out our Christian lives and pursuing sanctification with a small group of likeminded, gospel centered believers in our Church. That’s the majority of our experience in Community Group (1 Timothy 4:7-8, Hebrews 3:12-13).
If a member of my group (or me!) begins to wander, there is a built in guard rail to nip things in the bud (as we like to say). Loving relationships, friends, people we have history and memories with, people we have lived life with ready (and hopefully willing) to pursue that member (or me!). What a beautiful thing!
Think about Matthew 18:15-17, Jesus’ teaching on Church discipline. Just like we heard in James 5:19-20, this is God’s Rescue Plan! Do you see yourself in V. 15? “… go and tell him … you have gained a brother.” Community Groups provide that platform to be the guard rail in God’s Rescue Plan and live out Biblical truths like these.
Why? Why would I want to get involved in God’s Rescue Plan? Why pursue fellow Christians who are wandering? Isn’t that just going to get messy? You might be thinking “I have enough problems in my life!”
Here’s a view of Community Groups you might not have considered. More than just a means of grace, more than just being a tool in God’s Rescue Plan, Community Groups function in a way that image God (Ephesians 5:1) How’s that?
Think about it. The gospel is God’s ultimate rescue plan. We learned last Sunday that to pursue God we pursue God’s people. When we pursue a wandering brother we image Christ and His pursuit of you and I who wandered since day one and yet Jesus rescued us by going to the Cross.