Building Community on the Foundation of Grace

Watch the whole service and sermon from Romans 12:3-21: A Firm Foundation: Built On Christian Community. In this message, we explore the Apostle Paul's teachings on nurturing a genuine Christian community. Discover how building a strong church begins with having the right perspective of one another, serving with our unique God-given gifts, and embracing an authentic, Christlike love for our fellow believers. Learn how to overcome challenges and live in harmony by choosing good over evil, as we are called to be unified members of the body of Christ.

This passage speaks to your life because:

• It reminds you that as members of the body of Christ, each person is essential and uniquely gifted by God's grace. This encourages you to view others with humility and grace, understanding that your gifts are given for the service and uplifting of others, not for building up your own pride.
• It shows you the power of genuine love and community in a fractured world. By loving one another sincerely, without hypocrisy, and cultivating a deep, brotherly affection within the church, you not only strengthen your community but also provide a compelling witness to the transformative love of Christ.
• It calls you to embody the principles of grace, mercy, and peace in your interactions. Through patience in affliction, persistence in prayer, and choosing to repay evil with good, you reveal God's love and justice, trusting God to be the arbiter of all matters, even in personal conflicts or societal injustices.

What does it truly mean to live as the body of Christ? Not just to gather on Sunday mornings, warming seats and singing songs, but to genuinely belong to one another—united, serving, loving, and bearing with each other through life's seasons?

The answer lies in understanding that authentic Christian community isn't built on programs or personalities. It's built on something far more profound: the mercies of God and our response to them.

Before we can understand community, we must grasp the foundation. The church stands on Christ alone—our only true foundation. It's built on the authority and sufficiency of Scripture. These aren't negotiable elements we can compromise when culture shifts or preferences change. They're the bedrock of everything we are.

But here's where it gets personal: doctrine without application is empty living. We can have all the theological knowledge in the world, memorize every systematic theology textbook, and still miss the point entirely. Knowledge that doesn't transform how we treat each other, how we serve, how we love—that knowledge accomplishes nothing.

The book of Romans lays this out beautifully. The first eleven chapters establish the mercies of God: justification by faith, sanctification, God's sovereign purposes. These are the doctrines that define us. But chapters twelve through sixteen show us what to do with those truths. They answer the question: Now that I'm justified, now that I'm being sanctified, how do I live?

Community begins with perspective. Before we can serve or love or endure hardship together, we must first think rightly about ourselves and about each other. We must see ourselves as God sees us.

Romans 12:3 warns against spiritual pride: "Do not think of yourself more highly than you should think. Instead, think sensibly." This is a call to humility and grace. Your spiritual gifts, your position in the church, your abilities—none of these make you superior to anyone else. They're all gifts of grace, unearned and undeserved.

Everything we have comes from God's grace. We're saved by grace. We're alive by grace. We're blessed by grace. We have spiritual gifts by grace. When we truly grasp this, humility becomes natural. We stop competing and start cooperating.

The imagery of the body is powerful. Just as a physical body has many parts—hands, feet, eyes, ears—each with different functions, so the church has many members with different gifts. And here's the crucial truth: every member is essential.

We're not independent contractors showing up to do our individual thing. We're members of one another, belonging together in a relational partnership. This means we don't function independently from each other. We're responsible to one another. We need each other.

Think about your body. Your hand doesn't compete with your foot. Your eye doesn't claim superiority over your ear. Each part serves its function, and the body thrives when all parts work together. That's exactly how the church should function.

You have a gift. The body needs your gift. You must use it. No one else can fulfill your unique role.

Spiritual gifts aren't given for personal advancement or recognition. They're given for the common good, for the blessing of other believers. Romans 12:6-8 lists various gifts: prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, giving, leading, showing mercy. The emphasis throughout is clear: use them!

If you have the gift of teaching, be faithful to doctrine and help believers grow in truth. If you have the gift of exhortation, encourage others—build them up, don't tear them down. If you have the gift of giving, be generous without reluctance. If you have the gift of leading, do it with diligence and care for others' well-being. If you have the gift of mercy, show it cheerfully.

The repeated command is to actively exercise your gifts. Don't let them lie dormant. A church where members hoard their gifts is a body with paralyzed limbs. But a church where everyone contributes through their God-given abilities? That's a thriving community that honors God and impacts the world.

Perhaps nothing is more central to Christian community than love. But not superficial love. Not the kind that's all words and no action. Romans 12:9 calls for "love without hypocrisy"—genuine, sincere love that comes from the depths of the heart.

This kind of love detests what is evil and clings to what is good. It despises anything that would harm or corrupt the body of Christ—sin, division, injustice. And it pursues what is righteous and uplifting.

We're called to love one another with brotherly affection, as family. This is deep, family-like love. Brothers and sisters sometimes disagree, sometimes fight, but they never stop being family. That's the kind of commitment we're called to.

Practical love means rejoicing with those who rejoice and weeping with those who weep. It means celebrating each other's victories and standing by each other in painful seasons. It means being present, listening, supporting, caring.

Love is also persistent in prayer. When we pray for one another, we demonstrate that we truly care. We lift each other up before the throne of grace, acknowledging our dependence on God and our need for each other.

Here's where it gets difficult. How do we live together when it's hard? How do we respond to conflict, opposition, hurt?

The answer is counterintuitive: bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse. This is one of the most challenging commands in Scripture. Our natural instinct is to retaliate, to curse back, to seek revenge. But we're called to something higher.

This doesn't mean we ignore injustice or pretend hurt doesn't exist. It means we refuse to repay evil with evil. Instead, we give careful thought to what is honorable. We pursue peace as far as it depends on us. We leave room for God's wrath, trusting Him to deal with injustice rather than taking matters into our own hands.

Vengeance belongs to the Lord. This is both a warning and a comfort. It's a warning not to usurp God's role as judge. It's a comfort that justice will ultimately be served—we don't have to carry that burden.

The final word is this: "Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good." Don't allow bitterness, resentment, or hate to take root in your heart. Don't give the devil an opportunity to corrupt your mind.

The only way to conquer evil is by choosing what is good. By doing the right thing. By being like Christ. When someone wrongs you, feed them if they're hungry. Give them drink if they're thirsty. Shame them with kindness. Lead them to repentance through love.

This is how we build community on a firm foundation. This is how we stand firm in a world that often seems to be crumbling. Not by being like the world, but by being radically different—humble, gracious, unified, serving, loving, bearing with one another.

We're not just church attenders. We're the body of Christ, living, breathing, functioning together for His glory. And when we get this right, the world takes notice. They see something they can't explain—a community built not on shared interests or social status, but on the transforming grace of God.

That's the kind of community worth building. That's the kind of church that changes the world.

Through this sermon, God reminds us that genuine Christian community is built on humility, service, and love, as we view ourselves and others rightly, contribute our God-given gifts, and bear one another's burdens. How will you respond to this call to cultivate and strengthen the body of Christ in your daily life?

Choose ONE of the following to put into practice this week:

1. Discover/Use Your Gift: If you haven't discovered your spiritual gift, commit to serving in one area of church ministry this month. If you know your gift, find a new way to use it this week.
2. Practice Hospitality: Invite someone from church (especially someone you don't know well) into your home for a meal or coffee.
3. Rejoice and Weep: Reach out to someone in your church who is celebrating something and genuinely rejoice with them. Also reach out to someone going through difficulty and offer practical support.
4. Bless an Enemy: Identify someone who has wronged you. Instead of seeking revenge, find one way to bless them this week (prayer, kind words, practical help).
5. Pursue Peace: If there's broken relationship in your life, take the initiative to pursue reconciliation. Do everything that depends on you to live at peace.

Pray for:

• Humility to view ourselves and others correctly
• Wisdom to discover and use our spiritual gifts
• Genuine, sincere love for one another
• Strength to respond to evil with good
• Grace to bear with one another through difficulties
• Unity and peace in our church family