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Sunday
The last practice on community-building is which we will be studying is:
Practice 9—Serving One Another’s Interests Rather Than Our Own
Read the Scriptures which accompany this practice.
• Hebrews 10 v 24 – “spur one another on toward love and good deeds”
• Romans 15 v 1–2 – Don’t please yourself but please others
• Galatians 5 v 13 – “Serve one another”
This is a general mind-set of putting the needs and interests of others in thecommunity
ahead of your own. It is the classic servant-heart. This means tolook deliberately for needs
around you, of all sorts, and find ways to meet themthrough loving deeds, seeking as little
in the way of recognition as possible.
We are not to enter into community-building simply to make ourselves feelneeded or
connected. It is possible to exploit others in Christian community.One way is by making
ourselves so indispensable to others that we becomedependent on others’ dependence on
us. Another way is by taking—emotionally,materially, and spiritually—from the
community and not giving anything back.In Christ we should not be so proud that we
believe we don’t need community,nor so needy that we exploit others in the community.
Notes on the texts:
• Hebrews 10 v24 tells us that we should be giving deliberateconsideration to how to
build up those around us into Christlikeness.
• Romans 15 v 1–2 says we are to please them for their good, to buildthem up.
• Paul boldly tells us to be douloiof one another (Galatians 5:13)—literally bondslaves.Extending the metaphor, Paul says that we owe one anotherlove as a kind of
debt (Romans 13 v 8). Indentured servants, when theyfell into debt, became bondslaves of their creditors until the debt waspaid. Because Christ humbled himself and
became a servant and metour needs even at the cost of his own life, now we are like
indenturedservants—but to one another. We owe everyone a debt of love.
Finally, we are to love one another. Notice how often this phrase recurs in theepistles:
Romans 12 v 10, 13 v 8 / 1 Thessalonians 4 v 9 / Hebrews 13 v 1 / 1 Peter 1 v 22,4 v 8 / 1
John 3 v 11, 3 v 23, 4 v 7, 4 v 11 / 2 John 1 v 5. We are to love one another deeplyfrom the
heart if any of these practices are to build our community.
Challenge Point: