Chip Ingram
February 10, 2001
9:30 am
Prerequisites for Authentic Community
Message Summary
True community occurs when authenticity supplants hypocrisy. Deriving this concept from Romans 12, Chip Ingram outlined four specific features of living in authentic fellowship. He said, "Authentic community occurs when the real you meets real needs for the right reasons in the right way."
Focusing on "the real you," Ingram noted that a large majority of people hide behind masks, disguising their true identity. These masks, though, secure people from exposing their faults. However, Ingram noted, "This is phony and superficial and the world sees through it. The world isn't looking for super Christians—it's looking for authentic ones." Besides authentically relating the truth about oneself, Ingram also shared that purity served as a prerequisite for community. Since the church no longer abhors evil but rather seeks to get as close to it as possible without getting burned, true community becomes impossible because people are too busy hiding their lives.
Besides becoming authentic, believers wanting community must meet others' needs. Many Christians, however, attempt to satisfy surface needs when it seems convenient. Paradoxically, Ingram noted that community happens not when everyone appears to be doing well but when people are seen as hurting. For as believers share their hurts and weaknesses and hopes and dreams with one another, they can mutually support and encourage, a sign of biblical community.
Finally, Ingram noted that believers (especially leaders) should meet needs not seeking to obtain personal gratification or appreciation, but as a servant of Christ. The focus, intensity and passion of meeting needs derives from the Spirit's power, he observed, and desires mutual growth, not individual praise.
Student Response
I hate masks. They hide and distort the truth. But I wear them every day. Every time I slightly tilt the truth to make myself look good, I put on a mask. There's a mask on when I conveniently focus on others' faults and never mention my own. When I ignore my hurt and overlook my weakness, I see another one. My mask is marked by pride. I don't want my friends seeing my struggles. If only I can be perfect, I say, then they will accept me. However, all they really want is to struggle together, crying, praying, laughing and rejoicing as fellow pilgrims on life's long road. And I realized that I want to be transparent and open with my friends. I'm going to take my masks off now.
—Dale Harris, Junior, Pastoral Studies major