Holy Spirit | Part 6

Pastor Bill Bush · Sep 6, 2020

Big Idea

The Holy Spirit's plan A for transforming us is people — real, messy, inconvenient biblical community, not the comfortable, agreeable kind we naturally want.

Real spiritual community is not what we expect: it is not designed to be convenient, it aims at development rather than comfort, it is imperfect and messy, and it calls us to unity rather than uniformity. This is exactly the kind of community the Holy Spirit uses to grow us to be like Jesus, because it mirrors what Christ did when He left heaven's comfort to enter our broken world for us.

Key points

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1The Holy Spirit's plan A for growing us is people, not a formula.
Pastor Bill explains that after weeks looking at the Bible and prayer as pathways the Spirit uses, the number one tool the Spirit uses is people in biblical community. He notes the church's 'one another' passages double as the Holy Spirit's job description, and that people are the conduit through which the Spirit works.
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2Real community is not designed to be convenient.
Working through Romans 14-15 and the disputable issue of meat sacrificed to idols in the Roman and Corinthian churches, Pastor Bill shows Paul asking the 'strong' to be considerate of the 'weak' rather than just pleasing themselves. He applies this to the modern mask debate, arguing that disputable issues (ideology) should never be elevated to doctrinal issues (theology), and that community means giving up personal convenience for others.
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3Paul's own example in 1 Corinthians 10 shows freedom given up for the sake of others' salvation.
Pastor Bill reads through 1 Corinthians 10:23-33, where Paul says he is allowed to do anything but restricts his freedom so as not to offend Jews, Gentiles, or the church, doing everything for the glory of God. He applies this directly, saying our freedom should never be worth more to us than someone else's salvation.
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4The goal of community is development, not comfort.
From Romans 15:2, Pastor Bill teaches that helping people grow requires transparency and grit, what the church calls a 'throat punch' — a tough truth at the right time in the right way. He shares his own transparency about wrestling with the mask decision as an example of choosing growth over comfort.
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5Real community is imperfect and woefully messy.
From Romans 15:3-4, Pastor Bill points out that even Christ didn't live to please Himself and was insulted for it, and that we live in an in-between time where nothing, including the church, is perfect yet. He warns that longing for a perfect church breeds impatience with the present one, and jokes that even a perfect church would be ruined the moment we joined it.
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6Real community is about unity, not uniformity.
From Romans 15:5-6, Pastor Bill distinguishes unity (agreement on the gospel's non-negotiables) from uniformity (sameness of opinion, including politics). He illustrates with mock 'praise' lines for opposing political parties to show that the church joins together in praise to God, not shared ideology, and warns against letting political fear seep into faith like Peter's fearful sword-swing in Gethsemane.
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7A neighbor's driveway race track pictures what the Holy Spirit wants community to look like.
Pastor Bill closes with a video of a man who, instead of getting angry at a child riding a toy motorcycle across his driveway daily, built the kid an elaborate racetrack that grew until the whole neighborhood joined in. He connects this to communion, saying Jesus did the same for us — making a path instead of condemning us — and that is what real community, and the Lord's Supper, calls us to remember.

Application

Pastor Bill asks the church to embrace inconvenience as the pathway into real, Spirit-formed community rather than running from it.

Embrace inconvenience for others' sake
Whether it's wearing a mask, sitting with someone whose opinions differ, or giving up a personal preference, choose to be considerate of others rather than just pleasing yourself.
Trade comfort for growth
Be willing to receive and give a 'tough truth at the right time in the right way,' with transparency about your own struggles, so real growth can happen in community.
Stay in the mess instead of running
Don't leave a group or the church the moment it gets messy or imperfect; recognize that real community, like the early Roman church, is woefully imperfect and requires patience.
Pursue unity, not uniformity
Stop demanding everyone share your political or cultural opinions; unite around the gospel's non-negotiables and welcome people who think differently from you.
Get into a circle, not just a row
Move from merely attending services into a group or serving team through rockpoint.io, and look for the messiest group rather than the most comfortable one.

Take it into your week

Scripture in this message

From the transcript
“And where we're gonna be is in Romans chapter 15, and we're gonna be just in the first seven verses”
From the transcript
“the first seven verses of chapter 15 is the summary and the explanation of because of what's happening in chapter 14, this is what we need to be if we're gonna be community”
From the transcript
“what's happening in chapter 14? Well, chapter 14, where Paul's writing this church to this book, it's called Romans because it's a church in Rome”
From the transcript
“He actually had to write about it in one Corinthians 10 also. Now their meat issue was slightly different”
From the transcript
“So here we go. Romans 15. I'm just gonna go through these seven verses and point out four things. First one's in the first verse. It says, now, and we went through 14, explained what's going on and what he said. He goes, We who are strong must be considerate of those who are sensitive about things like this”
From the transcript
“Here let me here's how Paul says it in in first Corinthians. It makes a lot of sense. In first Corinthians chapter 10 starting in verse 23, I'm just gonna read these 10 verses”
From the transcript
“But then verse 31, so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, you should be doing it all for the glory of God, not for yourself”
From the transcript
“Verse two. We should help others to do what is right and build them up in the Lord”
From the transcript
“Verse three and four says this, for even Christ didn't live to please himself. As the scriptures say, the insults of those who insult you, oh God, have fallen on me. Such things were written in the scriptures long ago to teach us and the scriptures give us hope and encouragement”
From the transcript
“Verse five, may God who gives this patience and encouragement help you live in complete harmony with each other as is fitting for the followers of Christ Jesus”

7-day devotional

A personal reading plan from this message — scripture, reflection, and prayer for each day.

Day 1

Most of us picture spiritual growth as something that happens in quiet moments — an early morning with coffee and a Bible, a long drive with a worship playlist. Those things matter. But the sermon this week made a claim worth sitting with: the Holy Spirit's primary instrument for making us like Jesus is not a private formula. It's people. Specifically, it's the body of Christ in real, ongoing community. Paul opens Romans 15 with a word for those who are strong — those who feel settled in their faith and their freedoms. His instruction isn't 'enjoy what you've earned.' It's 'bear with the failings of the weak.' The word 'bear' is not passive. It means to carry something, to take it on yourself. That is an inconvenient ask. It costs you something. This is where the sermon's first edge lands: real community is not designed around your convenience. It is designed around Christlikeness — and those two things are almost never the same. The people who stretch you most are not accidents in your story. They may be the very means the Spirit is using to grow you into someone who looks more like Jesus. The question is whether you're willing to let them.

For reflection

Think of a relationship in your church community that feels costly or inconvenient right now. What might the Holy Spirit be doing in you through that specific friction?

Pray

Pray for a willing spirit to bear with others, and for eyes to see inconvenient relationships as the Spirit's handiwork rather than obstacles.

Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

Think about a relationship or group setting where you felt genuinely known and challenged to grow — not just comfortable. This message argues that kind of community is exactly how the Holy Spirit does His deepest work in us.

Discussion questions

1
In Romans 15:1, Paul writes that the strong 'must' bear with the failings of the weak rather than please themselves. What do you think Paul means by that word 'must' — and what does it suggest about how seriously he takes this call?
2
Romans 15:2 points the goal of community toward building others up rather than pleasing ourselves. How does that kind of development-focused community look different from a community built primarily around shared comfort or shared preferences?
3
In 1 Corinthians 10:23–33, Paul draws a line between things that are lawful and things that are beneficial — and he ties personal freedom directly to how it affects others. What does that framework suggest about how we ought to hold our own opinions and convictions in a diverse community?
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Romans 15:3–4 grounds patience for imperfect community in the endurance and encouragement found in Scripture, pointing back to how Christ Himself did not please Himself. Why do you think Paul reaches back to Jesus' example here rather than just giving a practical instruction?
5
Romans 15:5–6 calls the community to be 'of one mind' and to glorify God together — not to be identical. How might a group of people with genuinely different convictions and backgrounds hold that kind of unity without flattening their differences?
6
Romans 15:7 closes with the call to 'accept each other just as Christ has accepted you.' The message pointed to Jesus entering our mess, being inconvenienced, and bringing unity as the model for community. What might it look like, practically, for a group of people to extend that same kind of acceptance to one another?

Pray together

Ask God for the humility and patience to stay in genuine community — especially when it is inconvenient or messy — trusting that He is at work in us through each other.

Topics

Christian Community Sacrificial Love Spiritual Growth The Body of Christ Unity in Diversity

Holy Spirit | Part 6

Big Idea

Key points

Application

Take it into your week

Scripture in this message

7-day devotional

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Small-group discussion guide

Open

Discussion questions

Pray together