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Jesus Gives Us People to Live With

We’re four weeks into a series called The Eight Gifts of the Resurrection. These aren’t just intellectual propositions to be believed. These are gifts. They are deeply human. Deeply personal. And incredibly needed.

So far, we’ve opened up three of them:

Peace for Your Spirit — the kind of peace that enters locked rooms and fearful hearts, not as a reward for strong faith but as a gift of Jesus’ presence.

Pardon for Your Past — not a scolding or a reliving of shame, but a relational restoration. Jesus doesn’t ask us to prove how sorry we are. He asks, “Do you love me?” That’s what He needs to begin again.

Purpose for Your Life — even when we can’t see it. The Shepherd is always guiding our lives. The resurrection assures us that our lives matter, even when we can’t quite see how.

This week, we opened Gift #4: People to Live With.

The Ache of Loneliness

Loneliness isn’t just sadness. It’s a kind of soul-disconnection — an ache that says, I’m not sure anyone sees me. And it’s everywhere. In fact, I think it’s one of the most quiet and common struggles in our world today.

Part of that is human nature. We’ve always compared ourselves to others. You visit someone’s home and think, Wow, I wish my house looked like this, forgetting, of course, that they cleaned up for your visit just like you do when they visit you.

But social media has put comparison on steroids. Now we scroll through other peoples’ highlight reels — perfectly cropped photos of smiling families, joyful celebrations, carefully worded updates. And we compare those images to the blooper reels of our real lives. The mess. The tears. The piles of laundry and the awkward family moments.

There’s a podcaster I listen to occasionally named Mel Robbins. She puts her production bloopers at the end of her episodes on purpose. It’s her way of saying, “Don’t get the impression I have it all together. I don’t.”

We need more of that. More humanity. More honesty.

The scriptures say something powerful that speaks to the human condition:
“God sets the lonely in families.” (Psalm 68:6)

And that — right there — is what the church is supposed to be.

Not just a place you attend.
But a people you belong to.

What Is the Church?

Acts 2:42 gives us a glimpse of the early church:
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers.”

It wasn’t just a crowd. It was a community. Their lives had a synchronized rhythm.

During the Reformation, the Lutheran reformers helped clarify what the church is at its core. In the Augsburg Confession of 1530, they wrote:
“The church is the assembly of believers among whom the Gospel is rightly preached and the Sacraments rightly administered.”

That’s our foundation. That’s our signpost.

But here’s the question we wrestled with Sunday:
What does it feel like to be part of a resurrection community?

What does it feel like to walk into church and know…
you don’t have to perform,
you don’t have to hide,
you can grow — bathed in grace and gently led in truth?

Four Relational Marks of a Resurrection Community

This week we looked at four relational marks that characterize a community shaped by the resurrection: Grace. Truth. Connection. Stubborn love.

1. Grace — A Welcome that Makes Healing Possible

Grace means people don’t have to edit themselves to be around us.
They can breathe.
They can risk being known.

We don’t heal in places where we have to pretend. 

Church isn’t the place where perfect people gather to feel good about themselves. It’s a place where forgiven people come to walk with Jesus together.

Think about a time when someone’s simple act of kindness — a smile, a question, remembering your name — helped you stay standing. Those little moments matter.

Grace creates space. And into that space, truth can grow.

2. Truth — Not a Weapon, but a Way Forward

Truth without love is a sword.
Truth with love is a seed.

It grows best when it’s planted in relationship.

We talked about how to speak the truth without triggering someone’s defenses — to offer a perspective instead of an accusation, to speak from the heart rather than the soapbox.

Truth invites reflection. And reflection becomes growth.
Not because someone pushed you —
but because someone cared enough to make room for God to speak.

3. Connection — Life Shared, Not Just Observed

“Bear one another’s burdens,” Paul writes.

Sometimes that starts with a simple change in how we answer “How are you?”

We don’t need to pour our hearts out every time someone says hello.
But we don’t have to fake it either.

“I’ve been off this week. Thanks for asking.”
“It’s been a tough stretch, but I’m still here.”

Little honest answers build bridges. They connect people in real community.
And they open the door to more meaningful conversations when the time is right.

Connection takes courage. But it also takes practice.

4. Stubborn Love — The Kind That Doesn’t Quit

The cross is God’s proof that He doesn’t give up on us.
And resurrection community mirrors that stubbornness.

Love that doesn’t walk away.
Doesn’t cancel people.
Doesn’t wait for perfection.

It’s the kind of love that sends a text after a hard conversation.
That checks in a week later.
That notices when someone’s drifting and gently reaches out.

That’s resurrection love.
Not glossy. Not curated.
But faithful.

The Lord’s Supper: Where It All Comes Together

At the Communion table, all of this is made visible.

Grace — we come with empty hands.
Truth — we remember the cost of our sin.
Connection — we eat together as one body.
Stubborn love — we are fed again and again by the One who never gives up.

Final Thought

Jesus said,
“By this all people will know that you are my disciples — if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35)

Not if we have perfect theology.
Not if we run flawless programs.
But if we love.

And I see that love already in our church.
I see it in quiet prayers and phone calls made,
in the way you notice who might be sitting alone or walking through something hard.

Let’s not take that for granted.
Let’s be intentional.
Let’s stay open to the people who haven’t yet felt it.

Because the risen Jesus gives us more than peace, pardon, and purpose.

He gives us people.
He gives us each other.

And that might be the most powerful witness we have. After all, “This is how people will know you are my disciples: if you have love for one another.”