Unshakeable #7 - Community (Brady Randall)

Pastor Brady Randall explores 2 Thessalonians 3:6-18 to reveal how authentic Christian community provides essential accountability, encouragement, and divine empowerment that we cannot achieve alone. Discover why isolation leaves us vulnerable and how God's design for genuine fellowship offers the strength and support needed to live an unshakeable faith.

Message Summary and Transcript - https://www.orchardhillchurch.com/blog-post/2025/9/15/unshakeable-7-community

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Transcript

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Well, good morning. In light of the traumatic events over the last several weeks, I wanted just to pause this morning that we might pray for our church, for our country. From the mass shooting of the children of Minnesota to the shooting of students in Colorado to the assassination of Charlie Kirk and the remembrance of September 11, we are reminded in gruesome fashion this week of the depth and wickedness of sin and evil. And yet we're also reminded of our deep and desperate need for Jesus Christ, who is our only hope in life and in death.

There was a woman in seminary who used to remind me she'd had a tough life. And when we would pass each other, we'd always remind each other of this phrase: God is still on the throne. And this morning I just want to read from Psalm 46. This is a psalm I often read in hospitals as an encouragement for your soul this week.

"For God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in times of trouble. Therefore we will not fear. Though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the most high dwells. God is within her. She will not fall. He lifts his voice and the earth melts. The Lord Almighty is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. Come and see what the Lord has done. He makes desolations that he's brought to the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and he shatters the spear. He burns the shields with fire. He says, be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in all the earth. The Lord Almighty is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress."

Would you pray with me? Father God, we pause now to remember those who were slain in the last few weeks. We remember the lives lost on September 11th. And we weep with those who weep. We pray that you'd bring comfort to the family members who are grieving. Father, you promised that in your word it is yours to avenge and you will repay. And so, God, we pray that your justice would reign. We look to you, Jesus, as the only hope for this country and our world and our church and Lord. Until the day when you wipe away every tear from our eyes, be near to the brokenhearted. Come quickly, Lord Jesus, we need you. Prepare all of our hearts to receive you today. Father, I pray that you'd fill me with your Holy Spirit that all of us would see and encounter Jesus today, and it's in his name that we pray. Amen.

The Power of Accountability in Community

I want you to think about the last time that somebody that you loved held you accountable for something. Maybe it was a spouse who told you that they didn't appreciate the tone of voice that you used. Maybe it was a coach who told you how you ran the wrong play. Maybe even it was a supervisor who told you that your work project wasn't up to snuff. How did you react in those moments?

My guess is maybe you were initially offended or drew back. But I also bet that after a while had passed that when you recognized that that person was actually for you and for your greater good, it hit in a different way.

I remember the first time that I experienced this in Christian community in particular. I was a second year student in college and I was a part of a men's housing group. And the men of this group couldn't have been any more different in terms of their personality quirks and their majors. And we were engaged in all sorts of college shenanigans. But the one thing that we had in common is that we were committed to Jesus and we did everything in our power to help one another in that same direction.

And I'll never forget an opportunity that a friend had, my best friend in the group, and he came up to me after I had shared something and he said, "Brady, that doesn't line up with Jesus." And as he said that, he really struck me and I was off put. But in the moment, I realized this guy has my best interest in mind. He loves me enough to tell me something that's hard and difficult. And what I found in that moment and in that community was the benefit of being in genuine, in particular, Christian community. And I hadn't forgotten that. And I think I took that for granted.

The Isolation Crisis

When I think about our culture and society now, we are as isolated as Americans as we've ever been. 30% of Americans feel lonely every day. Prior to Covid, 61% of Americans would say that they felt lonely, and 40% would say that it was an unbearable feeling. There was a popular study that was done that said that the effects of social isolation is as detrimental to your health as if you were smoking 15 cigarettes a day. That's significant. And as a colleague on staff reminded me, he said, that means it's better to eat cake with friends than salad alone. I like that. I think there's something to that.

And, you know, this really hits home to us as men. Those of us who are men in this room, because I think sometimes men feel like we have to suffer alone. And it's more heroic to suffer alone. Less than half of the men believe that we have enough friends. And 15% of men would say that they have no friends whatsoever.

Now my guess is most of us feel that intuitively, like we know community is a good thing. Some of us, maybe we're here and we have that community and we're thankful for that. But why is it that many of us don't seek out in particular Christian, authentic community? My guess is there's several reasons for that.

One is some of us, if we're really being honest, we don't want to have anything to do with the organized church, that we think the church is bigoted, we think the church is full of hypocrites, and we don't want to have to put ourselves in position to hear some of those remarks. And so we just bow out.

Some of us, if we're being honest, we might say we don't really need the church and community, that we think we're pretty self sufficient on our own, we've made it this far, we pull ourselves up with our bootstraps when we need it, we're pretty good. We don't really need community.

Others of us, even those who may claim to follow Jesus, might say, you know what, it's just better, easier, less messy if it's me, myself and Jesus, like I do, much better that way. I don't need people—people are messy, people are annoying, people are frustrating. I'm just better when it's me, myself and Jesus.

And some of us, my guess is if we're honest is we would say, you know what, Brady, that sounds good, but I'm just too busy. I can't add one more thing, one more group, one more night to my life.

The Danger of Going It Alone

But you know, there's a danger of going at it alone. What happens is that if you and I don't have community, some of the events that happened over the last several weeks, we don't have people to process with. We don't have sounding boards, we don't have people to encourage us and pour into us. But the other thing is that if you don't have community, there's no one by which you can pour into and encourage and hold accountable.

But you know, there's another danger of going at it alone. And that is that when you and I are isolated, we are particularly vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy. We see this happen in the animal kingdom—you know there are, when animals sometimes are off by themselves, they're more susceptible to being taken out and killed. You even see this in the lion kingdom. And the lion is considered the king of the jungle. But even a lion, as powerful as he or she is by him or herself, is still susceptible to the attack of his enemies, the hyenas.

Now I want to show you just a quick video of what illustrates this. And this is a lion. There's video that you won't see that this lion is by itself, it's being attacked by hyenas and the lion is crying out for help. Take a listen.

[Video plays]

I think that's a powerful illustration of both the danger of being isolated and the power that community can have.

Four Benefits of Authentic Christian Community

Today we're concluding a series we've called Unshakable that we've seen. This world is dark and broken. And what are the things that would enable you and I to have an unshakable world, an unshakable faith in a messed up world. And today we're concluding at the end of Second Thessalonians and today what I believe that Paul is going to tell us the benefits of having authentic, in particular authentic Christian community that can speak into our lives.

And for some of you who already have that community, this is an opportunity to lean into that and thank God for what he's provided for you. But my hope and prayer is that as a result of what you hear from God's Word today, that all of us might be convicted to find and to seek out and be a part of that life giving community. I think from our text today Paul is going to say four benefits of what that authentic community provides.

1. Accountability, Particularly in the Area of Work

And here's the first thing that we see that authentic Christian community provides: accountability, particularly in the area of work. And we see this in verses 6 through 12.

And here's what we read in verse 6: "In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching that you received from us."

Now notice this is a command and not a suggestion. He's specifically talking to Christians who are in Thessalonica. And he says, I want you to remove yourself from some of these other folks who are professing to be believers for a season who are being idle and disruptive. And that word "idle" in the Greek means undisciplined or irresponsible or disorderly. It was used of an army battalion who was in disarray. And Paul says, I want you for a season for their good, to remove yourself from the community.

The idea would be, is if you were in a family situation and you had kids and one of your children was being severely disruptive to the rest of the family, and so what you may do in that situation is to remove that child from the family function to go to his or her room for a period of time out so that he or she might feel conviction and shame. Not so that they can just stay in shame, but so that they can ultimately be a part of the community. We'll come back to that idea in just a minute.

But then this is what Paul says about the importance of work, starting in verse seven: "For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone else's food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. We did this not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate. For when we were with you, we gave you this rule: The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat. We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy, they are busy bodies. Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food that they eat."

So Paul here is talking about accountability, particularly in the area of work. And what Paul says is I want you to imitate me as I model this hard work. But I gotta tell you, I feel that conviction on another level as well. And I wonder, in your sphere of influence, can you say with integrity to the people around you, imitate me? Can you say to your other co-workers, follow me in my work ethic? If you're a parent, can you say to other parents, follow me in the way that I parent my children? If you're a follower of Jesus, can you say to other people who are watching you, follow me as I follow the example of Jesus.

And what Paul says is we were models for you. We worked hard day and night so that we would not be a burden to you. And Paul says we actually had a God given right that he's written about before to say I deserve, we actually deserve our wages. Christian workers deserve to be paid for their work in the Gospel. But he says, I laid that aside not because we didn't deserve it, but as a model for you. We worked hard for our food.

And then he says something that's very, what may sound very stern. He says, "The one who is unwilling to work should not even eat." Wow. What would that look like in our culture if we implemented that today? I don't know if any of you remember that song "I don't want to work. I just want to bang on the drum all day." Anybody remember that? Some of us are in that kind of culture.

And what I read about this week is that 20% of prime aged workers, so this is age 25 to 54, are currently not working in the US and the majority of those are purposely not working because either they are physically or mentally unable to work. Some of them aren't working because they're going to school and others aren't working because they're caring for someone, children or caring for a loved one. But for the other folks who are not working, Paul would say the one who does not work should not even eat.

I remember a story that Dave Ramsey—Dave Ramsey is a financial guru. He said his dad taught him the value of hard work early on. He said it was the summer, he didn't have a lot to do. He would go to the local shop and he wanted a pop, soda pop for those of you who aren't Western PA. And he said, "Dad, I need some money." And his dad gave him money a couple days. And after a while he said, "Son, you don't need money. What you need is a job because a job is where you get money."

And so he said he took him around to the neighborhood, he banged on every door to try and get some summer work, mowing the lawns. And he said it was probably child abuse at the time, but he had about 25 to 30 lawns that summer that he started to make money and earn his way.

Now again, not everybody needs to work and earn a paycheck. But what happens is that God has given all of us purpose to use our hands and our minds and our bodies to put towards something that's greater than ourselves. Some of us are hearing, like "Brady, I got a dead end job. It is toilsome and laborious to get up in the morning." But can I tell you that work is not just a result of this fallen world, that God gave Adam work and purpose before the fall even happened. God modeled for all of us what it is to work hard for six days and then to rest.

And you see how this works. What happens is if we are not busy with something, what Paul says is we become busy bodies. Now this is a very interesting word. This word means useless. In fact, it's like walking around in a circle over and over again. That's what this word is. And Paul says, this is how this works. When you have too much time on your hand, you get involved in a lot of nonsense. And you know how this works. Some people that meddle in other people's business, they got too much time on their hand. They're engaged in things they have no business about. They're engaged on junk and social media and so they meddle in other things. And Paul says, don't be. I want you to be busy, not busy bodies. And sometimes we need that outside perspective to give us that kind of accountability.

And so there's a benefit of Christian community because it provides accountability, particularly in the area of work.

2. Encouragement to the Weary

But the second thing we see is that authentic Christian community provides encouragement to the weary. Verse 13: "And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good."

Paul says there are some people who are wrapped up in laziness and meddling in other people's business and he wants to encourage you. He wants to encourage me. Do not tire of doing good. My guess is there's nobody here this weekend at all of our campuses who is suffering from over encouragement these days. Right?

And if we're being honest, sometimes it is just too hard. Maybe you've had this experience where you have stepped out of your way. You tried to serve somebody, you tried to do something good for someone, you tried to say a positive and encouraging word and it just didn't land. Not only did it not land, but it landed in your face. And so maybe you're just like, "I'm done. I tried that. Thank you. I'll go back to doing what I was doing."

And I think that the Holy Spirit today, through Paul would say to you, and I do not tire of doing good. There are some of us who have been on this journey of the Christian faith. We see and hear things that happen in the last week or things that are going on in our lives. And we are just tired and we're wondering if it's worth it. Paul says to you today, do not tire in doing good.

And can I tell you that if you are not part of community, in particular Christian community, it is going to be hard for other people to encourage you in the midst of your discouragement. And how are others going to know of your discouragement unless you're sharing? And so Paul says sometimes you need that sounding board people to encourage you, particularly when you're not feeling it yourself.

So authentic community provides accountability, it provides encouragement for the weary.

3. Warning for the Wayward Through Disassociation

But the third thing we see is that this community provides warning for the wayward through disassociation. We see this in verses 14 and 15: "Take special note of anyone who does not obey our instruction in this letter. Do not associate with them in order that they may feel ashamed. Yet do not regard them as an enemy, but warn them as you would a fellow believer."

Now remember who Paul's talking to here. He's talking to people who profess to be believers in Jesus. He's talking specifically to the people church in Thessalonica. And he's saying I want you for a season for those who claim to follow Jesus but are deliberately living in opposition to the clear commands that I've already said in this letter. I want you to for a season to disassociate with them, not to treat them as an enemy, but as a brother and sister for their restoration.

Now here's what Paul's already said in his letter. He has talked about in Second Thessalonians chapter two, about persevering in the faith, punishment for those who don't obey the Gospel, the return of Christ, godliness, the man of lawlessness, pursuing your purpose in the Lord. But I think he could have as easily been saying all of the clear commands in the apostles' teaching which are contained for us in the Bible in the word of God.

I think Paul would have the same instruction for today that if you are, if you call yourself a follower of Jesus and you're in community and someone who also calls themselves a follower of Jesus is deliberately and maybe even in a public manner disobeying the clear commands of Scripture that I want you to disassociate with them so that they might ultimately be restored to fellowship.

Again. Go back to the example of the child that had to have time out. The idea was not just punishment for this child, it was, this child was disrupting the order of the house and for his and the family's benefit. The child is in time out to experience shame and conviction for what he or she did so that they could come back to be a part of the family.

And this is where some of us get a little bit concerned. It's like this is one of the reasons we have an issue with church is because we're always talking about sin and bringing everybody's stuff out into the open. And I don't like that. And I think that some of this has to do with we don't like organized religion for some of us and we don't like the hypocrisy. And you and I know this, that one of the things that does the most disservice to the cause of Jesus Christ are Christians. People who claim to follow Jesus, but their words and their action, their lives look nothing like Jesus. And I think that's why God takes this so seriously.

And here's what we are not saying. What we hope happens on a given weekend at Orchard Hill Church is that there are sinners of all kinds represented here. Liars, cheaters, adulterers, you name it. And God's desire is that we would come and be gathered as a group of sinners and that we would be under the authority of God's word. We might be convicted, that God might take us from worse to better. And as we come under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, as we come under the conviction in community that God will begin to change our hearts.

But what Paul says is I want you to take seriously this idea of church discipline, as it were. And those who are followers of Jesus have by their very nature been held accountable to other followers of Jesus. There's like no other option. It's not I'll do Jesus on my own thing. You don't talk to me.

I think one of the misused quotes of the Bible often is don't judge anyone else. You see what that actually means is don't judge someone in the world. Why would we think that someone who's not a follower of Jesus would act like Jesus? Don't judge someone in the world. God will take care of that. But if you have come to a place of putting your faith in Jesus, you have by your very nature been joined to others and you represent the name of Jesus Christ.

Think about this. If you've ever had a family member and you've ever had an emergency intervention to someone who was addicted to drugs or alcohol, sometimes for a last ditch effort, a family will hold an intervention where they get this family member in a room and they say, "We love you so much and we see that you are going to destroy your life. And as a last ditch effort, what we are saying as a family, that unless you get the help that you desperately need to, you will not be a functional part of this family. You won't show up at our kids' events, you won't be at holidays, you won't be a part of this family unless and until you get the help that you need. Not because we don't love you, but it's because we love you." And I think that's the heart of what Paul is talking about.

But he says we don't just do this by like picking out everybody's stuff. In fact, Jesus said, when it comes to, before you go looking at everybody else's junk and the skeletons in their closet, before you look at the speck of sawdust in their eyes, look at the plank in your own eye. You see, I think this week it's very easy for all of us to look out at the world and say, wow, that is evil, that is wickedness. But what's harder is to look ourselves in the mirror and say that same evilness and wickedness lives in me. Maybe a different degree, maybe a lesser degree, but it lives in me. And so God is concerned about that because that is not God's best for you. And God's heart is ultimately restoration.

So genuine Christian accountability, genuine Christian community provides accountability. It provides encouragement for the weary. It also provides warning for the wayward.

4. A Space to Experience Divine Empowerment

And finally, we see that genuine Christian community provides a space to experience divine empowerment. And we see this in verses 16 and 18. Here's what we read: "Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with you all." And then verse 18, "The grace of the Lord be with you all."

You see authentic community and living life that God calls his people to is hard. And I would say it is impossible to do in our own strength. It is impossible to have genuine life giving community without what God offers. Here this is the part that only God can do. You cannot do the Christian life apart from God.

And here's three things that Paul says that only God can do that he gives us. And this is the good news of the gospel that God provides his peace, his presence and his grace. And by the way, that's what makes this specifically Christian community. Some of us like sounding boards and echo chambers. Some of us just like the circle of our own friends that we have because we all think alike, we're all aligned politically, spiritually, we have the same views. And so it's easy just to get at those people what we want to hear. But sometimes what we want to hear, and I would say what we need to hear is a different perspective. And so that's what God offers.

But God says, I provide my peace, my presence and my grace. And you see, that's something that only God can provide. What this text says, and I would say the story of the Bible says that on our own, because of our own sinfulness, we do not have peace with God. That God as we sit here today, that God is in heaven and he is on his throne. And there are millions upon millions of angels right now as we speak. They're saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is full of his glory," and we are not on our own holy and perfect. And because God is so holy and perfect, he will not ultimately be in the presence of sin. Big sin, little sin, your sin, my sin. And that is a problem. We do not have peace with God.

It's as if that God sees that as a result of not having peace with God, we are being thrown into the hyenas and we are going to die being separated from God in his love forever. But you see, God saw that in me and you. God saw that we were a goner in the hyenas. And he said, I'm going to do something about that. I'm going to send myself. In fact, I'm going to send my son who was perfect, my perfect son who lived the life that I was supposed to live. And I'm going to take upon what actually you deserve, which is death. That Jesus said, I will take your place. I will take your death, the punishment that you deserved. And in exchange, you can have my life.

That if you're here today and you recognize that you do not have peace with God, that you cannot earn this peace with God and way to God. But God did for you in Jesus Christ what you could not do for yourself by repenting and turning from your sin and receiving this free gift of eternal life. That you can have peace with God today. And that is forever. That is amazing news that God offers to you.

But you see, God doesn't just offer peace with himself. He offers peace with others. You know, you've heard the phrase, you can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family. That's true in church. You can pick your friends, but you cannot choose and pick who God has joined to himself. And so God offers peace in community, and we need that.

But God also offers peace of mind. This world is so dark and broken, and sometimes we don't know what to do with ourselves. And God promises that he will give you peace that passes understanding, which means a peace that goes beyond human understanding. That's what God offers today.

But God also offers, as we see in this text, his very presence. He says, I will be with you. And I gotta tell you, when we are discouraged, when we want to pack it in, when we wonder if it's worth it, when it's hard to get up in the morning, when it's hard to go to work. God reminds you today that I am with you. The God who is enthroned in heaven and does whatever he pleases, the God who is powerful and holy. He says, I am with you, that I will never leave you nor forsake you. What incredible promise today that the God of the universe is with you.

And then finally, he also promises that he will give us grace. And grace is simply a fancy word that means his undeserved gift, his divine enablement and power, that if you put your faith and hope in Jesus Christ, he gives you his grace, which he also gives you to be able to extend to others. And I know that some people say, "Brady, that sounds good. I like your Jesus, but I'm not sure I like his followers because they don't always look and sound like Him."

But you know, Jesus, let me tell you this. If you're a follower of Jesus, because some of us say, you know, I'm gonna do it on my own. If you're a follower of Jesus today, Jesus does not give you and I the option to do Christianity on our own. That we are by nature brought into community. As messy and difficult as it often is that God invites us into this community.

Pastor Kevin DeYoung said it like this: "The man who attempts Christianity without the church shoots himself in the foot, shoots his children in the leg, and shoots his grandchildren in the heart." In other words, we do ourselves and the next generation a great disservice if we don't want to be a part of the church or community.

Your Response

And so I simply ask you today, what is your response to what you're hearing from God and His Word today? What is it that God is calling you to do as a result of hearing His Word?

For some of us, it might be receiving the rescue of God that you see yourself in the hyena pit, that on your own, you are headed towards an eternity apart from God. And so today you recognize God's rescue and you say, "God, I need you. I receive your rescue. I turn from my sin. I repent. I trust in you. I believe that Jesus defeated my sin, hell, and death. So I receive your rescue today."

For others of us, what that might mean is that we take a step into this authentic Christian community. And some of us already have that. And so if that's you today, maybe God's call for you is to thank him for that and to lean in, to be that encouragement that people need.

You know, this fall season is a great opportunity to take that next step towards a group or a study or community. And some of you, I know you're thinking in the back of your minds, "Brady, that sounds good, but I've tried a group and I didn't like the group. And I thought the leader was boring. I didn't like the class, the people were annoying. I've already tried the groups."

Can I encourage you? There's more groups to try. Can I encourage you? Don't let that one sour experience, maybe you say, I'm not going to let that experience be someone else's experience in this next group. So maybe for you today you take a step towards that authentic, genuine Christian community.

Conclusion

Today we conclude Second Thessalonians, chapter three in our series Unshakable. And the hope is that we would have unshakable faith in a world that is very shaky. And God's desire is that we would have unshakeable faith. Not because our faith is so awesome, but because our God is. And doing this journey with others can help you and I experience this awesome, merciful God.

Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for the promise of who you are and whose we are. Father, I pray today, especially if there may be someone here who has not yet accepted that rescue. Maybe today they recognize the brokenness and sin in their own life and heart. And so today, Lord, maybe for the first time, we repent. We acknowledge that we are a sinner in need of saving. We acknowledge that you sent Jesus to die and rise on our behalf. And so we receive you that we might have peace with God, peace with others, and peace of mind.

Father, there are those of us who have been a big part of making community what it is. And so, God, if we already have a part of that, thank you, God, for what you've provided. And I pray that in the coming weeks we would step in and lean into being that community for others.

Father, I pray if there are others of us who maybe feel that conviction today, but we feel like we're on the sideline that you would show us even this week what that next step is. To take a step to be a part of genuine, authentic community. We love you, Lord. We pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

Now receive this benediction, this blessing from the Book of Numbers: "Now may the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace." Have a great rest of your weekend.

This transcript has been processed using artificial intelligence and may contain minor transcription errors or formatting inconsistencies. While care has been taken to maintain accuracy, listeners are encouraged to refer to the original audio recording for the most precise representation of the sermon content.