CCC Livestream - A Worshipping Community - Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Live Worship Gathering: 9.6.2026

Preaching: Jason Purdy

The Strength Of Community

Jason Purdy

A Worshipping Community / Ecclesiastes 4:9–12

I invite you to turn with me to the book of Ecclesiastes 4.

We have made it to Labor Day weekend.

That means we start back with Men’s Bible Study Tuesday morning, Wednesday night ministries, and then Community Groups start meeting next Sunday and Monday.

So, as we begin our Fall calendar, I am going to walk us through a four week sermon series called A Worshipping Community, where we will think together about what it means to be in biblical community.

And see why we covenant together not only to be together on Sunday mornings, but also to be in a Community Group that meets in homes.

If you pay attention to our sign out front, it even says “Christ Covenant Church: A Worshipping Community.”

Our membership covenant reads this way:

Disciple and Care for One Another in Community Groups - The Gospel creates community – we are committed to living life together and challenging one another to grow as disciples of Christ. We are committed to living out the Gospel and its implications for everyday life. Together, we will spur one another on to love and good deeds. We will meet with one another consistently in community groups, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. We will also pray for one another regularly and serve one another selflessly.

You see, the gospel of Jesus Christ not only saves us from the righteous wrath of God due our sin, it simultaneously saves us into God’s family - the church.

It saves us from the destructive isolation of self, into the family of believers - the church.

We want to be vigilant to make sure we are living as the people of God, and we never become just an event to attend.

So, let me begin a very practical sermon in a very theological way.

I want you to consider with me that the God of the universe has always eternally been in community.

Our statement of faith, the Baptist Faith and Message, states it this way: There is one and only one living and true God. The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.

This is what we call the doctrine of the trinity.

God is one God in three persons.

I know that blows all of our minds’ categories, but if we could perfectly understand everything there is to understand about God, He wouldn’t be God.

So, to be the one true God is to be in community: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

When you read of the creation of the world in Genesis chapters 1 and 2, you read this repetitive phrase over and over again, God created this, and it was good.

God created that, and it was good.

This goes on for the first chapter and a half, until finally and surprisingly, God observes the very first thing that was not good.

Genesis 2:18 ESV

18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

The one true God who had always been in community, looked upon the first man he created, and he declared it is not good for man to be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.

Now, in the context, God creates a female as a wife for Adam.

Yet, Scripture makes clear the fact that “it is not good for man to be alone” stretches farther than just the need of some to find a spouse, but it speaks to all mankind being in need of community and relationship.

Now, our first and greatest need is to be brought back from our sin into right relationship with God.

That’s why when we are baptized, we are baptized in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, because it symbolizes that at the moment of our faith for salvation, we were reconciled into unhindered relationship with the God who created us for himself.

We now commune rightly with God - The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

And, in Acts 2, we read that all who are baptized are added to God’s family - the church.

Because, while our greatest need is to be reconciled into community with God, our community with God also reconciles us into necessary community with one another - the church.

That’s why the great commandment brings these two ideas together:

Matthew 22:37–39 ESV

37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Love toward God and love toward others are inextricably linked.

Let’s be honest: our culture and our sinfulness makes being in relationship difficult.

We have to overcome insecurities and fears in order to have healthy relationships.

We have to overcome our own expectations we can put on relationships that cause us to be disappointed.

We have to overcome a judgmental and cynical spirit that keeps us from forming relationships with others.

We have to create the time margin necessary to form relationships in community.

And these are all things that God grows us in as we trust in his gospel.

In our day, technology tempts us to believe we can do everything on our own.

If I want to talk to someone, I will talk to ChatGPT.

If I want to worship, I will pull up a worship video on YouTube.

If I want to hear Bible teaching, I will podcast my favorite Bible teacher.

But consider:

Proverbs 18:1 ESV

1 Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire;

he breaks out against all sound judgment.

Today’s passage is going to show us four necessary provisions of godly community.

Ecclesiastes 4:9–12 ESV

9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! 11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? 12 And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

1. Godly Community Provides Strength

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.

The verse just before says this:

Ecclesiastes 4:8 ESV

8 one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business.

So, in context, the verse is talking about a man who works in isolation, and he is never satisfied no matter how much money he makes.

His pursuit of wealth has left him no time or energy for relationships.

Yet, the wealth of his pursuits never satisfy, because he was made for relationship with God and relationship with others.

You see, our culture teaches us that it is important to stand out from others so that you can gain more than others and be more impressive than others.

Just recently, I was seeing a lot of motivational podcasts popping up on my Spotify account,

So, I finally decided I was going to listen to some of these motivational recordings.

And most of them have intense music playing in the background, and they have clips of people like Arnold Swarzenegger and Denzel Washington talking about how you have to stay focused to reach your goal.

And they talk about removing all distractions from your life like friends, relatives, and anyone else who does not help you meet your personal goals.

And, of course, the goals they are talking about are things like, getting in shape, getting promotions at work, writing a book, making more money to buy things that are bigger and better, going back to school to get that next degree.

Yet, verses 8-9 are warning us that the culture has it backward.

Sure, you can isolate yourself in order to reach some personal goal, but once you reach the goal, it is not going to bring the lasting satisfaction you are hoping for.

I have never heard anyone who is close to the end of their life say: I wish I had worked more. I wish I had gotten six pack abs. I wish I had bought a second house.

No, they all talk about how they wish they prayed more, focused more on their relationship with God, spent more time with family and friends, served others more.

You see, two are better than one, not necessarily because two are more productive than one.

A lot of times relationships slow you down. They don’t speed you up.

But they are better because of the good reward for the toil.

The reward is not in the accomplishment of the goal as much as it is in the cultivation of the relationship.

I remember when I was in high school, my dad got this idea to plant an English Knot Garden in our back yard.

And I thought that was a little strange because neither one of us were outdoor garden kind of people.

I don’t know if he got the idea from a magazine or online or watching HGTV, but he got instructions,

We set aside some different times, and we shopped, and worked, and planted this English Knot Garden,

And every time I would come home to visit, we would talk about how good our Knot Garden looked.

I probably didn’t get it then, but I do now. For my dad, it wasn’t about the garden. It was about the cultivated relationship that was strengthened between us around that experience.

Listen, don’t waste your life on a bunch of goals that isolate you from relationship, when the goal of life is a healthy relationship with God which leads us to healthy relationships with others.

See, we as a church don’t do ice cream social, and fantasy football, and Wednesday night dinner, and community groups, and women’s events in order to say that we are a church that does all these things.

We do those things because we know that our strength comes from a healthy relationship with God leading to healthy relationships with others.

And you cannot have good and healthy relationships with others without spending time with them.

You know, one of the best ways to get to know one another is through serving together in ministries of the church.

Time in relationships builds godly community which leads to trust.

And trust is important as we move to our next point:

2. Godly Community Provides The Opportunity To Be Lifted Up

Verse 10: For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!

Listen, and we need this one to sink down deep into our bones, Godly community is not just for times and seasons when things are good.

Godly community is also for the most difficult and dark seasons of your life.

It is for when you fall and need to be lifted up.

Yes, God can heal you, encourage you, and strengthen you, but his community of believers is one of the primary tools he uses to do those things in your life.

Let’s be honest: it is scary for many of us to consider sharing about areas where we are struggling with sin and areas where we are falling short.

It is scary to be real with other people about where we really are and what we are really facing sometimes.

It is so tempting to wear a mask and not let anyone know what is really going on.

We are afraid of what people would think or how people would respond.

And unfortunately, we can be more tempted to wear a mask around our fellow church members than anyone else.

But, listen, we as Christ’s church should be the least judgmental and the least shockable people in all the world.

Here’s what I mean by that: the very core of the faith we confess is that we are both by nature and by choice sinners and rebels against the God who created us.

And left to ourselves, we deserve death and hell.

And the Jesus we follow tells us that our sinfulness goes far beyond the surface level that says do this and don’t do that.

Instead, Jesus teaches us that our sinfulness goes as deep as our very heart.

And he doesn’t mean the organ pumping our blood.

He means the center of who we are.

Jeremiah tells us that, on our own, our hearts are desperately sick and deceitful above all things.

Isaiah tells us that even our righteous deeds are as filthy rags because we can so easily do them for sinful motivations.

During the time of Noah, just six chapters into the Bible, we read:

Genesis 6:5 ESV

5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

So, our doctrine of sin tells us to not be shocked when people sin and struggle with sin. Real sin. Not just sins we Christians seem to tolerate.

Now, you may say: well, sure, we are not going to be shocked when unbelievers sin, but what about once we are saved, and we’ve been baptized, and joined the church, and have been part of the church a long time, surely it would be surprising for someone like that to struggle with real sin.

I mean, we have been born again by the Spirit of God to walk in newness of life.

The old is gone, the new has come.

In every temptation, He has now given us a way of escape.

How can I, an established believer in Jesus, admit that I have fallen into sin?

Here’s how: because we are trying to be a biblical community, and this happens all over the Bible.

The apostle Paul was without a doubt the greatest missionary theologian the world has ever known outside of the Lord Jesus himself.

Here is how Paul described his ongoing battle with sin:

Romans 7:19–25 ESV

19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Another example:

Consider the church in Corinth.

Paul began the letter to the church with these words:

1 Corinthians 1:2–9 ESV

2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, 5 that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— 6 even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— 7 so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Wow! Now that sounds like a godly and sanctified church whom God will declare guiltless on the last day!

Well, just keep reading and you will learn that this church had jealousy and strife among them.

They were proud although they had a member in an extremely inappropriate relationship that they were doing nothing about.

They were bringing lawsuits against fellow church members.

And they were abusing the Lord’s Supper by some eating all of it and leaving none for others.

All that was happening amongst the sanctified saints who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus who had such knowledge and lacked no gift?

How can that be?

Because until the day we die or Jesus returns, we followers of Jesus are all simultaneously saint and sinner.

1 John 1:9–10 ESV

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

You see, one of the growing fruits of godliness is becoming less and less aware of others sins as you become more and more aware of your own.

And then being able to confess your sins to others.

Listen, it does not honor Jesus when we wear masks and try to convince others we don’t sin and fall short.

It honors Jesus when we find the freedom to confess how we sin and fall short because we trust in Jesus’ gospel and not others opinions of us.

James 5:16 ESV

16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

Here are two statements we all need to understand:

The first is: It is okay not to be okay, you can be honest about that and lean into God and your fellow believers to help you.

Second: It is okay to be okay. Sometimes, in our therapeutic culture, we are tempted to think everyone is one step away from losing their mind, so if they say they are good, they must be lying to themselves and others.

No. It’s okay to not be okay, let’s confess and repent and be lifted up.

But, it’s also okay to be okay, just make sure you understand you are where you are by God’s grace.

Godly community provides the opportunity to be lifted up.

3. Godly Community Helps Meet Our Needs

Verse 11: Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone?

Now, this was written before the days of cold weather sleeping bags.

Now, I don’t like being cold, but I have never been put in a situation where the cold was threatening my survival.

I can imagine in some other places and certainly in the ancient days, there were more opportunities for cold to be a threat to survival.

In that scenario, lying together huddled with another person is not weird or inappropriate.

It is a means of survival.

It is meeting an absolute need.

In the same way, godly community helps meet one another’s needs.

Notice what the early church did:

Acts 2:44–45 ESV

44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.

Now, we need to understand that many who came to Jesus in those first days of the church found themselves without jobs and livelihood because they had chosen to follow Jesus,

So, the followers of Jesus were coming together with what they had to make sure no one went without what they needed.

This was a not a political structure, this was followers of Jesus making sure their fellow church members all had their basic needs met.

And, to be honest, in our society where we tend to have so much and all of our finances are such a private matter, some of us can be tempted to judge others who have financial needs.

Others of us can feel too proud to admit they ever have a need.

But listen, the kind of biblical community that the gospel creates teaches us that it would be unacceptable for us as a body of Christ to have some members whose basic needs are not being met while we have others who could easily help meet that need.

So, listen, if you as a member of God’s church here at Christ Covenant Church are losing the ability to have food on the table, a roof over your head, or you are unable to get where you need to go and do what you need to know,

The book of 1 Timothy would tell us first to receive help from our biological family,

but if that is not available or sufficient, would you please be humble enough to share that with a trusted fellow church member or with me your pastor.

We would never want to embarrass or shame you or tell others about it.

But, it is a wonderful witness to a watching world when the body of Christ takes care of its own.

I want to also encourage you to be humble enough to receive the wholistic care and counsel that you need.

We have many in our church who have financial backgrounds who could walk alongside you and help give sound Christian financial advice to help you get on your feet.

The gospel does not promise that God will always provide us enough to be self sufficient.

The gospel does promise that God will always provide for our needs through our family and through His church.

The New Testament is clear to those who do have wealth to be generous and hospitable and ready to share with those in need.

Our needs certainly go beyond simply monetary needs.

Godly community provides companionship, friendship, good counsel, wisdom, and a good example.

Being in relationship with other godly men has challenged me in areas of serving my wife and my children and serving God’s church by watching their example.

Proverbs 27:17 ESV

17 Iron sharpens iron,

and one man sharpens another.

Godly community helps meet our needs.

Finally,

4. Godly Community Provides Protection

Verse 12: And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Someone who is alone is vulnerable to attack.

One of my greatest heartbreaks as a pastor is when I see people remove themselves from godly community when they need it the most.

They remove themselves because they are being attacked in their marriage, or in their parenting, or by a certain sin, and there is this idea that: oh, I can’t be around the church right now because I am going through something hard,

When the church is one of the key things God provided to provide help and protection in just those moments.

See, we are tempted to believe that our world would fall apart if we lost whatever reputation we think we have with other people in the church.

But, the truth is: your world is going to fall apart when you isolate yourself from God’s church because you value reputation of God and his people.

Church, may God make us the kind of gospel people who run toward others in their times of crisis and sin!

May we not judge others for sins that we could fall into ourselves.

Peter would warn us:

1 Peter 5:8–9 ESV

8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

It is always easier for Satan to attack one on the outside.

Believe the gospel enough to stay connected to godly community.

Not because your church community will never hurt or disappoint you.

Not because we will always respond rightly every time,

But because when you were an orphan in your rebellion and sin, God saved you through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And we are not here to judge one another or expect one another to be clean, and easy, and perfect all the time.

We are here to bask in the great grace and love of God for us even in the middle of our mess.

We are here to pray for one another and show up for one another when we are down and out.

Think about what the verse says: two will withstand him - a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

How did the two become three? Because God is always there.

It is a reminder to us as we close that community is not God.

We cannot trust in our community to always be there for us and to never fail us.

We cannot find our ultimate identity in being a part of a certain community.

Just like anything else, community crumbles under the weight of an expectation of doing what only God can do.

Instead, God is always our ultimate source of life, peace, grace, mercy, and forgiveness, and as we find all we need in God alone,

We are then equipped and ready to be committed to godly community.

I don’t need that community to always look like me or always serve me.

I don’t need it to fulfill all my dreams of what I though community would be.

I simply commit myself to the community because God saved me into it, and He provides for us through it.

I wonder if you have community with God today?

What about community with God’s church?

Would you commit to Him?

,