“People Sharpen People”

Sacred Community Series – Part 3a

December 14, 2025 | Light & Life Church

This week leaned right into the heart of Sacred Community: the truth that God uses people to shape people. Pastor Mark walked us through why real growth requires real relationships, even when those relationships feel a little… gritty.

1. Generations Need Each Other

We started with Titus 2 and the reminder that the church is supposed to be multi generational by design. Young and old teach each other. The body thrives when every member is connected and investing in someone else’s spiritual life. That’s how we leave a legacy that outlives us.

And just to make it clear:

Nobody is too old to minister

Nobody is too young to minister

And both groups need to resist judging the other

2. Iron Sharpens Iron… and Why That Matters

Proverbs 27:17 gave us the theme: “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”

Pastor Mark unpacked the sharpening process in a way that hit home. A knife only becomes sharp when two objects made of the same material rub, grind, and apply pressure. God designed humans to sharpen each other the same way.

To become spiritually sharper:

You need another person

There will be friction

That friction has a purpose

The end result is sharpness

We all have “rough edges,” but it takes different levels of grit to work them out. Grit in the human sense looks like courage, backbone, stamina, and determination. We need people who carry that grit so they can lovingly challenge the parts of us that don’t look like Jesus yet.

The catch? Being sharpened hurts. But humility lessens the amount of grit required.

3. The People We Avoid Are Often the People We Need

Sometimes we treat people as the problem when they’re actually God’s tool for our growth. Pastor Mark poked at that a little. We think we can avoid, mute, cancel, or distance ourselves from the people who rub us the wrong way. But God may have placed those very people in our lives to sharpen our character, our demeanor, and even our spiritual countenance.

If you feel spiritually dull, it might be because you’re missing the right people in your life.

4. The Danger of Staying Silent

Then we took a pretty strong turn into Ezekiel 3. When God gives truth and we keep it to ourselves, our silence can actually contribute to someone else’s spiritual downfall. Sacred community requires truth telling, even when it’s uncomfortable.

Why don’t we do it?

Because many believers today have slipped into people pleasing. We’re more worried about others liking us than about their souls finding life.

5. Social Media Isn’t Real Community

Pastor Mark hit on how social media creates the illusion of tribe while letting us avoid the messy, refining work of real human connection. Online, we can unfollow discomfort. In real community, we have to face personalities, fears, conflict, and growth.

Authentic community forces sharpening. Artificial community lets us stay spiritually dull.

6. The Narrow Road

Jesus said the path to life is narrow. Community that honors God will always call people higher and refuse to compromise truth, morals, or faith. That’s not narrow mindedness in the negative sense, but faithfulness to Scripture.

2 John reminds us to guard against teachings that drift away from Christ. Giving a platform to things that oppose God doesn’t just confuse the church — it makes us partners in the problem.

7. The Challenge for Us

The sermon ended with two questions that cut deep:

What truth have you avoided telling because you wanted to stay liked?

And what have you compromised just to fit in?

Sacred community can’t exist in a group of people pleasers. It forms when believers call each other higher, speak truth in love, and trust that iron sharpening iron is God’s design for our flourishing.