COMMUNITY
GOD LIVES IN COMMUNITY AND HAS GIVEN US THE GIFT OF COMMUNITY IN THE CHURCH AND FAMILY
We were created to be in community because God lives in community. God has a “family”; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. His angels and the saints are also part of the community of heaven. God caused Jesus to be born into a family, and also into a faith community of family and friends who loved God. Jesus gathered around him the disciples and taught them how they ought to live together in unity, serving one another in community. Families, close friends, and our spiritual community are God’s gift and provision for man and one more example of how the kingdom on earth is patterned after the kingdom of heaven.
“It is not good that man be alone,” said God and with that observation he formed woman and the first family was created. Prior to the fall, man and woman were co-equals with distinctly different roles. There was no need for one person to lead the other because they were led by God and they loved and trusted each other perfectly. But with the fall came sin, selfishness and disorder – man and woman no longer trusting each other’s judgment, so God chose man to be the head of the family. Children are to submit to their parents and respect older people. Men are responsible to Christ for how well they care for their families. This has nothing to do with giftedness or spirituality, but is simply the pattern God established for the family to bring order to his world. This pattern also mirrors the Trinity and the kingdom of heaven. Even though the three members of the Trinity are equal, Jesus the Son submits to the Father and the Holy Spirit to the Son and the angels to all three. Even the angels have an organizational hierarchy.
In the Old Testament, God established another type of community, the nation of Israel - the first theocracy on earth. God ruled Israel directly until they rebelled and wanted an earthly king, which began a deterioration from which Israel never recovered.
When Jesus came, he established his church, an entirely new form of community. The problem is when we think of the church, we automatically associate that term with church buildings, worship services on Sunday, and mid-week meetings. The church most often referred to in the Bible refers to believers in Jesus Christ, everywhere (in heaven and on earth), or believers in a specific region or city. When Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus for example, he was not writing to one specific church, but to the church (all believers in that city). The church can also be the body of believers with whom I gather regularly and am in community.
A healthy believing fellowship (church) is one in which I am loved, taught the Bible, prayed for, encouraged, helped in time of need, even disciplined if necessary, and in which I am doing the same for others. Those churches can be the organization we commonly refer to as “my church," or they can be subsets within that organization, including other believers outside of “my church."
The Holy Spirit supplies spiritual gifts to the church (believers); equipping people to carry out all the ministries he wants his church to accomplish. In fact, he will never hold us individually or corporately responsible for accomplishing a ministry for which he has not equipped us. In I Corinthians 12, Paul uses the human body as an illustration of the church, with every part of the body important to the proper functioning of the entire body.
The church (all believers) also has the privilege and responsibility to care for the poor, encourage and provide for widows, see that justice prevails and that in the church all are equal before Christ, but with differing roles. Jesus’ expectation was that this community would be so loving and caring of each other and so attractive to the non-believers among whom they lived, that the church would grow not by programs, but by the attractiveness of the lives of the believers.
Christ left his church in the hands of the apostles who for the sake of order, appointed other leaders (elders), allowing the believers to select helpers (deacons). Christ left the church with two significant ordinances, which believers practice: Communion which is the celebration and remembrance of Christ’s sacrificial death for us, and baptism which is the outward demonstration of and identification with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Bible is our owner’s manual for how we are to live in each of these “kingdom on earth” communities (family and the church). As a believer, I voluntarily surrender “my rights” to Christ and agree to submit to those he has placed over me for my good and the good of his kingdom on earth. While it’s true that God loves each person individually, his greater concern throughout the Bible has always been the spiritual health of the community of believers. When individual believers act shamefully and sinfully, it robs God of his glory, which is why we are commanded to judge and discipline each other with the goal of restoration, so that the “body” is holy.
We erroneously have come to believe that we have the right to disregard those in authority over us or our commitments to others, if they are not worthy of our allegiance or love. Jesus has made it clear that he will judge leaders, husbands, wives, and children who violate that trust. On the other hand, God is waiting and wanting to bless every obedient believer, who demonstrates his or her love for him by trusting his plan, especially when it appears foolish to do so.
Gen. 3:16; Eph. 5:22-33; Eph. 1:22; I Cor. 11:3; Rom. 7:2; Eph. 6:1-4; I Tim. 3:14, 15; Eph. 4:11-13; Acts 2:42-47; I Cor. 5:12, 13; I Peter 5:5; Phil. 2:5-7; I Cor. 12:12-14, 17-20, 24-27