I know for myself that I can easily become an island to
myself and internalize a lot of the battles that I fight with on a day to day
basis. It is so easy to isolate and
withdraw in our self- consuming world to our own detriment. As I listened today for the Lord to speak to
me I sensed Him telling me to stay far from the evil one’s traps, don’t listen
to his voice, his lies, his justification.
Let truth be the belt that secures you.
So with that in mind I want to focus on developing a theology of
community for our own health and the strength of those who call themselves
Jesus followers. We were never meant to
do the Christian life ALONE! This is
absolutely key for us to continue in a life of transformation and breakthough.
Tim Keller in ‘Gospel In Life’ identifies three areas for what
a Christian community is created to be and have shaped my understanding of
community.
1.
The
people of God – those who are created by faith through the Father
In Exodus 6:6,7 “Therefore, say to the people of Israel: ‘I am
the Lord. I will free you from your oppression and will rescue you from your
slavery in Egypt. I will redeem you with a powerful arm and great acts of
judgment. 7 I will claim you as my own people, and I will be your God.
Check out the process for the children of Israel, it first
begins with God rescuing them from slavery.
Even here in the OT, it is all about God and not their own merit. He then redeems them, He purchased them
outright for His very own self and places His mark on them. He claims them and calls them His
people! What made them ‘a people’ was a
complete act of God’s power and His grace.
This reality is the same for us today as 1 Peter 2:9,10 tells us that we
“are a people belonging to God”. This
truth that Peter is sharing is the same concept, same metaphor of the children
of the exodus. Our faith was meant to be
so much more than just a personal gospel, a personal salvation. We were saved and brought into community and
our common ground is through our repentance from sin, our slavery and believed
the truth that Jesus has freed us and redeemed us to be His people!
We were always meant to identify ourselves as a “people
belonging to God”. We have been brought
into a new relationship with other Jesus followers, brothers and sisters in
Christ.
Having just celebrated Father’s Day recently was a reminder
of the role that we as Dad’s play in creating the environment for faith to grow
in our children. Jim Gordon, the pastor
at Elora Road did an excellent job along with his son Jeremy on unpacking the
power of permission -that a Father plays in
admitting when he is wrong with his children
power of presence- and the focus that a Father
plays in being there for his children and being the CEO – chief encouragement
officer!
· power of pointing – the importance of pointing
our children to Jesus. I know I have
often started but not followed through with my kids and confessed that to
them. We need to be consistent and that
means strength from God as well as being intentional! One of the best ways that we point our
children to Jesus is by loving our wife well!
· power of promise- this really helps me with the
last point and that is that His strength is made perfect in my weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:9,10
In the same way the church needs spiritual fathers and
mothers as Titus 2 lies out.
2.
The body of Christ – those who deliberately
share and do life together.
As it relates to the body of Christ, we see in God’s Word
the use of ‘family’ and ‘household’ to describe the importance of eating,
living and working together. We are not
just a sum total or people who gather as is often the question when people ask
about church….”how many people attend on a given Sunday?”. Rather, we play the part that God has
designed us for and are deeply connected to the rest. A huge part that the body plays is calling
out of people that which God has created them to be. We can only do that up close as we affirm one
another’s strengths and gifts as we see in the redemptive gifts of Romans 12:3-8
that tells us to confirm the gifts of one another and the ultimate goal is to
‘honor one another’. Romans 12:10
My home church, Elora Road Christian Fellowship, for 48
years, has created such a strong sense of community by using their grounds for
a week of camp meetings. I am so looking
forward to being on site this year and can truly say that it is such a bonding
and strengthening time for those attending.
There is such a profound understanding and opportunity to experience
being the ‘people of God’ . The close
proximity that we have also creates the intimacy for honest and real
conversations and late night campfires to speak life and encourage one
another! It is awesome!!
We need to be about hospitality and inviting each other into
our homes, our families, having others over for a meal. A family shares all of life together, eating,
living and working together.
3.
The fellowship of the Spirit – those who are a
model of his preferred future.
We’ve talked about the role of the Father and Son in
community and we definitely wouldn’t be complete about the role the Holy Spirit
plays. A Spirit-filled community is an
alternative society that models distinct ways to do everything in life. Only though the influence of the Spirit, do
we have any hope to a city on a hill whose visible behavior shines and displays
the glory of God. Matthew 5:14
2 Corinthians 3:17 For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever
the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 So all of us who have had that
veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the
Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious
image.
A Spirit-filled community understands the power of
breakthrough through praying in the Spirit.
Romans 8:26. We often don’t know
how to pray and the Spirit intercedes for us.
I have discovered that praying in the Spirit as Paul speaks
of 1 Corinthians 14 is a powerful exercise that leads to breakthrough!
A picture of a recent time of pray at Church at the Manor
demonstrates the beauty and power of community
as our speaker, a ministry team member and one of our attendees all laid
hands together in prayer on a man who desperately was seeking freedom from
addiction. We are a royal priesthood of people who advocate and stand in the
gap on behalf of others.
Also, just recently we went to a wedding in London and we
were so close to Teen Challenge to visit Dan.
However, it was late on the way back, my kids had exams and work. One of them had to wake up at 5:30am the next
morning. We just knew we needed to stop
and we did. As it turned out Dan was
ready to quit the program that day and the worker there told us we were a
godsend. It meant so much to Dan that we
came and said hi and it really boosted his spirits. He felt that our visit was God telling him
how much He loved him. A simple visit on
our part but when Holy Spirit leads us, we can model His love!!
It has been said that “we will not know God, change deeply,
nor win the world apart from community!” I agree!
