I’ve touched on before about how Christians can sometimes see church as the point of being a Christian. As long as we go to church, we’re okay. We’re not like so and so who doesn’t even go to church. I don’t say this to come down on church or to dissuade people from going to church as it’s thought of in the traditional sense. I think that going to praise and worship in community and hear a sermon is a vital part of being a Christian, but it is not the only part of being a Christian.
Christianity is like a gem, faceted and beautiful, but each part; community, works, church proper, evangelism, etc.; these are each only one facet, and when we only focus on one, then we miss out on the whole picture.
Because modern Christianity focuses so heavily on the act of going to church, I think it misses out on the community aspect of Christianity. Paul writes a lot about fellowship and edification. Romans 12:10,13 says, “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves…Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality,” and in Romans 14:19, “Let us therefore make every effort to do what lead to peace and to mutual edification.”
There are many other verses as well. 1 Cor. 1:9, 2 Cor. 6:14, Gal. 2:9, & 1 John 1:3 all talk about fellowship, both with each other and with Jesus Christ. We need connection with each other and with Jesus Christ. As for edification, Matthew 16:18, 1 Cor. 14:26, 2 Cor. 10:8 &13:10, & Ephesians 4:12-16 all talk about the building up of each other.
So, why the emphasis on fellowship? Because we are communal creatures. Our connection with Jesus Christ and each other matters. I know that if I am left alone to my own devices, I would probably end up holing myself up just playing video games and eating junk food and wondering what was wrong with me when I ended up depressed. I remember when I was growing up, I didn’t have many friends, but that was my own fault. I had such low self-esteem that I thought that no one wanted to hang out with me, so I did just what I described before, and on top of that, I didn’t learn any social skills. It was bad. I would make the most inappropriate jokes and say the strangest things. When I became friends with Matt and Bill, they came up beside me and lovingly beat the social skills into me.
I think community in Christ can be for similar reasons. We are called into community (fellowship) with Jesus, and each others, so that we can learn from the Holy Spirit and our community with each others keeps us in check so that we do not fall into idolatry, worshiping false gods such as the world, money, food, Apple products, fast cars, and expensive jewelry. Community is there to challenge us and to lift us up. Community comes together to sing hymns of praise, instruct, teach, and helps each other along the path that we walk.
Community is like a mirror that shows us who we are. If you didn’t have a mirror, you wouldn’t know if your hair was out of place, or if you still had that spinach in your teeth. In the same way, community shows us where we are going astray, either in good or bad ways. Community challenges us to come to Jesus with our sins, it encourages us to pursue our gifts, natural and spiritual, it comforts us when the world starts falling in, and it helps feed and care for us when we are unable to.
Acts 4:32-37 epitomizes this. “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.
“Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.”
Community is not communism, by the way. Communism is a social structure in which the collection and redistribution of wealth is mandated, but in community, it is done in love and in the desire to share and ensure that those who are in real need are taken care of.
Now it’s your turn. What does community mean to you? How did you experience community in your church? How did your church perhaps lack in community? How has that community been expressed outside of weekly church service?
May we come to fellowship with the Lord that he may bring us closer to him and to each other in love, that we may challenge each other and build each other up, to speak into each others lives in such a way that we grow closer in Christ.
Diaclaiomh 