COMMUNITY: A group of people held together by one bond. Acts 2:42-47 " They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts., praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." That bond should be Christ and our passion for God. In today's world this is not any easy concept to get started. Spending most of your time with one group of people? However, I don't think this means spending time ONLY with these people. "Community is built not on convenience ("we'll get together when I feel like it") but on the conviction that I need it for spiritual growth." from The Purpose Driven Life (p.150) Rob Bell talks about being a Christian and being in a community in his book Velvet Elvis, " So what does it mean for the Christian life? To begin, Christians are people learning who they are in Christ. We are being taught about our new identity. Do you see how deeply this new identity affects the life of a community? I heard a teacher say that if people were taught more about who they are, they wouldn't have to be told what to do. 124 It would come naturally. When we see religious communities spending most of their time trying to convince people not to sin, we are seeing a community that has missed the point. The point isn't sin management. 125 The point is who we are now." (p.144) We know that we are "in" the world, but not a "part" of this world. We should, as a community, go into the world and be the examples of God's grace. When others see us just living our lives, they will be drawn to the light of the Holy Spirit within us. A good friend recently was talking about a living hope. I believe that this living hope is what others notice when they see true Christians that are engaged in true fellowship. Reaching out to the world and loving and caring for one another within that community. We can go to church for instruction and fellowship, but we should also belong to a smaller intimate group of people that are bonded together in Christ. A group that makes a commitment to meet regularly and who is focused on God's will and spreading the message of Christ to the lost.
posted by Angela @ 6:03 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Angela,
I believe that true Christians will desire to engage in true fellowship. Fellowship is a spiritual discipline. It takes initiative. The bond that we share in Christ (true fellowship) is a gift from God. We must cherish and embrace this gift. When we step out and initiate honest and open relationships we are living by faith. We are trusting God to use these people in our personal walk with Him as well as using us as a whole for the unified purpose of spreading His glory!
Good thoughts.
Love, in Christ,
Heather
This is what we are up against: Not only are we a very entertainment/leisure driven society, but everyone is going in their own direction, with work, family, and all the other responsibilities of life. When it comes to being fully active in a Christian community setting, It is very easy for us to say that we do not have a choice in the matter. According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches 4 hours of television per day. From what I've seen, most professing Christians aren't keeping any more tabs on how much T.V. they watch than the rest of the world. Is T.V. at the heart of the issue? I don't think so. It's just another heart grieving symptom of the sad state we are in.
Heb. 3:12 Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.
Heb. 3:13 But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
Those verses don't cut much slack, eh? God created us for relationships. This principle is exemplified all throughout the New Testament. John 15 talks about being connected to the vine, Paul, in 1Corinthians 12 talks about the body working together. The problem is looking to the world as the model for living. The world has to have something to occupy their senses all the time; something they can see, hear, and feel. Often times, something they can put their mind in neutral and just take in. We've adopted things like sports, Movies, Television, and the internet to give us time periods where we can put the cruise control on, all the while neglecting the community of believers that God has set up as our only way to grow and be sanctified. And you are right, it's not about teaching people not to sin. If that were our calling, we would essentially be saying that there is obtainable good within ourselves. When I believe that I can do good things and overcome sin, I only get frustrated, because in reality, there is absolutely no way I can do even one good thing. I expect that I can do good, when I should expect only bad things. How many times have I lost sight of the fact that the past good in my life was Jesus Christ himself? In this ugly state of self reliance, I only get worldly-minded, because if I am not growing in Christ, what else is there? Then I start trying to show people how not to disobey instead of how to obey by relying on Christ through his word. God please overcome the world through us, and build a community who works together in the fear of your name, bringing you all the Glory in everything we accomplish!
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