“Some Christians try to go to heaven alone, in
solitude. But believers are not compared to bears or lions or other animals
that wander alone. Those who belong to Christ are sheep in this respect, that
they love to get together. Sheep go in flocks, and so do God’s people.” Charles
Spurgeon
If
you boiled down the Christian life to one word what would it word be? At the
risk of being too simplistic, I believe the word would be relationships.
When Jesus was asked the most important commandment, He talked first about our relationship
with God and then with others. He pointedly indicated one’s relationship with others
must be a close second to our relationship with God. “You shall love the
Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is
like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments
depend all the Law and the Prophets’” (Matt. 22:35-40). Relationships
are at the heart of Christian living.
As a human being, community is in your design.
We were created by God to live in vital relationships with each other. To
understand why community is so vital, we must understand that we’re made in the
image of God—and exactly what sort of God in whose image we were made.
In
Genesis we learn that humans are made in the image of the triune God. This
means that, as humans, we’re made in the image of a God who is a “We,”
not a “Me.” You’ll notice in Genesis that God says, “let US
make man in our image.” God’s three-ness has huge implications for what it
means to be human. Since we’re made in the image of the God who exists in
community, we’re a being who has community hard-wired into our DNA. We’re
designed for community. When we ignore relationships, we cut against the grain
of our very humanity. We can’t isolate ourselves without becoming deeply broken
and lonely.
God
told Adam at the beginning, “it is not good for man to be alone.” Adam
was lonely not because he was imperfect, but because he was perfectly
made in the image of the God of community. There was no sin, there were no
relationship breakdowns. He was designed for “other,” not just self.
At
Grace Church, we are committed to community. We are committed to being part of
God’s solution to eradicate loneliness and don’t want anyone to be alone. We
were built to know and be known because we’re made in the Father’s image.
Our
Grace Community groups exist to foster
this basic “life together” for which we were built. They’re vital to healthy
Christian living. Yes, they will help us grow in our knowledge of God and His
Word BUT that’s not their main purpose. Their main purpose is to help us draw
closer to each other by drawing closer to the Lord. It’s unusual to find a growing
Christian who is not part of some type of small group. That’s because…
We
are redeemed for community. When Adam fell into sin, we were not only separated
from God, we were also separated from each another. The world was relationally
fractured, resulting in racism, murders, strife, alienation, and every other kind
of societal breakdown. A critical aspect of God’s work in Christ is to heal broken
relationships caused by sin. And God has a wonderful plan for relational
healing – the local church. God is a community-forming God. He never brings a
person into a relationship with Himself, without bringing them into a
relationship with others.
In
the New Testament the local church is described with strikingly intense
metaphors. Christians are likened to “living stones” in a holy temple. We’re
called “fellow citizens” of the kingdom of God and “members of the same
household.” Throughout the New Testament we’re called “brothers and sisters.” Scripture
is wonderfully clear. The gospel unites us in relationships closer than even with
our blood relatives. Jesus connects people of different classes, races and
genders into “one new man.”
It’s
impossible to be a Christian on your own. It’s a violation of God’s plan and it’s
a sin to be a “Lone Ranger” Christian. God has redeemed you to be in a deep,
rich, close-knit community.
Love
is the identifying behavior of a Christian. Jesus said, ““By this
all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one
another” (John 13:35). The only way you can know that you love other believers
is if you actually spend time with them and know them. You can’t truly love
someone you don’t know or have little contact with.
There’s
a famous character in Dostoyevsky’s Brother’s Karamazov who considers
himself a humanitarian. He loves humanity and gives lots of his money to charities.
The problem is that he hates people.
The
power of the early church is seen in that former enemies (Jews & Gentiles) live
together as “brothers and sisters” in a close-knit community. Community is the
context where our love is tested. How do I know if I love others? You must get
to know a real “other.” You get into close Christian community with a person
that’s different than yourself, even a person who was once an enemy. Community
is the only place where God’s agape love is revealed. That kind of love happens
best in small groups.
Community
matters enough to be prioritized. It must be more than an afterthought. It must
be our focus.
It
grieves me that many in our church miss this vital aspect of the Christian life.
We’ve sought to make our groups very convenient in that many of them meet on
Sundays after the morning service. There’s not a more important ministry in the
life of our church than our small groups. It’s truly that important. They
begin again on September 15th at 10:45 am.
Please
plan to join one. Please make it a priority! Your spiritual health depends on
it!
Can
we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out
more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at
262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life,
I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My
Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy.
Please include your mailing address.
So true!
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