When I was first asked to write a blog post about community I found myself questioning why I, of all people, should write anything about community since its something I’m frankly pretty terrible at. I have a terrible time remembering people’s names, I’m often too quiet for my own good, and I’m terrible with building friendships. Through all of my inequities, however, God is great. If he could transform a timid man with a speech impediment like Moses into a giant of the faith, then I am sure he could use what little I have to work with to write a blog on community!
The need for community is almost essential to human life. I have a friend who recently had her first child. Her husband had been serving in the military overseas, which left her home alone. Unable to find companionship with friends who were out enjoying their singleness, she turned to Facebook. As time went on, she made increasingly frivolous posts, desperately seeking attention from others. She was miserable because she was missing an essential element of the human condition: community. If we are to understand community, then it seams only logical to start at the source of all community: God. While I may not fully understand the community that God has within himself, I will attempt to make some observations with the trace amounts of wisdom he has given me.
Community Within God
God has given us plenty of examples in the Bible about community, but the best reference is essentially God himself. The Godhead, also known as the Trinity, is three parts to a perfect whole. Each part of the Trinity works in concert with one another with perfect peace and understanding. The Trinity’s actions can be seen as a great symphony. Each part works in concert with the others to perform the greatest love song ever created; a song to captivate our souls.
“When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.”
~John 17:1-2
From this verse we can see God giving glory to Christ and Christ giving that glory right back to God. The community that God has within himself isn’t one that just takes but one that is mutually uplifting to one and another. God glorifies the Son and the Son glorifies the Father. They are both equals with each other and they pour out love to one another. Similarly, we are equals. As God loves the Son, we too should love one another.
“6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name “ Philippians 2:6-10
While there are many observations you could make about this verse, the thing that caught my eye was that Christ, being of the same essence as God, was obedient to God the Father and made himself a servant. How often do we in our own self-importance try to make ourselves better than our fellow man? We are all God’s created children, yet we resort to things like gossip to make ourselves seem better. Notice in verse 8 that Christ humbled himself. In the same way, in order to have a community that is living for God we must humble ourselves and exalt Christ to those around us.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.” ~John 13:20
In this verse Jesus is telling his disciples about the Holy Spirit. From this verse we can see that each part of the Trinity has His own role. Later in John, Jesus says, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever” (John 14:16). Each part of the Trinity is God made “of the same substance”, but each one has a role to play. In much the same way, we all have a roll to play in the body of Christ. Some are created to teach, to be great scholars, to work with their hands, but we are all part of the same body. We each have our own role to play.
Community: The Body of Christ
“12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. 14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. “ ~ 1 Corinthians 12:12-26
This section of scripture exemplifies community as a body, and is conceptually simple; however, it is oftentimes difficult in practice. Back in college, I had a tough time understanding this message. I felt like so much of the Christian community I was a part of was focused on missions and being sent somewhere that it made me feel terribly out of place. I knew God wasn’t calling me to missions, yet part of me felt like I had missed something. I had stumbled into the trap that is described in 1 Corinthians 12:17. While my mission field may very well be my office, my family, or my local community; that doesn’t make that mission any less important. Paul describes this in verse 25 saying that, “that there may be division in the body, but that the members have the same care for one another.” We should have this kind of focus. If we are all part of the body then it stands to reason that what happens to one of us affects all of us.
To take this analogy farther, what happens when someone has cut themselves off from community and stops following God? I would liken this to losing a limb. Do you guard your hands, your fingers, and your feet? In much the same way, we should come to our brothers’ and sisters’ defense when they are struggling.
We have all been created differently with different purposes. Some God created quiet and reserved while others bask in the attention of the crowd, but in all of this we are called to support and love one another as Christ loved us. As Christ lead us, so too must we love each other with the same servants heart that Christ himself demonstrated even as he was being led to his death on the cross.
“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fail, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him–a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” ~Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
Previous to this section in Ecclesiastes, Solomon discusses the unhappiness of those that eschews the ties of friendship and live solitary, selfish lives. Man was not created to live alone. When God created man and placed him alone in the garden, He saw that it was not good. This is the first time He found something in creation “not good”, and as a result He makes a helper for him. While this verse in Ecclesiastes uses a lot of illustrations referring to marriage, it is also used to highlight the importance of standing together. George Washington famously quoted an old Greek saying during the signing of the constitution, “United we stand, divided we fall.”
“If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all” ~Romans 12:18
We are called to live in peace with one another. Both in and outside the Christian community.
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” ~Matthew 22:36-40
I love how simple God’s message really is. In these 4 verse he literally sums up, well, everything. These verses are theologically loaded with depths of meaning; however, I will focus on the community aspects. We are called to love our neighbors and our fellows as Christ loved them. That is a pretty tall order. Would you die for your friends? For your family? What about that guy that cut you off in traffic or someone else that may have hurt you deeply? If we want to be a community that lives out the Gospel then we need to learn to love those around us as radically as God first loved us.
“I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers” ~ Ephesians 1:16
The words “give thanks” is the compound word ‘eucharisteo’ in the Greek. This means “an outpouring of grace and wonderful feelings that freely flow from the heart in response to someone or something” (Sparking Gems from the Greek). I think this shows in part what it would mean if we deeply believed what God has said about community and those people He places around us. Paul’s feelings burst forth whenever he thinks of the church in Ephesus! Shouldn’t we be the same way with our friends, families, churches, and communities? Do we dare to love those our communities in a radical life giving way that he calls us to?
Authentic community is simply one that is Christ-centered and focused. It is one that, due to its focus and Gospel centrality, the members build one another up rather than tear one another down, and support one another rather than stand alone. It is a community that demonstrates Christ’s love every day to those within and outside of the community, literally becoming Christ’s hands and feet to the world. While we may have different functions within the community, we are all part of a greater whole whose headship is Christ.
