WHY We Need to Live in Community
All the gifts of the Spirit listed in Romans
12.6-8, 1 Corinthians 12.4-11 and 1 Corinthians 12.4-11 and the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5.22-23 all are clearly
only usable in community; in fact many of the gifts and fruit are only usable
when either facing adversity or to build up others in community.
Living in community is the best anecdote for depression and lack of
purpose and meaning in life. God knows the
quickest way to teach us to be more like Him is to live in community. We need
to learn to love one another,[1] serve
one another,[2]
forgive one another,[3]
regard other people more importantly than our selves;[4] we are
to teach[5] and
correct others,[6]
encourage,[7] confess
our sins and pray for each other.[8] We are
to bear each other’s burdens.[9] We are
to be generous,[10]
kind,[11] warn
the unruly, comfort the faint, and consider the one who is weak.[12] We are
to hope for the best, believe the best even when seeing the worst.[13] We are
to submit to one another to show honor to Jesus.[14] This
all happens in community, and are all processes of growth. We have a safe place
with Christian community because we are accepted in the beloved, and encouraged
and surrounded with compassion and encouragement that gives us hope and helps
us to move beyond our limitations.
Being part of a group of people moves us outside self-consumption and
isolation into a place where others can benefit from our lives and we may
benefit from theirs. Community makes us
accountable to others. Having different
strengths and weaknesses, together, community challenges us as we live life
together. I become part
of something bigger than myself. I learn to care for others, and to let others
“in” to care about me. I learn from others, and others learn from me. Christian community means that When you meet together, each has
a hymn, a teaching, a disclosure of special knowledge or information, an
utterance… or an interpretation… to the end that we learn to …let everything be constructive and edifying
and for the good of all.[15]
To live in community mandates unselfishness in order to live in harmony
and unity. I am able to be built up and become mature, and the balance of the
gifts should stop me from being led astray by unbalanced or isolated teachings
that change with the wind. I learn to
strip away my preoccupation with myself in order to serve others while in a
community.
When I hear what God is teaching others, it teaches me, too. When I
submit to the guidance and scrutiny of my brothers and sisters, it forces me to
grow and to be accountable to the commitments I make. I am supposed to be in
the midst of a community of believers using their gifts:
He
also gave apostles, prophets, missionaries, as well as pastors and teachers as
gifts to his church. Their purpose is to prepare God’s people to serve and to
build up the body of Christ. This is to continue until all of us are united
in our faith and in our knowledge about God’s Son, until we become mature,
until we measure up to Christ, who is the standard. Then we will no longer
be little children, tossed and carried about by all kinds of teachings that
change like the wind. We will no longer be influenced by people who use cunning
and clever strategies to lead us astray. Instead, as we lovingly speak the truth,
we will grow up completely in our relationship to Christ, who is the head. He
makes the whole body fit together and unites it through the support of every
joint. As each and every part does its job, he makes the body grow so that
it builds itself up in love.[16]
Part of the Body of Christ
The call to community is a call to serve God by serving
others:
I
THEREFORE, the prisoner for the Lord, appeal to and beg you to walk (lead a life) worthy of the [divine] calling
to which you have been called [with behavior that is a credit to the summons to
God’s service, Living as becomes you] with complete lowliness of mind
(humility) and meekness (unselfishness, gentleness, mildness), with patience,
bearing with one another and
making allowances because you love one another. Be eager and strive earnestly to guard and keep the harmony and oneness of [and produced by] the
Spirit in the binding power of peace. [There is] one body and one Spirit—just
as there is also one hope [that belongs] to the calling you received—[17]
Paul’s letters to the churches show the heart he has for
them and the heart we should have
for others in our community: [And we]
continue to pray especially and
with most intense earnestness night and day that we may see you face to face
and mend and make good whatever
may be imperfect and lacking in
your faith.[18]
Through community, where you are strong you can help those that are
going through a season where they aren’t
strong; when you are weak, those that are stronger can help encourage you as
you walk through a rough patch. As part of a Church family, I have been the
recipient and giver of much-needed encouragement, clothing passed down from
church members. I have organized dinner drops for new moms just getting home
from the hospital with their newborns, and then been a recipient of the same.
You have opportunity to visit and encourage shut-ins who can’t get out of their
homes for one reason or another. Families facing death or life challenges are
strengthened by others coming alongside them. People in the hospital that need
encouragement can be visited or a card sent. My husband and I have been able to
help countless troubled marriages make it through by being in community.
Community means watching over one another for good, knowing that as we
serve, we are serving as unto Christ Himself, for His glory that all grow
stronger in Him. We make a big mistake when we think that the local church is
only for our own spiritual growth. It is also a chance to use your spiritual
gifts through the body of believers to be a part of the spiritual growth of
others. The end result is that you will
grow spiritually as you seek to serve, as the
Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life…[19]
By the unity and oneness we enjoy as members one of another, the world may know and [definitely] recognize
that [God] has send [Jesus] and that [God] has loved them [even] as [God] has
loved [Jesus].[20]
Most of
all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love
makes up for practically anything. Be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed
to the homeless—cheerfully. Be generous with the different things God gave you,
passing them around so all get in on it: if words, let it be God’s words; if
help, let it be God’s hearty help. That way, God’s bright presence will be
evident in everything through Jesus, and he’ll
get all the credit as the One mighty in everything—encores to the end of time.
Oh, yes![21]
Our
people have to learn to be diligent in their work so that all necessities are
met (especially among the needy) and they don’t end up with nothing to show
for their lives.[22]
Let us therefore
follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may
edify another.[23]
The dynamics of a good church is seen when you are camping
and make a fire. The fire will seem to be dying out, but when you shift the
wood and move things to the center, you can get the fire glowing again. It is
the same way when things fall and shift and people are moved to the sidelines.
When they are stirred up, or even bump into another in close association, like
a piece of wood stirred up, or a log that bumps into another log that is
hotter, the fire will start burning again. By stirring up and being stirred up,
each log where the fire is going out can easily be ignited by another that is
already blazing. Utilizing this synergistic energy is what the Church is all
about. Like the wood that has fallen aside in
the camping fire, left to itself, a lone piece of wood dies out and loses that
fire for the truth of God’s Word, and for the children of God, through which
our love for the Lord is to be demonstrated each day.
Wherefore
I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee
by the putting on of my hands.[24]
[Let
your] love be sincere (a real thing); hate what is evil [loathe all
ungodliness, turn in horror from wickedness], but hold fast to that which is
good. Love one another with brotherly affection [as members of one family],
giving precedence and showing
honor to one another. Never lag in zeal and
in earnest endeavor; be aglow and
burning with the Spirit, serving the Lord. Rejoice and exult in hope; be steadfast and patient in suffering and tribulation; be constant in
prayer. Contribute to the needs of God’s people [sharing in the necessities of
the saints]; pursue the practice of hospitality. Bless those who persecute you
[who are cruel in their attitude toward you]; bless and do not curse them.
Rejoice with those who rejoice [sharing others’ joy], and weep with those who
weep [sharing others’ grief]. Live in harmony with one another; do not be
haughty (snobbish, high-minded, exclusive), but readily adjust yourself to
[people, things] and give
yourselves to humble tasks. Never overestimate yourself or be wise in your own conceits. Repay no one evil for evil, but
take thought for what is honest and
proper and noble [aiming to be
above reproach] in the sight of everyone .If possible, as far as it depends on
you, live at peace with everyone.[25]
God made
you for community. You need others and others need you. Without others, we begin to collapse upon
ourselves. As our world becomes smaller, our issues grow bigger. We get
absorbed by our own struggles and lose perspective.
Amidst the pressures of life, our default is to take the
easy road. When we finally get a few moments to relax, staying at home,
vegetating in front of the TV or mindlessly roaming the Internet all seem like
better choices than making the effort to engage others.
Ironically, our social media culture has us in touch with
more people than ever, but it also has us less connected than ever. We
email, tweet and Facebook, but we spend less and less time face to face with
others. (Maybe the reason we email, tweet and Facebook is because we can
stay connected without the real effort of staying connected.)
Take an honest inventory. Are you living your life in
authentic community, or are you living your life on the edge of isolation? When
is the last time you went out on a weeknight? When is the last time you sat and
talked with a friend over coffee?
It might seem easier to stay home, but not in the long
run. Every choice has a cost. Community takes more up front, but the effort
pays for itself. Isolation takes less up front, but you wind up paying a steep
price.
Get off the couch. Shut off the computer. Go to that
activity at church. Take a class. Join a small group. Call a friend. God knows
you need it.[26]
[1]
John 13.34-35; John 15.12; John 15.17; Romans 13.8; 1 Thessalonians 3.12; 1
Peter 1.22; 1 John 3.11; 1 John 3.23; 1 John 4.7; 1 John 4.11-12; 2 John 5
[2]
Galatians 5.13
[3]
Ephesians 4.32; Colossians 3.13
[4]
Romans 12.10; Philippians 2.3
[5]
Colossians 3.16
[6]
Galatians 6.1
[7] 1
Thessalonians 5.11
[8]
James 5.16
[9]
Galatians 6.2
[10] 2
Corinthians 9.11
[11]
Ephesians 4.32
[12] 1
Thessalonians 5.14
[13] 1
Corinthians 13.7
[14]
Ephesians 5.21
[15] 1
Corinthians 14.26
[16] Ephesians 4.11–16 (GW)
[17] Ephesians 4.1–4 (AMP)
[18] 1 Thessalonians 3.10 (AMP)
[19]
Matthew 20.28
[20]
John 17.23
[22]
Titus 3.14
[24] 2 Timothy 1.6
[26] http://www.charismamag.com/life/women/19871-isolation-will-cost-you-spiritually
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