Community

Good morning, and welcome back to our sermon series on Faithfulness in our Moment. Before we dive in, let me first tell you a little bit about Esther’s and my recent tour of Israel. It had been something that we had been talking about for a long time, and it was a very special experience. We got to see the foundation of the synagogue that Jesus would have taught in at Capernaum. We got to stand on the steps of the Temple that Jesus would have taught from. We got to visit the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed before his arrest and trial. We saw the Roman steps up to what was very possibly the Palace of Caiaphas, where Jesus could have been taken after his arrest. We saw the garden tomb, which some think might have been where Jesus rose from the grave. What a fascinating place. Such history. Such meaning. (We also saw the ancient walls of Jericho, Hezekiah’s tunnel, the pool of Bethesda -- near the Sheep Gate, just like the gospel of John says -- the ancient church built over the house of Peter, and the pool of Siloam, among many other sights.) But when one of the students at the TESL class asked me what was best part of the trip, I had to answer that the best part of the trip was the group of people with whom we spent those eight days. 

From all over the United States (we were the only Canadians), these were Christians of all ages who were committed to drawing closer to Jesus through this experience. And I will never forget our final dinner together at the Yad HaShmona moshav (until recently a kibbutz), seated beside a wonderful brother (who had been an almost complete stranger) talking -- not about politics, not about professional sports, not about entertainment -- but about Jesus and his love. The fellowship we had throughout that whole trip was very special. And it is that kind of fellowship that can make so much of a difference in any church. It is that kind of fellowship that forms the basis of community.

A quick recap of our series so far: Al opened it up by introducing the theme of exile throughout the Bible, reminding us that in a very real way we are “God’s chosen exiles”. The following week, we were reminded that Jesus’ response to the culture that he lived in was often unexpected to his disciples: but that the needs of each individual were always front and center for him. In the third week of the series, Andy highlighted the value of spiritual training. And I loved Andy’s illustration of the boys learning to play volleyball. Like most of us, those boys have little appreciation of how valuable the repetition of training exercises could be. We all need training. Everything that we want to become good at requires training. And God is calling each of us to training -- training in godliness. As Paul puts it (1 Timothy 4:8):

“Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.”

So that’s why we’ve begun to get really practical, and to look at the elements of God’s training program. Last week, Al reminded us that “generosity” is a critical component of this “training for godliness.” And this week, we will consider the element of “community”. Now “community” is a much-abused word these days, and no wonder! We live in a culture that idolizes privacy, individualism, and independence. It should come as no surprise that when we use the word “community” we are often referring to some cheap imitation. Either that, or someone wants to make a political point or sell you something.

Considering how slippery the word “community” is, in order to understand it correctly, we need to have a fixed point of reference; we need an anchor that won’t slip. Let me suggest that that anchor we need this morning is Jesus himself. The firstborn from among the dead, and the image of the invisible God. Now, when we consider community as it relates to Jesus, we will find that first, community and community-building is a necessary result of knowing Jesus, but that (second) community can draw people to Jesus as well. How do we know these things? Well, Jesus lays down a number of hints for us (John 13:34,35): 

Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.

Of course, there can be no true community without love. And Jesus is saying that the love that we have for one another will convince the world that following Jesus makes all the difference. When we are not to be looking out for ourselves but instead are (Phil 2:2-4):

like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do[ing] nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility valu[ing] others above yourselves, not looking to [our] own interests but each of [us] to the interests of the others.

When we are like that, the world will sit up and take notice. And if we were to even take baby-steps in that direction, we would all not only experience a greater level of community, but we would make the gospel that much more attractive to those who are watching. There is nothing like the love we have in community to draw people to Jesus. We see this principle again in Jesus’ prayer for the church (John 17:21) (Jesus speaking to God):

I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.

Once again: there can be no true community without unity. And Jesus is saying that it is the unity that we have in him that will help bring the world to appreciate the good news that Jesus has been sent by God to be the Savior of the world. Please notice, however, that the unity that Jesus prays for involves a unity with God himself: it is as we truly connect with God that we have the ability to connect with each other on a deep and meaningful level. What’s more, the unity we have is also based on the unity that Jesus has with his Father. That is, community is actually an attribute of the God we serve. It isn’t some nice tack-on to our relationship with Him -- it is built into His very nature, and He calls us to participate in it with him.

So community -- and the love and unity that it embodies -- is clearly something that can help draw people to Jesus. In fact, it is the only thing that scripture tells us will be effective in bringing people to the truth. There is no such suggestion, for example, that preaching could be anywhere near as effective. You know what that means, don’t you? It means that the steps you take to bring a deeper sense of community among us are likely more valuable toward spreading the gospel than any words spoken from this pulpit. I expect that if we were to ask the people who have started coming to Bethel over the last few years why they keep coming, the kindnesses that they have received would feature higher than the quality of the teaching. 

But not only is community something that can draw people to Jesus, community is also something that always happens when people have truly come to know him. Because it is impossible to get to know Jesus without being faced with the challenge that loving Jesus means loving those around us. Jesus tells us that how we treat the least of his brothers is how we treat him. And yes: that means the lonely, and the broken, and the troubled, and the difficult. And it is this principle -- the principle that how we treat the people we encounter on this earth is how the Eternal King takes us to have treated him -- that is reflected in the teaching that we -- together -- are the body of Christ. 

But when Christians think about “the body of Christ,” we often have something else in mind, don’t we? After all, in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, Jesus tells his disciples that the bread is his body, broken for us. As you know, many churches place considerable emphasis on the Lord’s Supper. And there is good reason for that. This meal that we celebrate is, after all, one of only two practices that Jesus himself instituted for his followers. 

In fact, let me take this opportunity to encourage you to set your alarms a little earlier on a Sunday morning, and to come out to our earlier service in order to participate in this important reminder. There is something quite profound about obeying Jesus’ command to remember him in this way.

But the fact that we call the Lord’s Supper “communion” is no coincidence. Communion simply means fellowship. And communion is naturally the basis for community. It is a tragedy that community has, over centuries, become an increasingly minimized aspect of communion. But God’s intention for communion, and something that we can help regain, was always that it be a springboard for community. For it is in communion that we can strengthen our connection with God, and it is also in communion that we must be aware of the connections that we have with one another. Paul is quite explicit about this. In discussing the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians, Paul warns (11:27,28):

...whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. 

And many Christians stop reading right there. So they think that Paul was telling his readers to examine themselves for unconfessed sin or something like that. But that wasn’t what Paul was saying at all. The next verse makes it clear (v29):

For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.

Discerning the body of Christ, is, quite simply, being aware that the people around you are part of the body of Christ. How do we know that this is what Paul is getting at? Well, only a very few verses later, Paul explains what he means, ultimately telling us:

All of you together are Christ’s body (1 Cor 12:27)

And this is a theme in Paul’s writings, also showing up in Romans 12, Ephesians 4 and the first chapter of Colossians. So communion (the Lord’s Supper) points backward to Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf, but it also points toward the community of the body of Christ as an integral part of God’s plan for his people. These two important truths are brought together in communion. For community is something that always happens when people have truly come to know Jesus. 

As an illustration of this, let’s now turn to an example of community in the Bible. And not just any example. Let’s consider how the Bible describes the earliest Christians -- the very first “church” -- and the way that they interacted together (Acts 2:42):

All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.

Now here at Bethel, we also want to take the teaching of the apostles very seriously. And recently, we’ve also recognized a greater need for fellowship. So at least two home groups have been started (on Thursday and Saturday nights, to which you are all encouraged to consider coming). And while I’ve already given a shout-out for our first service (where we share the Lord’s Supper), this is also the Sunday in the month that we will be having a prayer meeting: five o’clock today in the carpeted room downstairs and all are welcome. Teaching. Fellowship. Sharing. Prayer. These were and continue to be the hallmarks of the community of God.

But the book of Acts goes on to describe this community in more detail (Acts 2:41-47):

...all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.

Wow -- that’s serious commitment: selling possessions and sharing the money with those in need; sharing everything they had. That would likely be a stretch for most of us. So I’m not going to suggest that that is something that God is calling us to be doing this morning. But I am going to suggest that God is calling us to be at least a step or two closer to that kind of behavior -- generosity was, after all, what we discussed last week. 

Now I’m sure that you’ll agree that if this is the standard for churches, the bar has been set awfully high. But a few chapters later, the writer of Acts comes back to reinforce this description of this earliest church, with many of the same highlights (Acts 4:32-37):

All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all. There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need.

Sharing everything they had? Now that sounds far too much like a community turning into a communism for many Christians. The difference, of course, is that historic examples of communism, whether the Soviet Union, or China, or Cuba, had the communist experience imposed upon a nation by greedy, corrupt, and violent men. In marked contrast, the first Christian community took shape quite naturally and voluntarily. 

But why do we see so few churches today living out this radical generosity? Well, it is exceedingly difficult to sustain. Even the early church soon found challenges in such a lifestyle. We can read about it two chapters later (Acts 6:1-7):

But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food.

So even the spirit-filled church of the first century struggled to maintain their idyllic community in short order. Why was that? Well, quite simply there are always ties -- family ties, ethnic ties, linguistic ties -- whose communal demands are in competition with the communal demands of the church. This kind of thing always happens. It cannot be avoided. But even its perception undermines community. If people detect that family, or ethnic or linguistic loyalties come first, community will suffer. In fact, let me tell you a true story.

Many years ago, I was sitting near the back of a congregation in a church service. In front of me were two young people who had been attending that church for most of their young lives. At the end of the service, I overheard one of these young people turn to the other and say, “well, I guess I won’t ever come back to this church.” And, as I found out later, they didn’t. So what troubled them so much? Well, it seemed to them that there was unfairness going on. They had two friends who -- it seemed to them -- were in very similar circumstances. But those two friends were receiving very different treatment from the church. One of their friends seemed to be ignored, and the other friend seemed to be celebrated. The perceived injustice toward their ignored friend was a deal-breaker for them. The tragedy was that those young people chose to walk away rather than to talk to someone about their concerns. 

Because exactly the same problem was plaguing the earliest church. There was a perceived injustice -- that the Greek-speaking widows were regularly getting a bad break in the distribution of food. But someone in the early church spoke up to the Apostles with their concerns of unfairness. Believe me: no matter how uncomfortable you think that it might be for us, the elders sincerely hope that you come and talk to one of us if you perceive any significant injustice at Bethel!

So when this injustice was reported to the Apostles, what did they do?

...the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, “We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program. And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. [And] we will give them this responsibility....”

Everyone liked this idea, and they chose the following: Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit), Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas of Antioch (an earlier convert to the Jewish faith). These seven were presented to the apostles, who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them.

So God’s message continued to spread.

Now at first glance, this might seem like a perfectly understandable bureaucratic move: assign the problem to other people. But hidden in this text is a remarkable fact. You see, all of the earliest converts to the Way of Jesus -- including the twelve Apostles -- were Aramaic-speaking Jews. But the names on this list -- those given responsibility to resolve the problem of inequality toward the Greek-speaking widows -- are all Greek names. That is, they were all representatives of the disenfranchised widows. They were all part of the group experiencing the unfair treatment. 

But please note that the fact that they represented the disenfranchised was by no means a sufficient qualification for their appointment. Rather, the explicit qualification was that they be well respected and full of the Spirit and wisdom. And this is crucial. Because without the participation of the Spirit of God, communities will splinter into groups of people looking after their own interests. 

If we “keep in step with the Spirit,” and as we “fix our eyes on Jesus,” we should naturally be drawn into community and also draw others into true community. But other claims on our communal energies will always be in competition with the claims of the church. We can’t avoid that. And appropriately committing our energies to marriage, and family, and neighborhood, as well as church will always be a challenge. But the dynamic of the Kingdom is that if we are able to experience fellowship with Jesus, then we are asked to draw upon that experience to minister within our churches. And if we are able to experience community in our churches, then we are asked to draw upon that experience to minister within our marriages, within our families, and within our neighborhoods. This is what Paul is getting at in Philippians (2:1,2):

Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? ...Then ... be like-minded, having the same love, united in spirit, with a single purpose.

Because the encouragement, comfort, and fellowship we find in Christ should be leading us to a common mind, a common love, a common spirit, and a common purpose. 

But just before I wrap up, I’m going to get really personal, and tell you about one of the hardest lessons that I ever learned -- right up there with “doing the dishes is never a problem for an adult.” (that was a hard one for me) When I was an early teen, I once asked my father why I had no friends. Now I don’t mention this for sympathy: that was a long time ago and you folks have made up for any lack of friends that I might have had a hundred-fold. But it is true that as a teenager, I had no friends. I just couldn’t get excited about any of the stuff that my peers were so into. But I will never forget my father’s advice in that moment. He said, “instead of worrying about other people becoming your friends, why not work on becoming a friend for others.” Rock my world -- difficult stuff for an adolescent. “Instead of worrying about other people becoming your friends, why not work on becoming a friend for others.” But the same is true about community, isn’t it? If we are not experiencing community ourselves, why not work on providing a community for others?