Sunday, January 23: Community

In light of all that we confess as Christians, how can we think about the fellowship of believers? If Christ is supreme, and He calls us to Confession of absolute realities, and we belong to Him because we are His Creation, what are the implications for the Community of Christ-followers?

The germ of the answer is in the question. Since Christ is supreme, we are united in a community of blood-bought subjects to His supremacy. Since we confess absolute realities, we are drawn to others who do the same, to make our confession in conjunction and communion with one another. And since we belong to Him, not only because we are His creation, but also because we are the new creation, we recognize that we are members of a re-established humanity.

Every person who was ever born after the deluge claimed a new ancestor in common: the prophet Noah. Now, as then, every person rescued from the flood that looms as the direct result of selfishness and idolatry belongs to a new head over the redeemed human race: Jesus the Messiah.

There are communities of every kind in our world drawing people together for every reason imaginable: hobbies, sports, sexuality, pop culture, fitness, ideologies, military service, home improvement, gaming… But none of these can create the incomprehensible unity found in Christ. The bonds built over common interests or pursuits are tenuous and subject to change. The mystical bond wrought by the Holy Spirit Who literally joins us to Christ and to one another is unfaltering, unfathomable, and unfailing.

“Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members [who belong to] one another.” (Romans 12:4-5) For the Christian, community goes beyond shared interests or even common goals — It is fundamentally about belonging. We belong to Christ, and to one another. Integrally. Inseparably. Eternally.