I am giving an apology disclaimer at the beginning of this, as I just spent the entire day getting my brain full and my heart tugged at the Whiteboard Sessions Conference-
Nonetheless, I will do my best to provide the third installment of the Set Apart series here.
Where we’ve been
We learned that God sets apart certain groups of people who are to be a ‘community’ separated; sanctified. These communities or groups of people are set apart to embody the presence of God, so that those in the world will encounter the love and goodness of God and turn to Him in worship.
We then uncovered and observed some of the many injustices in our world today focusing upon what it meant to receive the Holy Spirit; the one who enables us to attain new vision to see injustice.
As we begin to understand that we, the church, are set apart as God’s people, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and provoked by the injustice that we see, we must also begin to act.
Beginning with Community
First, it is important for us to see that we are called to be set apart, not as individuals, but as a community. As we think about overturning injustice and showing the love of Christ in very practical and effective ways, we have to realize that none of us can do any of this alone. We are the church- the body- the bride. We are called to work together in unity. This is something that Jesus specifically prayed for us in one of His more elaborate prayers recorded in Scripture. In John 17:20-22 He prays:
“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. 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.
I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.”
The same held true in the Old Testament. So often, from the early days of the exodus to the life in the promised land, the ‘entire community’ of Israel was referenced. This applied to sacrifices, curses and blessings. We find many examples of this in the first five books of the Bible and beyond. Some of these examples of this can be found in:
Exodus 16:10
Leviticus 16:17
Returning to the New Testament, we are blessed to see in the Scriptures a glimpse of how the early church built their community around the Gospel of Christ. As they began to go into all the world, they had a unique way of establishing their community. We see a beautiful picture of this in Acts 2:42-27 as well as in many of Paul’s epistles, which were often letters written to the ‘church’ of an entire city; again giving us this idea that there was a body or community of believers. Paul, much like in the Old Testament, gave both praise and rebuke to entire communities. There was an understanding that a problem with one individual was often a symptom (or at least the initial responsibility) of the whole.
Though each individual is ultimately responsible for his or her own actions and relationship with God, there is something unique about the community of believers with whom one is associated. The health and strength of the entire body is intricately affected by individual circumstances.
The Church and Society
This concept of corporate responsibility and care is something that has become very foreign to our society and culture. If then, the church today is able to accomplish this, it makes it very easy for us to become unique and peculiar. It is one way that we can live out our set apart nature and embody that Godly presence; proving to be a loving, generous and benevolent people. In the face of the american dream, where you are to graduate to bigger space, bigger yards, and more distance between you and your neighbors; we instead, build tightly knit communities that are providing and caring for the needs of each other. If the church is truly living out its calling, then we should be providing places where genuine, life-giving community is occurring. It is the base from which all of our service and evangelism should root.
How are we doing? Are we enacting this to its fullest extent? I think that our lack of truly prophetic and revolutionary living in this area is one of the biggest barriers in people coming to know Christ. I believe that many people look at the church and often see it as a place that looks and feels pretty much the same as the rest of the world (with just with more rules to follow). We are not providing an opportunity for community to those who have a burning desire to experience God in a way that is different than the experience the world is giving them. We are far too often merely providing them with a place that looks, tastes, and feels a lot like their typical american life, accented with some spirituality.
If that is true, what kinds of things can we do to turn that trend? This will take creativity. It will take vision, energy, and sacrifice. Next week I will wrap up this series with some of these creative and practical ideas.
Thanks John - looking forward to your post next week!
Leslie
May 23rd, 2008