Christian Community

If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care—then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. (Philippians 2:3-4 MSG)

What have each of us gained from following Christ? If you begin to list all the 'physical' blessings, that is one thing, but when you consider all the spiritual and emotional blessings that puts a very specific light on what he has done in us. We are made new, feeling the refreshment of his life within us where only death permeated every aspect of our lives. We are brought into a huge family of believers, giving us both the freedom to learn from each other, but also the encouragement to be accountable to one another so that growth is the outcome. We enjoy an emotional 'balance' unlike what we could achieve on our own, with Christ's Spirit helping us to recognize when those emotions are leading us astray and how to overcome their incessant pull into 'instability' once again. 

The difference is love - his love at work in us, moving through us, mercies anew each and every day. The impetus for change is his love - it begins in love, is matured in love, and is shared in love amongst others who need to experience his grace. We might have been less inclined toward 'goodness' and 'kindness' before Christ came into our lives, but once his Spirit takes up residence within us the urgency to change how we have viewed and perhaps treated others also begins to niggle at our conscience.  Learning to live in a community of believers may not be the easiest thing for those of us who had lived as 'loners' in this world - finding our own way, making our own 'success', and even forming our own rules to live by. We find that community brings accountability, and that can be scary for those who have lived life on their own terms!

In his kingdom, there is no 'pushing one's way to the top' in order to gain an 'advantage' over the next guy. We are equally sinners, equally in need of a Savior, equally growing in grace, while maybe not developing the same commitment to truth as we should. As one who has been both on the leading and following end of this Christian walk, I can say those who have 'pushed me forward' have made a huge difference in how my walk with Jesus has progressed. Those who were rather lackadaisical in their own walk with him have done little to propel me forward in my growth, but perhaps I have been an example they could follow along the way. This is Christian community at its best - leading and following, following and leading, growing together as one. Before you ever discount the blessing of a community of believers, recall your individual blessings, then begin to find out how another has experienced those blessings. You may be surprised to see how very similar blessings can produce such different results in the lives of those who gather together in community! Just sayin!