Mission – That’s Why Community Matters
This will be the last post in the “Why Community Matters” series. We’ve looked at how our longing for relationship and true community is a mark of being created in the image of the Triune God, and we’ve seen how the reconciliation that Jesus offers his people through the cross is good news for those adopted into his family. Last week we briefly saw our responsibility to both disciple – and be discipled by – one another.
Now, we are going to look at an often overlooked aspect of Christian community. God’s people, His church, have been given a very real and weighty commission to go and make disciples. And from the Old Testament, to Peter’s Letters, to Jesus’ direct teachings, we cannot help but conclude that our life together-in-community is meant to be a powerful testimony to the truth of the gospel. Christian community matters because it is critical to our mission of spreading the fame and name of Jesus.
Israel was called to be a blessing to the nations (Genesis 18:18-19). They were called to be a distinctive nation – a priestly kingdom among nations (Exodus 19:6). The result? Worship from nations who did not yet know God: upon receiving the Law, Moses challenged the Israelites to “Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.' For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?” (Deuteronomy 4:5-8). Chris Wright commented that “God’s message of redemption through Israel was not just verbal; it was visible and tangible. They, the medium, were themselves part of the message.”
Peter picks up the same language from Exodus when describing the church in 1 Peter 2:9-10, a priestly kingdom. And in a similar way, he shows that the life of the congregation invokes praise to God from those who don’t yet know God, “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation” (1 Peter 2:24).
Jesus says that it is by our love for one another that all people will know that we are his disciples (John 13:35) – our love for one another reveals our true identity and the gospel that gives us that identity. And as we all know, love does not exist in a vacuum. It exists in relationships.
Similarly, Jesus prays that we would have unity so that the world may believe that the Father has sent the Son. “The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” (John 17:20-23). It is our unity with one another that shows the world that Jesus is the real deal, the authentic, loving God. Again, unity does not exist in a vacuum. It exists in relationships. Francis Schaeffer concluded that: “Our relationship with each other is the criterion the world uses to judge whether our message is truthful. Christian community is the ultimate apologetic.”
People are often attracted to the Christian community before they are attracted to the message of the gospel. That’s not surprising, because when we reflect the Trinitarian community, we are showing the world the way things are meant to be – a place of love, hope, purpose, forgiveness, belonging, and joy. Sinful and imperfect as they are, God uses our communities to give the world a glimpse of heaven.