Connect to Community
Psalm 133:1-3; 1 Corinthians 12:12-18, 21-26
Each individual must decide to have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We celebrate that personal choice. Some people can be led into a “Jesus-and-me” mindset, believing that as long as they have a relationship with Christ, they don’t need a community.
But each individual who commits to Christ becomes a part of the church, the community of believers the Bible describes as the family of God. God did not intend for us to be alone; rather, God created us to belong to this community Paul called the body of Christ.
Paul’s metaphor illustrates two essential facts about Christian community. While each part of the body differs in purpose, each member must fulfill its purpose in unity with the rest of the body for it to function properly. We know that a body can function without all its parts, but it has to compensate for what it lacks.
Each individual part cannot find and fulfill its purpose if it is not connected to the body. A hand by itself does nothing. Only when it is connected to the body can it touch, hold, and give as God intended. The church needs you if it is to function fully, and you need the church if you are going to be all God intends for you to be.
In his book “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years,” Donald Miller recounts the journal of Victor Frankl, Australian psychologist and holocaust survivor.
In the midst of meaningless suffering in the concentration camp, Frankl helped hopeless victims choose life over suicide by focusing on the people of which they were a part.
By finding purpose to their suffering, these men continued to struggle knowing their individual tragedies were part of a greater story that would lead to redemption (p. 196). Frankl inspired them to see themselves as “a tree in a story about a forest” (Miller, p. 198).
As a community of believers, God calls us to focus on others, not self. God cares for us as individuals, but is actively working to redeem all of humanity. By working within the body, we are both encouraged and encouragers as we allow God to unfold His story of redemption through us.
And what is community’s value? The psalmist describes community as a soothing ointment, refreshing water and a source of life’s blessing. As the community of God, diverse yet unified, we find refreshment and blessing. It is God’s blessing.
Scudder– Lessons in the BSL series for the fall quarter are being written by Steve Scudder, director of missions for Savannah River Association since 2006.