Community

Introduction

You are a loving people. You demonstrate your care for each other consistently. You are not perfect in your love, but you are consistent and I’m not sure there is much more that can be expected. Painfully, there are times that someone leaves us because they felt unloved. Such an event reminds us that we aren’t perfect. Without being defensive we have to learn to get better at loving each other and we have to learn that everyone matters not just the outgoing. Tough lessons to learn but necessary. I am quickly ending this series on “Dumb Things Christians Believe.” Tonight has to do with how we treat others. And I wanted you to know on the front end that while there is always room for improvement, you are a loving people. So my words are not intended to be critical but to serve as reminders of the ideal which we still need to move toward.

Cultural Influence

Few would argue the point that culture affects us. We are very much tied to our culture. Such would be the case if we lived in any other nation of the world. Culture helps to define us. One might say with equal pride “I am an American; or I am an Italian or I am Cambodian or I am Vietnamese” or any other cultural designation. Being an American is different from any other nationality. Culture helps to define us. Yet we wear the designation of another country as well—Christian and citizenship in that culture supersedes all other cultural designations. For it is in the name of Jesus that people of all languages, customs, and cultures can unite into one body. So our heavenly citizenship with Christ takes precedence over our earthly citizenship with a nation.

One of the world’s influences which crosses all cultures and has found its way into our thinking is selfishness. Some cultures are better than others in learning to share, but Americans do a good job being selfish. Such should not be in the kingdom of God. Let me show you how this selfishness creeps into the language and thinking of Christians in America. In America we are encouraged to pursue two things: happiness and individual rights. Individual rights becomes the banner of complaints. “He violated my rights.” “You don’t have the right to tell me what to do.” In Christian thought this pursuit of rights finds its way into our thinking so that we end up loving God and hating people. As a friend told me years ago, “I’ve been treated better by people in the world than by my own brothers.” So this call for rights enters into the Christian mindset.

“I am not having my needs met” says a person who is either leaving, thinking about leaving, or wanting things to change. That statement is really a reminder to us all that my rights are important and in fact more important than yours. And so in a large church market like Memphis we find it easy to church shop looking for a church that meets our needs. And we find it easy to walk away from one place because my needs aren’t being met. Have you ever kind of dissected that saying “I want my needs met.” Isn’t it interesting how we find words to justify our selfishness by using a word like “needs” which gives us permission to break relationships and to pursue selfishness. We have become too worldly. Even if you stay at a congregation a long time, the cultural belief of “needs” creeps in.

This heightened sense of self and individual rights is of this world. It isn’t biblical. Frankly, the hardest part of all of this is to rediscover what it means to be a community of believers rather than individuals who assemble from time to time. Our culture demands, expects, and encourages individualistic tendencies. Not so in the kingdom of God. And living as we do in our culture we are going to have to continually fight against our culture. We are not apt to change our culture, but it will be a constant struggle to choose kingdom thinking rather than worldly thinking.

Do not misunderstand. God affirms the individual and the community. But our individuality finds its meaning inside community. Read 1 Corinthians 12 carefully. Each member of my body has a special form and function, but rip it out of my body and it’s just dead meat. In God’s thinking there is interdependence. Not dependence in which only the community matters. Nor is there to be independence in which only the individual matters. There is instead interdependence—individuals who find their meaning in community. Our planet demonstrates this interdependent system. The ecosystem needs every component. God is the one who created such an interdependent system. And when he created the church in his mind this is what he intended. “God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be” (1 Corinthians 12:18).

Every relationship has a purpose. Difficult people, unwanted people, loving people, all people have meaning within the body. No one just walks into your life without God having some reason for it, or without having something to learn from it or having something to contribute to it. Our culture clamors for individualism, but God calls for community. The more populated our cities become, the more difficult it is for relationships to form. Alvin Toffler in his book “Future Shock” wrote that urbanization is the end of community. The more people crammed together in smaller spaces does not make for more community. More people means more madness and greater desire for privacy. Toffler coined the phrase “modular relationships” to define what he meant. The phrase means that we connect and disconnect from people like a plug and wall socket. When we need something, we plug in. When we don’t need anything, we unplug. No love lost. After all, my needs come first.

Ralph Keyes in his book “We the Lonely People” reflects on the loss of community. He says, “Community is a national obsession. But we want other things more. Not getting involved with the neighbors is worth more to us than community. We yearn for a simpler, more communal life; we sincerely want more sense of community. But not at the sacrifice of any advantages that mass society has brought, even ones we presumably scorn. I could find a mom and pop store if I really wanted one, but I don’t. I prefer a supermarket’s prices and selection. We crave anonymity.” Is Keyes right? Have we gotten to the point where as John McKay, former football coach at USC and later on the professional level, once said, “The neighbors are perfect. I don’t know any of them.” We live in a mobile society. We don’t stay long in one place. Relationships have to be formed quickly but not too deeply because we know we are moving on.

Such is our society, but that does not relieve us from God’s call to community. Look back at Acts 2. The early Christians understood community. They devoted themselves to fellowship or to the shared life. We have tried to standardize Acts 2 as if there is some formula to follow for our assembly time. Preaching, praying, Lord’s Supper, and fellowship and we have almost all the elements of worship. This isn’t a formula; it is a reporting about what the early Christians emphasized. They emphasized the shared life by selling goods and possessions and meeting physical needs. They emphasized community. They were as committed to each other as they were to Jesus.

Here’s the dilemma. The world calls us to selfishness; to make sure our needs are met; to practice individualism. God calls us to community. It is easier to think like the world. It is far more difficult to listen and follow God’s call. It is harder to practice community because it means that we have to think about others as much as we think about ourselves. Philip Yancey in a brief editorial entitled “Why I Attend a Small Church” says he attends a small church “because I can’t choose my own friends.” It is going to take some radical spiritual surgery for us to commit ourselves to community rather than individuality. But this is what God calls us to. Where do we begin? Prayer. Repentance. Commitment. Small Groups. Selling some goods and possessions. You tell me. Where do we start? One thing is for sure. We can’t ignore God’s plan and desire without consequences. God’s call for community is not optional. I feel the tension and so do you. So where do we go from here? Talk to me. Talk to others. But let’s not talk too long. God is calling us and I’m not sure debate is one of the options. Prayer.

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