Previous Post – Cost of Community – Opportunity

We do not follow Jesus alone.  Ever.

We may come to faith individually.  After all, what is sin if not a force that disintegrates the relational connection that was part of God’s design- communion between humanity and God; humanity among itself; individual identity within community; harmony with creation.  Sin cuts us off, isolates us, drives us to hide the nakedness of our broken nature, marring the image of God that we best reflect together in unity.

We also come to the cross as individuals.  Death is the ultimate expression of sins power to separate us from God and others and creation- ultimately the end of self.  Yet, this death to self is the only way to new life.  And when we embrace that new life, it is only through Christ, who conquered sin and death forever.

Don’t miss this!  We are resurrected in Christ.  Our salvation lies in the grace of Jesus making us part of Himself, His very Body.  And it is in the Person of Jesus that we become the fullness of who we are created to be, as one.  Our identities, our vocations, our giftings and visions- all that makes of who we are is reborn into the singular place of the incarnational Church of Jesus Christ.

Such a salvation means that we are no longer our own.  While God is our loving Father who gives only good things to His children, He is also our Lord and Master.  His will, not ours, becomes the guiding direction of our lives.  Everything begins with the purposes of His kingdom, according to His will.  He gives us freedom to choose how we live, but only insofar as we do so within that framework.  And while the freedom is expansive, the life that remains available to us is incomparably costly.

The world would have us think that freedom is a multiplicity of options.  Surrounded by a marketplace culture that plasters itself on every inch of our world, it is all too easy for us to buy into the lie that we are free when we participate in this mass consumption.  Yet every selfish choice- most of which we justify as “our right” to make- binds us in allegiance to a power that does not easily let go.  We find ourselves living beyond our means, struggling with obesity, languishing in lust.  And since everyone else is doing, even in the church, we shrug it off as the new normal.  After all, no body is perfect.  That’s what grace is for, right?

And yet, Jesus makes it abundantly clear that we can serve only one master.  He leaves no room for compromise.  He wants us, all of us, no holds barred.  He even defies the most obvious salesmanship techniques and is deadly honest with us- following Him is going to cost us everything and it is not going to be pleasant a lot of the time.  But He promises us true life in its fullest.

That life is found on the far side of the cross, where we are reborn together as One Body, the Church.  Yet, when we limit our faith to largely personal and private piety, we are camping out on the wrong side of the cross.  We are worshiping Jesus, even acknowledging the sin in our lives that put Him on that cross.  Yet we are not yet following Him.  To follow Christ is to die to self- to the devastating individualism that is corrupting our culture, our churches and our lives- and be reborn together, in community.

There’s nothing romantic about community, as popular as the idea might be these days.  Community sucks.  It is hard.  True community is a place “where the person you like least always is”.  It is hard because it exposes all your selfishness, stubbornness and spite, grinding them down.  And yet, that is what makes community so beautiful- at least through the redemptive power of Christ: We become more of who we were created to be, reflecting Jesus to a watching world, both individually and collectively.

The allegiance demanded- yes, demanded- by Christ is such that we must ask ourselves which other loyalties we must betray.  Such betrayal will make us unappreciated, even hated, in circles political, economic, social and more.  And yet, we will find hope in following Jesus together, encountering Him in ways unimaginable to us.  And in the end, we will be transformed together into His image.