Wednesday's Words of Wisdom

"It is easily forgotten that the fellowship of Christian brethren is a gift of grace, a gift of the Kingdom of God that any day may be taken from us, that the time that still separates us from utter loneliness may be brief indeed.  Therefore let him who until now has had the privilege of living a common Christian life with other Christians praise God’s grace from the bottom of his heart.  Let him thank God on his knees and declare: It is grace, nothing but grace, that we are allowed to live in community with other Christian brethren."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Community

Doug Wolter passes along these great thoughts on community from Chad Nuss of Christos Church in Jeffersontown, KY:

Church community consists of people that are very different, who sin against each other, who don’t like each other from time to time, who do all kinds of bad, hypocritical things–yet they stick together because the call to Christian community is to learn how to die to ourselves for the sake of the Gospel, for the sake of the church, for the sake of community, and for the sake of the glory of God.

Our enjoyment of community does not primarily come from how much we like each other, but from how much we are being rescued from destroying each other by the Gospel! The overflow of joy in the Gospel is joy in each other because we can look at each other and announce the Gospel to each other–the very Gospel that forgives us of sin and helps very different people with very different backgrounds with very different sinful tendencies with very different agendas, frustrations, and preferences come together around a common Savior.

Christian Community

I came across a great quote today. It was in a book that was citing another author's citation of this quote by yet another person. I know virtually nothing about R.H. Tawney, the person who originally said it. He might be the greatest theologian ever or he might have been a first rate heretic. Whatever he believed about anything else though, he got this one right:

"The man who seeks God in isolation from his fellows is likely to find, not God, but the devil, who will bear an embarrassing resemblance to himself. "

Two important points here:

1. What we won't find...If we seek to find God apart from others, we will most likely not find Him. This is because God has created us to live in community. The Church is not just a bunch of individuals who happen to be Christians. Rather the Church is the Body of Christ. Your pain should be my pain and likewise your joys. We are called to reflect for a watching world that God who has existed in the perfect communion of the Holy Trinity from time eternal.
2. What we will find...Most likely we will find something other than God, be it the devil or some idol that we have unduly elevated. Instead of us reflecting God, our god ends up looking a lot like us. I am reminded of Anne Lamott's observation, "You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do."

It may not always be pleasant or easy. We might not like what we hear if people are truly honest with us. But may we all have people in our lives to whom we give the access and the freedom to be used by God to shape and mold us into who He wants us to be. After all, I as I read in a Good Book once, "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another."