Community
Read Hebrews 10: 19-25 and Acts 2, especially verses 42-47
Pray that the Lord will open your mind and heart to hear His voice.
How do we love Jesus through community?
There’s a Greek word, κοινωνία (koinōnia) that brings together multiple aspects of fellowship. While “fellowship” is a delightful word, American English cannot fully develop the Ancient Greek nuances of κοινωνία. Acts 2 paints a picture of physical fellowship: learning together, enjoying meals, sharing belongings, and praising joyfully even in the middle of trauma and chaos. The early church members needed each other to survive, but by meeting each others’ needs they experienced great joy. This part of κοινωνία looks like family, and that is what we are as brothers and sisters in Christ.
Although diverse in ethnic, political, cultural, and religious background, κοινωνία brings people together in loving Jesus. We are a community of like-minded believers by the redemptive power of God’s love in and through Jesus. When we treat each other with generosity and gladness, our demonstrative joy will testify that our faith is grounded in something real. By our service to one another, we build a community that the Lord will add to day by day. We remember our common spiritual heritage every time we take communion. We live out our κοινωνία when we bring meals to the sick among us or share our resources when someone in the church community has a need. We participate in the lives of our community, not just on Sunday, but every day.
Our Christian community may be family, but κοινωνία looks deeper and wider than the local church. We have κοινωνία with Jesus himself through suffering. We have κοινωνία in the Spirit when we pray thoughts that cannot be uttered. We have κοινωνία when we partner with others to spread the gospel in a dark and broken world. Paul reminded the Corinthians that the cup of blessing that we bless is also participation in the blood of Christ and the bread we break is participation in the body of Christ. He added, “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread” (1 Corinthians 10:17). The fellowship of community extends beyond the local church to the Church universal, a family of ultimate diversity united in the One True God.
Journal a response of gratitude to the Father for His family, the Church.
For further reflection, contemplate Romans 12
Defaulting to Grace 