When you hear us talk about the kingdom expanding, it is easy to picture the kingdom as a blob: some kind of spiritual, formless structure that envelops all it comes in contact with. It is not an abstract mass of Christians unknown to each other. Rather the Kingdom of Christ is made up of thousands of Messianic communities. And that is what I want us to focus on tonight: our vision for the church as community. What would you do if someone came in your house when you were watching TV, pulled the plug on it, and told you and your family to leave you home and follow him? Most of us would balk, but that is what Jesus has done. He invaded our lives without us asking and changed our allegiance. He brought us into His community and commanded us to live unto Him.
But it is hard to communicate what community is in modern times. We live in neighborhoods and suburbs and don’t have community. We have no need to know our neighbors apart from kindness. That being said, the community of Christ looks more like a medieval village, with each family playing an important role in the life of the village. Each member would have a specific role to play: a cobbler, farmers, a blacksmith, etc. If one of them failed in his role, the entire village suffered Paul calls us a body (I Corinthians 12:12-14 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many.) Each part plays a different role, but we are united together by Christ. We should rejoice in this, but we are prisoners of modernity and it’s sinful step-child – individualism. Our country prides itself on (more…)