I thought this too good and valuable to not pass along to others:
I was raised in the "Jesus and me" privatized, individualized Christianity of the fundamentalism of the '60s and '70s. The closest our church got to an actual, functioning, ministry-oriented body of Christ was a rare pastoral visit and the Wednesday night prayer meeting. No one knew my father and mother - I mean, really knew them. No one had a clue what was going on in our home. No one helped my father to see through the blindness that allowed him to live a double life of skilled deception and duplicity. No one knew how troubled my mother was beneath her encyclopedic knowledge of Scripture. No one knew. We were a Christian family in active participation in a vibrant church, but what we were involved in lacked one of the primary and essential ingredients of healthy New Testament Christianity: a trained, mobilized, and functioning body of Christ. It was Christianity devoid of Ephesians 4, 1 Corinthians 12, and Hebrews 3:12-13.Simply put, sanctification is a community project. We hurt ourselves, our families, and others when we disobey (yes, you heard that right) Christ's command to regularly meet together for the purpose of stirring one another up by way of gospel-centered encouragement.
For much of my Christian life and a portion of my ministry, I had no idea that my walk with God was a community project. I had no idea that the Christianity of the New Testament is distinctly relational, from beginning to end. I understood none of the dangers inherent in attempting to live the Christian life on my own. I had no awareness of the blinding power of sin. I had no idea that I was living outside of God's normal means of sightedness, encouragement, conviction, strength, and growth. I had no idea how much consumerism and how little participation marked the body of Christ. I had no idea of the importance of the private ministry of the Word to the health of the believer. I had no idea.
I have now come to understand that I need others in my life. I know that I need to commit myself to living in intentionally intrusive, Christ-centered, grace-driven, redemptive community. I now know it's my job to seek this community out, to invite people to interrupt my private conversation, and to say things to me that I couldn't or wouldn't say to myself. I have realized how much I need warning, encouragement, rebuke, correction, protection, grace, and love. I now see myself as connected to others, not because I have made the choice, but because of the wise design of the One who is the Head of the body, the Lord Jesus Christ. I cannot allow myself to think that I am smarter than Him. I cannot allow myself to thing that I am stronger than I am. I cannot assign to myself a level of maturity that I do not have. I cannot begin to believe that I am able to live outside of God's normal means of spiritual growth and be okay. I cannot allow the level of my spiritual health to be defined by my ministry experience and success, or by my theological knowledge. I cannot let myself think that my marriage can be healthy if I live in functional isolation from the body of Christ.
Since, as one who has remaining sin still inside of him, it is right to say that the greatest danger in my life exists inside of me and not outside of me, then wouldn't it also be the height of naivety or arrogance to think that I would be okay left to myself?
Having said all of this, it is my grief to say that individualized, privatized Christianity still lives in people who have forged a life that is live above or outside the body of Christ.
The body, with every part functioning properly as a unit (see Ephesians 4:16), is Christ's idea. So let us be humble enough to recognize and admit that He knows better, go against our feelings and propensities to isolate ourselves when the going gets tough, and actively seek out (yes, you must do it) a community of uncomfortable grace. This is how it works, whether we like it or not.
Dear reader, are you involved and integrated into such a community? It is not enough to show up on Sunday, download some facts, and then leave to go live out your own little life for the other 99% of the week.
May God grant us these kind of communities, where we are transformed together into the image of Christ, for His honor and glory in this world.
Rbac
