I went to a local worship gathering this past Sunday. The topic was about Community. And while the message was fair and well outlined in my "interactive" program, the concepts of community that were presented, really never left the surface to plunge deeper into the meaning behind the truth of the text.
It wasn't the ability of the communicator, I have heard this guy speak many times and is a gifted communicator, it was the depth of the content. He did a good job of listing out some of the advantages of being in a community group (trust, practical support, identity, etc). But I still walked away wanting more. WHY do we NEED community? WHAT does TRUE Christian community really look like?
Part of the text that was used of course was Acts 2:42-44.
"And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And Awe (or fear) came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common." (emphasis mine)
As I read this passage during his talk the words emphasized above seemed to stare back at me from the page.....devoted.....the fellowship.......all things in common. So naturally my mind started asking questions.
What does it look like to be DEVOTED to the apostles' teachings (the gospels)? This seems to tie in with true discipleship. The discipleship that Jesus asks of each of us who claim to be his followers. It is the same steadfast commitment his disciples gave to Him when they were physically here on earth. Jesus asks us to "come, follow me" (Matt. 4:17-20, Mark 1:16-18, Luke 5:27-28, John 1:35-44). If you read the text it is interesting to note that they ALL left EVERYTHING behind, literally they dropped their fishing nets, their abacus, what they were doing on the spot, and walked away, following Jesus. Why/ What drew them so strongly?
What does it look like to be DEVOTED to THE FELLOWSHIP. Fellowship here is the Greek word koinōnia. Which is used in the bible to connect association, participation, and communion with others in a group. To have intimacy. To share which one has in anything. The text seems to imply that the word fellowship here, in context, has a deeper meaning. Luke (the author of Acts) is not merely referring to a small group of people getting to together to have finger food and talk about fantasy football and Brittany Spear's performance at the MTV Music Awards. Or whatever was the equivalent cultural trends at the time.
There IS a deeper meaning to fellowship here. It is more than simply hanging out, building trust, providing practical support, or finding sought after identity. Don't get me wrong, I believe these are good things that come out of any healthy, functioning group of people, but they are not (and should not be in my opinion) the main purpose of a Christian fellowship. They are only natural byproducts of ANY community, but they are not the central nucleus that creates them.
Furthermore, this level of byproduct production can occur with just about any group of people with a "common nucleus".....nascar fans, fantasy football leagues, hunting and fishing gurus, golf gluttons, scrap-booking buddies, blogging addicts, etc, etc. If a group of people develop relationships through a common interest then they will naturally hang out with each other, trust each other, support each other and most importantly identify with each other. But what is Luke really teaching us here????
In this passage, I believe Luke is pointing us to Jesus as the nucleus of the fellowship (community). And after reading the gospels I am convinced that Jesus was about more than social gatherings. So what does it REALLY look like today to be in fellowship? How do we have TRUE fellowship that moves beyond the superficial lies we tell each other while we stand there munching on our finger food? Why can't most of us move past this and tap into Jesus as our nucleus? Do we not know how?
What does it mean to have EVERYTHING IN COMMON? Everything? Could Luke possible be writing literally here!?!? Maybe. After all, these disciples had GIVEN UP EVERYTHING to follow Jesus! So, maybe that's what they had in common. They all choose to strip themselves (literally and figuratively) of every thing that identified them on this earth and the only thing they chose to identify with was their commitment to following Jesus, the teaching of the apostles (disciples), and to the fellowship. So they had Nothing in common and Everything in common at the same time.
I am wrestling with this. My community that I am in seems to be teetering on the edge of plunging deeper, yet we seem to be captivated by something floating on the surface that prevents us from committing. We seem bound by a false sense of DNA. Like there is some genetic combination of features that prevents us from allowing ourselves to have true fellowship that Luke writes about in Acts. We don't know why this DNA is there, and most of the time we don't know it IS there. I don't think we are any different than most, which is both encouraging and SAD at the same time.
Maybe it's because we are holding on to our nets too tight and we can't let go and truly DEVOTE ourselves to the apostles' teachings, because our nets bring us security.....
Maybe it's because the thought of committing ourselves to THE FELLOWSHIP is overwhelming because that would mean we would have to be real and stop lying, be vulnerable and stop posing, be honest with each other and stop enabling....and frankly I think that scares the hell out of most!
Maybe it's because we are so distracted by trying to balance the busyness of our lives that we really don't have EVERYTHING IN COMMON. We work so hard to identify ourselves with titles, possessions, relationships, accomplishments, etc. that we are blind to what really needs our focus. So, the sad reality is that we probably don't have very much in common at all. I don't think any of us want this, but most don't know how to change it. Or again are scared to.
We still seem to trust, support and identify with each other. But if that is all a "community group" is suppose to do....well we can get that just about anywhere. There has to be something deeper. Something more....devoted.....the fellowship.......everything in common! It's somewhere in there.
What about you?
