Radical Community

We are entering the final stages of Summer and I pray it has been somewhat restful for you and your family. 

This summer in our university life groups we have spent lots of time developing the idea of scriptural community. We wrestled with the passage from Acts 2:42-47 which describes the community which existed in the early church. We asked lots of hard questions and sought to develop deeper community with one another.

One of the things which stood out to me about the group in the book of Acts was the lack of balance in their lives. We spend lots of time and energy focused on making sure our priorities are right. We make sure we balance school, work, family, recreation, church involvement, and kids activities so that we don’t become too overwhelmed. Many of us have to spend time during the year adjusting these priorities and re-balancing these activities as they get out of order.

Here’s the only problem I see - you can’t find that balance anywhere in scripture. I don’t mean the concept of order and good stewardship of our time isn’t in the Bible. Those concepts are everywhere. God calls us to steward well the things which He has given and our time is no exception. I also don’t mean that the Bible calls us to be exhausted because we are involved in everything possible.

What I do mean is as you search the scriptures, particularly in the passages in Acts which speak of community, you don’t find a group of people with divided interests. They are not trying to figure out how much time to spend “at church” and with “church people” and how much time to spend elsewhere. Let’s read Acts 2: 42 and find out what I’m talking about.

That day about three thousand took him at his word, were baptized and were signed up. They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers. (Acts 2:42 MSG)

They were focused totally and completely on the gospel and one another. When we check this with other scriptures we find Jesus telling us to, “seek first the Kingdom of God”. When He calls His disciples He doesn’t call them to a life of balance, He calls them to a life of abandonment.

Again, I’m not saying this means we are supposed to be involved in everything possible to the point of exhaustion. This is a heart issue. The question this forces us to answer is, at the core of us, are we committed to Christ and His bride or are they simply part of our balanced lives?

This has certainly brought conviction in my life. If I’m honest, most of the people I’m deeply committed to in the body of Christ are those who are like me and don’t cause me much frustration. It’s the ones I get along with and agree with most of the time. Problem is, they are not the only ones I’m in covenant commitment with. I’m in covenant with all of you as we seek to glorify Christ in all our lives.

Let’s take a look at our commitment to one another. We are not a social group or a country club. We are a family with deep connection in the blood of our Savior. Our lives shouldn’t be balanced. They should be singularly focused on Christ and His Kingdom and as a product of that we should be radically committed to one another. Everything else in our lives should simply be a means to glorify Christ.

I pray this helps as you seek to establish an unbalanced life.

Shalom,