God's Grace in Community

On May 31, 2014, I moved my apartment into storage.
On June 6, 2014, I moved the final bits of my classroom into storage.
On June 7, 2014, I boarded a plane to Tulsa, OK, the first leg of my journey away from my Charlotte home.

I left many things in Charlotte - clothes, shoes, a hooded dryer (I should try to get that back), teaching supplies, books, files, a job. Temporarily, I left my TV, laserjet printer and my car. Some I've gotten back, some I knew I was leaving for good.

I also left community. The hardest thing to leave. Beautiful Christian community. 

Community that knows, accepts and loves you anyway - a knowledge built over years.
Community that wants you around and sees all the good God has placed in you and is uncovering day by day. 
Community that aids in the sometimes painful process of peeling away the filth to get to the gold. Community that celebrates you publicly on special occasions and quietly for the simple acts of faithful service, or just being yourself. 
Community that sees your strengths and spurs you on towards great works.
Community that serves you and rallies around to meet your needs.
Community that prays for you and over you - the best gift.
Community that comforts you, holding your hand, talking you through and just being there. With you. In it.
Community that walks with you through decision making and encourages the wisdom and direction God has given.
Community that invites you over and comes to see you.
Community that laughs with you. Then cries with you.
Community that has not just gotten to know you, but has let you into their lives for mutual upbuilding.
Community that never wants to see you go, but pushes you to walk in the path God has ordered.
Community that hugs you tight, then sends you on your way, expecting a fruitful report.

I had this community from my work relationships, friendships, but most strongly from my church. God gave me this beautiful gift that I didn't even know I needed. In fact, I had never experienced such grace. 

I knew that God wanted me in Durham, so He would be my provider. Not just physically, but for my spiritual and emotional deficiencies as well. He promises to give me all things I need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Christ. His plan is to make me like Christ, and He most certainly uses the Church in that sanctifying work.

But I'm moving away from my community.
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

But I only know a handful of people in Durham, and half aren't Christians.
And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

One of my prayers (and the prayers of countless others for me) was that God would send me beautiful Christian community in my new home. A church home. Somewhere to grow, give and serve. Somewhere to be built up and to be challenged. Strong friendships built on the Truth.

I look around one year later and God has answered that prayer far more than I could have imagined. 
Friendships at work. Community group from church. Beautiful random Monday night girls group. And all the other relationships I had before. They never left, never dissolved, just were supplemented. God has truly supplied my needs.

I am so grateful that these relationships aren't superficial. God calls us to bear one another's burdens, to walk in peace, to have brotherly affection for one another. God is a relational God, relating to Himself within the Trinity and with us. He requires us to have a vertical relationship with Him and horizontal relationships with one another. The one thing God called "not good" in creation was when man was alone. And the striking thing about this fact is that man wasn't alone. He had God, right there, in his face, walking in the garden with him. Yet God knew He had created man to be in community with other people also. God's grace is sufficient, but God graces us with relationships. He uses those relationships to conform us to the image of Christ and to prepare us for the perfectly reconciled sin-free relationships we will experience for all eternity with Him. When Proverbs speaks of ironing sharpening iron, it implies that the iron gets close - close enough to press and scrape and refine. 

This first year in Durham has been an interesting one to say the least. God has been doing some refining. God has given me the grace to open my life to key people to aid in this scraping and pressing. 

This is the key. We have to get close. We have to make ourselves vulnerable to other believers so that God can use them to complete His good work in us and in them. We have to be transparent. Is it risky? Of course. But Jesus did a pretty risky thing to bring us into relationship with the Father. In this fallen world, people will hurt us and we will hurt them. That is what takes faith. It takes no faith to guard yourself and your life from everyone while shouting "Jesus is enough!" In fact, in that way you are simply trying to protect yourself and not allowing God to be your protector. You are trying to protect yourself from being close, being known. But how will the iron get sharpened locked carefully away in the closet? Or on display set high on the shelf? Solomon tells us two are better than one and a cord of three strands aren't easily broken. God uses His community to meet our needs and aid in sanctification.

It won't be easy. But it will be fruitful when done in the power of the Lord. God is a god of reconciliation. For that purpose, He sent Christ to reconcile the world to Himself. He has now given us that ministry in evangelism and in our Christian relationships. Jesus tells us to forgive one another. Jesus prays that we would be unified, having one mind. Jesus didn't send us alone. He literally sent His disciples out in pairs. The Holy Spirit has organized the body of Christ as He saw fit, where we all need and rely on each other. 

Community is so incredibly vital for the Christian. We live in an individualistic, independent society, where we think we can do it, make it, handle it all on our own. When we become Christians, we often change that mantra slightly to we can do it, make it, handle it all on our own - with Jesus. But in practice, it's the same. Because Jesus is calling us into relationships and interdependence with one another. The way the world will know we are His is by our love for one another. And love takes closeness and work!

Consider how you can engage more deeply with Christ's body.
How can you be transparent with other believers?
How can you show your gratefulness to the Body God has placed in your life?
How can you take the risk and cast aside any fears of being hurt to embrace the beauty of Christian community?

Thank you God that you don't leave us in that "not good" state, but that You provide exactly what we need in other believers. You are good. We can trust You to protect us, so we don't have to protect ourselves. You are our rock, shield and refuge. Because You have done the great work of reconciling us to God, we can stand in Your power and be reconciled to others. Thank you for Your Church. Thank you for choosing us to be a part of Your Church. May we never take her for granted. Amen.