COMMUNITY: THE CONTEXT FOR CHANGE

VIDEO MESSAGE: GOSPEL IN LIFE 4 

SPEAKER: TIM KELLER 
SUNDAY SERVICE 21 JULY 2013


God’s purpose in history is to forge a new community that will glorify his name. This new community is referenced in 1 Peter 2:19

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

HOLY NATION – To be holy means to be set apart, distinct, different. The world sees what it means to live under the kingship of Jesus. And by exhibiting different values and a distinct way of life we point others to Jesus.

ROYAL PRIESTHOOD – Priests do not so much bring God to the people. As mediators, priests bring people to God. This role implies being deeply involved in people’s life in order that some may be led to Jesus.

God’s people are therefore different from the world, but for the world’s sake.  They are also called to be deeply involved in the lives of the people living in the world.

Why is community so important?

You cannot know God apart from community. 

A relationship with God always leads to a closer  relationship with God’s community, a new ‘humanity.’  If we are present each Sunday but are not engaged, we are not in community at all, but merely being present in a crowd.

You cannot change deeply apart from community.

All our relationships will be changed when the Gospel touches us deeply. It is possible to have a great spiritual experience and yet remain unchanged because we are not in community with God’s people.

Passages such as Romans 12:9-21 tell us how commitment to community will lead us to exhibit the following Gospel values. This and the “one another/each other” verses (eg, Eph 4:2) in the Bible  show us Gospel-shaped people form deep community, and how only in community will the Gospel be allowed to shape us.

You cannot win the world apart from community.

We often think the community’s work is to declare the message of the Gospel. Yet, the community is in reality a declaration of the Gospel as well. 

I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. John 17:22

Previously as unbelievers, a person’s relationship to things and other people is self-centred and for personal interest. A person who is shaped by the Gospel now relates to things and others for their own sake. For example, money, sex, power are no longer sought as ends in themselves but as life-giving things.  

May God help us grow in faith and in community to the glory of His Name!