Community Revisited

The community described in Acts 2 basically lists 4 key components found among the community of believers.

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Acts 2: 42

They were devoted to (1) the Apostle's teachings, (2) fellowship, (3) the breaking of bread, and (4) the prayers. The first distinction that has to be made is that a community must involve devoted people, who are devoted to the right things. Many times when we test the vitality of a community, we merely look at the fellowship aspect. We assume that if everyone seems to be bonding well and having fun, the community is healthy. From this passage, we begin to understand that the marks of a healthy community involve components which go beyond good fellowship. There must be devotion to seeking God and seeking his truth out through the Bible. Is the Word being studied, discussed, and lived out within the community? Are members developing an increasing passion for God's Word? There must be devotion to fellowship with other believers. Fellowship is harder than we would like to think. Fellowship is not merely a call to have fun and hang-out, which – by itself – requires a lot of intentionality amongst busy schedules, but fellowship also demands a devotion and desire to reconcile conflict. A devotion to fellowship calls us to mend brokenness between fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Fellowship also calls us to reach out to those in the community who we would not normally hangout with. There are must be a devotion to the communal breaking of bread. Now, I believe that this passage goes beyond merely eating together or having communion together. In the breaking of bread, there are connotations of a feast and celebration. (Asian Americans know the importance of food in any gathering). There are also connotations of thankfulness and remembrance of God's faithfulness. In the Eucharist, Christians remember the grace of God's gift. When we eat, we remember, with grateful hearts, that God has provided. A call to be devoted in the breaking of bread, is a call to communal celebration, thanksgiving, and remembrance of God's grace. A community must be devoted in sharing praises to God together. We must also practice this celebration in the presence of God. In many ways, this type of feast is a foreshadow of the ultimate feast at the throne of God in heaven.

And day by day attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people.

Acts 2: 46-47

Lastly, one of the most neglected components of a healthy community is the presence of devotion to prayer. Prayer sometimes seems like the most wasteful use of time. Nonetheless, prayer is actually one of the most vital and most effective catalysts for community. Prayer acknowledges our total dependency on God and helps us focus our perspective. Also, prayer is an effective means to combat spiritual attack. Any healthy community will encounter concentrated attacks from Satan. We ask God to protect and guard the community which He has so graciously established. Lastly, prayer gives us a focus and a mission which helps unite the community. During cooperate prayer, we are reminded that we are serving and being enabled by one Spirit. Our desires and passions are focused and refined into the common mission of fulfilling God's will.

Because community involves so much more components than people hanging out, an important progression must be understood. A relationship with Christ must first be established before any member could hope to ever fully participate in the community. Non-Christians do not initially join this community then receive Christ. Instead, they must receive Christ before they are able to devote themselves to the community and become a fully engaged member. This special community serves as a witness to non-believers of the love and intimacy found only in knowing God through Jesus Christ. Am I then saying we are not supposed to invite non-believers into this community? No. I'm saying that they will never become a full member nor fully experience the richness of this community until they first and foremost come to know Jesus as Lord. This community is a reflection of family where God is father. No one is part of the family until they are adopted in. While we invite others to join, we, more importantly, must invite others to know Jesus as Lord and savior.

This community also comes at a great cost for many. We return back to the word devoted. I believe that our devotion to this community and family should be the main focus of our lives. Not only did these members devote themselves to the community, they daily met together and invested everything they had into this community.

And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, ...

Acts 2: 44-46

The people of the early church invested everything they had – their lives – into the community. How do we then evangelize to our non-Christian friends? We might fear the if we become to invested in building community among fellow believers that we will eventually become unhealthily exclusive and inward focused. This may happen if we solely focus on “fellowship” as our litmus test for healthiness. First, we must realize that this community requires an extreme amount of devotion. Without utmost intentionality to our commitments, this community will never happen. Christian community is not a separate compartment in our lives. Community is the basis for our lives. Next, we also realize that this community has a mission beyond just the community. We devote ourselves to the Apostle's teaching and the prayers – the Apostle's teaching about what, and the prayer for what? We are taught to proclaim glory to God and to pray for it to happen on earth. Essentially, the community is a vessel which God uses to permeate his kingdom on earth. The main purpose of the community, in short, is to evangelize the Gospel of God's redemptive story. We evangelize as a community. For so long, I have thought of evangelism as individual. However, I have begun to understand that God calls us to evangelize as a community and as individuals in a community. Imagine a group of people praying for the salvation of a friend rather than a single person, and imagine the support which comes from a body of brothers and sisters as someone sums up the courage to share the Gospel to someone. However, we must understand that we are first obligated to the community of believers over our devotion to any other groups or organizations. We are committed to our spiritual brothers and sisters before our earthly families and our non-Christian friends. Sometimes, people realize that they are being drawn away from their friends and old acquaintances and they panic. Let me isolate myself from the community. Instead, let us receive sound wisdom from God's Word, let us be united in mission with our brothers and sisters, let us share and celebrate God's triumphs, and let us pray intently for each other before we set out on our journey. Before we decide to sacrificially set out physically from our community as missionaries to non-believers, let us receive the support of that community. Let us be seriously intent in committing our entire lives to God and to the community he has called us to live out.

This community is ultimately what I like to call the Church, or the universal body of Christians all around the globe. Even in the passage, we see differing levels of community. People met in smaller groups in people's homes, and they met together at the temple. We are given the benefit of differing sizes and shapes of communities. We have a few close friends, a small group bible study, large group gatherings, a college chapter, the local church, a city, and the whole world.