A Call to True Christian Community

I heard a good sermon today. It impacted me to the point where I feel compelled to write about it more and more. Then I remembered, "I have a blog...and I haven't written in it in a month! Perfect!"

John 13:34,35 - "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
A majority of the things I will be talking about find their foundation in this verse. Some things mentioned are borrowed from the pastor I heard them from.

To start things off from there, I'd like to note that perfect love casts out all fear. This is an interesting statement when you take the time to think about how we treat one another relationally, when it comes to the body of Christ. To qualify this statement, John 13:34,35 should be applied when it comes to community within the body of Christ. That means that if you are (or claim to be) a Christian, Jesus is talking to you. If you do not believe in Christ, you are not held to this standard of living at the present time. For Christians, the bible is the rulebook; and we are not exempt from commands therein. This is just one of those commands.

Perfect love casts out all fear. I dare say that I see much fear in the way Christians relate to one another these days. I think individually we fear many different things and therefore we treat relationships as if they were eggs. We hold them in our hands with care and great trembling. I agree with the care part. This verse says that we must do more than care for one another...we must "love" one another.

"I (Jesus) give you a new commandment..."
A command. Seems very straightforward. Let's move on.

"...that you love one another just as I have loved you, you also should love one another."
This begs the question, "How did Jesus love?" He is referencing the way he loved his own disciples as the way they should love each other. Jesus is all in all, so I'm thinking the same thing that you are, "Yeah right! Jesus, that is crazy! I can't love other people like you love me!" I'm thinking that Jesus knows you can't do this on your own; while that is the case the command remains the same.
So how did Jesus love his disciples? He taught them, washed their feet, encouraged them, challenged them, rebuked and corrected them, hoped in them, put His trust in them, send them out on His behalf, spent time with them, forgave them, extended grace to them, and probably many other things I am forgetting.

The disciples were all unique people, just like us. Put in today's language, some were probably more patient than others, while still others may have used more common sense than the rest. As people, we like to love from where we are, and from how we want to be loved. So, if I want you to treat me in a forgiving manner, I will forgive you offenses against me...because I would be a hypocrite otherwise right? This view of Christian relationship; the view that keeps the peace at the expense of reflecting the great love of Christ is a terrible folly of today.

Just today, I had to contact a friend of mine. Now, this friend unknowingly had made a comment that hurt me. It was just a joke, and I knew in my heart that there was no offense to it. But the comment kept bothering me. Isn't that really stupid? I knew better in my head. This is a guy that I know wouldn't speak something like he said to hurt me and with whom I've been in relationship for awhile. Once I finally got to the bottom of the issue I realized that what was bothering me was that he hesitated to "let me in on the joke that was really about me." I could care less that he was joking about me in good fun, but he hesitated when I turned and said, "What was that?" because I honestly didn't hear him the first time. I thought to myself, "Why did he hesitate? Does he think I should somehow be approaching this situation differently or was it just a joke?"
I knew it was probably nothing, but at this point I was not yet excused biblically. I felt hurt. I knew who made the statement that hurt me. It is my responsibility to take that to him because by not telling him, I'm not only prolonging my own hurt and making it worse...but I'm depriving him of the knowledge that what he said could have really hurt me. See, with that knowledge he can be a better friend, a better brother in Christ, a better encourager, a better piece of iron. Without coming forward, I was robbing him of that. Not to mention I would be robbing myself of a full friendship in Christ...which is what this is all about.

On the other side of things, we should all be encouraged by this to challenge one another. To correct with love like that of Christ! It is important to remember that while you are called to do this, you are not called to do it alone (like with so many things). Jesus Christ has given you a helper in His Holy Spirit. We are equipped by the Holy Spirit to correct one another. By that same Holy Spirit we should be equipped to receive correction from one another. These 2 things need to be there in order to grow in Christ and in love for His body. Not to mention how critical it is to allow the Holy Spirit to be facilitating discernment in all these things. This brings us to the final statement of the verse.

"By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, that you have love for one another."
Folks, if you are going to compromise with any part of your Christian faith, let it not be with this part. I would recommend not compromising with any part of your faith, but because we are people and always growing we won't ever have achieved "perfection" while on this earth. Other people will know Christ because of how Christians treat each other. Wow. Suddenly, I am greatly saddened. Today, it is becoming more and more difficult to treat one another with respect, honesty, dignity, integrity, and most of all...without unjustified fear, anger, or indifferent emotions.

To every Christian out there who doesn't think they have work left to do, you are wrong. If you somehow believe that all other purpose has left you...love your friends as Christ loved His disciples. If your friends are not with you anymore, cry out to God for a community that you can love like He loved His disciples and go looking for it. Present a holy example for being in what we refer to as "Christian community." Be men and women of integrity, and uprightness of heart. It is this kind of faithfulness to the "smaller" things that will be credited to you as righteousness. Truly love one another. Don't accept anything less than a biblical relationship. There should be peace in relationship; but not at the expense of conviction, of correction, of encouragement, or of action for Christ. All are important, and only working together do these things put on display the love of Christ for all to see. "A light that shines in the darkness..."