Communities centered around Christ

The last couple of weeks I have been amazed at how God brings people from different backgrounds and cultures,into one body, to grow and to share life with one another. Community was created by God for the building up of the church and to express his glory to a world destroyed by sin. When reading through the Book of Acts a beautiful picture was painted, to show the importance of God centered community in the life of the believer. Acts 2:42-47 says

                2 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe[a] came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

         In this passage I noticed a couple things when it comes to the importance and the call for biblical community. First, community built unity amongst the body, they were constantly breaking bread with one another. While falling in awe with Christ who had died on their behalf, they saw the need of praying with one another and engaging in deep fellowship. Im pretty sure this fellowship involved each individual being transparent about their failures and successes,while propelling each other to deeper fellowship with Christ. The breaking of bread was centered on Christ (because they devoted themselves to the apostles teachings) and because of this centrality on Christ and the gospel, they felt a overwhelming need to share what they had, which leads to my second reason. The community was created so that none was lacking in the body. Since these people probably saw that all they had was a gift from God, they had no problem giving to help the bind stay strong. Gospel driven community is created for us to provide for those in need. If it was clothing,food or finances we are not saved to be on an island worried only about our well-being. Lastly, the importance community was shown through the impact it had on unbelievers. This community sparked a revival, because it trained people to preach truth and because of their faithfulness the lord added to the church daily. The way God's people present themselves to the world should reflect the community in The Trinity and draw people in.

     If you are attempting to walk by yourself,pray and seek Gods face that Godly people will come into your life. And if you think you don't need it, ask God to crush your pride, repent and find yourself actively involved in community. We need to be challenged, encouraged and sharpened by one another. The first church knew that in order for disciples to be built and the message of Christ to be proclaimed to the ends of the earth, that constant community was a must.
    Cherish community,seek for it, and fall more in love with the Father.