Live and Serve in Community
What if true community isn't just about connection but confession, commitment, and Christ at the center? This blog explores the difference between treating people like commodities and embracing them as companions on the journey of grace.
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Walking in the Light
5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
Christ Methodist Core Values
A Mission Statement describes our ultimate objective, which is to glorify God and make disciples of all peoples.
A Vision Statement describes our long-term aspirations as we fulfill the mission of glorifying God and making disciples of all peoples. It also provides a clear picture of what effectiveness will look like in the future.
Conversely, Core Values represent the fundamental beliefs and principles that guide our behavior, culture, and decision-making. Additionally, they define how we interact with each other, our city, and the world.
Our Mission and Vision Statements are about our future—where we want to go.
Core Values are about the present—what we stand for and how we operate in our lives together.
We’ll examine the fifth and final Core Value: Live and Serve in Community.
A Spiritual Warning Sign
In August 1969, Hurricane Camille made landfall on the Gulf Coast with winds over 205 mph and waves topping 28 feet—the strongest storm on record at the time. About twenty people in Pass Christian, Mississippi, decided to ride it out in the Richelieu Apartments, a three-story beachfront building just 250 feet from the shore. They threw a “hurricane party” as the storm approached.
Police Chief Jerry Peralta arrived hours before landfall, urging them to evacuate. A man with a drink in his hand waved from a second-floor balcony as others laughed off the warning. “This is my land,” one shouted. “If you want me off, you’ll have to arrest me.” Peralta didn’t arrest anyone, but he wrote down the names of their next of kin before leaving.
At 10:15 PM, Camille came ashore. By morning, nothing was left of the building but its foundation. Nearly everyone inside perished. The only survivor was a five-year-old boy, found the next day clinging to a mattress.
Sadly, people often ignore warning signs and instead feel content to live the way that makes them feel the most comfortable. Spiritually speaking, it’s never okay to ignore warning signs and walk away from God.
The Apostle John understood this reality, so he so passionately proclaimed in I John 1:1-4 that the gospel is rock-solid. He witnessed its birth with his own eyes, which is why he declared it must be the foundation for everything that we stand upon. But notice the way he stated we are to stand upon it:
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are witnesses of these things so that our joy may be complete.” 1 John 1:1-4
John accentuates that when a life is in Christ, it is unto fellowship with God and one another. He reminds us that as believers, one of the most significant things in life is fellowship, not only with God but also with the people around us. However, that fellowship flows from the root system of the gospel. It flows out of the work of Jesus, the new covenant, and ultimately, the present fellowship we have with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.
A Warning For Walking in Darkness
“This is the message we have heard from Him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” 1 John 1:5-6
In other words, for believers, John proclaimed that God is:
Pure.
Holy.
Righteous.
Light, and there is no darkness in Him at all.
As Christians, if you bear the name of Christ on the outside but walk in darkness on the inside, then you are living a lie. When Christians walk in darkness, things begin to break down because they are not living according to who they say they are.
But what does it mean to walk in darkness? Simply put, it means to walk in sin, and in this context, John wasn’t referencing stumbling into sin, which occasionally happens with believers. He’s referring to walking in sin as a lifestyle, a pattern, or an ongoing habit. There’s a big difference between stumbling into sin and walking in sin.
We are living a lie before other believers if we claim Christ but live in darkness. Once we lie to others, we begin lying to ourselves sooner or later. However, the problem isn’t that we’re merely deceiving others but also deceiving ourselves.
For example, David sinned with Bathsheba through adultery. Then, he arranged the murder of her husband. Then, he found out that Bathsheba was pregnant and tried to cover it up. He manipulated and lied. However, Nathan, the prophet, confronted David, yet David condemned someone else and felt no condemnation for himself. Once we begin to lie to others, it may not be long before we actually believe our own lies. That’s the deception John wants us to break through.
Walking in Light
“But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7
When we walk in light, we have fellowship with God and one another. We can describe that as deep community. That word, community, can sound like a buzzword or even kind of nebulous. However, when we see it used in Scripture, it has deep, rich meaning.
The primary word used for fellowship is the Greek word Koinónia (the root word is koinos), and it means “common” or “shared.”
Fellowship: (Koinónia): Koinónia refers to the deep, intimate fellowship and communal participation among believers, as well as their shared relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It encompasses the idea of sharing in spiritual blessings, mutual support, and active partnership in the faith. Source: Strong’s Lexicon
While sports can be friendly to discuss, and even the basis for friendship, Koinónia is not casual conversation; It is much deeper.
The opposite of Koinónia would be something worse than casual friendship, which is a commodity. A commodity is any useful or valuable thing, especially something that is bought and sold. Grain, coffee, and precious metals are all commodities.
People are not commodities. One of the great tragedies of social media is how our culture has now been conditioned to say terrible things about people on social media that they would never say to others in person because we’ve become accustomed to treating people like things rather than as persons made in the image of God.
Sometimes we hear an individual who’s been offended or hurt and they respond, “That person is nothing to me.” That relationship has been commodified, and this is an example of commodity thinking.
Christianity is deeply communal. It’s community with God the Father and Jesus the Son. It’s also a communal expression with the Holy Spirit and one another. We’re different. That’s why John wrote in verse four, “Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”
Why Community With God Matters
In Matthew 7, Jesus clearly stated the significance of this fellowship and why it matters:
JESUS: “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” Matthew 7:22-23
There are zero references to a Christian described as “in church” in the New Testament. However, we see in the New Testament that there are 75 references to a Christian who is “in Christ.” Christianity is deeply communal because it’s a community with Jesus and with Jesus’ people (His Body).
1) Embodied
“The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” John 1:14a
Jesus came to us in a body and lived among us (Incarnation). He didn’t send an angel or an avatar. Instead, He came in a body. Jesus cared for the sick and hungry, such as the 5,000 hungry on the hillside (Matthew 14:13-21).
This is part of why we show up for worship and fellowship in an embodied fashion; We don’t send an avatar. Unless we’re sick or caring for an ailing loved one, it is our privilege and duty, as believers, to worship in person.
God’s intention for you is to participate in magnifying Him in the context of community with an embodied presence. We cannot practice the “one another’s” of Scripture (love one another, encourage one another, cheer on one another, etc.) when we do it apart from being embodied with a presence with one another.
2) Covenantal
Christianity is also deeply covenantal, meaning it relates to or is characterized by a covenant, which is a formal, binding agreement or promise (the core message of John 1:1-4). Jesus established the New Testament, the new covenant, and living in community is a part of that covenantal agreement.
“Today we stay connected to people only as long as they are meeting our particular needs at an acceptable cost to us. When we cease to make a profit—that is, when the relationship appears to require more love and affirmation from us than we are getting back—then we ‘cut our losses’ and drop the relationship. This has also been called ‘commodification,” a process by which social relationships are reduced to economic exchange relationships, and so the very idea of ‘covenant’ is disappearing in our culture.” Tim Keller, pastor and author
When relationships in the Body of Christ are reduced to expendable social relationships with measurable “you are not meeting my preferences,” we treat people like a commodity and not as persons made in God’s image.
In his letter, John exposed the darkness and proclivity of our hearts, saying that we cannot know fellowship without Koinónia with God, which produces Koinónia with the Body of Christ. When we see John point out the sins of saints, such as King David, it wasn’t to discourage us but to give us the Hurricane Camille warning!
3) Pardoned
“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” 1 John 1:8, 10
Have you ever heard someone say, “I have no sin”? There are two things that could be the root of someone saying that:
They have no revelation of Scripture.
They are Pharisaical.
David quickly condemned the man in Nathan’s story without looking at his own heart, but the Apostle John showed great mercy by sharing verses eight and 10. He cautioned us against living an unexamined life, which gives us hope and reminds us that hope is a person, and His name is Jesus Christ.
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
In the original language, the word used in this verse, “confess,” meant to literally come into agreement with God. Scripture informs us that God calls us to repent of our sins. Like the Prodigal Son, we’re invited to come home and into the Father’s loving arms. They are open and waiting for us. We’re also reminded that Jesus did not come into this world to condemn us but to save us because of God’s love. If we confess, He is faithful and just to forgive us.
In 1929, George Wilson was sentenced to death for murder but was granted a presidential pardon—which he shockingly refused. The Supreme Court ruled that a pardon must be accepted to take effect; if it’s rejected, it’s as if no pardon was given.
Every pardon has two sides: the offerer and the offeree. Unless the offeree accepts the offerer’s pardon, it cannot be mandated. On the cross, the eternal God, having been satisfied by the death of His one and only Son, offered each of us a pardon. We only have to accept it. If we confess our sins, He is faithful. Confession and acceptance are not only unto a restored fellowship with God as we forsake darkness and walk in light, but it’s also restored fellowship with one another as God designed it.
Within the context of a vibrant Koinónia, let us live and serve one another with God the Father.
