Tri-Cities Baptist Church

That word is easy to say, but difficult to experience.  Too many of us hang out in crowds but we never really connect with others.  Isolation has rushed into the church as broken relationships are scattered all around us.  Yet we were never meant to follow Jesus alone.  Jesus knew this, so He prayed, “…that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us”—John 17:21a.
 
Notice Jesus didn’t just pray that we would walk in a community.  He also provided a pattern for us to follow.  He wanted us to experience the same oneness with each other that He and the Father experienced.  We can read in John 17 what Biblical community actually looks like:  
 
·        The Father gave the Son all authority—John 17:2.

·        Salvation is found only in the Son, whom the Father sent—v. 3.

·        Glory was given to the Father through the Son’s work—v. 4.

·        The Father and Son share their glory with one another—v. 5.

·        The Son showed the Father’s glory to men whom the Father had given to the Son—v. 6.

·        The Father provided everything to the Son, and the Son gave credit to the Father to His followers—v. 7.

·        The Son accurately passed on the Father’s words—v. 8.

·        The Son taught others that He came from the Father—v. 8.  


This is very important and practical theology:
 
·        The Son is different than God the Father, yet they are one.

·        The Son submitted to the Father.  The Father ministered to the Son.

·        The Father sacrificed His Son.  The Son sacrificed Himself.

·        The Son revealed the Father.  The Father affirmed the Son.

·        The Son relied on the Father, yet possessed all resources in Himself.


If Jesus is the model, if Jesus prayed for believers to connect with one another, and if Jesus always prayed in the perfect will of the Father, what does community require from us?  Below are seven realities for building Biblical community.

What Biblical Community Requires

(1)  Responsibilities are elevated over rights.

Jesus gave up His rights in order to take on His responsibilities.
 
(2)  Service is elevated over status.

Jesus stepped off of His throne to become a servant.

(3)  Relationship is elevated over reputation.

Jesus sacrificed His reputation in order to be a friend to sinners.

(4)  The best in others is elevated over the worst in others.

Jesus knew the worst about people, but saw the best in them.
 
(5)  Investing in others is elevated over indebting others.

Jesus always gives more than He takes.
 
(6)  Credit is elevated over criticism.

Jesus shares His eternal mission with us despite our fallibilities.
 
(7)  Dependence is elevated over differences.

Jesus chose to leave His work in the hands of diverse disciples.
 
For Jesus, building community among His followers was not simply a warm, fuzzy idealistic view of life.  It was His heart cry to the Father.  Still today, the stakes are too high for isolation.  The cause of Christ is too important for fractured relationships to continue to cripple the body of Christ.    
 
So Biblical community requires something from us.  It requires things like humility, sacrifice, love, loyalty, forgiveness, honor, respect, and trust.  How will you respond?  How will you honor Jesus and His life work by building Biblical community?