The Cause of Christ and the Creation of Community

The concept of community is quite powerful. It is woven throughout the Scriptures and is certainly something very dear to the heart of God.  We find early on in the history of the church an intense focus on community. Acts 2:44-47 says,

“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.”

It is interesting to note that the community that emerged in the book of Acts did so as a result of CAUSE. If you remember, Jesus had earlier told a great host of people in Acts chapter one, verse eight to return to Jerusalem and wait there for the Holy Spirit. When He (the Holy Spirit) comes, He will empower them to be witnesses throughout the region and the world. This was a statement of CAUSE! He did not say to go back to the Jerusalem and have a party or simply hang out and have fun with your friends. There was an intentional purpose in the heart of Jesus for His followers. Of course, Christ knew that community would emerge but this community would form around a CAUSE. By obeying His command and responding to His statement of CAUSE, the 120 out of the 500 that heard this call to cause found community unlike they had never known before.

There was another time in the gospels when Jesus was walking along the seashore. He spoke to a number of men and said to them, “Come follow Me and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). This was not a statement offering community. It was a statement of CAUSE. In other words, come follow Me and I will give you something worth living and dying for. These men rallied to a sound with value – something that seemed more valuable than what they had previously given their lives to. By obeying Jesus and rallying around Him and His cause, these men ultimately discovered the kind of community they had never experienced before.

The modern church methodology is to offer people community, most often, without CAUSE. But when there is no cause, the church is merely a social club incapable of achieving the goals and purposes of God. But moving toward a cause can be difficult and living in community around such a cause can be painful.

I’m reminded of the example that the famous philosopher Schopenhauer once used to make a point. A group of porcupines were marooned one bitter cold night in the middle of a large frozen field. There was no way to escape the biting wind. They could not burrow into the frozen ground. As they huddled together to keep warm, their sharp quills began to pinch and hurt. The closer they moved together, the more the pain increased. Some of the animals could not bear the pain and drew apart to sleep alone. In the morning those who moved away in isolation had frozen to death.

The CAUSE to be warm and stay alive is what drew the porcupines together but in the process it brought great discomfort and pain. This is true of our lives as well. The CAUSE is great, the process is painful but the results are life.

God has a purpose for putting us together. And as Henri Nouwen points out,  “We are unified by our common weaknesses, our common failures, our common disappointments and our common inconsistencies.” And I would add that God knows all of this about us. Even though He knows us well, He still calls us to a cause greater than ourselves. When we respond and obey, in the formation of community around such a cause, we discover wholeness and ability to achieve such a task.

So let us with intensity and seriousness of heart listen to the voice of God as He calls us to a CAUSE greater than ourselves. Let us understand that as we obey this call, we will find others along the way and together form and live out community to the praise and honor of our God.