God?s Game Pan ...Continued from page 1

its name” (Ephesians 3:14-15).

*On a broad scale, how have you dealt with differences in the whole family of God? Judgmentally? Patiently? Critically? Humbly? Why have you responded this way?

Read Ephesians 4:4-6.
Continuing Paul’s theme, list everything you can think of that is the same among all believers. How are we truly one?

Believer, we are one in all the ways that matter. It’s time to get off our self-righteous soapboxes and live a life worthy of this sacred unity. God has set us in a community of the rescued. What we have in common is enough to celebrate for eternity, yet we prefer to focus on our differences, spewing pride and dissention. And we wonder why the rest of the world doesn’t want to be around Christians.

Girls, the family of God was designed for joy and togethernesson a grand scale. We are to draw together as we draw near to Jesus. I dare you to read two pages of the New Testament and not acknowledge the holiness of community. The entire Word screams this truth.

Godliness is not an individual journey. If it were, then who is all that love for? What is all that service about? Who are we to be patient, gentle, and honest with? Who are we to be kind, compassionate, forgiving, and joyful toward? Why do we have to get rid of bitterness and rage? Why do we need to learn about sacrifice? Who are our spiritual gifts for?

What is the point of community?

Read Ephesians 4:7,11-13.
Paul moves from “one” to “each one” now. List every reason for community you see here.

My teachers have prepared me for works of service ? they’ve given me passion for God’s Word and the tools to unpack it. Some taught me from the pulpit; others taught

me over coffee. My girlfriends have exercised grace to me in hundreds of ways. In my community of faith, I’ve been built up. I’ve been loved. My knowledge of Jesus has stretched infinitely. Without God’s family surrounding me, raising me, challenging me, I would’ve settled for my own limited perspective on God’s Word, alone in my ugly behavior and terribly lonely.

Harry Stack Sullivan, an eminent psychiatrist, proposes that all personal growth, damage and regression, and healing come through our relationships with others. By ourselves, we

can only be consumed by selfishness and suffer shipwreck. Who we are at any given moment will be determined by our relationships with those who love us or refuse to love us and with those we love or refuse to love.

*Do you experience the benefits of Christian community Paul described? If so, how have they affected you? If not, what has kept you from them?

I’ve never met anyone who detached himself or herself from God’s church and became better for it. Though it’s trendy to separate Jesus from His church and claim a purer faith, worship void of human error, “All I need is Jesus” is a load of bull. Jesus said the same thing: “I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. . . .

May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:20-21,23). To forsake Jesus’ church ? the one He died for ? is to forsake Jesus.

It is not possible to be a growing believer without joining your heart with other  hristians. If you think you are, you are being deceived, Friend. God’s heartbeat is for community. Every single command in the Bible was summed up in two life views: (1) love God and (2) love others. It’s not a gray area. It is through believers’ love for each other that God teaches the world. We are living demonstrations of compassion, forgiveness, selflessness ? lessons this world is in dire need of. Community is where Jesus strengthens us through His other disciples. It’s the village that raises our children together in God’s family. It’s where the lost, broken, orphaned, and left behind can find open arms. “God sets the lonely in families” (Psalm 68:6).

We are that family.