Radical Unity

If you are reading this around the time that I am putting it out, then you, like me, are being affected in some way by COVID-19. For most of us, that means we are spending most of our time at home, and having little to no in-person social contact with people who do not live with us. And this can be hard.

I know for me personally it has been hard, which actually came as somewhat of a surprise to me. I do not think of myself as being much of a "people person," and my regular week pre-COVID didn't look a whole lot different than my weeks have been looking under this pseudo-quarantine that we have been under. I was still at home by myself most of the time (as my husband is an essential employee and still works almost as much as he ever has), although I had the opportunity to work transcribing things, and I have not had much (if any) available to me as of late. I still went shopping about once a week, since my husband and I only have one car and he uses it for work. There are two major differences between my life then and my life now. The first one is that I don't get to go out with my husband, like to restaurants, the movies, etc. The second one is that I don't get to go to church, or gather with other believers in my life group, or in any other way, and this is the thing that I miss most.

One of the scriptures that has come across my radar lately that has struck me as particularly important is out of the book of Acts, chapter 2. It is concerning the gathering together of believers and what this should look like, and I thought that this time in seclusion would be the perfect time for all of us to examine and maybe reconsider the way that we relate to each other and gather as fellow believers, and how important we regard it as being. This was an eye opener for me, and I hope it will be for you as well.

The passage I am referring to is this:

 So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about 3,000 people were added to them. And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to the prayers. Then fear came over everyone, and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles. Now all the believers were together and held all things in common. They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as anyone had a need. Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple complex, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with a joyful and humble attitude, praising God and having favor with all the people. And every day the Lord added to them those who were being saved. -Acts 2:41-47 (HCSB)

Now this passage takes place directly after the account of Peter giving his message on Pentecost and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. We are talking about the first century church, right after it started growing post-messiah. At this point, they were only ten days removed from when Jesus last stood on the earth.

I want us to look for a minute at how these believers interacted with each other. They were together, they worshiped together, they examined the Word and poured over the teachings of the apostles together, they devoted themselves to meeting together, they held all things in common, they had joyful and humble attitudes; they went through life together. 

You may have noticed that it talked about them holding all things in common. I have also seen this translated as "they were all of similar mind" or "like mind." This does not mean that they had everything in common, it means that they were bound together by what they did have in common; their love of God, and their belief that Jesus was His Anointed One (Messiah, Christ).

So we are looking at a diverse group of individuals who gathered together often, not just on Sunday or Saturday for a weekly day of worship.

We are looking at a group of believers, a church, who studied together. Really studied, not just sat and listened to their pastor preach and then went home.

We are looking at a church who broke bread together, ate together, spent time hanging out, getting to know one another, and sharing their lives together.

We are looking at a church who was bound by their similarities, not torn apart by their differences.

And we are looking at people who did all of this joyfully, humbly, and with good attitudes.

Do our churches look like this today? Do even the small groups, life groups, or friend groups that break out of our churches look like this today? Do we care enough about each other to sell our excess to make sure that everyone has what they need? Do we regularly sit down to eat together, worship together on a personal level, edify and encourage one another? Do we act like the family that we claim to be?

I want to say yes, but I think the answer is more consistently no. I know I am guilty of not doing these things, not acting like a family member of the body of messiah, and instead looking at how it can benefit me and how I can use it to feel more full and feel like I am living my life how I should. 

I think that too often our focus is on ourselves and what we can get out of church, and not what we can give. And even more than that, we think of it as a part of our lives, and sometimes not even a very big one, instead of being the focus of our lives. 

"Are you telling me I need to base my life around church?"

Yes. No. Kind of.

We should be inviting other believers into our lives, going through life with them like they are our family, because they are. We are all one, we are all the body of Christ, and we should at least make an effort to function like it. 

We may not always get along, but that's more or less because we don't want to. We prioritize being right on certain issues, whatever they may be, over agreeing on the things that are the most important, bonding over those things, learning, and growing along side others. If we take a step back, we can see that differing view points can actually help that and make studying together more interesting and productive.

We might think we don't like other believers, or even that we don't belong with them, but if we are Christians, then we do belong with them, and we should learn to like them because we are a part of them and they are a part of us. And there will always be people that we don't get along with as well as others, but that's just a chance for us to practice humility, patience, kindness, and self-control, all things that we should be good at (or at least growing in) as Christians.

I think that while we are living somewhat secluded lives, while we are in this strange time of life where we are in between when we used to get together with others and when we will be able to again, we should take a nice long look at how we gather, especially as Christians. If we have a relationship with God and have made a covenant with Him to bear His image like we are supposed to, then it is our job to show Him to the people that we encounter with how we live our lives and how we act. It stands to reason then, that we should stand united with our fellow believers in every possible way. We should encourage one another, draw from one another, give to one another, spend time together, interact with each other, live life together, encounter God together, and share Him with the world together. 

We should have a certain level of intimacy among us, because we are a family. 

We should live in community like we were created to do, we should fellowship with each other in radical unity, because we are united in Christ, the one who can bring together even the most unlikely individuals, binding us all together with the same love that we are supposed to be to the world around us. 

Imagine a life where we all function as a body like we are supposed to, because we all know how to complement each other because we share it with each other.

Imagine a life where we treat our faith like it is the most important thing in our lives, letting everything else flow out of it, and being united with others who do the same on an intimate level.

In this time of isolation, I encourage you to ready yourself for when we can all gather together once again. I encourage you to create deeper friendships, get involved with the believers in your faith community, and love each other like God intended. Let's come together out of this in radical unity, facing the world as one family, one body, united in Jesus our Messiah.