As Christians, Jesus followers, we worship the one true God! Not only so, the God of the Bible – revealed and written about in the pages of Scripture – is the ONLY God who is loving and worthy of our worship.
Whether we are talking about history or modernity, the east or the west, there are many conceptions of God. If you were to say the word “God” to a person on the street and ask them what they think of, you would hear a myriad of answers. Many people, even Christians, would describe God as one, and only one, being. However, we know from Scripture that God is triune in nature; he is three-in-one (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit).
There are many analogies we use to try to explain the Trinity: three-leaf clovers, ice, water, and vapor, the three varieties of how you eat an egg, etc. Yet in Delighting in the Trinity, Micahel Reeves notes that none of these analogies correctly describe the trinitarian God of Scripture. Instead, the Bible, “reflects a personal God, a Son who is distinct from his Father, and yet who is the very being of the Father, and who is eternally one with him in the Spirit.”
What does this have to do with biblical community?
People meet, gather, and fellowship for many reasons. Sports teams gather, political parties gather, people gather for board games, bloodlines, hobbies, work, school, art … you get the point. Gathering in buildings or in living rooms does not make us unique. What makes Christians unique is the God we worship, the one true, trinitarian God. The fact that Father, Son, and Spirit are one is the unifying reason, power, and motivation for our gathering.
For all eternity, the Father, Son, and Spirit have been in a healthy, life-giving, self-sacrificing, loving relationship with one another (Gen 1:2, 26). So, when the Father, Son, and Spirit tell us through the words of John to love because he first loved us (1 John 4:19), it defines for us what love looks like. Or as Reeves writes summarizing John, “This God IS love in such a profound and potent way that you simply cannot know him without yourself becoming loving.” The love that Scripture prescribes is given to us because it has been fully realized in God already. This is exponentially more meaningful, moving, and motivating than other religious understandings of God. The “gods” created by man command things they are unwilling to do for others. Not so with the one true God!
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us …” (Eph. 2:4). Our God knows what love is because he is love. He has been loving for eternity. He does not need love from us; he has always had love. He invites us into his love because He IS love.
How should this form us into a biblical community?
If we just go to the same building each week as a hundred or a thousand other people, we cannot fully model the love with which we have been loved. There are many wonderful reasons to worship and serve together. However, in this context we are limited in our opportunities to really give the love of God to one another and receive it from one another. So first, we must gather in smaller groups and teams so that we can see the love of God more tangibly. 1 John 4:12 states, “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” Part of seeing God and his love more fully is through the love we give and receive from the biblical community.
- In biblical community we have an opportunity to know others and be known by them. While this can be a frightening endeavor, it also is where the goodness is. It is pleasant and good to meet new people or hug old friends at church. It could never compare to playing with one another’s kids, sharing a cup of coffee or a meal together, and laughing and crying in one another’s homes.
- In biblical community we also get to use our gifts most fully and benefit from the gifts of others. 1 Peter 4:10 tells us that there are multiple gifts that we should use to “show God’s varied grace.” Did you catch that? There are various kinds of God’s grace that we can only fully receive when the people of his community use our gifts!
- A trinitarian understanding of God and his self-sacrificing love should reshape how and why we spend time together as followers of Jesus. Our lives, church experience, and pursuit of Christ is not just about us. If the Father is indeed a loving Father who has adopted us into his family through Jesus and given us the Holy Spirit, then our lives no longer belong to us. We are called to and have the ability to joyfully give of ourselves in every way to serve others and model the trinitarian love of God.
Bible studies, fellowship groups, serving together and sharing meals are wonderful activities as long as they are a means to an end: the body of Christ receiving God’s love and freely giving that love to one another. So, as you reflect on God’s purpose and calling for community, consider what this means for you. Are you already involved in a biblical community that has the characteristics described above? If not, what step can you take to find community at Grace this fall? Not sure where to start? Try looking at graceb3.org/events or ask a pastor, staff, or volunteer this Sunday about what they’d recommend, and remember: going in grace doesn’t mean going it alone.
