True community, a safe place to be real III

In last few posts I have been talking about a fellowship where there is openness,  honesty and unconditional acceptance of one another.  I describe this as genuine community.  Certainly  genuine community exists outside of Christ, (just as happy marriages exist among those who do not name his name).   Nevertheless I believe that only in genuine Christian community, can fullness of community be found and sustained.  To start with, whether you want to acknowledged it or not, the principles that lie behind, and foster true community, are Biblical principles (see for example James 5:16). They do, as I say work both inside and outside of the Christian context. However, they work supremely in the Christian context when we are willing to come together,  in a common faith in Christ, to the foot of the Cross. For the one who trusts in Christ, there are two important things to believe about the Cross, that are central to genuine Christian community.  They are firstly its necessity, and secondly its provision.  The understanding that it was necessary is a great leveller, and when we truly understand it as the cost of the provision for our acceptance, we respond with a  gratitude and humility that overflows to others. 

The fact of the matter however, is that we have difficulty in understanding/believing these things. Part of the reason for this is that we seem to need/want to believe that we are basically good.  Even those who tear themselves down seem to get offended when you agree with them. I mean is not the definition of a sinner,  one who is worse than me?   So we compare ourselves with the s.o.b. down the road, and come off smelling like roses. In light of this, to be told that my sin is so bad that it was necessary for Christ to die in order to pay for my sin,  can be a tad offensive. And who wants to be told that there is essentially no difference between you and someone you may despise.

 A big part of the problem is that our standards are so low, but Christ is the poster boy,  the standard against which we will be judged if we rely on our goodness to qualify us for heaven.  And we all fall short of the glory of God, of the glory of Christ.   As the heavens are higher than the earth so are His ways higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:9).   You may have the biggest house in your city, but seen from outer space it will be indistinguishable from your neighbour's.  In any case, as I argue in my June 30th  post, without His interventions, the slightest imperfection will exclude us from the presence of perfection  (heaven).  If this is not where you are at, these words will not convince you, but when  you believe Christ, and come to see that His sacrifice on the Cross was necessary for you and for me, it becomes the greatest of all levellers. As the Scriptures put it “there is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of His glory (Romans 3:23). 

This  “ground zero”, this level playing field is essential to true community.  When we know that  we all have the same problem, and are open and honest enough to admit it, there is simply no place for self righteousness and  judgemental attitudes. They are simply excluded. In such an atmosphere mutual acceptance is natural, and it does indeed become a place of healing.   In such places opening up to each other, rather than resulting in rejection and shame, becomes a place of empathy bonding and healing.  So then in the right context, the context of a safe place,  openness and transparency become vehicles to foster and give birth to true community.  When we know that we are all the same, it becomes safe to confess our faults one to another, and when we do, we  experience His promise to be healed (James 5:16).

 This coming to the foot of the cross is good for the humility but hard on our pride. Because of this, and the feeling or fear of condemnation, we might well be tempted to avoid it. But the paradox is this, avoiding  the feeling of condemnation at foot of the cross could  well be the very thing that in the end condemns us. The verses following the well known John 3:16 tells us  “God did not send His Son into the World to condemn the World, but that the World might be saved through Him”, and “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” 

It is all about coming to the light, or avoiding the light, seeking truth or avoiding truth. It is the truth that sets you free. Which do you want first, the good news or the bad?  The bad news is that my sin is so bad that Christ's death on the Cross is the only thing that could release  me from its penalty. The good news is that God loved you and me enough to do it. It was necessary, and it is sufficient. It was needed for our salvation, but it is also enough for our salvation. It is enough to ensure all that we need for life in the here and now and in the hereafter.  In the shadow of the cross,  I can allow myself to understanding the bad news, because it simultaneous shows me the good news. The bad news,  that the Jesus going to the Cross was necessary to cover my sin, is overshadowed by the good news that His sacrifice there is the root and ground of His unconditional acceptance of me once I confess my need. 

Once we start to see this, then we also start to see that our safe place is to found first and foremost in the safety of His hand. From here neither height nor dept nor anything else in all creation is able to separate us from His love (Romans 8). From here non one can pluck us out of His hand.   And when this sinks in, when we truly receive His unconditional acceptance, we ourselves become a safe place. This is because His unconditional acceptance of us, naturally overflows to our unconditional acceptance of others.  And when we enter into this together, we find/create a place that is truly safe. We love because He first loved us, we accept each other unconditionally because  He first unconditional accepted us.  And when we come and stay at the foot of the cross, true community becomes not only possible but natural.  “When we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ keeps on cleansing us from all sin” (I John 1:7).