Wednesday, February 25th

Remember, we can’t follow Jesus alone, we must be people of love. If we are to live that out, we need to reframe how we see relationships and that starts by going back to the beginning.

We were created and called into community.

Make it personal, “I was created and called into community.”

Take a look at Genesis 1:26a-27- 26
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness ... So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

See the relationship we were created out of? Let us make mankind in our image, our likeness. Community was created out of community. The Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were dependent upon and fulfilled one another. Which means we were created out of the community and we reflect their image. When means we were created to reflect the dependence and fulfillment of one another.

We were created for community; we need it and are governed by it. Let me try to parallel with two other elements of creation; gravity and oxygen. Remember, I’m no scientist and I didn’t stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. But my mind is simple.

How many of us are thankful for gravity? Can you imagine what it would be like not to have gravity? Sure, gravity can be a challenge at times, especially if you throw something in the
air, better watch out, gravity will bring it back towards you. Or if you fall, you wish we didn’t have gravity, you could float right where you slipped. Gravity grounds us, if we like it or not.
What about oxygen? We breathe in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, yet if we reversed it, breathing in carbon dioxide would kill us. Or the fact that you don’t have to tell your body to breathe. Your body was created, naturally to do it. I don’t think many of us would be alive today if we had to tell ourselves to breathe, especially those who can’t multi-task.

What does this have to do with community? We were created into and for community, yet we want to tell ourselves we don’t need it, we can function without it. Yet much like gravity and oxygen, community allows us to be grounded and gives us life. That’s why God created us for community and what the picture of Genesis 1-2, truly is.

I appreciate Hebrew scholar Carissa Quinn sharing it this way. “The ideal picture (of community in Genesis 2) is one of relational safety, vulnerability, trust and acceptance of others.”

That’s what we were created into and for, because that’s what the Trinity is. But you and I both know, that even though community was created to be that, it is broken. Genesis chapter three is where it comes crashing down. Community and relationships shifted from safety, vulnerability, trust and acceptance to blaming, running, and hiding. This happened between Adam and Eve, as well as towards God.

Which is why the Bible isn’t just a rescue mission of sin and salvation. It is a rescue mission of bringing us back into what God intended. To be a people of love; loving God and loving others, a community with God and with others. That’s the story of scripture. Which is why, when Jesus comes on the scene, what he does is so radical. Sure, the miracles and forgiveness of sins get our attention. But what did Jesus do with people?

Think about it. If this relationship with God, this spiritual journey, was designed to be done alone (which many prefer) then we would have seen something different from Jesus.

We would see Jesus show up on the scene as an adult, told the religious leaders they were wrong, that he was going to rebuild the Temple in three days, hopped on the cross, died, rose again, and ascended in a matter of a long weekend. Jesus would have done this all alone. Yet he doesn’t.

Read Mark 3:13-19- 13
Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. 14 He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach 15 and to have authority to drive out demons. 16 These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter), 17 James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means “sons of thunder”), 18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Jesus chose twelve to be with him and to do the things that he did. Here’s the unfortunate thing with this list of names. We miss the power of what it meant for these twelve to come together. The series, The Chosen, does a good job of showing some of the relational strife that the disciples had in coming together.

Folks, these were men that were coming together from different backgrounds, different beliefs, different standards. For instance, Matthew was a tax collector. He was a Jewish citizen that worked for the Roman government and overtaxed his fellow Jew, most of the guys hated Matthew. Simon was a Zealot, which means nothing to you and me, except he was radical. Zealots also had nicknames, “daggermen”. They would hide a dagger in their cloak and if you were someone who was against them, they would sneak up in a crowd, impale you, walk away before anyone knew what happened.

This is who Jesus brought together. Matthew meet Simon, Simon meet Matthew, now let’s create a new community together, where your hate will be transformed into love.

Jesus called these twelve misfits and radicals, “come, follow me” and you will learn to be a people of love. I will show you what it is like, and it will be hard and you will want to walk away, but it will be worth it if you stick it out with me. We were created and called into community.

What got your attention the most? How we were created in community? How Jesus called us into community? How Jesus called twelve people all over the map, relationally, and transformed the world? What is one step you need to take based upon how you were created and called into community?