Following Jesus as His People

We often feel that faith is just me and Jesus, a personal and private commitment. But from start to finish, God has always revealed himself not just to individuals, but a people. Jesus invited his disciples to follow him together because it is only in community that we learn how to love like God loves us.

To imitate Jesus' model of intentional friendship, understanding that God has knit us together. It is in community that we practice the 'one another' commands and display God's love to the world.

Following Jesus Together

I once saw a church marketing video for their Bible studies that featured a church member trying to do the Christian life by himself. He played his guitar to an empty room, confessed his sins to a wall, and went out for a fellowship meal at a restaurant by himself. Watching his ironic attempts to do all the Christian things alone made the point clear: following Jesus by ourselves is impossible.

But the videos seemed relatable because we're taught to be self-sufficient. Because we see ourselves as individuals who connect with others when it meets our needs, it's hard to understand what it would be like to build mutually supportive friendships with someone because they are our brother or sister in Christ.

The churches that adapt to our individualistic culture are pressured into becoming spiritual vending machines. We insert a few coins, and they provide inspiring music, uplifting preaching, and relevant programming. If the customer service declines, we move onto another venue.

In a consumeristic culture, we're often seduced into making our faith a means of getting new ideas, a ticket into heaven, or the satisfaction of participating in a successful, growing organization. It's easier than ever to make a personal decision to follow Jesus and then construct our own spiritual pathways.

We can choose what translation of the Bible to read, pray if or when we feel like it, listen to podcasts led by people who affirm what we believe, go to a convenient church, and pick and choose how to assemble these pieces into our own lives.

I know from personal experience that Christian organizations can become abusive and use religious language to deepen the wounding. It makes sense that we are slow to trust and are suspicious of claims that Christian friendships are what we need, especially when it was our vulnerability, trusting attitudes, and openness to others that exposed us to so much harm.

By contrast, when I was in college, I noticed how the staff members of the college ministry I was involved in treated each other. They were godly, wise, and loving, and their friendships ran deep. I admired their example, but I also felt jealous of what they had together.

As I reflected on Proverbs 13:20, "The one who walks with the wise will become wise, but a companion of fools suffer harm," I decided to apply to serve alongside them. So, for the next seven years, I served as a campus minister with this ministry because I shared their passion to tell college students about the joy of following Jesus, and I wanted to build friendships with the other staff in this movement.

Their love and care helped me make sense of a core Biblical truth: Instead of asking how the church will help me follow Jesus, we need to ask, "How can you be like Jesus without the church?" Let's consider how God reveals to us the centrality of the church.

**First, the Scriptures ask us to consider, since God has revealed that we are his body, what sense does it make to attempt to function as a solitary body part?** If we are his temple, how can we worship by ourselves? If we are the branches joined together to the vine, how can we flourish on our own? If we are God's family, why would we live like spiritual orphans? If we are a kingdom of priests, why would we not offer our worship together? If we are a flock under the care of the Good Shepherd, why wander away on our own? All the metaphors invite us to imagine life in the context of being God's people.

Similarly, in the Gospels, Jesus didn't offer a single-player option for life with him. Either you joined the community of his disciples and learned to relate to everyone like Jesus did, or you didn't follow him at all.

**Second, the Bible reveals that God is love, and that the pathway to becoming fully human is to love God and others.** But how else can we learn what it means to be loved and to love others if we never build close friendships? What does it mean to 'love' people we don't know?

When the Holy Spirit breathed life into the church, the disciples immediately prioritized meeting together in each other's homes, in the temple courts, and praying together. Intimate, caring, sacrificial friendships distinguished the Christians from every other social organization. Just as it is today, outsiders scrutinized how the Christians lived before determining if they were interested in joining them.

**Third, the stories in Scripture show us the sadness of people who keep everyone at arm's length.** Proverbs 18:24 tells us, "A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." When we hit a crisis, we need faithful, loyal friends who will stick with us through the suffering. Innumerable social media friends or acquaintances we see on Sundays just aren't likely to be there for us.

Ultimately, when we protect ourselves by keeping everyone at arm's length, we miss out on the greatest benefits of the Christian life: to be like Christ. For instance, in the New Testament, there are about fifty-nine "one another" commands. In a sense, these make up the "operating system" of the Christian life.

So, unless we have relationships with one another, we cannot faithfully embody the Biblical teaching on what it means to be a Christian. How can we love one another, be devoted to one another, live in harmony with one another, accept one another, bear one another's burdens, serve one another, encourage one another, comfort one another, submit to one another, be patient with one another, forgive one another, show hospitality to one another, confess our sins to one another, teach and admonish one another, or pray for one another if we are on our own?

These aren't free-floating ethical instructions or 'good ideas.' They're all ways of summarizing the life of Jesus into more general statements. Think of how he gathered his disciples and then taught them how to live together in the Sermon on the Mount, wept with Mary and Martha, washed his disciples' feet, and brought his inner circle to pray with him in Gethsemane.

At the same time, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer explained, how can we enter into relationships with one another to practice this kind of life if we haven't first met with the Lord? Our solitude and silence before God in his word is what prepares us for the challenges of loving others. And it is in these loving relationships that we encounter God again and understand the true meaning of his revelation.

It's inconvenient, time-consuming, unpleasant, frustrating, and upsetting to attempt this with people who are struggling to be like Jesus. But as we get close to each other, we learn from watching the faithful example of more mature saints what it looks like to follow Jesus. And as we encounter people with big and small problems, their immaturity, foolishness, and inconsistency prompts us to learn the meaning of love, grace, and faithfulness.

Similarly, it's difficult to worship God entirely by ourselves. Even if we put on a worship playlist and watch a YouTube sermon, we are still in charge of the experience. We can hit pause, change the channel, or skip songs to curate our spiritual experience.

But part of what we need is to be formed by the faith of others. We sing the songs of God's people, pray prayers we didn't write, take communion we didn't prepare, witness baptisms we don't perform, hear sermons we didn't prepare, and meet people who don't look like us.

The Church Gathered and Scattered

One of the secrets to the Christian life is that we need two kinds of church: the church gathered and the church scattered.

When the church gathers, there are enough of us for worship, teaching, baptism, communion, and fellowship. When we take communion, we share one loaf of bread (even if symbolically) to remind us that we are all nourished by and connected to Christ, together. When we pray a Psalm, we remind ourselves that we are united to all of God's people through the millennia. When we kneel to confess our sins together, we counter the narrative of self-gratification that consumes our culture.

But when the church scatters, we're talking about a handful of us who are participating in God's mission together. I can't ask everyone who attends my church to come over for dinner and Bible study. But I can meet up for breakfast with a few of my closest friends. Not everyone can show up to your job site and share the gospel. But you can meet early to pray together with a few other Christians, and encourage each other to demonstrate the way of Jesus in everyday challenges.

Both are essential to forming us to be like Christ. Just as Jesus taught large crowds, he also invested immense amounts of time with the Twelve and the Three (Peter, James, and John). Try to read through the Gospels while skipping all the sections where Jesus is with people. What is left?

The large gathering forms you through corporate worship, sacraments, and teaching that reorients your desires, connects you to the body of Christ, and propels you into mission. The small gathering forms you through trustworthy accountability, reliable friends, and the daily habits of loving specific people.

Not everyone can access this kind of community. In some geographies, there are no churches that preach the gospel, protect their members from abuse, or perhaps they don't welcome new members! In these cases, we may only have a single brother or sister in Christ we can join in fellowship.

In other situations, a church is down the street, but it just doesn't suit our preferences. Can we tolerate a worship style or a different cuisine for the greater good of becoming like Jesus? If we can't love our brothers and sisters in Christ of a different culture, nationality, socioeconomic standing, or political affiliation, then outsiders will rightly wonder what makes us distinctive from any other social group.

Christlike character is formed when we practice patience in conflict, generosity when others have needs, forgiveness when someone hurts us, and courage when we hold someone accountable. This couldn't happen if we were already perfectly holy, but only when the ordinary flaws, sins, and imperfections of human beings come out in the context of friendship.

As C.S. Lewis wrote, "In the same way the Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs." Even unbelievers know that Jesus said, "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (John 13:35). Apart from loving relationships within our church, no one will know we follow Jesus.

Come to the Table by Common Hymnal

In a song mixed with the sounds of people talking, filmed around a dinner table, Mark Alan Schoolmeesters invites us to welcome each other into worship and fellowship.

https://commonhymnal.com/songs/come-to-the-table

Father, thank you for including me in your beloved people. Though we are often marred by sin, scandal, abuse, and neglect, you are also restoring us to love, wholeness, and hope. Jesus, thank you for allowing your body to be broken and disfigured, even killed, that we might become alive to you and to one another. Spirit, thank you for dwelling with us in our selfishness, and gently empowering us to worship and to love. We ask that we would love each other in a way that would show the world that we are your disciples. In Christ's name, Amen.