Skip to main content

Growing in Grace by Christian Community by Pastor Charlie Handren

The Apostle Peter drew his second letter to a close with these wise and pastoral words: “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen” (2 Peter 3:18). The word “grow” is an exhortation and a command, and it implies that if we’re to progress in Christ we must play an active role, by the grace of Christ, in building habits that nurture that progress. Therefore, I am offering a series of devotionals this summer on eight essential habits that help us to grow in grace. For today, let’s consider the place of Christian community in our walk with Christ.

So far in this series we have considered the place of the Word of God, praising God, praying to God, fasting, and giving in the life of the growing Christian. Today I want to add a simple but very important idea, specifically, that we are designed by Jesus to grow in these and other ways together. Life in Christ is life together. This idea is not hard to understand or see on nearly every page of the New Testament. The difficulty comes in the living.

In the early days of the church, those who believed in Jesus Christ were utterly committed to the worship of Christ, and they were utterly committed to one another. They shared in a host of spiritual blessings together, and they shared in life and even material possessions together. They were neither communists nor communalists, but they did believe that their bond in Christ was the defining bond of life and the way they lived from day to day served as proof of what they believed (see Acts 2:42-47; 4:32-37).

As time went on, serious issues arose within the church that threatened to tear apart the unity they enjoyed in Christ. They, like us, still struggled with sin, and at times they really hurt each other. But the book of Acts boldly testifies that regardless of their internal struggles, the bond they shared remained because the bond they shared was Christ himself. Life together was not easy, but it was possible, and unstoppable, because the devil had to defeat Christ in order to destroy the church. Not likely to happen!

When the Apostles later wrote the New Testament, they gave much counsel regarding life together, including the famous string of one another commands that exhort us to fix our eyes on Jesus and press on with one another. Taken together, these commands show us (1) that life together is the desire and command of Christ upon his people, (2) that life together is not easy, but (3) that life together is possible, profitable, and inevitable because it depends on Christ himself who has promised to build, prosper, and protect his church.

Life in Christ is life together. In order to grow in Christ we must do so together. It’s hard at times, but it’s good, and again, the power for pressing on is in Christ himself. So may we commit ourselves anew this day to doing life in Christ with our fellow believers. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

To Have My Soul Happy in the Lord, by George Muller

To Have My Soul Happy in the Lord By George Muller “It has pleased the Lord to teach me a truth, the benefit of which I have not lost for more than fourteen years. The point is this: I saw more clearly than ever that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not how much I might serve the Lord, or how I might glorify the Lord, but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man might be nourished. “I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God—not prayer, but the Word of God. And here again, not the simple reading of the Word of God so that it only passes through my mind just as water runs through a pipe, but considering what I read, pondering over it, and applying it to my heart. To meditate on it, that thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, instructed. And that thus,...

Reflective Glory: How the Moon Displays the Mercy of God

Our sun is a fitting metaphor for the glory of God. In the context of our solar system, it is massive, bright, beautiful, powerful, self-sufficient, heat-producing, life-giving, and dangerous. It is, by far, the dominant feature of our solar system and without it the system would fling apart and all living things therein would die.  On the other hand, our moon is a fitting metaphor for human beings, especially for those who believe in Jesus Christ. First, compared to the sun, the moon is tiny and dim. The sun is 400 times larger than the moon, its mass is 27 million times greater than the mass of the moon, and from our perspective its light shines 450,000 times brighter than that of the moon. The sun is so much greater than the moon that it’s difficult to quantify and express the difference. Likewise, the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is so much great than each and all of us that it’s impossible to quantify or express the difference. Indeed, the Lord is very great and greatly...

When Children Say "I'm Bored" By Julie Lowe

This Article is written by Julie Lowe and was originally posted on the CCEF blog.  I highlighted the areas of particular interest. I had already prepared a blogpost on dealing with boredom from a Christian worldview and then came across this. There is much overlap between the two, perhaps this one is more concise while my work attempts to explain the connection between the ability to think and the ability to be happy. You can visit the original blogpost in the link provided below.  https://www.ccef.org/resources/blog/children-say-im-bored   We have a common crisis in our home; it is the calamity of boredom. Our children might even consider it a catastrophe. “I’m bored” is repeated so often it would not be an overstatement to say that these words echo continuously throughout our home especially during any break from school. These are children with limited media time but still children with a Wii and Xbox system, a pool outside our door, multiple games, toy...