3.21.2013 LIFE TOGETHER: COMMUNITY

'behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell
together in unity! ps 133.1
in the following we shall consider a number of directions and precepts
that the scriptures provide us for our life together under the word.

it is not simply to be taken for granted that the christian
has the privilege of living among other christians.
Jesus Christ lived in the midst of His enemies.
at the end all His disciples deserted Him.
on the cross He was utterly alone,
surrounded by evildoers and mockers,\
for this cause he had come,
to bring peace to the enemies of God.
so the christian, too,
belongs not in the seclusion of a cloistered life
but in the thick of foes.
there is his commission, his work.
'the kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies.
and he who will not suffer this does not want to be of the
kingdom of Christ;
he wants to be among friends,
to sit among roses and lilies,
not with the bad people but the devout people.
o you blasphemers and betrayers of Chri9st!
if Christ had done what you are doing
who would ever have been spared? luther

'I will sow them among the people:
and they shall remember me in far countries zech. 10.9
according to God's will christendom is a scattered people,
scattered like seed 'into all the kingdoms of the earth deut. 28.25
that is its curse and its promise.
God's people must dwell in far counties among the unbelievers,
but it will be the seed of the kingdom of God in all the world.

'i will...gather them; for i have redeemed them:
...and they shall return zech. 10.8-9.
when will that happen?
it has happened in Jesus Christ, who died 'that He should
gather together in one the children of God
that were scattered abroad john 11.52,
and it will finally occur visibly at the end of time
when the angels of God 'shall gather together His elect
from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
matt. 24.31
until then, God's people remain scattered,
held together solely in Jesus Christ,
having become one in the fact that,
dispersed among unbelievers, they remember Him
in the far countries.

so between the death of Christ and the last day
it is only by a gracious anticipation of the last things
that christians are privileged to live in visible fellowship
with other christians.
it is by the grace of God that a congregation is permitted
to gather visibly in this word to share God's word and sacrament.
not all christians receive this blessing.
the imprisoned, the sick, the scattered lonely,
the proclaimers of the gospel in heathen lands stand alone.
they know that visible fellowship is a blessing.
they remember, as the psalmist did, how they went
'with the multitude...to the hose of God,
with the voice of joy and praise,
with a multitude that kept holy day ps. 42.4
but they remain alone in far countries,
a scattered seed according to God's will.
yet what is denied them as an actual experience
they seize upon more fervently in faith.
thus the exiled disciple of the Lord,
john the apocalyptist, celebrates in the loneliness of patmos
the heavenly worship with his congregations
'in the Spirit on the lord's day' rev 1.10
he sees the seven candlesticks his congregations,
the seven stars, the angels of the congregations
and in the midst and above it all the Son of Man, Jesus Christ,
in all the splendor of the resurrection.
He strengthens and fortifies him by His word.
this is the heavenly fellowship, shared by the exile on
the day of his Lord's resurrection.

the physical presence of other christians is a source
of incomparable joy and strength to the believer.
longingly the imprisoned apostle paul calls his
'dearly beloved son in the faith', timothy,
co come to him in prison in the last days of his life;
he would see him again and have him near.
paul has not forgotten the tears timothy shed
when last they parted II tim. 1.4
remembering the congregation in thessalonica,
paul prays 'night and day..exceedingly that we
might see your face.'
I thess. 3.10
the aged john knows that his joy will not be full
until he can come to his own people
and speak face to face instead of writing with ink . II john 12

the believer feels no shame, as though he were still living
too much in the flesh,
when he yearns for the physical presence of other christians.
man was created a body,
the Son of God appeared on earth in the body,
he was raised in the body,..
the prisoner, the sick person, the christian in exile
sees in the companionship of a fellow christian
a physical sign of the gracious presence of the triune God.
visitor and visited in loneliness recognize in each other
the
Christ who is present in the body;
they receive and meet each other as one meets the Lord,
in reverence, humility and joy.
they receive each other's benedictions as the
benediction of the Lord Jesus Christ.
but if there is so much blessing and joy even in
a single encounter of brother with brother,
how inexhaustible are the riches that open up
for those who by God's will are privileged
to live in the daily fellowship of life with other christians!

it is true, of course, that what is an unspeakable gift of God
for the lonely individual is easily disregarded and trodden under foot
by those who have the gift every day.
it is easily forgotten that the fellowship of christian brethren
is a gift of grace,a gift of the kingdom of God
that any day may be taken from us.
that the time that still separates us from utter loneliness
may be brief indeed.
therefore, let him who until now has had the privilege of
living a common christian life with other christians
praise God's grace from the bottom of his heart.
let him than God on his knees and declare:
it is grace, nothing but grace,
that we are allowed to live in community with christian brethren.