Participation

Together

The kingdom of God is a community under the reign of Christ our Lord and King. Oftentimes, when we talk about the nature of salvation we emphasize the personal relationship between the individual and God. This is important because every believer does have an individual relationship of faith and trust in God through Jesus Christ. Each believer has the Holy Spirit residing in them! However, this does not mean that the personal Christian life is to be private or experienced alone. This last Sunday we had the privilege of participating as the local church in a baptism. Here in our church we weekly participatie in taking the Lord’s supper as Christ’s body and bride. The reason I use the word participate is that I believe that in these ordinances we are participating in the grace that has been collectively given to Christ’s body. The church has been given gifts. These are unmerited blessings provided by Christ for His people. But they are not automatic; they are experienced through means of grace in which we fellowship and participate in these blessings.

Grace

So when we gather to sing God’s praises and hear His word proclaimed we are experiencing together, God’s grace in these practices. The grace is already there for us but this is how we practice and experience it. In the age in which we live we are able to watch and listen to preaching and teaching from anywhere and anyone we want all on our own. I love to listen to sermons and podcasts where I learn more of Christ and His kingdom. However, when we gather for the worship and word of God more is happening than mere instruction or data transmission. We should be gathering to love and serve one another as family members in the body of Christ. If I miss a family dinner, someone could bring me a plate of leftovers, but honestly I missed the best part by not being there. This is also true in the church.

Covenant Love

God loves. That is a complete sentence because the Bible is clear that God is love (1 John 4:16). God loves us! Of course as believers we should stand amazed that God loves us individually. But God also loves us corporately as His people. His promises have always been corporate promises. “They will be my people and I will be their God”Jeremiah 32:38. There is a real sense in which we experience God’s love corporately in ways that we cannot experience it alone. God has set His love on His people and we are supposed to experience things together so much so that Jesus said this would be the proof of our discipleship (John 13:35).

Faithful Discipleship

Finally, faithful discipleship requires the community of the local church. Jesus never intended His disciples to be lone rangers. He sent them out two by two (Luke 10:1) and even after Pentecost we find them together (Acts 3:1).  When we are born again we receive all the grace of Christ and all the unmerited favor we will ever need. But it is through the means of grace that we participate in all that we have received. Paul says that we are to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12-13). This means participating in real time and experiencing in real life the sufficient and sustaining grace of God that we have in Jesus Christ! ​

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