Life More Abundantly

I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. . . I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them. -Jesus, in John 17


A few years ago, someone introduced me to the idea that there must be more than this. No matter how deep or intimate we grow spiritually, we’ve never ‘arrived.’ There’s always more. More Spirit, more Jesus, more GOD. More sanctification, more grace, more righteousness. More reasons to worship, more understanding, more Love.

We can never reach the end of God. This morning Dan suggested to me that even in the complete sanctification of heaven we will grow in love and joy with our maker and redeemer.

It’s not an abstraction, though. It’s practical reality.

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Lately I’ve been rather focused on the corporate nature of Christian living. I think it’s kind of like vector graphics: the doctrine, story, and truth of the Bible are meant for the church—the whole church, the catholic worldwide church through time that is together the body of Christ. But when you zoom in, the doctrine, story, and truth are still clear and relevant. For the church today. For the church in this country today. For the church I attend each Sunday. For the people I join with in Bible study. For my family. For me.

It’s pretty cool.

I think that we—Americans, evangelicals, rich people, whatever—have fallen into a trap of always emphasizing the zoomed-in view. We want to know how it is relevant to OUR lives as individuals. Give us application, give us insight, let it change our lives. And that’s extremely important, for every member of the body is in an individual relationship with God. It’s the most personal thing there ever could be.

But we are not meant to go it alone. Confess your sins to God and He will absolve you. Repent and he will forgive you. But there are two important ways that this can and should be corporate. If you confess your sins to God and another believer (or two, or many), you have a network of people to help you turn, be restored, and stay in line with the word. Accountability. And in the incredibly relational world of Christianity, this unity is SO important. We can meet each other in times of needs, lift the heads of the broken, speak truth to their innermost being, and tangibly be Christ to them. I might not know the truth that I need to hear—I might not have the strength to preach it to myself. But if I am connected to a community of believers willing to ask the hard questions and meet me in my need and help me walk in victory, I am much more likely to succeed.

This carries over to every aspect of Christian life. Worshipping together draws in the attention of the straying one. Hearing the word preached together gives us a common experience and starting point to spur on individual and group truth-seeking. Discussing the Word turns a lonely meal into a feast, literally adding richness to our understanding. The individual disciplines of Christian life can and should be lived out in community.

The other way that repentance (or any other aspect of Christian life) can and should be corporate is in a more collective sense. In the old testament, kings, prophets, and priests routinely led their people in corporate confession and repentance. In this case it’s not about confessing the sins of each individual, but the sins of the group: We’ve turned away from You. We’ve worshiped idols. We’ve disobeyed You and failed to honor the first commandment. We’ve turned away from our first love.

In America: We’ve legislated the murder of innocents. Loved money instead of God.

In a church: We’ve neglected evangelism. Failed to love our community. Fostered the spirit of judgment and division.

In a small group: We’ve passed judgment on our brothers/sisters. Failed to be led by prayer and the Spirit. Sought the advice of friends rather than the guidance of God.

On every level, in any situation, we can corporately repent and reap the consequent blessings. (Following the comparison through, individuals can be accountable to other individuals or small groups, small groups to each other and churches, churches to each other and denominations, etc. And really on all levels the head is Christ.)

So why doesn’t it work? My main postulate is that we (especially in the West today) are so darned independent that corporate life is just impossibly hard. Community living requires humility—it means putting the interests of others before your own (love) and being willing to acknowledge the weakest and darkest parts of yourself (vulnerability). We’re wretched sinners and even when we try to live this way we fail miserably, and we pass judgement on each other, and divisions spring up, and etc. It’s just so hard.

Look at the smallest scale of community. A husband and wife, the closest to oneness that you can get and still call it community. At its best it’s amazing. But no one who’s been married for any length of time will tell you that it doesn’t take hard work, and tons of humility, and vulnerability, and love. At the end of the day a successful marriage is dependent on each person being completely humble and vulnerable and filled up in their relationship with God.

I don’t know how to express it, this corporateness. But it’s everything. It’s God himself, three-yet-one. It’s a person and God. It’s a marriage. It’s a family. It’s a group. It’s a church. It’s a city, state, nation, world. It’s the body of Christ. Differently gifted, uniquely suited for special tasks, called as individuals and as groups to do His will in specific ways, all under the direction and banner and authority and headship of the man-God Christ Jesus, the Messiah whose plan it is we’re following, whose glory is our ultimate goal, and who’s Personhood is the corporate unity that all the rest is modeled after.

We have to do it together. There is no alone. I need you—I need the Christ-in-you. I can offer only the Christ-in-me. It’s so simple. We are the same. The same wretches, the same redeemed (by the same blood), the same family with the same father. The same body of Christ.

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I’m not content with life as I know it. There’s so much more than this.