How Community Helps You to See

Charlie and I were in our early years of marriage when I discovered a surprising truth. While at the end of a church service one Sunday, the announcement came for auditions for the worship team. I don’t know if he saw me lean forward with excitement or a smile came across my face, either way, I felt his hand on my shoulder when he leaned over and whispered, “Hun, you can’t sing.” Shock and disappointment went through my body.  

What? How did I not know this? In my own mind and self-assessment, I could sing.  

Safety in company

Much like my own blindness to singing, we as Christians can become spiritually blind to sin in our life. But God has provided a means for helping to guard us against this danger through community in the local church. The Christian life was never meant to be done alone but rather in the context and company of other believers.  (Ephesians 4:11-16)

You see, left to ourselves, we can rationalize, justify, minimize and eventually become desensitized to sin. I can be really good at explaining why I needed to speak or act a certain way, despite my knowing it’s wrong. And 1 John 1:8 sends a dire warning about self-deception, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” This same passage goes on to teach us that a believer’s life is one characterized by ongoing fellowship with other believers, confession of sin and obedience to God.

Helping one another

By nature, we are prone to see the good highlights of our lives and completely miss the areas that are self-focused and self-seeking. Scripture show us a pattern of blindness and self-deception. David needed Nathan to expose his sin (2 Sam. 12:7), Peter needed Paul to confront his sin of fear and exclusion (Gal. 2:11-12), and Euodia and Syntyche needed Paul to charge them to lay aside their differences and get back to work of the gospel (Phil. 4:2-3). If we are to see ourselves clearly and stay on mission, we need the help of fellow brothers and sisters in our lives.

Hence, there is already an assumption made that every believer will be living a life that is in close fellowship with other believers. The New Testament supports this in that it has over 50 “one another” directives. Here are just a few,

…love one another (John 13:34)

…serve one another (Galatians 5:13)

…admonish one another (Colossians 3:16)

…encourage each other (I Thessalonians 4:18)

…confess your sins to each other (James 5:16)

Embrace God’s plan

Bottomline, a loving community is God’s plan for us. It serves as a safeguard from self-deception and sin which can easily pull us away from the Lord. And it provides encouragement and fellowship for our souls as we seek to grow and glorify God together.

Have you embraced God’s design and role of the local church in your life?  Settle in your heart that it’s His “guarding and growing” plan for you as a Christian. Then prayerfully seek out a discipleship or bible study group in your church that will provide the community you need as a believer to grow in.