This post was written by guest blogger Jeff Robinson… 

People are inherently communal. This is non-negotiable. Wherever people are, they’re trying to do things with other people. And for the most part, isolation is seen as either punishment or as a fool’s idea of independence. The question for those of us wrestling with our humanness in what theologians call the “already but not yet” age, a time in which brokenness is prevalent and redemption is imminent, is how do we “be” (act out) community in such a way that bows only to the King who is coming.

Community happens, and it generally happens among people with a common set of presuppositions. We generally surround ourselves with people like us, and often (sometimes without intention) distance ourselves from those not like us. I’m sure we can all come up with ways we have done this or seen this happen. The ways our presuppositions affect us and our communities aren’t all bad, however I’ve found that true community has to call them into question.

As I’ve been reading the Bible and thinking about community over the past few years, certain passages have stuck out to me. Passages like James 3:13-18 which contrast the wisdom which is common to man and wisdom which is from God. The passage shows the “earthly wisdom” (that which is common to man, sort of like a human default position) to be divisive and self-centered. It also paints the wisdom from above as seeking peace and full of mercy and uses a number of other words which help us see that it is other-focused. As in all wisdom literature, the underlying question is always which way shall you live?

Colossians 3:1-17 is another place where the contrast between the human default and the way things should be is laid out clearly. Paul, the author, is calling the early church to live like those who have been united to Jesus and to imitate him in their interactions with people. There’s a clear command to put to death the broken and sinful, self-centered human default way of living, and a clear command to put on a new way of living. A way that is focused on forgiveness and loving one another as Christ loves us and which sees all of life to be lived to honor God.

In my college years I had opportunity to see community done well and community done not so well. Like I said, people are communal, so when you stick 22 guys on a floor in the dorm, some sort of community will form. After a few months of living with the same guys my junior year, I found that our floor community basically consisted of watching movies, eating junk food, making fun of each other, and procrastinating as much as possible. It took me a while to realize it, but that wasn’t a very healthy community. All of our interactions served our desires to ignore our work and make ourselves feel more important than someone else. I don’t think anyone really felt a strong commitment to the others, and we certainly didn’t go about finding ways to love and forgive each other. While everyone talked about how much they loved the community on our floor, I found myself longing for everything our community lacked.

In the times that I have seen community done well, it has always been intentional and focused. The next year, I found myself among a group of guys that all felt the need for our community to be something more. We were just as broken and sinful as any other group of guys on campus, but we made a point to set our minds on Christ (as Col. 3:1-4) as a group, and walked alongside each other as we wrestled with what it means to put on the new self, and to become more like Jesus. It was really a struggle. None of those things described in Col. 3:10-17 are easily done.

It may seem like a simple lesson, but I keep finding it to be relevant in my life. There are two ways for us to go about living in community in our world. We can either keep to what’s comfortable, the self-centered way that is ultimately unsatisfying, or we can bind ourselves to each other as we seek to be renewed in the image of the Creator-God who bound himself to us. Community must force us to wrestle with our common understandings of how things are in our world and our understanding of who we are. We must confront our past and see what has shaped the way we commune. If we are under a new Lord, if we are part of his new creation, then our community must confront us with these realities and help us to live in them.

The conversation continues… (next week, when I get back from Mexico)