Why Community?

The Bible says many things that are mind boggling and hard to understand.  One of the most incredible is that human beings are made in the image of God.  This truth immediately communicates to us how much we are valued and loved by God.  But to fully grasp what being made in God's image means, we must also understand more of Who God is.

Central to understanding God is knowing the doctrine of the Trinity, which simply means that God exists in three distinct personalities (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) yet is still one God with one purpose and one nature.  The Trinity means that God has always existed in a community of love before we ever existed.  The Trinity assures us of God's love and His desire for a relationship with us.  If there was no Trinity, we would be left to wonder, "Why did God actually create us?"  The Trinity of God assures us that God's initiative to create us came from an overflow of His own community and His desire to love.

Therefore, being made in the image of the triune God means in part that we belong in community with God and others.  There is no escaping the fact that we are wired for community because we were wired by God who has eternally existed in community.

Sin has undeniable affected our wiring and made community more difficult and loving others much more challenging; however, the Gospel of Jesus Christ not only changes our eternal addresses, but also our earthly desires.  Christ gives us the "want to" as we start wanting what God wants. God has always wanted us in community with Himself and with others ("It is not good for man to be alone").

So as we continue talking about the Body of Christ in our new sermon series, we cannot miss how important community is to God because God is community.  We cannot downplay the church and our connection to her as Christ's body.

If you want to take a step toward community, consider learning more about Rock Bridge small groups:

• GROUP LINK for our Calhoun & Dalton campuses
  
  
  
  • A unique environment designed to help people find a small group.
  
  
  • Chatsworth campus: get connected to a group in church lobby after any service