Following After Jesus Together: Community
BRONSON DUKE
In 2007, something terrible happened… Nick Saban took over as the head football coach at Alabama. News of his tyranny did not reach the other conferences for a few more years, but as a Georgia fan, we were on the front lines. I was there for Alabama’s coming-out party. It was my first Georgia game. We were ranked number one in the country… and by halftime we were down 31–0.
Nick Saban built something different at Alabama. As much as many of us hate to admit it, he built the greatest college football program in the sport. It was not just the players he recruited or the coaches he had on the sidelines. It was a relentless commitment to something he called “the Process.” He taught his players that the scoreboard was irrelevant. All that mattered was doing the next right thing: bring maximum effort on the next play, properly execute the next rep, and get better every day. It clearly worked in route to six national championships during his seventeen years at Alabama.
From time to time a generational leader comes along and builds something remarkable. But when the leader leaves, the organization generally goes into decline.
But something very different happens with Jesus… Jesus seemingly leaves, yet His people become stronger and gain greater influence. How is that possible? The book of Acts shows us what Jesus promised came to pass: He was still with them through the Holy Spirit, more deeply and powerfully than ever before.
Acts 2 gives us a picture of what is possible when God acts upon a people. Jesus takes roughly 120 marginalized, mostly uneducated people and uses them, within a few generations, to become one of the most influential communities in the world. His legacy does not last for years, decades, or even centuries. It lasts for millennia. And He established it after three years of public ministry without traveling more than a few hundred miles. Most of the greatest leaders that have ever lived have only produced a faction of that impact in their lifetime.
What Jesus produced was not merely a championship team. He produced a new vision of what is possible for humanity.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THIS NEW HUMANITY
“Everyone was filled with awe.” (Acts 2:43)
What we see in Acts 2 is not primarily a formula. It is not: Do these exact things, in this exact order, and you will automatically become a world-changing group of people. See this… the church is not primarily disciplined people. The church from the beginning has primarily been a devoted people. What were they devoted to? Sharing? Caring? Love? Peace? Yes, all of those things, but not first.
Their first devotion was to Jesus Christ as God and King. They had experienced the risen Christ. They had seen Him ascend. They had witnessed the Spirit fall, the gospel proclaimed, and thousands of people responded.
The Greek word translated as “awe” is phobos. It is often translated as “fear” or even “terror.” This was not simply, “Everyone left feeling inspired.” They didn’t leave and say, “you know that was a nice sermon. I really enjoyed that worship.” No… They felt the weight of God’s presence in a way that disrupted their entire lives. They experienced what earlier Saints called “the fear of the Lord”.
Here is the truth: The things we most revere and fear are the things we end up worshipping, and we become like what we worship. If we fear being poor, we will worship money and become enslaved to the pursuit of wealth. If we fear our children falling behind, we will ascribe ultimate value to their grades, sports, résumés, and college preparation. If we fear being unknown or invisible, we will worship self-expression and self-promotion.
When we fear what we cannot control and worship what can never meet our deepest needs, we become anxious, controlling, angry, frustrated, and exhausted. When we worship things that can break, they will eventually break us.
Christianity tells us to revere and worship the unbreakable reality of God. Stand in awe of His majesty and character. See Him as terrifyingly powerful and immeasurably gracious. Orient your life around the transcendent Creator.
These first Christians feared God and worshiped Him… and they then began to become like Him. They became generous, loving, and sacrificial. They orbited around Jesus, worshiped Him as God, and became like Him.
THEY STUDIED THE WAY OF JESUS TOGETHER
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching.” (Acts 2:42)
What comes to mind when you hear the word study? Some people think of a stuffy library. Others picture a boring professor. But studying together is key to the life of the church. But what did the early church study? It says here, “the apostles’ teaching”, but what were the apostles teaching?
The apostles’ teaching had two major dimensions.
Firstly, they taught how the Scriptures pointed to Jesus. The earliest Christians did not believe Jesus appeared as an interruption to the biblical story. They believed He was the culmination of it. The law, the prophets, the promises, the covenants, and the history of Israel were all moving toward what God had accomplished through Jesus.
Peter says: “Therefore let all the house of Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” (Acts 2:36)
The apostles taught that Jesus was the promised Messiah and the true King. His life, death, and resurrection were not disconnected from the Scriptures. They were the fulfillment of the story the Scriptures had been telling. Jesus was the culmination of their history, and, ultimately, the history of the world.
Second, the apostles taught what they had learned directly from Jesus. The people Jesus had taught were now teaching others. They had listened to His words. They had watched His life. They had seen how He treated the poor, the powerful, the sick, the sinful, and the forgotten. They had witnessed His compassion, His courage, His confrontation of injustice, and His surrender to the will of the Father. They had apprenticed under Jesus, and now others were apprenticing under them.
The early Christians were studying both the claims of Jesus and the way of Jesus. They were learning who He was and how He lived. They were learning what He taught and how to put it into practice. Christian teaching was never intended to be information detached from formation. The point was not simply to know more about Jesus. The point was to become like Jesus. The apostles were not handing down abstract ideas. They were passing on a life they had seen and shared.
Jesus had told them: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” (John 15:9)
This was not theoretical for the disciples. They had lived with Him. They had laughed together, traveled together, done ministry together, and cried together. They knew His love because they had experienced it.
But notice this, they learned this love in the context of community. I’ve long said, if it was important to Jesus, it’s probably essential for me. There is no other context Jesus provides for living out this expansive life of faith other than in community with God’s people, the church.
Jesus told them: “Love each other as I have loved you.” (John 15:12)
Here is a problem we have to name: for many of us a church is a building we go to or a service we attend. I’ve polled many members of the church through the years with this question: How many minutes a weekend do you have to chat with people on the way into service or after. Most have said it’s an absolute maximum average of 15 minutes a weekend. How can we expect to form world changing love in 15 minutes a week? It’s an impossibility.
The way of Jesus is an invitation into a common, shared life of covenantal participation.
THEY LIVED IN COVENANTAL PARTICIPATION
“They devoted themselves to the fellowship.” (Acts 2:42)
“Bronson! Why not simply say that the early Christians lived life together? Why say it so weird? “ It’s because what Acts describes is deeper than a friend group. This was not simply, “We go to the same church.” It was, “We belong to each other.”
They were not only devoted to the institution of the church. They were not merely giving their time and resources to an organization. They were so devoted to Jesus that the overflow was truly a shared life.
The greek word we translate as “fellowship” is koinōnia. This word fellowship brings up different images depending on your background. For me the word fellowship imagine of a crockpot full of BBQ meatballs… because fellowship makes me think of potlucks, and usually the only good food at the potluck is the meatballs.
In the first century, koinōnia meant something. It meant shared participation in a common life. It described people bound together by more than proximity or preference, people whose lives had become mutually accountable.
In civic life, it meant, “We belong to one another. Your good is now bound up with mine, and none of us is free to seek our own flourishing at the expense of the community.” In business, it meant, “We have invested together. We share the risk, and we share the outcome.” In philosophy, it described a community formed around a shared purpose and a shared vision of the good life.
When people heard koinōnia, they did not think of “casual participation”. They didn’t think, “man I hope there are meatballs left”. They thought of covenantal commitment. A commitment with a promise attached. There was obligation and mutual participation in a shared life.
Luke takes that loaded word and centers it on Jesus. This is no longer merely a shared city, a shared business, or a shared social identity. This is a people sharing life in the Spirit under the lordship of Jesus. It is a new kind of community. A new kind of belonging. A new kind of family. That is why “covenantal participation” describes it so well.
What is a covenant? A covenant is the highest and most sacred form of agreement between people. It creates a relationship with a promise attached.
Our world contains many relationships of convenience. We support the same sports teams, enjoy the same hobbies, work in the same industry, or find ourselves in the same season of life. These are “peg” relationships. Like a peg board, these relationships have no deep interconnectivity. When you leave the ball game, you leave that relationship until you should happen upon each other again.
There is nothing wrong with those relationships. But when the storms of life come (and they will), we need something deeper. We need relationships that say, “You can count on me.” We need people who remain through good seasons and bad ones. We need people who mourn together, celebrate together, and tell one another the truth. People who love you tell you the truth.
Covenant community does not simply affirm everything we already think. Sometimes love means telling the truth even if the person doesn’t want to hear it. Sometimes love confronts. Sometimes love risks the comfort of the relationship in order to protect the person. That is covenantal participation. The believers in Acts shared more than a worship service. They shared their lives. They even sold possessions to meet the needs of people around them.
That does not seem strange when we think about that in the context of a family. When someone we love is in need, we help. It is a no-brainer. When I was going through addiction, my family took me in, but so did a church family. I gained aunties and uncles who sowed into me, taught me the scripture and about Jesus' love. One of them even bought me a guitar. They invested in my gifts, and helped shape my life. Some of those people are still part of my life today.
This is what koinōnia is meant to produce. That is what the church is. Not merely an event, although we have events. Not merely a structure, although we need structure. It is a people united under a King, learning to live the life He taught us to live.
THEY BROKE BREAD TOGETHER
“They devoted themselves to the breaking of bread.” (Acts 2:42)
Their shared life brought them to a table.
Have you ever gathered to feast around a united purpose? Think about a wedding. A wedding brings together people who may barely know one another. Different families, different histories, different personalities, and different circles of friends all gather in one place. Some of them may have nothing in common except their love for the bride and groom.
But for that night, they celebrate together. They sit at the same tables. They eat the same food. They tell stories. They dance. They toast the union. People who were not family begin relating to one another as family because a new union has brought them together. A wedding feast celebrates more than two individuals. It celebrates the creation of a new shared life. That is part of what happens in the church.
People who may otherwise have little in common gather because they have been united to Christ and, through Christ, to one another. The table becomes a sign of that new family.
The breaking of bread in Acts likely included ordinary meals and the remembrance of Jesus through communion. The everyday table and the table of the Lord belonged together. When Christians take communion, we remember the death of Jesus, but we also look forward to the wedding supper of the Lamb, the final restoration of all things. We remember that history is moving toward a feast. God is gathering a family. He is reconciling people to Himself and to one another. The table gives us a small picture of that future.
This is why meals matter so much in Christian community.
Many people become frustrated and disconnected from the church because they desire from the temple what God designed to happen at the table. They want intimacy and closeness in a room of five hundred people. But that is not what the large gathering is designed to provide. The large gathering is for worshipping God, taking of the sacraments, and being mutually encouraged by the preaching of the scripture. The average conversation at church is 5 minutes, max. You cannot develop world changing love in 5 minutes.
The table is where world changing love is formed in us. It is where healing and restoration happens. It is where people who were not family learn to become family. The breaking of bread is not just about meals. It is about a people gathering at the table of grace together.
A shared life centered on Jesus.
THEY PRAYED TOGETHER
“They devoted themselves to prayer.” (Acts 2:42)
Prayer is not simply one part of Christianity. It is the point of Christianity. The story of the scripture is that God wants a relationship with us. One of the primary ways we engage relationally with God is through prayer. It is where we speak to the God who listens and cares. It is where we bring Him our fear, our grief, our hope, and our needS. It is also where we carry the burdens of others. The church does not merely talk about people’s problems. The church intercedes. We go to battle in prayer.
I have prayed with other christians for the healing from my own addiction. I have prayed with other christians for the restoration of family members. I have with other christians prayed when there was nothing else I could control and no outcome I could be guaranteed. And here is what I’ve found: there is something powerful about discovering that other people are praying with you. You are no longer carrying the burden alone.
Prayer becomes another form of covenantal participation. It says, “Your pain matters to me. Your family matters to me. Your healing matters to me. So much so, that I will bring your name and your need before the Almighty God.”
When the church prays together, we unite not only to move the heart of God but to reflect it. We begin to care about what God cares about. We begin to grieve what grieves Him. We begin to desire healing, reconciliation, justice, and restoration. Prayer turns a group of individuals into a people with a shared heart.
That kind of community becomes a sign post to the world of greater possibilities for humanity.
THEY CHANGED THE WORLD TOGETHER
“Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:47)
The most compelling apologetic from the early church wasn’t the arguments that they made but the type of people that were produced. The christians participated in a covenantal life together. They gathered around the table as family, they went to battle in prayer for one another and for their world, and they radically shared their resources to alleviate the suffering of others.
This was the people God was forming in Acts, and it is what He is still forming in the church today. This is where we derive our vision statement at ChristChurch: We are a community of people following after Jesus together and contending for awakening in our city. We a people committed to Jesus. committed to learning His ways, committed to sacrificially loving one another, committed to prayer, and committed to join God in transforming the world.
What dreams might emerge from a community like this? Perhaps vision for addressing poverty and suffering at scale? Or confronting the mental-health and addiction crisis among the poor? Or men and women who covenant together to address the crisis of fatherlessness in some of our communities. Who knows what God might do through us as we commit to life together.
So this invitation remains before us: Learn the way of Jesus. Belong to His people. Find a table. Go to battle in prayer. And let God form us into a community that makes His kingdom visible.
APPLICATION ONE: SHARE YOUR LIFE
Find your table:
Here at ChristChurch, we are committed to life in small groups and serve groups. Over 60% of our church is involved in a small group or serve group, and we’d love to see you find your place in one. (For info, go to our website Christchurch.co/groups)
APPLICATION TWO: PRAYING THE LORD'S PRAYER
“This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’ (Matthew 6:9-13)
PREPARING YOUR HEART AND MIND FOR PRAYER
Put away your phones or any other distractions, and get into a comfortable, but alert position.
Invite the Holy Spirit to come.
Pray through the Lord’s prayer, like this…
OUR FATHER WHO IS IN HEAVEN
Take a moment and think about the truth that God is our Heavenly Father. He is our Father, meaning we are a part of a family. Thank God for the family of his local and global church. He is also your Father in heaven, with good intentions toward you. He is both personal and eternal. Heaven is not marked by the brokenness of our world, and neither is God - He is above it all.
If you want, imagine God in your mind’s eye. Picture his face. Make eye contact with him. As you do, remember this: When he looks at you, he sees you as fully worthy of standing before him because of the finished work of Jesus.
HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME
Spend a few minutes just sitting with the Father in joyful, grateful, worship. You might want to sit in silence for a few moments. Or sing a chorus. Or rattle off a list of things you’re grateful for. Or praise God with specific things you love about him. We honor and respect the name of God.
If you are in a group, encourage people to make their expressions of praise and gratitude out loud, one at a time. (E.g. “Father, thank you for your kindness.” “Father, thank you for loving me.”)
YOUR KINGDOM COME, YOUR WILL BE DONE, ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN
Spend a few minutes asking for God’s will to be done in your heart, in your home, in your neighborhood, in our city, and in our church.
God let it be in my heart as it is in heaven
God let it be in my home as it is in heaven
God let is be in my neighborhood as it is in heaven
God let it be in Little Rock as it is in heaven
God let it be in New Life Church Downtown as it is in heaven.
This is a prayer that God would make it in our lives as it already is in heaven. That God’s perfect peace, perfect justice and perfect order would break in and rule. That God’s word and ways would reign above it all.
Think of specific things to pray for for each one, and write them down.
My Heart:
My Home:
My Neighborhood:
My City:
My Church:
Spend time if you like verbally giving to God specific things in your life that you’re wrestling with control over. A simple prayer of, “Your will be done in ______," is a great place to start.
GIVE US TODAY OUR DAILY BREAD
Spend a few minutes praying for specific needs and wants in your life or that of your community (this is a great time to pray through your “prayer cards”!). This is also a great time to pray over specific people in the community who need something: a job, healing, wisdom to make a decision, etc.
If you are with a group, get them in the middle of the room and pray over them. Consider splitting into groups of 2-3 and having each person share one area of need in their life. After each person has shared, pray for one another, asking God to meet that need.
FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS AS WE FORGIVE OUR DEBTORS
Spend a few minutes quietly asking God for forgiveness for specific areas in your life, and releasing others in the areas they have wronged you. As far as it is up to me, I will keep peace with others. In this, we walk in the spirit of “jubilee”, we release others of the debts they owe us, just as God has released us from the debt we owed Him.
LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION, BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL
Spend a few minutes praying against temptation (the word can also be translated trouble) in your life. Pray against specific sins. Pray against any kind of evil - spiritual evil (demonic), human evil, natural evil, etc. Pray against bad things in your life or community, and for God’s blessing - the divine flow of good things into your life and community.
FOR YOURS IS THE KINGDOM, THE POWER AND THE GLORY FOREVER AND EVER. AMEN.
APPLICATION THREE: GOING DEEPER
Exercise 1: (10 minutes)
Get out your calendar or journal, and set a time and place to pray that is quiet and distraction free. For most, the mornings are a good time. But you might prefer an afternoon walk or evening
Set a modest goal - daily is ideal, but if that’s too much, shoot for three times a week, for 10-15 minutes, or something that feels a little challenging, but doable.
Fill in 1-3 prayer cards. At the top put the name or subject, then write out a few bullet points of Scriptures, dreams, or requests you have. Remember, be specific!
Exercise 2: (2-10 minutes)
If you have a hard time with distraction, here’s a little breathing exercise you can begin with, before you start into the Lord’s prayer:
Take long, deep, slow breaths (if you want, count 4 seconds in, 4 seconds wait, 4 seconds out, repeat). Inhale through your nose, exhale through your mouth. Start to pay attention to your breathing. Just “watch” your breath go in and out.
Release the constant chatter in your mind. Let each thought go as quickly as it comes, and just focus on your breathing.
Your mind will seize this opportunity to run wild with thoughts, feelings, memories, to do’s, and all manner of distractions. That’s okay. Don’t judge yourself, feel bad, give up, or worry.
When you notice your mind start to wander, just recenter with a quick prayer word, like, “Father…” or “Jesus, have mercy” or “Holy Spirit,” and come back to your breathing.
In the beginning, just 1-2 minutes of this is a huge win, and 10 minutes is a home run. When you feel like you’re ready, move from breathing to praying.
(This practice is based on a teaching by John Mark Comer)
