“Fear” is the name of the game in our world. Dig just a little under the words, the behaviour of the unbelieving world… and the stench of fear begins to waft out. Fear drives every action and reaction because fear is the fruit of deliberate independence from God.
“Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.””
Genesis 3:8-10 NIV
The urge for self-preservation is so strong that it undergirds every thought and action…the greed, the wickedness that characterise society…and even in the most civil and congenial of neighbourhoods, fear reigns.
The world is made up of billions of units…individuals… each one separate and distinct, isolated and fighting for self. Even in families, the units are at work.
Jesus came to set up another kind of community…one that is not fractured by alienation, aggression, and self-preservation but bound together by a common life.
Jesus’ family, washed clean of the powerful self that demands priority in everything, is a different unit…all joined to one another by the life of Jesus, sustaining each one and bonding them all together by His own Spirit.
Two powerful threads hold the “body of Christ” together, both initiated by the Holy Spirit…love and unity.
The first thread is love…the love of God dispensed to us by His Spirit…
“And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
Romans 5:5 NIV
What is this love of God that the Spirit pours into our hearts? It’s the attitude and action of serving others at our own expense. Feelings come and go. God’s love steadfastly gives away regardless of the feelings.
The amazing thing about God’s love in us is that it begins with a choice and slowly becomes a disposition. God’s love weaves itself into our nature, choice by choice, action by loving action until… it becomes a part of why we are.
The second thread that binds God’s people together is unity.
Jesus achieved unity by destroying the natural hostility between Jew and Gentile…
“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.”
Ephesians 2:14-16 NIV
The Holy Spirit implements the unity by imparting to each believer the life of Jesus so that the same life is at work in each individual. It is the Spirit who unites but we who maintain that unity by actively participating in the life of the Spirit in us.
“Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”
Ephesians 4:3-6 NIV
In this community of unity, God the Holy Spirit does what He does…He unites… and the members of the body must do what they must do. The functions are not interchangeable. The Spirit initiates the unity. The body must maintain the unity by actively seeking peaceful interaction with one another…
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”
Philippians 2:3-4 NIV
The Word of God is the glue that bonds us together as we apply the truth of His Word to our hearts.
It’s our belongingness, then, that gives us security, first, because we belong to Him through His shed blood.
“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NIV
Then, we belong to one another in His body, regardless of our natural and external differences, because of our shared life.
“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Galatians 3:28 NIV
The strength of our security is in our belongingness.
“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NIV
“For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”
Colossians 3:3 NIV
We have Jesus’ own reassurance…
“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
John 10:27-30 NIV