Personal Faith and Communal Life

Last Sunday I said that believing in Jesus is not just for groups or families or congregations.  It’s about individual hearts:  every man, woman and child.  Each one of us must respond to Jesus indiv­idually; we can’t just hang onto our parents’ religious coattails or “go with the flow” of our social networks.  Christianity involves personal faith.

John 3:16 underscores this point:  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” That word, “whoever”—it’s singular:  “each one who believes.”  Jesus’ promise speaks past the social context to the soul of the indiv­idual—to you personally.  We trust in Jesus one by one, heart by heart, each person embracing his love, or we don’t trust in him at all.

But let’s put this truth in its biblical context.  After all, I wouldn’t want anyone to think that faith in Christ is only a matter of the indiv­idual’s heart-response.  A hundred uses of the expression “one another” in the New Testament tell us we need each other.  Take Hebrews 3:13, “Encourage one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” We need each other’s support to withstand the pressure of temptation.

Or take 1 Corinthians 12:  the church is a body.  The eye can’t say to the hand, “I don’t need you.”  One body—many members. The parts need the body; the body needs the parts.  “Lone Ranger” Christians are in grave danger; the spiritually “strong silent type” walks in sin.

Or take Jesus’ stunning prayer in John 17.  He pleads with the Father on behalf of future generations of believers, “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (v 21).  Did you get that?  The same Jesus who so often stresses the necessity of individual faith prays for a quality of community life in the church that’s akin to the unity of the Son with the Father.  What a bold vision for the church!

So, let’s keep the biblical balance.  Our communal life as a church is vital—we’re on this faith journey together.  And yet, that faith must be rooted in the depth of each person’s heart and soul.  Let’s ask the Lord to help us keep this vital personal/communal balance.