Sunday, August 29, 2010

We Are Created for Community

I like to think about the Creation story in Genesis. It’s pretty crazy. I mean, when we read it through fresh lenses and just observe it as if we haven’t heard it a million times before, it rings true just like it always has; but there are some really cool things in the first two chapters of the Bible. The story of Creation goes a little something like this:

God is. The story begins with God and His eternal, infinite existence. So, there He is—just doing God things...because He’s God. The Triune God of the soon to be universe is just fellowshipping with Himself—just kicking it—in His triune nature. God is three in one and one in three—there is this Godhead community. Then the Godhead decides to start creating stuff from nothing. He creates and says, “It’s good.” He creates some more and says, “It’s good.” Then He does some more and says again, “It’s good.” He does this seven times: creates and declares His creation to be good.

But then He says something interesting. God says, “It is NOT good...” Well, what is He talking about? He finishes the sentence by declaring that it is not good for man to be alone. This is really cool. Adam is there in the garden surrounded by animals of all kinds—and yet God says man is alone. He designed us for community with Him and for community with others. He declares this at the very beginning of the story. He created man and it was good—but it wasn’t done yet. God’s plan was always community.

I think I’ve always understood this to be true—academically. But I think CCP has grown me in the depth of being really acquainted with this truth. I miss my CCP teammates. There is no debating it. Community and fellowship with them deeply blessed and enriched my life. But praise God because I have found sweet fellowship with Kiwi believers here in New Zealand. Even though university has the week off, and all the students have left for the holiday, there is a remnant that is still here in Dunedin. It brings me great joy to know that the Father ordained that this week in my life should be laden with the fellowship of believers.

There are men here that ferociously love Christ and I am so thankful to be around them. I think this stirs my heart to worship because they are living proof that God is making good on His promise to save and transform peoples from every tribe, tongue, and nation. Let our prayer be that God would bring more and more Kiwis into our community—that He would save men and women and bring them into sweet fellowship with Himself and also, us.

-Nate Xanders

“If you really believed in an omnipresent God, you would operate as if you were never alone and without community and fellowship.” –Dr. Del Tackett

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