Rabbi’s Reflections – Saturday, January 25, 2020
Shabbat Shalom << Test First Name >>,
Pillar Three: The Kingdom is Expressed in Community – part 1
These twelve pillars are actually being presented in a hierarchy. We start with the gospel. Then we add worship. Now we add community. Community is not church (or synagogue). It’s not buildings, it is relationships. It is relationships with other like-minded people who have banded together to follow Yeshua.
The question “to what church do you belong?” is wrongly worded. The question asked should be “to what community do you belong?” We have a policy at Shomair not to receive guest speakers who do not belong to a community. Ministry works from the inside-out. Community is the next step beyond family, not the whole world.
I was asked once (on a television show) to advise people how to start a ministry. I said (yes, I know, I’m quoting myself), “Become a faithful part of a community and see how God will use you.” Two forces are at work; God is good and Satan is evil. Consider these two scriptures…
1 Peter 5:8 Stay alert! Watch out! Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, searching for someone to devour.
Psalm 33:18 Behold, the eyes of Adonai are on those who fear Him, waiting for His love,
Community is part of God’s protecting love for the Believer. Even the animal kingdom understands the value of a herd or flock. Too bad we have the same word in English for one sheep and a flock of sheep. John 10:27 My sheep hear My voice. I know them, and they follow Me. In the original Greek, “sheep” is plural. Many sheep hear His voice. Think about it. God gave us each other for a purpose, and that purpose was not to be alone.
Have you ever met people who just can’t be a part of a community because in their eyes, no community ever measures up to their high standards? I have. And it’s sad.
Rabbi Trail: Let me put this on me. Any community that was just about perfect before I got there, would be less perfect after I arrived. In many ways, the weakest among us is the closest to God.
2 Corinthians 12:9 But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Messiah may dwell in me. 10 For Messiah’s sake, then, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in distresses, in persecutions, in calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 11 I have become a fool—you drove me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you. For I am in no way inferior to the super-special emissaries—though I am nothing.
End RT.
What we become in community is an expression here on earth of who God is in heaven and on earth.
Short today. Shabbat shalom.