It’s About The Communion, Not The Community

Length: 5 minutes

I have heard many people that have either given up on their faith or backed off of seeking the Lord. Many, if not most of them, say that it’s because of betrayal or hypocrisy that they see in the church. But we are missing something if we are leaving God because of something one of His kids did. How would you feel if someone left you because of something someone else did?

Imagine one of your family members stole something, yet you were accused and sent to jail? Wouldn’t it be unjust to accuse you for something someone else did?

Imagine your spouse left you because someone at work mistreated them. Wouldn’t it be unfair to hold you accountable for something someone else did? 

It also doesn’t make sense to stop seeking a God that has nothing but love for you because of something one of His family members did. God is not your local pastor. God is not your fellow believer. Don’t stop seeking God because of something someone else did to you.

Ultimately, why is it that many people leave church when a believer betrays their trust? Why is it that many people give up seeking the Lord when a minister lets them down? The only reason this happens is because many people think being a Christian is about the community of believers around them, rather than communion with the One who made them. 

If you asked most people why they go to their specific church, their first response is not usually “the knowledge of Jesus being taught.” Many people will say “because they loved me and treated me like family when I walked in” or something to do with the style and culture of the church. Many people go to church with a primary focus on the community and family atmosphere. 

I’m not saying we shouldn’t treat one another well, but if being a Christian becomes about the community of believers, when that community inevitably lets you down, no wonder people give up on this “Christian” thing (or rather, what they thought being a Christian was). 

Instead of basing your life around the community, if you based your life around communion with The One who loved you, there is no betrayal by a fellow believer that would put a damper on being a Christian. You would realize that being a Christian is about getting to know what Jesus has done for you, not what His ministers have done for you. Being a Christian revolves around how Jesus has treated you, not how people are treating you. Being a Christian is not centered on community. It’s centered on communion with the One who died for you.

Now, should we seek Jesus together as a community of believers? Absolutely. We should never forsake assembling ourselves together (Hebrews 10:25). Anyone that is truly seeking the Lord would never withdraw from the company of believers. But the community of believers should not be centered on the community itself. We, as a congregation of believers, should be centered on one goal: Knowing Jesus. The community is to help bring our attention to Him, not that being a Christian is about the community itself.

Whenever being a Christian becomes about the community, then the treatment of that community will dictate to us whether we stick around or not. When being a Christian becomes about getting to know Jesus, there’s no betrayal, mistreatment, or hypocrisy from a believer that would make you skip a beat.

If being a believer was about the community itself, then the story of Noah would have never existed. At the time, the Bible doesn’t state that anyone else on earth was righteous except Noah. The Bible doesn’t even say that his family was righteous. Actually, it implies that they were only saved because Noah himself was righteous (Genesis 7:1). Noah was a preacher, and very possibly, there was not a single person that was listening to him, nor believing like him at the time (2 Peter 2:5). If Noah was in it for the importance of a religious community, he would’ve never sought the Lord to begin with. He had no community.

Noah wasn’t in it for the fellow believers. Very likely, there were none. He wasn’t in it because his local church treated him like family. He didn’t have a “church family.” He was in it for the One that loved him and was to give Himself for him. Noah was in it to know Jesus. Because of that, despite the lack of community around him, he was in it for the long haul. We have him today as an example of someone who found favor with God.

Being a Christian isn’t about who is around you or how they’re treating you. Being a Christian is about how God has treated you through Jesus.

We should never neglect attending church. We should never neglect getting together with fellow believers. We should never stop assembling ourselves together as a community. Never. But if this community is worth anything, it will be because we’re all encouraging each other to look at Jesus, instead of looking to one another.

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