The Limits of Community

The Limits of Community

Our love of a community--whether it is our nation, town, race or family—is one of the most easily corruptible loves.  It can quickly devolve into idolatry if we are not careful with it. For this reason, we must carefully differentiate our community of faith from our community of origin. Idols are created out of the materials most at hand. The unseen God becomes eclipsed by a visible representation of his attributes we see displayed in the image of God the masses of people of which we are a part. Christians must never treat family values or patriotism as if they were synonymous with Christian values, no matter how much they love family or country.  The splendor of the crowd and the intimacy of family pull at our emotions, catching us up in their currents and into a casual acceptance of their often immoral practices.  Patriotism sounds good until we remember what fascist dictatorships made of it.  Family values sound virtuous until we remember that the Mafia is a family, too.   God must always come first, over every allegiance.

How can a virtuous community become corrupted into an obstacle to God?

The first way is through our desire to conform.  This is not really “peer pressure,” since it is often not the community that pressures us.  Instead, it comes from our own fear of being alone.  We come to look to our community for the things we should get from God—strength, comfort,  meaning,  and so forth. Losing our community seems like losing our lives, so we say, do, or believe anything to keep it.   Our fear of ostracism often can drive an entire community blindly over the brink of folly, when it should be obvious that the group is headed in the wrong direction.   

If our relationship with God which is stronger than our relationship with the community, we do not need to fear being different.  Jesus said “No one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields — and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.” Mark 10:29-30

The second way is through our willingness to tolerate abuse against ourselves and others. What happens when our community turns on us?   Wives are called to live in community with their husbands, but not to be punching bags.   Parents are called to love their children, but not to put up with childish anger and destructive behavior. If our love for parents, spouses or children causes us to accept behavior that leads them away from God, it is not love.  Abusive behavior seeks to dominate, by pulling us away from God into orbit around the abuser, making the abuser our god.  When this happens, we need to break away and seek the true God.  

Jesus faith did not depend on the faith of others.  He was comfortable standing up against the whole world, if necessary, because of His self-awareness of His own unique place in the kingdom of God. 

When the drumbeat of conformity in any community becomes too loud, it can drown out the voice of God. That is why Christians need to balance their calling to be part of a group with their calling to be complete in Him alone.   The community is a great gift, but it is not the only gift.   Participation in the community is a great blessing and is a necessary part of every life, but the community without God leads us further into the darkness.

Have you ever been part of an abusive community?  How hard was it to break away?

How do we know when the time comes to break with an abusive community? 

Write me and let me know.

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