Christ at the Center

The circle has Christ at its center.

The apostles understood this. When they gathered at Pentecost and were filled with the Holy Spirit, they devoted themselves to certain practices. "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers" (Acts 2:42).

Notice what held them together. Not their preferences or personalities. Not their social compatibility. Not their shared political hopes. They were held together by their common connection to the apostles' teaching, their shared life, their common meal, and their common prayer.

Behind all of these practices was the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit who had descended at Pentecost was not merely an individual possession. He was the Spirit of community. The bond that united them.

Paul writes:

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Corinthians 13:14)

The fellowship of the Holy Spirit is not something we create. It is something we receive. The Spirit Himself is the communion we share.

This is the most astonishing truth about Christian community. Your fellowship is not ultimately dependent on whether you like the people in your church or whether you find them easy to get along with. Your fellowship is grounded in the fact that you are all indwelt by the same Spirit of God. You are partaking of the same divine nature. You are all being conformed to the same image.

The Spirit takes people who are temperamentally incompatible, economically divided, and culturally distinct and makes them one. He does what no human ingenuity could accomplish. He creates a family where none should be possible.

Paul describes this reality in Philippians.

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. (Philippians 2:1-2)

Paul is saying that all these realities are already true. You already have encouragement in Christ. You already have comfort from His love. You already participate in the Spirit. Now, living in light of what is already true, pursue oneness with one another.

This means our relationships in the church are not horizontal transactions between peers. They are vertical participations in Christ that create horizontal bonds.

I am not connected to you primarily because we share interests or backgrounds. I am connected to you because we are both connected to Christ. Your joy becomes my joy, not because I am sympathetic to your temperament, but because we are members of the same body. Your sorrow calls forth my compassion, not because I owe it to you as a friend, but because your pain is also Christ's pain, and I am His.

The early church lived this out with radical visibility. Acts 2:44-45 tells us:

And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.

This was not communism imposed by decree. It was the spontaneous overflow of people who understood that they belonged to each other in Christ. They saw someone in need and did not ask, "Why should this be my responsibility?" They asked, "How can I withhold what Christ has given me from a member of His body?"

When you gather with your church community, you are not merely hearing a sermon and singing some songs. You are entering into the presence of Christ Himself. He has promised to be in the midst of His people. He is gathering you to Himself. The Spirit is working in each of you, drawing you closer to Jesus and to each other.

Every conversation in the foyer. Every prayer shared in a small group. Every meal eaten together. Every text checking in on someone struggling. All of it is an expression of the one fellowship that has Christ at its center.