Jesus leaves us with little doubt that real life as one of His involves total surrender. Yet we often settle for a one- or two-dimensional faith and then wonder why we feel distant from God or struggle with our faith. Is there an attainable, sustainable path to live a three-dimensional life of faith?

We exist to know God, but how much of our life is truly aimed at that end? The Scriptures and our lived experience remind us over and over that ultimately what matters in life is not how smart we are, how much we accomplish or accumulate, or how successful we are, yet those things often get our first and best efforts, whether intentionally or by inertia. What will it take for us to live into our created purpose?

In John 17, Jesus prays for the unity of the church, tying our connection to him and one another to the heart of his mission. This is a crucial reminder that all of our thinking, praying, and working for unity will not be in vain, which should drive us more deeply into that life, believing it matters and trusting that despite our many failures and hurts and disappointments along the way, Jesus will do it!

In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul writes in detail about the nature and purpose of spiritual gifts in the Church, describing a community of deeply interconnected people who value one another as essential members of the Body of Christ. These words are at the heart of every follower of Jesus understanding his or her role in the Church and living into God’s created purpose.

There is an ease with which the Scriptures talk about maturity, and the lack of it, that we generally don’t possess. That’s understandable, but is it worth what it costs us? The intention of Jesus for each of us is that we embrace the Church’s role in encouraging and enabling our maturity and we become a loving part of helping others in the Church to mature.

In Revelation 5, the veil between our day to day reality and God’s Kingdom reality is lifted, and we get to see the the real events of Easter weekend unfolding and echoing in the heavens. The picture is of a Savior who overcomes even death by giving his life away, inviting all of Creation into a Kingdom of light and life.

What makes you most passionate? Sports?  Movies? Social Issues?  The Lord has modeled for us what it means to live with passion in the areas of sacrifice, suffering, and speech.  He also calls us to live out of that as we point people to Him and as we pour into the local church.

The characteristic spirit of the Church community is cross-shaped love and unearned grace among its members. Paul says it this way: “You must bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against someone else, you must forgive each other.” How does the church grow into maturity in this area, giving grace to one another freely and forgiving in a way that is dramatic and conspicuous in the world?

Our confession of Jesus as Messiah and Lord places us within the community of people who are abiding in God, which means they are actively loving as Jesus loves. And John reminds us how Jesus loves: sacrificially, selflessly, completely, with nothing held back.

The theological basis for biblical community begins with the community of the Triune God who is love. In building a theology of community, we consider five biblical concepts as guides: Community is God’s nature, Community confirms our salvation, Community is Christian faithfulness, Community is the essence of the Church, and Community builds God’s eternal Kingdom.