Real Community (Hebrews 10:24-25)

A big deal is made these days about "community." In many Christian circles, the idea of community actually has more to do with Eastern collectivist philosophy than the biblical doctrine of the Church. Leaders, particularly those within the purpose-driven and emergent strands of broader Christianity, have no real concern for individuals: their focus is the group, the city, the community.

The word community as such is foreign to Scripture. There is the covenant people of God, there are the nations, there are the enemies of Yahweh, but none of these are characterized as communities in the modern (or shall we say, postmodern) sense of the word. For contemporary postmodern leaders, "community" takes on political and sociological overtones, and the reason is clear—if the true doctrines of the individual forgiveness of sins and the particular salvation of souls are abandoned, Christianity becomes simply a program for social improvement and worldly betterment.

Thus, community becomes a political objective, while the Church becomes an outmoded concept. Sin is traded for talk of suffering; forgiveness ceases to be a gift of the sovereign God and becomes something we must bestow on ourselves or on rival communities; Jesus Christ is our leader, and therefore pastors aren't shepherds, they're CEOs.

The author of Hebrews has a different concept altogether. Hebrews 10:24-25 says, "And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." Inasmuch as the Church is called to community, it is for the purpose of encouragement in faith and good works, not to press some social agenda, to become yet another postmodern community in the midst of many.

At bottom, the call for community as defined by emergent leaders and their ilk is nothing more than a rejection of the uniqueness of the Church, the Christian faith, and (worst of all) Jesus Christ Himself. If sin is no longer something ubiquitous from which we need to be saved, then we're "free" to pursue a mere social agenda, side-by-side both physically and ideologically with heretics, pagans, and blasphemers. It's time we recovered the real community of the Church, and encourage one another to love and good works.