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The gospel makes us a sharing community of Christ’s
kingdom
When we push back from the Lord’s Table week after week, having just finished
our covenant meal together, we are reminded that the life of Christ’s kingdom
is a shared life:
Through the gospel, Christ shares with us his life. By faith,
we, in turn, share the life of Christ, who is being formed in
us, with the other members of the local body.
As we die for one another, planting our lives in the ground, a harvest of growth
will spring forth. And the growth will take the form of more shared life:
- Sharing our possessions together, as though
they were all held in common (Acts 2:44-45).
- Sharing our meals together, as we
break bread not only at the Lord’s Table, but house
to house (Acts 2:42,46).
- Sharing our joys and triumphs and
our sorrows and needs together, as we bear one another’s
burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ (Romans 12:15).
- Sharing prayers together, as we serve one
another in the hope of the Gospel (James 5:16).
- Sharing persecution together, as
we rejoice that we have been counted worthy to suffer for
the
sake of Christ’s name
(Acts 5:41).
- Sharing discipline together, as we endure
by faith together to the end that we might be saved (James
5:19-20).
This sharing is not merely for the benefit
of those inside the community. As the church shares love for
one another
in the manner in which Christ has loved
us, by laying down his life for us (John 15:13; Ephesians 5:2), the world
comes to know that we are Christ’s disciples (John
13:34-35).
Therefore, Redeemer Presbyterian
Church seeks to challenge her members to view their congregational
connections as the most
significant ones in their lives and to season those relationships
with the salt of Christ’s love.
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