When God & Groups Collaborate

Joshua 3:5-6 (NIV) ⁵  Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you.” ⁶  Joshua said to the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on ahead of the people.” So they took it up and went ahead of them.

 Joshua 6:5 (NIV) ⁵  When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in.”

 Acts 1:4-5 (NIV) ⁴  On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he (Jesus)  gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. ⁵  For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

 Acts 2:1-2 (NIV) ¹  When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. ²  Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.

We’ve spent four weeks looking at a team of leaders and influencers who never got on the same page.  The results were tragic and resulted in nearly 2 million deaths and the dashing of a beautiful dream.  Fast forward 40 years to Joshua and you have a group of leaders and influencers that got it right and the walls of Jericho collapsed and Jews still live in the promised land today.  Those walls had no choice but to collapse, because obstacles evaporate in the face of corporate faith that is rooted in the will of God.

Fast forward 1400 years and you have the book of Acts.  When Christ and his 12 influencers came into unity on an agreed upon time, an agreed upon place and an agreed upon purpose, the kingdom of God came to the world and the walls of limitations between humans and angels evaporated just like the walls of Jericho.

It must not be lost on us that Christ disciples had the same emotional response to the giants of Rome that Moses’ twelve spies had to the giants of Anak.  There’s nothing quite like group fear and negativity.  It’s always easier to be brave when you are taking a risk by yourself.  Collective anxiety is compounded and contagious. Even the crowd that was shouting, “crucify him” were being an example of a large group in panic mode; fueled by the fear that the Nazarene was going to ruin the delicate political balance that existed between Rome and Palestine. The number of thinkers with worried minds multiplies fear when we try to work together. But the disciples overcame that fear and showed up at an agreed upon time, at an agreed upon place, with an agreed upon purpose. The results of the unity between leader(s) and influencers changed the world.

As we contemplate the march to Easter and the celebration of Christ’s bodily resurrection, do you and I truly grasp that what rose from that grave was not just a single body but also a corporate body we call the Church of Jesus Christ.  Truly on the day of Pentecost 120, then 3000, then eventually 200,000 would act with the unity  and bravery of the single body of Christ that had taken from Satan the keys to death, hell and the grave.

We Americans are obsessed with our individual rights and our individual identity.  American evangelical Christians are preoccupied with praying about what the will of God is for THEIR lives.  Sure Christ is a personal savior but the historical priority of God has been His will for groups not persons. My guess is that the average American Christian spends most of their prayer time seeking to find God’s good will for themselves.  This doesn’t mean we don’t participate in church life, but even there the point is to find out “How to have OUR best life NOW.” We go to church asking, “what is the preacher going to say to help me with my depression, my marriage, my elderly parents, my children, my job, my hope and my dreams?  Oh my!  The Apostle Paul put it sharply and succinctly when he says in 1 Corinthians 12:27, “Now you are the body of Christ.”

Yes, I know cult leaders have used this verse and others to rob people of their individual will, take them to the jungles and have made them drink poisoned Kool-Aid.   So what? Oppressive communism, like we see in North Korea right now has taken the principles of community and twisted them to destroy the hopes and dreams of millions but do we still not exalt the principles of community? Of course we do.

I challenge you this Easter to discover your place in the risen and immortal body of Christ and stop being microscopically transfixed on every whim and every emotion residing in your earth bound and mortal body.  There are walls to fall and Pentecost to be had if you and I will do this together as the “Body of Christ.” In words of John Maxwell, “Just a thought, just a thought.”

By the way, read Acts personal healing, personal growth and personal joy abounded in the lives of those early Christians who invested their lives in the success of the Body of Christ.