17. I am coming to understand how Jesus knew that spiritual communities would be the primary way to bring about God’s plan for our world.
(Before looking at the questions below, take a few minutes to think about this statement. Invite Jesus to speak to you about what He would like you to notice.)
Jesus teaches us to pray, “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done.” How might spiritual communities play a part in the coming of God’s Kingdom?
If our world was saturated with spiritual communities of people who deeply loved and cared for each other and who even loved those who didn’t love them, how might the world be different?
What might you do to bring about God’s desires for this world?
Spiritual communities are characterized by deep relationships with each other and with God. There is a bond, connection, and unity that exists between the members of the community and God. Jesus gave us an example of this in the community He created with His disciples. In His last meeting with His disciples He shared that this community, this model, is not only for their good, but also part of His plan for showing the world the abundance that God desires for each person. In John 17:20-23 He said, “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me (NIV).
Jesus prayed that the world, every person in the universe, would know and understand that He was sent by God and that the world would know experientially that God loves them, just as God has loved Jesus. This was and is Jesus’ deepest desire.
In the verses preceding Jesus’ stated desire, Jesus unfolds the process by which His desire will happen. Jesus says that the world will know and experience this reality as His followers are “brought to complete unity.” There will be something about Jesus’ followers--their unity, bondedness, and oneness--that will be a compelling testimony. This unity will show that Jesus was who He said He was, and that God loves the world.
Jesus is not just telling His disciples how they should live with each other—He is describing His plan for how the disciples will share the good news of God’s love to all of creation. The core component of Jesus’ plan for the world to come to know God is intimate relationships among the followers of Jesus and between them and God. Spiritual communities are one of the ways that we can participate in the plan that Jesus gave to His followers.
Jesus created the first spiritual community with His disciples then told them to reproduce what they had experienced with Him. And it was not only His disciples who were to do this, but also “those who will believe in [Jesus] through their message.” We fulfill this desire of Jesus when we create the kind of community that demonstrates our oneness--our love for each other and for God.