Dear Parents and Friends of CCS,
I hope this post finds you well and walking in the forgiveness, grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ!
This week I want to continue to flesh out the concept of the “Shalom Community” that we talk so much about here at CCS, a Community of Peace, Safety, Wholeness, Hope and Joy.
This concept is evident throughout the Bible, and is rooted in many particular Scriptures.
The book of Colossians adds another piece to the puzzle of how the gospel of the Kingdom informs on the way a healthy community works. In Chapter 3, Paul writes:
3 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears then you also will appear with him in glory.
5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (ESV)
This passage is a beautiful description of how a Shalom Community should operate. In many ways it stands on its own without comment, but the challenge here is not that we don’t understand what it means - it's that we find it difficult to live this way on a daily basis.
Verse 9 makes reference to the putting off of the old self, which connects to my comments drawn from the book of Colossians last week. Without going through the difficult process of surrender and submission to the person and work of Jesus Christ in our lives, usually accompanied by the gift of suffering, we will find ourselves unable to successfully “put off the old self”.
This is a deep truth, so deep in fact that we must look at the context of Chapter 2 to better understand the prerequisite for this putting off of the old self and living as a person of peace and shalom in our daily lives.
In verse 6 of Chapter 2, Paul begins to describe what is necessary: to be truly alive in Christ, with the Gospel operating at full power in and through us. In fact, vv. 9-17 are a straightforward and necessary presentation of the gospel.
Paul is showing us that in order to be people of shalom, to put aside out old self with its sinful desires, we must behold Jesus i.e. we must gaze intently at Him through the word of God, with a strong desire to see Him as He is…as much as we are able in this broken world. Not only to see Him, but to embrace Him as our Saviour and our Lord and Master, and to place ourselves under the governing influence of the word of God.
Using other New Testament language, in Romans 6 we are taught that we must “die” to sin;
5 For if we have been united with him (Jesus) in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (ESV)
As a specific example, using the language of Shalom Community, we would say that you and I should:
“Live together in peace as brothers and sister in Christ”
“Be honest with ourselves, to recognize and admit our own sin, and turn from it through repentance.”
“Use our tongues to bless and not curse. We will experience conflict and disagreement, but we should work to resolve it without rancor and resentment, and avoid grumbling, gossiping and slander in the process.”
This process works much better if we realize that Jesus is worth it, that He is better, and that experiencing and knowing Him firsthand is the ultimate pleasure.
All of this is undergirded by the Gospel, the good news of Jesus, which is operating powerfully in the background, providing a healthy context for God’s work in and through us.
As the late Timothy Keller said,
“You are worse than you think you are, but also far more loved than you feel you are.”
Community Christian School has clearly been called by God to be the sort of community where we “stir one another up to love and good works”. (Heb. 10:24 ESV) This means the growth of a Shalom Community is of first priority.
And by the grace of God and in the power of the Spirit, we will continue to pursue this.
Next week we will continue to examine what Shalom Community looks like in real life.
‘Til then, may God bless you with His awesome truth and love.
For CCS and the Kingdom,
Tom