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.
2nd Corinthians adds another piece to the puzzle of how the gospel of the Kingdom informs on the way a healthy community works:
2 Corinthians 2: 14-15 (ESV)
But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.
15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing,
Please note that in this passage Paul is writing in the context of his ongoing work with the Christian Church in Corinth, one that clearly was struggling in very real ways with community standards and behavior.
I love the simile Paul uses here, that we are the “aroma” of Jesus to everyone we meet - and I believe that this concept is central to our calling to live in Kingdom unity with one another.
An aroma is a fragrant, beautiful smell, one that draws us in and invokes longing for the food or whatever is emitting the aroma. Smells also tend to implant themselves into our memory even more than sounds, conjuring up incredibly vivid images of a specific time or place.
In a similar way, our encounter with and knowledge of Christ can so infuse
us that anyone who comes in contact with us senses His Reality.
If we pull back the frame to include all of Chapter 2, we can see that we are to be this Jesus-aroma to everyone - not just to fellow Christians, but also to people who are far from God.
The result may be different in each case, but our intent is the same: to be a person of shalom, who moves in step with the Spirit everywhere we go. We are walking, step by step, in a “triumphal procession” that is a daily segment of the one Paul refers to in our text, the one that ultimately leads all believers Home.
What if we came to view our daily life and work this way? What if we saw every step, every interaction, every decision, every relational conflict as a way to be that sort of aroma to someone else?
In the language of Shalom Community, we would say that you and I should strive to
“love our neighbor as we love ourselves, with an enduring love that allows for respectful disagreement yet keeps on loving”.
I believe there is something in this that reaches deeply into the very heart of God.
Why?
Because God’s unbreakable love for us and for His own glory lies at the heart of the gospel of the Kingdom. As we are filled over and over, day by day, with the love of Jesus, we can let that love flow outward to others.
To the extent that process works in and through us, we “smell” like Jesus i.e. we model His character and personality and mission to others. We are then “little Christ’s” (the original meaning of the word Christian), and we glorify Him.
The world will indeed know that “we are Christians by our love”, even when we have to set boundaries and deal with difficult issues.
And so we continue to place ourselves under the word of God in obedience. We live in light of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which reminds us we are all sinners in need of rescue, and that it is only through the finished work of Jesus on the cross and His resurrection from the dead that we can have our sins atoned for, and can then live according to His precepts.
As Tim 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 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