Is the Church different from the world?

"Abide in me as I abide in you" Jesus (John15:4)

People participate in faith communities for many different reasons. Some searching for a meaningful connection to God and others while some find a sense of belonging or deep satisfaction being part of something bigger than themselves or a group of like minded people with similar needs and concerns.  When Jesus talks about the vine and the branches in John 15, one would think he would be speaking about being connected into Israel. Paul takes this up in Romans but this is not Jesus point in this scriptural vision. Jesus is not talking about connecting everyone to a history or tradition or church group but our connection to Christ.

If God incarnated himself on earth in Christ, the church is to be the incarnation of Christ on earth as God brings heaven to our earthly existence. The church is where Christ resides among his people forming humility, radical dependence on God and one another, and compassionate life long friends.  All of us are human beings seeking a way of life. Jesus for the Christian is the way of life that happens in community (the church).  The church is often tempted to opt for power over love or a life of worldly pleasure and material wealth over a life of sacrificial giving and service to others.

Jesus is the "telos," the goal to which everything in this created world is moving towards. The tension will often not be threats from the outside but threats from within. Our own complicity towards idolatry, addictions, and focusing on satisfying the pleasures of the flash rather than walking in the power and life in the Spirit of God. The gospel of Jesus shapes our virtues that make society a more wholesome and healing place rather than its own propensity towards chaos and fragmentation.  The church is one of many living traditions with a story to tell. That story will only be believed if people see an embodied story lived out by those who represent it. It may take a lifetime of practice, discipline, and discernment but its the patterns and virtues of community that will stand out to people who will either be drawn towards this community of faith or repelled by it. It is only when Christ followers point beyond themselves to Christ that the world begins to see a vision of what life with God on earth can really look like.