IT Takes A Village 40 Day Lenten Devotional— Day 1

Called to Community
I Corinthians 1:9 (ESV)

“God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

There are at least six calls that human beings will experience on earth. They will experience the call to life. They will experience the call to salvation. They will experience the call to death and the call to judgement. And those who respond to the call to saving faith in Christ are also called to be in community with other believers

Christian Community is essential for faith formation; maturity in Christ; spiritual gift development; leadership training and disciple making; meeting felt needs and a number of other things that aids the believers walk in Christ. One cannot be in Christ and not be in Community. One cannot embrace the fatherhood of God and deny the brotherhood of mankind. To be in fellowship with the head of the church, is to be in fellowship with the body of the church.

And Paul underscored this truth in his greeting to the Corinthian church who were not living up to their gospel identity in Christ and not taking their calling to live in community seriously. Therefore, Paul reminded God’s people then and now that they were called to fellowship with Christ and called to fellowship with other believers in Christ. Note in verse one that Paul said that he called to be an apostle. In verse two he said that the Corinthians were called to be saints and in verse nine, he said that the Corinthians were called to be in fellowship with Christ! To be in fellowship with Christ is to be in fellowship with youth fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. To this end commit to the progress and growth of the community you were called to be apart of!

God, help me to understand that you’ve created me for community and called me in Christ to be an active and faithful member of my community, Amen!