Jesus’ Invitations into True Community

Readings: Matthew 19:16-30, John 4:1-26

Similar to Jesus, we have the privilege of asking people to stand by us throughout life and their responses will vary. The difference between us and Jesus is, well, obvious, He is God and we are not. However, we can glean a lot from a few passages in the Bible about how this invitation plays out when you stay true to your identity and values. Before you read any further, please take some time to read the passages above.

First, we have the passage of the rich young ruler. He asks Jesus how he could obtain eternal life. Jesus responds with a list of actionable things he needs to do. When the ruler responds with, “Yeah, I already have all of that covered,” Jesus replies with “Then sell everything you have and follow me.” The ruler is unwilling to do this.

Secondly, we have the woman at the well. Jesus asks for a drink of water and they proceed to have a conversation about life and the “living water” his Father offers. During this conversation, Jesus confronts her with uncomfortable truths about her life and their conversation still ends with her being open and willing to receive the truth that Jesus is offering her.

Obviously, these are both extreme examples. We aren’t offering our community “eternal life and living water” but, we do present them with an environment that we choose to create with our lives. People will often opt out no matter the environment being created. However, as we become more like sons and daughters, our friends will change. The decision of who we have as “true community” will play itself out as we live an intentional, missional life.

Calibration:
- What kind of community and environment are you looking to create?
- How have you or are you compromising to “keep people around”?  How? Why?  
- What do you need to put down or change to live a more sincere existence to attract a true community?