Missional Community

On Sunday I had the privilege to preach at the worship gathering of the young church plant of which Judy and I are core team members. I spoke about Missional Community. The Biblical text was 1 Peter 2:9-10. If you are interested you can listen to the audio of the sermon here. But, I thought I would give you the high points now. Missional Community essentially means that believers are united by their common faith in Christ in relationship and partnership for the purpose of carrying out the Mission of God which is to see people redeemed by God, in Christ, through the Spirit lead work of Church, for the Glory of God. Here is the text,

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Here is how I see this text teaching us about Missional Community.

1. "A chosen race" Missional Community is God's choice or plan for his people. It is indeed God's will that His people whom He saved would live in community with one another and together live out the mission of God. If indeed this is God's will for us (his people) then it is good, pleasing and perfect.
2. "A royal priesthood" Part of what it means for God's people to be a missional community is that they, each one, would function at priests that each one would be worshipers, intercessors, and ministers.
   
3. "A holy nation" God's people must live as though they are set apart as God's possession for His purpose. I know this raises the question how "set apart" should we be? Let me offer this suggestions when something in our lives keeps us from fulfilling God's purpose then we need to be set apart from that thing, whether it be action, attitude, influence, or relationship.
   
4. "Proclaim" God's people functioning as a missional community must proclaim who God is and what he has done in Christ.

This is the essence of the message yesterday. Yesterday was definitely one of those days that I was preaching to myself. I have been thinking about missional community all day. Missional Community is not something we do, it is what we are. We can either embrace it and live it or fight against it. Which will you do?