The following has been adapted from Map 7 of The Map Maker, our first book, written to encourage, edify, and equip leaders in the workplace to become disciple makers and transformation agents. Those who dare to live in kingdom community will find themselves involved in one of God’s great and eternal purposes.

To begin this series on God’s way for living in commnunity, we explored the meaning and mystery of fellowship, and the incredible vision for community Jesus expects and empowers. The Bride making herself ready for the return of Christ (Revelation 19:7) includes our living in community in the way God prescribes.

In Part 2, we searched out the “one another” passages to further understand the attitude and practice required to live in kingdom community: We must forcefully resist the competitive and divisive ways of this world, choosing instead to sacrificially love one another, individually and across organizational boundaries.

The Bride making Herself ready and the church standing apart from the world in attitude and practice are two critically important reasons for living in community God’s way. And there is more! Here, we will identify and briefly explain God’s eternal purpose for our fellowship: the restoration of His habitation in His people.

God’s Habitation

When Adam and Eve rebelled against God they died spiritually and thus became unfit dwelling places for His Spirit. This spiritual disability has been passed down to us, requiring the redemption referenced prophetically in Ezekiel 36:26-27:

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.

The New Testament speaks of the wonderful mystery of God’s habitation.

Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” John 14:23

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. Revelation 3:20

The reward for every faithful believer is the deeply relational habitation of Jesus Christ, His Father, and the Holy Spirit.

Now, when a man, woman, or child is spiritually born again, the process of God’s re-habitation begins, but it has only just begun, for God’s ultimate habitation will be His people unified (i.e., living in community).

And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. Revelation 21:1-3

We, individually and corporately, must see the process of God’s re-habitation through to its intended completion. Here is another example of God’s corporate habitation.

And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said, “I will dwell in them, and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” 2Corinthians 6:16

Our God is an indwelling god, and His indwelling is the mark of our belonging to Him. His Son paid the price for our salvation, that His Father would be in us and all around us. And His dwelling is with a plurality of people, not just individuals.

It is His desire to come in and abide. He is knocking and He desires to remain. Truly, the Triune God has taken up residence within each of His people, and in us corporately. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in wisdom and might, have come to abide in us. The kingdom of God has come in the vessels of born-again believers.

Pause for a moment and consider this mystery (since you are to be a faithful steward of it). Ask God to give you a vision and a confidence of this reality. He did for me. Like me, you may not be able to explain it to others, but you will carry it with you for the rest of your life.

By coming to spiritually dwell in us now, God has begun restoring His habitation in His people. That work will culminate in the physical manifestation we find at the end of His story. He has blessed us with a wonderful description of His completed work:

And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Revelation 19:6-8

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. Revelation 21:1-3

In His sovereign providence, God will complete the work of restoring His habitation. His purposes will not be denied Him. In the meantime, we have the awesome privilege and responsibility to participate in His restorative work.

Praying for God’s Habitation

We may also participate in God’s way for living in community by agreeing with Jesus’ prayer for our unity.

I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. John 17:20-23

Our unity is closely related to God’s way for glory. Our unity is so important to Christ that, to accomplish it, He has given us the glory He received from the Father. Through unity we are drawn into God’s way for glory – He “bringing many sons to glory (Hebrews 2:10)” – through transformation by the Holy Spirit (2Corinthians 3:18).

Additionally, our unity is God’s prescription for evangelism: “that the world may believe that You sent Me.” That’s right! Our unity will convince the world of the Father’s love in sending His Son. Living in community as God intends is the only prescription for evangelism mentioned in the New Testament.

Our Lord and Savior has been praying this prayer to His Father for over 2000 years. We must not give up hope that He will succeed. Instead, we must agree with Him in prayer; and surrender to the Father’s response in us.

Conclusion

Unity – living God’s way in community – is a foundational component of God’s story. In fact, He has made our unity a prerequisite for the restoration of His habitation, in the New Jerusalem “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband (Revelation 21:2).” Indeed, unity in the Body of Christ is the proof and expression of our belonging to our Heavenly Father and His Son. And so, we must ask (with the writer of Hebrews), “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation (vv. 2:1-4)?”.

Next time, to close out this series, we will look to Christ’s foundational work in building His church to discover God’s way for living in community and the power such a community unleashes on the world around it. Until then…

God bless you with courage, wisdom and grace for this noble adventure.

Have a strong day in the Lord,

Rob

#iamjustthepen