Living as One: The Call to Comprehensive Community

When chaos erupts, how do we respond? Picture this: someone collapses on an airplane. Panic spreads. A flight attendant, though trained, pushes a beverage cart into passengers while frantically trying to help. The training was there, but the preparation wasn't. Contrast that with another story: a young woman collapses, and immediately someone begins CPR. When they tire, a nurse steps in. Someone else calls 911. Everyone moves with purpose, guided by their training. That young woman went home days later, alive because people responded rather than reacted.

This distinction between responding and reacting isn't just about physical emergencies—it's about how we live as followers of Christ.

In John 17, Jesus prays something remarkable. He doesn't just pray for His immediate disciples, but for all who would believe through their message—that includes us. His prayer? "That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me."

Read that again slowly. Our unity isn't primarily for our benefit. It's so the world may know Jesus.

This is radically different from how we often think about faith. Most religions focus on the individual participant. But Christianity is not a solo endeavor—it's a relationship, a partnership in unity designed to reveal Christ to a watching world. When God saves us and sets us free, it's not just so we can celebrate our personal freedom. It's so others can see that freedom and come to know the One who gives it.

Our stewardship of relationships within the church—in marriage, family, and how we treat one another—actually identifies us as Christians. It makes our Lord and Savior known.

Romans 12:3 gives us the starting point: "By the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think."

What usually causes conflict among believers? We elevate ourselves over the situation. We elevate our feelings over the call God has placed on our lives. None of us are better than anyone else. We're all works in progress, simultaneously gifted in our own ways and irritating in our own ways. Our job is to lay down our pride and pick up His humility. It's the only way this works.

John 13:35 reinforces this: "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Not like—love. This is sacrificial love, like Christ demonstrated on the cross. Did Jesus care what people were doing while He hung there? They cast insults, mocked Him, pierced His side. Yet He said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

If He didn't hold sin against them in that moment, what gives us the right to hold petty offenses against one another?

CPR certification requires hours of practice. You work with others in a classroom, learning compressions and breathing techniques on a dummy. Why? So when a real emergency happens, your training takes over. You don't panic—you respond.

Similarly, God has given us the church as a place to practice. We cannot survive in a world of constant chaos without first practicing these principles in the house of God. The church is where we learn to handle conflict, extend grace, speak truth in love, and sacrificially serve—all before we're thrust into situations that demand these responses.

Think about it: when you leave children in charge at home, you don't just disappear for a week on the first try. You start with twenty-five minutes. Then an hour. You give them a plan, show them where the fire safety equipment is, and let them practice leadership and problem-solving in small doses. Why? Because if they don't practice, they won't be ready when it truly matters.

The same is true for us. We need to practice these "one another" commands with fellow believers so we're prepared to live them out in the world.

Scripture gives us fifty-nine "one another" commands in the New Testament. Fifty-nine times. When something appears that often, it's worth paying attention to.

These commands fall into two categories: what we're not to do, and what we are to do. The negative commands include: don't judge one another, don't bite and devour one another, don't speak evil against one another, don't seek glory from one another. The positive commands include: be devoted to one another, build one another up, accept one another, be kind and tenderhearted to one another, pray for one another, serve one another, be humble toward one another.

The beautiful truth is that the negative commands are canceled out by our obedience to the positive ones. This is the principle of exchange—you put off these things by putting on those things

Jesus gives us an if-then statement: If you love one another, then the world will know you are my disciples.

Want to be part of church growth? This is the often-overlooked key. Not programs or marketing strategies, but genuine, sacrificial love for one another. Why does this work? Because Jesus' love was unique. The love among His diverse disciples was unique. And when we live out that same unique, otherworldly love, people notice.

We are called to be first responders to a world that is eternally wounded. We have the comprehensive guide—God's Word—that tells us exactly how to respond in every situation. We just have to follow it. We have to practice it. We have to lay down our pride long enough to live it out.

In a culture that values individualism, autonomy, and self-focus, the way of Jesus means dying to self to lift up others. This kind of community only happens when we're intentionally vulnerable and committed to living out these one another commands.

Will it be easy? No. Will we fail? Yes. But God gives us the instruction, and He meets us when we make a genuine effort. The most important thing is laying down our selfishness—over and over and over again.

When we do this—when we truly become one—the world will see Jesus. And isn't that the whole point?