shaw on a vision for fellowship
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Not only do I need others because I need Christ, but also I need Christ in order to truly come into fellowship with others. I need Christ to stand between me and my brother or sister. But surely this is an exaggeration. If I want a little Christian fellowship, I just get off my duff and head down to the local church or call up a believing friend and go out for coffee. Isn't it as simple as that? Bonhoeffer says no.
“Without Christ we should not know God… But without Christ we would also not know our brother… The way is blocked by our own ego."
What this means is that even though I may be in physical and even relational proximity to my fellow believer, there is an inward barrier that keeps us apart. I am too worried about my own ego, how I appear to him, what he may think of me and so on to only ever really know him to be truly known by him. I keep tripping over my ego. But the picture is completely different when I am with my brother and consciously recognise the presence of Christ.
When I sense a brother’s criticism, contempt or rejection, it does not have to hit me directly. Christ stands between us. He put this relationship together and absorbs my brother’s criticism of me. When I become critical of my brother and find myself filled with accusation and anger, Christ confront me and reminds me that he is the advocate for my brother. He commands me to pour my anger and accusation not on my brother but on his own head. He absorbs my criticisms of my brother and shields my brother’s criticisms of me. No matter how deserved such criticism of one another may be, they are distorted criticisms if they leave Christ out of the equation.
Thus Christ is the mediator not only between God and human beings but also between one human being and another. “Our community with one another consists solely in what Christ has done to both of us. If Christ is allowed to mediate my relationships within the church, he will lead me to a variety of people in ways that will surprise me, thus averting the kind of tribalism that would lead me to associate only with “my kind of people.”
"
Not only do I need others because I need Christ, but also I need Christ in order to truly come into fellowship with others. I need Christ to stand between me and my brother or sister. But surely this is an exaggeration. If I want a little Christian fellowship, I just get off my duff and head down to the local church or call up a believing friend and go out for coffee. Isn't it as simple as that? Bonhoeffer says no.
“Without Christ we should not know God… But without Christ we would also not know our brother… The way is blocked by our own ego."
What this means is that even though I may be in physical and even relational proximity to my fellow believer, there is an inward barrier that keeps us apart. I am too worried about my own ego, how I appear to him, what he may think of me and so on to only ever really know him to be truly known by him. I keep tripping over my ego. But the picture is completely different when I am with my brother and consciously recognise the presence of Christ.
When I sense a brother’s criticism, contempt or rejection, it does not have to hit me directly. Christ stands between us. He put this relationship together and absorbs my brother’s criticism of me. When I become critical of my brother and find myself filled with accusation and anger, Christ confront me and reminds me that he is the advocate for my brother. He commands me to pour my anger and accusation not on my brother but on his own head. He absorbs my criticisms of my brother and shields my brother’s criticisms of me. No matter how deserved such criticism of one another may be, they are distorted criticisms if they leave Christ out of the equation.
Thus Christ is the mediator not only between God and human beings but also between one human being and another. “Our community with one another consists solely in what Christ has done to both of us. If Christ is allowed to mediate my relationships within the church, he will lead me to a variety of people in ways that will surprise me, thus averting the kind of tribalism that would lead me to associate only with “my kind of people.”
"
(Mark Shaw. 1997. 10 Great Ideas from Church History: A Decision-Maker's Guide to Shaping Your Church. InterVarsity Press. 202-3.)
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