stumbling blocks to genuine community

In Acts, we have one of the purest pictures of the early church and early Christian fellowship:

"They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." (Acts 2: 42-47 NIV)

I think an emphasis worth noting is "And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."

Pure community. And not by coincidence, the body of believers was growing quickly. The more unified the community, the greater it was able to grow as others came to know Christ.

One of my pet peeves if I could call it that of Christian community is that there all sorts of weird aspects in relationships that prevent pure and genuine community. Obviously, sin plays a significant role in coming between brothers and sisters, brothers and brothers, sisters and sisters...a lot of these stumbling blocks I think have migrated from worldly cultural tenets and principles into Christian community. For brother and sister relationships, one of these main stumbling blocks I think involves the idea of marriage. I posted on that a bit earlier, that there is this underlying cultural expectation to get married that I don't think is necessarily completely in-line with Scriptures' premise of marriage. As a result of this, when brothers and sisters are meeting each other for the first time, or first developing friendships, I think there is an underlying weirdness, as a result of some cultural expectations. It's possible that what's going on is that brothers and sisters are reading into things or having their minds not foremost on developing Christian community for God's glory, but rather on personal desires for relationships, possibly marriage.

For brother - brother relationships, I think cultural aspects of the importance of being thought of as intelligent, "Godly" or even being this "manly" man sometimes provides a stumbling block. I think guys sometimes get together and there is an underlying desire (that comes primarily from culture) to be able to lift more in the gym than the other guy or being more witty or having a greater knowledge of the Bible. This is not a limited list, there are other things guys do with other guys to "one up" each other in a sense, even if it's in a subtle way. Some of this sounds dumb and childish, but I do think it goes on. In addition, this desire is exacerbated when in a group setting.

I'm not going to try and speak to sister-sister relationships, since I'm not a sister, but I imagine there are stumbling blocks with those relationships too. And so what are we to do?

First, I think it's important to examine and recognize tendencies in relationships that may contribute to these "stumbling blocks." I think the desire to be humble and a servant before your brother or sister is something really important to keep in mind. Being vulnerable is hard, but it can be done more easily I think the more one's eyes are on the prize, Jesus. Also, it wouldn't be bad to echo Jesus prayer for community unity and keep in mind the direction to which Jesus was pointing with His prayer (this is kind of long, but most excellent):

"I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. "I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. "Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them." (John 17: 6-26 NIV)