Created For Community: Lessons From Acts 2Exemplo

The people of God, revealed

When reading this passage from 1 Peter, we tend to apply an individualistic interpretation: “As [I] come to him, [ … I also … am] being built into a spiritual house …” But the “you” that Peter uses here is actually plural; he’s speaking to the early believers suffering persecution scattered across Asia Minor. He’s challenging them to view their situation as an opportunity to become “a people,” receiving grace from Christ together and then extending that grace to the world together.

Throughout history, Christ followers have revealed God’s presence by practicing Peter’s teaching in ways both big and small.

In the third century—during another time of harsh persecution against Christians—a brutal plague spread across the Roman Empire. While thousands fled cities to escape, many Christ followers did the opposite: They stayed. Risking their lives, they cared for the sick and dying who were left behind. Their compassion led many of those neighbors to Christ.

Centuries later, as Nazi forces bore down on Eastern Europe, Orthodox Church leaders and farmers in northern Bulgaria vowed to lie across railroad tracks to prevent trains filled with their Jewish neighbors from departing. Their actions spared about 48,000 men, women, and children from deportation.

Today, as we saw in the video from Day 1, Virginie, a member of a church-based savings group in the East African nation of Burundi, says poverty left her feeling like she wasn’t even a human being. Now, she testifies, “One thing changed me: the love I found in my savings group.”

Many of us have been touched by the immense love of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, made tangible through acts of a caring community. This is what God intended from the beginning—and it’s undoubtedly what He’ll accomplish in the end.

Action

• As you think about your faith community, reflect on 1 Peter 2:5. What is God building your group into? What spiritual sacrifices has God prepared your group to make in order to worship and reveal Him?
• Once, there was a time when you experienced separation from God and isolation from a loving community. Consider those in your life who might now feel like they’re in that place. How might God be calling you to invite them into community?

Thank you for completing this plan! To learn more about HOPE International and engage with additional devotionals, visit www.hopeinternational.org/youversion.