One thing I know for sure is: I never thought, in a million years, I’d be advocating for community. But I am not advocating for just any community. Some communities are toxic. Filled with like-minded people who, at times, glory in their misery. People coming together and affirming each other in destruction. We see it across the world; communities built on unhealthy patterns that only lead to more brokenness.
That is not the kind of community I am referring to. The community I am speaking of is a Godly one, the kind outlined in Scripture. The kind described in Galatians 6:2: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” The kind where we carry one another’s burdens, and in doing so, we fulfill the commandment Jesus gave us. Before we dig deeper into scripture about Goldy Community, I want to share why the very idea of community was such a foreign concept to me for so long.
Growing up, I was surrounded by family. Coming from a family of five, I was truly never alone. But at a young age, like many children in my generation, I experienced my parents divorcing. When my family split apart, each of us went in different directions and went through our individual trials ALONE. Because of this I became accustomed to handling situations on my own.
I got used to lying on phone calls from my siblings or whichever parent I was separated from at the time (in a different state) checking in on me. To keep them from worrying, I would often say “Yeah, everything is fine”, even when it wasn’t.
At a young age, I got used to lying and carrying my own burdens in silence. Which resulted in a life full of solitude and isolation. I thought that was where I was most effective, buckling down, digging in, and handling things on my own.
Oh, how wrong I was.
Eventually, the burdens I was carrying alone crushed me. It crushed me as a child, and it crushed me in my adulthood. When you’re being pressed by the burdens you carry alone, there is a numbness that comes with the pressing. You’re so used to the weight, you can no longer recognize how truly heavy it is. How devastating it is for it be carried alone.
That this weight is actually hindering you from moving forward..
It wasn’t until God opened my eyes, to the importance of GODLY community, that I understood what I was missing out on. I was never meant to carry this weight alone. To deal with my sins, struggles and even my purpose alone. I was always meant to share it with those who are walking in the same direction as me. So that we can help one another on this path that so few choose to take.
Now, let’s see why the Bible says it’s important to have Godly community. Then we will get back to my colorful story 😉.
Back to Galatians 6:2, the Bible says if we carry one another’s burdens then we fulfill the law of Christ. So which law is Apostle Paul referring to here?
In Matthew 22:36–40 Jesus says when someone asks what the greatest commandment was.
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Galatians says, that once we help carry one another’s burdens we fulfil ONE of the TWO commandments Jesus gave us. So we are half way there from walking in complete obedience to Jesus’ commandments 😊.
So, what does that look like to carry one another’s burdens in today’s time? To me, it can look like a variety of things. I have encountered all kinds of situations! From brothers and sisters in Christ with financial burdens to sometimes it being an emotional or familial burden. So, carrying one another’s burdens may present itself in different ways. But the specific burden I want to highlight is one mentioned in the text:
Galatians 6:1
“Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.”
As Galatians 6:1 points out we are also to help carry the burden of sin that EVERY believer will encounter and struggle with. The Bible says, you who are spiritually strong, restore (to mend, to strengthen, to make one what he ought to be) the weaker vessel. Because you too can fall at any moment to sin and will need the same to be done in your life!
James 5:16 says:
“Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”
The prayers of other strong believers will help free you from that error of sin in your life.
Without Godly community, you won’t have access to the prayers that is meant to help set you free from the sin that can easily come upon any one of us at any time. Without Godly community you wouldn’t have anyone who is strong in their faith to help carry your burdens and restore you to where you should be!
Ecclesiastes 4:9 says:
“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up.”
Now, Holy Spirit desires me to be EXTREMELY clear here, because this is where a lot of people get tripped up. We sometimes think, Great! Let me confess ALL of my sins to someone who calls themselves a Christian and I’ll be healed. But Galatians 6 and James 5 are specific that we are to confess our sins to those who are spiritually strong and righteous. Don’t pour your heart out to someone who doesn’t show the fruit of the Spirit. Otherwise, you may end up with nothing more than a gossiping hot mess. Just being honest.😊
I once knew someone who went through exactly that. Because of betrayal, they believed we should only confess the white lies to others and keep what was considered the ‘big ones’ between us and God. But that’s not what Scripture teaches. If you’ve been hurt like that, I encourage you to forgive and return to the Word’s original instruction: find a spiritually strong, righteous believer who can pray for you and help you gather strength.
And that brings me to the next point the Holy Spirit put on my heart…
1 John 1:5
“This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”
So, when do we have fellowship with one another? It is when we walk in the light of God, hiding nothing. True fellowship happens when His light exposes our weaknesses and sins, and we are willing to step into that light: sharing our burdens, our shortcomings, and the things that easily beset us. That is when community becomes REAL.
Fellowship, by definition, is community. And community begins the moment believers are willing to walk in transparency before God and admit, as verse 9 says, that we do struggle against sin in our lives. That is when we step out of self-righteousness and into authentic fellowship with one another.
Again, this is in COMMUNITY. This is not to say we share every sin we have done with the world, unless the Lord leads us to share certain things. Our community is meant to be a safe place for believers to make mistakes, to have the grace to be themselves, to learn who they truly are as they are being molded and shaped by God to grow. The world is extremely unforgiving and will hold every sin against us. Godly community is meant to be the opposite, a place where condemnation doesn’t exist. A place of openness, vulnerability, transparency, and restoration.
The deeper revelation is this: fellowship with one another only happens when we confess our sins or our struggles to overcome sin and bring it into the light. Then we can truly relate to each other. The moment we drop the self-righteous Pharisee act, we step into real community. As the Word says, if we claim we have no sin, we are liars, and we have no fellowship with God or with one another.
If God has given you the opportunity to be a part of such a group, then you are extremely blessed. Do not take it for granted, because there are not many spaces like that on Earth.
So, you might ask: What should a Godly community look like?
Well, it should have the perfect balance of transparency and transformation: a place where you can be honest about your struggles but then gently nudged (sometimes not so gently; sometimes through rebuke) in the direction of wholeness and strength through your battles. It is where we have individuals who will help us along in our journey. But if you’re a part of a community where everyone is broken and there are no spiritually strong people who can strengthen you, you should pray about leaving that group. If you are a part of a community that pretends to be perfect and acts like everyone has it all together, you should pray about leaving that group as well. That was never what Godly community was intended to be. If you walk in the light like Jesus did, things are bound to be exposed, and that is where we are to have fellowship with one another, not in our sin, glorifying it, but in our path to restoration from that sin, the journey we take together.
In this journey, we offer one another Godly counsel, encouragement, and sometimes a harsh rebuke, all necessary points to get us to where we truly need to be. As the Word says, “Iron sharpens iron.” That is what your community should do: challenge you to be honest with yourself, challenge you to grow, to be more efficient, to be more disciplined, to lean on God more, to trust the impossible He can do through you, and to challenge you in the Word. If this isn’t the community, you’re a part of, I pray you find it.
BREAKING IT DOWN:
Please understand, if you are already in a Godly community and you are still feeling crushed by your burdens, there could be one of three things going on:
- You have not stepped into the light and begun to be transparent about your sin or struggles so you can be restored.
- You are in a community that has no spiritually strong individuals who can restore you, or no one who has the strength to fervently pray for you.
- You are in a community where “no one sins,” where all are righteous—a Pharisee-like or religious community, where everyone is perfect and no one can be transparent.
If this applies to you, please be the icebreaker in your group to show them what true community looks like in the Body of Christ. If they refuse, that just means God has another community waiting for you.
Back to my colorful story. As of today, I can say, by the grace of God, I have been placed in a powerful Godly community. A community where we bring correction in love and are extremely transparent with our struggles. With almost weekly prayer calls (sometimes bi-weekly), we share dreams, and we come together as family. We hold each other spiritually accountable. If someone senses one of us is out of alignment, we will call and check on that person. If one of us needs a rebuke, no one is afraid to give it or worried that it will be perceived wrongly. And he who is spiritual truly does restore such a one who is not.
Me, being such an introvert, had to learn to share my burdens and be transparent. Only then could I be strengthened. God knew each of us couldn’t walk this out alone and provided us with one another. Even Jesus Himself had twelve, then three. He had a community, and when they were sent out, they would come back in and fellowship over all the work that was done through them by the Holy Spirit. I am blessed that I have the same type of community.
And now more than ever, as God is causing a separation between the Wheat and the Tares, this is the time to find your Godly community. I pray that this blog helped you realize just how important a Godly community is, and how necessary it is to your walk with Christ.
Written by Eli Sarri
radicallychanged.co 