Well the last aspect of the Spiritual Mindset that I will explore is the kind of community that such a way of living will generate. Christians are by no means the only ones who have a desire for a sense of community. It is hard to find anyone who doesn’t want to belong to or at least with others – and if you do it is difficult not to feel that there may be something seriously wrong with them. Human beings are by nature social creatures – that’s why one of the most severe forms of punishment our generally liberal society will mete out is solitary confinement. Whether it is through sporting clubs, schools or even churches, people look for groups with whom they can belong. So it is worth asking then, what is it that will make Christian community distinct? Or more importantly, what kind of community grows out of a relational spirituality grounded in character of Christ Jesus?
Suppose then we put on the new “Jesus-self-image” that is being transformed by the Spirit, how should we express our newfound selves?
Col. 3:17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
The first sign of a growing community is a shared desire to be Christ-like for the sake of others. True unity, true community comes only through a shared desire to act for God reflecting the image of the Lord Jesus to others – we put on the new self for others and look for Christ in others:
Col. 3:11 Hence there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
A growing Christian community will produce much more than multi-culturalism where everyone is left alone to pursue some ethnic peculiarity in a foreign land. Instead the common culture, the things that transcends all other cultures is the character of Christ in each person – it is the ultimate sign of belonging. We must be constantly mindful of the pressure to homogenize our churches along the lines of life-style or even ethnicity for this is the exact opposite of what we ought to expect of those with the Mindset of the Spirit .
