KOINUNIA Defined

Hey guys!

Welcome to the first installment of my wild thoughts jettisoned haphazardly into the abyss of the internet: crazy amazing stuff, huh?

I figured it makes some good clean sense to let you know first off why I created this blog. Some of you may know that for a period of about 3 years I sent out weekly encouragement emails which were really long and filed in an email list that was hard to maintain. I'm headed to seminary at Regent College in the fall and felt this would be a good forum to share with you what the Lord is doing in my life as I journey towards Him in a radically new environment.

This page is about Jesus!

It's about His glory.

Its for His renown.

Its about inspiring whoever reads it to contend selflessly for the cause of Christ in the world wherever you are.

Its about brokenness and weakness of the flesh, filled up with the life restoring power of Jesus to change the world.

Its about sharing together in the ongoing journey of knowing Jesus as we bring our joys, our sufferings, our triumphs, and our failures before the one who is forever worthy of our praise,

believing that He is strong enough to enter into the depths of our deepest weakness and awaken a resilient and eternal hope forged from the fabric of His unfailing love!

The word KOINUNIA is an English equivalent of a Greek word that comes out of Philippians 1. In verses 3-6, Paul writes, "I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

The Greek from which the word "partnership" is translated is KOINUNIA. It doesn't have a direct English equivalent...cause that would be too easy, right? What it means is essentially an indescribably deep bond such as what fellow soldiers in an army in heavy combat share or what unites the members of a sports team contending for Olympic glory. Its those bonds put together and its FAR more.

KOINUNIA describes the bond shared by the followers of Jesus who contend together for the things of the Kingdom of God in this Earth. Its a bond among people who share conversations about the things most essential to thier being, the stuff that lies closest to their hearts.

If you love Jesus, you have KOINUNIA with those like-minded brothers and sisters who suffer with you for the glory of His name!

You share KOINUNIA with the people you call immediately to share your joy when the Lord answers a prayer request you've cried out for together!

You share KOINUNIA with those with whom you share your brokenness and struggles, with those who know the ugly side of you and have chosen to love you still because they were loved first by our Savior.

KOINUNIA is what Jesus desires for all His children to share with one another here on Earth. In John 17, when Jesus is praying in the Garde of Gethsemene, we get one of the best, most straight-forward glimpses into His heart that I think the Bible gives us. In verses 20 - 23 as Jesus prays for those who will believe in His name, He says, "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."

Jesus is looking forward to the coming empowerment of His church with the fire of the Holy Spirit, the gift that will complete the mystery of the Gospel Paul writes about in Colossians: Christ in us, the hope of glory!

Jesus desires for us to share an intimate friendship with Him.

He furthermore desires for us to share such intimacy with others as we contend alongside for the Gospel in the world.

The overflow of the love that we share as brothers and sisters in Christ will show the world that the gospel is full of power, that its Jesus is strong enough to take broken lives and put them back together again, and He's strong enough to take a bunch of ragtag misfits and transform them into world changers for the Kingdom.

KOINUNIA is the relational currency of the Kingdom of God.

Let's share it with one another as we journey together towards knowing and loving our Savior with more and more of our hearts and lives.

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William