“No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be wasted away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thine own
Or of thine friend’s were.
Each man’s death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.”
John Donne 1624 A.D.
John Donne was a Christian Monk. His intention in authoring this piece was not to create a “stand alone” poem, but was a part of a devotional contemplation entitled, Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions. For Donne, and other thinkers of his Renaissance Era, rugged individualism and self-reliance were not the hallmark of progress, but the devolution and corruption of God’s original intentions.
Today we live in a culture where the quest for “islandhood” is at epidemic levels. Many see it as progress; and yet, it’s actually quite the opposite. As John Donne knew, Satan’s first temptation in the Garden of Eden was an appeal to individualism and isolation. The effect of the fall of man was not only isolation from God, but isolation of man from man, man from self, man from creation. Indeed, all of human history is marked by a tension between individualism and community.
In the last 50 years “self-help” books have been at the top of the sales volume list of all publications. Many of the books of this genre have multiple chapters on acts of altruism. The author’s intention is clear – one necessary step toward human fulfillment is the undertaking of acts of kindness to others; ergo: “No man is an island.” Indeed, even someone as accomplished as the Secretary of State and former First Lady, Hillary Clinton, could author her epiphanous book, It Takes a Village, as a declaration of the truth of Donne’s discovery.
There is something fundamentally intrinsic in fallen man that seeks to isolate and individualize one life from another. Indeed, throughout the Scriptures we find that isolation and individualism are the inevitable results of sin. See Cain and Abel. See Achan. See the Gergesene demoniac. See Judas. The list goes on and on. But the converse is also true. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, where His regenerative power is on full display, there is a glorious fellowship that results. One needs only to look to Acts 2 (Sunday’s companion text) to see the power of divinely authored interdependence among Christ’s body – His church.
For months we’ve been examining the effects of spiritual transformation on lives that rest on the finished work of Christ. We’ve looked at the different kind of love that begins to flow from the transformed life. We’ve looked at the hope, the forgiveness, the power, and the courage that mark every truly transformed life.
This Sunday, Pentecost Sunday, we turn to our final mark of transformation – community. The evidence of Scripture is overwhelming. Those who are truly being transformed by the Holy Spirit will find a growing desire for fellowship and interconnectedness. This is necessarily so, for Jesus came, died, and rose again to redeem a company of people – His body – the church. Simply put, every one of us who names the name of Christ, who worships God in spirit, glories Christ Jesus, and puts no confidence in the flesh, should find within ourselves a growing, intense devotion to other believers. For all that Christ has done, He’s done for “US.”
This week we look at our RESCUE. We find ourselves in Joshua chapters 3 & 4 where, after forty years of wandering in the wilderness, God leads His people, together, from the Jordan River and into the Promised Land.
In preparation for Sunday you may wish to consider the following:
1. Who are these people who come to the banks of the Jordan River? What is their relationship with the ones that come through the Red Sea?
2. What similarities and differences can you find between the Red Sea crossing (Exodus 14) and the crossing of the Jordan?
3. What is the purpose of delaying them at the river for three days (3:2)?
4. What is the meaning of the parenthetical comment in 4:15?
5. Who leads them through the waters?
6. How many pass through the Jordan? And how wide is the dry riverbed? (See 4:16)
7. What is the meaning of sending one man from every tribe to the feet of the priests to pick up a stone? (See 4:2-3.)
8. Why carry the stones on the shoulder? And how far do they carry them?
9. What is the meaning of Gilgal?
10. What is the message of the stone “sign”? (See 4:6)
11. What is the meaning of “crossing over” together? (See Genesis 2:18.)
See you Sunday – Pentecost Sunday!
