Are You a Good Monster?

When my son announced he wanted to order the new Jars of Clay album I was really excited. I love their music. They are excellent artists and deeply committed to living out the Good News. When he told me what the title of the album was (Good Monsters), I was looking forward to it even more. I instantly recognized the thinking of someone who has come to terms with their fallenness.


Looking back over my Christian life, I've had several “head reduction” (i.e. humility) experiences. The greatest of these was in 1989, at the start of our community. Our community began through a revival. Several of us were working as missionaries, and through some friends we knew and books we were reading, God started to convict us of sin and passivity. During that time I was able to dedicate a three day period to seek God for renewal in my life. Taking a cue from Charles Finney's Revival Lectures, I did an inventory of my life, listing every sin I had committed that I could think of. I organized the list according to age-specific periods of my life. I then began to explore the whys behind my sins and the effect of my sins on others. This took quite a while. My wife and friends provided the time and space so I could have an uninterrupted schedule. This experience was both disturbing and liberating, and has since served as the foundation of my life.

St. John of the Cross talks about “the dark night of the soul”. Whatever he meant by that phrase, I have come to associate it with this three-day retreat. Several insights struck me during that time. I remember reading the passage in the Gospels where Jesus describes the Scribes and Pharisees as hypocrites. I felt God suggesting to me that I was a hypocrite. At first I doubted it was God speaking, but then I remembered several occasions (it wasn't hard after making my list) when I had selfish or ulterior motives in the ministry. I then turned to Acts 8:9-24, the story of Simon the Sorcerer. Simon wanted to use the ministry for his own reputation and ambition. I felt God pointing His finger at me. Since becoming a Christian, I have had a sincere desire to serve Jesus with my whole life. Career and comfort were sacrificed in order to serve Him in the ministry, but now He was telling me that not all was as pure and noble as I thought. The passage that really shook me up was verse 22, “Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray the Lord that if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you.” It was the “if possible” part that got me.

I distinctly remember during those three days confronting the idea of judgment. I never really had a revelation of hell or judgment before in my life. When I became a Christian as a teenager, I was so transformed by God's love and forgiveness it never occurred to me how deserving of judgment I was. Well, that thought was pretty clear to me now. It was in this state of despair that I saw the cross as never before. I realized that if I was going to be saved, it was only going to happen if His grace and mercy touched me. There was absolutely nothing I could do to redeem myself. I can't describe what this did for me. It cleansed and humbled me. It rekindled my love for the Bible and God's people and His work on earth. I was now His son, His good monster.

Jean Vanier in Community and Growth tells us:

“Community is the place where our limitations, our fears and our egoism are revealed to us. We discover our poverty and our weaknesses, our inability to get on with some people, our mental and emotional blocks, our affective or sexual disturbances, our seemingly insatiable desires, our frustrations and jealousies, our hatred and our wish to destroy. While we are alone, we could believe we loved everyone. Now that we are with others, living with them all the time, we realize how incapable we are of loving...So community life brings a painful revelation of our limitations, weaknesses and darkness; the unexpected discovery of the monsters within us is hard to accept.”

Jars of Clay says it well, “Do you know what you are?”

Dealing with difficult matters

“And so the first concrete thing Christians can do is simply be with each other convivially in conversation and prayer, cultivating relationships within which there eventually develops a space for talking about difficult matters like sickness, frailty, and death.” Joel Shuman and Brian Volck, M. D., Reclaiming the Body, pg. 137-138

Ten Reasons to Live in Community

1. God told you to.

Knowing that God has led you to this kind of life and these particular people is the most compelling reason to live in community. Following the leading of God is the most joyous thing we could ever do. Trust and obey, for there is no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

Every Christian is called to be a part of God's community, the Church, but not everyone is called to live in intentional Christian community. For various reasons, it may not be appropriate or the right time for you to live in intentional Christian community. But it is always the right time to be united to God's people in sincere, committed relationships no matter in what circumstances you find yourself.

2. To live out the gospel of the Kingdom of God.

Jesus introduced a new kingdom of healing, love and mutual liability. Intentional community allows us to walk out the “Good News” today. The world is watching to see if the Christian message can really be lived out (John 17:21).

3. Meaningful relationships can be developed.

Taking liability for one another has a way of building intimacy and creating relationships that matter. Fellowship = Two men in the same boat – “Fellow Ship” (Keith Green).

4. Great potential for personal growth in God.

As Larry Crabb said, “I can think of nothing more important for spiritual growth than good relationships in the Body of Christ.” (Inside Out, p. 165) We need God's people to know us, love us and speak into our lives. Intentional community provides the environment for the real us to be known, the commitment to be secure and the proximity for sustained input.

5. A wonderful environment for children.

Children love community. Intentional community provides a pool of friends from families that share the same values, older brothers and sisters to look up to, aunts and uncles who love them and grandmas and grandpas who are around every day. The talents and character that a parent may lack is made up for by others in community. Children are exposed to a variety of perspectives, skills and interests that enrich their lives in ways that would never happen living outside community.

6. A richer and fuller life.

New hobbies, new ideas, new perspectives, new laughter, new purpose, new experiences, new resources, new vision, and new friends. Learning opportunities, serving opportunities, worship opportunities, growth opportunities, teaching opportunities, and relationship opportunities. You'll never be the same.

7. Christian values reinforced.

We live in a culture drenched in values that are opposed to Christianity. Intentional Christian community strengthens and affirms Christian values, and surrounds us with living examples of how to practically apply those values in daily life.

8. Many practical opportunities to serve others.

All around you in Christian community are plenty of chances to bring Christ to others. Making meals for those who are sick, babysitting so parents can go out together, hanging curtains for the mechanically challenged, building hand-made furniture for one another, fixing shared vehicles, cleaning the home of new mothers, and so many other ways to serve. Also, we can join our resources together to meet the needs of the poor and needy around us and even for those in distant lands.

9. Provision for tackling the challenges of life.

“Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep” (Rom. 12:15). A shoulder to cry on, medical advice, child-training tips, computer know-how, spiritual counseling, fellow bargain hunting, wedding planning, funeral planning, vacation planning, financial planning, conflict resolution, child education, adult education, lawn cutting, leaf raking, house painting...whew, and I probably left out 1,000 more things.

10. Preparation for heaven.

Get used to it. Heaven is an intentional Christian community (Rev. 21:1-4).