We are meant to stand alone in community. The composer has written the piece so that individual parts make up the whole.
If we are to be an instrument of righteousness, we must stand alone. We must learn to live according to the grace given to us; according to the notes written for us. We must learn to “work out our own salvation.” We thwart His work in us when we look to men or systems (methods) to fill our needs or answer our questions. He may use men as instruments, but never as a source of life for us. And He has no need for systems. Systems have their origin in men. They are prescriptions of men and part of the law from which we have been freed. For us, there is no need to “follow Paul,” or “Apollos” or “Cephas” or even [gasp] “Christ” (our relationship with Christ is much more intimate than mere following; it is I am His, He is mine, I in Him, He in me) “for all things belong to us and we belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God.” (1 Cor. 1:12; 3:21-23)
We fear going it alone so we rely on men and systems, but oh the power of a life that relies simply on His grace in all things. “For our proud confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world.” 2 Corinthians 1:12
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