“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!” (Deuteronomy 6:4)

Called the “Shema,” this is considered the central prayer in the Jewish faith. Actually, the Shema is the entire section of Deuteronomy 6:4-9. Embedded in the heart and mind of every Israelite was this statement of allegiance, unity, uniqueness and exclusivity. Here we find monotheism clearly stated: there is one and only one God, and He is Yahweh (LORD) of Israel.

Elsewhere we point out that God desires to be known as “my God” (see 2 Chronicles 2:4). He also wants to be known as “our God.” What is the significance of that? While we are to know Him individually and personally, we are also to know Him in community with others who know Him individually and personally. The two are intricately related, like individual branches on a single tree. We are singularly part of a plurality making up a whole.

When God called Abraham, He promised to make a great nation of individual believers in Christ, who corporately would bring a blessing to the world (Gen 12:1-3). God’s people are called a nation, a family, a body, and collectively as a wife and bride. In the NT, the people of God are called a church, a household, the body of Christ. We are saved individually, but we are not saved to be isolated. We are saved into the community of believers. God is both “my God” and “our God.” Did Jesus not teach us to pray, “Our Father …”?

The implications of this are huge. Many today claim to be Christians yet have little fellowship with others, remaining aloof or apart from others. They see Him as “my God” but not “our God.” They do not see themselves as part of the community of God’s people. This is a problem in the eyes of God, who wants to be “our God.”

When we see God as “our God” we acknowledge the community focus of faith. This is not just incidental to our lives, along with other compartments into which we divide life. No. Thinking of “our God” leads to our identity not simply as individual believers, but as those who are part of the community of believers. In the NT, our God challenges us through the apostle Paul’s writings:

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. (Heb 10:23–25)

“Our Father, who is in heaven,” along with all other believers, I come to You in community and the humble submission of love for other believers.