Paul shifts from the individual life before God, to how we live in community as the people of God. Paul reminds us that the church is not a group of individuals running their own race, but a people group, knitted together by the Spirit,
for God’s holy purposes in the world. Out of our response to his mercy and kindness, that is how we live with those in community.Preaching this passage gives us the opportunity to remind people of the importance of being part of community, to remind them that how we live together and treat one another really matters, and to exhort them to allow the Spirit to shape them into loving
and peaceful people.