Category: The Church

I’m Thankful for My Church

Hebrews 10:24-25                                 I’m Thankful for my Church

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as we see the Day approaching” (NIV).

 

I’m glad and blessed to be in a local church where we do “spur one another on toward love and good deeds.”  God is love, so as we spur each other toward love, we are helping each other to move closer to our Lord and Savior.  Good deeds occur as the result of living in love and spreading the love of Christ.   We are led in this pursuit of love and good deeds from the pulpit by our pastor, by the praise and worship we join, and not least in the conversations we have before and after services.  These conversations are where we begin to apply what we have been taught.  We do encourage one another also in several monthly informal gatherings.  A word of encouragement and prayer from a church friend goes a long way toward lifting my spirits when I am discouraged.

We are told in Romans 12:4-5, “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ, we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others” (NIV).  In our church we have people with many different skills and abilities, both spiritual and physical.  When the speakers, the singers, the prayers, the cleaners, the encouragers, the ushers, the security people, the office workers, and the prophets all work together, God is glorified and people are blessed.  I am thankful that in my church this happens often, and blessings flow within the church body and to the surrounding community.

Unity of the Church

Psalm 133:1                                              The Unity of the Chuirch

“How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!” (NIV)

 

The birds pictured above, part of the great flocks that descend upon the Willcox area each winter, are together in unity in that they agree where they are going.  But if we were to examine each bird closely, we would discover that they differ in various ways: the size and shape of the wings, the size of the feet, the color composition of the feathers, and the ability to fly fast and long.  Despite their differences, they have a common purpose, to arrive at this place, at this time.  Some flocks fly in a large “V” shape with each bird taking his turn at the head of the “V.”  Their strength lies in the unity they show in each bird’s willingness to take his place at the head and to be satisfied when he is not leading.

We, as the Church, have been given one major common purpose, as stated in Matthew 28:19,20–“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (NIV).  That is our common goal as given to us by our Lord.  We are also told in Romans 14:19, “Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification” (NIV).  So while we are going about accomplishing our mission, we are to do it in a manner that “leads to peace.”  That brings us back to the Scripture quoted above, Psalm 133:1.  We need to live together in unity.  Jesus tells us one way to draw people to Him in John 13:35, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (NIV).  If we will truly love one another, there will be unity and peace in the Church.

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The Church United

Ephesians 2:19-22                                             The Church United

“You Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners.  You are citizens with everyone else who belongs to the family of God.  You are like a building with the apostles and prophets as the foundation and with Christ as the most important stone.  Christ is the one who holds the building together and makes it grow into a holy temple for the Lord.  And you are part of that building Christ has built as a place for God’s own Spirit to live” (CEV).

 

This may not be the most photographic picture I have ever taken, but it has importance.  First of all, it’s easy to see that the church is part of the community it serves.  People’s homes are right next door.  This church is unique in that it serves as the meeting place for the Catholic Church and the protestant church.  They share the facility.  There is an altar at each end, a pot belly stove in the middle, and pews whose backs can easily be switched so the congregants can face either the Catholic altar or the protestant altar.  Since they share the building, they also share the costs and the upkeep, so cooperation is a must.  What a good example this is of the Scripture quoted above.  Each church and each congregation is built with “apostles and prophets as the foundation and with Christ as the most important stone.”  We would do well to remember the common foundation and the common cornerstone we all share.  The Scripture is a call for unity in the Spirit.  I have been reading a book by David Jeremiah, “Belief That Behaves.”  I was intrigued with a section that describes an international meeting of Intervarsity Christian Fellowship.  At one point the attendees gathered in small groups for prayer.  The international group included students from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, entities not known for their friendly or even peaceful interaction.  But these three groups came together for prayer, breaking the walls that separated them.  One of the leaders said, “In Christ we are all one family.  And Christ breaks down political boundaries.  In Christ, we have the desire to make the first steps to connect.”  Unity in Christ was paramount to these students.

Dr. Jeremiah also related the following story.  A young American girl on a mission trip to Quito, Ecuador, was seriously injured.  While she was swimming in deep water, a boat didn’t see her and rode right over her.  The propellor caught her on the lower back.  Several young Ecuadorean men swam to her and carried her back to shore where an ambulance took her to the hospital.  Over the next few weeks, her Christian friends in the U.S. contacted people they knew in Ecuador, who began to visit her and offer help.  A retired missionary doctor took personal responsibility for her care, and she received many cards, letters, emails, flowers, and gifts.  She said, “I just can’t believe it .  These people loved me for no other reason than that I needed to be loved.”   Her father responded, “It’s the church,  When the church is functioning at its best, there is simply no community on earth that can rival it.”

God calls us to Christian unity, and it is to our advantage to do what we can to foster unity.  If someone says, “Jesus is Lord,” he is my brother.

 

Beauty When All Parts Fit Together

Psalm 133:1                 Beauty When All Parts Fit Together

“How wonderful it is, how pleasant, when brothers live in harmony” (TLB).

 

Students at Grace Christian School were taught to live by this verse.  It didn’t always happen that way, but it certainly was a good daily point of reference.

I made a meat loaf for dinner today, (I’m the meat loaf chef at our house.) and while I was making it, I realized how much this verse applied even to the meat loaf.  I put together many ingredients: ground beef, red peppers, orange peppers, yellow peppers, onions, eggs, Ritz crackers, catsup, meat loaf seasoning, and even a little brown sugar.  (Before you question my list of ingredients, you should ask my wife how it tastes.)  Of course I didn’t just put all the ingredients in the loaf pan and put it in the oven.  The ingredients had to been combined, and I did that by hand.  It makes for messy hands, but it also makes for well-mixed ingredients.  I don’t really have a recipe in the manner of specific amounts of each ingredient each time, so my meat loafs are not always the same.  The main ingredient is the ground beef, but three pounds of ground beef by itself just make a very big, rather tasteless hamburger.  The other ingredients add flavor, each one its own special addition to the whole.

That’s a long way to get to brothers living in harmony, but I think it makes a point.  The main ingredient in any church is the Word, and its exposition.  If that’s all that happened in a church, it could be a church that has no effect on the surrounding community.  God purposely adds all kinds of ingredients to every church, and no two churches are exactly the same.  Just as each ingredient in a meat loaf adds its own special flavor, so each member in a church adds his or her own special flavor to the whole.  The Word and its exposition is certainly central, but if there were no praise and worship, much would be missed in each service.  If there were no one to plan the order of service, always subject to the Holy Spirit of course, services could be chaotic.  If no one made sure that the bills were paid, the church wouldn’t last long.  If no one organized the collection of funds, the finances could be a mess.  If no one cleaned the building, people would soon stop coming.  If no one reached out to his or her neighbor and friends, the church would not grow.  Everyone’s voice is important to God in the singing of worship and praise.  He loves to hear your voice singing His praises.  Making people welcome, especially newcomers, is vital to the health of every church.

I didn’t put much brown sugar in the meat loaf, but it made a difference.  If you don’t think you add much to your church, remember the brown sugar in the meat loaf.  Every ingredient is important in meat loaf, and every person is important in the church.  If you don’t believe me, just ask God.  He added you to your church, and you can expect Him to stir all the members together so that the church not only lives in harmony, but also witnesses to the surrounding community.  If that’s not happening, maybe the members need to become more amenable to God’s stirring.  Maybe we need also to be ready for Him to turn up the heat so the community becomes more aware of the church.

Pray for Our Leaders

Hebrews 13:7                                                 Pray for our Leaders

“Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you.  Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith” (NIV).

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My foray into the watering of my plants yesterday gave me a continuation of what I considered yesterday, the feeding we receive from the Word of God.  I could view the plants in our garden as individual plants or I can see them as a coordinated group.  All receive the same watering, but each one grows differently.  Their differences add “flavor” to our flower patch.   In fact, I might say that their differences complete the picture.  Each one looks better because of the others.   The same can be said for the Church.  We all receive the same teaching, but we may well react differently.  We each have separate and individual gifts for separate and individual works.  When we all receive the feeding well and grow as we receive the Word of God, the Church shines for our Lord and growth occurs.

It is the responsibility of the leader, the one we call “pastor” to preach, teach, admonish, correct, and train us in the ways of the Lord.  That’s a heavy responsibility, and we need to appreciate and pray for our pastors as they lead us forward in the work of the Kingdom.

As a congregation, we all receive the same teaching, and when we apply it to our lives in the manner intended by God, church growth occurs.  I don’t mean church growth in terms of numbers, although that may well occur, but growth in the lives and witness of each of us as followers of Jesus Christ.  As we learn and as we grow, we support and complement each other so that the work that God intends for our church is accomplished.  Our individual works bring “flavor” to the work of our church.  Our individual works move our church forward on the road of completion of our task.  Only when we work together can we shine the brightest for our Lord.  We each receive blessing from the written Word, and we each receive the spoken Word as given by our pastors as an additional blessing.  It is the intention of God that His chosen pastors will open the Scriptures beyond what we may see on our own.  It is indeed His intention that our pastors lead us in the direction God has for our church.

So, let us give thanks for our leaders, our pastors, and let us lift them in prayer so that each one may fulfill his or her purpose given by God.