Category: The Church

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.

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.