“THE
CHURCH IN OUR LIVES”
Ephesians 4:1-16
God called Moses to
lead
We make all kinds of excuses for staying
away. “I don’t need the church to be a
Christian. “I live a better life than
most church members - why should I associate with them?” “Sunday is the only day to sleep in.” “The preacher puts me to sleep.”
It is strange – a single unfortunate
experience can permanently damage a person’s relationship with the church. We may be fed a poor meal but we don’t give
up eating.
We may have a poor 5th grade
teacher but we don’t give up school, or a bad game of golf or bowling. Or our favorite football team may lose, but
we aren’t deterred. Not so with church.
Now every church is imperfect, because
they are made up of imperfect men.
A man told his pastor he was leaving to
find the perfect church. The minister
replied, “I don’t think you will find the perfect church, but if by chance you
should find one, don’t join it, you’ll spoil it.” We must rid ourselves of the notion that the
church is the “communion of saints” and realize we are actually the “community
of sinners.”
We should never believe we can live at
our best by our own strength, without God’s help, through his Word, reinforced
by faith and prayer, renewed by fellowship and support of his church. The church is the community of
believers. It is Christ’s church. It is through the church we learn of Christ’s
way. We cannot decide intelligently for
or against the church without knowing the church. And we can’t know it from the outside.
Jacob received a vision of divine
things under an open sky, as he was alone on the plain of Bethel. For every Jacob who has received a vision
under the open skies, there are ten thousand Jacobs who have found God through
an earnest sermon, a song or a prayer in the midst of a worshipping
congregation. Few will ever get to
heaven without passing through the gateway of the church.
We cannot worship by proxy. Only as we attend in person, and blend our
hearts and voices with others in the redeemer’s praise can our souls be
blessed. The tragedy of the empty pew,
is not the broken heart of the pastor nor the worry or embarrassment of the
church board, but in the impoverishment of the absentee.
Mankind is hungry. They may not know it but they are hungry for
God and righteousness and salvation. If
the church can supply these needs, there are great days of revival and life
ahead. If we should fail, the days are
dark for the church.
Henry Ward Beecher said, “That which is
the Light of the World in the Church is not its largeness, nor its services
conducted with pomp and beauty, not in its music, not the influences in it that
touch the taste or instruct the understanding:
it is the Christ-likeness of its individual members.
The church exists because it has a
Lord. It did not come into being because
there was a need for a new welfare agency, or a new mental health
association. The Church began because the
first disciples knew Jesus was the Son of God.
The earliest creed of the church was
simply, “Jesus is Lord.” The church is
not truthful if this is left out. This is
why the church exists and this is what gives it its message, and purpose, and
mission in the world.
Someone has said that every child is a
first generation Christian. He does not
inherit faith. If he does not receive a
faith by transmittal, in his time, right where he is, it does not come to him
at all.
The church does not have an easy
solution for all the problems of society.
Nor are Christians exempt from problems.
But in the church we see a ray of light, a bit of hope, the glimpse of
eternity. By patient, persistent,
courageous witness to Christ we affirm our faith that by the power of God, men
will be saved. Whether they listen or not,
we go on, believing every word spoken for Christ, every bit of Christian
influence, every uncompromising stand we take has the power of God behind
it. It will not die, it will remain in
some heart, and eventually bear fruit.
Our Scripture today
helps is discover how God has put the church together and how we are to work
together to build the kingdom.
In our Scripture we
discover we all are given spiritual gifts to be used in the body of
Christ. Paul says “to each one of us
grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift… and gave gifts to
men.” Everyone who claims the name
of Jesus and is born again has received some spiritual gift.
Some receive more recognition
than others. Those out front – pastors,
evangelists, teachers, – the use of their gift puts them clearly in view, yhey will
be seen and recognized. Our goal should
never be to receive such recognition, but it will happen. On the other hand there may be one with the
gift of service – we see them, cleaning the churchyard or some other task
around the church, or maybe doing the same for an elderly neighbor – we see
them, but we often don’t think of them in the same category as those out
front. But where would we be without
them?
There is a member of
Midway – she has an appropriate profession, she is a nurse – she oozes with
compassion – such a gentle caring person – if you throw her into the limelight
she would be embarrassed by such attention.
A man has spent much
of his twenty plus years of retirement running all over the country and in the
Caribbean responding to disaster recovery, sometimes for two or three
months. He didn’t expect recognition. A close friend of his died a few years ago –
this friend had never stepped foot inside
Notice next in this
passage that some are set apart – pastors, teachers, evangelists – to be
equipping the saints for the work of ministry.
And the goal is so that we might be united in our faith and knowledge of
the Son of God… and to be brought into the fullness of Christ – if you really
know Jesus, you can’t help but serve.
One thing more –
jumping to Galatians 6 – we are to do all we can to grow together in Christ,
meaning as Paul said if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are
spiritual should restore such a one. We
are to be accountable to one another in the body of Christ. Unfortunately, many of us put on a false mask
in the church. We do all we can to hide
our foibles.
It has been my
experience over the years that when someone finally comes to say they are
having a problem in their marriage, often it has progressed too far and for one
or the other there is no turning back.
Of course when they say it is too late – there is no hope for recovery, they
are also turning their back on the possibility of God’s grace and power coming
to bear. I don’t believe any situation
is beyond repair if all parties are open to the Spirit restoring their lives
and relationships.
“If every member were just like me, what
kind of church would my church be?”
How many worship services would have
been held last year? How many sessions
of Sunday school – how many invitations to non-Christians would have been
extended? How many calls upon the sick
and shut-ins? How much money given to
missions? How many prayers offered for
the pastor, my neighbors, my church? How
many words of testimony for Christ?
Indeed, would there be any church at all?
Other than Himself,
God's primary resource for meeting your needs and keeping you pure is other
believers. The problem is that many go to Sunday school, church and Bible study
wearing a sanctimonious mask. Wanting to appear strong and together, they rob
themselves of the opportunity of having their needs met in the warmth and
safety of the Christian community. In the process, they rob the community of
the opportunity to minister to their needs. By denying the fellowship of
believers the privilege of meeting your legitimate needs, you are acting
independently of God. You are vulnerable to the temptation of thinking that you
can have your needs met in the world, the flesh and the devil.
Keeping in mind what
we have discovered from our Scripture, it has been my experience in thirty-five
years of ministry that the majority of church members are only that – church
members. Participation is limited to
Sunday Morning worship. Recent
statistics show only a little more than 1/3 of the worshipping congregation
here at Spring Creek participates in Sunday School. That is true not only here.
Dennis Rainey on
Family Life Today had a guest this week.
He gave this illustration.
Suppose you were a high school football coach. You put out the word for signups. Eighty students come out. Wow.
What a team you will have. Then
you get them prepped, but when game night arrives only 40 show up for any
game. And you never know which
forty. Then when you get ready to send
the team out on the field only ten will go.
The other thirty? Oh, they really
didn’t want to play. They just liked the
uniform – besides, you couldn’t get better seats than right on the sideline
next to the action. Sound a little
far-fetched? That’s what happens with
the church. Less than half the members
show up for church. Less than 25 percent
of the regular attendees do the work in the church.
Does the world know
you are a follower of Jesus? Are your
spiritual gifts being used to build the body of Christ?
©
2007,