What is "Church"?
As I was driving my daughter to high school the other morning, I asked her, "Honey, what is "church"? Notice that I did not ask her "what is THE CHURCH"? I knew she'd answer that one correctly. So, yes, I deliberately misled her. Her answer was the one I thought she'd give. "That's Sunday morning." Hmmm. "So church is what we do on Sunday mornings?" "What about on Sunday nights and Wednesday nights?" "What about Monday morning, Tuesday evening, Thursday, Friday and Saturday?"
Well she was only answering like most of us would have answered had we been asked that question. We all, if we belong to Christ, know the answer to the second question. "THE CHURCH" is, of course, the people who "go to church". We understand that "the church is the body of Christ" not a building. But, how many of us understand and truly believe that "church" is not a place you go, or a building you meet in, or even an assembly of some kind? "So, Tom, are you saying that what we do on Sunday mornings or at any other time we may gather together is not "church""? That is not what I'm saying. I'm saying that church is 24/7, and that we are in church at all times - not just when "the church" is gathered together on a special day of the week. As I sit at my office at this very moment, I am "in church". In as much as I am in the body of Christ, I am in church. I am not to cease to worship, or pray, or be aware of our ever present God simply because I am not in a building with other believers. I am not to feel as if I am less in the presence of God now, than I would if I were in the middle of a great Gothic Cathedral with pipe organs and stained glass. As much as I love meeting with the Lord's saints, singing the great hymns of the faith and listening to the passionate God glorifying preaching of my Pastor (Dr. Steve Lawson, http://cfbcmobile.org), I am no less "coram Deo" (before the face of God) at my desk, than I am in my pew. It is this aspect of what it means to be "in church" that has captivated my thinking.
The church is huge. It is much bigger than I imagined or acknowledged in the past. If I am in Christ, I am in a much larger fellowship than any local congregation. Don't get me wrong, I love my local "church". However, my fellowship and responsibility to His church is not merely with them, but, with the larger church as well. Whatever my spiritual gift may be, God expects me to use it in His church for the building up of the body into a mature man. This is to be done, not only in the church that meets in Mobile, but in the entire body of Christ as well. My favorite Pastor/Teacher is John MacArthur (my pastor won't mind, MacArthur is probably his favorite too!). He is Pastor of Grace Community Church (http://www.gracechurch.org/) in Los Angeles. But, is he not also a pastor in Christ's church wherever it might meet? I think so. He is gifted by Christ as a pastor and teacher in the body of Christ. His responsibility to feed and tend the flock reaches beyond the four walls of his fellowship at Grace Community. He is a pastor to the flock of God - especially of the one at Grace Community, but also of the entire body.
When I see a brother or sister who worships in another building, or as part of another denomination even, I am in the body of Christ WITH THEM. I am responsible to them. I am to love them. I am to teach them. I am to counsel them, cry with them, rejoice with them, etc. - regardless of the location. Be it a football game, a walk in the park, or whatever the scenario, I am in Church with them as we meet and speak together. We worship, encourage, pray and enjoy fellowship even though we are not at the "set hour" for such activity.
This is having a huge impact on my awareness of Christ, my love for His church, and my sense of participation in the building up of His body.
"...giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the ineritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins." Col 2:12-14
Since we share in the inheritance with the saints in light, we should conduct ourselves in this everyday existence as if we believe it to be true. We (every redeemed sheep in God's flock) are fellow pilgims and strangers in this world - citizens of a heavenly city - one with foundations that cannot be shaken. We share an intimacy and are a community unlike any other group in this world. "Therefore encourage one another daily, while it is still called today" (Heb 3:13).
John (the beloved Apostle, the Elder) prayed this prayer for us many years ago:
"that you may also have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full." John 1:3,4.
Well, that is a prayer that I pray will be fulfilled in me today. What about you?
posted by Tom @ 6:45 PM
1 Comments:
After reading the lame attempts at explaining away God's total sovereignty among the storms, I was inspired to respond to the local newspaper with this column.
You Want Answers? Put on the eyeglasses of Scripture and look through God’s eyes.
Job 40:6-9 (NKJV)
6 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said:
7 “Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me:
8 “Would you indeed annul My judgment? Would you condemn Me that you may be justified?
9 Have you an arm like God? Or can you thunder with a voice like His?
It’s sickening to see how we Christians are so ignorant of the Holy Scriptures. Many Christians today can quote Scripture word for word, but their lives reflect something different from what they know to be true.
I have read many articles written by evangelical Christians making lame attempts to answer questions about the recent hurricane devastation. What these rhetoric shows is how far we have gone injecting our man-centered theology into our Christianity. Every one of them seem to have their own rendition as to the ‘how and why’ of such destruction with no appeal to Scriptures. Some say it was just a storm and not God and this I find inconsistent with the Scriptures.
First of all, there is no such thing as ‘Mother Nature’. After the fall of man, God did not walk away and allow the world to take its own ‘natural’ course of events. In the Old Testament, God, the Father of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, brought destruction with the Flood, at the Tower of Babel, at Sodom and Gomorrah, with plagues in Egypt and even to Job, who ‘seemed to be a good man.’ These are only a few examples. When we read of these events, the understanding is clear that God brought about these events with His power and not the pagan god of ‘Mother Nature.’
Secondly, the New Testament reveals that same power of God as seen in the Old. Matthew 28 tells us that Jesus has been given all power in heaven AND EARTH! His power is not limited in any way. If so, Jesus could never have been raised from the dead. God, through His holy risen Son, can also make up hurricanes in the ocean and use them to destroy cities and people’s lives and this is where we seem to have problems with God and try to make up our own reasons as to the why and how of such things. But according to the Scriptures, God is sovereign and does whatever He pleases.
God instructs Job to stand up and be man and answer the questions set before him. Just as Job, we also have no justifiable answer back to God as some have tried to do. If God judges or condemns, who are we to answer back? Are we, the created, to answer to God as if we are equal with God and have rights? Absolutely not!
There is only one acceptable response when someone asks the how of such things as we have seen in these catastrophic events. Appeal to the Scriptures and we see that God causes these events, as He pleases, out of His perfect power and will to bring Himself glory and cause repentance among His elect. Some will not like this answer but nevertheless it’s the truth and Christians need to accept it. We are to do as Job in chapter 42 verse 6 and “retract and repent in dust and ashes.”
As to the why things like catastrophic events happen, we will save that answer for another day. Until then, look it up in the Scriptures and let me know what you find.
Paul Lambert
Fountain Baptist Church
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