Church: His body, His bride

What a glorious collection of unglorious people! 

I’ve been very indecisive about what I want this post to be about, and have decided not to overwhelm you with thoughts, particularly as I’ve come across great resources summarising what I’d want to say anyway. So I’m going to be focusing this post on what it means to be the member of a local church (since this is what a lot of people have been posting or asking me about anyway) rather than the church as God’s universal body. You might like to check out what the Bible says about the local and the universal church (both here and here). I also recommend our brother Hans’ post “5 questions to ask when you are bored with your church”. At times, it is appropriate to leave your local church to find another one, and Hans also offers some helpful thoughts. My pastor Mike Paget’s sermon “Church: Life together” is also immensely helpful (sorry for the sound quality). 

Okay. Now for my own, far less eloquent thoughts (they took a long time coming I know!). In the past few years I’ve been really challenged by my current congregation to grow in my willingness to love and to serve the members of my church. My pastor once put it as being committed to saying, “this is my church, and I will bleed for her.” For me, it was revolutionary. We’re not called to attend church just for what it offers us, but to serve and encourage others. 

Being a member of a church is not easy. You’ll never get along with every single one of your brothers and sisters. Sometimes you’ll be at completely different stages of life, with different responsibilities. Sometimes you’ll enjoy different hobbies. Sometimes you’ll feel tempted to yell at each other in disagreement. Sometimes there’s a really awkward person who stands too close to you and only responds to your attempts to make conversation with yes/no answers. Why is the church so uncomfortable?

Because unlike social clubs or other community groups, a local church is often united only by Christ.

And because of that, it’s important to remind ourselves of what the value and purpose of attending and actually serving in a local church is.

I absolutely love the description of the early church in Acts 2:

 ⁴²And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. ⁴³And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. ⁴⁴And all who believed were together and had all things in common. ⁴⁵And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. ⁴⁶And  day by day,attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, ⁴⁷praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

I’m fairly certain every Christian I’ve talked about this passage with agrees that this is a beautiful image. This is what church under the Lordship of Christ should be like. And if this is what a local fellowship can look like, then most of us (I hope!) want in. It’s also interesting to note that this kind of fellowship isn’t just about going to a service once a week. These brothers and sisters are devoted to serving Christ together, to doing life together, to caring for each other. It takes a great deal of energy and commitment to do this. But they do it with such joy - they are glad, they are generous, and they overflow with praise to God. It’s a wonderful image of people meeting together to worship the Lord and grow in spiritual maturity, seeing many added to their family each day.

Church is also a context in which we serve one another with the gifts that we’ve been given. Each of you are blessed with spiritual gifts that are valuable for encouraging and edifying others. These spiritual gifts are given for the common good (1 Corinthians 12:7). Ephesians 4:

¹¹And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherdsand teachers, ¹² to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, ¹³until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood,to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, ¹⁴so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. ¹⁵Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, ¹⁶ from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

I know we all know that the internet is an incredible opportunity to serve each other with our gifts. There are people I’ve met through tumblr who are a great encouragement to me, who share their words and teaching and prophecy and prayer. But there is something precious about fellowship done in person. There is something wonderful about eating meals together, in packing up a church hall together, in laying hands on one another, to worship together side-by-side. You have gifts that will build and edify His body much better in person than over a blog. It is much more personal, and at times it takes much more patience as well. But let us be reminded of Romans 12:3-8, and not think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think, but instead to focus on using our gifts to serve one another, whatever they may be. Brothers and sisters, let’s not waste our gifts.

I’ve also been reminded recently of the fact that for Christian who meet together, the fellowship they share is a witness to those who don’t yet know Jesus. Church is also a context in which non Christians can see that we are His disciples and witness Christ’s love manifested in His people. Jesus said in John 14:34:

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. 

While no-one has ever seen God, when we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete (1 John 4:12) I have many brothers and sisters who came to know Jesus because they were encouraged by how they saw church members love one another. Seeing God’s people love each other radically made themsearch for the reason behind this love, and find Jesus’ love for them. If you’re a Christian and not a part of a local church, will you be the only witness to those you know who don’t know Christ? Are they experiencing the love of only one person who in their mind, just happens to be a Christian? Or are they being challenged by how different the love shared between brothers and sisters is to the world’s idea of friendship?

And finally, we need each other. 1 Corinthians 12:

It is tempting at times to think that you’ll be fine  without brothers and sisters to encourage you and keep you accountable in this race, but the Bible tells us that’s not how it is. We are made to be in fellowship with other believers. What you offer the Christians around you is so valuable for their growth in spiritual maturity, and what they offer you is so valuable for your growth. We all know that it’s really hard to be a Christian in this world. Being a Christian on your own is even harder. 

My dear brothers and sisters, we are called to hang in there. Hebrews 10:24-25:

Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

I pray that we will respond in obedience. I pray that His Spirit will guide us all individually to see how we can stir up others to love and to good works. I pray that His Spirit will strengthen us in times of temptation, that we will not neglect meeting together, but that we will persevere with encouraging one another. I pray that we will remember how important this is as Jesus’ return draws nearer and nearer, and I pray most of all that God will be glorified by His people.

scattered thoughts about this thing we call “church”

Thinking & praying about what the church is meant to look like. 

The Bible has some beautiful gems of wisdom on this topic.

It’s a lot more than a social club, a lot more than a building.

I’ve read a lot of posts about people struggling to find a congregation to settle in, or thinking about leaving their congregation, or just plain confused about how they should feel about their congregation.

I have some pretty big thoughts on this so will post about this in a few days later when I’m not so sleepy. Expect a post coming up in the next few days.

Actually, expect a lot of posts on big topics. I’ve been doing lots of thinking since my exams finished & I got my brain space back :)

Want to see before you believe? He invites you to investigate.

Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”

Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

- John 20:24-28

You’re an intellectual person who refuses to believe that Christ rose from the dead unless you have evidence to suggest that He did. It seems to you that it’s too biased and circular to use the Bible as proof that the story of Christ as recorded by the Bible is historically accurate. You’re not expected to believe naively without applying your intelligence to other areas of life, so why should you believe that Jesus is Lord without applying your mind?

Know this: to you, Jesus says: put your finger here, and see my hands; put out your hand, and place it in my side. He invites you to investigate. He’s not angry that you’re hesitant to believe without seeing evidence for yourself. But if there’s a possibility that Christ is Lord, that there is hope, then surely that possibility is worth investigating properly?

You like to draw conclusions for yourself, and you want to explore your own choices. You apply your energy passionately to so many other areas of your life. You are intelligent enough to look at both sides of the debate, and more than capable of researching objectively. You are gifted with the ability to think critically. You don’t write off theories unless you’ve wrestled with their validity first. You say that there is no evidence to suggest that Christ rose from the dead - but if you were to be honest with yourself, when was the last time you looked to see if there was evidence? I shoud say, properly looked, for yourself and not to please someone else?

The Jesus of the Bible, the Jesus I follow, is one who invites you to investigate the evidence of His resurrection for yourself.

foolishness to those who are perishing

Preach the gospel, not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

The cross is crazy.

The cross doesn’t make sense.

The cross is the beautiful collision of justice & mercy in a way our minds can never comprehend.

In Christ we see His faithfulness; His willingness to keep every promise of the Old Testament - all the promises of His dwelling with His people, all the promises of having the crimson stain of sin washed as white as snow - despite the cost.

The cross is where the King of kings embraced shame, punishment, and the scorn of others for our sake. The cross is where the Lord of lords looked at this mess that we’d made,  and still looked at us in love.

The cross of Christ is ridiculous. The cross of Christ is foolishness to those who are perishing.

And let it be so. He loves us so much, in a way that can never be articulated. Your words can never capture what happened at Calvary. You cannot win people over with words. Don’t ever play down the simply crazy nature of His love at the cross. I pray that the mystery of His love will hit your heart in a way words never can.

Amazing love, how can it be that You my King should die for me?

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty! Living in Your freedom, we see Your glory!

Do you really believe that there is freedom in His presence?

Or are you avoiding Him because you’re afraid of condemnation?

Do you really believe that there is freedom in repentance?

Or are you terrified you’ll just experience more shame and ridicule?

Do you really believe that there is freedom in living the pattern that He calls us to live?

Or are you holding onto the stones that pin you down, trying to convince yourself that choosing addiction is “freedom”?

The cross speaks of liberty. At the cross, Christ says: Come, My beloved. Come here, to where I lead you; come here to where My blood is poured out for you; come here, to where I have taken upon Myself all your shame and guilt. Come to the cross, beloved, because when you do, I take away your burden. Come, beloved, because you are weary and you need rest. Come, because you are too weak to carry that weight. Come, because I did not come to condemn you but to save you. Come to the cross, My love, because it is the only place that offers you freedom. Every other door will lead to condemnation; every other path will give you false promises and every other direction will fail you in the end. Come to the cross, beloved, and taste liberty.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Freedom is lived when we live not to indulge the sinful nature, but when we serve each other in love. Despite what the world believes, there is no freedom in walking away from life and into death. The world tells us that freedom is about making choices that are all about you; and He who is the Way, the Truth and the Life says that freedom is when you make the choice that ends in life. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious. Impurity, sexual immorality, jealousy, hatred, fits of rage, selfish ambition, envy, dissensions, drunkenness — these things all feel liberating at the time, but they weigh you down until the chains feel so heavy that you can’t walk away from them, even if you wanted to.

Freedom is lived when we blossom with the fruit of the Spirit. Freedom is lived when we walk on the path that we were created to live on. When freedom reigns, life is full of joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. When the fire of the Spirit burns in your heart you are given the power to break free from the chain of addiction and sin that holds you back. When you live in the Spirit, your heart feels light. When you live in the Spirit, humble in heart, your yoke is light. Beloved, choose freedom. Live by the Spirit, and keep in step with the Spirit. For where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

Why are we so scared of the word “religion”?

sketchmedesire:

I always hear protestant Christians say “I’m not in a religion, I’m in a relationship.” I’ve said it numerous times myself, but now it really bothers me. Jesus established His religion here on Earth, but just because man has tainted the word “religion”, it doesn’t mean we should throw it out the window. We need to take back religion and show the world what Jesus really meant by it. 

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
- James 1:27

It takes humility to be a follower of Christ.

It takes humility to declare that you have absolutely nothing to bring to God. It takes humility to cry out to Him in your brokenness and cling to the cross. It takes humility to admit that without the Saviour washing away your sin your only destination is death and destruction. It takes humility to admit that you have failed before God. It takes humility to admit that you rely completely on His grace.

It takes humility to live like Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross.

And yet, why is it that so many non-Christians see not our humility, but our pride? Why is it that people are more likely to see us as judgemental, annoying, self-righteous? Why is it that we are unable to serve others without desiring the praise of man? Why is it that we are so easily jealous of other people’s gifts or talents? Why is it that we care too much about what other people think to truly pour ourselves out for others with the same attitude as Christ?

Perhaps it’s time to make ourselves nothing again.

I’m waiting for the Wedding.

I don’t know when, but I know it’s soon. And when He comes, it’ll be the biggest wedding this universe has ever seen.

The bride of Christ is so ready for Jesus.
I’ve been thinking about whether or not I’ll fall flat on my face in awe and with trembling like those who have seen Jesus did. Of course, I can’t know for sure. I get all jittery with excitement when I think about the moment.

Part of me thinks I’ll see Him in all His glory and my heart will be so overwhelmed with joy and love that I’ll run as fast as these little legs will take me, straight into His arms.