A Healthy Body
I will be preaching tomorrow from Ephesians chapter 4 where the Apostle Paul begins to develop his idea of the Church as the body of Christ. In verses 11 through 16 Paul is going to present the truths that leaders are given to the Church in order to equip the individual believers to serve each other. Every member a minister, so to speak. He will end the passage with the great truth that the Church grows best when every part does it's share. Now there is a novel idea!
I had a friend once when I lived in Nebraska. He was the pastor of a Presbyterian church in a neighboring town. He preached a sermon once that said that God never intended for church members to sit in pews and never do anything beyond attend church once a week. They fired him. They were honest in telling him, as he related this story to me, that they did not want to do more than they were and they did not want him around making them feel guilty about it.
But he is right. God never intended that once-a- week church attendance would be the end-all of our Christian lives. God in His wisdom has given us mechanisms to learn how to live within His kingdom.
In our families, we learn to be the servant of our spouse and our children. Husbands, yes ... this means you serve your wives. Read Ephesians 5:25 and meditate on that a while. In our churches we learn to serve each other. That is what the word "minister" means, to serve or servant. We love one another, bear one another's burdens, exhort, teach, lift up, pray for, hold each other in fellowship and so on. We serve each other. Our God given leaders are given for the very purpose of teaching us how to serve. Remember, in the kingdom of God, the last will be first and the first will be last. The pathway to greatness is the pathway of self denial and humility.
But this is not to be limited to a select few in the church. In many circles you'll hear tell of the 80-20 rule. That rule says that 80% of the work is being done by 20% of the people. But in God's plan, it is suppose to be the 100-100 rule. 100% of the people doing 100% of the ministry (work). In this way, every member contributes to the growth of the Church in Christlikeness and in holiness. And, as Paul said, it works when every member does his or her part. Just like a healthy body. It is healthy when all the parts of the body fulfill their intended functions. They all do their jobs. I am doing my part in my church body. Are you doing yours? Just something to think about ...
I will be preaching tomorrow from Ephesians chapter 4 where the Apostle Paul begins to develop his idea of the Church as the body of Christ. In verses 11 through 16 Paul is going to present the truths that leaders are given to the Church in order to equip the individual believers to serve each other. Every member a minister, so to speak. He will end the passage with the great truth that the Church grows best when every part does it's share. Now there is a novel idea!
I had a friend once when I lived in Nebraska. He was the pastor of a Presbyterian church in a neighboring town. He preached a sermon once that said that God never intended for church members to sit in pews and never do anything beyond attend church once a week. They fired him. They were honest in telling him, as he related this story to me, that they did not want to do more than they were and they did not want him around making them feel guilty about it.
But he is right. God never intended that once-a- week church attendance would be the end-all of our Christian lives. God in His wisdom has given us mechanisms to learn how to live within His kingdom.
In our families, we learn to be the servant of our spouse and our children. Husbands, yes ... this means you serve your wives. Read Ephesians 5:25 and meditate on that a while. In our churches we learn to serve each other. That is what the word "minister" means, to serve or servant. We love one another, bear one another's burdens, exhort, teach, lift up, pray for, hold each other in fellowship and so on. We serve each other. Our God given leaders are given for the very purpose of teaching us how to serve. Remember, in the kingdom of God, the last will be first and the first will be last. The pathway to greatness is the pathway of self denial and humility.
But this is not to be limited to a select few in the church. In many circles you'll hear tell of the 80-20 rule. That rule says that 80% of the work is being done by 20% of the people. But in God's plan, it is suppose to be the 100-100 rule. 100% of the people doing 100% of the ministry (work). In this way, every member contributes to the growth of the Church in Christlikeness and in holiness. And, as Paul said, it works when every member does his or her part. Just like a healthy body. It is healthy when all the parts of the body fulfill their intended functions. They all do their jobs. I am doing my part in my church body. Are you doing yours? Just something to think about ...
posted by John | Saturday, September 23, 2006
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home