In Reuben
Welch’s book, We Really Do Need Each he
suggests that most churches resemble a group of people exploring the ocean in
old-fashioned diving suits. In this world we live in a hostile environment
where we must maintain a link with God. God’s presence and Spirit is our “air.”
We are attached to God through a personal connection to Jesus--our “air hose”
to the spiritual world. Every so often, one of us gets a “kink” in that hose,
and we start to struggle. Other Christians will sometimes notice that our
connection is failing, and admonish us to straighten the hose—“start praying,”
“Read your Bible,” “Stop sinning,” etc.
But more often than not, they never notice it until it is too late. We
hide ourselves under our “spiritual” helmets, so they never see our struggles.
Of course it’s sad when we see another believer fall away, but it doesn’t
affect us much, because we have our own connection. Since we are individually
connected to Jesus, we just go on as if nothing happened. The Church behaves as
a group of individuals trying to walk individually. It’s our personal faith
that matters.
Welch says
that’s a poor image of what God wants for the church to be. God’s intention for
the church is to be more like a submarine. Within the church we are fully exposed
to each other. If one of us runs out of air, then we all run out. We do connect
individually to God, but we must also connect together. Our relationship to God
is directly connected to the relationship with each other. When the Holy Spirit
came, He came to all of us. We really do need each other to live, grow and
reach out into the community. We are in this together.
When the
Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, he did not just come to them as individuals, but
to the whole Body together. In Acts 1: 8 Jesus told his disciples, “You will receive power.” He did not use
the singular “you” but the plural “you”--“you
will all receive power.” When Jesus
said in Luke 17:21 “The kingdom of God is
within you.” He also used the plural “you,” meaning “in your midst”. When Paul spoke of New Testament prophecy in 1
Corinthians 14:29 he said, “Let the
prophets speak two or three, and then let the other judge.” The Holy Spirit
was not the exclusive provenance of any one person, but there had to be
agreement. Community is essential for Christian witness. Jesus says in John
13:33, “By this will all people know you
are my disciples, by your love for one another.” Without each other, the Holy Spirit will not
be fully shown.
When the
Holy Spirit comes into the church, He comes like white light shining into a
prism. The Christian community divides the mission of Christ like a prism
divides white light into a rainbow. Each person in the church manifests a
different “color” of the Spirit—some showing His majesty through worship and
teaching, others showing His love through compassion and service, others
showing his purity through prophetic utterances. The gifts of the Spirit are
like colors in a rainbow. Each is the person of Christ revealed through
slightly different shadings. In Ephesians 4:7-13 we read,
“Grace was given to each one of us according
to the measure of Christ's gift.... He gave the apostles, the
prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers to equip the saints for
the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain
to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature
manhood”
The gift of
the Holy Spirit works through all of us to show the image of Christ to the
world. In Romans 12: 4-8 we read,
“For as in one body
we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we,
though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having
gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy,
in proportion to our faith; if service, in our
serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who
exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one
who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.”
Each church is a village, and the
church a nation within the nation. Like a village needs farmers, mayors,
police, salesmen and artists, the Body of Christ needs, preachers, teachers,
pastors, evangelists, worship leaders and workers. Each contributing a unique
part of what it means to be Christ in the world. This understanding of how the
Holy Spirit works has a direct bearing on how we live together and teaches us
three important lessons.
First, it teaches us that the power to
do the work of God does not come from our strength, professionalism, or
education, but from the Spirit of God. We can’t build the kingdom on our own
strength and abilities, we must build on God’s abilities. There is nothing
wrong with having dynamic or educated leaders, and experienced professionals—in
fact all of that can be good. But the church doesn’t need them—it needs the Spirit.
Our confidence in our own abilities or even in the abilities of our leaders
just gets in the way of our confidence in God’s Spirit. Many churches have great resources and
abilities, but are deficient in the Spirit of God. They are humanly strong, but
spiritually dead. They are monuments to what communities of people can do when
they get together, but they are no demonstrations of what Christ can do through
them.
Second, it teaches us that Christ can
manifest Himself through a group of people of any size or ability. Jesus chose
to multiply Himself in the world through a group of twelve ordinary people who
had not natural abilities that we know. There were no educated men among them,
no politicians, community organizers or leaders, just ordinary guys. Yet the
Spirit used these men to change the world.
Every part of the fullness of Christ
may be manifested through every part of the church. If you take a prism and
split it into four pieces, then pass light through the pieces, you still get
the same colors. When you take the body
of Christ and split it into four churches, each church can still manifest the
fullness of the Body of Christ. There may be variations in the shape and size,
but Christ comes through them all.
We sit around and wonder how we’re
going to find youth leaders, whether or not we can attract big rich donors, or
where we can find musical talents, as if these are the most important questions
a church can ask. They are not. We should be asking ourselves, how the Holy
Spirit will use our limited resources to provide for the teaching of children
and for funding the necessary work of God on earth. Instead of asking how we
can attract people with human abilities to improve our worship, we should be praying
to ask God to open up the portals of heaven, so we can see the Spirit in our
worship. Often the church is criticized for being so heavenly minded that we
are no earthly good, when it should be criticized for being so earthly minded
it is no heavenly good. We don’t need the world in our midst. We do need Jesus
in our midst.
This is good news! Christ can fully and
completely manifest Himself in a small church as well as a big one. There is no
need to feel inferior due to lack of money or professionalism. The power comes
from Jesus, not from ourselves, and that is available in all fellowships, great
and small.
Third,
it teaches us that all Christian churches and denominations have value. If the Holy Spirit manifests Himself through individuals in different
ways, is it such a leap to think He doesn’t do the same between churches and
traditions? We don’t all have to be Presbyterians or Baptists, Pentecostals,
Episcopalians, or Catholics--the Holy Spirit shines through all. We can
preserve our uniqueness without compromising our faith. The unique traditions
and personalities of the faith are valuable to the whole. If we are the Body of
Christ, then the denominations of Christians are like organs in that body. We
are not all eyes, ears, hearts, or lungs, but together we serve God. The
differences that tear us apart can be manifestations of His greater glory. Our
disagreements are not manifestations of disobedience, but of the Spirit shining
through unique personalities. We need to give each other space to be ourselves,
and to manifest God’s creative Spirit in our own ways.
How do we keep our differences from tearing
it apart?
First,
recognize that our unity does not come from agreement but from our love of
Jesus. Unity isn’t a
feeling but a commitment to love each other because Christ loved us. If we love
God, then we must also love God’s children, even when we disagree.
Second,
commit to staying together. I
don’t care whether you like each other, but nevertheless children, love each
other. Love is measured by actions: The first is our willingness to be
together. Do couples divorce if they love each other? What kind of marriage
would you have if you never spoke with each other, never saw each other, and
had no interest in what the other was doing? Is that love? Then what kind of
love does a church have if the sum total of our interaction is shaking hands on
Sunday morning? Love must go deeper than
superficial nicety.
Third,
be humble with each other. The
Bible is very specific on this. Romans 15:2, “Let each of us please his neighbor for his
good, to build him up.” Philippians 2:4 “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the
interests of others.” Galatians
5:26 “Let us not become conceited,
provoking one another, envying one another.” Let each regard the other
person as more important than his or her self. If all your conversations are
about what you are thinking or doing, then you are not regarding other people very
highly. In every conversation, respect each other.
Fourth,
be honest with each other. Masks
and defenses between each other are for unbelievers, not believers. If we can’t
be honest in the church, then where can we be honest? Here is the place where
people love you for just loving Jesus. Someone once said that secrets are to
communication what plaque is to arteries. Defensiveness clogs up communication
in the church, and makes it impossible for the Holy Spirit to move between us,
blessing us and growing us into what God intends for us to be.
We need to pray for a new openness and
unity in the Spirit. When there is no unity, the church falls into dust like a
paper statue. But when the Holy Spirit is communally in the church, then the
church is a living organism together, with each part interacting with the
others growing as God intends them to be. With each part filled with the Spirit,
interacting in the Spirit. We become a critical mass of unbelievable power. That
power transformed the ancient world--it can still do the same today.
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