A Healthy Body

I ate at 5 Points Grille last night for the first time and it was pretty darn good. I can officially recommend the Basil Chicken Pasta thingy to any hungry downtowners. The conversation was good as well and got me into the word this morning praying over our response and responsibility to one another in the church. I heard a story of a church that is being sued by members within the church because they don’t like where the church is headed. They are not suing because of sin in the pulpit or the staff, they simply don’t like the way the rest of the people want to go. The suing people are definitely in the minority but since they have been there the longest they feel that the church is “theirs.” Of course this is a load of crap, but for a lot more reasons that even a first glance might indicate. Yes they know that the Bible says not to sue other believers, but their response is that suing is, “the only way we can get our way.” If you are a believer reading this you must understand that this effects you just as much as it effects the people in that church.

1 Corinthians 3:16-17
Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.

The word you in these verses is plural. We together make up the temple that God dwells in. We are the temple of God together, and we together make up something that is holy. It is the same idea that Paul will go to later when he says that we are one body. When one member of the same body suffers, the rest of the body suffers. So, when a bunch of idiots in another city start suing their local church, we all should feel the pain of our holy temple being destroyed. The problem is that we don’t really care. Church is a place that we go to not a thing that we are. We should start from the beginning.

God made a covenant with Abraham and said that he would make him into a great nation. This nation was Israel and their job was to be a city on a hill that would light the way to God. They failed. Now the church is on the scene and its our job to be a city on a hill that will light the way to God. I’m not sure how we are doing. The cool thing about big cities is that when all the lights are on you can see that city from forever away. Those satellite photos of the earth at night are cool because you can see the big cities of the world clear as day from outer space. The lights together are seen from far away, but if you were to put your house on a semi and move it out into the desert the only people that would see your lights would be the people in your front yard. WE LIGHT THE WAY TO GOD TOGETHER. This personal relationship stuff has gotten out of hand. Yes there is a place for personal devotion and prayer but the fact of the matter is if you are not an active member of the temple/body universal you have no personal relationship to turn to anyway. We are baptized into one Spirit, one body, on temple, one everything. You are not the bride of Christ and I am not the bride of Christ. WE are the bride of Christ.

A change in the way we view the make up of the church would change a couple of key areas. There are probably a lot more but these are the ones that came to mind. If you think of more please tag them on.

Love

If I see myself as unimportant and dead apart from the total make up of the temple I begin to care a whole lot more for those who also make up the temple. If we suffer we do it together and if we have success we do it together. If the leg is cut the hand will bandage it. None will be poor, none will be hungry, and none will be cold. On the flip side we will love in rebuke as well. None will be stingy, none will be aloof, and none will act as more important than anyone else. We won’t allow it. (Oh yeah, and if anyone sues a local church we will kick their butts to the curb so fast they won’t have time to respond at all)

Outreach

We have pushed outreach onto the leaders and missionaries of our churches. Again WE are a city on a hill. WE have to do this thing together. One guy off in a hut apart from the temple will not shine very brightly. We will point the way together. If you are not reaching out in the name of Christ with the body then our light is not shining as bright as it could and we are all suffering for it.

Anyway this was on my mind. There is a lot more to say but I will leave it here for now. I would love to chat with some of you on this for sure. It is pretty important.