Good Morning All,
Do you remember that little ditty you use
to say in nursery class or for your grandmother? “Here is the church and here is the steeple;
open up the door and look at all the people!”
You would fold your hands together, and then you put your two index
fingers up as the steeple. Next you
would rotate your hands and wrists to wiggle your fingers to be the
people. It is so easy to make a church
when you are 3 or 4; why is it so difficult when you are 30 or 40?
First you have to canvass the area and see
if there is a need for the church. Then
you have to have a mission committee form to provide the proper preaching
ministry. There has to be proper
administration and then, and only then, can a church be planted. Of course, after that comes the articles of incorporation,
which need to be passed by the congregation, then accepted by the state, then
approved by the district and synod. Then
we are a church!!
Unfortunately, this is how many people
view it. It is all mechanical in nature;
it is all about the physical or visual effect.
It is about numbers; about how big or how many or how often events in
the church occur. Some go so far as to
be everything to everyone and to have everything go on at the church. Unfortunately, this makes the church just one
big social club. This is not the true
church at all.
The true church, the true Church that is
the body of Christ, has nothing to do with a building or even a human
plan. It has everything to do with the
Spirit of God and how the Spirit expresses himself in the world through the
physical hands of believers. That is
kind of a wordy statement so let’s look at it a little by looking at our
verse. Notice what the believers do;
they pray, they celebrate fellowship with the breaking of bread (communion) and
studying the teachings of the apostles.
The true Church is God’s people at work but
what is our work? First it is studying
the Word of God and praying. This is the
holy conversation we have with God. We
listen (the Word) then we speak (prayer).
This interaction keeps us actively engaged with God. Yet that is only part, we need to meet in
fellowship and the breaking of bread in order to stay connected to our fellow
Christians. This is how we get the
support of the Holy Spirit; this is how the Word becomes flesh now. The Spirit moves our Christian brothers and
sisters to admonish, comfort, console and uplift us. We do this, not by some 8-point plan, but by
the love we express because of our prayers, our devotion to the Word and to our
fellowship together. By being filled
with the Spirit, God will move us to serve him.
All of this isn’t meant to completely
demean church plans, committees, or programs.
It is meant to ask a question; why do we do it? We should do them because we have prayerfully
considered the needs around us and how God wants to use us to meet these
needs. Above all we need to pray, pray
first, for all those in need. They we
pray that God will lead us to the way we should help those in pain. We don’t do programs to make us look good but
to respond to God’s grace. Above all,
pray for each other, pray for those in need.
Pray with some of your friends during the week if you can. Try and meet to pray and study God’s Word; to
engage in this holy conversation. It can
be in your home, at coffee one day, in a break room but try to pray with each
other in fellowship together.
Dearest
Father, build your Church through us.
Use us to be your hands and your voice in a world that so desperately
needs to hear you. Keep us close to you
through your Word drawing us to prayer to you.
This we ask in Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.
God’s
Peace,
Pastor
Bret
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