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Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Pastoral Ponderings ~ Body-building the Loving Way

          There are many schemes and systems for building up the health of our physical bodies. Some work; some don’t. Failure is often a result of waning motivation meeting hyped up advertising. Success is often for the simple reason that we are doing something active and won’t quit.
          When trying to settle on an exercise and healthy-eating routine, we look for some sign that the promoters know what they are talking about. Have they done their research? Do they have any kind of verifiable track record that indicates the success of their program? Does it work?
          The health of the Church, the body of Christ, is not at the mercy of money-grubbing health gurus. We are Jesus’ body; Jesus himself is our head, our leader, our Shepherd, our Lord. He does not need to prove himself. The cross has put to rest any questions regarding his sincerity. The resurrection has put to rest any questions regarding his ability. Our faith-response to the gospel has put to rest any questions regarding our participation.
          While many of us have experienced the destructive effect of people working behind the scenes to divide the church, here is encouragement to consider the unifying, uplifting, encouraging, edifying blessings that come when we band together “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”[1]
          When you think of addressing problems in the church, holes that need to be filled, if you will, things where it appears that we are failing to minister to people as we ought, do you think primarily in terms of which individuals have holes in their ministries because they aren’t doing enough, or do you think in terms of how the body of Christ has holes in its ministry because not enough people are doing?
          What I mean is that, the congregation sometimes criticizes its leadership for not doing “enough”, treating unmet needs as failures on the part of the leaders to help people, when it is really that someone in the congregation should be doing what the leaders are not supposed to do.[2]
          What I mean is that, instead of thinking that any one person has a hole in his or her ministry, or a blind-spot they need to fix, or a weakness that must be overcome (while it may be true that such things must be addressed as well), perhaps we are really dealing with not enough members of the body contributing their place for the building up of the church. What if the lack we see is not lack in the person doing ministry, but the lack of persons doing ministry?
          Take sport’s teams as an example. Teams are designed with players taking on certain positions, and playing those positions the way they are designed, so that they rest of the team can count on them always being in that place, doing their part, the way their position demands. As each player plays his position, the whole team works together as a unit that accomplishes the aim of scoring more goals than the opponent scores.
          When there is a team that plays really well, but the goal keeper is lazy, doesn’t take care of his body, doesn’t get proper sleep or nutrition, keeps talking to fans during games, and so is not able to operate at highest ability, the team may lose games as a direct result of the goalie’s lack of contribution. The forwards may be scoring goals fully in keeping with their place on the team, and their level of skill, but the team still loses because too many goals are scored against.
          In North American football, a quarterback may be living up to the highest experience of his ability, and his place on the team, but his receivers will not play their positions, or they get into arguments with other players, or they get distracted by their fans, and so they are simply not where they should be when the quarterback throws the ball. The rest of the team can be playing their positions, blocking the other team’s efforts, and yet still fail to score touchdowns because the receivers are never where they should be. This is not a lack in the quarterback, or a hole in his ability, but something missing in the team because certain players are not doing their part. The whole team suffers holes in their team, so to speak.
          I remember in the early years of our home church ministry that we learned a lesson about this in a very practical way. Our initial group was experiencing a lot of interest from people in their community, and would have new people check us out almost every Sunday. There was a joyful enthusiasm in the group because we were all feeling very thankful for our experience of this work of God. Many were enjoying the change from showing up on a Sunday morning to run programs and carry out organizational duties, to learning to focus on fellowship as the body of Christ.
          In the midst of our growing pangs, I received an email from one of the group members indicating a complaint about our group. This person had noticed that, on the previous Sunday, while everyone was fellowshipping before or after the worship time, that all the regulars were “ignoring” a newcomer, and talking among themselves instead. The result was that this person writing the letter had to go and talk to the newcomer herself because no one else would do it. As the pastor, I was expected to correct the group so that everyone would respond to newcomers the way this group member saw the situation.
          While I do not remember the details of how we communicated about this, I do remember the way it sounded to me, and what I sought to teach at the time. Instead of considering this situation as an indication of the failure of the group as a whole to respond to newcomers, I saw it as a lesson for the person writing the complaint. What she saw was not a “hole” in the other members, or their failure to see what she saw. Rather, she was being confronted with the awareness of a need that was staring her in the face, and drawing her attention, because she was the part of the body that was to go and talk to the newcomer. When she went and talked to the newcomer, the whole body was involved. No more holes.
          I know we had to work this same lesson out in different scenarios, but it became a very important part of our church life. It taught people that, if any of us see a need staring us in the face, it may not be a fault with other members of the body, but the thing the Spirit is moving our part of the body to respond to by joining God in his work. If each of us would respond to the need that we see, we would discover that the hole we saw was our assignment, and our experience of joining God in his work in relation to that need filled the hole.
          I do not believe that any church will get these things perfectly. I just know that there is as much a pattern of every person playing their part in the church as there is in a sport’s team. As a pastor, I do see when there is a hole in our ministry because specific other people are not doing their part. This does need to be addressed as much as anything else.
          However, there are also times when the hole we see in our church’s ministry is standing out to us because we are the ones to fill it. And, while it may feel better to point out someone else’s failure to do their part than look in the mirror at our contribution, God has a way of confronting each of us first and foremost with how we ourselves are doing in the life of his body. If he can get each of us abiding in the vine, abiding in the Son of God in that real and personal way that is ours through the grace of God, he will have each of us where he wants us, doing what he has given us to do, and the whole body working together in a fruit-bearing kind of way simply because each person is right where the Lord wants us.
          It is like a symphony orchestra in which each person needs to play their part in time with the conductor. They do not need to think about whether anyone else has their instrument in tune, or will play their appointed notes at the appointed time. If the conductor can get every musician to tune to his fork, follow his lead, and do only what their part requires, they will create the most beautiful sounds of melody and harmony for the blessing of those who hear their music.
          So it is in the body of Christ. Everyone has a place. Every member of the body of Christ has a particular work of God going on in their hearts and lives today. If each part fully joins God in his work, responds to his divine appointments, prays according to his will, we will find the head of the body coordinating things that none of us could even think of.
          For my church family I present this assignment (perhaps you would like to try it as well): Throughout the course of today (or tomorrow if you are reading this late), write down each thing you feel “someone” in the church should do to make our church better than we are. Then, prayerfully ask God to show you your place in meeting these needs, or filling these holes. Let’s see what happens if we can get the majority of our body parts doing what our head directs each of us to do in ministry to one another. Let’s see if, when each of us fully does whatever we feel led by the Spirit to do, we get the feeling of vibrant joy and satisfaction in growing up in love, as each of us does our work.[3]
And 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, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so 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. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 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.[4]
                   
© 2014 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)





[1] Ephesians 4:3
[2] Acts 6:1-7 shows the apostles setting this example when they said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables” (vs 2). If “serving tables” was the hole, it was not the leaders who were to fill it. Instead, the congregation chose men to do this ministry so the leaders could devote themselves to leading.
[3] As an added challenge, think of this in terms of the body of Christ that is all believers in your community rather than only those who gather with you on a Sunday morning, or in your small group during the week.
[4] Ephesians 4:11-16.

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