How to Church (5)
But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. 1 Corinthians 12.24, 25
Givers and receivers
The Church of our Lord Jesus Christ is the dwelling place of His Spirit (Eph. 2.19-22). The Spirit is at work in every local church, where, as we’ve seen, the Spirit is empowering every member to church according to the gifts and opportunities God provides (1 Cor. 12.7-11).
The power of the Spirit is the power of the Kingdom of God, power for surprising things, things greater and more wonderful than we’ve ever dared to ask or think, things wondrously in line with the will and pleasure of God, great and mighty things you can’t see anywhere else (1 Cor. 4.20; Eph. 3.20; Phil. 2.13; Jer. 33.3; Jn. 14.12).
Where we who are church members are churching as we should, therefore, a good many “spigots” are going to be open and flowing with the life-giving refreshment of Christ’s grace and power (Jn. 7.37-39). This is precisely what the Lord intends. Jesus Christ is building His Church as a collection of local communities where love for God and neighbor are evident and increasing through the faithful stewardship of each member.
We approach our work of churching by asking what we can give. But churching is a matter of receiving as well as of giving. None of us comes to a local church lacking nothing. And none of us should expect to church without, at the same time, knowing the life-giving power of God’s Spirit, flowing toward us through the churching efforts of our fellow believers.
Great expectations
What should we expect to receive as we church faithfully in the Body of Christ? In answering this we need to look to the Lord, to see what He has promised us, because if we’re expecting anything other than what God has promised, we’ll either be sadly disappointed or sinfully idolatrous.
Peter wrote that God holds out “precious and very great promises” to all who believe in Jesus, and that, by these promises, we may actually partake of the divine being (2 Pet. 1.4)! Imagine that! We take up our work of churching in a local congregation, and God promises that we can actually expect to enter into His Presence and glory. To participate in Him!
The promises of God may all be known in Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 1.20). Jesus dwells in each of us by His Spirit, Who is working to transform us increasingly into the very image of our Lord (2 Cor. 3.12-18). Each of us who believes, therefore, has something to offer our fellow believers and others of the grace, truth, love, and power of the Lord. And the way into this wholly transforming way of life is through the promises of the Lord. The more we seek these promises, as what we can expect to receive from the Lord, the more we will know the Presence and power of Christ within His Body.
So what are these promises?
The promises of God
Paul points us to the promises God made to Abraham as those which we should expect to realize (Rom. 4.13-25). Those promises are first offered in Genesis 12.1-3. These promises teach us what to expect from the Lord as we pursue the work of churching. Let me summarize them.
The promises of God fall into six categories. All the promises of Scripture can be arranged under one or another of these promises. God offers these promises to us in our Lord Jesus Christ, and He makes them real in our experience as our fellow believers minister His grace and truth to us.
Those six promises are the blessing and fellowship of God, a place and community with others, the ability to influence and affect others with the grace and truth of God and to serve as a channel of God’s blessing to others, protection and provision of all our needs, and to share in spreading the grace of God to all peoples. This is what God has in store for each of us in His Church. The Church is the Body of Christ, and the promises of God are in Christ and, therefore, in His Body. To be realized within His Body and from His Body to be extended to our world.
So as we take up our stewardship of churching, we should expect God to meet us by His Spirit, working in and through our fellow believers, to bless and grow us, fold us into His family and community, use us to bless others, provide for our needs, guard and guide us day by day, and engage us, together with our fellow church members, in reaching our community and the world for Christ and His Kingdom.
Do we expect God to do this with us? With our church? To make our church a place of joy and beauty in our community (Ps. 48), a mountain of glorious instruction to which people eagerly come (Mic. 4.1-8), and light to all the world of the grace and goodness of God (Matt. 5.13-16). And do we expect to play some role in these blessings reaching our community through our church?
We can. And we must.
Take these expectations with you into the work of churching and you’ll find that, the more you give for building up the Church, the more God Himself will meet you with His Presence and glory, exceeding abundantly beyond all that you’ve ever dared to ask or think!
For reflection or discussion
1. To whom do you expect to be a blessing today? What kind of blessing?
2. What does your church do to bring the blessings of God and His promises to your community?
3. What can you do to make sure you are realizing increasingly the promises of God?
Next steps—Conversation: Talk with a fellow believer today about the promises of God and how you expect to realize them more and more.
T. M. Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment to give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
A good supplement to this ongoing study on the Church is our free PDF book, Pray for Your Church. Download your copy from The Ailbe Bookstore by clicking here. Also, we encourage you to visit our ReThinking Church page, where you’ll see a variety of free resources to help you church.
This week: Our Read Moore podcast continues an extensive look at the Kingdom of God from our book, The Kingdom Turn. In our Crosfigell teaching letter, we are looking at the state of pastors and churches during the period of the Celtic Revival, using contemporary witnesses. And in our Scriptorium column we are studying the Gospel of Matthew. Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.
And please prayerfully consider supporting The Fellowship of Ailbe with your prayers and gifts. You can contribute online, via PayPal or Anedot, or by sending a gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, P. O. Box 8213, Essex, VT 05451.
Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
