Imagine a Church
This past week we’ve witnessed one of the things that troubles me about the world in which we live. Fifty years ago if the pastor of a tiny church said he was going to burn copies of another religion’s core faith document virtually no one would have known about it outside of a few people in that community. In the 21st century, instantaneous 24/7 Internet, cell phone, YouTube, Twitter world – an irresponsible pastor of a tiny group is suddenly all over the Web, on the evening news and morning shows and sparking protests in countries halfway around the world. It also says something about the people engaging in the angry protests who either don’t have the wisdom and understanding to recognize what’s going on or if they do it makes their out of proportion response seem even worse. If a Muslim at a tiny mosque in rural Saudi Arabia announced he was going to burn the Bible, I would feel badly for him. I wouldn’t be protesting in the street, burning the Saudi flag and threatening to kill people. Sadly incidents like this inspire other attention-hungry extremists on both sides to get their moment in the media spotlight no matter how misguided their judgment, how dire the consequences of their ill-conceived actions might be or how bad it makes them look. To both Pastor Jones and the angry protestors I would say the same thing, “Grow up.”
September 12, 2010: Ephesians 4:11-16 Imagine A Church
Douglas Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church
Jesus called his followers to be peacemakers, and to love and pray for not only our neighbors, but also our enemies; I can’t imagine being a part of a church that sows hate, fear, conflict and division. That is not what Paul says pastors and the church should be about. Listen to Ephesians 4:11-16,
“The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. 14 We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. 15 But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.”
I think there is a progression here that is important for us to understand. It can be understood negatively in terms of results. A church will not be built up in love unless it is unified, a church won’t have a sense of unity unless all the people in it are committed to growing up – to seriously trying to mature to the full measure of Christ. This passage in Ephesians 4 states that we need to Grow Up in Christ so we can be Unified as we Build Up in love the Body of Christ which is the church.
Listen to the words and phrases in this scripture: building up the body of Christ, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. We must no longer be children, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.”
We know what it means to grow physically. Many of us have marks on a wall or a door frame where we’ve charted the physical growth of children’s height. That is easy to see, easy to measure, and the growth or change is obvious. “Three years ago I was here on the wall and now I’m here.” We also know it is natural for children to grow for a certain amount of years and eventually they stop getting taller. People don’t keep growing taller forever and we mark our children’s growth in other ways that involve their character, their minds, their choices and their ability to handle responsibility and relationships.
When it comes to growing spiritually, we are not to be infants or children forever. We are to grow up. We’re to mature so we reach what Paul calls the full stature of Christ. When we’re growing physically we often want to stand next to a parent, grandparent, or sibling to measure ourselves and our progress against them. Ephesians 4 is encouraging us to stand ourselves up next to Jesus and his character – his love, his selflessness, his humility, service, faith, courage, and generosity and see how much room we still have to grow to reach the full stature of Christ. As you stand next to Christ how tall or short do you feel? Are you comfortable that you’ve reached the full stature of Christ or do you feel that you’re still looking up and have room to grow?
We grow up in Christ by engaging in the same kind of practices that he did and by sharing his priorities. If you’re looking up at Jesus and have room to grow we want to help. For the next six weeks we’re going to be talking in worship and Bible Study about discovering and using our spiritual gifts to glorify God and build up or help other people. Paul says in Ephesians 4 that God gives people different gifts but largely for the same purpose – “for building up the body of Christ.” Some are apostles who start and lead new ministries and faith ventures. Some are prophets who tell the truth in clear and vivid ways about what God is doing and where God’s people need to confess, change, or move to be faithful. Some are evangelists whose primary gift is telling the story of God’s love and leading others to begin a personal relationship with Jesus in community with other disciples in a local church. Some of us are called to be pastor-teachers “to equip the saints for the work of ministry.”
The work of the ministry begins first of all with who we are. We all have gifts to share and use and we are to use them to encourage and build up others.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882) was a well known 19th century English poet, illustrator, painter and translator. Once he was approached by an elderly man. The old fellow had some sketches and drawings that he wanted Rossetti to look at and tell him if they were any good, or if they at least showed potential talent. Rossetti looked them over carefully. After the first few, he knew that they were worthless, showing not the least sign of artistic talent. Rosetti was a kind man and he told the elderly man as gently as possible that the pictures were without much value and showed little talent. He said he was sorry, but he could not lie to the man.
The visitor was disappointed, but seemed to expect Rossetti’s answer. He then apologized for taking up Rossetti’s time, but would he just look at a few more drawings – these done by a young art student? Rossetti looked over the second batch of sketches and immediately became enthusiastic over the talent they revealed. “These,” he said, “oh, these are good. This young student has great talent. He should be given every help and encouragement in his career as an artist. He has a great future if he will work hard and stick to it.” Rossetti could see the old fellow was deeply moved. “Who is this fine young artist?” he asked. “Your son?” “No,” said the old man sadly. “It is me forty years ago. If only I had heard your praise then! I got discouraged and gave up – too soon.”
I often wonder what a difference our encouragement can make in the lives of other people to build them up and give them hope and determination. Without our even realizing it, our encouragement may be the difference in someone not giving up too soon. It is also a fact that encouragement tends to create and strengthen unity while negativity and a lack of praise tears people down, harms unity and can create space or distance between us and others.
Rev. Martin E. Pike Jr tells a story about himself: “Three minutes had elapsed since I had taken my seat at the counter. Waitresses passed by me; two cooks and a busboy took no notice of my presence. My ego was soothed only because the truck driver next to me was ignored as well.
“Maybe this counter is off limits,” I said to him.
“Maybe they are short of help.” He responded.
“Maybe they don’t want our business,” I said.
“Maybe they are taking care of those tables,” was his reply. The hands on the clock continued to move.
“Maybe they don’t like us,” I insisted.
“The air conditioning feels so good I don’t mind waiting,” he said.
At this point a harried waitress stopped to tell us that the water had been cut off, and the dishwasher was not functioning. My nameless companion smiled and thanked the waitress and left. I did not like him. Three times I had sought his support for my obnoxious attitude, but he had let me down. Only later did I realize that he had chosen to practice what I preach.” The truck driver was building up, the pastor was tearing down.
The final part of today’s passage from Ephesians 4 says, “joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.” The key here is that we are joined and knit together as each of us works properly to promote the body’s growth. We each have a part to play and we’ve been given different gifts and abilities to do it. The human body has lots of different parts that look very different with important roles and functions. Much like a football team has very different types of men playing different positions. A defensive lineman looks quite different from a field goal kicker; a quarterback is built differently from an offensive lineman. A punter looks nothing like a middle linebacker. In a church as in a family – we may look different, but we all have a part to play in building up our family and building up the church. We shouldn’t expect everyone to have the same strengths, rather we are to complement and care for one another.
From 1960 to 1968 one of the most popular shows on American television was The Andy Griffith Show. In it Andy Griffith portrays a widowed sheriff in a fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina. In one early program following the death of his wife, Sheriff Andy Taylor decides to invite his spinster Aunt Bee to come live with his young son Opie (played by Ron Howard) and him, thinking she would add the missing feminine touch. Surprisingly, Opie is not too pleased for Aunt Bee to come in and try to “replace” his mother. Andy tries to help the situation by inviting Aunt Bee to go fishing and frog-catching with them so Opie can become attached to her. Instead, she fails miserably at fishing, frogging, and later football.
Finally, late at night, after Opie is in bed, Aunt Bee talks Andy into taking her to the bus station. Opie hears her crying beneath his bedroom window and guesses that she is leaving. He runs down the stairs and out to his father’s truck saying, “We can’t let her go, Pa, she needs us. She can’t even catch frogs, take fish off the hook, or throw a football. We’ve got to take care of her or she’ll never make it!”
Whether we’re a little child like Opie or an older grown up like Aunt Bee, we all make choices everyday – Am I glorifying God today, in this moment, in this conversation, in this relationship? Or am I grieving God?
Am I building up others today, in this moment, in this conversation, in this relationship? Or am I discouraging them? We need to Grow Up in Christ so we can be Unified as we Build Up in love the Body of Christ which is the church.
We know we have reached a level of spiritual maturity when we stop asking, “Who’s going to meet my needs? Who’s going to serve me? Who is going to encourage and appreciate me?”” and start asking, “Whose needs can I meet? Who can I serve? Who can I encourage and express appreciation to today?”” Mature believers are more concerned about serving, reaching out, and encouraging and building up than about our own convenience and comfort. As we grow as disciples our attitude starts to shift from, “I’m looking for a church that meets my needs and blesses me,” to “I’m looking for a church where I can serve and be a blessing as part of the Body of Christ.”
Imagine being part of a church like that.
Galatians 5:13-14,
13 For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. 14 For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”