January 18, 2007
Help Wanted
When the Apostles were having trouble keeping up with all the needs of the early church they parceled out the work load. While they concentrated on prayer and the ministry of the word of God, other disciples were chosen to ‘wait on tables’. One wouldn’t think that waiting on tables would require much in the area of credentials. After all, how hard could it be to distribute food to the widows? The job description however, required that those selected must have the reputation of being “full of the Spirit and wisdom” (Acts 6). Stephen, one of seven men selected was “a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit” and “full of God’s grace and power”. I sense there is no job in the church so small that it doesn’t require spiritually high standards.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Gail;
----The Bible presents the church as if it were a picture of the Lord for the World to see. That is good reason for a clean act by all. But equally important, the picture may well be painted in the setting of a lifeboat at the scene of a shipwreck. The safety of the ocean liner has already slipped below the surface. Now all that remains is a lifeboat with some in it, and many more still bobbing in the water. In the lifeboat are a few men struggling hard. A couple are calling to those in the water and throwing out life preservers attached to lines. But others in the boat are giving comfort and aid to those who previously were wise enough to take hold of a life preserver and be towed into the boat. Just because they are in the boat does not mean their peril is over, for the boat is still on the high sea, far from the safety of land.
----I have always turned to this mental image of the church, because it so describes her precarious situation. As long as everyone obeys the rules and ettiquette of being within a lifeboat, the chances that the boat will be overturned and all lost to the waves will be minimized. In as much as etiquette is observed by all, what meager comfort and support that can be had in those quarters can be maximized.
----So too with the church. As long as we all in the church practise obedience to the Word, the church will not disappear into the philosophies of man. And as long as we all allow the Spirit to work the Word's etiquette into our behavior, the church will indeed be effect in pulling in those who cling to its lines, as well as administering first aid to those who have already come.
Post a Comment