The Christian Ear is a forum for discussing and listening to the voice of today's church. The Lord spoke to churches,“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Rev 2&3
January 16, 2009
Parts is Parts
I just read a thought provoking illustration: “One’s watch works only when all the parts designed in it are left inside the watch. We have no problem using Ford parts in a Ford and Chevrolet parts in a Chevy….” I think today’s church is often guilty of tinkering with the parts. We ignore Scripture that makes us uncomfortable, we tolerate teachings from other religions and we try to make the Word of God politically correct….to name a few. Just like a watch, without all the parts it’s no wonder we can’t always keep time.
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----Great illustration! I have never had a watch sit on my wrist and tinker with its own parts. When something has to be changed, I do the tinkering. And I tinker only with the parts that need to be changed (at my skill level, only the battery.) Church leaders have failed to understand they are merely gears in the same watch with all the rest of the gears. Because they have somewhat more responsibility than do many other gears does not give them tinkering rights to the entire watch. It is the Holy Spirit who shapes each gear into what it needs to be so the watch will run.
-----And maybe the preacher is like the winding stem, so that by turning him the Spirit can reset the watch. But that is only one function specific to one part. That function does not make him a tool for taking the watch apart and reassembling it in a different manner to run in a different direction. It does not make him the channel for changing the atmosphere inside the watch, the principles by which the watch runs, nor the interrelationships all the other parts have to one another. The Holy Spirit simply imparts to him a force that has its specific effect upon the rest of the watch.
-----And the Holy Spirit always acts in accordance with the Word of God. By looking into the Word a person can tell if another person might not be acting in the Spirit. If his actions do not match the principles of the Bible, the forces behind them are all not the Spirit’s (Not that that in itself makes him expendable). Only when each member of the body performs his own God granted function while being sober and watchful for scam forces flowing through the system will the church function as simply and effectively as a watch.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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