January 18, 2010
Safety Lesson
The other evening Bill was doing some work with his table saw when the board he was cutting kicked back, making a direct hit on the index finger of his right hand. There was a lot of blood, the fingernail was split both vertically and horizontally and his ego was terribly bruised and battered. It also doesn’t help that the monthly Woodworkers Guild meeting is coming up where the program includes a safety talk…no doubt he’ll make a very good object lesson. Talking more to himself than to me Bill said, “I knew better, I needed to be using a kick-back block…you can’t lose respect [for power tools] for an instant.’” Maybe that’s something we should be doing in the church…having spiritual safety talks. Who knows, I’m sure we could learn a thing or two from each other.
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Gail;
-----”Maybe that’s something we should be doing in the church...” It is interesting the church had not figured out this centuries ago. In my most early days of believing, I felt sheltered in the church. Of course, I understood the Lord was my shelter. But He never showed up physically to converse with me mouth to ear. I had stuff to learn, such as traps to avoid, skills to acquire, and understanding for the way things are and why. It was all important because the world which had previously ensnared me was not willingly relinquishing its grip or agreeably withdrawing its enticement. Since we must physically continue in the world until the Lord pulls us out, the danger of being drawn into its deep, dark spider holes of death and destruction ever remains. I just found it reasonable to consider church as being that physical place of spiritual shelter.
-----Why? It would be different if a child were born with a full mind of knowledge and understanding. “Hey Doc!” he might first say, “You slapped me down there cause you knew it would leave a mark where it could quickly be covered up! Since you knew it would leave a mark, why’d you slap me? Oh, hi mom! I’m going to lay down here and cry a minute over that mark, then I’ll want something to eat, so don’t get too relaxed.” But we’re not born that way. We are not even aware of having hands and feet when we are born. Everything has to be discovered, learned, and understood throughout the process of life. And we learn all this by interaction with our surroundings. It is not entirely different with our new birth and the godly character of the new life. Since there is little godliness in the world, the church becomes our learning environment. It is the place where those who are learning and have been learning the things of God make godly surroundings so our learning doesn‘t have to be done in the spider holes of street life. All the people in church, each in their own little ways, are being the mouths of the Lord.
-----There are two words Paul uses for the concept of “rule” in the church. The six times he refers to those who rule, he uses a compounding of the concepts “before” and “establish”. This “before” idea connotes both time and status. The connotations of the main part of the word range from bring or present, to continue and abide, to stand by and stand up, to establish and appoint. The other word he uses only once to insist women in the church must not rule over men. This word’s meaning is restricted to bringing out authority over another from one’s own self. By his choice of the first term - “before established” and “stand before” - for referring to the rule of the church leaders, I believe it is clear that their ruling proceeds from a higher degree of godly character development rather than just for the fact that somebody needs to run things. So those who learn well and much in the church naturally progress towards becoming leaders in the primary affairs of the church - the faithfulness, self-control, patience, goodness, gentleness, kindness, peace, joy, and love. These are the vital functions of the new life producing spiritual safety as well as good works. I believe their presence and common practice amongst the believers are the primary objectives of the elders rule.
So why don’t they do it? Why has their focus been so much upon doctrine, programs, service styles, church assets, and such? I think it is because this whole point about the new life being an acquired substance of character is as easy to overlook as is the use of a kick-back-block.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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