September 16, 2014
Re-Purposing
My church leadership is
considering writing a purpose statement and I suspect the gist of the statement
will have something to do making disciples for Christ. Looking objectively at
the current church dynamic, we are an older demographic who encourages, supports
and ministers to others — but discipleship in not in the fore front of our
minds. I understand the purpose of a purpose statement. However, I have to
wonder if man’s efforts aren’t in some cases trying to re-purpose the body of
Christ. Paul can be speaking individually or collectively when he says, “But in
fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he
wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would
the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body” (1
Cor 12:18-20 NIV).
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Gail;
-----Thank you. I rarely hear anything about the true steerage of God’s people. Church leaders lust to steer the church around like an organization. In fact, they think of the church as an organization rather than a collection of people each having a personal and real relationship with Christ for Him to guide.
-----Do we sit at the breakfast table and direct all of our cells as to how they must each use the nutrition we’re sending their way? No. Our bodies would so quickly die if we tried to take conscious control of all its internal workings. Every part of our bodies, right down to and beyond the mitochondria and ribosome and DNA and the tiny tractor proteins which haul things around inside the cells and the proteins that come together to form the track ways on which they tote all perform their specific functions according to their particular nature, their own situations, and the chemical signals they receive from a variety of other body parts. All these body parts do not come together and run their activities down channels designated by a handful of other cells who call themselves elders and such. They just rightly do what they were made to do.
-----Of course, a good metaphor knows its own limitations. It is undeniable that God gave elders and such for the direction of the church. So we must turn off our inner lights of lust and greed for power and self expression when evaluating what is that direction they’ve been given as opposed to the direction they have taken. Their rule over the cells of the body is not to tell them what to do and how to do it, although sometimes organized efforts must be made like the effort to relieve the Jerusalem brethren from persecution created poverty. But that effort never became a definition of church. Nor is their rule to tell all the other cells what to think and how to think, although they were encumbered with the burden of guarding the true, discernable doctrines of the Word. By Peter’s command that elders lead by example and Paul’s command that they be spiritually mature and alive men, we can see their rule to be a mentorship. Their rule is a teaching of the new life into which they’ve matured and edifying the church unto its practice. And the rules for the church are to love and forgive and encourage and respect and honor and do good to all men, especially those of the household of faith. These are generalities which individual cells practice in specifics. Then by the specific guidance each cell receives from the Holy Spirit, the church gets its actual direction from Christ, who is its Head.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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