Look before you cut someone off

I was driving while talking to my wife on the phone. I was looking for an exit and didn't realize it was backed up for a mile. Having passed the end of the line, I looked for a gap and slid over into the line to exit. My wife on the phone said "someone in a truck with a Texas A&M sticker just cut me off..."

Check the details

When I told my mom, a United Methodist deacon, this story, all she said was "Always double check the details."

At church this morning there was a baptism. The pastor was holding the baby and said his normal words to the parents and congregation. Then, while placing his hand in the bowl of water in the baptismal font, said, "I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost... HEY! I have a problem! I don't have any water!" He held up the empty bowl to show. An elder quickly jumped up and grabbed the glass of water from the pulpit and provided it to the pastor. The pastor apologized and continued on.

I thought it was pretty funny.

God smells

Psalm 145:8-9 tells us "The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made." Let's hope his mercy is over even the children.

My children normally do a simple prayer at dinner to the tune of Frere Jacques that goes "God our Father, God our Father, We thank You, We thank You, For our many blessings, For our many blessings, Amen, Amen."

The other night my 3 year old sang "God our Father, God our Father, We thank You, We thank You, You smell like a donkey, You smell like a donkey, Happy birthday to You, Happy birthday to You."

Halloween

Today at church during the sermon, our pastor made mention of Halloween. He mentioned that some churches have fall festivals or other alternative activities. He said that because of this, many of our neighbors walk by our empty, dark houses while they are trick or treating.

He said this wasn't appropriate. We as Christians are called to interact with our neighbors, even those who are not Christians. We are called to be in the world. We are not to be holed up in a Christian castle avoiding all other people.

He said that we should participate in our society's trick or treating tradition. He said giving out tracts would ensure noone would come by. He instead recommended giving out the best candy on the street so that all your neighbors will come by and you can meet them. By doing this, we can meet our neighbors and develop relationships to enable us to share the gospel.

Our society treats Halloween as a time for children to dress us in costumes and go get candy. This is nothing that a Christian should fear. But I'm not going to give out full size candy bars. That's too much money. I'll stick with the fun size snickers bars.

Basic Theology

I enjoy theology. I enjoy debating the merits of different theological perspectives. Calvinism vs Armenianism, covenant vs dispensational, pipe organs vs guitars.

Theology is good for us. It is studying our God and knowing more about it. It involves spending time in the Word, in prayer, and in studying who God is and what he has done, is doing, and will do. It is good for us. But at the end, I am willing to let it all go for nothing but Jesus Christ and his death for my sins.

I cling to this as my most basic theology. It is the foundation everything else is built upon. The house may burn, but if the sure foundation of Jesus and his death will remain, I am safe.

I once was discussing creation with someone who strongly subscribed to 6 day creation. Their argument was that if you didn't take the creation literally, you believed that death came before sin, and therefore their is no need for a savior. Now I could come up with arguments of how the effects of sin could be felt before sin, since the effects of Jesus' death were felt before his death in the saving of the faithful before ~33AD, however, a stronger argument is found in what if you are wrong? In this perspective, if one wrong on creation, then their entire faith collapses.

In theology, one should be OK with being wrong in things. We are dealing with things beyond our human understanding. Jesus told Nicodemus, "Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?" When looking at theology, we are dealing with God himself, the alpha and omega. Our theology may be wrong in some areas. Be OK with that, because you placed your hope, your salvation, your all, on the death of Jesus and not the beliefs of man.

Why we should love our neighbor

When asked the greatest commandment, Jesus responds with two, saying they are similar. Jesus said to his questioner, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Jesus quotes both of the commandments from the old testament. The first quote is the Shema Yisrael. "Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might." The second is from Leviticus. "You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord."

So as Christians, little Christs, we are called to love our neighbor. Therefore, we love our neighbor because God tells us too. That's a pretty good reason, but as humans, we aren't good at doing what we should just because we are told too.

John gives us an interesting justification for loving others. " We love because he first loved us." We love our neighbor as Christ loves us only because God loved us first and moved us by the Holy Spirit so that we could love as Christ loves.

But even deeper than that, there is an intrinsic reason for loving other humans and valuing them, no matter who they are. They too, were created in the image of God.

Moses records in Genesis 1:26-27, "Then God said, 'Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.' So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them."

The word image in Hebrew is tselem, meaning image, likeness (of resemblance).

A key in the Genesis 1 passage is that humankind is made in the image of God, not just Christians or Jews, or specific individuals, but all humans. Regardless of who the individual is, they are made in the image, the likeness, of God. They have a resemblance of the creator of the universe.

This gives the individual value. To be made in the image of the creator places value on the creation.

For the Christian, this is the starting point of dealing with any other human being. No matter who they are, you are dealing with someone who was made in the image of God. That makes loving them the default option.

Love your neighbor, they too are made in the image of God.

Is your gospel enough?

Andrew White is the Vicar of Baghdad, the pastor of St. George’s Church in Baghdad. He has multiple sclerosis. He is in Iraq seeking to make peace through love. He is currently working with refugees from the ISIS occupation.

Says he has been "hijacked, kidnapped, locked up in rooms with bits of finger and toe and things." He has "been held at gunpoint, been attacked – the usual thing."

Follow is a little more about him from a bio sheet.

Now he experienced faith under fire but most of all, love. His church has been seriously damaged by bombs and rockets. He has soldiers and 35 security people around him, he wears body armour to church as it is outside the green zone. He has seen many of his congregation killed and kidnapped. The children suffer terrible loss, injury and devastation. He sometimes has to leave because of threats to his life. He has been kidnapped. However he knows that most people in Iraq have no choice but to stay. Rich and powerful have left. The poor have to stay. This life can only be endured with love. He and his congregation love the Lord and each other. He says ‘we knew that Jesus was all we needed when Jesus was all we had left’.

Does your gospel give you the strength to endure that? If not, you need a better gospel.

Have mercy on me, again

In the gospel of Luke, a story told by Jesus is recorded.

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

I appreciate the tax collector. Some days, that's all I feel I can say to my God. Though I am a new life in him, some days I feel the only thing I can say is have mercy on me, Lord, for I am a sinner.

Jesus said he went home justified. But I doubt he came back day after day to the temple saying "thanks for having mercy on me, unlike that guy." I bet when he came back, he continued to say, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" And every time I bet Jesus said to those around him "this man went down to his home justified."

There is hope for even us sinners. Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am a sinner.

The Big Sur

We lived on the Monterey Peninsula. On the south side of the peninsula is Carmel. South of Carmel is the Big Sur.



We spent a lot of time in Big Sur. I'll attempt to capture our favorite parts.

Camping
We've gone camping in the Big Sur a few times. Our favorite place is along the water at Kirk Creek.

Kirk Creek Campground is a National Forest campground, but is run by a private contractor.

They do take reservations; however, half of the sites they leave for first-come first-serve.

We arrived on a Tuesday in the summer about 9:30AM. A first drive through didn't reveal any open sites, so we decided to make a stop down in Gorda at the store to pick-up a few supplies. Returning about 10:15 found an open spot.

The Kirk Creek campground does not have running water, so make sure you are prepared for that. You can get water from another campground just a few miles south near Sand Dollar Beach.

The great thing about Kirk Creek is every campsite over looks the ocean.

Beach below Kirk Creek campground

Beach below Kirk Creek campground

Kirk Creek Campground

Sunset from our site at Kirk Creek Campground

Our second favorite campground is Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. It is located in a red wood stand along the river. Kids enjoyed playing in the river. They also have ranger programs, so we hit up the morning junior ranger program for story time and arts and crafts.

We've camped at Limekiln SP, It is under a bridge and is real narrow. The sites are pretty close together as well. Since we had all our kids, they were able to play with lots of other kids.

There is also camping in the mountains. I've only stayed at the Boy Scout camp, Camp Pico Blanco.

Beaches
Most people like Pfeiffer Beach. Most of the time, it was cold and windy. Not my favorite beach. But it does have an arch and purple sand.

It is tricky to find the first time. It is located 2 miles down a one lane road. To find the road, drive south on CA 1 past the Big Sur Ranger Station. Sycamore Canyon Road is on the right, the sharp turn. If you reach the post office, you've gone too far.

Arch at Pfeiffer Beach

My favorite beach is Sand Dollar Beach. It is day use only. Like most beaches here, there is a steep dropoff to the beach, but it is worth it. There is a cave on the north end of the beach. There is also a sign about the whale migration that marks the location of the USSR.

Trail to the beach 

Trail to the beach

Sand Dollar Beach

If we wanted to go to the beach without the long drive, Garrapata SP has a good beach. It isn't marked on the highway, but look for gate 17 or 18. Park on the shoulder of the highway and follow the trail down to the beach.


Always be on the lookout for waves. Sneaker waves can come up on the beach and turn what looked like a great beach spot into the ocean. We've been on the receiving end of one of those and got lucky, but it could have been disastrous.


Food
There are several nice restaurants in Big Sur. I've never eaten at them! I've only eaten at one place down there.

The River Inn is located in the village of Big Sur on the Big Sur River. There is a restaurant there with great food. There is also a gas station (you pay a premium for gas in Big Sur) and a bus that sells ice cream. Behind the inn is a great grassy yard on the river. Kids love to play in that yard and play in the river. There is also a general store with a good selection of supplies and wine.


Other
Wildlife is abundant, but you sometimes have to look for it. Whales while driving were a common site. Keep an eye open for their spout. Deer are common. I did see a California Condor once. It was just below the road and when it took off, its wingspan was larger than a car. I did see its yellow tags, but couldn't make out the number.

There are lots of trails in Big Sur, as much of it is the Los Padres National Forest. One trail I did was the Rocky Ridge and Soberanes Canyon loop. A tough trail that starts along a creek, goes through red woods, then peaks out on a mountain overlooking the Pacific.

The coolest place in Big Sur is Julia Pfeiffer Burns SP. They have a waterfall that drops into the ocean. There is a parking lot, but you have to pay for it. Park along the edge of the highway and follow the trail to the observation area.

Cove at Julia Pfeiffer Burns

McWay Waterfall

McWay Waterfall

McWay Waterfall

The Bixby Bridge is a well known Big Sur landmark. There is a pullout on the north side of it for viewing.

Bixby Creek Bridge

Because parking on the highway is free, you will see lots of cars parked around the state parks. There are also a lot of bicyclists. The road is narrow and the shoulder lacking in most places. Be mindful of them.

To God be the glory

Today's Psalm reading from the Revised Common Lectionary is Psalm 130.

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.

    Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
    to the voice of my supplications!

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
    Lord, who could stand?

But there is forgiveness with you,
    so that you may be revered.

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
    and in his word I hope;

my soul waits for the Lord
    more than those who watch for the morning,
    more than those who watch for the morning.

O Israel, hope in the Lord!
    For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
    and with him is great power to redeem.

It is he who will redeem Israel
    from all its iniquities.

What stands out to me most from this passage is But there is forgiveness with you,
    so that you may be revered. That we are forgiven by God, so that honor and glory shall be his.


It reminds me of the Fanny Crosby hymn, to God be the Glory.




The first verse and refrain of the hymn are:

To God be the glory, great things he hath done! 
So loved he the world that he gave us his Son,
who yielded his life an atonement for sin, 
and opened the lifegate that all may go in. 

Refrain: 
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, 
let the earth hear his voice! 
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, 
let the people rejoice! 
O come to the Father thru Jesus the Son, 
and give him the glory, great things he hath done!

Ms. Crosby beautifully captures the idea of the greatest thing God has done for us is redeeming us by the death of Jesus and that our response is to come to him and give him praise and glory.


Do we use our forgiveness as a way of showing the world God's greatness? Do we turn back to God when he forgave us in a way that demonstrates to the world how great and wonderful God is? Or do we live our life in a way to seeks to bring glory and honor to us because we claim to be in Christ?

Two men went to the temple to pray. One prayed, Thank God I am not like that sinner. The other, God, grant me mercy for I am a sinner. Jesus said only one of those two people went home justified. One sought forgiveness to give him glory. The other saw only the glory of God.

A childhood dream realized

Growing up as a kid in the 1980's, the space shuttle program was the basis for my dreams of space exploration. I would watch launches on television, had a Commodore 64 game, Project Space Station, where you ran the space program, and was a member of the Young Astronauts at school.

I always wanted to go to Florida to watch a launch. The closest I got was in November of 2009, watching Space Shuttle Atlantis, STS-129, launch from Kennedy while I was on an airplane at 37,000 feet off the west coast of Florida on a flight from Atlanta to Key West.

Now that the program is over, what is there for kids to dream about? I have taken my kids to see two of the shuttles on display, but I think I'm much more excited about them than they are.

We saw Endeavour in Los Angeles at the California Science Center in summer of 2014.

 

Yesterday, we saw Discovery at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

While I would certainly go see Enterprise if in New York, let's face it, she is a wanna-be space shuttle. Therefore, I consider my childhood complete in having seen the remaining 3 of the 5 orbiters to have gone into space.

Look it up

Today in church we sang a new song, Come, Behold the Wondrous Mystery.



I don't know how new it is, but it was new for me at least.

The first verse includes the lines: Look to Christ who condescended, took on flesh to ransom us.

That sounded bad to me. In context, I could tell the line meant to look towards Christ who came down from Heaven to be man to die for us. But I had always heard the word condescended in a bad term, like someone in a higher position talking down to you because of your lower position.

Turns out there is more than one definition in the dictionary.

The third definition of condescended reads

to put aside one's dignity or superiority voluntarily and assume equality with one regarded as inferior

That makes a lot more sense.

Even if you don't know what it is, avoid it

Pastor at my church yesterday read from Isaiah 30 as part of his sermon. Verse 6 reads 

An oracle on the beasts of the Negeb.

Through a land of trouble and anguish,    from where come the lioness and the lion,    the adder and the flying fiery serpent,they carry their riches on the backs of donkeys,    and their treasures on the humps of camels,    to a people that cannot profit them.

 I asked him after the service what the flying fiery serpent was. He said, "I don't know, but I sure don't want to meet it."

Elder Qualifications, not just for Elders

In Titus 1:5-9, the apostle Paul instructs Titus to establish elders for the churches in Crete.

5 The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you. 6 An elder must be blameless,faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. 7 Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. 8 Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good,who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. 9 He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. 

Titus 1:5-9 (ESV)

This passage gives us characteristics that Titus should look for in someone who he might consider for the office of elder.

But these characteristics seem familiar.

In Galatians 5:16-26, we find that Paul gives acts of the flesh and acts of the Spirit, which seem very similar.

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy,[a] drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with itspassions and desires.25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Galatians 5:16-26 (ESV)

So the characteristics of an elder in the church are the characteristics of one who lives by the Spirit.

So when you are reading your Bible and come across qualifications of an elder, don't skip it because you aren't an elder or do not desire leadership. Read it, study it, for these qualifications are characteristics we should all strive for as we live life in the Spirit.

What's the point of Christianity?

If one was to ask a group of people what the point of Christianity was they might receive the following responses:

• To get to heaven
• To live a good life
• To be good
• Jesus
• The gospel
• To be saved
• To tell others

The number of answers may be as many as the number of people asked. I think the point of Christianity is to love God and love your neighbor.

This is different than the gospel. The gospel is the good news of Christianity, it's primary message. That message is the Jesus died for sinners. The news that by faith in Jesus, we can be forgiven by God for our sins. But that isn't the end of Christianity.

The response to get to heaven seems to be the end state of Christianity, that we go to heaven when we die. However, getting to heaven is only the beginning of eternity, which is a long, long time. Further, we don't live there yet, at least I don't at this moment. I live on earth, as a Christian, and I think my faith is more than just waiting around to die.

Since we have heard the gospel and received God's grace through faith in Christ, we are changed. Jesus refers to this as a new birth when he is talking to Nicodemus. 

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

“How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

John 3:1-8

So now that we are born again, now what?

I have always felt the Bible taught two things, how to become a Christian and what to do now that you are a Christian. How to become a Christian, that's the gospel. What to do now that you are a Christian, that's how to live in this new life.

So what is the point of Christianity? What are we to do now that we are Christians and have a new life? Love.

Jesus sums it up nicely for us.

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22:36-40

What is the point of Christianity? To love. To love God and to love your neighbor. But it sure is hard to do sometimes.

Living in Community in the Church

In Sunday school, we are going through Thom Rainer's I am a Church Member. The concept behind the book began with a blog post. The book is a short read, about 80 pages, broken into 6 chapters. We are covering a chapter a week. This week I was asked if I would teach on Chapter 1 of the book. Following are my thoughts.

This past week there was a protester in front of my house. She was holding a Japanese flag and sign saying “Fukushima is here”. Seeing as she was in front of my house, I went out to talk to her. Her main concern was raising awareness of radiated water from the nuclear power plant coming our direction. I asked what her solution was and she said we needed to gather as a community at the bay and sing songs and our metaphysical forces combined will cleanse the water.

When I told some people about her, they mentioned that it sounds like Rick Perry asking for people to pray to end the drought in Texas. Perhaps.

There are some important concept she knows and acknowledges. There are supernatural forces at work in our world and together we can accomplish more than alone. However, there is a stark difference between her beliefs and the beliefs shared by Rick Perry and myself, the source of the supernatural power. God is the source, not our combined conscience.

Over the next 6 weeks in Sunday school, we are going to be talking about working together in community and how together we can have a great impact on our community for God.

I am a Church Member is written by Thom Rainer. He is currently the President and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources. LifeWay is a Christian resource provider and an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention. He is a Pastor and has served at many churches throughout the SBC.

I think a great summary of the book is found in the subtitle, Discovering the attitude that makes the difference. What attitude should we as church members have in order for our church to best function?

The book is broken into six topics.

• I Will Be a Functioning Member
• I Will Be a Unifying Church Member
• I Will Not Let the Church Be About My Preferences and Desires
• I Will Pray for My Church Leaders
• I Will Lead My Family to Be Healthy Church Members
• I Will Treasure Church Membership as a Gift

Today we will focus on I Will Be a Functioning Member. But first, I think it is important we establish a few working definitions of What is the church and What is a church member

So what is the church? Our word church comes from the Greek word Ekklesia. Using Strong's concordance, we find the following definitions.

• a gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place, an assembly
• an assembly of the people convened at the public place of the council for the purpose of deliberating
• the assembly of the Israelites
• any gathering or throng of men assembled by chance, tumultuously
• in a Christian sense
• an assembly of Christians gathered for worship in a religious meeting
• a company of Christian, or of those who, hoping for eternal salvation through Jesus Christ, observe their own religious rites, hold their own religious meetings, and manage their own affairs, according to regulations prescribed for the body for order's sake
• those who anywhere, in a city, village, constitute such a company and are united into one body
• the whole body of Christians scattered throughout the earth
• the assembly of faithful Christians already dead and received into heaven

I bring up all of these definitions to show that the church has always been defined as a group of people, not a physical place.

If reminds me of the old hymn, I am the Church.

The church is not a building;

the church is not a steeple;

the church is not a resting place;

the church is a people.

I am the church! You are the church!

We are the church together!

All who follow Jesus,

all around the world!

Yes, we're the church together!

The Church is the body of Christ. 

If the church is a group of people, who are the people that make up the church? They are the members of the body of Christ. We who are Christians are all members of the Church. This is not restricted by physical location, denomination, country, language, worship style, how often one joins together.

Then what is the local church? Local Christians, a subset of the larger body, who are brought together by physical location, for the purpose of carrying out the mission of the body of Christ. 

What is it to be a member of a local church? It is important for administrative concerns. In our local church, it is important for voting on things like our budget or holding certain leadership offices in the church. It is not important in us worshiping together, partaking in the Lord’s Supper, or even being active in ministry in and through this local church. We have many very active people in our church who are not members of this local church.

For this study, a think a good church member working definition we can use is Members of the body of Christ, that is Christians, who join together for the purpose of glorifying God through faith, worship, love, and works. Given we are gathered together as a local church, we want to focus on the members of the Church who join together with their main physical gathering place in this building.

We’ve established some basics of what is the church and what is a member. The church is the collection of Christians who are members of the body of Christ. Let us now consider our text for today.

1 Corinthians 12: 12-31

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed 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.

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.

Our society has various clubs where we are members. Some such clubs include country clubs, civic organizations, churches, political organizations, aquariums, travel clubs (AAA), professional organizations. I think we can break these clubs into two categories. Groups we are members of for the benefits and groups we are members of for service.

Regarding groups we are members of for the benefits. These would be things like travel clubs where being a member gets you benefits like free maps, roadside assistance, and trip planning help. I have been a member of groups strictly for the benefits. When I was a school teacher, I was a member of a teaching association for the insurance they provided as a benefit. I am a member of the local aquarium because it is cheaper than paying the entrance fee. I do nothing with these other than pay my annual dues and receive the benefits.

We also have groups we are members to join together for a purpose. My father in law is a member of a civic organization. His club is a group of people who come together with a purpose of helping the local community.

In the book, Rainer says many people in the church treat it like a country club. Now, I’ve never been a member of a country club. The closest I've come is the Travis Tritt song I’m a member of a country club, country music is what I love. I did date a girl who was a member. Her dad told me to take her to dinner and put it on his tab. We went and ate dinner and I ended up getting sick at the table. That's about my entire involvement with a country club. For our discussion, let’s compare it to placing it in the first category, we are a member for the benefits. I am a member of the church so that the pastor will teach me. I am a member of the church so that the youth group will teach my children. Or for a mayor in a town I use to live in, I am a member of the church so the local community will vote for me. He only attended the month prior to the election and he attended both services.

That is not why we are a church. So what does it mean to be a member of the church in order to join together for a purpose? First, we must acknowledge the other members in our church. We are in Community. Paul talks about this when he wrote The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 

A local missionary with Military Cru often says the Bible is about relationship. Relationship between God and man, man and God, and man and man. If the church is a community, we are concerned with relationship between man and man to create and enhance relationships between God and man.

Ross King has a song titled Community I've written about before. It is a simple song, but a great message. A few lines from it are:

Teach us to be community Jesus, teach us to be community, unify our hearts as one. 

One church, one family, sharing their all, to each as they need, one goal, one purpose, glory to God in this we agree. 

One part suffers, all parts suffer together, one part honored, all parts rejoice.

We are all different people, from different backgrounds, we don’t agree on everything, but we are unified in Christ. The diversity is good for the body

However, we must acknowledge that we are not only in a community, but that we are connected and affected by each other. When one body part gets sick, the entire body must be treated. We must take care of each other. 

When our worship pastor shared his vision for the church, he used the example of his time in the Army. As those of us in the military have seen, we know our Sailors will take care of each other when there is a need. When I am on deployment, I know that my wife and family will be taken care of. I know not only would she be called weekly, but if she needed something, people would drop everything to come help, even in the middle of the night. I know because it has happened. When one of my Sailors was in need, his fellow Sailors and his leaders will take care of him. This can range from issues in the military to issues with his credit card or his land-lord. We depend on each other and help each other. It is a great model for the church.

We do well to pray and care for each other when we have needs, but let us not neglect to rejoice together with our praises. Our deaconesses do a great job of this. Anytime someone is in need they organize meals. They send out birthday cards to everyone. Their birthday card was the only card that came on time besides my wife and children. Thank you to all the deaconesses. 

I was once asked three questions by a pastor. Where are you in your walk with Jesus? What do you suffer with? What can the church do for you? These are good questions and we should all ponder them, but lets rephrase the third question like John F Kennedy. Ask not what the church can do for you but what you can do for your church!

To do that, we need to be a functioning member.

What does it mean to be a functioning member? Let's look at what it means to not be functioning. If a body part gets gangrene, what must happen? It must be cut it off or the rest dies. It doesn't affect just itself, but the entire body.

So what are the different parts of the body of Christ? As parts of the body of Christ, we each have a role. What is your role? What are the gifts God has given you to use? Paul mentions spiritual gifts in several of his letters, this is just a short list: Pastor, Leadership, Teaching, Administration, Evangelism, Exhortation, Giving, Faith, Discerning, and Mercy. Beyond these spiritual gifts, God has blessed each of us with practical gifts, our abilities, to carry out our spiritual gifts. Paul writes in Romans 12, not all have the same gifts, but whatever your gift is, do it.

I am reminded of the Public Service Announcement “Anyone can be a father, but it takes a man to be a dad?" What’s the difference? Involvement. This same is for the church. Anyone can go to church, but it takes a Christian to be a church member. We need Sunday morning teaching, we need to be spiritually feed, we will need to be ministered to, but we also need to minister to others in whatever way God equips us to.

How do we carry this out? What allows us to rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn? (Romans 12:15). Love. How do we define love? 1st Corinthians 13 is the best definition of Christian love. Without love for others, we cannot minister to them. We cannot have a relationship without love. And we cannot love except for God loving us first. 

Throughout the book, Rainer gives six pledges. This is the first Pledge. I like the metaphor of membership. It’s not membership as in a civic organization or a country club. It’s the kind of membership given to us in 1 Corinthians 12: “Now you are the body of Christ and individual members of it” (I Corinthians 12:27). Because I am a member of the body of Christ, I must be a functioning member, whether I am an “eye,” an “ear,” or a “hand.” As a functioning member, I will give. I will serve. I will minister. I will evangelize. I will study. I will seek to be a blessing to others. I will remember that “if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it” (1 Corinthians 12:26).

We all have a role. We must listen to the spirit to know our gifts and know how to employ it. We are to use our role in the church. Our church is a community and we must care for each other and celebrate with each other. Our church extends beyond these walls to all Christians world wide. But first, we must love. Without love, we are nothing. Love God, Love your neighbor, Be a functioning member.