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Some thoughts about why the Church is Here….
Devotional/Discussion THought of the Day:
10 For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. 11 For the scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, enriching all who call upon him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 But how can they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach? 15 And how can people preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring (the) good news!” 16 But not everyone has heeded the good news; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what was heard from us?” 17 Thus faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ. Romans 10:10-17 (NAB)
196 Rest assured, there are many people there who can understand your way. There are also souls who, whether they know it or not, are looking for Christ and have not found Him. But “How can they hear about Him, if nobody tells them?”
197 Don’t tell me that you care for your interior life, if you are not carrying out an intense and ceaseless apostolate. The Lord— whom you assure me you are close to— wishes all men to be saved.
30 years ago, when I started “officially” studying to become a pastor, I was also dealing with some pretty challenging personal issues because of a genetic disorder. In one of the discussions, a question was asked. I can still remember where I was when it was asked, because it got me thinking.
“What is the reason the church is here?”
My thoughts went something like this. If God’s desire is for us to be with Him, in a place where there is no more sorrow, no more tears, no more suffering, no more Marphan’s Syndrome, then why doesn’t He just take us home like He did with Elijah? As you get baptised, the chariots of fire come down and whisk you to heaven. Of course, some pastors, evangelists and ministers would have to remain behind to continue to work to convert people, but hey, God will take care of us.
There have times where I have re-thought this. When a friend is dealing with cancer, when a mom has to visit her son in jail, when we have to deal with authorities whose works frustrates us (whether those authorities are at work, in government, or the most frustrating type, in the church. I could go on and on, with the struggles of life, but the question remains. Why not just take 99 percent of the believers and bring them home to the purest of joy and save them from the crap we go through on earth? If the doctrine of the rapture was applicable (my college had some pro-rapture – and a lot against it) then no one should struggle, no one should go through any kind of tribulation. And there is a lot of tribulation out there in life.
This question, “why does God allow us to go through all the stuff we go through? Why doesn’t He just bring us home?” Would not that be the loving thing for God to do? To alleviate our suffering, to save us from the ravages of sin?
My answer is… His Mission.
You see, if ministry is only for pastors and missionaries, then taking the rest of us out of here is logical. We don’t need to be here, we don’t need to see churches burning in Egypt, the Sudan. We don’t need to wait for the results of CAT Scans, and colonoscopies, and angiograms. We don’t need to be there for those grieving, or those struggling with addictions or mental illness, or watching their children deal with their special needs.
But God, as odd as this sounds, needs us all here. Yes, God needs us here.
For we are those who will minister, who will serve, whose lives are testimonies to His work. As such, they testify to His presence, in the good times and the bad, We are the ones sent out – not just the pastors and missionaries – but everyone of us, into every place we go.
God wishes everyone to be saved, and so He sends His people, He apostles us to the world… and our own little corner of it.
And the more we realize how He is with us in this endeavor, the more we realize that He is our life, the more we want people to know this…….the more God’s mission, God’s work becomes our life.
And our devotional life and our understanding of our mission, and our prayer and worship and study all coalesce, for that is who we are in Christ Jesus.
God’s sent people…..
Stained glass at St John the Baptist’s Anglican Church http://www.stjohnsashfield.org.au, Ashfield, New South Wales. Illustrates Jesus’ description of himself “I am the Good Shepherd” (from the Gospel of John, chapter 10, verse 11). This version of the image shows the detail of his face. The memorial window is also captioned: “To the Glory of God and in Loving Memory of William Wright. Died 6th November, 1932. Aged 70 Yrs.” (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 1028-1033). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Sinning? Deal with it!
1 Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? 3 Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? 4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. Romans 6:1-4 (NLT)
We should concern ourselves with this revealed will of God, follow it, and be diligent about it because the Holy Spirit gives grace, power, and ability through the Word by which he has called us. We should not explore the abyss of the hidden foreknowledge of God, even as Christ answered the question, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” by saying, “Strive to enter by the narrow door” (Luke 13:23, 24). Luther puts it this way: “Follow the order in the Epistle to the Romans. Concern yourself first with Christ and his Gospel so that you learn to know your sins and his grace. Then take up the warfare against sin as Paul teaches from the first to the eighth chapter. Afterward, when in the eighth chapter you are tested under the cross and in tribulation, the ninth, tenth, and eleventh chapters will show you how comforting God’s foreknowledge is.”5[i]
So much so that we neglect the Biblical admonitions to be free of sin, to realize that Christ has overcome it, and we have something far better to do, to think, to say.
I think it is partially fear that stops us from talking about living as disciples, living in Christ, living lives set apart to the purpose of walking with God. For us, its not the fear that noone will listen. (We already know that only about 10% of what we say sinks in..) Rather its a fear that we will somehow, accidently cause people to believe that they do something to be saved. That does happen, simply because all of us like to think we are better than we are. For us the usual temptation is to think that because we’ve go the right doctrine, because we are baptized and believe, we are saved. Even so, the balance of works caused by faith, as compared to works causing faith is a tough one to manage.
Yet, we have to, and Luther tried to give us a pretty simple way of handling sin in his commentary on Romans… that I find.. intriguing.
1. Let Christ deal with the sin… look to Him, see His cross – see HIs love for you demonstrated as he takes the sin from you…
2, Go to war with sin – realize how it steals your life, your hope, your ability to love. The way we battle it is by confessing it and trusting In Christ’s cleansing. As we war – we also go after those captured by sin, and take them back, for they were made by God to be His. Seeing people freed from sin is a powerful encouragement to all around.
This is all seen in the great passage from last week’s epistle,
But realize we do this – not because we have to, but as a response to the gifts we’ve been given by God…
Cry out “Lord have mercy” and remember that freeing you from sin is a way He has…
5 Preface to Romans, EA, 63:135.
[i] Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (pp. 621–622). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.
Related articles
- How and Why do we confront sin? (justifiedandsinner.com)
