BEING A FAITHFUL PART OF THE CHURCH
MARCH 9, 2008
Pastor Eric J. Hanson
Read I Corinthians 12:12-27
Read I Peter 2:4-10
A GODLY ASSUMPTION
Did you know that the writers of the New Testament assumed that the people of the Lord in each city they wrote to, were faithful in being there when the church assembled each week? Did you know they also assumed the people were involved in little groups through the week? This faithfulness dynamic is clear from the way the epistles are written. An underlying given is this: If someone knows the Lord, they are functioning as part of the local Church.
There were many problems in the early Church. These are addressed in detail throughout the letters written to the Christian believers of those times. Absenteeism was not such a problem. There was some of it, but it was a small problem compared to others. The writer of Hebrews did address it within the larger context of encouraging each other. Listen to this.
Read Hebrew 10:23-25.
How can we encourage, teach, train, and receive, if we are not in regular, dependable attendance? Now listen to this!
Read I Corinthians 14: 26-33.
How can these wonderful things happen at full effectiveness if a large percentage of the disciples, the living stones, the members of the Body, are missing? Paul assumed that the whole Church was present at such times as described here!
SOLDIERS UNDER THE COMMAND OF A KING
Because the Kingdom of God is indeed a Kingdom, and Jesus is our King, therefore we are each soldiers in the Army of God. Listen to this!
Read II Corinthians 10:4: “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but are divinely powerful, for the destruction of fortresses!”
That, dear friends, is soldier terminology! We joined God’s army the day each of us said “I choose to Follow Jesus Christ”. We came under the authority of a Lord, the Commander in Chief, on the day that we said “Lord Jesus come into my heart”.
As in Earthly armies, every single member of the Lord’s army is needed and has general training and responsibilities. We also each have a specialty or two that God has called us into. Like Earthly soldiers, it is foundationally critical that we be present whenever our unit, made up of those stationed at our base, is assembled.
During the Viet Nam war, one of my friends who was in the Army went A.W.O.L. That is to say that he was absent without leave. He simply went home to South Paris, Maine and hung out with his old friends, just as though he wasn’t in the United States Army. Do you know what happened? He was arrested and hauled over to the county jail. Then the military police came and picked him up. They took him back to his post, his fort, and he was put into the brig. The reason this happened to him is as follows: When he was inducted into the Army, he was no longer a private autonomous individual. He became a soldier under the command of the army.
In God’s army, the church, there are many today who are AWOL. There are many reasons why this is so. One is that some who get drawn toward faith in Jesus Christ, do not stop and think about the seriousness of becoming a Christian.
• It means that I now belong to Jesus Christ. He is the head, and I am part of his very body while still here on Earth! Therefore I am to be always tuned in to Him, and completely under His command.
• It means that one day, I shall be part of the Bride of Christ, and that God desires to sanctify me to that end!
• It means that I am a living stone being built together with the other living stones, held together by the mortar of strong and rigorous relationships within this living house of God.
Somehow first Century Christians did not find this to be hard to understand. Somehow, Third World Christians today also do not find this to be hard to understand. American Christians, particularly in the North East, are another matter. Our Culture tells us that we are consumers, and that church life is just a commodity to be partaken of when one feels like it. But for anyone who belongs to the Lord, that view is a lie.
PITFALLS OF FALLING OUT OF CHURCH LIFE
If I am not faithful in Church attendance, prioritizing it to the extent that I am consistent at it, I too am AWOL. No spiritual MPs are going to show up at the homes of those who are absentees. They won’t be carted off to some brig. Here is what does happen, however. Believers who are cut off from the ongoing life of the Body of Christ go into invisible jails, invisible brigs.
Here’s how: They hear the voice of the wicked one telling them lies, and they believe him. They have already believed a first consumerist lie, so they become easy to deceive. That first lie is the one that says you don’t have to be faithful in church life and involvement. The array of lies that the Devil uses to get people out of regular church attendance is extensive, but they are all irrelevant, because the Lord tells us to keep on meeting together, encouraging one another, spurring each other along, and SO MUCH THE MORE, as we see the DAY approaching.
So when the Devil whispers, “Nobody in that church cares whether I am even there or not.” The only right response is this: “Devil, that doesn’t even matter. Even if it was true, I would still be in the church family, as reliable as the Sunrise.
• I will do my part, as part of the Body of Christ.
• I will be in place, as a living stone in the House of the Lord!
• I will care about my brothers and sisters in Christ, because I belong to Jesus Christ and therefore, in his strength, I obey God!”
I could give right responses to all the other lies the Devil brings to keep people away from church, but I won’t, so that this message doesn’t last all day. But I warn you that once people have swallowed that first lie, the one that gets them out of steady, reliable church attendance, it is easy for him to then get them into invisible prisons of various types. By Church attendance, I mean the large group celebration of Sunday Morning, and the small group, where relationships are strengthened and personal prayer ministry is ongoing.
Now consider the following incarceration destinations:
• The state prison of self pity
• Critical heart county jail
• The army brig of unforgiveness
• Personal agenda and self will Tower
• The Dungeon of Apathy and spiritual sleep
• The Asylum of Sinful lifestyle choices (Why is it an asylum? Because you must be crazy to choose these things over God’s ways.)
Virtually every Christian believer who is a church drop out, whom I have ever followed up on, as a pastor, has been in one of the prison houses described above. These issues can only be successfully worked out when individuals are part of a company of committed believers. By pressing into healthy Body life, we get to a place where we can stand together, even when things are tough. Then we can see real and effective change in people’s lives.
PARACHURCH LEADERS, AND TRAVELING MINISTRIES
Those who are engaged in ministry outside of their own local church family are like members of specialty squads in the military. Such groups are sent out from the main unit, accomplish a specific task, and then return to the main unit for re-supply, rest, and protection.
The pattern for this in the Church is clearly seen in the ministry of the apostles Paul and Barnabas, later Paul and Silas, and those who traveled with them. They were clearly set apart at the church in Antioch. The whole eldership there commissioned them for their task, under the direction of the Holy Spirit. The sent group would then go out. Next, after doing what God had directed, the apostles and their trainees, such as Timothy, would return to the sending church, their church. They would then be part of the ongoing life of that church again for a time, until they again went out to do a certain task.
This is one of the major components of New Testament order. It is powerfully important, and brings unity and protection, for those who operate within it. Every evangelist, and every leader of a para-church ministry needs to operate within this powerful unifying principle.
Those who are engaged in local, ongoing, outside ministry of any kind; be it concerts and events, teen ministry, a residential home for unwed mothers, evangelistic meetings, or any other such thing, need to be sure to keep enough time open in their busy schedule to stay involved in the large group Sunday celebration and the Home Fellowship small group relational matrix within the home church family. This may mean saying no to some other things, even some things which seem to be good.
BRINGING IT TOGETHER
Through the years here, we have heard how regular church attendance gives people the opportunity to both give and receive. We heard about how the family gathering is not complete when part of the family is not there. We have heard that people do not really, truly, understand what God is saying and doing in their church family unless they are consistently there. We have heard the direct command in Hebrews to be in church fellowship. We also heard that if your hand, or any other body part is cut off, it won’t live, it will die.
This week we have heard again, that we are body parts in the Body of Christ, all of which are needed. We have considered what it is to be a living stone in a living house for the Lord’s habitation. We have heard a strong military application of these principles. Indeed, the weapons of our warfare are mighty! But they are to be used in concert, by all of us together.
Friends, whether you are here present in our Sunday Morning gathering, or whether you are reading this transcript or listening to the tape, I challenge you to be faithful as part of this Church Family, this unit in God’s mighty army. Dallas Henry and I together, as the elders responsible for the care and feeding of this church family unit, challenge you to be faithfully here on Sundays and involved in your home fellowship, young adults group, or youth group, out of obedience to God and His word. If this happens in a widespread way, we will see God able to do many things through our church, and use us beyond anything we’ve ever seen.
Let’s pray.
