TOGETHER WE KEEP ON GETTING IT RIGHT AND GROWING IN CHRIST
Two hundred years ago, Francis Scott Key stood watch on behalf of American captives being held beneath the deck of a British ship off the shore of Maryland, while British warships pounded a US Fort with rockets in a vain attempt to pummel the Americans inside the fortress to lower the flag that was flying o’er the ramparts. To take down the flag would be to surrender. The outcome of that “show of force” by the British vs the “show of patriotism” by the Americans who held the fort is dramatically told in our National Anthem:
“O, say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro’ the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro’ the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star spangled banner yet wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!”
Two thousand years ago, the Apostle Paul sat in that Roman prison cell composing a heartfelt masterpiece to express his conviction that only a United Church of Jesus Christ could persevere to keep the proclamation of the Gospel safe from enemy bombardment and forevermore to spread the Good News of freedom in Christ all over the world.
The guidelines laid down by Paul to the early church have stood the test of time for two millennia, so why would anyone want to redefine or restructure the basics of our Christian Faith – one Body, one Spirit, one Hope, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all?
Why not just get it right and get it done by getting everyone to keep on growing unto maturity as measured by the moral and spiritual stature of Christ? God’s people come and go; some get it right and some do not, some get it done the right way while others fail in attempts to get it done the wrong way.
Surely we all know that the key to success in any endeavor is leadership that inspires and involves the people who constitute the whole body to achieve the highest attainable goals associated with whatever the cause may be.
The Body of Christ has to be inspired by the Head of the Body, Christ the Son of God, then, guided by the Holy Spirit of God, working together with God, in unity with the People of God, to accomplish the Purpose of God, in keeping with the Plan of God – Ephesians 4:11-13 . . .
Whereas all of us have been “called” out of sin into salvation, and all believers have been “called” to serve God, there had to be those, at least in the beginning, who took the lead in teaching the Word and establishing the Church – the task of apostles.
During the years leading up to and immediately following the ushering in of God’s Kingdom by the coming of Christ, there were holy men of God whose pronouncements were obviously the direct result of revelations and instructions engraved on hearts and minds by the Holy Spirit of God – the task of prophets.
As important as these folks were, once they established the Church as a dynamic institution charged with the responsibility of spreading the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth, the continuing effectiveness of reaching out to the lost and “bringing them in” had to be carried out by nameless individuals whose conversions had transformed them into witnesses whose burning desire was to see others come to know Him whom to know is life eternal – the task of evangelists.
People were being saved, but practically all of them were coming out of heathenism and therefore knew absolutely nothing about Christianity except that Christ had laid hold of them in a strangely mysterious, spiritual experience. They had to be nurtured . . . brought along gently . . . taught sincerely the great truths of the Christian Faith – the task of pastor-teachers.
Whatever your role in the Church might be – whether you’re the bearer of a title or the bearer of good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people – you are a very important part of the Christian aim which is to keep on growing toward maturity so that there may be unity of purpose and plan . . . we build up not disrupt . . . we lift each other up . . . our lives reflect the Christ who loved us and gave himself for us.
A Bible teacher of mine was the first to tell me about a great lady named Florence who, walking one night through a hospital ward, paused to bend over the bed of a seriously wounded soldier; as she looked down at him, the wounded lad looked up and said: “You are Christ to me.”
A saint has been defined as “someone in whom Christ lives again.” And that is what a true member of the Church of Christ ought to be!
The more mature we become, the better we understand the significance of what we the members of the Body of Christ are all about – Ephesians 4:14-16 . . .
Perhaps, thru the years, it has occurred to you as it has to me, that in most every Church situation, there are “infants” who must be protected, yet there are a few “deviants” who have to be guarded against.
There are those who, like children, desire novelty . . . are at the mercy of the latest religious fad . . . are under the influence of the most recent “new idea” they read or heard about and, due to their inability to focus on essentials of the Christian Faith, fall for it “hook, line and sinker”.
This is not to say that “new insight” into the “old story” is to be ruled out. Part of the purpose of Christian growth is to gain new insights into biblical truths so as to correct or at least clarify previously misunderstood scriptures that might have been taken out of context. Mid-course corrections or clarifications are a good thing as long as they are just that – not an attempt at modifications for the sake of conformity to worldly ideological views. Folks:
History teaches us that “twists and takes” on the way we do Church and exercise our Christian Faith come and go – oftentimes to the extreme – but you know what? Eventually we get back to the basics? You know why? God says, “My Word will not return unto me void, but will achieve the purpose for which I sent it!”
There always have been those whose clever arguments lure people away from the basics of their faith.
There seems to be more talk about religion today than there has been in years, but I am not at all intimidated by what I hear and see some folks succumb to in the way of arguments put forth by those who are against Christianity.
Our most effective way to withstand seduction by “wolves in sheep’s clothing”? Continue to “grow in our knowledge of the Son of God, and become mature.” Help others do the same. Together we heed what He sayeth and do what He willeth because He is the living way.
Notice Paul says that a body is healthy when every part in it is connected and coordinated. That might be a stretch for some of us to imagine, but it is true of the Church only when Christ is really the head, when every member is under His control - just as each part of a healthy physical body moves at the behest of the brain. The thing which keeps individuals solid in the Christian Faith and keeps the Church of Christ healthy in its functioning, is each member’s affection for, and connection to, Jesus Christ.
Stay connected because we need each other to keep on growing in Christ to the point that, even though our bodies aren’t as strong as they used to be, we are part of the Body of Christ which gives us someone to lean on, and gives us hope to carry on.
God our Father is not through with us yet. As a famous baseball player liked to say, “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.” So . . . Together we get it right, get it done, and get ready to go marching in! Amen and Amen!!
