When someone stops coming to church, it grieves the heart of a pastor. A thousand questions go through the pastor’s mind – Why? Was it something I did? Or was it someone else in the church family, perhaps not even knowing that they may have offended someone. Or is it some other reason that can be prayed about and pershps worked out together? How can this break the fellowship of the church be repaired? How can a shepherd help the sheep back to the flock?
A pastor wants to make it right, to bring the person back into fellowship with the rest of the church. Perhaps the pastor personally misses the person, but it is much, much bigger than that – if the person was called to join the fellowship, and if the church saw that calling and welcomed them in, then the fellowship is less than it could be without that missing person or family being a regular part of the worshipping community. It is a spiritual thing of the highest importance. Unity in the body is prologue to power (Ps. 133, Act 1)
People leave churches or stop participating in God's mission for many reasons. But often they do not let the pastor know what the real reasons are, so that they might be dealt with in the right way – talking it out and seeking understanding and reconciliation. Certainly, some people are easily offended, even if it is not the correct Christian path in many cases. The Bible shows us that some people will always of necessity be offended by the churches of Jesus Christ, it is sad to say.
The gospel is a stumbling block to the Greeks and an offense to the self-concerned. And our current American society is every egocentric, rather than Christocentric. It is often all about me, while Christ calls us to be all about we – and not just Him and me, but Him and we – our families and our church families! To paraphrase President John F. Kennedy, “Ask not what the church of Christ can do for you, ask what you can do for the church of Christ!”
The key to faithfulness is being offended by the right things, and forgiving others for their slights and mistakes. And the right things to be offended by have nothing to do with personal preference. Christians should only be offended by the things that offend Jesus Christ. If the Lord is not offended by something, then neither should His people be. But when something offends the Lord, His people should also be offended. The Lord is not offended by our personal preferences, unless such preferences lead to or are driven by unfaithfulness and/or sin. Accepting others as they are and helping them to grow is what Christ does, and we are to serve him in that process. As we are led by the Spirit toward unity, healing comes!
People are called to love Christ more than they love themselves, and to love His church and His people as much as they love themselves. Forgiving and loving others is a hallmark of the Christian life, and that life is lived out in our family life and in the life of the particular church He calls us to be together in.
People are blessed by God to be a blessing for others in His behalf. And, yes, you can worship God at home, or in a boat, in a car, or even on a golf course. But it is not the same as assembling together and praying for others in a church service, in person. And television pastors, no matter how telegenic or articulate, are no match for a Spirit-led pastor in a real life church service.
So pray for those who may not be coming to church services anymore. May they return to fellowship, so that the church may strive to pray in one accord (Acts 2) and seek God’s face as a congregation together, and in fullness. Without them, we are less than we can be. Without us, they are less than they could be. Together, with God, the sky is possible.
There is a story about a wealthy man, who was quite old, who, several centuries ago, admired a little mountain village in Switzerland and told them he wanted to build them something special before he died. The village council asked him to build them a church, since they had been meeting in the town hall for many years. So it was that the old man hired the best builders and had a church built. But to the puzzlement of the town people, his beautiful church building had no windows. It could only be lit by oil lamps hung along the walls of the church.
On the day of the dedication of the building, the old man explained that God had given him the idea for the building’s design. “Each family will have a lamp to hang in the sanctuary at each service,” the old man said. “If a family misses the service, there will be less light than there would have been if they were there. Only when everyone is in God’s house will the potential light be seen and experienced.”
We now have electricity, and lots of electric lights in our day. But the wisdom of this story may be even more relevant in our time. We need everyone to be in church and a part of church in order to accomplish the mission of God in our time and place.
No comments:
Post a Comment