Church or social club?

Bernard Iddings Bell (1886-1958) said…

The great mass of Church members are content to regard the Church as a conglomerate of private culture clubs, nice for christenings, weddings and funerals.

Ephesians 4: As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.  ² Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.  ³ Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

We are a community of believers because the Spirit of God made is one (Eph 4:3).  The central value controlling this community is that God called us (4:1).  Humility, gentleness, patience and love in spite of shortcomings are the results of this calling (4:2).  These values can so easily be undermined when the church or congregation becomes a social club.  Someone who left the church five years ago writes that the “Church has become a social club with gimmicks and cliques. Even pastors play favourites, while ignoring the spiritual life of the less acceptable members. Churches seem to concentrate on numbers rather than Spirit, church buildings rather than building a church for the Lord."

How should we answer to this accusation?  We should answer by becoming a faith community where unity is not based on sameness, but on one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all (4:4-6).  When this is true, all people will be equal en no one will be anybody’s favourite.  Then the church will not be a social club, but the body of Christ.

Spirit of God let our lives by worthy of your gospel, in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

God's world

John Calvin (1509-1564) said...

Nobody seriously believes the universe was made by God without being persuaded that He takes care of His works.   

Gen 1: ³¹ God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning— the sixth day.

Like a chorus it sounds on the news bulletins of the world: war, AIDS, murder, theft, broken relationships, and child abuse. No, we do not want to live this way! While some people live in luxury, people, animals and creation are dying. 

God's intention was completely different. After each day's work, he said that everything was good. When he finished his creation, he said it was very good.

There can be no doubt about the purpose God had for the world, the creation of for you.  He has created a world of light, water, life, breath and people from the nothing of the chaos.  His presence changed everything.  He accomplished all of this by his word.  He spoke, and it happened. 

Jesus came into the world as God’s word. By his word, he drove away the darkness - disease, suffering and ultimately death.  Yes, the chaos in the world may be our fault, but God does not give up on us.  He has a new heaven and earth in mind.  You may believe it, because the Spirit is God's guarantee that it will happen (Eph 1:13,14).

Therefore, we may not give up the world as a lost cause. If God loves the world (John 3:16), we should also love the world.  We also need to alleviate the distress in which this world finds itself.  Indeed, we are God's representatives (Genesis 1:26-28). Come on, God's Ambassador!  Let us go into the world with the message of hope.

Lord, make me a representative of your care and love for the world, in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Returning to God

William Barclay (1907-1978) said…

A conversion is incomplete if it does not leave Jesus Christ in the central place in one's life. The shortest possible description of a Christian - a description with which the New Testament would fully agree - is that a Christian is a person who can say: "For me Jesus Christ is Lord." (From: In the Hands of God).

Ezekiel 18:20 The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. 21 But if a wicked man turns away from all the sins he has committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die. 22 None of the offences he has committed will be remembered against him. 27 But if a wicked man turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he will save his life.

What happens when we return to God?  It is repeated several times in Ezekiel 18.  There is no guilt or sin of the past – not our own or our ancestors – which can separate us from God (18:20-22,27).  We receive a new beginning.  When Paul speaks about our past, he says in Col 1:21-22 and 2:13,14, “At one time you were far away from God and were his enemies because of the evil things you did and thought. But now, by means of the physical death of his Son, God has made you his friends, in order to bring you, holy, pure, and faultless, into his presence. You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He cancelled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.”

When we say that we have no sin, John says, we make God out to be a liar.  However, if we confess our sin, God forgives (1 John 1:8-10).  Why, because Jesus, the only truly righteous and sinless person, is the atoning sacrifice for all, yes all our sin (1 John 2:1,2).  We receive a new heart and a new spirit!

The same Ezekiel (Ezekiel 36) speaks later about the Spirit of God coming over us and changing our hearts to be devoted to God.  When the Spirit of God takes possession of our lives, it becomes our deepest desire to love God, to serve God, because God’s will is written on our hearts.  As Paul says, we are then in step with the Spirit of God (Gal 5).  Then the fruit of the spirit flows from our lives.

William Barclay is correct when he says, “Any alleged conversion which does not leave one totally committed solely to Jesus Christ is incomplete and imperfect.”

Lord, I commit my life to you once again, in the name of the Righteous one, Jesus Christ my Lord.  Amen.