Thanks-Living: God’s Church

Romans 12: 1 – 8

Introduction

What do you have to be thankful for?

Hopefully, you were able to enjoy a little time off from work this week and spend time with your family…and to give thanks to God for all your blessings.  Perhaps you gave thanks to God for your life—because God not only created us, but also provides for all our needs.  Perhaps you gave thanks to God for your freedom—because it is only by the Grace of God that we live in the greatest nation in all the world.  Perhaps you gave thanks to God for the way God loves us—because God’s love is based on his character as the God of Love and not because we deserve to be loved by God.  But what about your church?  In your list of all the things you are thankful for, does your church rank high enough to stop and say thanks to God for your church?

Several years ago—when I was pastor in Mississippi—I had an interesting conversation with a woman in our church.  I had just moderated a church business meeting, and there was a close vote on what I thought was a fairly insignificant matter.  This woman had voted against the motion and found herself in the minority.  She came to me after the business meeting and said, “This is MY church.  I have been a member of this church longer than anyone else.  Mr. So-and-So is older than I am, but he served in World War 2 and wasn’t in this church.  Mrs. So-and-So is older than I am, but she went to college and was away for four years.  This is MY church, and I don’t like these new comers coming in to MY church and telling me what to do in MY church.”  (Incidentally, at the time she said this to me, the new comers had been members of that church for 21 years!)

Perhaps it is a little late for me to ask this question, since I have been here for over six years…  But, who exactly owns THIS church?  Does the church belong to the pastor?  Does the church belong to the deacons?  Does the church belong to one prominent family?  Does the church belong to a woman who never served in the military and didn’t go off to college?

I think we can find an answer to that question in the Bible…  In Matthew 16, Jesus asked his disciples what other people were saying about Jesus.  They said that some thought Jesus was John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the other Old Testament prophets come back to life.  Then, Jesus asked what the disciples thought about Jesus.  Peter answered for all the disciples by saying:

Matthew 16: 16 – 18…  “16 Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’  17 Jesus replied, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.’”

According to Jesus, this church belongs to Jesus!  We each have roles to play and responsibilities to fulfill.  But, only Jesus can build the church and grow the church.  The best thing we can do is to trust Jesus with the future of this church and allow Jesus to be the ultimate leader…to follow him prayerfully and to do the kinds of mission and ministry Jesus modeled for us.

And this is one of the things I am most proud about this church.  We have been involved in missions for 129 years.  We support missions financially, and we send our church members out as missionaries—short-term missions as well as career missionaries who have come out of this church.  We have planted 12 mission churches in Lufkin alone and helped to revitalize several struggling churches.

But…Right now, it seems that we are having an attendance problem.  It gets frustrating for me to stand up here and preach to empty pews.  One way to interpret that is to think people are not happy with the church right now.  After all, that’s the way Baptists let you know they aren’t happy—they stop coming to church and stop giving.  So, we did some investigating. 

First, our giving is not down this year.  It is actually up from the previous years.  Tithes and offerings from January through October 2012 are about $50,000 more than January through October 2011.  And, if our tithes and offerings in November and December 2012 are equal to tithes and offerings in November and December 2011, we will finish the year with a small budget surplus.  People are not withholding their offerings.

Second, we counted the number of people who attended church at least one time in September and October.  We discovered that there were over 100 people who came to church only once or twice during those eight weeks.  I think we have four different churches meeting here at First Baptist Church.  We have the first Sunday church; the second Sunday church; the third Sunday church; and the fourth Sunday church.

Our biggest problem is that people have stopped coming to church…At least people have stopped coming more than one Sunday per month.

Is it enough to come to church one Sunday per month?  I suppose that depends on what you believe about the church!  Let’s look at one of the places where the Apostle Paul teaches us that the church is the Body of Christ.

Romans 12: 1 – 8

1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform (be conformed) any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his (the) faith. 7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

In this short passage, Paul used the word “body” to refer to two different things.

In Romans 12: 1, Paul tells his readers to offer their Bodies as living sacrifices.  Notice how Paul uses the plural form of the word Body.  This plural form tells me that Paul is speaking to a group of people but he is giving us individual advice.  In other words, Romans 12: 1 – 2 describes something that every man and every woman must do for himself or herself…Give your life to God daily as a sacrifice.  Resist the ways the world tries to conform you into its mold and image.  Instead, allow God to transform your body and use your body for his purposes in the world. 

Then, in Romans 12: 4 – 5, Paul switches from the plural Bodies to the singular Body. I believe he is also switching from individual instructions to many different individual men and women to corporate instructions to one church—one Body of believers.  He teaches us that just as each of us has one human Body with many members, in Christ we who are many form one corporate Body.  This corporate Body is the church, and the church functions just like an individual human Body.  When all the parts of the Body are healthy, the whole Body is healthy.  When all parts of the Body are working together, the Body will be successful.  When one part of the Body is unhealthy or competing against the other members, the church cannot be all God intends us to be. 

By using the same word in each of these sections, I think Paul was trying to communicate that Christians are supposed to have both an INDIVIDUAL life with Christ as well as a CORPORATE life with Christ’s people.  I believe there is a very simple message in this…Take your BODY and become a part of the BODY of Christ.  In other words… Take your BODY to church.

This same message shows up in other places in the Bible as well…

Exodus 20: 8…Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy…

Matthew 18: 20…For where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them…

Hebrews 10: 25…Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching…

Two Extreme Views of Church

Again…How important is it for people to go to church?  There are two extreme answers to this question. 

On one extreme we find the people who say, I don’t need the church! 

There are some people who say, I don’t need the church, because I have something better that takes the place of church…Usually, these people are members of a Bible Study group or some parachurch organization that they think better serves their spiritual needs than the church is capable of doing.  To these people I would respond that they need to remember the 4^th commandment in Exodus 20: 8, Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy…

There are some who say, I don’t need the church, because I can worship God better in a deer stand, on a creek bank or on the golf course…To these people I would respond that they need to take note of Jesus’ words in Matthew 18: 20, Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am with them…Jesus clearly teaches us two things about worship…We need to worship in a group of more than one…And we need to gather in the name of Jesus—Deer stand, creek bank and golf course do not fit Jesus’ description…

Then, there are some who say, I don’t need the church, because I do not believe in organized religion…To these people I would respond that I have been in ministry since 1991 and served in several churches as youth minister, college minister and pastor…After 20 years of experience, I’m not sure I believe in organized religion either…I believe in disorganized religion!

Seriously, I would remind these people to read Hebrews 10: 25, Do not give up meeting together…Togetherness is an important part of church, and you cannot get a feeling of togetherness by watching church on TV, the Internet or by jumping from one church to the next church to the next church…

This past week, I visited with three of our homebound members.  These three ladies are all over 90—actually one is 103—and are no longer physically able to attend church.  All three of them told me the same thing.  “Andy, I just can’t explain to you how much I miss going to church.”

As far as I know, each of them is able to watch our video recordings of our worship services and have people from our church call or visit them nearly every week.  But, for them, it is just not the same thing as attending worship and Sunday School as a part of the Body of Christ.  It’s not the same as being able to greet other people by shaking hands or hugging necks as an expression of Christian community. 

This is why I still believe church is important!  (Even if the church is not “organized religion.”)  We are better together than we are separated.  We are stronger in our faith and our mission when everyone is here for worship, Bible Study, fellowship and community.  Then, we can go out individually to make a difference in our own circles of influence. 

On the other extreme we find the people who say, You cannot go to Heaven if you don’t go to church!

In church history this position was stated most clearly in the year 249, by Cyprian Bishop of Carthage.  (Now, that is Carthage as in North Africa and not Carthage as in East Texas.)  Cyprian was famous for two things.  As Bishop of Carthage, he claimed to have as much authority as the Bishop of Rome.  In other words, he challenged the authority of the Pope.  When he challenged the Pope, Cyprian claimed to have the same ability to grant salvation as did the Pope.  That led to Cyprian’s famous statement, There is no salvation outside of the church!

There are still some modern-day Catholics and some entire Protestant denominations that teach the same thing today.  If you are not a member of their church, you are not saved.  And even then, you had better remain in good standing with their church if you don’t want to lose your salvation.

To these people I would respond that Romans 12 teaches something entirely different.  Romans 12: 1 teaches us that we are saved as individual bodies with no reference to the church.  But Romans 12: 3 – 8 teaches us that the service and ministry God calls each Christian to perform must take place as part of the church as the Body of Christ…

Conclusion

The best way I know to describe the proper relationship between individual Christians and the church is to describe the church as the Body of Christ and an interdependent relationship.  You need the church…And, the church needs you.

The church is the place where you and I are supposed to exercise our God-given gifts together in community and fellowship with other Christians.  And, the church cannot function as the Body of Christ without all our members working together.

Years ago, when that lady in Mississippi told me it was HER church, I thought it was very selfish for Christian folks to think of church as MY church.  I think I have a little different perspective today.  Now, I wish we had more people who took such a personal interest in the church.  I wish we had more people who thought Lufkin’s First Baptist Church was MY church.

That’s MY church, and I want to support MY church with my time, talents and treasure.

That’s MY church, and I want to do everything in my power to make it a better church.

That’s MY church, and they need me.