A few months ago, while meeting with “the Molitor” in the New Member’s Class, a phrase crossed my lips, which I, after some thought, believe to be true. The phrase is following:
Why do I believe this phrase as truth?
First, because of what is happening in the church: The New Testament asserts that the main activity of God now is calling out individuals and building them up together into a spiritual house, with Christ as cornerstone. (1 Peter 2) In other words, God is calling persons to form them into a people. It doesn’t work the other way around.
Listen to John Hammett:
We call the church the temple of the Spirit because the Spirit is the mortar that holds the stones together. The church is not to be held together by social bonds such as being of the same race or class or income, but by the spiritual bond of a common possession of the Holy Spirit. Church growth strategists tell us that churches grow fastest when they target people most like those already in the church. They are no doubt right; people are usually attracted to those with similar backgrounds and lifestyles. But the New Testament is clear that the church must not become a club of one type of people but a community that transcends those things that divide people in society. In Paul’s day, the call was to transcend the barriers between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female, and find unity in Christ (Gal 3:28). Today’s barriers include race (white, black, Hispanic), social class (rich, middle class, poor), and even age (young families, senior adults). Contemporary churches need a greater reliance on the Spirit and a deeper experience of his gift of fellowship if they are to be temple fit together. 1
It is hard for persons to be accountable to and responsible for people that they would never meet up with outside of the church. Read the academicians and sociologists about what a beautiful thing it is for people of all stripes to come together. Brotherhood of man and all that.
But a Christian within his church doesn’t normally think of this unity as beautiful, but as a lot of hard work. It requires a constant monitoring of his thoughts, a constant inward wrangling over discerning acceptable cultural traits versus real violations of Christian conduct, a fighting off of irritability and boredom.
He is always reviewing protocol: “Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as a father.” “Be patient with all.” “Above all…” “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another.”
He spends time second-guessing himself. He is not always sure of when to speak, and when to keep silence.
Through sheer exhaustion, many churches retreat into ethnic enclaves, socio-economic ghettos. First the contemporary service for the hip; then bring up the old fogies. No wait, the hip sleep in; reverse that!
This retreat is an easy mistake.
1 From the website of Thabiti Anyabwile (purechurch.blogspot.com)
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