Day One Distinction
As I have shared with you
before, our seven year old, Isaiah, loves and knows his Superheroes. He can easily get absorbed in the world of
these superheroes at any given moment.
Recently, he has become a superhero evangelist. He has put together complicated exams for his
siblings and parents (primarily for his parents since we are the ones most in
need of saving from superhero ignorance) which access your superhero
intelligence. These tests not only
involve the attributes and characteristics of the superheroes themselves but
also side issues such as “who was the girlfriend of Spiderman?” Not to brag, but I must point out that I
happened to get that one correct and score an almost perfect score while my
spouse mixed up Spiderman with Superman and said Lois Lane…..don’t shame her,
but you do need to realize that I am “Superhero” superior. Anyway, it is very important to Isaiah that
he and everyone in his world know the distinctions between the various
superheroes.
Knowing distinctions is
important in all areas of life. When
Andrea was in college (this is pick on Andrea day) she left a campus store and
found that her key would not open her car door.
A campus policeman happened to be driving by and she flagged him down
for help. He used his handy door opening
tool and she was rescued and in her car.
Well, it was not exactly her car.
As she sat down in the driver’s seat she soon began to notice some
distinctions about this car that were not similar to her own. She calmly waited until the policeman had
left and then exited the car and went two cars over to her own, real car. She later added some bright pink windshield
wipers to help give her car a greater distinction so she would not make this
mistake again.
Distinctions can sometimes
be subtle, but it is important to note them at all times.
This is true when we speak
of the church as well, distinctions are important. Our English word for “church” comes from the
Greek word “ekklesia.” This word is made up of a preposition “ek”
meaning “out” or “out of”, and the verb “kalein” meaning “to call.” Therefore the meaning of “ekklesia” or church
is “those who are called out.” This was
not a new term when Christ presented it to His followers. It had been a term used among Greeks for
sometime, to refer to their own gatherings.
We even see it used in this type of setting in Acts 19:39 where the
gathering was a purely democratic political gathering. It is also used in a lesser form to refer to
the gathering of the Jews at the Synagogue.
Christ used this sense of
“gathering” when He told His followers that He would form them into their own
distinctive group. In Matthew 16:18,
what did Christ say in regard to this new group or gathering He would form?
What do you think He meant
and what was the significance of His statement?
It was almost as if Christ
was saying, “The Hebrews have their gathering, and the Greeks have their
gathering, but I will call you out to be a new, distinct, gathering.” The distinction of this gathering would be
that the foundation and purpose of this new gathering would be different from
all other gatherings. This gathering
would not be a democracy as were the gatherings of the Greeks, nor would it be
a gathering governed by man, as had become the case with the Jews, but this
would be a theocratic gathering. A
called out group of people that are free but always conscious that their
foundation is Christ Himself.
Day Two Enough
Details
This past year my now ten
year old ran for Vice President of her school’s student council. She had to make a campaign poster as well as
to write and present a campaign speech. My
assistance with her poster seemed to go well as we came up with the slogan,
“Don’t slip on a banana, vote for Hannah!” It was her speech where we ran into some
difficulty. As I would attempt to help
her in putting the speech together, she repeatedly had to remind me that, “I
would never say something like that dad!” or “Dad, people don’t talk that way!” And most of the time she had to remind me
that, “Dad, that is way too much information!”
It is easy to attempt to give out too much information when you have
something you truly desire to communicate.
This is very true as we
continue to talk about the church, especially the nature of the church. Today, we will try to take a look at the
nature of the church without going overboard on the details.
First, in the New Testament,
there is reference to the “general” church (possibly referred also as the
“universal” church) and reference to the “local” church. To keep is easy, the “general” church is all
believers that will gather after the
return of the Lord (see Hebrews
The “local” church is more
what we are looking at now as we speak of the church. This is a gathering that does now take
place. This is a group that has committed,
upon the foundation of Christ, to be together for the sake of that very
foundation.
Look at the following
passages to see how the local church worked and what things this gathering did
and accomplished:
Acts 1:15-26
Acts 6:1-5
Acts 2:42-47
Acts 11:22-30
Acts
Acts 15
I Corinthians 16:1-4
II Corinthians 8
From these passages and
other details you know from scripture regarding the work of the local church,
how would you define the nature of the local church?
Day Three Elements
I have frequently shared how
I would probably still be sitting in Mr. Fix’s eleventh grade chemistry class
had it not been for my friend and lab partner, Carey Krause. I could not have told you much more about the
Periodic Table or the elements that make it up then than I can tell you
now. The truth is, I probably know more
now since I can say “H2O”, but I actually only know that because I would have
to write it when I, as a waiter while in school, placed an order for ice
water. Carey Krause was not only my lab
partner, he was my Chemistry savior.
Sadly, I allowed him to save me by depending upon his work instead of
allowing him to teach me the elements.
Knowing the elements is
important. If you are working on an
engine, you need to know the elements that make up the engine. If you are a surgeon you need to know the
elements that you are using to operate plus the elements of that upon which you
are operating. Whatever you do, you
really need to know the elements. We
also need to know and understand the elements of the church.
This is actually very
easy. While it has been complicated
throughout the ages the truth is simple….YOU are the elements that make up the
church.
Read Matthew 16:16-19. What does Christ say are the elements or element
that makes up the church?
Now, it is possible to get
confused here, you may be asking, “Is Peter the element?”
“Petros” (translated Peter)
means Rock, but the actual Greek word used here is not “Petros” but “
Simply put, YOU are one of the elements (because of
your recognition of Christ) that make up the gathering of similar elements
(others that have made the same acknowledgement of Christ) that are gathered
and set upon the foundational rock that is Jesus Christ.
What does it mean to you to
be an “element” of the Church?
Day Four Key
Elements
My most dreaded moments
every year is that moment on Christmas day when the kids want me to help put
together an unassembled toy that they received.
One year in particular, Isaiah received a Viking ship toy that came with
the elaborate ship, weapons, and sails.
It looked great on the box. They
always look great on the box. It began
to look less than great as I attempted to assemble the “easy to assemble”
toy. The first thing they tell you to do
is to lay out all of the elements of the toy to assure you have everything you
need to assemble the “easy to assemble” toy.
Now, trust me, on Christmas day, when there are many “easy to assemble”
toys waiting, and when you are fairly impatient like, well, me, you don’t
always take the time to lay out all of the elements. This, in my mind, is the
job of inspector 37 who last saw the “easy to assemble” toy before it was
shipped out to an unsuspecting individual such as myself. Anyway, when I was less than half way done on
the “easy” process, and almost three fourths of the way to New Year’s Eve, I
realized why they instructed you to first, “lay out all of the elements to assure
you have everything needed to complete your easy to assemble toy Viking
ship.” I was missing a small plastic
bolt. Believe it or not, the plastic
bolt that it needed was not similar to any bolt, or screw, or even a roll of
duct tape we had at the house. It
actually needed “that” plastic bolt.
And, even more unbelievable, the plastic bolt factory was not open or
even anywhere to be found on Christmas day.
It gets worse, but I will stop here.
Suffice it to say, Isaiah ended up with half of a Viking ship which
would not have really been much of a threat to anyone. Such a ship may have changed the course of
history, we might actually be living in a much gentler age now, so, I guess you
could say my inability to first “lay out all of the elements to assure you have
everything needed to complete your easy to assemble toy Viking ship” was actually a lesson for humanity!
Now, back to the true
point…..even the smallest, seemingly insignificant elements are important. Every element is a “key element.” The same is true in the church. Yesterday we saw that YOU are an element of the church today we see
that not only are you that element, but that YOU are an important element.
Scripture compares the
gathering that we call the “church” to a body.
Christ is the head of that body and we make up the different, all
important, elements of that body. Read I
Corinthians 12 and make note of all the details and instructions given to you
as an important elemental part of the body.
How much importance have you
placed on your elemental role in the body?
Day Five Purpose
Have you ever been around a
planner? I have, I am married to
one. Thank God, I am married to
one! Five kids and a dog, a thousand
activities, plus jobs, and other involvements make having a planner in the
family a very helpful and essential element of our family and life. While I have found that I could easily be a
“stick your head in the sand and hope everything turns out o.k.” or that “hurry
up and get over with” type of guy, Andrea plans everything out to the smallest
detail. Not only does she plan it out, but she often will plan out when she is
going to begin her planning.
The first element of
Andrea’s planning regiment is to establish the purpose of everything that is
going on. If it does not have a purpose
it is probably soon out the door. I have
often attempted to throw something that is not of essential purpose into the
mix. While she is always very gracious,
we soon establish that my “non purpose” element is better left on the
sidewalk. Having purpose allows the
planning and doing to get to where it needs to arrive.
That is the same way with
the Church, we need purpose. Read Acts
What is YOUR elemental role in that purpose?