I read somewhere (before hard drive storage) that bioengineers have determined the chemical makeup of an ordinary strand of spider's web is five to 10 times stronger than steel. While I knew from personal experience they are sticky, clingy and tenacious, not to mention, almost impossible to get that well-woven spider web out of your hair, your eyelashes or your clothing, this was news to me. I understand why bioengineers would spend time to break the spider's genetic code so that they can create a biochemically engineered polymer of which a pencil-thick strand could stop a Boeing 747 in flight (well, that might not be a good idea, but, you get the point). Rather than stopping a jet in flight I just hope it can stop a 2 year old from falling on his head after scaling Mount Pantry in search of forbidden fruit.
Strange as it seems this bit of trivia reminded me of the relatively small but logarithmic power of the Body of Christ. A community of normal people separated from the world population by nothing more than a belief in Jesus as the “lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” A small population that not only stops powerful forces from destroying souls but reaches beyond its own culture boundaries to bring peace, joy and healing to a lost and lonely world, which, for the most part, doesn’t even believe it needs.
This wonderful web, woven by the Holy Spirit, is made up of the church’s witness and commitment by believers to the mission of God.
The person who led you to Christ. The person who forgave you before you wanted forgiveness. The person who sat with you silently when others wanted to speak into your life words you were not yet ready to hear. These and many like them are the strands of this powerful web community.
Now we too, are those strands. What we do as a part of this body will determine who will be standing where we are standing in our church 40+ years from now. When you combine our spiritual gifts with the body in which we serve, not to glorify our individual selves, but to build up this body, we, the church, become a most powerful web for the world.
First I thank God for believing in me. Second I thank God for giving me La Habra Christian Church. Finally, I thank God for the chance to be part of a web strong enough to stop the runaway train of sin and injustice in our community.
Showing posts with label church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label church. Show all posts
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Consider His Head
Colossians 2:9-10
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.
Since the head is the source of all that is in the body – we – who are the body of Christ – need never fear being over run by an opposing ideology, quenched by a political force, or, neutralized by rejection of society. His presence is our purpose writ large. Power is only powerful when its purpose is Christ’s and authority only governs when its roots are in Christ.
Colossians 1:18-20
And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Because Christ is the head, the source, the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth of the church – the church draws her vision, information, warning of falsehood and right to speak only from Him.
Ephesians 4:15
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
From his head flowed his blood on Calvary – it was not the blood of His opponents – it was the blood for His opponents. When we, the church, forgive and serve out enemies, we then declare our covenant with the headship of Jesus.
Colossians 2:18-19
Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his un-spiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. 19He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
Because our very beginnings come from His head we can never be other than the church. We are not a political party. We are not the moral police. We are not pure and unsullied few. We are the redeemed who do not need government power to serve up grace to a hurting world. We are the reconciled who are like Him in as many ways as we can muster, yet with sin. We are the adopted who were the ugliest of all the orphans in the line – yet picked by Him for His purpose. When we, the church, relinquish our connection to His headship – we are just another group of people with a good idea and no way to carry to fruition.
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.
Since the head is the source of all that is in the body – we – who are the body of Christ – need never fear being over run by an opposing ideology, quenched by a political force, or, neutralized by rejection of society. His presence is our purpose writ large. Power is only powerful when its purpose is Christ’s and authority only governs when its roots are in Christ.
Colossians 1:18-20
And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Because Christ is the head, the source, the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth of the church – the church draws her vision, information, warning of falsehood and right to speak only from Him.
Ephesians 4:15
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
From his head flowed his blood on Calvary – it was not the blood of His opponents – it was the blood for His opponents. When we, the church, forgive and serve out enemies, we then declare our covenant with the headship of Jesus.
Colossians 2:18-19
Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his un-spiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. 19He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
Because our very beginnings come from His head we can never be other than the church. We are not a political party. We are not the moral police. We are not pure and unsullied few. We are the redeemed who do not need government power to serve up grace to a hurting world. We are the reconciled who are like Him in as many ways as we can muster, yet with sin. We are the adopted who were the ugliest of all the orphans in the line – yet picked by Him for His purpose. When we, the church, relinquish our connection to His headship – we are just another group of people with a good idea and no way to carry to fruition.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Do What I Do
I am challenged by Paul’s invitation to the Philippians in 3:17 to, “Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.” A few years ago I read an interview of John Stott in which he was asked about the greatest challenges to the church in the 21st Century. He surprised me by making tolerance the number one challenge – as well as a coveted virtue of the church.
Christians should be in the forefront in fighting for equal rights before the law of all ethnic and religious minorities. The church should also actively show social tolerance by going out of our way to make friends with adherents of other faiths, since they are God's creation who bear his image. But the third, intellectual tolerance, which is to cultivate a mind so broad and open as to accommodate all views and reject none, is, in Stott’s word’s, “the vice of the feebleminded.”
By rejecting this feebleminded tolerance the church then properly defines outreach as evangelism and not proselytism, the latter occurring when our motives, methods or message are unworthy. When we properly understand our call to tolerance we make room for evangelism which is (in terms of the Manila Manifesto), “To make an open and honest statement of the gospel, which leaves the hearers entirely free to make up their own minds about it.”
This then brings me back to Paul’s appeal to the Philippians which calls us to be what we profess to be. The covenant still challenges us to look like what we are talking about: This makes the church’s main concern that we look like what we are talking about..
1 John 4:12: "No one has ever seen God, if we love one another, God dwells in us." The invisible God, who once made himself visible in Christ, now makes himself visible in Christians, if we love one another.
Christians should be in the forefront in fighting for equal rights before the law of all ethnic and religious minorities. The church should also actively show social tolerance by going out of our way to make friends with adherents of other faiths, since they are God's creation who bear his image. But the third, intellectual tolerance, which is to cultivate a mind so broad and open as to accommodate all views and reject none, is, in Stott’s word’s, “the vice of the feebleminded.”
By rejecting this feebleminded tolerance the church then properly defines outreach as evangelism and not proselytism, the latter occurring when our motives, methods or message are unworthy. When we properly understand our call to tolerance we make room for evangelism which is (in terms of the Manila Manifesto), “To make an open and honest statement of the gospel, which leaves the hearers entirely free to make up their own minds about it.”
This then brings me back to Paul’s appeal to the Philippians which calls us to be what we profess to be. The covenant still challenges us to look like what we are talking about: This makes the church’s main concern that we look like what we are talking about..
1 John 4:12: "No one has ever seen God, if we love one another, God dwells in us." The invisible God, who once made himself visible in Christ, now makes himself visible in Christians, if we love one another.
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