CYPRESSWOOD CHURCH OF CHRIST

February 20, 2005

PRAYERS AND PETITIONS:

Our congregations                                                 Our college students

David and Leon in the Navy                                 Our nation, military and leaders

Bob Delony and George traveling to the              Various friends, relatives and co-workers

ACU Lectures today and returning

Thursday

THE CHURCH

"And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church" (Ephesians 1:22).

What is the church?  We have attempted to answer this question before.  I have tried to define what some see as the church.  I have thought that the way some talk, it was some mystical idea but have come to realize that it is a lot simpler than that.  The way some use the word "church" means an institution.  This came to light recently in two events.  The first was an issue of a brotherhood paper writing about the church.  While some of the authors attempted to define the church as the people, many really had in mind the institution called church.  Now there are some things that they said that are right.  The church is in God's eternal plan and purpose; it was not an accident.  God planned for there to be a church.  The question though, is it an institution?  Many speak as though it is.  As such, it needs to be defended from various ideas and false beliefs.  As such, it no longer matters about those who make up the church.  The forms are the priority. How the church is organized, how it worships, who runs things become the priority.  Those who do not accept the "traditions" are questioned and often asked to leave.  "If you are not happy here, go somewhere else" is the attitude too often displayed.

The second event was an e-mail I received from a friend who works at a college.  He had received a letter from an alumni who, as a preacher had left a congregation that had divided over a number of things which he labeled as progressive. While there were several issues involved, the preacher had thought that the "church" had been compromised.  the institution was damage and needed correcting.  My brother was kind enough to send some responses he had received and a few of those also spoke of the church as an institution. 

So what is the church?  the word itself means either the called out or the assembly.  Which ever definition is used, people are involved.  Those who see the church as an institution miss this vital point.  Just listen to the way we speak.  "We're going to church" really means we are going to a building.  "The church saves" is an idea that is used by some.  While I think it means the saved are in the church and the unsaved are not, it leads to different ideas.  One is that it misses who the real Savior is, Jesus Christ.  Others just use the words "the church" meaning the institution and not the people.  The definition though clearly means people. 

The church is God's people coming together in humility and service.  There are many texts that speaks to both of these.  We, the church, God's people, are a family, or more, the family of God.  We come to encourage, strength, correct, suffer with, share in, praise, rejoice, honor, and weep together.  We are not together to see who has the most power or who controls the family through a title such as elder, or with money.  To illustrate this, I worked with a military congregation.  On Sundays when God's people came together one could see officers and enlisted personnel together.  They would serve one another the Lord's Supper and would pray for each other, the enlisted for the officer and the officer for the enlisted.  No rank here.  Yet too often we see elders who want to control everything from the use of money, to who uses the building, to who participates in the assembly.  Their opinions often become law and anyone who disagrees can find themselves as outcasts.  An institution works that way but not God's family.  God's people struggle and make every effort to work out disagreements, to understand differences, and to worship God in unity while not seeing everything alike.  Others think that the proper response to their disagreements with others is to tell the elders and let them handles it rather than following what Jesus said in Matthew 18:15.

We wonder why we have problems?  I think it is how we see the church.  Instead of seeing people as children of God, sometimes misguided, sometimes weak, sometimes struggling, we see an institution that needs to be defended.  Instead of sitting down and learning to understand each other, labels are applied.  So we hear words such as liberal and conservative, progressive and traditionalist.  Each is meant to define their institution but not their family.  Until we come to terms with this, we will continue to have problems.  Selfishness rather than service will continue to dominate our congregations.  People will want their way instead of the attitude in humility seeking what is best for others.  Until we develop the mind of Christ as seen in Philippians 2:1-8, we will never mature in Christ enough to have an impact on our culture.

So how do you see the church?  Is it an institution?  Or is it a family?

                                                                                                               George B. Mearns