What Kind of Grace Member Are You?

What is Grace Community Church?

You might be thinking, “Ah!  A trick question!  Well, I’m not going to fall for it.  You’re not going to make me look stupid.  The answer to that question is in the very name itself.  Grace Community Church is…...well……a church.  That’s obvious.”

Yes, Grace is a church.  But what is a church? 

Hmmm………much tougher question, isn’t it?  Or maybe not.  Perhaps you can quickly rattle off an answer – “A church is a gathering of God’s people” or “A church is the body of Christ meeting locally”.  But what does that mean?  How is a church distinct from any other gathering of Christians, say at religious concerts, seminars, or baby showers?  What does a church do?  What is the purpose of a church?  Why do churches exist?  Why does our church, Grace Community Church, exist?

If I asked this as a survey question at the mall I would get a variety of answers – some positive, some negative, and certainly some outrageous ones.  But if I limited this question to churchgoers, I would probably find these three responses to be the most common:

“A church is a place where Christians go to sing songs, pray, and hear a sermon.”

“A church is a religious organization with a variety of programs and ministries to serve Christians and the surrounding community, such as the singles’ ministry, outreach, AWANA, and the hospitality committee.”

“A church is an organization run by a pastor, elders, deacons and other staff to provide worship services and various activities for Christians.”

Because Grace Community Church prides itself on being well-versed in the Scriptures, most of our members would see the error in all of those responses.   They would know that the church is not a place – not a location, building, or an address, but “a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).  We are an organism, a living, breathing body made up of many members (1 Corinthians 12:27), not an organization or a collection of programs, services, and activities separate from its members and run by the church staff. 

We know these truths; I know these truths.  But do I live this way?  Do I live as if the church is an organism, living and breathing, needing nourishment, prayer, compassion, hard work, patience, and constant attention just like my own physical body?  Or do I simply give lip-service to these truths but live as if the church is just a separate organization, a place where I come and go at will, and where I rely on the leadership and church staff to do all the “work of the ministry” (Ephesians 4:11)?  In short, do I hold to a godly, biblical understanding of church in my head but live according to a worldly, carnal understanding in my life?  How about you?

In the next several posts, I want to examine myself against the Scriptures and answer the question, “What kind of Grace member are you?”  I don’t want to fool myself or anyone else into thinking that I am the perfect church member – far from it.  So I would love for you to join me as we pose some tough questions to ourselves regarding whether our view of church membership, and our daily practice stemming from that view, is pleasing to God and will result in Grace Community Church attaining “to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13).

I’m excited to be embarking on this journey!  I hope you are, too!   

Why You Need a Missionary in Your Life

When Pastor told our church one Sunday night that he wanted us to view the missionaries we supported around the world as part of our church family – to keep them in the forefront of our minds, to pray for them often, and to correspond with them – I hastened to comply.  I so wanted to be an encouragement to those Christian soldiers who had given up home and country, ease and comfort, familiarity and convenience to spread the gospel to every corner of the world. 

“Oh, those poor, brave, lonely missionaries!” I thought to myself, “They could use all the encouragement they can get.”  I imagined them huddling together in dark caves conducting hushed worship services, reading their Bibles by flickering candlelight, and sleeping on dirt floors.  In contrast, God had blessed me so richly with a luxurious life in America, a seemingly unlimited supply of biblical resources at my fingertips, and an abundance of saints to fellowship.  Reaching out to our missionaries was the least I could do considering all the spiritual richness I enjoyed in my native land.  I felt so noble, magnanimous, and, dare I say, a little self-satisfied smugness as I wrote the initial emails to them.

As the Lord would have it, I got into a regular correspondence with one missionary and was able to meet and talk to two others.  It was during those interactions that my mindset about missionaries was flipped upside down.  I was stunned to realize it was not the missionary who needed me.  Sure, they were encouraged by my interest, emails, prayers, and financial support.  But I needed them so much more than they needed me.  It was the complete opposite of the way I thought things would progress. 

In fact, I have been so affected by my contact with our missionaries that I am convinced God does not send us into their lives to help them but rather sends them into our lives to help us.  We need THEM.

Revealing Disobedience

“How many people are attending your church?”

This was one of the first questions I asked to one of our missionaries in the field.  It seemed reasonable enough, but it emanated from my own preconceived notions of church growth.  I thought a large, growing church would indicate successful evangelistic efforts on the part of the missionary and a small church would indicate…..well…..less successful efforts that perhaps needed to be tweaked.  The answer I received was not at all what I expected.

This missionary (I’ll call him George) admitted that the church he attended was very small – only a tiny handful of families and a few individuals.  But that was because beyond his immediate family the members were solely made up of converts saved and baptized in that church.  True conversions were rarer than I realized.  They take an abundance of time, effort, prayer, and ultimately the loving compassion and intervention of a sovereign God.  This was a reality I was insulated from in my church that had hundreds of members.  George explained it this way:

“Stop to ask yourself how many of the people in your church have come to know the Lord in the last year or two….or three.  This is an exercise I often engage in when I visit a church (in the States):  I ask for all those who have been baptized as believers (not children) to stand.  Then I ask them to sit according to the years they have been saved, starting with 25 years or more. It is not uncommon to find that by the time I ask those to sit who have been saved for more than 5 years there would be exceedingly few left standing (people saved within the last five years). And then I go backwards: 4 years, 3 years, 2 years, and then finally the only ones standing are those who have been saved and baptized in the last year. Often not even one is standing. And this is the case even for churches that number in the hundreds! You see, the churches in America are a bit different than our churches. Americans move often; for jobs, for fun, for whatever reason. We may attend churches of over 200 people, but it's not because that church has seen more than 200 people saved! It's because 180 of those people have migrated to our area or have left other churches disgruntled, only to find our church pleasing to them - for now!”

George went on to explain that the only way they could have a church that numbered in the hundreds in the country where he was serving was if God saved over a hundred people through their obedient evangelistic efforts.  But this was not typical.  Conversions are few and far between “but they are exceedingly precious because of this”, he added. 

Much more church-hopping happens in America than in foreign counties giving us the illusion of growth.

I asked myself uncomfortably, “How often do you evangelize, Janice?”  Here in the States, where churches routinely number in the hundreds and thousands, I could easily be disobedient to God’s command to evangelize and still be in what looked like a healthy, vibrant, large church.  But it is a church made up mostly of transfer-growth, of sheep moving around from one church to another.  The upshot of it all was this:  Maybe we weren’t as faithful, healthy, vibrant, and growing as we thought and maybe I wasn’t as obedient and faithful as I thought.  Ouch.

Exposing Shallowness

“How would you describe the spiritual maturity of the church there?”

I cringe now as I see the subtle arrogance of my question to George.  I thought he would surely recognize that Grace was a spiritually mature church and would likely want prayers that the members of his church would attain the obvious spiritual maturity that we had.  But as with the previous question, the answer George gave me was not what I expected….and exposed more of my own spiritual shallowness than I cared to see. 

They “may not be as spiritually mature as those of, say, GraceJax in some ways”, George said, “but I'd say they are much more mature than you in other ways. In terms of their doctrinal clarity and precision, they lack maturity. Yet, in terms of their sense of unity or fellowship, they're probably more mature than saints at GraceJax. By sheer necessity they've learned to work through conflicts. They've not the option that members in your church have. They cannot simply collect their marbles and go elsewhere. Many times, theirs is the only church for miles around ... miles and miles! It would be very impractical for anyone to say, ‘So-'n-so has rubbed my fur the wrong way! Honey, next Sunday we'll be goin' to First Baptist over there on 2nd Street.’  So then, the saints here have learned much about patience and endurance and seem to have a greater sense of the importance of working through issues and sticking together – regardless of how awkward that might be for one or the both of them.”

Again, George’s answer was so convicting.  If spiritual maturity was measured only in biblical knowledge, then Grace would win hands down.  We had much more spiritual resources, an abundance of faithful preachers and teachers, a Christian bookstore, and multiple weekly Bible classes.  But is that the real measure of spiritual maturity?  Maturity definitely starts with the knowledge of God’s Word but should culminate in a greater love and dedication to each other, displayed in us joyfully doing the one-anothers of Scripture – praying for one another, admonishing one another, forgiving one another, growing in love for Christ and for each other.  Sadly, it seemed that this tiny foreign church made us look very immature in comparison. 

After mulling over George’s answers, I looked at my own spiritual maturity and found it was all too easy for me to judge it by outward acts such as church attendance and involvement in the nursery and home Bible studies.  But how often did I pray for my fellow brothers and sisters at Grace?  How concerned was I about their spiritual growth?  How dedicated was I to the saints at Grace?  How willing was I to forgive real or perceived slights by others in my church?  How spiritually mature was I really?  I was reminded of the time I stopped attending Grace for several months to find a singles group and my heart sank.

Uncovering the Heart

“What do you hope to accomplish over there?”

This was my question to a husband and wife who were embarking on a mission in Asia.  As they excitedly told me of their desire to train up godly men who would exposit the Word of God faithfully and eventually plant solid, biblical churches across the countryside, I thought of my most recent list of New Year’s resolutions.  It was full of things I wanted for me – to lose weight, get a boyfriend, pay off credit cards, and find a more fulfilling job. 

Shouldn’t I have the same desire to see God train up godly men who would faithfully preach the Word?  Shouldn’t I want to see biblical churches started everywhere?  Why was my heart not filled with these desires?  The Great Commission is not just for missionaries, after all.  We are all called to share the gospel, baptize, and make disciples.  The difference is the missionaries are doing it over there, while we are doing it here.  But that’s not often how I thought about it.  My desires, my thoughts, my dreams were often so worldly and I was wholly too enamored with the things of this life.

The Great Commission:  It's not just for missionaries.

God Uses Missionaries

In light of my talks with the missionaries, I considered Christ’s rebuke to the church in Laodicea in the book of Revelation, “For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:17).  Our nominally Christian culture here in America makes it so easy for me to settle into a comfortable, shallow form of Christianity that has little power, endurance, and meaning.  Contacting our missionaries exposed the sinfulness of my own heart, my own spiritual arrogance, my own desperate need for their encouragement, admonition, prayers and example.  It has been quite an experience talking with them – one I will not soon forget.

Keep missionaries in the forefront of your mind.  Pray for them daily.  Write them as often as you can.  Follow their ministries, read their newsletters, and beseech God on their behalf.  Do this not because you should – some guilt-laden, legalistic reason – and not because it makes you feel more super-spiritual then the guy over there that’s not doing it.  Do it because it is beneficial to YOU.  Missionaries are a channel of grace by which God challenges you, chastens you, purifies you, and motivates you.  They may need your money, emails, and prayers but you need their drive, fire, and focus.  You need a missionary in your life!

What’s Your Gift for Grace? – Part 2

 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.  – 1 Peter 4:10-11

Attention Grace Community Church member:  According to the Bible passage above you have been given a gift to serve our local body and to conform GCC into the image of Christ.  Are you using your gift?  Is your gift blessing others?  Do you even know what your gift is?

Before you say, “Oh, I don’t have any gifts.  I can’t sing or preach.  Never could play an instrument.  I’m just not talented”, consider this:  The spiritual gifts are not natural talents or learned abilities.  The spiritual gifts are a display of God’s grace through each of His redeemed children.  Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 reveal that these gifts fall into three categories:  sign gifts, speaking gifts, and serving gifts.  The sign gifts (gifts of healing, speaking in tongues, performing miracles) that accompanied the teaching of the apostles and authenticated their message ceased after the apostles died.  The speaking gifts (teaching, preaching, exhorting) and serving gifts (giving, leading, offering mercy) are still being used today to build up the body of Christ.  It’s true – the Holy Spirit has empowered you with a gift for Grace Community Church.

Don’t think the spiritual gifts are only for those occupying the stage on a Sunday morning.  Our church certainly has lots of people who sing and play instruments beautifully and we are all blessed and encouraged by their talents.  These talents (which are natural abilities from the Lord as well as the result of hours of practice) are not their spiritual gifts however.  Singing and playing instruments may be the means by which their gifts are demonstrated – gifts of teaching or exhorting, for instance – or they may not.  Their spiritual gifts, in fact, may be something totally unrelated to their musical talents.

Spiritual gifts are essential to church growth.  In Matthew 16:18 Jesus promised that he would build his church but we often mistakenly think he is referring only to numerical growth.  Jesus Christ however is not only interested in gathering a group of unrelated persons and calling them a church, he wants to build us up, each member of the church together, into a holy edifice that offers spiritual sacrifices to God (1 Peter 2:4-5).  Grace Community Church is not just a crowd of people but “living stones” that make up a “spiritual house”.  We are “God’s building” (1 Corinthians 3:9).  Do you want to see the Spirit moving mightily through GCC, counseling, comforting, blessing, edifying, and sanctifying?  Do you want GCC to be a bright, shining light to our neighborhood, our city, and beyond?  Do you want GCC to be pleasing to our Lord?  I do, too!  But it’s going to take more than some talented singers, faithful preachers and teachers, elders, deacons, and ushers to make that happen.  Because of how God designed the church, all of us – every single redeemed member of Grace Community Church – must pour out our spiritual gifts for the common good to make that a reality. 

Let’s get started!

Discovering Your Spiritual Gift for GCC

Now it’s at this point that most people want an itemized list of all the spiritual gifts so that they can analyze which one they have.  They want to take an aptitude test to match their abilities and preferences to the list of spiritual gifts.  But you will never discover your spiritual gift in such a worldly way.  Taking aptitude tests, doing surveys, and discovering your personality type will never reveal how the Holy Spirit has uniquely empowered you to serve Grace Community Church.  That’s because the unregenerate of the world have similar aptitudes, abilities, talents, and personalities.  They do not have the gift of the Holy Spirit, however, which is given only to God’s children (Ephesians 1:13, 14).  So even though God blesses the lost with abilities (like natural artistic talent) He does not give them spiritual gifts for the building up of the church.

The best way to discover your spiritual gift is not to focus on what your gift is at all.  You will be more likely to use your spiritual gift when you focus less on the gift itself and focus more on desiring to use the gift.

You’re probably thinking, “Wait, that makes no sense!  That’s a bunch of meaningless double-talk.  How can I possibly use my spiritual gift if I don’t know what my gift is?!”

From a worldly standpoint, you’re right – it makes little sense.  But remember we are talking about spiritual concepts here, not worldly ones.  God has intricately weaved the use of spiritual gifts into His awesome design for the church and we must adopt His holy mindset to properly use our gifts.

Spiritual Gifts and the Nature of the Church

If an alien came down to our planet in a spaceship and visited the typical Christian bookstore he would probably come away with the idea that Christianity is strictly an individual pursuit.  Assuming the alien could decipher our language, he would read book after book about each Christian’s “personal relationship with Jesus Christ” and their pursuit of personal happiness, joy, fulfillment, and meaning.  Indeed, the self-help section of Christian bookstores rivals that of secular bookstores these days.  The alien would probably not even be aware of a “church” since so little is written about it.

Many Christians have adopted this personalized view of Christianity but this is actually a worldly, Americanized concept not a biblical one.  The Bible does not speak of a “personal relationship with Jesus Christ”.  Though it is obvious Christ draws each of us individually to him, once we are saved he sees us as members of his church.  In fact the metaphors used throughout Scripture to describe the church – as branches connected to a vine (John 15), members of a physical body (1 Corinthians 12), living stones of a building (1 Peter 2), and brothers and sisters in a family (Mark 10) – reveal the interconnected nature of the church. 

The “one-anothers” commanded in several epistles describe how we as Christians both benefit from and are obligated to members of the church.  Even the epistles themselves were most often written to churches and not individuals and the few that are written to individuals are written to leaders in the church.  The risen, glorified Christ, in his Revelation to the apostle John, addressed churches not individuals (Revelation 2-3) further revealing how Christ thinks of us.  Probably one of the most convicting passages detailing how God views us is in 1 John 4:20-21 where it reads, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.  And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”  We learn in 1 Corinthians 13 that this brotherly love is more than just pleasant thoughts about church members but active love in the form of patience, kindness, and burden bearing.

How does this all relate to spiritual gifts?  It proves that discovering your spiritual gifts is not a personal pursuit, one that you engage in to bring attention to yourself.  The spiritual gifts are for the building up of the church so that the church in turn can draw attention to Christ.  In summary, the spiritual gifts are for Christ and his church, not for us.  It is no coincidence that Paul’s famous love chapter in 1 Corinthians 13 comes after the discussion of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12. 

Therefore, the best way to discover your gift is to increase your love for Christ and your desire to see him magnified and exalted.  This will increase your love for his church, Grace Community Church.  As you love GCC more and more and desire to see Christ exalted in her, you will be drawn to different areas in which GCC is deficient in displaying Christ.  As you strive to perfect those areas using your talents, efforts, knowledge, and prayers you will likely be using the spiritual gifts the Holy Spirits has imparted to you!

Isn’t it wonderful how God designed the church?  We are so much more than just a random crowd of people meeting regularly throughout the week.  Let us each increase our love for Christ and the church he died for, Grace Community Church, so that the collective use of our gifts will transform GCC into a bright and shining image of Christ the world will not be able to ignore!

Are You a Fellowship Skipper?

Are you a fellowship skipper?  Do you regularly avoid home Bible studies, mid-week get-togethers, and church picnics because they’re, in your opinion, “not really necessary”?  Do you place a high priority on church attendance on Sunday, making sure to sing all the songs, participate in the offering, and listen to the sermon, but see fellowship as optional?  Maybe you’ve gotten into the habit of showing up late for a church service, sitting on the side or in the back of the room closest to the door, and then heading for the parking lot before the song leader can finish saying, “You’re dismissed.”  Not to be rude, of course – you like the people at Grace Community Church – but there always seems to be a good reason to shortchange fellowship time.  You’re tired, you’re hungry, all your close friends are out of town this week.  You’ve got to prepare lunch or dinner, you forgot to TiVo a movie that’s coming on in an hour.  You’re not a people-person, you want to beat the crowd to the Olive Garden…..the list of excuses grows each week.  But there is no need to feel guilty, you think, because you heard the lesson, you gave your contribution, and you took part in the Lord’s Table.  Those are the things God is most concerned about, after all – right?

I used to have those thoughts about fellowship, but I was terribly misguided.  Fellowship is not like the non-essential parsley on a restaurant dinner platter, a pretty garnish that adds almost nothing to the meal.  It is much more than the sum of its parts, deceptively more than meets the eye.  That’s because our loving and all-knowing heavenly Father is the inventor and designer of Christian fellowship.  It is He who imbued it with so much purpose and power that if you are a Christian who regularly skips fellowship, you may be missing out on one of the main benefits of being a member of the church.

To get an understanding of the effective way God uses Christian fellowship it helps to know exactly what it is…..and what it isn’t.

I love God's awesome design for the church!

What Is Christian Fellowship?

The world doesn’t often use the term “fellowship”.   In fact, I have never heard any of my co-workers or friends outside of church say the word.  And if I asked them, “Shall we fellowship at the Town Center tonight after work?” I would probably get some strange looks and confused silence in response.  Say “fellowship” around Christians, however, and no one bats an eye – we’re all very familiar with the term.  But even though we as Christians know fellowship is special and unique to church life, we still sometimes see it from a worldly point of view.

You may think fellowship is really no big deal.  To you, it’s just hanging out, spending casual time together, talking to each other – only instead of doing this with anyone you’re doing it with Christians and you affect a more “holy” flair.  Like when you’re watching a football game with Christians; instead of holding up your hands and yelling, “Yeah!  Touchdown, baby!” you say “Praise the Lord!  By His sovereign will my team is up 14-0!” 

No, that isn’t exactly fellowship.  Fellowship is much more intentional and has much more intricate functions even if we are not fully aware of them.  Consider, for instance, the “one-anothers” of Scripture.  Throughout the New Testament, Christians are commanded to,

“Love one another with brotherly affection.”  – Romans 12:10

“…instruct one another….” – Romans 15:14

“…serve one another.” – Galatians 5:13

“Bear one another’s burdens…” – Galatians 6:2

“Be kind to one another….forgiving one another…” – Ephesians 4:32

Teach and admonish one another – Colossians 3:16

“…encourage one another and build one another up…” – 1 Thessalonians 5:11

“…exhort one another every day…” – Hebrews 3:13

“…stir up one another to love and good works…” – Hebrews 10:24

“…confess your sins to one another….” – James 5:16

“…pray for one another…” – James 5:16

“…keep loving one another earnestly…” – 1 Peter 4:8

“…show hospitality to one another…” – 1 Peter 4:9

“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another…” – 1 Peter 4:10

I love you, Grace Community Church!

It is impossible to obey these commands (and they are commands, not simply suggestions) if you do not fellowship.  How can you, for example, forgive a fellow Christian when you never interact with them enough to warrant such forgiveness?  If your time in fellowship is nothing more than greeting people as you walk into the sanctuary and waving goodbye to them all as you jump into your car to leave, you will never have the opportunity to teach and admonish anyone, pray for anyone, exhort anyone, bear anyone’s burdens (how could you possibly know what they are?), or even truly love anyone (because love is more than just general pleasant feelings).   In the same way, you will not receive forgiveness, admonishment, exhortation, prayer, or love if you never fellowship.

God has designed the church, and fellowship within the church, to be a conduit through which He administers grace to us, sanctifies us, displays the gifts of the Holy Spirit through us, teaches us, and grows us up, individually and corporately, into the image of Christ.  God never intended for us to be little spiritual islands, studying alone, listening to hymns in solitude, affecting no one and being affected by no one. Therefore, though you may think you have covered all the bases with church attendance, if you don’t intentionally fellowship with your brothers and sisters in Christ, you may still not be pleasing the Lord at all.  I’ll even go this far – show me a Christian who regularly avoids fellowship and I’ll show you a Christian who…

1.      Has a lot of head knowledge that he rarely puts into action.

2.      Does not use his spiritual gift.  He possibly doesn’t even know what his spiritual gift is.

3.      Hasn’t grown but has remained in the same place spiritually for years.

 

Fellowshipping with Jack and Jill

Let me let you in on an example of the way God uses fellowship from my own experience.  There is a couple at Grace Community Church that I recently enjoyed fellowshipping with over lunch one day.  For the sake of anonymity, I’ll call them Jack and Jill.  While enjoying lunch together, Jack asked me how things were going on my job and Jill piped in that they had both been praying for me, knowing that I often work long hours and the job was sometimes stressful.

Taking full advantage of what I thought was an opportunity to complain and whine, I went into a long sob story about how I had worked long hours the previous week, struggling to reconcile a pile of interrelated general ledger accounts.  Our executive managers had accelerated the deadlines of our end-of-quarter accounting close which meant I even had to work until 10pm on Friday night.  Jack and Jill were both kindly attentive and sympathetic, both telling me that they would pray for me that the Lord would give me strength.  Things changed a little however when I flew into my next story.

I told them that we were expected to work last Saturday and that my boss was considering it a normal workday, due to the accelerated deadlines we were under.  She expected me to arrive at work no later than 9am, but I dragged in at around 11:00 that day.  “Do you believe my boss had the audacity to reprimand me for that?!”  I said, incredulously.  “I mean, I was really tired!  And I already had to work late Friday.  I didn’t feel like getting up early on a Saturday.  So I don’t care what she thinks because …”

I looked up from my lunch midway through my whiny rant, expecting Jack and Jill to return more looks of sympathy, but I was shocked to see a look of deep concern and consternation on their faces, particularly Jack’s.  They had both stopped eating and seemed to be trying to figure out what to say to me.  I stopped talking and Jack finally said quietly, “Janice, you were wrong.”

“WRONG?!!”  I thought, the word ringing like a gong in my head.  “Shouldn’t they be sympathizing with me?!” I said to myself.  “Isn’t that what buddies do?  Listen to your gripe-fests and agree with everything you say, no matter how irritating it is?”   

But Jack’s very godly answer corrected my thinking.  “Janice, you knew you were supposed to be at work that day at  9.  If you were going to be late you should have called.  Or better yet, you should have made sure you were there on time.  People on your job know you are a Christian.  When you behave this way, what does that tell them about Christianity?  What must they think about Christ?  Remember you are supposed to be an ambassador for Christ.  How can you be if you are not as diligent to follow the rules as those who don’t even know the Lord?”

I love my church, too, but.........this might be going too far

That was a humbling experience.  And I thank God for it!  I also thank the Lord for Jack and Jill, my dear brother and sister in Christ who love me enough and love the Lord enough to lovingly correct me – for the sake of my soul and for the sake of Christ.  I asked the Lord to forgive me for how I had behaved at work, knowing I had brought shame on Him.  The three of us then talked more about what it meant to work for the Lord and not for men (Colossians 3:23-24) and how I could let my light shine before others so they would see my good works and glorify God (Matthew 5:16).

Don’t Be a Fellowship Skipper!

See how important and critical fellowship is to our Christian walk?  If we see church membership as nothing more than a legalistic focus on doing the “five acts of worship”, we will miss the true purpose of church membership altogether.  When you understand how the Lord uses fellowship, however, you will no longer see it as a waste of time but as precious minutes and hours in which you get to spur your fellow brothers and sisters at Grace Community Church on to good works and be spurred on by them.  The Lord knows that none of us is perfect, that we all have sins and blind spots that we can’t see but our fellow Christians can see.  Fellowship is God’s means for bringing brothers and sisters alongside to encourage, admonish, correct, and pray for each other.  It is an integral part of His awesome design for the church!

  

GCC and the Ladies Tea

Last night after work I raced to church to attend the Ladies Tea and Fellowship.  It’s a monthly meeting for the women of Grace Community Church and, in many ways, it resembles the typical Ladies fellowships that are taking place in churches all over the country.  The fellowship hall is transformed from its usual utilitarian state on Sunday mornings to a bright and colorful display of flowers, doilies, and other feminine touches.  Delicate tea cups with pretty napkins tucked under the saucers and trays with an array of scrumptious cookies and brownies fill tables around the room.  From the looks of things and from seeing the cheery smiles on all the women as they chat before the speaker begins, you would expect the Ladies Tea to be a night of light and relaxing listening – an effervescent pick-me-up to start your week.

But if you think that you have never been to a Ladies Tea at Grace Community Church.  These teas are no bouncy, skipping through the Scriptures fare.  GCC Ladies Teas pack a spiritual wallop.  Last night’s was no exception.

The speaker this time was the pastor’s wife and her disarmingly merry face and soft voice did not prepare me for the heart-skewering lesson she delivered that night.  The talk was on 1 Peter 3:1-6.  Having heard talks on this passage before, I thought I knew where she would go with it.  There would, no doubt, be the standard advice to us women to be quiet, sweet, kind, pleasant to all, “sugar and spice and everything nice”.  Then there would be the obligatory statement that though Peter says we should not adorn ourselves externally this did not mean that it was a sin to put on makeup or dress fashionably.  I thought I had her talk all figured out before I arrived.  But Pastor’s wife did something radical.  She expounded on this passage explaining how it fit into the context of the entire book of 1 Peter.  By doing so, she revealed to us that these well-known verses in 1 Peter 3 are way more than instructions on how to be attractive and how to get along with your grouchy husband.  There was much richer, deeper meaning here that God wanted us to know.

Christianity and Suffering

The book of 1 Peter is about glorifying God, displaying Christ, and being a living testimony of the gospel in the face of intense suffering.  Yes......there is suffering in Christianity.  You won’t hear that on the Trinity Broadcasting Network or read that in any of Joel Osteen’s bestsellers.  And when you consider the backdrop of 1 Peter, that the saints addressed here were being killed and burned alive because of the intense persecution leveled by a malicious Emperor Nero, the seriousness of God’s commands to us hits hard.  God may allow horrible suffering to come upon us – in the form of unregenerate husbands, wicked bosses and leaders, or painful circumstances – and our response as Christians should not be to complain loudly, fight tenaciously to get out of such suffering, or blame God, but to respond with “a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious” (1 Peter 3:4).

But why are we to respond this way?  Are Christians supposed to be weak doormats, laying down to ill treatment to appear sweet and gentle?  Hardly.  The pastor’s wife corrected our thinking on this.  It takes a tremendous amount of strength to bear up under hardship and undeserved suffering.  She pointed to several scriptures showing us why we do this:  1 Peter 3:5 says that a woman who has her hope in God can graciously submit even to a difficult and disobedient husband; a worker can be respectful to a cruel taskmaster by being “mindful of God” (1 Peter 2:19); Christians can subject themselves to “every human institution”, even a corrupt government because it is “the will of God” (1 Peter 2:13-15).  Ultimately, we are commanded to live this way because we know who we are and why God saved us.  We “are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).

Suffering and Me

I don’t know about you, but I’m not a big fan of suffering.  Oh, I can suffer little pains and inconveniences easily enough.  Stubbing my toe or pricking a finger is no problem for me.  I can endure that with quietness and gentleness, singing God’s praises as its happening.  I suspect that I could even praise God in the face of major suffering as long as it was really quick.  Like getting my head blown off in the streets of Pakistan for handing out Christian tracts.  Sure, that would be extremely painful, but the pain would be over in seconds.  And there would be the added benefit of being seen as a martyr and having everyone think fondly of me with bittersweet tears in their eyes, “Oh, that holy Janice!  She got her head blown off passing out tracts in Pakistan.  She’s with the Lord now, bless her heart!”

It’s the long, drawn-out, daily, abiding, enduring, persevering, quietly accepting, praising the Lord through the pain, being cheerful in the face of disappointments, is-God-gonna-change-this-no-maybe-he-won’t kind of suffering that I don’t like one bit.  And while listening to the pastor’s wife’s excellent talk last night, I was shocked that deep down I still often hold to the popular, TV-version of Christianity in my heart.  The belief that God loves me and therefore he’ll make everything better.  He won’t let me suffer.  He’ll make my dreams come true.  He’ll bring me that handsome husband!  He'll make my life happy and comfortable.

But this 1 Peter lesson called me on that.  God may very well let me suffer under hardship; he may allow my life to be uncomfortable, painful even, for his glory and for my ultimate good.  Have you ever been in church and felt like God was putting a spotlight directly on you?  That everything that was being said from the pulpit was pointed directly at you?  That your sins and ungodly thoughts were being exposed by his Word for all to see?  I had that experience at the Ladies Tea last night.  “Surely…”, I thought, “….surely this passage doesn’t mean that I must submit to anything God wants in my life.  Surely he won’t force me to remain single and command me to bear up under it and glorify him through it, will he?  It must not mean that, does it?”

It was just about that time that the pastor’s wife said, “Here’s a quote from John Piper. ‘Hope in God and fear no man.  Don’t put your hope in your husband….don’t put your hope in getting a husband, put your hope in God.'”

BAM!

Well, that answers that question.

That talk last night was a kidney punch.  Not what I expected but just what the Holy Spirit wanted me to hear.  After it was over, I didn’t feel like the usual happy kibitzing with the Christian sisters like I normally do.  After exchanging a few good-byes, I stumbled numbly to the parking lot and drove home, the lessons of that night weighing heavily on my mind.  Christianity is not the easy, happy-go-lucky, God-has-a-wonderful-plan-for-your-life journey that it is often billed as in our sinful world.  It’s much deeper than that.  It is complete submission to God and his agenda – for his glory, for his gospel, for the world and the principalities in heaven to see.  We are his workmanship to do his good works (Eph 2:10).  Most churches will not point that out.  But Grace Community Church will not let you forget it.   Not even at a Ladies Tea. 

What’s So Great About Grace Community Church? – Part 2

“Doing God’s business God’s way.”

This statement, incorporated in our church’s website, is more than just a catchy phrase.  It is our philosophy of ministry, guiding all that we do at Grace Community Church.  A statement like this can be misinterpreted, however.  To an outsider, unfamiliar with Grace, it may sound like a legalistic following of rules.  But this is no throwback to Pharisee-ism.  It is instead a humble acknowledgment that God is the creator and designer of the church, making Him the one and only expert on “doing church.”

It looks like an ordinary, unassuming church building.....but what goes on inside is truly amazing!

This remarkable distinction of Grace – the single-minded determination to follow God’s pattern for the body of Christ as described in the Scriptures – is not something immediately noticeable to the undiscerning eye. Superficially, Grace doesn't look much different from any other church in the area. Sunday mornings are filled with songs lead by a worship team, bulletin updates and announcements, scripture readings and sermons, and the sounds of chatter in the foyer and hallways as members fellowship between classes and services. These are the Sunday morning practices of most churches. Just like the majority of congregations, Grace takes up a weekly collection, observes the Lord’s Supper on the first Sunday of every month, and has a mid-week Bible study. In fact, an onlooker may be more apt to criticize Grace for the things it is lacking – for instance, a myriad of fun programs and activities to attract the un-churched.

But they would completely miss what makes Grace so wonderful.  It is not its practices but the mindset behind them that makes Grace unique.  The focus at Grace is on God – why He saved us, what He wants from us, how we can please Him.  Ostensibly, this could be said to be the focus of every church.  But that is not how it plays out in reality.  Allow me to elaborate.

Inward Focus, not Outward

The focus of Grace is inward while almost every other church focuses outward.  This is seen in several ways.  At Grace, church is defined as the Bible defines it – as the called-out ones, those saved by God’s glorious grace to declare the excellencies of Him who called them out of darkness (1 Peter 2:9).  Grace does not see the church as an organization designed to attract the lost, as many churches do, but instead sees it as a living, breathing organism made up of saved members assembled together by Christ to reflect His image to our dying world (1 Cor. 12:17-19, 27).  We gather to worship our God and edify each other – the focus begins inward – then we scatter to evangelize and share the knowledge and the love of Christ to the world – it is then, and only then, that we turn outward.

The sheep are well-fed at Grace! 

Because of this inward focus, the shepherds and teachers at Grace are keenly focused on feeding and nurturing the sheep.  They make sure to teach the whole counsel of God in the assembly and in classes, not just feel-good messages or motivational speeches.  They understand that under-fed and malnourished sheep do not do well in the world and, as a result, cannot fulfill the purpose that God has designed for them (Ephesians 2:10).  This inward focus also makes Grace solely concerned about how God wants the church to be designed and how He wants it to function.  You will not see the leaders of Grace looking to popular trends or sniffing the air for pragmatic worldly practices to attract members.  They know from the Bible that it is God who adds to His church, not men through their feeble efforts (Acts 2:47, Matt 16:18).  Grace leaders don't count heads or try to entice sinners, but focus on doing what God calls His leaders to do – feed the sheep (John 21:15-17).

Preaching the Word

It can be truly said of the pastors and teachers at Grace that they preach the Word “in season and out of season” (2 Tim 4:2).  While pastors of other churches may formulate lessons that the entire crowd will enjoy (a little humor, a smattering of doctrine, a little practical application, a smidgen of contextualization to make it interesting), Grace teachers carefully interpret the Scriptures, explain the Scriptures, and rightly apply the Scriptures.  This is what they do day-in-day-out. 

If that sounds monotonous, it’s only because you don’t fully know the power of God’s living and active Word (Hebrews 4:12).  God’s Word is the only written word that has the power to change souls through the actions of the Holy Spirit (2 Cor 3:17-18).  Because of this focus on preaching God’s Word and explaining His intended meaning, members of Grace have the opportunity to grow in knowledge and maturity, making them effective as members of Christ’s body. 

Even still, some are tempted to label Grace and disregard it.  They’ll say, “Grace teaches God’s sovereignty and the doctrines of grace, so it is reformed.  Therefore you will enjoy attending Grace only if you enjoy reformed theology.”  But I don’t like those labels because they don't truly describe what makes Grace so special.  Grace is not a great church because it’s reformed or because it falls into some theological camp.  It is great because it has a passion, a fervent and abiding love, for God’s holy Word.  I have never attended a church quite like it – a place where the Word is preached with undiluted power.  My life is continually blessed by being a member there.

In future posts, I hope to explain even more why Grace’s unique focus makes it such a wonderful church!     

What’s So Great About Grace Community Church?

I love Grace Community Church!  There is so much there to love!  I love the people, I love our corporate singing, I love the teeming masses of tiny children running here and there, I love our cream-colored building across from the park, I love the Romans class that’s been going on for 12 years, I love our home Bible studies, and most of all I love how we handle the Word of God. 

But don’t all churches handle the Word of God, you may ask?  Walk into any church on a Sunday morning and you’ll see an open Bible in the pulpit.  There will be scriptures read and sermons preached in services everywhere on the Lord’s Day, making Grace far from unique.  But there is something else that makes Grace stand out from the crowd – something that was so irresistible to me I had to return.  What sets our church apart is how the Bible is treated here, how it is interpreted and applied, how seriously our pastors and teachers take the charge, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

How distinct is Grace when it comes to God’s Word?  Let’s explore the ways!

Treading Carefully and Reverently

There are so many preachers today who are counselors sprinkling in a Scripture or two to make their advice sound more biblical, motivational speakers who seek to please the crowd (think Joel Osteen), suave Scripture-twisters who use the Word to cajole or threaten the audience into putting more money in the plate, and pseudo-professors who attempt to impress with their extensive knowledge.   Grace preachers thankfully are none of these.  They are faithful stewards of the Word, servants of God who do just what that word implies……serve God’s Word, in as close to the original form and intent as possible, to His people so they can feed upon it and grow.  They recognize the Bible as God’s precious, inspired, infallible, sufficient, and authoritative Word.  It is not their word to be handled in any way they choose.   

It’s a tough job but that’s basically the gist of it.  They do not try to improve on the Word (they can’t), they don’t alter it, they don’t pretty it up, they don’t ignore difficult passages, they don’t draw attention to themselves, they don’t try to make the Bible relevant (it already is relevant), or make it more interesting (what could be more interesting than hearing the God of the universe speak?).  They read it, explain it, and expound on it so hearers can know “Thus says the Lord”.   This is so simple and yet so hard to find in many churches today.

What Does It Mean?

You will not hear a preacher at Grace say the words, “What this Scripture means to me is…..”  And no one will ask the following question to anyone in a Grace class or assembly: “What does this Scripture mean to you?”  Perish the thought!  May it never be!  That’s because since God is the Author of the Bible (written by men under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit), God’s intended meaning is all that matters.  What we think a Scripture says in our own minds or what we would like for it to say is irrelevant.  God’s intended message being conveyed in the text is the true meaning of the text – not personal opinion, not speculation, not feelings, nothing more and nothing else. 

The typical Grace preacher then will never take a survey of his audience to see what they think a particular Bible passage says to them.  He will not even ask himself what he thinks it says.  Rather he strives to find the true meaning of a passage in this way:  He takes into account the book in which the passage is written (Old Testament or New?) the human author and his role (prophet or apostle?), the audience to which the book was written (the Colossian church or the Israelites?), the cultural and historical setting at the time the book was written (i.e. how should the admonishment that a woman’s head should be covered be applied today?),  and the context of the words in each sentence, the context of the sentences in each passage, the context of the passages in the book, and the context of the book in the overall Bible. 

Grace preachers mine for God’s meaning as if searching for gold, discovering its treasures not inventing them. 

Just as a waiter never alters the dish of a master chef, a godly pastor never changes or modifies the message of God's holy Word.  He serves it faithfully to his flock every Sunday.

Context, Context, Context!

Since I’ve let the cat out of the bag mentioning the word context, let’s explore that a bit.  The dictionary defines context as “the parts of a piece of writing, speech, etc, that precede and follow a word or passage and contribute to its full meaning.”  I praise God for teachers and pastors at Grace who know that the Bible is not an incoherent jumble of magical phrases and incantations that anyone can pluck out of context and interpret any way they want.  They are very careful to examine and explain every passage in its historical and grammatical context.

A good example of taking Scripture out of context, misinterpreting it, and misapplying it is the popular use of Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV).  The verse is as follows:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

This verse is often quoted by many to prove that God wants everyone to prosper and have a bright future.  But that is not what the verse is saying.  This is not a general promise to anyone and everyone in whatever situation they find themselves in.  This was God’s promise to Judah (the Southern Kingdom of Israel) regarding the later plans He had for them after their captivity under Babylon (God would send Babylon to punish Judah for worshiping idols).  Reading just the previous verse ten can instruct you on how to correctly interpret this verse:

This is what the LORD says:  “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place.”

Another common example of taking Scripture out of context and therefore misinterpreting and misapplying it is the popular use of 3 John 1:2 (usually quoted out of the NASB), which reads:

Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.

Many people have taken this verse and said, “Whoo hoo!  God wants me to prosper!  It says it right here – I’m claiming this verse, baby!  I’m gonna win the lottery, and buy a bigger house, and go on a cruise, and….”  But that is not what this verse is saying at all.  Not only is this a blatant misinterpretation and misapplication, but the verse is not even being read carefully.  The apostle John in writing to Gaius, a brother in Christ, is simply telling him in a greeting that he hopes things are going well for him.  Its modern equivalent would be, “Hello.  How’s it going, Gaius?  I hope all is well with you.”  That’s it.

No Over-Spiritualizing Allowed

It’s here that many Christians might take issue with the pastors and teachers at Grace.  All this talk about grammatical context, historical setting, authorial intent, and careful interpretation and application sounds dull, mundane, and even downright un-spiritual to many.  “Shouldn’t we just read the Bible and pray over the text?” they might say.  “Doesn’t it say in 1 Corinthians 2:11,12 that ‘no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God’ and ‘we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God’?  Doesn’t that mean the Holy Spirit will miraculously give us the proper meaning to any passage in the Bible?”

It is true that the Holy Spirit within us helps us to understand God’s Word.  In fact, it says further in 1 Corinthians 2 that a person without the Holy Spirit cannot understand the things of God.  God does give us understanding – but how does He do it?  Not through a haphazard treatment of the Scriptures or from transcendental meditation, but through diligent and consistent study, which God commands (2 Timothy 2:15).

Our God’s infinite brilliance and thoughtful provision is seen clearly in how He revealed His Word to us.  God did not communicate to us through pictures or drawings which could be easily misinterpreted and disputed, and He did not pass His Word on to us through oral tradition, which could be easily changed.  He had His Word written down.  Simple, but brilliant!  In this way God insured that His Word would not be changed, that it could be translated into any tongue so that all the peoples of the world could know His will, and since it uses the common medium of language it could be studied and comprehended much like one would study for a history test.  In short, the understanding of God’s Word comes from His Spirit and comes through the normal mode of careful reading and studying.

Grace preachers don’t regale us with fanciful stories of mountain-top experiences, visions, dreams, and other mystical occurrences in which they receive a “word of knowledge” from the Lord.  They put time and energy into study and prayer to understand God’s Word.  And with the help of the Lord they get the job done.

I could go on to describe how Grace preachers avoid reducing passages into allegories unless called for (such as in Galatians 4:24), how they never try to get a cheap laugh at the expense of misinterpreting Scripture, how they promote the clear understanding of God’s Word and not their own personal genius, how they dearly love the Word of God, how they love and want to serve God’s people……but I think my point is made.  The care, dedication, and reverence that pastors and teachers at Grace display in their handling of God’s Word is one of the things that makes Grace a wonderful church.  Grace may not be perfect (we are imperfect people with struggles and problems just like any other church) but thanks to our good stewards of the Word it stands on a firm foundation, one that the Lord will be happy to build upon as He forms us into the image of Christ.  I believe God will bless this church and complete the work that He started in us collectively as long as we stay true to His Word.

Onward, GCC!