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I was working in my garden today by myself thinking about my brother Scott and his untimely death. I found myself thinking… I wish I knew a little more Bible and I also wish I knew a little less Bible.
I am well familiar with passages like… “it’s easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle…” and “strive to enter through the narrow door…”
But I’m also familiar with what Jesus did for the family of Lazarus and how because of his great love for them he made Lazarus alive again.
Now I know that making Lazarus alive again is not the same thing as living in eternity… I know that.
What I don’t know is what my brother’s eternal destination is. I worry that he didn’t work hard enough to enter through the “narrow gate” but I also know that Jesus has great love.
I asked my mother that if we knew Scott wasn’t going to Heaven would she offer to trade places with him? She didn’t hesitate for half a second and said… of course I would. And thinking about it I guess I would too.
But if we were able to make that offer to Jehovah God my guess is that God in his smartness would respond… lets see what Scott has to say about that. And knowing my brother he would reject that offer in a quarter of a second.
I wish I knew more Bible and wish I could look into God’s heart but if anything could get God to change his mind my guess is it would be love… ours and his.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see but I believe in love.
Christians are added to the church when they have believed, been baptized and have received the “gift of the Holy Spirit”. As Christians come out of the waters of Baptism they are added to the church by God. All baptized believers world-wide are in God’s church.
Note in Acts 8:3… “but Saul laid waste the church entering into every house, and dragging men and women committed them to prison”.
We are the church when we are awake and when we are asleep, when we’re working and when we’re on vacation, when we’re at home and when we’re traveling… we are the church 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for all of our lives.
Note in Acts 14:27… “And when they were come, and had gathered the church together”.
This verse does not say they gathered the “Christians” together it says the gathered the “church” together.
The church (Christians) scattered all over the world gather together in assemblies to fulfill spiritual obligations to each other and to God. When they leave those assemblies they don’t stop being the church.
This is important because much has been said to differentiate between the work of the individual Christian and the work of the church (for various reasons). There is no difference between the work of the individual Christian and the work of the church because they are both the same... they are both the church. What is the work of one is also the work of the other.
“For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away” (1 Corinthians 13:9-10)
All my life I’ve been taught that the “Perfect” is the completed word of God… the Bible and that when the Bible comes, the “Part”(spiritual gifts) would be done away with. I believed that and taught that but somewhere along the way I became troubled with that interpretation. I guess because for me it didn’t seem to fit the context.
First of all the purpose of the spiritual gifts (especially the gift of Prophecy) was to edify or build the congregation (1 Cor. 14:4). And the church needed to be built up. Keep in mind the church was in its infancy and in fact Paul referred to the Corinthian church as being “Babies” and in need of growth and maturing (1 Corinthians 3:1).
They were spiritual babies in part because they were not united in love with each other… they were bickering and fighting and they needed to be built up utilizing spiritual gifts until they became mature or perfect in their love for each other.
1 Corinthians 13 clearly illustrates that “love” is superior to “spiritual gifts” and while all Christians might not possess the same spiritual gifts they could all… no matter their spiritual station… be rich in love
So “spiritual gifts” in the early church were like training wheels on a bicycle and there comes a point when the training wheels come off and we can ride that bike on our own.
The promised “perfect” then in 1 Corinthians 13:10 is the point when Christians interact with each other in love and in so doing testify that Jesus is the Son of God (John 17) and God is glorified (Ephesians 3:10)
That’s when the training wheels come off and spiritual gifts are no longer needed (in my opinion).
Thanks
In the picture you’ll see an old chair sitting in my shop. That chair was part of a dining set that my parents got as a wedding gift in 1954. After mom moved out of her home and had to get rid of a lot of her stuff I took all six of those chairs and put them in my attic (except this one) because no one wanted them.
Along the way as my kids were getting married and starting their families I got those chairs out of the attic to let them use until they could afford something nicer. My daughter would call me from time to time because the glue would start failing on those old chairs and I would have to repair them.
I keep that chair in my shop because I like to sit in it from time to time and just think (like right now). You see that old chair has seen a lot of events in our family… all the happy times and all the sad times. The births… the deaths. When me and my brothers left home for college and when we would come back home with our families. When my dad died and when after 48 years my mom moved out of her home.
You might look at that old chair and think it’s just an old and wore out piece of wood that no one really wants anymore. But I like sitting in it and thinking and remembering and I guess if someone offered me $10,000 for it I guess I just would have to turn it down… partly because I’m not sure it would get cared for like I would care for it and partly because it would be like selling part of me.
Thanks for the memories old chair.
Julie and I went to a funeral today for a member at church whose father just died. I didn’t expect many of the members would be there because first off… no one knew the old man. But then also because this particular family doesn’t attend very well and on top of that they just don’t mix socially very well so I didn’t figure many of our members would be there and turns out I was right about that.
Anyway on the way there I told Julie that we were hitting a home run today and she said with who? And I said with God. Then she commented that the reason she thought it was important to go was because of the way it made her feel when folks attended her dad’s funeral.
Now I may be saying a little too much here but when Julie’s dad died there weren’t a great many people who attended his funeral and I think she was a little hurt by that but she really appreciated those who did come to offer their condolences. So you can see how important it was for her to attend this funeral for someone she didn’t even know. By the way… she has a great heart.
Anyway I know this about myself… I usually cry at funerals but I didn’t think I would at this one because I only knew one person there... our member But as I went to the front to offer my condolences to the wife and the other kids and their spouses… the tears started flowing (surprise, surprise, surprise) I apologized to them and explained that we knew the son and he attended church with us. When I got to the last person on the row (our member) we both cried and hugged each other.
I’m kind of reminded about that thing that Jesus said about not just inviting your friends to supper because you know they’ll invite you back but how you should invite the folks that no one else is inviting.
That’s kind of like funerals… don’t just attend the funerals for your friends but attend the funerals of those whom you might not know so well. Everyone has feelings don’t they?
Who knows… you might just hit a home run with God or lift the spirits of one who is meek and gentle in spirit.
This morning our grandson Nicholas was sitting with us and after the Lord’s Supper I asked Julie for the contribution check. She said she had put it on the pew where I sit (I had been leading singing). We looked and looked and could not find it then as they were passing the collection tray Nicholas put his quarter in and reached in his pocket and put our check in too with a big grin on his face. The little imp.
I have a friend/employee who I have known for almost 40 years. She lost her husband this past year and then told us she needed to quit work because she had some health issues and didn’t want to be always asking for time off. Okay. She lives a very private life I know that. But then I noticed she started selling or giving away a lot of her stuff so I started worrying a little bit. So after she left work I would call her from time to time checking on her and found out she had cancer that would require surgery and radiation. Today between services I decided to call and check on her and she said she would have to go to MD Anderson for five weeks of radiation treatment.
I told her… let me give you some advice. When you go to Houston, attend services at Bellaire Church of Christ, that they are a caring, compassionate group of Christians and that they would help her. She asked me if they would help her find a place to live and I told her that I didn’t know about that but I did know that they could and would offer her emotional support during therapy. She said… I’ve never been through anything like this before and I asked cancer or church? And she said both that she hadn’t been to church since she was a kid. Anyway she said she would attend at Bellaire. If she does and God’s word is planted in her heart she’s going to be amazed… like amazingly amazed and I can’t wait to see it.
Do you ever pray to the Lord and ask him… who am I that you would look over me and care for me and bring such happiness to my life? Who am I and just… who are you?
