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When considering the “work” of the church it’s important to note that God does not specifically in one locale of the New Testament reveal that to us. Rather… it requires some study to draw conclusions about what that work is.
Another thing to consider… is there really a difference in the work that individual Christians do (who are the Church) and what the church assembled or gathered does? That’s something to think about.
Let me suggest that the over whelming “work” that the church does is found in Ephesians 3:10…
“His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms”
God’s intent for the “work” of the church was to illustrate his wisdom to spiritual beings (in the heavenly places).
That’s it… that’s the work of the church (individually or collectively). Anything else we might consider to be a “work” of the church is just a subset of that overriding work whether it is described as “evangelism, edification or benevolence” as the work of the church is sometimes classically defined.
So how does the church do that?
John 17:20-23…
“…that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one… I in them and you in me… so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me”
God’s intent as revealed here was that the church… individually and collectively would be one with the exact kind of oneness (unity) that Jesus had with God the Father. A oneness based on sacrificial love. Which is the very best evidence to the world that Jesus came from God.
When the world knows that… then the spiritual beings in Heavenly places also know it, God’s wisdom is glorified and the church (individually and collectively) is fulfilling its purpose and completing its work
Once we know what our mission is then we can ask ourselves... what am I doing to promote love and unity at my church? Am I involved or am I sitting on the side lines watching?
1 Kings 3 records that God offered to give Solomon anything he wanted… anything. Solomon upon reflection asked for…
“An understanding heart to judge your people, to discern between good and evil”
God responded…
“Behold, I have done according to your words. Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you. I have also given you what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you all your days”
A description of the wisdom God gave to Solomon is recorded in 1Kings 4…
“God gave Solomon wisdom and discernment and breadth of mind, like the sand that is on the seashore. Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. He was wiser than all other people He also told three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered 1,005. He told of trees he told also of animals, birds, crawling things, and fish. People came from all the nations to hear the wisdom of Solomon”
I’m so glad that God gave the details of the wisdom, otherwise I might have thought he only gave Solomon and intimate knowledge of his written word… something that might be duplicated by the intense study of God’s written word.
But no… Solomon was among other things a student and teacher of nature. He wrote down his wisdom in proverbs and was a great writer of songs which means he was also a poet.
My guess is that Solomon was intellectually curious and had a thirst for knowledge… all kinds of knowledge.
Remember that outside of the Bible God also reveals himself in nature so along with our Bible study… a study of nature and this world (God’s creation) also teaches us about God.
If it is our desire to be wise remember how God made Solomon wise and try to duplicate that path. And oh by the way though Solomon’s wisdom he also became quite wealthy.
Proverbs 8…
“I (Wisdom) love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.
With me are riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity.
My fruit is better than fine gold; what I yield surpasses choice silver.
I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice,
bestowing a rich inheritance on those who love me and making their treasuries full”
The Lord said to Moses, “Gather for me seventy men of the elders of Israel and bring them to the tent of meeting… and I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them…
So Moses gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tent. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the Spirit that was on Moses and put it on the seventy elders. As soon as the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied.
Now two men remained in the camp, Eldad and Medad, and the Spirit rested on them too. They were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. A young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” Joshua the son of Nun said, “My lord Moses, stop them.”
The reaction of the Great Joshua was to stop the two men from prophesying.
But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!”
What can we learn from this?
- Sometimes God acts outside of his specified command. I guess that’s okay, after all he is God and He can do what he wants.
- When others aren’t obeying God’s command just like we are we may get a little indignant… like Joshua did and rashly rebuke them. Maybe we should take a little time to think about that.
- How was Joshua going to stop Eldad and Medad from prophesying? It was God who caused them to prophesy. Was Joshua going to stop God?
- The Great Moses realized this and didn’t question God or get insulted… Eldad and Medad were prophesying great things about God himself! Moses might not have understood the mechanism but he understood the results.
Moses wished that God would give his Spirit to all humanity and that’s just what God did starting on the day of Pentecost when God poured out his Spirit (on all flesh) and fulfilled what the prophet Joel predicted…
“‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy”
Joshua and Moses were both great men in the Old Testament but Joshua was focused on the minute details of God’s Word and couldn’t see God’s great plan for mankind.
Oh that we could lift up our eye and see our great God like Moses did!
Burn up their idols in the fire. Do not wish for the silver and gold on them. Don’t take it for yourselves, or you will be trapped by it. The Lord your God hates it. Do not bring one of those hated things into your house. If you do, you will be completely destroyed along with it. Hate and reject those things. They must be completely destroyed. Deuteronomy 7.
This text instructs the Israelites to not only turn from idol worship but also what to do with the idols… utterly destroy them and burn them up. But look what else the text says don’t even keep the melted silver or gold that the idol was made of… get rid of it. Probably don’t even sell the gold and silver… just get rid of it.
In fact we see the exact same principle illustrated in the New Testament…
Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing. Acts 19.
Some might say… why don’t we take the gold from the melted idols… sell it and give it to the Lord. Or… why don’t we sell these magic books and give the proceeds to the church?
There is a sort of wisdom in that but not godly wisdom… the proceeds from the melted idols and sold magic books would be tainted and not acceptable to God.
What can we learn from these examples and the sin in our lives today?
Suppose you went to the garage sale of a widow and you “beat” her up on the pricing and went home and bragged about the good deal you got and the money you saved. Is the okay to take advantage of widows or the poor? What do you do with the widow’s property that you stole from her? Keep it anyway? Sell it so you won’t be reminded of your iniquity and use the money to buy something else?
What if you had been engaged in “outlaw” hunting on one of the big south Texas ranches and brought home a trophy buck and had it mounted and placed over your fire place. You later realize that you are a thief. What do you do with the deer mount? Keep it and recite to yourself over and over that you are saved by God’s grace? Or do you get rid of the monument to your sin and refuse to even keep or profit from selling it?
God’s people live to a higher standard than the rest of humanity. Part of that is not sinning or even keeping any of the treasure associated with sin. If you’re not ready to do that then you are not worthy of the Kingdom.
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:27
In this verse Jesus cites the two greatest commandments… loving God and loving your neighbor.
Let me suggest that participating in the Lord’s Supper (properly) fulfills both these commands.
Of course Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper so observing and obeying that directive fulfills the Great Command… loving God because we show that we love God by obeying his command.
When Christians congregate together and observe the Lord’s Supper, they are fulfilling the second great command… loving your neighbor as yourself.
Here’s why… God never intended that the Lord’s Supper be taken individually and privately. It is a communal activity observed when all Christians come together to demonstrate the unity of believers to the whole world. Check out Ephesians 3…
“His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms”
When we don’t assemble to take the Lord’s Supper we are violating God’s great command by neglecting his communal intent and we are violating the second command by neglecting our fellow Christians. In essence, telling our brothers and sisters that they don’t even matter.
Assemble together with your fellow Christians to observe the Lord’s Supper properly and in so doing fulfil the two greatest commandments given by Jesus.
Most of you don’t know this but I bring my own personal song book to church every Sunday. It is a leather-bound “Praise for the Lord”.
As a song leader I like to write the date by every song I have led. That’s one of the ways I know if I am leading a given song too many times. When other song leaders lead and they lead a song that I have never led… I mark that song too. That way I have a record of all the songs that the congregation “knows”.
Sometimes a member tells me something about a particular song. For instance I led the song “Beautiful” on May 2, 2010 and David Smitherman told me that was his grandmother’s favorite song. I mark things like that down.
I’ve gone through my whole songbook and marked all the songs I think I know and also have marked the songs I think look interesting so I can learn them later.
I also mark all the songs that were led at member’s funerals. For instance, the songs…”Seek Ye First”, “Does Jesus Care”, “He Leadeth Me”, How Great Thou Art”, “Victory in Jesus”, “Amazing Grace”, “Alleluia”, and “Blest Be the Tie” were all sung at my Dad’s funeral. I can’t lead those songs without getting a little emotional.
Likewise if I want to make various members cry… I know which ones to lead. You see… it’s all right there marked in my songbook.
My songbook is an old friend and I take a lot of comfort in it. It is in a lot of ways my own personal record and I think that one day when I have passed my children or grandchildren would love to have it as a memorial to me.
I guess that’s why I’m not a big fan of paperless hymnal… I could never leave my old friend on a shelf and sing without him and also neglect one day to pass my old friend to a loved one.
I was talking to my High School Bible class the other day and I asked them what they thought Heaven might be like? I didn’t get much of a response.
When I read descriptions of Heaven it’s like streets of Gold, gates of pearl and walls of precious stones. Plus activities like worship and singing before the throne of God. For me I can’t get too excited about walking on a street paved with gold and although I like to sing after a while I get tired of singing. Plus… I know some people who don’t even like to sing.
I asked my class… what would be the perfect Heaven for you? What would you like to be doing up there?
One said… I would play my guitar every day. Others talked about playing video games all day long. I guess for me it would be playing Volleyball or eating great food or laughing or spending time with loved ones.
Here’s the thing… a lot of those descriptions about Heaven in the scriptures are figurative… not literal. God uses figurative descriptions to describe immeasurable value in timeless terms that humans can understand.
I told my class that all those fun things we like to do now and the enjoyment those things bring us… that whatever God has planned for us in Heaven… it will be 1000 times funner… maybe a million times.
Have faith in God that he knows how to reward his children. The good things of earth are merely a foreshadowing of those things that God is going to surprise us with in Heaven
