My family and I have a little game we play with each other. We 'give' each other people ... famous people, sports figures, other family members, historical figures. For example, Lee is 'given' all the people whose names begin with strange combinations of 's' words (she gets Brandt Snedeker, Xander Schauffele, both golfers). It is a silly game, but funny at times, especially when someone begins a sentence with "Your boy, Adolf Hitler made history again today!" It is all in good fun and we try not to get our feelings hurt (very much a no-no in today's world) by which person we are given.
But in the Church, things are different. Acts often describes the believers as being "together." In Acts, it seems that the one requirement for being a person's boy or girl is a shared belief in Jesus. I love that, and I think that is as it should be. We belong to each other, even if we sometimes do things to 'fry each other's bacon!' God understood this principle well. In Exodus 32:10 God says to Moses, "Now leave me alone with My anger, that my anger may burn against them, and then I will make you into a great nation." Translation, "I brought them into this world, and I can take them out ... and I can make some new people who are not so stiff-necked." Needless to say, God was mad and disappointed with disobedient people! But Moses makes a very wise plea. In the next verses Moses (again paraphrased) says, "They may be stiff-necked, but they are yours!" Our lesson? The people that make you mad in the Church may be stiff-necked (or maybe you are stiff-necked) but they are yours. They are all "your boys and girls!"
Acts has some great advice here. If we are to ever have both the unity and power of the early Church, we have some work to do. It starts with understanding we are the Body of Christ. Hands, feet, fingers ... even some armpits! But we are part of that thing that God has sent us to transform the planet. "I am the church! You are the church! We are the church together! All who follow Jesus, all around the world! Yes, we're the church together!" I may be an armpit, but I am still your boy! And Jesus, in John 17:21, prays that all the believers are one, just as Jesus and the Father are one. That should mean something to us.
A second bit of work is our need to get rid of the unimportant. I have to brag on our congregation for a minute. All of you seem to keep centered on why we are here and not get too distracted by the small things. We have had extra children and you have embraced them, distractions and all. I wonder if the early Church just went with the flow of life with a very diverse group and didn't sweat some of the differences and distractions. Peter and Paul had some discussions about this (Galatians 2) but they came to the conclusion that as diverse as the people were, they were all their boys and girls! They were willing to put aside the unimportant for the work of the Church and the witness of the Gospel.
Finally, I think the early Church had a pretty good perspective of being more centered on 'one thing' than on 'their own things.' Paul, in Colossians 3, says we need to be tuned with one another, kind of like instruments in an orchestra. "Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing (Colossians 3:15, The Message)!" One of the hardest parts of playing in the praise band on Sunday is getting in step and in tune. If our instruments aren't tuned together, we will sound bad, no matter how well we think we are playing. If we are on a different musical page, we can play beautiful notes and get a horrible sound. To sound right/good we must play together. Sometimes that means Andy, Rachel or I must be willing to play differently than we would like, so the whole piece of music sounds good. It is the same in a congregation. While we are a diverse group of people, all of us must be willing to give a little of 'self' so that the 'whole' can be healthy, sound right and express the witness of "The Church." Some of you are saying, "So we have to give up our individuality to conform to the whole?" My answer is ... NO! What you must do is grow past and beyond 'individuality' to become part of something bigger than you are. We sing it in America the beautiful ... "who more than self their country loved, and mercy more than life!"
In Matthew 16 Jesus refers to Peter and his confession as a rock. The Greek idea here is not as much a piece of quartz or granite as lots of little pebbles (Peter means 'little rock') that are bound together into an amalgamation that is larger, stronger and more gifted than any individual could possibly be. What about all the other pebbles, stones, chunks of brick and clay? They (you) are my boys and girls, my brothers and sisters. And what is stronger ... a pile of rocks or a block of concrete? So ... I claim you and I hope you claim me. For we are bound up together in Christ ... the Church that will prevail against the very gates of hell (Matthew 16:18)! Randy
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