The log that fell off the fire

 

I lit a fire in our fireplace earlier this week. It’s a nice touch for a relaxing evening. To get it going, I placed small pieces of kindling on the bottom, and then arranged wood in a neat array. It burned nicely.  One of the pieces rolled off the pile and in a few moments the fire on it died out. It needed to be with the other pieces to stay on fire.  That little episode is a parable for a disciple who wants to stay passionate about serving God.

"Church, who needs it?" is an idea widely accepted among Christians. In the church I lead an increasingly casual attitude toward gathering for worship has led to only about half of the congregation being present on any given Sunday.  Many insist that they can worship as they play, or have family time, or rest at home.  Fact is, a disciple who brushes off the importance of being an active part of a congregation, is ignoring something that is on God's 'critically important' list!  Here’s what the Bible says, “let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching." (Hebrews 10:24-25, NIV)

Our spiritual experience while personal and individual is incomplete without Church. The Bible says that we are part of Christ’s Body, each of gifted to contribute to the whole, none of us self-sufficient in our practice or understanding.  (see 1 Corinthians 12)  Looking back over Christian history it becomes clear that nearly every aberrant or heretical practice began when someone decided that he or she no longer needed to stay in the Church. Without the balance of the Body, we all risk becoming self-deceived. Then, too, what we can do together far exceeds what we might hope to do for the Kingdom by ourselves.

The church may gather in someone's living room, a school gymnasium, a chapel by the roadside, or a cathedral. I have worshipped with Christians in all of the above and offered my praise and worship to the Living God.  I remember feeling the Presence of God as I worshipped with people whose language I could not understand, sitting on a wooden bench in a potato warehouse that had been converted to a church in India. Our only musical instrument was a single drum!  A couple of Sundays back, I worshipped in a huge church with thousands.  The house in which God's people gather is not what is central to our faith practice.  It is the act of gathering; coming together so that the Spirit can be among us!   And Jesus assures us that "where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." (Matthew 18:20, NIV)

*        If your church is not a good church, then earnestly pray for her; don't abandon her!  God may change the church or He may change you, but the act of loving His Church with prayer and support, is a choice of obedience that the Lord will always bless. 

         

*        If your church is a good, healthy Body, give thanks for the work being accomplished and pray for those who lead her to keep vision renewed and fervor fresh.  Nothing breeds complacency like 'success' however that may be defined.  As much as some may denigrate the church, there is nothing that will contribute to the stability and vitality of your faith in a greater way than your church over the course of your life.  God says so! 

Don’t be like the log that rolled off the fire!  The charred piece of wood lies cold and useless in my fireplace this morning.  The fire went out when it got separated from the other logs.  Stay fired up! Keep your holy passion intact by staying ‘in church.’  If  the Church is important to Him, it must be important to those who claim to love and serve Him!  You better believe it.

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The Church's one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord;
She is His new creation by water and the word.

From heav'n He came and sought her to be His holy bride;
With His own blood He bought her, and for her life He died.

Elect from ev'ry nation, yet one o'er all the earth,
Her charter of salvation- "One Lord, one faith, one birth;"

One holy name she blesses; partakes one holy food,
And to one hope she presses, with ev'ry grace endued.

Yet she on earth hath union with God the three in one,
And mystic sweet communion with those whose rest is won;
O happy ones and holy! Lord, give us grace that we,
Like them, the meek and lowly, on high may dwell with Thee.

The Church's One Foundation

Samuel Stone, Samuel Wesley

© Public Domain