According to Ephesians 2:19, we are
members of the household God – we being “the church.”
This summer, I visited a guy.[i] His house is old, mildewed, run-down. Junk is piled everywhere. Stacks of seemingly uses papers and old
clothes lay about. What can I learn
about the man by what I saw in his household?
He sits on his front porch. He had invited me to do some porch-sitting
with him. So we sat. As we talked, people would walk by; people who
are having a hard time in life. He lives
in that part of the city where drugs are easy to get, but work, not so
much. There’s an abundance of heartache
and a shortage of love.
He knew just about all who passed by, and they
certainly know him. Many would stop, and
he’d say, “What do you need?” He would
give a bag groceries. I don’t know who
donated all the food, but he never ran out.
On the table on his front porch were clean, neatly folded used
clothes. He’d pass those out too, as
people had need.
This is not all he does. Sometimes he preaches at the church where
he’s an associate pastor. That’s how I
met him. Sometimes, he goes to prayer
meetings with other pastors. Sometimes
he does advocacy work for the underprivileged in Durham. And sometimes, he sits
on his porch.
What can we learn about the man when
we look at his household? That he needs
to clean up and maybe paint the walls?
Or, that he is ready to meet people in their need with compassion,
kindness, prayer, and groceries if they are hungry and clothes if they need
them?
I visited another household – one in the part
of the city with spacious green lawns and two-car garages[ii]. People don’t walk by these houses, they drive
up to them. This couple, near 80, has
known me for 40 years.
They invited me into their neatly decorated
home. For over an hour, we sat at their
kitchen table, drank coffee, and talked about share memories. We discussed life in the church and race in
America. At lunch time, they had prepared
a table on their beautifully furnished, shaded back patio. After a sandwich and some coleslaw, she said,
“Rob, you haven’t had enough to eat,” as she refilled my empty plate.
By the time I departed, I was full of food,
and even more full of love from people who have loved me for as far back as I
can remember. And wisdom. Gently, they poured the wisdom of their years
into me.
What can I learn about these people from their
household? That they have worked hard
and enjoy the privilege of good education and good salaries and cultural
refinement? Or, that they love me and
out of their household flows welcome and generosity?
Both my hosts showed me that God is welcoming
– welcomes all. They showed me God is
generous. They showed me God is ready to
sit on the porch with me and listen.
They showed me God has a place at the table set for me. And after each visit, I left with my cup
full, God’s grace flowing out of me. On
Sunday morning, do people leave our church full, with God’s abundant love pour
over?
Verse 10 caught me as I read Ephesians 3 this
week. Through the church, the wisdom of God will be made know to rulers and
authorities in Heavenly places. Are
we ready for that? Angelic beings,
heavenly creatures we cannot imagine, supernatural forces both evil and
benevolent, ask God, who are you? What are
you? What wisdom will you share? God responds, all you need to know of me you
can know by looking to earth, to the realm of humans. Look to my church if you want to know
anything about me. Whoa!
My family visited several churches this summer[iii]. We met some wonderful people. But I don’t know if I would call the church
(church worldwide) exalted based on what we saw. One church didn’t really welcome us. They were very nice, but they barely noticed
we were there. Another was so polished
in their welcome, so refined in their method, it felt kind of like they wanted
to sell us something. Each church had
its strengths and weaknesses. That’s
true of us too. There are things
HillSong does well. And areas where we
need improvement.
However, we would miss the mark if we thought
we had to strive for that improvement in order to be the church described in
Ephesians 3:10. The church does not make
God’s wisdom known to the heavenly powers.
God does it working through His church, imperfect as it is.
The great reformation theologian John Calvin
says, “Truth is not extinguished [from] the world, but remains safe because it
has the church as its faithful custodian.”[iv] We have custody of the Word of God; we are
responsible to share the Gospel and to do it in an inviting, loving way.
Our sins separate us from God, but Jesus took
our sins and the end to which our sins lead, death, on himself. On the cross, Jesus shouldered it all. Removing our sin and replacing it with
righteousness, Jesus makes us right with God and each other. And then in resurrection, Jesus defeated the
last enemy – death. So, as we come to life
in Christ, we step into the Kingdom, into eternal life as sons and daughters of
God. This is the Gospel. Paul calls himself a servant of this Gospel
(3:7). We, God’s church, have custody of
this word and must care for it according to God’s design.
Bible scholar Marcus Barth says it another
way, calling the church a functional outpost of the Kingdom. The world yearns to be rescued from the decay
of sin and delivered to live in the Kingdom of God. As Barth thinks about the church as the place
where the wisdom of God is revealed, he imagines an outpost. In the church, we’re not in the Kingdom
fully, not yet. But, we are connected
and we point the way.
Eighteenth century evangelist and founder of
the Methodist Church John Wesley reads Ephesians 3:10 and writes that the
church is “the theater of divine wisdom.”
The church is where divine wisdom performs. It is where God’s ways are displayed and it
is where we are affected by God.
The church is …
·
a
faithful custodian – caring for how the good news of life in Christ is shared
·
an
outpost – pointing the way so people can escape the clutches of pain and loss
and find their way into God’s arms
·
the
theater in which God touches all who come with love and grace
·
the
front porch where we sit together and pray and listen and welcome all who come
buy
·
the
kitchen table where we talk over cups of coffee
Pay attention because in these pictures, we
don’t come to church to see what we can get.
We just come as we are, no pretensions, and we receive what God
gives. In receiving, with God doing the giving, we
become the medium in which the wisdom of God is made known.
We come wounded and broken. God restores and heals.
We come sad.
God sits with us in our sadness long enough for us to see that we are
not alone, but rather are part of a family who loves us. Sometimes the way we see God sitting with us
is in others in the church, our friends, putting their arms around us. No answers.
No solutions. Just presence and
love.
We come confused. God says, that’s OK. Follow Jesus, even when confused. Does the confusion clear up? Sometimes?
Yes. Eventually. Always?
Not necessarily. Some mysteries
of God remain as mysteries. But keep
worshiping God, keep following Jesus, and the Holy Spirit will work through
us.
We come with our questions, our doubts, and
our fears. God says, yes, come. And God loves us, through the love of the
church family.
What does the world learn about God when the
world looks into our church and we are living as a people in a dynamic
relationship with God in which we give up all control and authority to God?
One lesson about God is seen in examining ourselves. We have been created to be receivers, not
achievers. America celebrate
achievers. Look at what he
accomplished. We put those who have
accomplished a lot on pedestals. But God
made us to be in relationship with God.
We are designed to receive what God has to give. We probably have trouble with this because
for centuries, we’ve been condition to work for what we have, to earn it, so we
can tell ourselves we deserve it. In the
way of the Gospel, life, the love of God expressed through the cross and the
resurrection, and the presence of the Holy Spirit, can only be received.
Oh, we work hard. We work hard to turn the other cheek, to
respond to hurts with forgiveness, to know the word, to tune out temptations,
to bless others with our generosity. We
work hard, but our efforts flow out of our gratitude for the grace we’ve been
given. We work knowing everything we
have has already been given to us before we did a thing. That’s the wisdom of God revealed through the
church.
A second lesson is we are created for a home,
not created for the marketplace. The
marketplace is not bad. Buying and
selling is a part of human interaction.
There are examples of smart business people who became devoted followers
of Jesus while continuing to be smart in the game of commerce. Jesus commended shrewdness.[v]
Yet, we were not made for business. We were made for home and family.
In America and in other parts of the world,
church has become big business. Churches
compete for one another to draw people.
In that climate, worship attendees become customers who must be
attracted and then satisfied. Church
members see themselves as stakeholders or board members. The church staff are viewed as
employees. And the senior pastor is a
CEO.
The New Testament presents an entirely
different metaphor for church. In the
New Testament, church members called one another ‘brother,’ and ‘sister.’ Paul described himself as Timothy’s father in
the faith.[vi] Ephesians 1:5 says we are all adopted as
children of God. If we are unsatisfied
with our family, we don’t shop around until we find a happier one. We stick with one another through painful,
hard times. We come alongside each
other, brothers and sisters in Christ, and together we pray for healing,
forgiveness, and new life. We laugh and
cry and sing and dance together. The
church is a household, not one option among many in a spiritual marketplace.[vii]
What does the world learn about God when the
world looks into the church?
Life is received from God, not achieved. Our effort comes as response to God’s grace. God is a giver.
Church is a family of believers who make up a
household, not a Sunday morning option that serves to make the attendees
happy. Church goers who are in Christ
have joy in all circumstances and are equipped to walk through darkness and
pain because they lean on Christ.
Churches do not bend over backward to give people what they want;
rather, they meet the needs people bring with the love of Christ – love
expressed relationally, emotionally, and tangibly. God has a place for you.
I began with my experiences – porch sitting
with one brother in Christ; kitchen-table-coffee drinking with two others. This week, the wisdom of God is going to be
made known in the world through this church.
Don’t be surprised. God does this
every week. You may have been a part of
it. God may reveal divine mysteries
through you this week.
Ground yourself in Christ – bound to the
Gospel by God’s grace.
Do some porch-sitting. Sit with someone and listen deeply, ready to
welcome any who come, and pray for all.
Do some kitchen-table coffee sipping. As you do, with gratitude, receive the grace
of God others will pour into you. Don’t
keep your brothers and sisters in Christ at arm’s length. Let them pour love into your heart – let
someone love you to overflowing.
The wisdom of God won’t only be revealed
through us, but also to us.
AMEN
[i] My
visit to Alan Jones of Mosaic Church in Durham, August 2017.
[ii]
My visit to Sandy and Emerson Shelton in Richmond, VA, August 2017
[iii]
The period of my Sabbatical, May-September 2017.
[iv] Institutes, Book IV, chapter 8.12.
[v]
Luke 16:1-13
[vi] 1
Timothy 1:2.
[vii]
Peter T. Cha and Greg J. Yee (2012). Honoring the Generations, M.Sydney Park,
Soong-Chan Rah, and Al Tizon, editors.
Judson Press (Valley Forge, PA), p.94.
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