Am I A Church Member, Biblically?...Various Scriptures and Questions

 

It has started.  Do you see the icicle from the eave?  Stephanie said it is not ripe enough to pick yet!  The seasons of central Wisconsin are changing and adjustments are being made to operate in colder climates.  Stephanie is also counting down the days to her trip to Florida in January!  This ministry puts me in places to experience things I haven't done in a while so I have been fishing with a man named George pulling in some gills and crappies and Saturday I will be hunting with a man named Scott to see if I can process some more meat for the freezer.  I am realizing how important it is for me to sit and converse as much as I sit and study.

We finished 1 Peter 4 and there will be a break until the 1st of the year to go into 1 Peter 5.  I am going back to some sermons about 7 years ago and re-tooling them for a mini-series I have titled "Am I A Church Member, Biblically" patterned after a Thom Rainer book titled I Am A Church Member.  The goal is to look at the big picture of being a part of God's family universally and then merge it with the local gatherings of God's family.  Last Sunday introduced 3 questions.  3 more questions will come this Sunday and then 6 questions in white board session at our Thanksgiving Eve service.  

1.  Am I a Christian?  

I have made a self-conscious commitment to Christ.  Jesus is "the" Christ and He is "my" Christ.  Romans 10:8-11 speaks of the dual commitment I have made from a changed heart and the confessing mouth.

2.  Am I pursuing love of God and others?  

Though difficult at times it is not optional.  I may falter at times in loving God and loving others but my "getting back up point" is to ultimately respond with love.  John 13:34-35 gives me a new definition of love as Jesus Himself.

3.  Am I examining myself according to God's Word?  

The Bible is the "instrument panel" of my life.  I am going from excusing to examining and from rationalizing to re-committing.  Galatians 5:19-23 offers one of the many lists found in the pages of the Bible that help us to examine ourselves so we line up with God's words rather than re-writing them to our liking.

In preparing a sermon sometimes something new pops up that I have not seen before.  One passage referenced in the sermon is 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter.  What was a new observation was found in verses 1-3.  The question was, "How important is this thing called love?"  I joked with the song "What's love got to do with it, got to do with it...it's a second hand emotion."  The verses offer 5 ways to draw a crowd these days.

v.1 - (1) If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels... - which would be flashy and phenomenal!  It would draw a crowd for sure.

v.2 - (2) If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge... - which would draw another crowd because they are assembling to hear someone who has all the answers, the right ones.

v.2 - (3) If I have a faith that can move mountains... - which would draw another crowd who love a very charismatic, vision casting leader.  Many ride his wave as he presents the plan.

v. 3 - (4) If I give all I possess to the poor... - another group forms around the community involvement of the organization.  They want to be a part of a group that does tangible things for those less fortunate.

v.3 - (5) If I surrender my body to the flames... - a last group forms around someone who has strong convictions.  This person does not budge from God's word while the world is spiraling downward. 

All these possible ways to gather a following are followed by the phrase "...but have not love..."  Love is the base for a group coming together.  The cart before the horse phrase would be groups formed (the cart) and then lets try to tag love (the horse) to them and even make it look like love is leading it.  The horse is love and then let the cart, the gatherings, follow after it.  More to think about with this nugget from God's Word.

Adam