The Glorifying Church

Ephesians 3:21 – “To him be the glory in all the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” (NASB)

The local Christian church is a messy place. There’s the old joke about the church member talking to his non-church-going friend. The friend says, “Yes, but I don’t like organized religion.”

The church-goer responds, “Well, then you should love our church – there’s nothing organized about it!”

This phrase, “Glory to God in the church” – is a striking phrase in this prayer or benediction by Paul. This is a man who saw a lot of non-glorifying stuff in the early church. This phrase is arresting for me who worked in the church of the 21^st century. There was sooooooo much in church life that did NOT glorify God.

Yet, the sense is that part is just as true as the next clause, which is that Jesus glorifies God. We know that is true – of course Jesus glorified God. The two clauses are treated as equally true. So, in some way, the church glorifies God.

Lots of questions: with the church continue forever, “to all generations?” And there are others. But the key thought is that the church, as with all things, exists to glorify God.

This was a good thing to remember as I went through the grind of ministry work.

Remember And Proclaim (1Cor 11:23-26)

Eugene Peterson, in his book, "Christ Plays in 10,000 Places" has greatly stimulated my thinking about the Lord's Table. Again, here are some thoughts that come from that work, as I have processed them...

The church is a funny thing - by that I mean that it is quirky, goofy, and occasionally silly. And I also believe that Christ is quite fond of his 'bride,' in all her quirky self.

And here’s the really quirky thing: the church is a wide spectrum of understanding and mission. We have the cloak and incense bunch on one end; the store-front missions, independent fundamentalists, and Pentecostals on the other end; and the middle-church of the Presbyterians, Methodists, and established Baptists.

Friends, all of them is us. We are all the church; a rather diverse spectrum we are, indeed. Yet, in all of that, we affirm and practice - on a regular basis - the special gathering that we variously label: “Eucharist,” “Lord's Table,” “Breaking of Bread,” or simply “the bread and cup.” Excepting the Quakers, we all do this.

Biblically, there are many things - in scope and depth - that are accomplished in the Lord's Table. But here are two: the remembrance of Jesus and the proclamation of Jesus.

Let’s start with “Remember.”

This word means more than a mere mental activity. It is a re-enactment of what actually happened. It is more than recalling the memory of what Jesus did – though it most certainly is that. It also calls us to participate right now, at this Table in what he did and continues to do. This is where our Roman friends get confused: Jesus is not actually re-crucified. Hebrews, chapters 8 through 10 are clear about that. But as we go through our time here, we affirm that Jesus does continue to work redemptively in our world today, and we re-present him in these physical symbols of body taken and blood received. At the start of our week, we reaffirm that the gospel is for everyday, weekly life.

That takes us to the second thing that is accomplished ... Proclaim.

We proclaim the Lord's death. In what we do this morning, we - as a group - are preaching Christ crucified and raised. In a way, the Lord's Table is a parable of action to be observed by the world Christ came to save. We are exhorted: "How are they to hear without someone to proclaim him?" (Rom 10:14b) Alas, relatively few have taken that offer to be saved. Yet, we act out a parable which means this: "The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"

So that is the proclamation: Salvation is accomplished in Jesus' death, and only in his death.

These two things, to remember and to proclaim, are the intertwining magnetic poles of the Lord's Supper. We always remember the crucifixion of Christ and then always proclaim what has happened.

Remember and Proclaim.

But there is an implied warning here. If we emphasize one of these over the other, we get disoriented - our compass goes askew.

·        Yes; we can “over-remember” - if we only remember and are not also authentically proclaiming Christ

·        And, yes, we can “over-proclaim” - if we only proclaim and we do not also remember the grace we received in Jesus' death

Or, putting it more simply: we can be over-devotional or over-active.

Here, at the table, we are called to remember and proclaim; to be devoted and to act. As we do the Lord's Supper here together, we are encouraged to then co-operate with God as we leave this place.

Both together here and apart later, we remember and proclaim.

Showing Up

Was reminded this morning of the old saying that goes something like this: "Most of life is about showing up."

We frequently mean that in a mental or emotional sense, as in: "I was there but mentally checked out;" or "I was emotionally unavailable." I remember hearing this most recently in the case of voting - encouraging younger voters to 'show up' in the political process by voting

But there is the basic sense that we tend to pass over and that is physically being there. "Incarnationally present," to sound technical. You can't even get to "mentally in attendance" if you are not physically there! By the way, no points if you counter with: "But what if I am listening to a conference call or webinar or ..." That's not the point.

So where am I going with this? Next time you elect to not attend church, realize that you are choosing to not "show up." Then tell me, with a straight face, about how much you love your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Tell me about your commitment to the church as the family of God. Convince me of your engagement with the purposes of Jesus in the world. You have not shown up physically - it is Highly Improbable that you are showing up mentally, emotionally, or volitionally. Yep, most of your life as a Christian starts by showing up at your local church.

In the book of Hebrews we read "Let us not neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." (Heb. 10:25). Sure, some Christians do treat the meeting-together pretty casually - but that is not the way it is supposed to be. It is an appropriate response to the gospel: now that God has drawn near, we should draw together. And if we don't; well, the next few verses say that will not be good.

Oh, and another ByTheWay, why would you think that "family/friends are in town" is a legitimate excuse to not come to church? If they are believers, they should come and worship with you. If they are not, then this is your opportunity to have an evangelistic impact. Either they come with you and see what Christians do, or they do not come and see that you are committed to the cause and work of Jesus in this world - both of those outcomes have evangelistic impact. Remember that most evangelism is not done by the professionals, it's done by the pew-sitters. But - of course - if you're not in the pew in the first place, well ...
So if you do not go to church, the message to your visitors is pretty clear: "I don't value being with the people of God."

Let's explore that notion of valuing visiting family more than God's people. Look again at the words of Jesus: Pointing to his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother" (Matt. 12:49-50) - so who is your true family? Or, He replied, "My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into practice" (Luke 8:21) - who are your true relatives? Or, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26) - even using hyperbole, Jesus is making it clear: if some other loyalty is competing with your loyalty to God, you are not being a good disciple. Is there any doubt that Jesus well and truly loved his mother and siblings? No - of course not!

There are certain cultures within the world or sub-cultures within America that embrace the idolization of family. Remember that an idol does not have to completely replace the true God. If you place the idol along side of God, that 'implied equality' is still idolatry.

Back to church attendance - really, if our commitment to God is so weak that we struggle to do this very basic thing of giving one percent of our week to meeting with the local church, then we need to have a serious self-conversation about our devotion to Jesus.

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"One percent" - where did I get that? A week is seven 24-hour days: (7*24=)168 hours. I assume a two hour commitment to a weekly service. Two divided by 168 is (2/168=) .0119, or a bit over one percent (1.19%).