Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Do You Want a Job or a Body? (Part 2)


In my last bulletin article I made the following comment: “Who we are and what we do begins in the body of Christ. Therefore, every decision we make must be grounded and conditioned by the calling, gifts, and the responsibilities Jesus places upon each man, woman, and child in the local church..”

The above quote is attempting to get at the centrality of the local congregation ought to have in our lives. I also used the question of what we choose to do for a living as one illustration of how disconnected we have become from seeing the local congregation as central to all we do: “For instance, imagine that Christ called you to be a hand in the local body. But what if you choose to make a living in the world with a job that takes up all your time and energy, so that you have no time and energy left to be and do what Christ calls you to be and do in the local body? Is it not possible to be faithful and successful to your career, but completely faithless and sinful in your calling to Christ’s local body?”

What we choose to do for a living is generally regarded as a deeply personal decision in which the fellowship of the local body of believers has absolutely nothing to contribute. Yet, the apostle Paul tells us: “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,  to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,  until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph 4:11-14). Our first priority in life is the building up of the local body of Christ.

In my more cynical moments I think to myself that such a notion that we are one body and each of us essential and integral to the life of one another is a pipedream. Oh, I know we speak a good talk of being family, brothers and sisters when we gather for worship on Sunday morning, but what does being members of one another mean realistically and practically? Being family surely means more than sitting in pews for an hour as we stare at the back of each other’s heads—does it not?

I recognize that the problem does not rest with members simply showing up to various activities planned by the congregation. There is a responsibility for the leadership of West Main to provide, stir, and lead every member to love and good deeds exercising the gifts Christ has granted each man, woman, and child of the West Main Church of Christ. Our leadership must seek to create the necessary space and opportunities for every member to obey the calling Christ has given them.

However, no leader of West Main can tell you what your gift is! So here is what I suggest: Demand from our leadership that you be put to work exercising the gifts Christ has given you! Pray with us for the imagination, will, and opportunity for you to be what Christ is calling you to be for the West Main Church of Christ. Then and only then can we say we are a body and not just carrying out a job.

--Terry

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Do You Want a Job or a Body? (Pt.1)


Consider the following quote from a book on how central the body of Christ ought to be in our lives: “Christians have to earn a living, but we are not called to particular trades, careers, or jobs. So Christians should choose those jobs that will best let them serve the body of Christ (where the body of Christ is understood as local churches). Our actual employment is of limited importance” (Being Church: Reflections on How to Love as the People of God, pg., 70).
I imagine we would all have various reactions to the local congregation playing such a central role in our lives. Honestly, I have never personally heard someone decide on a means of employment based on how such work would serve the local congregation. After all, we might say, my life is my own and the local congregation has nothing to do with such a personal decision.

Yet the issue can be raised from Scripture that perhaps even how we choose to make a living is a concern for the local congregation. Consider the following familiar passage: “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ.  For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all made to drink of one Spirit.  For the body is not one member, but many” (1 Cor 12:12-14). The previous text demonstrates that we are to identify our individual selves in relation to others in the local congregation, the local body of Christ.  If we identify who we are in relation to other members of the local body, then how can what we choose to do for a living not be a concern for the local body?

Take a moment and think about how especially young people are often asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” The previous question reveals that within our society we often identify a person by what they do for a living.  The apostle Paul says we are to be identified by the gifts Christ has given each of us and how those gifts serve the local body of Christ (1 Cor 12:11ff). Now you may object here and say, “But what I do for a living is a separate question from what I do for the local church. I can separate my identity in Christ from what I do to make a living.” True, Christ did not die on a cross and resurrect from the dead so he could give us good jobs in General Electric. Jesus died and rose again so that we can be and serve the local body of Christ for the salvation of the world (Ephesians 3:1-12).

Who we are and what we do begins in the body of Christ. Therefore, every decision we make must be grounded and conditioned by the calling, gifts, and the responsibilities Jesus places upon each man, woman, and child in the local church. The question then is not so much what we choose to do for a living, but how what we choose to do for a living effects our first priority: What we do for the local congregation to be a living body of Christ in the world.

For instance, imagine that Christ called you to be a hand in the local body. But what if you choose to make a living in the world with a job that takes up all your time and energy, so that you have no time and energy left to be and do what Christ calls you to be and do in the local body? Is it not possible to be faithful and successful to your career, but completely faithless and sinful in your calling to Christ’s local body? We must not imagine that we can justify our careers that take us away for the local congregation by saying, “I sacrifice time away from church so that I can financially support all that the local congregation needs to do.” Brothers and Sisters, Jesus accomplished at the Cross all the work that is necessary for the body of Christ to exist. Jesus has no need of your career. Jesus is calling you to serve the local body with the spiritual gifts he has given you. In other words, you not called to a job, but to a body.