My Vision for Our Church (Part 1 - Foundations)

1 Corinthians 12:4-11

My Vision for Our Church

(Part I - Foundations)

            There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.  There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.  There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.

            Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.  To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.  All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.

irtually any congregation in this day (and certainly most denominations) claim to be representative of “New Testament” churches.  What is a New Testament church?  How do we recognise whether a congregation reflects the model provided in the New Testament or whether significant deviation from biblical standards exists for that congregation?  How significant must departure from biblical criteria be before a congregation ceases to qualify as a New Testament church?  Appeal to any of a number of passages could be made in setting forth the model of New Testament Christianity.  Not least among such passages from the New Testament are chapters twelve through fourteen of Paul’s first letter to the Church of God at Corinth.  Focus in particular with me on the initial verses of chapter twelve for our meditations.  As we study the passage, ask yourself what steps must be taken so that you and I may work to insure that our congregation approximates the New Testament model in essential details.

In the verses selected for study, I find three great principles which serve to provide evidence for whether a church may be considered to be “New Testament” in faith and practise.  The principles provided reflect on any church situation within any culture wherein any church may be called to represent God through witness and through service.  Study the verses with me so that we may be instructed and that we may be united in our work, thus insuring that ours is a ”New Testament” congregation.

The First Principle — In the New Testament Church God Is the Unifying Factor.  A Baptist church rightly takes considerable pride in its autonomy … that is, in its independence.  No church holding to Baptist principles would ever submit to any moral or ethical authority outside the express will of the congregation, save for the authority of Christ exercised through the guiding principles given in His Word.  A Baptist church can submit neither to denominational nor to civil authority in areas of faith and practise.  In a New Testament church (and every Baptist church should be “New Testament” in faith and practise) no higher appeal exists for faith and practise than an appeal to Christ through His Word; and the expression of that Word is ever and always acknowledged and approved by the people of God.

Some, even some calling themselves Baptist and presenting themselves as leaders, have failed to understand this principle and shrink from trusting the assembly.  “You cannot trust,” they demure, “unschooled, ordinary men to make great decisions concerning faith and practise.”  Why not?  Peter and John were unschooled, ordinary men, and their power confounded the religious leaders even as they honoured God.

There is among the churches of this day too much of that worldly thinking which considers specialists alone to be qualified to serve as authorities able to make whatever decisions may confront a congregation or the broader community of faith.  We are convinced that parents cannot make decisions concerning the education of their children since they are not educators.  We accept that citizens are incapable of expressing their will on constitutional matters, on resource management, or on crime and punishment because they are not politicians.  We are incapable of controlling our own retirement and only politicians can make such decisions for us; we are not specialists.  Saturated with the message of our supposed incompetence because of a lack of specialisation we bring that same deadly attitude into the church.  We believe Christians are unqualified to render decisions concerning morals and ethics because they are not specialists.  As a result, we who are destined to judge angels are made to consider ourselves unqualified to apply Scripture in the life of our congregation.  Rot!  As believers born from above by the grace and power of the Living God, we know His will and are able to apply His will in our lives.

The point of this discussion is that though none of us would present ourselves as specialists in theology, as specialists in doctrine, or even as specialists in ethics, we do enjoy this one unifying factor in the midst of our diversity: God is our Father.  So the Apostle states of us: There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.  There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.  There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men  [1 Corinthians 12:4-6].  It is the same Holy Spirit equipping each of us for service, and each of us is equipped for service.  It is the same Lord Christ whom we each serve.  It is the same God at work in each of us.  Though we are not specialists, we have the one great resource of Heaven itself directing our minds, for we have the mind of Christ [1 Corinthians 2:16b].

What is it that motivates us to meet for worship, to inconvenience ourselves for this brief time week after week?  Do you suppose that we meet together because we are all Canadian?  Or because we all are hirsute?  Do you suppose that we meet together because we are all wealthy?  Because we all enjoy trout fishing?  Or enjoy bear hunting?  Or because we enjoy camping?  Or is it because we enjoy hiking?  Have you ever considered what might possibly be the one great factor that unites us in worship?

The unifying factor in our worship is the Living God!  It is God who saved us.  It is God who appointed us to service.  It is God who gives us our individual ministries.  It is God who brought us together in this church.  It is God who is the centre of our worship and the object of our adoration and the reason for our existence.  When social status or language or culture or race or citizenship or political affiliation become the unifying factor for our union as a congregation, we are on the toboggan slide accelerating toward destruction.

The Second Principle — In the New Testament Church Individual Believers are the Expression of God’s Grace and Wisdom.  The most dangerous philosophy is that of which we are not aware!  Practically speaking the attitude of the world is that the church is a convenience, a commodity, or even a source of entertainment.  Sadly, many Christians adopt this worldly philosophy without even realising what has happened.  We can always find another church if we are unhappy with our present church.  So, we “attend the church of our choice,” and we are in control.  We shop for the church that will meet our felt needs much as we shop for groceries.  But what shall we say about God’s declaration that it is the Spirit of God who sets us in the church according to His will?  What shall we say concerning the exercise of the gifts God has given us to strengthen fellow saints in the congregation in which He has set us?  What answer can we give to the question concerning our responsibility to build one another?

As Christians we may be assured that all else being equal, God does set us within a congregation in the community in which we live.  Christian duty demands that we endeavour to build up that Body of Christ where we live, and the manner in which the Holy Spirit operates is consistent with this goal.  It is not a nebulous, amorphous unseen something we are to build—we are together building the Body of Christ expressed through that particular congregation with which we worship.  Grasp this one singular fact and we will find ourselves at extreme variance with the mindset of this present world even while enjoying the rich blessings of heaven.

Listen to this truth!  Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good [1 Corinthians 12:7].  I would encourage you to see that it is not simply that we Christians are gifted individuals, but that each Christian is a gift to the congregation wherein he or she is placed.  The Apostle then lists a variety of possible gifts a believer may possess: the message of wisdom, the message of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, miraculous powers, prophecy, ability to distinguish between spirits, different languages, and interpretation of languages.  The Apostle states, All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines [1 Corinthians 12:11].

There seems to be intense interest in the gifts of the Holy Spirit in these last days.  Entire denominations have been created around the acquisition of and the expression of spiritual gifts.  While I would not for a moment discourage any individual from the exercise of his legitimate spiritual gifts, I am obligated by my spiritual appointment to remind each listener of a vital truth.  Each believer within every congregation is not only gifted, but he or she is a gift to the particular congregation wherein God has placed him or her.  The practical import of this knowledge is that there are no second-class saints within the Body of Christ—each is to be received with dignity.

Let me restate the foundational facts that we may all be united in this understanding and that we may thus be mutually instructed.  Upon becoming a believer in Christ the Lord, the Spirit of God took up residence in your life: we were all given the one Spirit to drink [1 Corinthians 12:13].  Then, the Spirit has gifted each [believer], just as He determines [1 Corinthians 12:11] and His gifts are given for the common good [1 Corinthians 12:7].  The gifts of the Spirit are intended to build up the Body of Christ; the spiritual gifts are meant to enrich others.  The vital point for purposes of this particular message is that we remember that each believer is situated within a particular congregation by Divine design and is to be received as God’s grace gift.  At the practical level, if you are a Christian you are responsible to unite with and exercise your gift in your local church.

Take a moment to look around you at those occupying the pews with you today.  When you look around, who do you see sharing the service with you?  Perhaps you see a family member, a friend or a neighbour, an acquaintance, or even someone whom you have met only briefly.  This, however, is but a casual way of seeing things and at best provides a superficial examination.  If that one sharing the service with you is a fellow believer he or she is an expression of God’s grace, a gift from God given to you that you might be spiritually enriched and strengthened in the Holy Spirit.

This is one strong reason why I insist on the open confession of our mutual faith and encourage open union with the congregation with which we worship.  If God has redeemed us we are honour-bound to confess His Name through identification with Him in baptism as those who believe, and we are responsible to worship among those people wherein He has set us.  It is not that God begs us and patiently awaits our decision, but rather that we must give answer why we would dare call Him Lord and yet choose to be disobedient.  We must understand that it is not so much that we join the congregation as that we are set within the congregation.

The Third Principle — In the New Testament Church Loving Co-operation Demonstrates Recognition of God’s Sovereignty.  Paul presents the church not as a democracy, but as a body.  The various members of your body do not take a vote each time a task is required; instead, the brain directs the various parts of the body in a co-ordinated fashion to accomplish whatever task is mandated.  Babies must think carefully before acting.  With maturity, however, we no longer need to carefully weigh each action—we act smoothly and with dispatch.  The body of a mature individual is co-ordinated and acts smoothly to accomplish every task.  Just as a body which fails to move and act in a co-ordinated fashion is spastic, uncoordinated and weak, so the Body of Christ cannot help but be uncoordinated and weak should the members fail to have loving concern for one another, a concern which is expressed through an attitude of co-operation.

A body with two heads is an oddity, being malformed; a church with two heads is a monstrosity.  Christ is the head of the church, but He appoints leaders within each church to direct us in the exercise of His will.  It is a tragedy that too many churches consider themselves to be political entities instead of spiritual organisms.  The evidence of this charge is seen in their resort to a vote to accomplish every task.  That Church which desires to be strong and which wishes to grow must seek out the leadership which God provides and determine to follow that leadership.  The Word of God instructs us that Christ does provide leadership—pastors, elders, overseers—raised up for the specific purpose of leading the people of God into the will of God.

Obey your leaders and submit to their authority.  They keep watch over you as men who must give an account.  Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you [Hebrews 13:17].  All elders are admonished, Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.  Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood [Acts 20:28].  Similarly, Peter warns those appointed to pastoral oversight over the congregations to Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve [1 Peter 5:2].  These gifted men direct the work of God according to the revealed mind of God given us in the written Word of God.

A body with two minds appears spastic; a church with two missions is divided.  A church cannot have two missions; it must be united in working toward that goal which God has assigned and toward which every member seeks to apply himself or herself in union with fellow saints.  The church which would fulfil the will of God must seek to act in concert with the mind of Christ, working toward mature expression of faith.  So the Apostle will continue the passage addressing the need for co-operation and co-ordination if the Body is to prove productive in advancing the work of Christ.  Those verses will be considered in their turn in upcoming messages as I develop parts two and three of the message.

My great concern is that this congregation is united in purpose and in service.  I am concerned that each member of the Body function powerfully, finding the place of work God assigns and endeavouring to serve one another in a spirit of love.  When we each work and when we each invest our lives in one another we reveal that we are truly convinced that God is sovereign over life and service.  When we hold ourselves back from identification with Christ, when we hesitate to be baptised, we bespeak a desire to reign over our own spirits.  When we fail to openly unite with the congregation, when we refuse to readily join with the people of God, we demonstrate a desire to continue in control of our own destiny.  When we fail to find a place of service and when we refuse to witness and to work, we demonstrate that we know little of the purpose for which God places us within the congregation.  Where is the spirit of submission then?  Where is the gentle spirit which emulates that of the Lord Christ?

Applications — Permit me to make several practical applications of these principles.  I urge each of you to Cultivate Appreciation for Fellow Saints.  I urge you to consider each fellow believer as a gift to the church, a gift for your benefit, given by the good hand of our God.  Endeavour to see that these whom God has placed among us are given to us to enrich us and to build us in the Faith.  Learn to view each fellow believer as of infinite value if only because each is redeemed at infinite cost and given us by the infinite mind of the Living God.  It is a sorrowful truth that I must append a caution.  Because of our fallen condition, we sometimes misconstrue the mind of God and fail to apply that sanctified common sense given for our good.  I caution that love for an individual does not mean that we can overlook error.  A combative spirit, moral and ethical failure, and doctrinal deviation must all be corrected in love.

Each of us must Demonstrate Full Confidence in Those Whom God Assigns to the Church.  It is not necessary that we have a church boss overseeing every aspect of every ministry within the congregation.  Each believer, received as God’s gracious gift to the church, must always be received with thanksgiving and treated with dignity because of who he or she is—a child of God.  Thus, each believer is a precious gift from God Himself.  Grant each fellow member of the Body the freedom to exercise his or her gift among us, encouraging one another in ministry.

To those who are believers and who yet hesitate to unite with us in open union, we must reveal the love of Christ.  We must endeavour to teach them the Word of God in the hope that they will grow toward Christian maturity until the day they submit to His holy command, being obedient in baptism and uniting with the congregation.  We dare not, however, permit ourselves to yield to their request to assume positions of leadership, but instead we must gently instruct them despite their opposition in the hope that God will lead them into the knowledge of the truth.

I furthermore issue a call to Exercise Humility before the Sovereign Choice of God.  Occupy the place where God has set you.  Stop seeking some better place, for the place in which God has set you is the best place.  Too many professed saints of the Living God anticipate that there is a better church somewhere else, that they will have an easier time elsewhere, or that they will be accorded more respect in another place.

I recall a young woman who attended a congregation I once pastored.  She was vibrant and excited about being able to attend a nearby Bible school and so grateful to have found our church.  I noticed, however, that she was soon so busy with school that she had no time for service among the saints.  Her silent message was “Serve me!”  With the passage of time I saw that she became less and less faithful in her attendance at the services of the congregation.

If you want the Minister to visit, become a “squeaky wheel.”  Complain, or better still, simply quit attending the services.  I visited the young woman and she informed me that she had decided to attend another congregation because she felt God had led her to do so.  The reason she knew God was leading her to attend elsewhere was because the other church was somewhat larger and had a college fellowship.  The bottom line for her was that another church was better equipped to serve her, and she had decided that she needed to reduce stress in her life.  My message was too demanding and the other church did not require much.

I inquired whether she had considered that God perhaps meant that we should have a college ministry and that perhaps God has placed her with us to assist in just such an outreach.  She quickly assured me that she had no time to assume such responsibility as would be required by the organisation of and direction of a college ministry.  I knew from the previous semester of observation that she was reluctant to invite her peers to share the services with her, and that she had often indicated that ours was not a sufficiently large or showy congregation to impress her peers.  At the time we met in a funeral home and she was ashamed of our facilities.

I could not reconcile her statement with the statements she had made scant months prior.  Then she had assured me that God had placed her among us; now she assured me that God was leading her elsewhere.  Then she had assured me that what was vital was sound doctrine and the building of a firm foundation; now she really needed fellowship.  Then she had sought a place where she could give; now she felt the need to take.  Then she had longed to minister; now she longed to be ministered to.  I do not believe I am unkind if I suggest that she had begun to imbibe deeply of worldly philosophy which convinced her that taking was her due and of greater and more lasting value than giving.  Focused on her felt needs she had become ineffective in service to God and to the people of God.

A final plea is to remind each listener of the need to Find a Place of Service.  Perhaps we need to be reminded of the words of Jesus that the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve [Matthew 20:28].  The adage that we are saved to serve stands unaltered despite the march of centuries and the advent of yet another millennium.  I boldly state that if you are not serving within the church you are disobedient to the command of the Lord.  Serve one another in love [Galatians 5:13].  Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms [1 Peter 4:10].  Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men [Ephesians 6:7].  These repeated admonitions, and others like them, mean nothing if they do not mean that we are responsible to exercise our gift within the Body of Christ.  Such instruction forever dashes the thought of position within the church as a means to power.

Do you have a ministry in the church?  If you are a Christian you have received a ministry from God who gifted you.  Are you employing your gift to the glory of God among us?  If not, you are prostituting the gift of God, consuming it on your own self or wasting His gift instead of glorifying Him?  Perhaps yours is a ministry of prayer, organising the fellowship of prayer and insuring that it truly becomes a fellowship.  Perhaps the ministry God has given you is to encourage other believers to remain faithful to the tasks God has assigned.  Perhaps yours is a service of teaching, instructing others through the Sunday School, through a home Bible study, through a lunch hour Bible fellowship where you work.  Perhaps God has assigned you the task of providing direction for the growth of the congregation, planning and implementing the work of the Body.  Perhaps it is to be merciful, hurting with those who hurt and rejoicing with those who rejoice.  Of this one thing I am confident: each member of this particular Body has received a ministry and has been equipped to fulfil that ministry.  Are you faithful?

Dear people, if ever you are to experience fullness in Christian life—give.  Give of strength which is not your own and give the gifts which you received of God.  Give of yourself and invest yourself in the lives of fellow believers to the glory of God.  Without apology I tell you that my message shall be that I will instruct you in the Word of God, and that that Word will lead you to die to self that Christ might live in you.  My message shall be “grow or go.”  There are churches and to spare which seek a crowd and which will welcome you as part of the crowd.  My message shall emphasise the building of a Body which reflects the glory of God as together we seek His presence and as together we endeavour to build one another.  Amen.