Posts - The Electric Gospel

Dec

2019

Heart, soul and mind

Originally published on The Electric Gospel on November 5, 2014.

This blog post is from a dear friend whose faith and passion I admire much … and yet she realizes how much she needs the passion of Christ in order to be passionate for Christ.

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Passion for Christ

by Danica Scharlemann

Think for a moment of something that you are passionate about. Perhaps it’s football–not only do you play, but you know the statistics of every NFL player and you know every rule to the game. You’ve joined every fantasy league you could. Every Sunday you are glued to the television; you never miss a game. You’re simply addicted to the sport. … Maybe your passion is cooking. The moment you open the kitchen pantry, you are taken to another world. You instinctually begin creating formulas for fresh, delectable recipes. … For me it’s piano. I’ve sat at the piano bench and lost myself for hours in the meditation of the sounds of each key. I wonder at the immeasurable amount of music that can be played with only 88 keys, 8 distinct notes, 10 agile fingers, 1 pianist.

Now, these are all great passions, wonderful blessings from our Lord, but think about how much time you dedicate to these hobbies. For some of us, they may consume our lives, at least for a season. During his years of ministry among us, Christ preached, “Love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your mind” (cf. Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30, Luke 10:27). Read that again, “Love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your mind.” Have you ever done anything with all of your heart and soul and mind? God wants us to be passionate about him, loving him with every single part of us. If someone asked me to make a list of things I’m most passionate about, I doubt the first thing to come to my mind would be God. I would turn to things that interest or fascinate me, i.e. piano, math. I may mention my dedication to family and friends or loyalty to my place of employment. I don’t know how far down my list I’d have to write until I thought to mention God. Yet whenever I hear this passage, I simply brush it off as something that we are told time and time again, something that every Christian instinctually does. Yes, I go to church every Sunday. I’ve attended private Lutheran schools my whole life. For goodness sake, I attend a college that prepares people to be ministers! Yet none of those facts are any type of proof that I love my Lord with ALL my heart, ALL my soul, and ALL of my mind. It’s as if we try to keep our relationship with Christ separate from our daily interests when we need to be integrating him into every moment of our lives.

We will always fail when trying to love God with all of ourselves. No matter how much passion we feel for our Lord, it is never enough. Yet, when we had no love for Christ, when we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). God felt so passionately for you, that he sent his Son to live perfectly and die gruesomely, just so that you may have life. This is the Passion of our Lord, Jesus Christ. He loves us with all of his heart, all of his soul, an all of his mind. His love for us is immeasurable–incomparable with anything that we have ever experienced.

Now I don’t expect you to leave after hearing this and become some type of born again Christian, speaking only Biblical truths and studying only your Bibles. But perhaps if we spent as much time studying God as we do the football games each Sunday, perhaps then we may grow in passion for our Lord. Perhaps then we won’t become stagnant in our studies of Scripture. Perhaps then we may begin to learn what it means to love our Lord with all of our hearts, all of our souls, and all of our minds … as Jesus fills us up more and more in our hearts, our souls, our minds.

Dec

2019

Judgment Day – books are opened

Originally published on The Electric Gospel on November 15, 2014.

I once was asked to deliver a chapel talk on a college campus concerning Judgment Day. This was the message I offered.

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Balancing our Books

by David Sellnow

All of us have a natural tendency to be bookkeepers. We think like accountants, keeping track of things. We keep track of every sort of statistic for our sports teams. We use pedometers to log how many steps a day we are walking. We monitor how many likes we have on Facebook or how many followers we have on Twitter.

You see the bookkeeping tendency already at a young age in children. They like to keep track of the chores they have accomplished, get check marks on their chore chart or even better, little stickers or stars. Little bookkeepers like to see their accounts growing.

I see the tendency in college students. If you’re a college student, you may count up every point you can get on every assignment that you’re assigned. And if an assignment is graded and the professor didn’t give you as many points as you wanted, you go up after class and talk to him and try to argue for more points. Or you email the prof and ask, “Did you dock me for such and such? Because I think I did such and such, or your instructions didn’t specifically tell me I had to do such and such.” Or maybe you don’t have the nerve to complain to your professors, but you gripe among your friends about the grades you get. “His grading is so unfair. I deserve more points.” Students are eager bookkeepers, wanting a gradebook full of points.

Benjamin Franklin was a bookkeeper. He kept books to chart his own good deeds each day.

In 1726, at the age of 20, Ben Franklin set this goal for himself: “I conceiv’d the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection. I wish’d to live without committing any fault at any time.”

In order to accomplish his goal, Franklin developed and committed himself to a personal improvement program that consisted of living 13 virtues, things like industriousness and temperance and sincerity and moderation.

In order to keep track of his adherence to his listed virtues, Franklin carried around a small book of 13 charts. The charts consisted of a column for each day of the week and 13 rows marked with the first letter of his 13 virtues. Franklin evaluated himself at the end of each day. He placed a dot next to each virtue each had violated. His goal was to minimize the number of marks, thus indicating a “clean” life free of bad marks in his book.

Franklin admitted he never got the book completely clean. (He liked beer too much, and flirting with women, and other foibles.) But he said, “Tho’ I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of obtaining, … yet I was, by the endeavour, a better and a happier man than I otherwise should have been.”

[Information taken from ArtOfManliness.com.]

I don’t know how happy Ben Franklin was at the end of life when it was time for his final accounting before the Lord of all virtues. But it seems he didn’t rightly understand how the Lord keeps books in eternity. And while Ben Franklin was more meticulous than most about his bookkeeping, I’d say the way he thought about the bookkeeping process of his life is the way too many people think of the books of their lives. And that’s a problem.

The Bible section for today is a vision from Revelation that talks about books. It’s also the section of the Bible that the website Listverse.com, which bills itself as “the original top 10 site” on the web, lists as the #1 Most Horrifying Moment in the Bible.

This is Revelation 20:11-15 …

I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

Being thrown into the lake of fire is indeed a horrifying thought. But let’s talk about those books. What are those books? What’s in those books? Everyone – whether great or small – has a book. When Judgment Day comes, “the dead are judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.” Does that scare you? Have you done enough for your account book to be in passable condition?

Well, actually, you know what the Bible says about how much you have to do. You have to have a perfect book, a book that records flawless keeping of all God’s laws, impeccable and constant virtues. You can be as diligent as Ben Franklin and still your book comes up short of what it needs to be. So how can anyone be saved? Those who are saved are those whose names are found written in the book of life. If your name is in the book of life, the lake of fire poses no threat to you. Don’t be afraid, Jesus saves you.

You do have an account book with God in heaven. Think of it as a book that has two columns. One column is for credits to your account of virtue – all the good deeds you are expected to do in keeping with God’s commandments. The other column records your debits or sins – every time you have violated God’s commandments. When the books are opened in heaven, you need a book that has a completely clean record in the sin column – not a single sin standing against your name … and a completely full record in the righteousness column – that every opportunity you ever have in life to do the right thing, do a good deed, fulfill a commandment of God, you have done so.

Does anyone have a book like that? One person does. Only one person. One person who stood in our place and lived the life we ought to live, constantly and consistently obeying the Father’s will. One person who was “tempted in every way just as we are—yet he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15). One person has a record book with a completely clean, unstained column in regard to sin, not a single sin to list. One person has a record book with a completely perfect, full account of good deeds in the column marked for righteousness. Jesus Christ is the one person with a perfect book. But when we become connected to Jesus, when the Spirit of God, through the Word of God, brings us to trust in Jesus by faith, our names are written in the book of life. And for those whose names are written in the book of life, the book of Jesus’ life is credited to us also as the book of our lives – even though we didn’t do it, even though we didn’t deserve it, even though we haven’t lived it. We are granted all the credit of Jesus—all the goodness and righteousness of his life. We are forgiven of all the sins we have committed, on account of all that Jesus suffered in our place—even death on the cross under God’s horrible judgment. As one of Christ’s apostles summed it up for us: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). And so when our books are opened, they reveal these sorts of things: Jesus will say to us, “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me” (Matthew 25:35,36). We will wonder when we did all those things. But all that Jesus did will be already credited on our account. And on top of that, Jesus will say to those whose names are written in the book of life, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40).

So don’t fear the lake of fire. And don’t fear that when your book is opened on Judgment Day, you won’t have enough in it. You won’t need to beg the Father in heaven to give you more points because you didn’t fulfill his assignments well enough. You won’t be arguing that you didn’t understand his expectations and can he please just give you another chance. Believing in Jesus Christ, your name is written in the book of life. Believing in Jesus Christ, the book of your life that God opens on judgment day will show what Jesus has done for you and what you have done in Jesus. And all will be well.

Don’t be afraid. Jesus saves you.

Dec

2019

Facing the future with hope

Originally published on The Electric Gospel on November 20, 2014.

Emily Shank wrote the following message as a devotion project for a theology class with me. She offers worthy reminders for all people of faith in Christ.

Trusting in God

by Emily Shank

We all have times when we wish we had a crystal ball, something which will show us what our future holds, what the outcomes of certain decisions would be. There are times in our life when we face changes which seem quiet scary, when we are worried about things going wrong. There are also many things in life which are out of our control and make us feel anxious. Yet, the Bible promises us that we can find rest in trusting God. How can that become a reality though? It’s all very easy to say, but how do we manage to make it something we experience as an integral part of our Christian journey?

Uncertainty about our futures can be unsettling. I struggle when there seems to be a lot of uncertainty in my life. When my future holds a lot of unknowns. There are many things to be concerned and worried about. When I was younger I think I enjoyed new things and embraced the adventure of change. I wonder what has made me want more consistency in my life? I think it also has something to do with experiencing too much change over the last few years. Being in college you meet new people and possibly change how you present yourself and also change certain ideas about your future.

Trusting God is a fundamental aspect of our faith; we trust God to strengthen us during times of change. Trusting God brings comfort when we are facing situations out of our control which make us feel under pressure or anxious. Trusting God can bring us security, safety and rest.

God gives us his wonderful promise. “This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: ‘In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength…’” (Isaiah 30:15).

Look at the words “in quietness and trust is your strength.” There have been times when panic and stress have been more the emotions that I have felt. So, how do we know rest from trusting God no matter what life may throw at us?

Trusting God comes from knowing him and spending time with him.

Moses said to the Lord: “Now therefore, I pray you, if I have found favor in your sight, let me know your ways that I may know you, so that I may find favor in your sight. Consider too, that this nation is your people.” And the Lord said, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest” (Exodus 33:13-14).

Knowing God and knowing his presence with us through everything we face helps us in trusting him. We cannot know our future; we do not know what the outcome of the decisions we make in life will be; we will face change, trials and uncertainty. Through it all, one thing remains constant – God’s presence going with us. As we take time to know God and spend time drawing near to his presence, we find it easier to trust him and find rest.

Trusting God comes from understanding our future and hope in him.

“For I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).

We will face hard times in life. There will be pain and difficulty, suffering and trial. However, God has a plan for us. A plan which gives us a future and a hope. We have an amazing promise of knowing our loving, wonderful Father God and above all things we can take joy, comfort and peace from this amazing, blessed relationship. No matter what we face in life we can be assured that we will spend eternity with him and that through the cross and resurrection of Jesus nothing can defeat us.

Trusting God comes from seeking God in His Word, through the counsel of others, and prayer.

God’s Word can provide us with so much comfort, strength and peace. The more we read it the more we understand who God is, his almighty sovereignty and his amazing power. He is faithful, full of love and completely just – our trust in him grows the more we read and understand the wonderful truths contained in His Word.

The support of other Christians also serves to strengthen us when we are struggling with the weight of worry and anxiety. We can grow in strength from their prayers, comfort and words. God’s presence is available to us through the Christians we have to lean on.

Trusting God, we go to him in prayer. Whatever is worrying us, whatever uncertainty there is in our life, whatever causes us fear can be given to God in prayer. We won’t necessarily know answers but we will know peace and rest, having the knowledge that we can trust in his presence.

Prayer: Dear Lord, please help to come to you with our daily struggles and to put our doubts and uncertainties to rest. Please help us trust in you completely by staying close to your Word, coming to you in prayer, and going to other Christians for guidance. In your name we pray. Amen.

Dec

2019

What the Spirit produces in us

Originally published on The Electric Gospel on October 3, 2014.

This post is a creed of sorts, a personal confession. Rachel Nitz offers thoughts in creedal style concerning what the Spirit of God brings about in our hearts and lives.

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Fruits of the Spirit

by Rachel Nitz

From the moment we received faith from the Holy Spirit through God’s Word,
he began working a transformation in our corrupt hearts.
We have been set free
and by the Spirit we receive these graces to serve one another:
Love, first for God and in turn for every person on this earth,
following the example of Christ’s perfect, selfless love for us;
Joy overflowing in our daily lives, through both happiness and hardship,
that those who observe us will see the impact of Christ’s sacrifice for us;
Peace based on the knowledge that nothing can separate us from God’s love
and that all earthly trials serve God’s good purpose;
Patience with the sinful natures of ourselves and others
not out of tolerance, but out of a desire that they, too, be transformed;
Kindness displayed through words and, more importantly,
our actions toward all people, including those who hate us;
Goodness to overcome evil in this sinful world,
and stemming from the ultimate good, who is our God;
Faithfulness to the words of the Bible and commands of our Lord,
strengthened by prayer and frequent study of the Word;
Gentleness, not giving in to selfish anger or violence,
but consciously submitting to the will of our Father;
And self-control, rejecting the sinful nature and all its desires
by living in a way that is unnatural to us
because we are looking forward to a greater hope:
becoming like Christ by the power of the Spirit.

Dec

2019

Protection from spiritual attacks

Originally published on The Electric Gospel on September 19, 2014 – an original poem by Brooke King.

Demons
by Brooke King

I need you now more than ever as my demons linger near
the familiar smell of recognition, that smell that death is near
recounting all those moments I sat upon his legs
shaken now and barely breathing, my soul for you it begs
take away these memories that haunt me in the day
the dread they bring, the pain it stings, they just won’t go away
wipe the tears that satiate each demonic tongue
take away their salty surplus and dry up every one

Hear me when I cry to you, do not turn your ear
bend down your gracious arm to me and pull me ever nearer
nestle me in your chest, a mere human in the dregs
curl me up in your arms, nestled like an egg
soothe me with your promises that you’ll forever stay
listen gingerly to me and answer when I pray
a second chance for life renewed, love on the horizon
let this be the moment when my life has just begun

In you my heart will not tremble, no longer does it fear
precious in your hands I am, one most treasured, dear
on firm ground you gently place me, stronger on my own
knowing with each step I take your hand will guide me on
keep me close by your side, along the narrow way
with you here beside me on this path, I will never stray
seeing only the light, the way, the truth, the Son
freely I can enjoy the grace because of what he’s done

So keep my focus on the horizon, never looking back
silence all my daunting demons, send them where you lack
loosen their unforgiving grip, their voices, on they groan
picking at my fragile heart, unthreading what’s been sewn
Nevermore will they linger while you are by my side
No, in fear they will surely tremble, despising you, they’ll hide
Keeping me in your comfort, an unmerited love and grace
Lord how blessed I surely am to linger in your embrace

Dec

2019

A love song

Originally published on The Electric Gospel on September 12, 2014. This post takes a poetic form, a song lyric written by a young musician.

A love song

by Casey Sauer

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Dear, why are you hiding? And who has hurt you?
Your beauty is being locked inside
Please come to me and let me heal you
I am the Rock; in me abide
Your strength can’t help, sorry to say
It only hurts worse, so do not delay
It’s time to surrender and take down this mask
I’m here to help, in any way you ask
So give up your armor and put down your sword
I’ll be your protector, my name is the Lord
No one can beat me, no need to retreat
When it’s up to you, it’s always defeat
Please give me your trust; I will not fail
It’s for your own good that you don’t prevail
Your faith will rise and I’ll open your eyes
Now heart, be free
So run now with grace, ever seeking my face
Just look to the letters I wrote you
They’ll give you comfort, they’ll give you peace
Not like a man, or money, or you
I am different you see, It’s hard to explain
A lot of things about me can never be plain
But a few things are, and here’s one or two
I will never fail, nor will my love for you
So give up your armor and put down your sword
I’ll be your protector, my name is the Lord
No one can beat me, no need to retreat
When it’s up to you, it’s always defeat
Please give me your trust; I will not fail
I’ll shelter your beauty, through storms it will sail
Your faith will rise and I’ll open your eyes
Now heart, be free
You’ll feel the fire of love again
The way it’s meant to be
Just remember darling, in everything,
You’re perfect to me
So give up your armor, and put down your sword
I am your protector, you know me as “Lord”
No one can beat me, no need to retreat
I will stand for you through everything
Your trust in me will be your light
You will be the one shining at night
I’ve filled your heart with mercy and grace
Now heart, you’re free.

Dec

2019

Washed by Jesus

Originally published on The Electric Gospel on September 5, 2014.

Washed by Jesus

by Sarah Allerding

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Sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, thieves, drunkards, slanderers, swindlers … That is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God (1 Corinthians 6:10,11).

We all have sinned many times in our lives. Some of our sins may stick in our minds more than others. They may even come back to haunt us. Maybe we start to think that the sin from our past was too much for God possibly to forgive. Is that the case? Did Jesus die only for some sins? Are there sins too great for God to forgive?

Think about the men who nailed Jesus to the cross. They were killing the Son of God. What did Jesus say? Did he say, “Father this sin is too great to be forgiven; I want these men to spend eternity in hell for what they are doing”? No. That is what they deserved but instead, Jesus said, “ Father forgive them because they don’t know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Imagine that! The Son of God was willing to forgive the men who crucified him. In fact, at that very moment he was dying for their sin and the sins of the whole world. He was dying for you and me.

We may have done some things we are really ashamed of. Jesus died for those sins too. There is no sin that Jesus did not die for. We were washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. That is who we were. Our past sins no longer define who we are. We are forgiven children of God.

Thank God he does not give us what we deserve!

Prayer:

Dear Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross to take away our sins. When the sins from our past come back to haunt us, please help us remember that we were washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. In your name we pray. Amen.

Dec

2019

Lifted up

Originally published on The Electric Gospel on August 22, 2014.

This week’s message, from Naomi Unnasch, looks at how God’s promises speak to us even in our darkest moments — especially in our darkest moments. The LORD lifts us out of the mud and mire and sets our feet on a rock (cf. Psalm 40:2). We have a “firm place to stand” (Psalm 40:3) when we stand on “the Rock of our salvation” (Psalm 95:1), Jesus Christ.

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Out of the Pit

by Naomi Unnasch

Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits–who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s (Psalm 103:1-5).

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A year ago, the life of someone I loved was hanging in the balance. A deadly cycle of untreated depression, addiction, and self-injury was drowning him in the bottomless loneliness of self. After having unexpectedly discovered his cutting habit, I spent night after night tossing and turning, barely sleeping through harrowing nightmares. I awoke every morning wondering if I’d get a phone call that day telling me he was gone.

I happened across Psalm 103 one of those days. I’d read it before, of course. Praise the LORD, O my soul, praise the Lord, praise, praise… how often had I sung those words or mindlessly recited them? How mundane they’d seemed.

Now those words came to life, juxtaposed absurdly against the ugly picture of a rotting disease and a black, miry pit. Praise the LORD… but how could I, drowning as I was in fear and doubt? Praise the LORD… but how could my friend do that from the darkness of his depression?

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We don’t know exactly when David was moved to write this psalm, but we do know this: David understood what it was to inhabit the bottom of a pit. His life was riddled with troubles–troubles even of his own making. If anyone was qualified to write about sin, suffering, and regret, it was David.

What’s at the bottom of your pit? Empty bottles? A failed marriage? Crippling loneliness? Shame over a past sin? Forget about it. Leave it at the bottom. Your Father is calling, and he’s not leaving.

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A year ago, my days and nights were endless variations on the same prayer. Gone were the wordsmithing and formality I’d foolishly felt a prayer required. Instead, my relationship with God had become a wrestling match. I poured myself into his promises, and I thrust those promises into the very face of God, reminding him to be faithful.

As if he needed reminding.

God heard and delivered. Though it was by no means an easy recovery nor a short one, my friend now thrives in joy and vitality. He’s committed himself to hard work and a healthy lifestyle, and he praises his deliverer by reaching out to individuals from all walks of life. While he bears scars–both physical and emotional–he understands grace better than most. His Savior pulled him from the pit.

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No matter the depth of your pit or the ugliness of your disease, your Father calls. Despite the length of the list of your sins, he calls. And even if you close your ears to him, he will still be calling, relentlessly, lovingly pursuing you.

Your Father is a God of grace–of lavish, undeserved, faithful love. He will deliver you. Count on it and praise him.

Naomi’s friend also offered her this note when giving approval to publishing this message on The Electric Gospel. He offers these thoughts to us:

“God is not only calling us, but is reaching out for us, and never gives up on us. For people such as this, I think that it’s extremely important to know that there is still someone who hasn’t given up on them.

“There is a common myth that cutting is a strong sign of suicide or attempting suicide. This is not (usually) the case. Cutting is an addiction, much like alcohol, to endorphins in your body. When someone cuts, and cuts a lot, it releases a lot of endorphins and gives a sense of relief. It is similar to alcohol because it is not something you can be completely cured from. It is always an option and an easy route.

“If you ever come across something like this (and I pray you don’t), the last thing to do is to take it to someone else. Cutters do not [cut] for attention, and that attention puts more pressure on them and can overall make things worse. I would advise [you] to talk to that person first in order to understand better why [they are cutting]….

“This is an important thing to me that I want other people to know about, so I have no problems answering questions or sharing my story with others. If it will benefit someone else, I’m all for it.”

Dec

2019

The One who suffered is with us in our sufferings

Originally published on the Electric Gospel on August 19, 2014.

I had a friend who was going through some challenges at a particular time. I sent my friend this little note at that time … and thought maybe it worth sharing more widely with others of you here.

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Faithful in Affliction

by David Sellnow

“I know, LORD, that your laws are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me” (Psalm 119:75).

That word of prayer is hard for me to say, hard for you to say. When we are afflicted, when things get hard, our first instinct is to say, “God, you’re not fair. This is ridiculous! How could you possibly ask me to put up with this?”

But we keep praying, we keep leaning on God. Maybe people here on earth have treated us unfairly. Maybe situations here on earth will twist and contort us way out of our comfort zone. But the LORD our God is never unfair. And he doesn’t let us go through any ordeals or “valleys of the shadow of death” without going through it all with us, right by our side. Our good shepherd has his rod and staff in hand, to battle for us and pull us out of trouble, and we are comforted (cf. Psalm 23:4).

Lord, forgive us for thinking you are unfair in your dealings with us. We know that even in our afflictions, you remain faithful and true to us always. Your ways are righteous. In faithfulness you allow us to suffer, but you walk with us through every detail of the suffering — and no one knows suffering better than you do, Lord Jesus. You walked the road to your own execution, a cross crushing your shoulders, thorns piercing your skull, whip lashes oozing blood from your back.

You walked the path of affliction for us. Now, when we are afflicted, walk with us. We trust you.

Dec

2019

The Body of Christ

Originally published on the Electric Gospel on August 15, 2014.

During the summer of 2014, The Electric Gospel featured items written by participants in a summer writing workshop which I led. This post finished that particular series. Tracy Siegler urges us to be more open and genuine with one another in our Christian relationships.

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Body-Building

by Tracy Siegler

It is Sunday morning. In church entryways and fellowship halls around the world, Christians are greeting one another.

“Good morning!”

“Good morning! How are you?”

“Fine, how are you?”

“I’m good.”

“Do you think that storm they’re talking about is going to hit us?”

“I hope not, we have a picnic to go to this afternoon.”

That’s a pretty typical exchange. How often do the conversations in your church entryway stay at that level? Do you ever see people hugging in your fellowship hall? What about tears? Is there much exuberant laughter in the lobby of your church? Do people have a look of earnestness in their eyes as they speak to their brothers and sisters in the Lord?

Our Lord tells us, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” (1 Cor 12:27) We are the body of Christ? That sounds a little strange at first, but it’s actually quite a beautiful analogy God uses in his Word to describe how his believers on earth are connected to Jesus and to one another. Christ is described as the head, and we the members are each a unique and essential part of his figurative body. “From [Christ] the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” (Eph 4:16) What a wonderful picture! There is support. There is love. There is work. There is connectedness. All of it is from Christ, our head.

It gets even better! The head of our body doesn’t just direct and connect. He also sacrificed. “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” (Eph 5:25-27) Christ really did that for us – even if that’s not the immediate impression we get when we look around in the fellowship area. We are full of stains of sin and wrinkles of worry and blemishes of bad decisions. But by his amazing grace, even as we continue to struggle with sin and worry and bad decisions, we are radiant, holy, and blameless in Jesus! He makes each one of us a perfect, unique, essential part of his body. With that in mind, our conversations can get a little deeper and more personal. We might make ourselves a little more vulnerable. We might get a little more invested.

“Good morning!”

“Good morning, how are you?”

“I’m good – just tired.”

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine – it’s just that yesterday the kids were bickering and fighting all day long. By the time they were finally in bed we were so exhausted and frustrated that we stayed up way too late watching a movie. I hope I don’t start nodding off during the sermon.”

“Ugh. We’ve had days like that. They are exhausting. Should we sit behind you and poke you in the shoulder from time to time?”

(laughing) “Maybe you should! Hey, whatever works, right? Anyway, what about you?”

“Doing well. We are really excited to go to a picnic this afternoon. Did I tell you about that neighbor of ours who has been going through cancer treatment?”

“You did. How is he doing?”

“He’s good! He finished his treatment. His most recent scans were clear. The treatment was successful.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful! So many answered prayers…”

“Yup, so this afternoon they are having a picnic to celebrate, and we are planning to go. I just hope it doesn’t rain…”

Jesus, our head, gives us opportunities to build one another up, “until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Eph 4:13) As we express genuine interest in our fellow believers, and as we share our own hopes, fears, joys, and struggles in a way that is more intimate than casual, we are building up the body of Christ!

When we talk to each other about how God’s word applies to the intimate details of our lives, the word of Christ dwells in us richly as we teach and admonish one another with all wisdom. (Col 3:16) Encouraging one another in our lives of faith through the Word, the Holy Spirit works in us. The body of Christ increases in unity, in knowledge of the Son of God, and in maturity. Day by day, the body of believers grows closer to attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Together we look forward to the day when we enter into our heavenly fellowship hall, and that process will be complete.

Suggestions for Prayer

… Praise God for his beautiful design for the family of believers.
… Confess times when you have not taken the time or risked the intimacy of investing yourself in your brothers and sisters in Christ.
… Thank Jesus for making you a member of his body, for giving you the other parts of the body for mutual support and encouragement, and for his sacrificing headship.
… Ask the Lord to work within the body of believers so that we grow in unity, knowledge of him, and maturity.

Passion for Christ

Balancing our Books

Trusting in God

Fruits of the Spirit

A love song

Washed by Jesus

Out of the Pit

Body-Building

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