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Called Out |
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What do you think of when you hear the word 'church'? A building?
A religion?
The church we read about in the New Testament speaks of the
followers of Christ, those who believe in Jesus and his
message of redemption through him.
There are many scriptural references to the church.
quotes Jesus' proclamation that he will build his
church upon the rock of Peter. All through the Book of
Acts are references to the church. Paul is probably most
noted for addressing the believers and referring to the
church in his numerous letters to communities such as
Corinth, Thessalonica, Laodicea and Galatia. Revelations
2 and 3 addresses the seven churches in Asia Minor.
We often forget that these communities were not large and
certainly not like our congregations of today. It might
have been 30 or 40 people, meeting in each other's homes
and really excited about this kingdom of God business.
It was new, revolutionary and they felt called to be a
part of it.
So what is meant by church?
The Greek word is "ekklesia", which can be translated
as "called out". It's where we get the English
word "ecclesiastic" which usually refers to
members of the clergy. In ancient Greece it meant "an
assembly of citizens called out by the crier".
Being called out implies a separation from others. That, indeed,
is part of the intended meaning. We, as believers and
members of the Body of Christ (which is also another name
for the Church) have been called out.
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Called Out of What…And Why?
See how most people live. Notice what
occupies their thoughts and time. Without being judgmental
I think it's fair to
say that there are a lot of people living by self-propulsion.
It's pretty easy to be motivated by your own desires.
Even those who have seemingly good intentions and motives
for others may still, deep down, be guided by the "looking
out for number one" philosophy.
Being a Christian – follower of Christ – means we don't go that
route. We are no longer living for ourselves. We live
to love and that means putting others before our own wishes.
And, of course, it means putting God before everything.
He's the power source and if we are not plugged in how
can we get the "juice" to live rightly?
If we are "called out" to live differently then
it makes sense to recognize why living the way the world
does is not the best way. All we have to do is look at
the track record. Despite the many advances in knowledge
and technology we see inordinate amounts of discord, disharmony,
anger, war, hunger, poverty and injustice. The list is
long. Man's attempt to shape a better world without God
has failed.
Father does know best. "For in him we live and move and
have our being." (Acts 17:28)
Jesus says, "Follow me". He's calling us out of our
way of living and asking us to trust him in going this
new way.
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A Group of True Followers
We would all be better off if we reminded ourselves each
day that the church is really a group of true followers
who are not part of the world's way. We get together and
fellowship so that we may grow and be encouraged and help
each other. God is doing things all the time with and
through His people. However, we must not fall into the
trap of church just being someplace we go, some building
we sit in. Where we worship is not the important thing.
How we worship shows more who we are. Transformation is
the goal of every believer.
A danger of today's Christianity is the sub-culture we've
created and dwell in. Whether we realize it or not we're
promoting church as a special club. We might say it's
open to all but frequently we become exclusive. This
is far from what it should be. Isolationism is wrong.
We're
not called away from the world, just not to be of the
world. John Fischer, a noted musician, writer and thinker,
in his book, Fearless Faith (read
our review),
addresses this very concern.
When we fall back into worldly things we tend to forget God.
Or at least push Him aside. He is, at those times, not
the center of our lives. We are interrupting the flow.
The plug is not in the outlet; the switch is turned off.
We should highly value and develop relationships with
other believers. The community is essential because
God chooses
to do His work through us! There are people, both in
and out of the body of Christ, who need support, encouragement,
prayers, a hug or even money, food or clothing. ()
The result of creation's natural laws is entropy. Things are
constantly breaking down. Energy dissipates. It requires
constant work and maintenance to keep this from happening.
The only way to stay at it is to have the indwelling of
God's presence. The Holy Spirit in us will do for us what
we are incapable of doing for ourselves. We allow God's
grace and blessings to flow through us when we connect
with others. The supernatural presence of God supercedes
and overcomes the natural.
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This World Is Not My Home
Some people ridicule Christians for a "pie in the sky"
philosophy. I agree that if all you do is live in a dream
without facing up to the daily challenges of life then
you are deluded. It's not practical.
However, the truth is that we are just passing through here. We
do long for the heavenly home, the eternal reward. It's
important to think and meditate on this. It's a strong
incentive. Let's also be dutifully at work in our lives
here on earth. There are many parables where Jesus stressed
the importance of taking care of business in life, especially
taking to heart his teachings and helping others (
).
Let's live with our heads in the clouds, but our feet firmly planted on the ground.
Again, it must be stressed the importance of not escaping through
religion or Christianity from the world and those who
are not saved. God wants us to be His messengers in both
word and deed. How we live is often a greater argument
for our faith than what we say. We all know this to be
true. We may be judging ourselves by our motives, but
the world is judging us by our actions.
If we go off and live in our own little culture of Christian
books, movies, music and so forth then we are removing
ourselves more and more from interaction with those who
need to know us. There is also another danger. We can
suddenly become guilty of living like the world, albeit
a bit more cleaner/purer, in our own "Christian world".
Things like materialism and ego can take center stage
under the guise of Christian living. Let's not fall into
this trap of hypocrisy. Remember the Pharisees of Jesus'
time.
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What's a Christian To Do?
What's the message in all this? First, we must remember that
we've been called. God chose us! He puts it in the heart
of everyone He calls to seek Him. If you've accepted this
call, then you have been "called out". Like
the children's game — Red Rover, Red Rover, come on over!
Second, take to heart and live the message we are proclaiming.
Attraction is always more powerful than promotion. In
our community we must encourage and nurture our body of
believers. That is not the end purpose. It is so we can
go out into the world and bring the Good News.
This presents us with the challenge of balancing worldly understanding
with Christian living. We can't be quarantined from the
world and those who aren't living as we are. But, we must
be strong to go forth. The strength is not our own. The
Holy Spirit empowers us, gives us the words and fills
our heart with charity.
In the end, the Spirit is the one arbitrator of our experience
and life challenges. When confronted with the world and
its ways and the choices we must make for right and wrong
we must know the truth. This truth is not relative, but
there is always opportunity for distortion. Be careful
to interpret it clearly, using the gift of discernment.
The Holy Spirit teaches us all Truth. I think one of the reasons
Jesus taught over and over again to focus on him is because
looking away begins the looking for alternatives and brings
about rationalizations. We do the same with our children
and each other. "Look at me!" we demand. Especially
when we believe what we have to say is very important.
Instead we should look to Jesus. Let the Spirit in. Listen
to the language of the heart. Hear/see/feel the love.
Then live it. The world may not accept you, but there
will be others that God is calling who will see your example.
They need someone like you to be one of God's guides.
Our task is not easy. Yet we have the available resources
of strength, inspiration and endurance readily available
to us. As we live in our cultures let us reach out beyond
those boundaries and restrictions of being liked, accepted
and approved of. We can climb to the higher ground of
God's Truth. Our salvation is through Christ. Our responsibility
is to accept it and carry that message to others ().
Do you hear your Father calling?
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Scripture taken from the Holy
Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.Copyright ©
1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights
reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International
Bible Society.
NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered
trademarks of International Bible Society. Use of either
trademark for the offering of goods or services requires
the prior written consent of International Bible Society.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy
Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996. Used
by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton,
IL 60189, USA. All rights reserved.
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