BECOME INVOLVED WITH LOVING HUMILITY
Sakkie Parsons
Translated from Afrikaans “Vol liefde in nederigheid betrokke”
Translator: Robin Barker
Someone wrote to me and it went something like this:
I am using my own words because a few things are mentioned and I do not want to place someone in an awkward position, that someone may recognize something in my writing:
They are experiencing things much the same way as people do elsewhere. Their community is small and they cannot afford a full-time minister. Now they have a retired minister and they have several problems with him and his way of preaching and they wonder if they can stay at home and listen to the service from home. I can just mention that the minister is very old.
I am sharing this writing with you, because sometimes through the mail which is sent to me, I realize that many people in many denominations do not really know what it entails being a member of a congregation, but let us begin at the beginning.
If it is at all possible, you should attend the services of your congregation.
Why?
The answer with which I begin, before you look at anything else, is very simply.
Because the Word, in other words, because our Lord says:
HEB 10:25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
In my opinion, because ministers, pastors, shepherds and teachers etc. are given their flocks for different reasons, concerning this matter are not being guided correctly, in many congregations, I can almost say, in most congregations, many members, I almost want to say again, the majority of members, do not have a true understanding of what a member of a congregation entails.
Many members and I almost want to write it again, the majority of members, think, because they have been incorrectly spiritually raised, that the duty of a congregation member consists of attending many or most of the services, especially those on a Sunday.
Someone will say:
I make sure that every Sunday I am in church and that is the only time I see the minister/pastor/shepherd/teacher.
I ask, why are you so uninvolved in the workings of your congregation, that you see him so infrequently?
Someone says:
Our minister does not make house calls.
I ask:
Do you make house calls?
In other words do you visit and encourage your fellow brothers and sisters?
In other words:
Why do you not make house calls?
Someone says:
Our minister does not even visit the sick or the elderly in the old age homes.
For someone like this I will ask:
Do you visit the sick and the elderly in the old age home of your community?
To put it another way:
Why do you not visit the sick and the elderly, and I can carry on this way.
It is an unsettling leaning, which I just refer to as a tragedy, in the church today, that such a large percentage of Christians believe, that they as Christians have the job of making sure they are in church for the beginning and ending of the Sunday service, and then to go home.
My great hero Paul wrote on occasion the following about how our congregation’s disposition should be.
1COR 12:26-31
26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it.
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
28 And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues.
29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?
30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues[a]? Do all interpret?
31 Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.
Love Is Indispensable
And yet I will show you the most excellent way.
Then follows the heading contained in 1CORINTHIANS 12:31: “Love is indispensable”, which topic continues in 1CORINTHIANS 13.
My understanding of the Word, no member of the congregation is to do nothing. Just like no part of a person’s body is there to serve a single purpose, it must work together with the other parts of the body.
Just a little before Paul wrote the following about this subject:
1CORINTHIANS 12:15-22
15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.
16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.
17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?
18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.
19 If they were all one part, where would the body be?
20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!”
22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable
As a Christian, I am a disciple of Jesus and I am obliged to follow is order to live my life as one of His disciples:
MATT 28:18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
MATT28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
MATT 28:20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Also:
ACTS 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Did you see what you have just read?
It does not say: And maybe if you so wish be a witness for Me, if you are My disciple.
It is clearly written in Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses …”
You see:
Through the Holy Spirit which is in me and my love for our Lord, I am lovingly forced, through one or other method, to become available..
Remember also:
When we go to a service that it is first place exactly that, a service.
It may be a worship service, a thanks giving service etc. etc., but it is a service.
I know that some people see it as a sort of performance.
Like the person who mentioned this to me, that he/she likes a certain pastor’s services, because he moves and jumps around.
Or the other person who said to me, that he/she does not go to a certain pastor’s service, because it is to lifeless. No, he/she goes to where the fire burns high.
Do you see the tragedy?
I must not seek the fire that burns high.
I, must be the fire that burns high where ever I go.
MATT 5:14 You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.
MATT 5:15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
MATT5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Through the way I live, it must be impossible for people not to know that I am a Christian.
Concerning ‘feeling’ or ‘sensation’:
I thank our Lord for the lovely feeling which I experience in my religion, but I will never build my religion only on feelings.
Then –
If you have a problem with any of your brothers or sisters in the congregation, for example, to do or do not do something, which is a problem for you and this includes the minister/pastor/teacher, and the elders, or the deacons, or someone in authority and naturally all your other brothers and sisters also in the congregation, the Word says very clearly what you are meant to do:
MatT 18:15 “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over.
MatT 18:16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’
MatT 18:17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
Remember, that one of the traits of a disciple/servant of Jesus should be:
2TIM 2:24 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.
I close this thought with the following from the Word:
JAMES 4:10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
JAMES 4:11 Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it.
JAMES 4:12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbour?
Of which law is spoken here?
JOHN 13:34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
JOHN 13:35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
ROMANS 13:9 “The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbour as yourself.”
ROMANS 13:10 Love does no harm to a neighbour. Therefore love is the fulfilment of the law
If I now can give some advice from what I have just shared with you, summarised in a single sentence, it would be the following:
Become involved in the workings of your congregation, full of love and humility.
Sakkie