Day 4

Ahhhh, after 13 days of being away, I'm home! The bags are all unpacked, the dirty clothes are in the laundry, the car is cleaned out, the mail is opened and sorted, everyone is jammied up, and we're enjoying a relatively quiet evening! I may even actually get this post done before 8 p.m. rather than 2 a.m.!!

So last night, I had the privilege and great joy, as alluded to in yesterday's post, to worship with my friends. These are friends who truly love Jesus and desire to make their lives centrally focused on Him, and then purpose their steps in obedience to what God is telling them. They are also passionate about music and the act of worshiping through music. We share this passion. I haven't sung with these two in this capacity for close to 8 years, and to come together filled up a place in me that I didn't realize was so empty. As I was singing, in a normal living room, with my normal friends, after a normal day of taking care of kids and doing school and traveling, that "normal" was transformed and we came before the presence of God. His presence was there because He was welcomed, and we were obedient with the gifts God gave to each of us. As we sang about the attributes of God, I thought . . . "this is a picture of the communion of saints." We could have chosen to watch a movie, go to bed, enjoy more conversation, play a game, and all would have been okay and good. But God gifted people in that group with amazing gifts of music and leadership and worship, and to ignore those gifts would have been a missed opportunity of praising God, encouraging one another, and celebrating the beauty of how God designed the body of Christ to grow and work together. We didn't sing because we're awesome. We sang because God is awesome. We sang because we appreciate (as much as our minds can comprehend) the complexities of how God knits gifts and talents together for the purpose of giving Him glory. All over the Psalms, we see this being carried out: Psalm 30:11-12, Psalm 68:26, Psalm 79:13 and Psalm 63:4, just to name a few.

1st Corinthians 12:12, 20, and 26 (and the whole chapter), all speak to this picture of "the communion of saints".

"12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it."

I got to truly rejoice with my brothers and sister because we belong to the same body. There are lots of other parts of this body too, ones who may not be gifted in music, but are gifted in teaching, administrating, interpreting, healing, and on and on. One part is not more important. One part is not unnecessary. The metaphorical grass is not greener if only I would have been given a different gift instead of this measly little one. But we often go in those three directions in our thinking, and it gets us, and therefore the church, in a world of trouble. We end up squandering gifts, wasting opportunities, disobeying the Spirit, frustrating other believers, tearing each other down, looking foolish, disjointed, and lacking unity and purpose.
Can you imagine what the early church would have been like if people had ignored the gifts and opportunities to grow and use what God had given them?

"Oh, Paul was thrown into prison again? Shoot, now look at all the work I'm gonna have to do to make sure his share gets done. Why does he have to be so vocal about Jesus anyway? If he'd just keep a lower profile . . . he always has to rock the boat." Or, "You just arrived from Samaria? Well, good luck finding a place to stay. We don't have any extra room. I'm already expected to take care of my in-laws, my 5 children, and I was assigned by Peter to help feed the poor . . . as if I have so much extra to give. Why can't I just bake the bread like Tabitha." With attitudes like that, people would have been tearing down the gates to join the Christian movement! Hmmmm, perhaps not! Yet this is how many in the church sound today, or even worse . . . "I've done my time, but someone needs to disciple those young Christians," "I'm not going to teach kids/adults about the Gospel, I spend the rest of the week teaching," "That person has no business singing a solo in church, their voice is just too breathy," "I don't have anything worthwhile to offer anyone else," "There's no way I'm gonna lead, nights and weekends are my time, and besides, I get enough headaches having to lead in my normal job," "I can't bring cookies, I already serve in the choir," "We can't have her on the stage even if she can sing. Have you seen her teeth?" "My past is so horrible, there's no way God would ever use me?" "Church is my time to be filled up, so someone else needs to take my kids," and on and on. One would think these are silly fictional anecdotes, but one would be wrong!

If we wish away our gifts, think they're unnecessary, or determine they are unimportant (either in ourselves or in others), we are denying the Body of Christ and how God designed for the church to work, AND robbing others of the gifts God put in us to help them, encourage them, and point them towards Christ Himself. We are stealing, from both God and those He loves. Who are we to think our gifts are our own? Who are we to think we know the mind of God and how He works? I want so badly for the church to get along. I crave for people to realize their God given potential and discover and develop the gifts God purposed for them to use. When they do, they find that sweet spot of "the communion of the saints" that is so clearly centralized on Christ, that "the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace." So dear reader, do we steward our "gifts" well, or squander them away, consuming those around us with our lack of obedience?