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About Jesus - Steve (Stephen) Sweetman Simply
Spectators Imagine yourself sitting
in the stands with forty five thousand ultra-excitable baseball fans.
You have spent your money to purchase your ticket, your meals, gas
for your car, and a night's stay in a local hotel.
You have been waiting for this game for months and here it is,
before your very eyes. Most of
all, you anticipate a victory, but where is your team.
You, along with thousands of loyal fans, just sit in stunned
silence. You only see the
pitcher, the catcher, and the third baseman on the field.
The remainder of the team are watching on the sidelines. They are
simply spectators, and you know that spectators don't win the battle.
Like a baseball team,
the church is a team endeavour. It
consists of individuals, each having his or her own divinely appointed
task to perform in co-operation with a specific few teammates God has
placed them alongside. It is
what 1 Corinthians 12:12 through 27 teaches us.
In part, that text reads:
"Just as a body,
though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is
with Christ. For we were all
baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body ... Even so the body is not
made up of one part but of many ... But
in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as
he wanted them to be ... As it is, there are many parts, but one body ...
so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should
have equal concern for each other ... Now you are the body of Christ, and
each one of you is a part of it." The Biblical fact is
that when you became a Christian, God baptized or immersed you via His
Spirit into the lives of those He chose to place you alongside on His
team, His earthly body the church. It
is with these brothers and sisters in Jesus, your teammates, where you
step up to the plate to do your part in hopes of a victory.
The sad reality is that
few western-world Christians actually know anything about their individual
calling and their God-appointed placement in the Body of Christ. They have
only been taught that they are saved and on their way to heaven.
When it comes to church, they are simply spectators, watching a few
of their fellow teammates doing their part each Sunday morning.
Church is far more than a Sunday meeting. Now imagine yourself as
one of millions of angels in the heavenly stands.
You are standing in stunned silence as your earthly teammates, on a
team purchased with an exorbitant price, are simply spectators, and you
know that spectators don't win the battle. Post Script When I ask Christians
what chapter in the Bible defines the essence of church, few know it is 1
Corinthians 12. When I ask
Christians what chapter in the Bible describes a Christian meeting, few
know it is 1 Corinthians 14. No
wonder we are simply spectators.
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