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I have been
telling you all about the wonderful things that God is doing here in Africa and
in our ministries and our team, but I feel like I haven’t shared too much about
how God is working in my heart through discipleship and small groups. Our leaders are so terrific and know how to
challenge our thoughts on who God is and other aspects of our spiritual
life. In our large group discussion we
are going over 6 major aspects of our faith and by next Friday we will be
writing our own statements of faith based on the research we have been doing
about God, the bible, the church, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. I am learning so much and our sessions are
always so intense, it is great. The last
session we had was about the church and it really spoke to my heart and God
convicted me to write a blog about it. I
have always hated “religion” since it is mans way of trying to compartmentalize
Jesus and His teachings. I feel too
often we get caught up in what religion we are instead of just focusing on
scripture and learning and teaching from it. Tag did an excellent talk on the church and how people have made it into
an organization, which it is not.
To begin the
session we made a list of things the church is and does…it was a LONG
list. After we made this list, we took
it and in smaller groups dug into scripture to see what God has to say about
the church and what it is and is not. Not to my surprise, the list of what God commands us to do is so much
shorter than the list of what we actually do and think we must do. So often the church gets distracted on what
it’s purpose is. Congregations will
spend hundreds of dollars on new buildings so that people can play Christian
basketball, or drink Christian coffee, play on a Christian playground, etc.
when there are people are there struggling to raise money for missions trips,
who are living homeless just around the corner, who go to bed every night with
hunger pains, and so much more. Church
is not a building; church is us, people, and children of God. The church is the Bride of Christ and it
shouldn’t be made into anything else. 
If we did
church right it would be a community where no one needed anything, every one’s
needs would be met. In Acts, Luke writes
about such incidents:
“All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions
was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify
to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands
or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the
apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.” Acts 4:32-35
The funny
thing was that right before this happened, 4,000 people came to know Christ, so
out of 4,000 people none were in need of anything. Is there any church anywhere where all the
attendants are need free? I couldn’t
think of one either…Wouldn’t it be so amazing to be in that kind of
community? Where people take physical
action to care for one another, instead of hearing needs (and being able to
provide) then just saying “ok I’ll pray for you”. How many of us are guilty of that? I know I am…on several occasions. It’s so easy to pray for someone, but God has
given us so much and in reality NONE of it belongs to us, it is ALL God’s, so
why do we hold on to money, clothes, and things so dearly? God doesn’t just work through miracles, but
he works through his people and the things that he has blessed them with. I challenge you to dig into scripture and
really find out what the church is…and then ask God to help you understand that
everything you own is not yours and that you can be at peace with giving away
money, or things, when God calls you to do so. We have been practicing it here and it is really hard to do even when
God smacks you in the face with the truth and what he wants you to do.
We did an
experiment in our community where for 3 days we could not buy ANYTHING for
ourselves and anything we wanted we had to ask someone to buy it for us. It was really hard to go around asking people
to buy you a soda, or some ice cream; it was even hard to ask someone to pay
for your laundry to get done. I really
didn’t have any immediate needs those few days, so I really didn’t ask for
much, but boy did I get asked to buy a lot of people stuff. Every time someone asked me, I was bitter
about giving my money away and I always thought how the person really didn’t
need what they were asking for, but they asked anyway. I was judging them for asking me to help them
out in getting something they wanted. How could I? I thought they were
being selfish, when they whole time my heart was not in the right place. I came to the realization that it’s not even
my 
money to begin with, so what does it matter if I spend it on someone
else? It’s so easy to spend money on
ourselves, but the second someone wants us to buy something for them we want to
make sure it doesn’t cost too much, or that they ACTUALLY need it, its not just
something they want as a luxury. Even
now I have a hard time “letting go” of the idea that the stuff that I currently
have in my possession are not mine and God can and will take it away, but the
great thing about that is that he will give me just as much, if not more
back. We just need to trust in Him and
the promises that he has made to us in scripture.
He is really
challenging me to be at peace with knowing that everything I own really belongs
to him and for me not to be attached to the things here, but to really be
focused on his Kingdom.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,
where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in
heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in
and steal. For where your treasure is,
there your heart will be also.” Matthew
6:19-21
