When One Member Suffers...

So...a sinus infection has pretty much taken over the last couple of days. I'm always amazed at just how bad you can feel from one of these: the congestion, the constant blowing of the nose, the breathing through your mouth, and the pressure around your eyes. Today is my second day of antibiotics, so hopefully I will be back to my normal self tomorrow.?. It's true what Scripture says about the body. When one members suffers, we all suffer.

Preparing for the blog today, I cam across another really bad church sign. YIKES! I'm sure the message conveyed was not the intent of the person who put it together. But one has to ask the question: What other messages are we putting out there that wasn't intended? How people view the church matters. It matters because their perception is vital in our ability to minister to them. What if the world saw in us what Paul spoke to the believers in Corinthians? "When one member suffers, all suffer with it..."

A lot has changed with the church since those early days. One of the greatest losses to our perception of the church is seeing it as the body of Christ. I'm not saying that pastors aren't teaching about it. I'm just saying that we don't seem to get it. This is especially true the larger a congregation grows.

Several years ago, a very famous pastor wrote a book dealing with healthy churches. In his book, he talks about healthy churches as growing churches. He uses the analogy of a child. When a child is healthy, he will grow. It's natural. Unfortunately, many people jumped on this bandwagon of "healthy" churches being bigger and smaller churches being "sick, weak, or anemic." Once again, we find ourselves focusing on the wrong things. Bigger churches require more leadership. This led to books, conferences, and focus groups dedicated to helping the church to run like a well oiled machine. Need I go on? What this one pastor forgot, and what many of us have chosen to overlook, is that BIG doesn't always mean healthy. Ever heard of "giantism?"

Church health should be a focus, but our ideas about church health need to change. In particular, as it relates to our relationships with one another. WE are the church. WE are the body of Christ. How WE are in relation to One Another is vitally important. What the world experiences in US, collectively or individually, tells them exactly what they need to know (good or bad).

I know of a pastor, who, over the course of the last few years has struggled greatly. Health problems, financial difficulties, etc., etc. The list just keeps growing. What saddens me is the fact that the church he pastors does very little (if anything) to help. The denomination he is a part of, and the pastors that he knows through that association, have done little (if anything). They don't even acknowledge the struggles. It's business as usual. Keep preaching, teaching, serving, and taking care of things. All the while, this pastor and his family are losing their faith in the "family of God."

What family? I know you asked the question. I've asked it myself. I don't really know where the focus has shifted. I don't really understand the members of any church still thinking they are doing God a service by showing up when they can't even show up for this family. They may not be able to help out financially, but what about food? What about service? What about helping around the house? Something can be done. Something should be done. When one members suffers, all should suffer with them.

"Don't let worries kill you. Let the church help." Doesn't sound so funny now. Does it? The sign would be so much better with "Let the church help you overcome." So would our lives together be so much better with that same message. I told you about a pastor. Could you imagine if it was just an "ordinary member." Just a man in the church. He comes every Sunday. He struggles but no one helps. He has full confidence in God, but his faith in the church is failing fast. Do you see the problem? Much (and I do mean MUCH) of the provision we look for in our lives could come through one another. It should. Just like the early church in Acts, we should have all things in common. We should be sharing with one another. We should be filling the needs within the body. It's who we are.

I've watched people over the years neglect their physical bodies. They pushed past the pain and kept going. Rather than attend to that particular need, whatever it was, they just kept doing what they do. That is, until they are put out of commission by surgery. It takes longer to heal because they let it go too long. This is true in our natural bodies. It's true in the spiritual body as well.

Look around you. We are in this together. Our journey is full of people. People that are made in the image and likeness of God. Let's go all in with them. With one another. Imagine the testimony to the world. Imagine the delight in our Heavenly Father. I believe we can do this. I know that I have shared some negative things about the church, but there are a LOT of good ones out there. Doing great things. Loving one another. Sharing with one another. Meeting a lot of needs. And why not? We do have the Spirit of Christ within us. There should be a family resemblance.