Do you see it? Origin material is ready to be used. No! Not the boards in the foreground—the blurs in the back: Those are the shapes of people, the committed ones of Origin Church, visiting what will be Origin Coffe & Tea. But the background is somewhat like the foreground.
Check out the boards. My buddy Tim milled each one. He’s just cool like that. Time consuming. Tedious. Messy. They are all of particular consistent design, yet not one the same; each meets a certain and same criteria, yet not one is exactly like the other. I see a fascinating analogy to the Church.
As useful as this wood will be to the Origin Coffee project—a project that will aid the rescue of kids in the sex trafficking epidemic—not one board will be of any value for Origin Coffee, disconnected from the whole, along side of the other. One isolated board is worthless unless used in connection with each other.
In similar way, Jesus is shaping his Church. Time consuming. Tedious. Messy. Each person is of value to the Kingdom of God. But just like building material, each person in the church must be conformed to a single standard for the Church to take shape: Christ! By grace, the Church takes shape.
But there is also diversity. As Tim milled the boards, there was not a one included that did not get shaped into the form of Tim’s choosing, and yet each board is unique, with its own grain, tone, and imperfections.
The key is this: the Church is milled into community. Speaking of the Church the Apostle Peter said, “…you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1Pet. 2:5). There is community in this verse! Take special note of the plural—not self, but selves!—Not stone, but stones!—Yet one single spiritual house! It’s not about any one individual, but that they are together being built into God’s expression of himself to the world: the Church community.
Should I get to the point? The point is that God does not use people in his Church in isolation, but in community—in mutual interaction, and service of each other. You’re not in the structure of Christ’s Church if you don’t find yourself wedged in the dirty jagged midst of people. Just like the lumber in the picture is made up of individual pieces that are forced together by gravity and intelligent placement, Christians in the Church are called into the Church for and by Jesus to be pressed and press against other people—which, lets be honest, is not always comfortable. But it is what you are called to!
One last thing, the Church Community is God’s plan, not ours. John Stott, as he often does, says it best:
We are not only committed to Christ, we are also committed to the body of Christ. At least I hope so….For the church lies at the very centre of the eternal purpose of God. It is not a divine afterthought. It is not an accident of history. On the contrary, the church is God’s new community. For his purpose, conceived in a past eternity, being worked out in history, and to be perfected in a future eternity, is not just to save isolated individuals and so perpetuate our loneliness, but rather to build his church, that is, to call out of the world a people for his own glory….So then, the reason we are committed to the church is that God is so committed.
This primary gist of Ephesians 3. Church community is not a modern construction, it’s not a historic construction, it is the eternal plan of God.
I hope that your view of the Church might increase in magnitude because it is in fact a transcendent living creation of God, not something that you attend to be entertained. The Apostle Paul, writing in Ephesians, expands the scope of God’s community to eternal proportions:
…you are no longer strangers…[but]…members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit (2:19-22). So that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him (3:10-12).
Due to delays, the building materials sit and wait. While the materials wait on planning and municipal logistics, etc., the Church does not—it grows into the community of Christ, a household, something solid and powerful. I am reminded and encouraged of the power of such a house when Jesus says, “…I will build my Church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it” (Mat. 16:18). My friends be encouraged. Don’t get apathetic to God’s divine presence in the world, as tainted as it is through sin and pride of people. She is nonetheless Christ’s bride and perfect plan. Be in community. Enjoy the time consuming, tedious, messiness that is involved in loving people. That’s God’s plan for you. Love it!
