When the Church Acts Like the Church
Some days, I can feel quite holy. I have my devotional time, time in prayer, and I feel ready for my day. I love that time early in the morning, just me and my Bible.
But then, people happen. Time to stretch those spiritual muscles: bearing one another’s burdens (Gal 6:2), encouraging one another (1 Thes 5:11), stirring one another up to love and good works (Heb 10:24-25), being patient with one another (Col 3:12-13), and the most difficult of all- forgiving one another as God in Christ has forgiven us (Eph 4:32). Some days, the holiness that feels so profound in private fades away when it’s time to put it into practice.
John Stott is helpful here: “Holiness is not a mystical condition experienced in relation to God but in isolation from human beings. You cannot be good in a vacuum, but only in the real world of people” (The Message of Ephesians, 184). This is what makes life in the church so necessary, and at times so difficult. Because we are made in God’s image, we are created for intimate human relationships. Because we are sinners, intimate human relationships can be a bit prickly.
Prickly People in Close Proximity
The German Philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer called this the “Porcupine’s Dilemma.” He explained it in a parable: Several porcupines were trying to stay warm on a cold winter night. They huddled together to stay warm, but their quills kept poking one another and drove them apart. So they remained separated until the freezing temperatures drove them together again. Back and forth they went, first together and then apart, but never finding great comfort either way.
If you’ve been in church for any long period of time, you know that reality. Many Christians bear scars from the wounds of “friendly fire.” Some give up on church altogether, deciding it’s unnecessary for Christian flourishing. Others may begrudgingly stay, viewing the church as a “necessary evil.” This is one of the attractions of watching worship online; the “perks” of church without the problems that arise from dealing with sinners.
No Pain, No Gain
But, what if the difficulty of dealing with sinners is actually one of God’s purposes for having us in church? What if church isn’t a “necessary evil”, but rather a blessed opportunity to exercise your spiritual muscles? What if that difficult brother or sister in the church- the one that bugs you the most- was sovereignly placed in your life for your sanctification?
That is the way Scripture sees it. Life in a community of believers is, in the sovereign plan of God, one of the primary places we can exercise and grow in the holiness that life together requires and God commands. In other words, the very thing that makes life in the church so challenging is one of the primary reasons God has called us into the church; to give us the opportunity to extend to one another the same sacrificial, patient, forgiving love that God has so graciously lavished upon us through Christ! It is when we do these things that the church begins to function as the church.
One-Anothering
Sharing our lives with others can be uncomfortable, just ask the porcupine! This is why there are more than fifty commands in the New Testament about how we are to treat one another. These instructions are imperative for life in the church.
In the weeks ahead, we will look at several of these “one another” statements that are so vital for life in the church. As we study and seek to implement these things, I hope that we will continue to grow into the sort of church family that Jesus described in John 13:35: “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
