Some time ago now, our GraceLife Church leadership read together a small but insightful book entitled, “Autopsy of a Deceased Church” by Thom S. Rainer. The book not only outlined many of the dangerous signs of a dying church, but it laid out a number of proposed solutions to stem the tide.
The purpose for our reading the book was not that our church was in anyway dying—in reality, we were just born. The reason we considered the book was to remind us again of what our chief priorities should be in the church and what we always want to feverishly avoid.
As we recently celebrated the resurrection of Christ, I was reminded of Jesus’ immense love for His church (Ephesians 5:25). It is incomprehensible how a holy and righteous God can love sinners like us—and not only love us, but extend to us a full pardon as if we never sinned even once. What Jesus went through for us is the ultimate in selfless, unconditional love (I John 3:16).
As Christians, we are not only to love like Christ (I John 4:18-20), but we are to love what He loves. And, He unmistakably loves the Church.
Not everyone shares my story, but in God’s providence I had the privilege of growing up in the church. As a child, I learned about God and His Word in Sunday school, Children’s church, AWANA, and Vacation Bible School—interestingly, all ministries that we offer to the children in our church. As a junior higher and high school student, I was blessed to be surrounded by a youth pastor and youth sponsors who loved me and wanted to see me grow in my faith. By choice, the people in my church became my best friends and trusted accountability partners.
The passion for Christ that was instilled in me by those faithful servants in my local church made it so much easier to go off to Bible college and learn more of the glories of our Savior and His Word. Upon graduation from Bible college, I couldn’t wait to get out and put into practice what I had learned. By God’s grace, after all of these years, I have not lost my passion for the local church. Granted, the local church is not perfect because it is full of sinful people like me, but there is no place that I would rather be than with the saints of God.
So naturally, it pains me to see the local church being so marginalized today. With dying churches all around us, it is a reminder that we must stay vigilant to be the church that Christ wants us to be. In doing so, we must remain committed to the Word of God and to each other.
Below are TWELVE EXAMPLES of how we are to lovingly interact with one another in the body of Christ:
- We are to be members of one another. (Romans 12:5)
- We are to be devoted to one another. (Romans 12:10)
- We are to honor one another. (Romans 12:10)
- We are to be of the same mind with one another. (Romans 15:5)
- We are to accept one another. (Romans 15:7)
- We are to admonish one another. (Romans 15:14)
- We are to greet one another. (Romans 16:3-6,16)
- We are to serve one another. (Galatians 5:13)
- We are to bear one another’s burdens. (Galatians 6:2)
- We are to bear with one another. (Ephesians 4:2)
- We are to submit to one another. (Ephesians 5:21)
- We are to encourage one another. (I Thessalonians 5:11)
May we as a local church be encouraged to not only love like Christ loves, but love what He loves!