Honouring the church

God honours His church. Jesus gave Himself for her. His prayer in John 17:22-23 was that the church (His bride) and Himself (the bridegroom) would "be one just as We (Father & Son) are one". There is a unity that is spiritual in nature. Like community, unity cannot be created. It can only be entered into. Love which comes from God cannot be created but we can 'fall into love'. Similarly, the church cannot create unity but it can be received and adopted by believers.


Believers are charged with protecting unity. Unity between believers is a strong theme in the New Testament. All of Paul's letters to the churches exhort believers to receive one another in the spirit of unity. "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." (Eph.4:3) How do we do this? How do we preserve the unity of the Spirit? One thing we can do is not let personal preferences rise above the things that we have in common in Christ. For example, we can learn to honour one another as Christ honours or values the worth of one another, never letting our differences and personalities, distract us from receiving one another as family. We also need to be realistic about our expectations of one another. We need to be passionate about the church and at the same time embrace one another with all of our imperfections. If you are expecting others to be perfect, make sure that when you find the perfect church, you don't join it because you'll ruin it!! Perhaps you are struggling with another believer right now. Apply grace to yourself and to the other person. Let His Spirit work good for you and the other party. Don't bale out.


Another thing that shows that we honour the church is when we refuse to feed offence. Somebody wrote that "the church thrives under persecution but crumbles under offence." We can all be guilty of causing offence as well as being on the end of offence. Offence has a way of eroding grace. Remember that we all have a common enemy who is called the accuser of the brethren. Don't give him any ammunition to use because we allow offence to rob our peace. If someone wants to dump on you about someone else ask them if they have talked to the person directly. By the way people who gossip to you will also gossip about you.


You can express honour by praying for your church leadership team. Bless them . Your leadership team is charged with "watching over your souls as those who must give account" but you are also charged with not causing leadership unnecessary grief because that would be "unprofitable for you". (Heb.13:17) Essentially we are called to honour, that is value one another because that is what Jesus does for His church. "He loved His church and gave Himself for her." How much ought that stir us to also honour one another. When this is seen and tasted, others will also be attracted by the power of the Spirit of unity.












This blog is based on a message called "Honouring the Church" by Ross Smith at The Vine Church, Logan City, Queensland, Australia on 28/06/15. The full message can be accessed by podcast from www.thevine.org.au/teaching