The Perfect Church Member
This was my newsletter article for April.
The Perfect
Church Member
After church this past Sunday, someone jokingly asked if I’d
be preaching a sermon on the perfect church member. Well…I won’t be preaching on that topic, but
since you asked…
·
The perfect church member is young, married,
with young children, and has 90 years of experience in living as a Christian.
·
The perfect church member is an enthusiastic new
Christian who has been a lifelong Christian with deeply rooted faith.
·
The perfect church member is single and
dedicates all free time to serving the church, while simultaneously
establishing a wide net of friendships inside and outside of the church.
·
The perfect church member is extremely wealthy
and can give generously to the church, but doesn’t work and so is always free
to help out.
·
The perfect church member teaches Sunday School,
while being in Bible Class, and then stays around to help count the offering.
·
The perfect church member is an extroverted
introvert who loves to quietly pray while simultaneously evangelizing everyone
in the room.
·
The perfect church member constantly displays
all of the fruit of the spirit all of the time, is the most humble person in
the church, and has memorized not only Luther’s Small Catechism, but the Large
Catechism too.
·
The perfect church member directs the choir,
while playing the organ, singing in the choir, and running the sound board.
A slightly ridiculous list?
Yep, it is. Obviously, just as
there are no perfect pastors, there are no perfect church members.
The list does remind us of certain truths however.
·
No one member can do everything, but every
member plays a part in the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12). The church needs young and old, married and
single, rich and poor, blue collar and white collar, baby Christians and
experienced veterans in the faith. Every
single person has a role, can contribute to the work of the church, is needed,
and is vital to the health of the church.
·
We cannot do everything and must depend on
others in the church. While this might
not be an American ideal, it is a Biblical one.
One of the illustrations of the church is that we are being built up together into a dwelling place for God,
as it says in 1 Peter 2:5, “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.”
Like stones stacked, one on top of another, we depend on each other and
we are there to support one another.
·
As an imperfect church member, you need Christ’s
forgiveness that is there for you every Sunday.
·
As an imperfect church member, you need to have
your mind renewed by the Word of God, which is something available to you in
Bible Class.
·
And most importantly, we have a perfect Savior
through whom God actually sees each and every baptized believer as
perfect. Because Jesus has clothed us in
His righteousness and holiness, we are saints (holy ones).
So at St. Paul’s, you get a pastor who is imperfect,
sinful, but forgiven and made holy by the blood of Jesus serving a community of
people who are imperfect, sinful, but forgiven and washed in the blood of
Jesus.
And that’s just how God designed it.
Pastor Meyer
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