Letters To The Church By Francis Chan – The Departure & Sacred Reflection:
When you close your eyes and picture the church what do you see?
When I close my eyes and picture the church, that is the church we see in the Bible; I see a single cohesive unit (a body) made up of several individual members. Each working together to spread the gospel, for the good of the church, it’s individual members and their community.
When you close your eyes and look at Gateway what do you see?
When I first looked at this question last Thursday, a single word came to mind; Family!
I sat at breakfast on Saturday with three other brothers in Christ, two of which are members of Gateway, and I watched as one of them poured his heart out. With tears in his eyes, he talked about some things with which he was struggling. Included in this was a confession of sin in his life. As beautiful and inspiring as I found this man’s transparency, it was equally beautiful and inspiring to watch the rest of the men around the table respond with encouragement and love. It was raw discipleship in its purest form. It was a picture of the Church and testimony for Gateway. It transformed the breakfast table into the sanctuary. I may have missed the service this Sunday, but I went to church on Saturday morning.
This example is fresh in my mind, but there are many more. Mercy Ministry, working in covenant with several families, my own included, to spur them on in life and their relationships with Christ. Mission trips to spread the gospel. Serve week. Adoptions. Discipleship. Fellowship.
I see all of these things taking place at Gateway, and I see the church. I see a family working together to build each other and the community up in their relationships with Christ and knowledge of the gospel. When I close my eyes and look at Gateway, I see the church, and I see family.
What is sacred that church needs to run towards with focus and steadfastness?
So I looked up steadfast, and here is what Merriam-Webster had to say about it; firmly fixed in place: not subject to change: firm in belief, determination, or adherence.
Francis Chan touches on several topics that the church should hold as sacred and run towards with steadfastness. Communion, prayer, worship, and our place in God’s plan are a few examples. However, I think there is one thing the church should hold as sacred that encompasses all the rest. That is the word of God.
God’s word is His instruction manual to humanity. It teaches us how we should interact with the rest of the world, and more importantly, it shows us who God is and how we should interact with Him. It teaches us what is sacred. God’s word is the “top button” when we get it right, “everything else falls into place,” to paraphrase a certain pastor.
When we hold God’s word as sacred and firmly fix it in its rightful place in our lives, when we recognize that it is not subject to change and stand firm in our belief and adherence to it, we do not need to question what is sacred. When we hold God’s word as sacred and run towards it with focus and steadfastness, then, by default, we do the same with the things that God considers sacred.