12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by[c] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
-1 Corinthians 12:12-14
On the first day of STEP, I learned from Pastor Wong Shun Jye‘s sharing that the word ‘Catholic’ means Universal. Having most of our Sundays spent at our own church, it is not surprising that we often forgot that despite many differences, as brothers and sisters in Christ, we Christians all form the ‘Body of Christ’, of which Christ himself is the ‘head’. Through the writing of this essay, I hope to affirm for myself, the direction and attitude we must take towards the Church, and learn as much as I can in this timeframe the fullness of God’s plan when he placed us Christians in this family of believers. And I hope to do the same for whoever reads this essay.
The extent of the Church
“I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church”
I quoted a line from the Apostle’s Creed in which almost all who claims to be Christian believe in. One of the fundamental question one might ask with regards to the family of believers is this: Who constitutes the Church?
This question has been discussed many times as I was growing up in my church, and a few more times during the course of this STEP program. I personally struggle with the answer to this question. What of those who claim to be followers of Jesus, but have beliefs that sharply contradicts our own understanding of the Truth? While every group may have reason for believing they have found ‘the right way’, it ultimately falls upon God, the ‘head’ of the Church, to determine who constitutes the ‘body’. I will not attempt to discuss the extent of God’s Church with my very limited knowledge, even though it is a crucial if we were to fully explore the our individual attitude towards the Universal Church. For the purpose of this essay only, I will keep the discussions to the protestant churches in Singapore, so that this whole discussion will be closer to us, and in hope that we may learn what kind of relationship God intended for us as a family in Him.
Friend or Foe?
Every denomination holds their version of the “Truth” to be right. As Christians, how should we regard Christians from other church? Are they our friends, or our enemy? Do we ultimately stand on the same side of the Truth?
At times we might be tempted to categorize members of a certain Denomination to be ‘foe’, some others as ‘friends’, and even some as ‘neutral’. Our actions and attitudes towards them is then greatly determined by this categorization. Some we treat with contempt, while others we may respect. But is this how we should behave toward one another?
In C.S Lewis’s Mere Christianity, he likened his aim of converting people to Christianity to bringing them to the hall. From then on, they will choose their rooms, representing their denominations.
“When you have reached your own room, be kind to those who have chosen different doors and to those who are still in the hall. If they are wrong they need your prayers all the more; and if they are your enemies, then you are under orders to pray for them. That is one of the rules common to the whole house.”
-C.S Lewis, Mere Christianity
Lewis tells his readers that regardless of how we feel about the other Christians, our treatment of them must always be of love. Indeed, no matter what denomination we are from, the Bible teaches us to love our enemy (Luke 6:27-36). If we love only our friends, what credit is that to us?
Hence, I would like to encourage myself and all readers, to always be loving towards fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, no matter how much we feel that there are wrong in certain beliefs. Where we feel that they have strayed from the Truth, let us pray for them, that they may be corrected, and when presented with the right opportunity, let us teach in gentleness. In all things where we agree upon, we may still encourage each other and work together to do good works as God wills us to. This may be as simple as prayers and mutual encouragement at our workplace. On a community level, churches may collaborate with each other for social initiatives like Care Centres. Ultimately, let us recognize that we are all sinners, and that Jesus ransomed us into his Church as beloved children of God. So let us love one another in word and in deeds.
Mutual Love and Involvement
1Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.
-Philippians 2:1-2
26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
-1 Corinthians 12:26
Being one body of Christ, it would be unwise and wrong for any individual church to live in isolation of the rest of the community. The Bible clearly teaches us that “the eye cannot say to the hand ‘I don’t need you!’”. We often apply this verse to encourage members within a church to work together. But I believe this verse may be, and should be applied to the community of churches too.
Being in this STEP program, I have come to see the various struggles that many fellow Presbyterian Churches face in our journey with God. Every church has its own battles to be fought, but let us remind ourselves that we should not be alone in these battles. As a Christian who knows of fellow brothers and sisters who are struggling with their ministries, the least we can do is to encourage them and be willing to listen to them. Ask them for what we may pray for them and their church. Where we may, we can extend our help, even if it may cause some inconvenience to us. If we are the ones who are struggling, let us not be afraid to share our burdens with fellow churches, God’s help may well come from them.
To illustrate this, I would like to the history of my church, True Grace Presbyterian Church. In the early days while my church was expanding, God sent many willing servants to provide us with the worship venues for our congregation. The Synod allowed our church to gather in their headquarters initially, following that the principal of PeiHwa School allowed us to use the temporary school hall, and later we were given a permanent place of worship in Presbyterian High School, due to the willingness and courage of many principles, for which we are extremely thankful to this day. God has truly blessed my church through his many servants, and I do hope this will be a constant reminder to me and my church to extent our help to others, just as how we have been helped greatly in the past.
Truly, there are countless ways in which churches can bear each other’s’ burden in Christ, whether it is through the provision of venue, the equipping of personnel for various ministries, or even the offer of prayers and encouragement which can go a long way to sustaining churches. I would like to remind myself to continually open my eyes to be more concerned about the affairs of others, and not just my own. Let us pray that we may be like-minded and one in heart as one body of Christ, suffering together in trials, and rejoicing together in victory.
Advancing God’s Kingdom
I would like to dedicate the last section of this essay into discussing what are the practical steps that we as Christians can take in mutual edification and advancing the Kingdom of Christ, both at a personal level, and at a community level.
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 13:34-35
At a personal level, one of the most impactful work we Christians can engage in is to demonstrate God’s love wherever we go. At our workplace, we may actively seek out fellow Christians and have constant prayer and encouragement. Conduct fellowship and worship together. Be gentle in speech and offer friendship to those that may have been rejected by society. In our society, we have many opportunity to do so. Students may conduct student fellowship and keep each other’s studies in prayer, helping one another in academics. NS men may encourage one another in the harsh and challenging environment, demonstrating gentleness and integrity amidst all the trials involved. Working adults may conduct themselves uprightly, and be helpful and kind towards colleagues, praying for one another. Love is an extremely powerful tool in drawing people to Christ. In witnessing Christians’ testimony, non-believers may be drawn to the source of such love, our Lord Jesus himself.
In the course of growing up, I have witnessed for myself how non-believers looked at Christians and said ‘This must be a very nice place to be in’. I have heard from friends of how some non-believers wanted to be part of this community, where we have an almighty God to depend upon. In many of these cases, they accepted Christ. But they have also been instances where non-believers are put off by what they felt was unloving behavior by Christians. So let us continually strive to obey Christ’s command to love one another, despite of some differences in belief, because God command us to love not just our friends, but our enemies as well.
At a community level, there are many tasks that individual church cannot achieve alone, and many that will be many better undertaken with the commitment of a larger community. For the Presbyterian Churches of Singapore, we have many social opportunities being presented to us. One example would be the supporting of the Boys’ Bridage Ministry. Our churches has been very supportive of this ministry, serving the young boys in the Brigade. As a former Boy, I can testify of the impact this ministry of the young minds of the boys.
35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
Matthew 9:35-38
From this STEP program, I learnt that the Presbyterian Churches have extensive involvement in social work that involves Elderly Care Centers and Special Needs School. Currently, the social work aspect of this ministry is quite well taken care of, but the evangelical aspect has much more to be worked on. While the social work we do tends to the physical and mental needs of the community we serve in, we need the churches to come in and fill their spiritual needs, by bringing them to the only one who can achieve that, our Lord Jesus. One of the practical step that churches can undertake is in committing time and financial resources to evangelize the community we are taking care of. I fully understand the weight of such a commitment, and the difficulties it may involve. And hence I hope that churches will pray for wisdom and, above all, love, to understand God’s will and plan for us in such works. May we be willing to follow wherever He calls us to. What we can be sure of is that, if God wills us to do it, He will sustain us and He will bring to completion the good work He started =D
Conclusion
This essay has taught me to see more clearly what we Christians together can do as His Children. But it does not make any of the efforts I discussed any easier. Moving forward, no matter what we may face, I hope that I and readers of this essay will remember that through all these trials, God is with us, and we have a family and believers outside of our own church, who are fighting the same war with us, albeit on different battlefield at times. As one body of Christ, may we share in the burdens each of us have, and come to enjoy God’s grace to the fullness extend in this family of believers.
When my church members and I started this STEP program, we started with a prayer together. I hope to end this program with a prayer together with the fellow believers in the program, as one Universal Church. And if God wills it, may our friendships extend well beyond these 3 weeks :)
No comments:
Post a Comment