February 2, 2014

February 2, 2014
MESSAGEMINDER
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!! !Psalm 78:4b
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“…WE will tell….”
The Power of ‘We’
By Jonathan Stone
Hebrews 10:24-25 instructs us to spur
one another to love and good deeds,
“not forsaking our assembling together.”
There are two things that strike me
about that passage. First, it is interesting
that I need the church in order to be
spurred on to good deeds. I can see that
I need encouragement, support,
accountability, fellowship, and many
things. But can I not figure out at least
how to do good deeds on my own?
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One of the reasons that I need to be a
part of a church in order to do good
deeds is that I cannot objectively see
which good deeds I am gifted to
accomplish. When a person stops to
consider his or her gifts, strengths and
weaknesses he or she often turns
inwardly to do a sort of self-inventory.
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This certainly can be helpful, and self
awareness is important. However, it
should be pointed out that one
important aspect of identifying and
prioritizing gifts in an individual is by
paying attention to feedback offered to
him or her from others.
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As individuals we have a tendency to get
lost in certain ideas about our gifts that
may not be accurate. When speaking of
gifts in Romans 12 the Apostle Paul
instructs every one of his readers to
“not think of himself more highly than
he ought to think; but to think
soberly” (12:3). The word soberly means
to see something rightly or accurately, to
see it the way it really is. We think of
this admonition as a guard against
pride, but it is more than that. It is
specifically given to us in the context of
how our gifts might be used to help the
rest of the Body of Christ.
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Because of the tendency to get a
distorted view of ourselves it is
important for us to listen to the feedback
that we get from the Body of Christ
regarding our gifts, and how God might
want to use them. As we pay attention
to this we begin to sense which of our
gifts are being called upon by those
around us. In this way the body of
Christ calls forth the right gifts at the
right time from each of us. I may have
rightly discerned several personal
strengths that I possess. However, it is
often the feedback from the body of
Christ that will let me know which gifts
are being summoned at that time.
MESSAGEMINDER February 2, 2014
Second, I find the words our assembling together to be
interesting. In English the word assembling has two
different ideas to it. It can simply mean to gather
together, and it is that sense that we typically
understand Hebrews 10:25. But it can also mean
something else. It can refer to a more diligent and
intentional process. You know, that process of
taking a thousand little pieces and putting them
together in a slow deliberate way until a finished
product emerges. It takes patience. It takes
understanding, too. One must know where to start,
what order to proceed, which parts fit into other
parts, etc. If you have ever assembled a piece of
cheap furniture that comes in a compact box you
know this process all too well. It can be a frustrating
process. You also know this, every single piece that
comes in that box is necessary if that piece of
furniture is going to become what it is designed to
be.
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Likewise, building the church can be tiring, even
frustrating. It requires patience. It requires
knowledge and understanding, insight into which
parts go with other parts, an understanding of
where to start and how to proceed. Most
importantly, if it is going to become what it is
designed to be, every part must be used. You need
the church, and the church needs you.
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Perhaps you are saying, “The church needs others
with bigger and better gifts, but the church does not
really need me.” Let me tell you a story about
encyclopedias. Up until 1993 there was one main
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encyclopedia. It was the Encyclopedia Britannica. But in
1993 an exciting new encyclopedia was launched that
was much different than the 1,000-pound set of books
we were all use to. It was Microsoft Encarta, an entire
encyclopedia on a CD that you stuck in your
computer.
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Microsoft hired a small army of writers, supervisors and
professors to verify the information. People with
Masters degrees carefully researched information, a
team of writers compiled it, a group of editors
corrected it and Microsoft published it. Then a few
years later, the game changed again. Encarta decreased
in popularity, and was eclipsed by another
encyclopedia. Do you know what the most popular
Encyclopedia in the world is today? Not Britannica. Not
Encarta. It’s Wikipedia.
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Wikipedia didn’t hire professors and editors to write the
content. They didn’t build a giant staff to make sure
everything was correct. Do you know who writes the
articles at Wikipedia? That’s right...you and me. Other
people. Everybody. No professionals...just everyday
people who contributed. The lesson to learn from
Wikipedia is that everybody can accomplish more than
somebody. The church is a volunteer organization...it’s
the power of everybody working together. That is both
the power and the beauty of being the church. That
God has brought us together for His mission. Just like
the piece of furniture we mentioned earlier, some
assembly is required, but the finished product is a
beautiful display that was designed by God Himself.
You are a piece in the box, and every piece is required!