chapter vi

IN THE CHURCH

It is Possible to be Very Much in the Church Without the Church Being in You

• Anna (Luke 2:37):

  "... She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, praying and fasting."

• The early Jerusalem church (Acts 2:46,47):

  "Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."

• The Sons of Korah (Psalm 84:1-4, 10):

  "How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord ; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young- a place near your altar, O Lord Almighty, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you. Selah. Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked."

The people just mentioned are the kind of people who not only were in church a lot, but the church was very much in them. God's grace is at work in them and it comes out in praise, worship and care for others.

But there are those who are in the church a lot but have never been touched by God's grace. The church isn't in them. Consider these people:

• Religious but uncaring Israel (Isaiah 58:3-4):

  "'Why have we fasted,' they say, 'and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?' "Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high."

• Outwardly religious people (Ezekiel 33:30-32):

  "As for you, son of man, your countrymen are talking together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, saying to each other, 'Come and hear the message that has come from the LORD .' My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to listen to your words, but they do not put them into practice. With their mouths they express devotion, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice."

There are those who think that they can work their way into heaven. They are usually the ones who come across as extremely devoted and active in their religion. The apostle Paul before his Damascus road encounter with Christ is a good example of someone who was very religious, but a stranger to God:

• Philippians 3:4-6:

  "If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless."

Just because you have a group of religious people around you that congratulate your devotion, just because you have somehow gained the smiles of saints, does not mean you have the smile of God on your life. The smiles of those saints can be stolen, they can be fooled. Even worship can be enjoyed by someone who is not really a worshipper:

• James 3:9-12:

  "With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water."

True worship arises out of a heart that is undivided in its devotion to God through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. After his conversion, Paul got things straight:

• Philippians 3:7-11:

  "But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead."

The End of All This is: Examine Yourself

• Psalm 139:23-24

  Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

David stood before the Lord and said, "Turn the spotlight on me, God!" Follow David's lead. Don't point to your family or friends or enemies; point to yourself and ask, "God, do you see a spirit that is alive?" Let Him speak to you through the truths of His word. Make every trip to the Lord's table a check-up for signs of life:

• 1 Corinthians 11:27-28:

  "Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup."

This is way too serious a matter to leave to vague impressions and mere self-confidence. But next we will move on to those things which are genuine signs of life...