What do I mean by the title of this post? By the time you are finished reading this post I hope that you will know what I mean and you will be inspired to examine yourself to see if you are being or doing.
I had coffee with a man today who preceives that people at the church he has been attending are shunning him because of possible gossip that is being spread about him in his community. As we talked I shared how when I first began to attend the Vineyard no one spoke or shook my hand even after I had visited 6 times. I shared how I later found out the people of that church had just gone through a painful split and I realized they were wounded and hurting. I shared what I preceived as unfriendiness was actually woundedness. I explained that maybe what he was picking up was a small church mentality and not shunning because of something they had heard.
I am not making excuses for either church but pointing out that sometimes the church comes together to worship God and they do church instead of being the church. When we do church nothing has changed in our lives and we come together to worship and we pretend. When we be the church we live out of our salvation by doing the things Jesus said the church would do.
In Matthew 25: 31-36 we are told that when Christ comes back He will separate the goats fromt he sheep. The sheep are those who gave Him water when He was thirsty, fed Him when He was hungry, clothed Him when He was naked, visited Him when He was sick, when He was a stranger they invited Him in, and when He was in prison they came to Him.
On any given week people who are thirsty and hungry for the truth and for friendship come to our churches. Each week people who are sick or in bond by sin come into our churches. Every week people who feel naked and strange slip into our churches.
Those doing church see their thirst and hunger, hear of their sickness or bondage, or see their nakedness and stangeness and do n0t grasp their need. They continue to talk with those they already know or hold back from moving up to those in need. It is as if they have blinders on that keep them from seeing or hearing the cries of the needy.
Those who are being the church give water to the thirsty, they feed the hungry, they place hands on the sick, they patiently walk with those in bondage, they cover the naked and make the stranger feel welcome. Their eyes and ears are open to what God is wanting to do in the lives of others. Their hearts feel their pain. They identify with their situation. They take action to bring peace and comfort.
The question for you is: "Are you Doing Church or Are you Being the Church?"
If you read the book of Acts you will find that being a Christian involves ACTION.
Philippians 2
He Took on the Status of a Slave
1-4 If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.
I encourage you to become the church that looks Upward to God, Inward to caring for the Body and Outward to those who are Missing from your weekly worship service. Most of all on the day you worship stop focusing on your own needs but keep your ears and eyes open for those who need you to be like Jesus.
Being the Church is so much Greater than Doing Church.
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