"What will they do without us?"
2009 January 13 / Filed in: thinking out
loud
One of the things that fascinates me about life is
when different experiences come together in a moment
to give an “epiphany” that opens up a
new, clearer way of thinking. Most of my
“epiphanies” are more like blinding
flashes of the obvious. This is the story of one of
those “epiphanies.”
For the past several months I have been teaching on the Spiritual Gifts, particularly the gifted people listed in Ephesians 4 - the Apostles, the Prophets, the Evangelists, and the Pastors and Teachers - who are given to the Body to equip the individual members for service. At the end of this passage Paul brings the whole section to a point in saying, “As each one does its part, the Body grows in love.” Every individual member of the Body of Christ plays a unique and indispensable role in Christ’s work among His people and in the world. This may be true and good theology, but do we really apply it?
On Monday nights, we have a MilktoMeat class that my wife Jill attends with me. Our daughters Hannah and Sara also come with us and stay with Joyce outside the class, often playing with friends at the church. This week, Jill and the girls stayed home. When I told Sara, who is four years old, she was very disappointed and said, “But what will they do without us?!?” Of course I laughed. It’s great to be four and still believe that the whole world and universe revolves around us.
But then a thought occured to me: what if there was a deeper and truer reality behind her words. I think of Jesus reminding us that children show us the true Way of the kingdom (Matthew 18:3-5). What if my four year old was tuning in on something that we “older and wiser” ones have forgotten about. What if we had the attitude in our groups, our fellowships, our churches that the group is somehow less when we are not present? This is not far off the mark of Paul’s discussions of the Body of Christ in 1 Corinthians 12-14 and Ephesians 4. The Body of Christ is one. Father, Son and Spirit have worked as One to place each member to complete the whole Body. Each member is significant and indispensable. In this context, we don’t merely possess spiritual gifts to use in ministry; We ARE the gift that God has given to His Body to work together with our other brothers and sisters in Christ to fulfill our purpose in this World
“What would they do without us?” Asking this with the “innocence” of a four year old may be different from thinking that the world revolves around us. (Although I am sure that this is at least part of a four year old’s logic!) We remember that in Christ we are a family and a fellowship that has been welcomed into the loving and glorious fellowship of Father-Son-Spirit. This puts us on a line of thought that is very interesting: What would the Father do without the Son? What would the Son do without the Father? Without this vital relationship and fellowship of Father-Son-Spirit God would not be God and the theologians have recognized this for years.
Because we are all part of the same Body of Christ, when one of us is absent from our regular fellowships, the whole group is somehow lessened a little. We each bring the presence and the power of the indwelling Spirit of Christ when we meet together. We EACH have stories of praise to share when we come together. We EACH have issues for which we need the encouragement of our other brothers and sisters. We EACH have a significant and indispensable ministry to one another. We are inextricably linked together in the Body so that each member is vitally important to every other member.
So maybe the question, “What will they do without us?” is a good one to ask. Maybe we should never be surprised when a four year old asks better questions than the theologians. And we should never be surprised when our children speak deeper than what they know.
For the past several months I have been teaching on the Spiritual Gifts, particularly the gifted people listed in Ephesians 4 - the Apostles, the Prophets, the Evangelists, and the Pastors and Teachers - who are given to the Body to equip the individual members for service. At the end of this passage Paul brings the whole section to a point in saying, “As each one does its part, the Body grows in love.” Every individual member of the Body of Christ plays a unique and indispensable role in Christ’s work among His people and in the world. This may be true and good theology, but do we really apply it?
On Monday nights, we have a MilktoMeat class that my wife Jill attends with me. Our daughters Hannah and Sara also come with us and stay with Joyce outside the class, often playing with friends at the church. This week, Jill and the girls stayed home. When I told Sara, who is four years old, she was very disappointed and said, “But what will they do without us?!?” Of course I laughed. It’s great to be four and still believe that the whole world and universe revolves around us.
But then a thought occured to me: what if there was a deeper and truer reality behind her words. I think of Jesus reminding us that children show us the true Way of the kingdom (Matthew 18:3-5). What if my four year old was tuning in on something that we “older and wiser” ones have forgotten about. What if we had the attitude in our groups, our fellowships, our churches that the group is somehow less when we are not present? This is not far off the mark of Paul’s discussions of the Body of Christ in 1 Corinthians 12-14 and Ephesians 4. The Body of Christ is one. Father, Son and Spirit have worked as One to place each member to complete the whole Body. Each member is significant and indispensable. In this context, we don’t merely possess spiritual gifts to use in ministry; We ARE the gift that God has given to His Body to work together with our other brothers and sisters in Christ to fulfill our purpose in this World
“What would they do without us?” Asking this with the “innocence” of a four year old may be different from thinking that the world revolves around us. (Although I am sure that this is at least part of a four year old’s logic!) We remember that in Christ we are a family and a fellowship that has been welcomed into the loving and glorious fellowship of Father-Son-Spirit. This puts us on a line of thought that is very interesting: What would the Father do without the Son? What would the Son do without the Father? Without this vital relationship and fellowship of Father-Son-Spirit God would not be God and the theologians have recognized this for years.
Because we are all part of the same Body of Christ, when one of us is absent from our regular fellowships, the whole group is somehow lessened a little. We each bring the presence and the power of the indwelling Spirit of Christ when we meet together. We EACH have stories of praise to share when we come together. We EACH have issues for which we need the encouragement of our other brothers and sisters. We EACH have a significant and indispensable ministry to one another. We are inextricably linked together in the Body so that each member is vitally important to every other member.
So maybe the question, “What will they do without us?” is a good one to ask. Maybe we should never be surprised when a four year old asks better questions than the theologians. And we should never be surprised when our children speak deeper than what they know.