Every Member Brings: Part 5

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This is Part 5 of a multi-part series of posts entitled Every Member Brings.



Part 5: The Spiritual Buffet

There is one other thing that I am will share on this topic of The 5 Courses. It is the concept of the spiritual "buffet." This is what God intended the gatherings of His people to be - spiritual buffets that were supplied by Him, for His glory, through the entire church and for its edification.

Corn here, salad there, roast beef there, pie over there, fresh water there, bread over there. You get the picture. A spiritual buffet.

But how would you feel if you went to your local buffet-style restaurant, paid your money, got a plate and approached the buffet - only to find that each and every container on the buffet held corn? Most of us like the taste of corn, even love it. And it’s nutritious, as well. Nothin’ bad you can say about corn. If you had to, you could live on only corn and water.

This "boring" buffet - with corn as its only course - is too often what man has created in today’s church. The pastor or assistant pastor or teacher speaks almost every week in most churches and, anointed and “nutritious” as it may be, it is only corn.

Many in the Western, and especially American Church, have tried to integrate big sound systems and multimedia screens and church outreaches for every concievable "group" of believer, all with the purpose of "making church interesting" and "drawing people to God." There is nothing in God's Word that says that big productions are inherently wrong. The book of Acts tells us of three thousand people becoming disciples of Christ in one day. That's a big production.

There is a vibrant and growing number of house churches and para-church ministries throughout the world. The popularity of their focus upon "simplicity and intimacy" has been chronicled by the media. There is nothing in God's Word that says that smaller groups are inherently wrong. The book of Acts tells us that the Church began in this fashion.

But if we, whether in larger church settings or smaller, whether in institutional church or house church or para-church settings, are still serving up "just corn," we have missed something vitally important about God's way of doing things. We have forgotten that God's Word is clearly trying to tell us that "what's interesting" and "what will draw people to God" is God's people jointly sharing a manifestation of Him and His Son and His Holy Spirit.

True Biblical community as evidenced in the book of Acts and 1 Corinthians 14:26 and lived out in whatever church size or form, lifts up Christ. As such, it presents people with something that - if they have eyes to see - they can't take their eyes off of.....Christ Himself.

And when He is lifted up, He tells us, He will draw all men unto Himself.

Would you go back to a buffet that only offered corn to eat? No. It is for this same reason that people - in droves - are switching churches or leaving the church altogether.

Don’t get me wrong. Perhaps some of us in the church meant well. Perhaps some of us looked at building the church on a practical level, and that’s where we got into trouble. The church is not a practical organism, it is a spiritual organism.

Perhaps some of us looked at building the church on a professional level, like a successful company, and that’s where we got into trouble. The church is not a professional organism, it is a spiritual organism.

And sadly, perhaps still others of us looked at building the church on a personal level, seeking to build our own Kingdom to give to God, and that’s where we got into trouble. The church is not a personal organism, it is a spiritual organism, and God created it to give to Himself.

We are not called to build the Church. Jesus said that He would build His church. He told us to make disciples of all men. And the best way to disciple is that way that Christ Himself did; by sharing His daily life with those whom He was seeking to disciple.

That is why every member bringing when they come together is such a powerful thing. What is experienced there and is shared there is a spiritual product of God's work in and through His Church, an ordained response to what He is doing in the hearts and lives of each member and amidst the community of believers as a whole. When this happens, there is nothing more worshipful, more praising unto God, more laden with glory for our Creator and Father.

God has created us in oneness to provide a buffet that is representative of our Heavenly Father, a feast of the Holy Spirit beyond human measure, a banquet that is fit for the King.