Be the Church

Well if you were not at Fellowship Church Sunday you missed the Big Thing. My prayer is that the Big Thing is truly big.

Sunday we wrapped up a 5 week series titled Stuff that dealt with money and using all of our possessions for the glory of God. The premise of the whole series is from Psalm 24:1, “The earth is the Lords and everything in it. The world and all who dwell within.” The most talked about issue in the Bible is money and possessions. Why does God discuss this so much? He knows the heart of man. Jesus says that “where our heart is there your treasure will be, also.” God knows that where we focus our life is where our heart is.

Our culture and the world we live in does not teach us to put our heart and treasure with the things of God but with the temporary things of this world. Our world is scrambling and working and borrowing as much as they can to get as much as they can. This cycle wears us out emotionally, spiritually, physically, and relationally.

I believe this cycle to be the primary reason the families in our nation are falling apart at such a high rate. Our businesses are in trouble because selfish people run selfish enterprises with selfish employees. Not saying that we are totally bad and there is nothing redeemable about man, but the reality is that is the cycle of life today.

To end the series we challenged people to be givers. In Malachi it is clearly said that a man that does not bring the whole tithe and offering into the storehouse is a robber. We steal from God by keeping for ourselves. The problem with how this passage is taught too often today is that the next part of the chapter is taught incorrectly. God promises that if we bring the whole tithe into the storehouse he will open the floodgates of heaven and bless us in amazing ways. That is a great promise, but it is misunderstood. The issue is that we can not give to get. Giving for a return of personal gain is not giving at all. The other issue is that is this promise really about money? If God opened the floodgates of Heaven into your life would money fall out? I don’t think so. There are so many blessings in life greater than that.

So, to sum it all up, we left people with this challenge. Go and BE THE CHURCH. Tithing and giving is not about belonging to a church. It is about being the church. We are to literally be the Body of Christ in the world today. We must be his hands and feet and mouth. We must be the Jesus people see. We are commanded to be. We can not do that holed up in the church. We come to church to worship and praise and be taught and grow, but when we walk out the door is when we really start being the Church.

So this week everyone was given an envelope with some money it. They ranged from $5 to $100. The instructions were simple. Touch a life than needs the love and care of Jesus. That’s it. Go be the Church.

Are you being the church today? Are you the Body of Christ in someone’s world today? I encourage you to pray about what prevents you from being the Church. Ask God to break all the selfishness in you so that you can serve others selflessly.

If you were not here Sunday and are a part of Fellowship and want in on what God is doing, email me at kjones@4fellowship.org Watch for more thoughts on being the church this week. Some of them might be heavy hitting.