It was early one Sunday morning when I was a young child and we were just getting ready for Sunday School and church when it came. What thunder and lightning and pelting rain we were having! In the distance I heard the fire truck’s siren. Surely with all of this rain there wasn’t a fire somewhere. Daddy opened the front door and we could see and smell smoke. In a few minutes, our telephone rang. It was a fellow member of our church with the news; the big, red brick church down the street from the post office had been struck by lightning and it was burning. We hurriedly made our way to the church.
What a heartbreaking site with smoke bellowing out the windows and doors and under the eaves of the church. Firemen were frantically trying to put out the flames on the roof. Some people had carried out song books and bibles from the sanctuary and they lay soaked to one side. People were crying and praying and comforting each other. Why had God allowed this to happen to our beautiful church and on a Sunday morning even?
I later learned that the “church” is not the building. The church is the body of believers who inhabit the building. The word “church” comes from the Greek “ekklesia” which means “gathering” or “assembly”. So it’s not a building; it’s a group of believers who come together in one location to fellowship with each other, worship God and hear from His word, which is the bible. Christ is the head of the church and we are the body; the members.
Even though this big, red brick building would eventually be smoke and water damaged and part of its roof would fall and it would be inhabitable for a short time, the true church; the body of believers would still stay strong and once again meet together to the glory of God in that big, red brick building down the street from the post office. Even now, sixty-six years later, there is still smoke blackened evidence high up in the eaves of this church building. But, inside, there is still a body of believers meeting together each week to worship God.
God can allow material things to be destroyed but He will not destroy the hearts of His people. And, just as each member of our physical body is important, so are the members of the body of believers. God has given each member a special gift. If that member is missing, the body can’t function as well.
Is there a body of believers somewhere that needs the spiritual gift God has given you? As our visiting evangelist one time said, “You may be just that kid with the five loaves and two fishes but God can take even the smallest thing we possess and use it to His glory when we turn it all over to Him.”
“Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually”. 1 Corinthians 12:27 NIV
“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but encourage one another…and all the more as you see the day approaching” Hebrews 10:24 NIV
I later learned that the “church” is not the building. The church is the body of believers who inhabit the building. The word “church” comes from the Greek “ekklesia” which means “gathering” or “assembly”. So it’s not a building; it’s a group of believers who come together in one location to fellowship with each other, worship God and hear from His word, which is the bible. Christ is the head of the church and we are the body; the members.
Even though this big, red brick building would eventually be smoke and water damaged and part of its roof would fall and it would be inhabitable for a short time, the true church; the body of believers would still stay strong and once again meet together to the glory of God in that big, red brick building down the street from the post office. Even now, sixty-six years later, there is still smoke blackened evidence high up in the eaves of this church building. But, inside, there is still a body of believers meeting together each week to worship God.
God can allow material things to be destroyed but He will not destroy the hearts of His people. And, just as each member of our physical body is important, so are the members of the body of believers. God has given each member a special gift. If that member is missing, the body can’t function as well.
Is there a body of believers somewhere that needs the spiritual gift God has given you? As our visiting evangelist one time said, “You may be just that kid with the five loaves and two fishes but God can take even the smallest thing we possess and use it to His glory when we turn it all over to Him.”
“Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually”. 1 Corinthians 12:27 NIV
“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but encourage one another…and all the more as you see the day approaching” Hebrews 10:24 NIV
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