Where the Water Is Not Reaching
October 28, 2009
Our back yard currently consists of two colors: green and brown. The green is the lush winter rye that I planted a number of weeks ago, and the brown is the grassless dirt where the sprinkler does not reach. Like Asaph seeking to understand why the wicked prosper, my perennial attempts to make sure all of our yard receives water seems to me a wearisome task (Ps 73:16), so this year I decided that I am willing to live with a green and brown yard. The extra effort is simply not worth it.
As I admired the two-toned landscape earlier this week, I was struck by the fearful thought that the same dynamic, the same color scheme, might be true of our church family. There is much green at Whitton Avenue-many thriving, well-watered, growing believers that causes us to be in awe of God’s life-giving gospel. In fact, just as my back yard is more green than brown, I believe we could safely say that more of our church is growing in Christ than not.
But what about the parched, unwatered areas of the yard that is Whitton Avenue Bible Church? Can we have a similar negligence toward the outer corners of our congregation that I have toward my back yard, citing excuses of how much effort it would take? Absolutely not.
If I can switch to one of Paul’s favorite metaphors for the church, the human body, we find that there is no member of this body that is to be left behind in the growth process. In Ephesians 4, Paul discusses “building up the body of Christ,” a process which continues until “we all attain to the unity of the faith” as we become more like Christ and as “the whole body…builds itself up in love” (Ephesians 4:12-13, 16). Paul has no concept of a body in which some members are growing and some are not; only an all-green yard will do.
As one of the elders at Whitton Avenue, my initial response is to scurry about and find every part of our congregation that may not be as well nourished as others. Yet even this ignores the “all-body” nature of Paul’s words. As a pastor-teacher in the church, one of my roles is “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12). In other words, this work of watering the whole yard, of making sure the entire body is growing is the work to which we are all called.
So what does this mean for each one of us? It means that we each think through our group of church friends and acquaintances and ask which of our brothers and sisters are not flourishing spiritually. To use the watering analogy, we look for the dry ground and find ways to water it, whether through an encouraging note, studying God’s word together, or a simple invitation for dinner. And if you run out of ideas for how to help nourish that brother or sister, ask one of the pastors or teachers at Whitton for help. Our job is to help you minister to others.
As we consider the whole landscape of Whitton Avenue, may God use to to nourish one another with his grace and truth so that the stunning green growth of our yard might be to his glory.
Growing with you,
Pastor Chris