“Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this matter!” 1 Corinthians 11:22, NIV
The Remedy puts Paul’s question even more sharply: are you trying to make God’s church appear heartless and cruel by mistreating those less fortunate?
I’ll be honest. These verses make me feel angry, hurt and rejected, because this is how I grew up. I could see the “enough” on the table for everyone else, and no one offered to share. I could feel the contempt from other church members, but I didn’t understand why.
I’ve since learned it wasn’t necessarily aimed at me. They were acting out of what they truly were. They could take, but they could not give what they did not have. I stopped expecting anything from the church years ago. I realized they are all just broken people needing the same healing I need.
So I kept looking for the people of God, a safe place to rest my soul. What I’ve come to understand is that there are no people within the church body healed and able to do the work of mentoring, befriending, supporting or loving with the Love of Christ. We are all still becoming who we will be.
In groups like congregations, there’s an expectation that someone else will do it, that the “church” should take care of its own. What we don’t seem to understand is that we are the church. No one is going to magically appear and do the duties God brings to our attention. That is maturity, and it is very hard to grow up in an institution of any kind. Outside it, if a need comes to your attention, there’s no expectation that someone else will take care of it. Your growth happens because you are doing, each day, the things that bring the growing into your heart and mind.
Plenty of Attendance, Very Little Gathering
The church does exist, but its members are not found by gathering in a building. There is plenty of attendance, but very little gathering. The gathering Hebrews tells us not to abandon (Hebrews 10:24–25) is coming together to support and encourage each other. It is not listening to a sermon, brushing past the other believers, and going home.
The gathering together is the young girl at your dining room table whom you are mentoring. It is the young men you teach to swing a hammer, put two boards together and build something. Christ said He would attend those meetings: “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). We attend church every time we sit down with someone and share from the heart, encouraging, caring, hearing and loving. This is the attendance Christ wants us to have.
Hidden, for Now
Christ’s church is growing up to full maturity, out of the sight and understanding of this world and its denominations. Scripture speaks of a nation born at once (Isaiah 66:8). One day the veil of obscurity, the quiet personal lives and small spheres of influence where His people have grown, will open wide. Whatever the event is that brings us into the light, it will likely happen in one day, and His church will stand up and be known.
For now we go mostly unnoticed, doing the work He gives us each day. We recognize each other in passing. I’ve been privileged to know many who fit this picture. They don’t sit around long in your life; they’re busy, with so many people they are working to bless. But I know when I’ve been with a child of God, because they leave a refreshing in the air as they pass by. The Jesus in me can see the Jesus in you. The Father is carefully watching each of His developing children. We are known and loved.
The True Membership
Membership in His church requires only our choice and a willing heart to become more. Loving with the Love of Christ, being willing to give for the benefit of others, loving wisely, making your life an open book that Christ can write upon: this is membership in His church. Growing up into a mature, Christ-like person is the result.
When we notice the neighbor in need and share what we can, we are feasting at the Lord’s Supper.
