Building Together

  

Several years ago, I had just moved across the country and was in between jobs. A builder hired me for a project he needed help with and wanted to utilize a particular skill set that I had. I was strong enough to lift heavy tools and pack stuff back and forth from the truck and tall enough to reach them up to the builders on the roof. At this job, they were replacing the roof on a man's house and today was the day to get the trusses on the house, and there wasn't enough of the regular crew to get those big heavy things up on the roof by themselves, so this was my moment. 

We had been on the site for a couple of hours. Men walking up on the roof, saws cutting, hammers nailing, and all that goes along with building, and suddenly, a man walks out on the porch with a cup of coffee. It was shocking because I assumed the house was empty since half the house didn't have a roof. He stood on the porch, sipped his coffee, looked about with a nod of approval, and went back inside. He was paying for a job and was checking up on it.

I'm afraid some think this is the church membership model. Come to church, watch the pastor do his thing, nod the head approvingly, shake the head disapprovingly, and return home. The church isn't merely a performance of the preacher and singers but the gathering of the saints to build one another up in love (Ephesians 4:7-13 ). Romans 12:6-8 tells us that the church members have different gifts according to our grace. Gifts of teaching, giving, exhortation, comfort, and mercy, to name a few. These gifts are for the local church.

There are all sorts of reasons you should go to church. The Lord Jesus is there. The Word of the Lord is preached. Jesus said you ought to. It's good for you, but a church member also needs to be there for everyone else. The idea of a "spiritual person" who isn't serving Jesus in His church is a foreign concept to Scripture. God's people need one another. Sometimes we need our burdens carried. Other times, we need to carry someone's burden. When life is hard, God's people need the fellowship and encouragement to keep looking to Christ. Something supernatural occurs when the church gathers together and worships the Lord through the preached Word. When the Lord's people gather on the Lord's day, together in the Lord's church, to hear the Lord's man expound and proclaim the Lord's Word, the Lord blesses His people.

 Carrying tools and lifting things didn't win me an award. But it was important enough for the builder to hire me for the job. That made my part a necessary and needful role in the overall building up of this house. Don't minimize the gift God gave you, nor underestimate its importance in the house of God. It's the Lord's church, and He'll build it up. I'm just thankful and happy to be a part of it, anyway I can.