In
the current meditations we reflect on the question: is the full armour of God
of which Paul talks in Ephesians 6:10-17 only meant for individual Christians
or also for the local church as a whole? Does God’s armour only protect Christ’s
life in us personally against Satan’s assaults? Does it equally protect
Christ’s life within the local church which is the Body of Christ? So far we
have seen that Jesus wants to manifest His life in our churches through our
passionate love for God and for each other. We have realized that God’s Spirit
is well able to produce this Christlike love in our hearts and in our
congregations. However, the question remains: how do we protect Jesus’ life in
our churches against Satan’s attacks? The apostle Paul encourages the church in
Ephesus (Turkey) to “be (or: grow, become) strong in the Lord...” (Ephesians
6:10**). In the present meditations we ask ourselves: how does a church that
wants to grow strong ‘in the Lord’ practically look like?
In a series of interruptions,
starting with Meditation 134, we asked the thought-provoking question: what does it mean for a church to be ‘in the Lord’? In
the subsequent meditations (135 to 141), we searched for a biblical answer to
the question: how does a church that wants to grow strong ‘in
the Lord’ practically look like?
We saw that for a church that wants to grow
strong ‘in the Lord’, it needs:
- to grow strong in learning to imitate God (Meditation
135).
- to meet some of God’s initial requirements
for growth: (a) a clear corporate and biblical vision of our Triune God
and of the church as the Body of Christ; (b) a clear corporate acknowledgment
that the entire Bible is God’s revealed Word, i.e. the Truth; (c) Church
leaders who are bearers of God’s vision and exemplify Christlike love for and
obedience to God’s Word (Meditation 137).
- to grow strong in Christlike compassion (Meditation 138).
- to grow strong in Christlike
humility (Meditation 139).
- to grow strong in Christlike
service to God, the church and the world (Meditations 140-141).
Obviously, this is not a conclusive
list of morals and virtues a church needs to grow strong ‘in the Lord’. We
could continue our study in biblical themes like corporate Christlike holiness, purity,
righteousness, faithfulness, kindness, gentleness, goodness, generosity,
patience, renunciation of a worldly lifestyle and preparedness to suffer with
Christ if needed, etc.
Yet, I think that when the earlier mentioned requirements for
growing strong ‘in the Lord’ are in place, God’s Spirit will develop other Christlike virtues in your church as well. Let me challenge you to dig deeper in the above-mentioned subjects with your church as a 'corporate personality' in view. (See Meditations 63-65)
I feel that after these series of interruptions,
the time has come to return to our initial question: how do we protect Jesus’ life
in our churches against Satan’s attacks? So please hold on!
Translation: ** New International
Version
About “Who is the Holy
Spirit and what is His ministry?”, see Meditations 27-33 and 49-55.
About “The Church as a
new (messianic) community, consisting of all the followers of Jesus”, see Meditation
29.
About "God's
major project: transforming me and my church into the likeness of Christ",
see Meditations 44-48.
About “Personal,
Christlike love for God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ”, see Meditations
56-62.
About “Corporate,
Christlike love for God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ”, see Meditations
63-99.
About “The Church as a
‘Corporate Personality’, see Meditation 63-65.
About “The two Tracks
of Maturing in Christlikeness”, see Meditation 100.
About “How to overcome the power of sin in my life?”,
see Meditations 101-130.
About “How to overcome the power of sin in my
church?”, see Meditations 131-137.
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