Giving Thanks For My Church Family.

Alfred Ackley

     We’ve all heard the complaints about “organized religion.”  First of all, I haven’t seen all that many churches that I would call organized (ha).  One of the principle complaints I hear is “I don’t want to go down there where all those hypocrites are.”  To which I usually respond, “Come on down. We’ll make room for one more.  Moreover, the ones who gather regularly at the church are at least working on their hypocrisy problem.”

     Maybe the real tragedy is that we’ve allowed the modern church to be like a museum where fine saints are put on display like wax figures.  Instead we should be functioning as Jesus designed his church to be in action.  As we join together on mission to make the Gospel of Jesus Christ known to all the nations something wonderful is shown to an otherwise cynical world.  We show them we serve a risen Savior

      In 1933 a young Jewish man asked evangelist and musician Alfred Ackley, "Why should I worship a dead Jew?" To which Ackley emphatically, “He lives! Mr. Ackley's forthright, emphatic answer, together with his subsequent triumphant effort to win the man for Christ, flowered forth into song and crystallized into a convincing sermon on "He lives!" . . . The scriptural evidence, his own heart, and the testimony of history matched the glorious experience of an innumerable cloud of witnesses of that "He lives," so he sat down at the piano and voiced that conclusion in song.

      When I get good news, I look around for those that I love to share the good news.  Sometimes I can’t wait to see my wife and I will call her or text her so that she gets the good news first.  Those moments of happiness, along with the times of pain and agony and every emotion between were meant to be shared in a faith community called the church.  So in each place that we’ve lived one of the first things we do is find a “spiritual family” where we can share and grow.

    Let me share with you reasons I’m thankful for my church family why you should have one that you are thankful for as well.  1. A church is Scriptural. When believers first assembled after Jesus’ resurrection, they were referred to as a church (Acts 1:42).  Simply people of all ages and all walks of life helping each other grow in the Lord.  2. A church provides fellowship (companionship + closeness) with each other. Hebrews 10:25 (HCSB) states “²⁵ not staying away from our worship meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”

     3. A church provides an excellent opportunity for evangelism.  In most churches there are small groups where the Word is taught powerfully yet in a conversational style where questions can be answered.  During these times often people become very responsive as they understand Jesus’ love for them.  Invite someone to your Sunday School class or Small Group and watch what can happen.  4. A church provides an opportunity for service. Many churches challenge their people to take leaps of faith and use their abilities to bring God glory, for example in music, drama, Bible-teaching, puppets, mission trips, and much more.   5. A church is inspirational – not just focused on the needs of its members, but also working together to reach the world.  There is a dynamic that happens only when you are assembled with other believers doing something magnificent (Prov. 27:17; Eccl. 4:9-12; Matt. 18:20). 
  6. A church has a positive influence.  As the outside community sees a group of people each taking their unique abilities and completing something that is part of a greater body of believers working in harmony to accomplish monumental tasks, then it confirms God’s activity in the world.   7. A Church prepares people for their eternal home. In Rev. 7:9, John describes his vision of having as being represented by “…a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,” We might as well get used to being together as we will be celebrating in the presence of our Savior as a group for a long time.  8. The church body is incomplete with you.  Rom. 12 Paul looks at the variety and necessity of each part that you and I contribute to the church “³ For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. ⁴ For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, ⁵ so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”

    The Lord has built into each of us and each church a need for each other so that we might bring Glory to His name in unprecedented ways.  I hope you have a church family for which you can be truly thankful…if not, let me encourage you to find one today.