thoughts out !oud

a Christian’s news, views, opinions and occasional poetry …

Fruit-loops and ding-a-lings

Posted by Mathew | 6 April 08

Sometimes the most insightful tidbits you learn about the Christian faith come neither from the church pulpits nor from the myriad of sermons/messages available on the internet. Sometimes they come from estranged conversations with faceless strangers. The one I’m about to extrapolate a little on happened in a Christian channel on an IRC (Internet Relay Chat) server. The simple truths just blew me away at the time. Let me try to relate them.

I have long had a feeling that the segregation of the mainstream churches into its various denominations (and non-denominations) has made genuine Christian worship a stale affair. That is, each church community has enmeshed its specific style of worship into its doctrinal beliefs - which serves only to muddy the waters of true and effectual gospel doctrine and worship. So in other words, if you worship differently to another Christian, you may be perceived by the other as being a bit of a screw-loose.

In particular, think about the foundational protestant churches compared to the pentecostal protestant churches. The former are certainly more the mainstream (and are probably the fastest dying) and are rock solid in terms of biblical foundations. The latter churches are a little more on the fringe, but have a very distinct and more lively approach to worship.

The ‘foundationals’ preach solid doctrine but lack liveliness.

The Pentecostals shout their hallelujahs and enjoy the riches of the Spirit but often lack solid doctrine.

They are two extremes: the studious stoics and the lively liberals. The solid rocks and the Spirit-filled believers.

One can build a house with solid rocks and build it strong and well. But if there is no life within the building, there will be no light and no warmth. It will become abandoned - a grandly crafted structure (like most of the world’s grand steepled church buildings) but with no inhabitants. No life leads to no witness.

Likewise, if one is purely just ’spirit-filled’, jumping around and finding joy in the ‘great out doors’ (so to speak), there is no shelter from the harsher elements and little protection from adversities. No foundation leads to ineffectual witness, open to attack.

Jesus, that Grand Master Builder, clearly seeks to merge the two into one entity. He seeks to craft a building with both a sure foundation as well as to populate it with life in abundance, with himself as its capstone. Simply put, he seeks lively stones from which to build his kingdom:

you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:5).

It is evident that our churches need to learn from each other. There are strengths and weaknesses in each ‘brand’ of worship - but they will remain, by and by, largely weaknesses if they do not learn to co-depend on other church bodies for their strengths. After all, the body of the church of Christ needs all parts and all parts are as important as each other.

Both are filled with the Holy Spirit but only exhibit a portion of the Spirit’s gifts. In one, there is the Gifts of the Spirit: tongues (either the speaking of or interpretation of); healing; miracles; teaching and prophesying, and; administration (1Co 12:27-30). In the other, there are the Fruits of the Spirit: love; joy; peace; patience; kindness; goodness, and; faithfulness (Gal 5:22).

So in effect, we have churches full of fruit-loops and we have churches full of ding-a-lings.

Now carry that analogy, where the fruit is represented by a pomegranate and the ding-a-lings are represented by bells and then read the following passage from Exodus:

The gold bells and the pomegranates are to alternate around the hem of the robe. Aaron must wear it when he ministers. The sound of the bells will be heard when he enters the Holy Place before the LORD and when he comes out, so that he will not die (Ex 28:24-25)

What’s the conclusion? The two parts must be hemmed-up together; they have a specific, united function to perform, and that is to effectually minister, going before the Lord God. We as Christians are to make a noise wherever we go - spreading the Word of the Gospel - and to do so with the fruits of love, patience, kindness and joy.

Is your church operating in a denominational silo? I hope not. I hope it has grasped and cross-pollinated the Gifts with the Fruits of the Spirit and is now a rich, vibrant, dynamic and powerfully effectual witness - for God’s glory.

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