The Loving Church
Article by John Stumbo from the 6/1/16 Weekly Update
“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight . . .” (Phil. 1:9).
As its founding pastor, Paul longed for the Philippian church to have greater knowledge and deeper insight into what love is. He prayed that the congregation would experience an excessive amount of this love. As its current president, I pray the same for this church known as The Christian and Missionary Alliance.
As I’ve been asking the Lord to allow my love to “abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,” I’ve continued to reflect on 1 Corinthians 13. What would it look like if I had greater love? What would our churches look like?
A Loving Church Isn’t . . .
If our pastor has the best sermons and if we have the most talented worship team, but we don’t love, in heaven it all sounds like noise.
If our church is filled with activity mobilizing the spiritual giftedness of our congregation, but all the activity is less than an expression of love, we’re just a whirlwind accomplishing nothing.
If we are a sacrificial church—giving extravagantly of our money and our lives—but our extreme generosity flows out of something other than love, we’ve not benefited anyone.
Too often in the church, love is secondary. We’re so infatuated with talent, fame, excellence, and a great presentation that love for people just doesn’t seem that important. We’ll overlook a lack of love if we like the program. Love is frequently counterfeited by busyness or heroism, yet we can be busy or heroic for many reasons other than love.
Isn’t it surprising that words like “heroism” aren’t on Paul’s list? Certainly love can be heroic. Yet, when Paul unpacks love, he presents it to us in a much more “ordinary” manner. He defines love with words that can be easily overlooked—words like “patience” and “kindness.” If our churches are to abound more and more with a deeply insightful love, we need to take such ordinary words seriously.
A Loving Church Is . . .
A patient church: One way you can identify a congregation weak in love is that it retaliates in anger. Angry boards drive out one pastor after another. Angry congregants make life unpleasant for the worship team. Angry congregational meetings more closely resemble a feud than a fellowship.
A loving church is a patient church because it knows how lovingly patient the Lord has been with us. Love extends to others the grace it has received.
A kind church: It is commendable when one human does something kind for another, because showing kindness is a direct expression of the One in whose image we have been made. Even the most godless people reveal their origin when they act in kindness toward others. God, Designer and Creator of all, cares about those other than Himself and expresses that care in countless ways, even to those who scorn Him. Kindness is one expression of divine love.
Kindness is more than merely being nice. It carries with it the idea of moral goodness—good manifested in such a way that another human is served in a meaningful manner, often at some cost to the giver. Cruelty delights in someone else’s pain and loss; kindness delights in their well-being and profit. Did someone in our community have a better day, month—life—because they crossed paths with our church family? Do we serve for the profit of those besides ourselves? That’s what love does.
A humble church: By “humble” I don’t mean a church with a cheaply built and poorly maintained facility. Instead, I’m referring to a church that isn’t envious, boastful, or proud (1 Cor. 13:4). Would a church ever be envious of another church? Yes, sadly, the comparison game is often played. Churches that have had a rich history but are now in decline are often blind to their own ineffectiveness as they continue to boast of their past. Pride runs through some churches like the weary carpet in their hallways. Members feel superior over society and other churches around them, unaware that their “salt” is losing its “saltiness” and will soon be trampled as worthless.
The humble church doesn’t keep turning to its history or its accomplishments. Rather, members keep turning to their Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, and Coming King. The humble church realizes that we need Jesus every moment, every service, every decision . . . every everything. The humble church prays naturally and frequently because it wouldn’t think to try to just run a program, meeting, service, or ministry on its own good ideas or abilities. The humble church knows its power source. We have God among us, or we don’t have anything. We abide in the vine, or we waste away.
The humble church is grateful for the spiritual gifts and abilities represented among its members but isn’t “wowed” by them. They are, however, very impressed with the Gift Giver. They are wowed by the mysterious Father, Son, and Spirit.
May these preliminary reflections send our hearts on a quest to experience more fully what Paul means as he prays for the church’s love to abound in a knowledgeable and insightful lifestyle.
