From the desk of Steve Shultz:
Another word again this week about "community and family." Relationships and family are on the heart of God in this hour. Would you cut off or dismiss your family? Yet we can do this many a time to a brother or sister in Christ through seasons or offenses.
In this article, the Lord asks John Wallace a heart-felt question. As John shares, it truly is a question for the entire Body...read on for more.
Let's remember this verse toward one another: Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another...—Romans 12:10
John Wallace:
The Lord Asked Me, "Are You Entertained or Intertwined?"
"Are you entertained or intertwined?" I heard the Lord say this to me recently. It was a question for me, but also for the whole Bride of Christ. Leaving the church building after the service, we get the same feeling as leaving a movie or concert. We have been entertained. We expect an entertaining worship team playing entertaining music; we expect entertaining announcements, and certainly an entertaining message.
To be entertained means to have our attention captured for a short while, wowed by the audio-visual effects, and perhaps to be amused. But most entertainment doesn't hold our attention once we've left the theater. It doesn't stick. We must return later...to be entertained again.
To be intertwined is to enter into the life of the Body of Christ, to enter into the lives of my brothers and sisters around me. True community isn't about being entertained. True community means a sharing of life, ministry, attention, and, yes, perhaps our money and our possessions. Followers of Christ have His life pulsating inside of us. Each of us who know and love the Lord have an investment, a Kingdom deposit, within us. To be intertwined means to share that life, to pour out of that deposit, so that I become bonded to those around me.
Sharing Life Requires More than Attendance
One of the "givens" in living in the ancient Middle East at the time of Jesus was that individuals never saw themselves as just that: individuals. Everyone was part of a larger community—a family, a tribe, the nation (see how Paul describes himself in Philippians 3:5).
Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 12:13 that we weren't just baptized into Jesus but also baptized into the Church. We now are identified with our spiritual family. That's part of our identity! Those early Christians couldn't imagine themselves apart from the Body of Christ. That's what I believe the Holy Spirit was getting at when He had Paul write:
Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.—Romans 12:15
And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
—1 Corinthians 12:26
...being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.—Ephesians 4:3
Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.—Colossians 3:14
How can we rejoice or weep unless we have shared life enough to know if someone next to us is rejoicing or weeping? How can we know if another "member" of the Body is suffering or being honored? Have I experienced this "bond of peace," this "bond of unity" that comes from the unity of the Spirit and the outflow of true agape love?
People attending a show aren't going to share their lives. They just want to be entertained. At the end of many church services, the attendees could walk out the door saying, "Good show!" Sharing life requires more than attendance. It requires time and attention. It requires listening skills. It requires compassion. It requires an un-hypocritical love (Romans 12:9).
We live in an entertainment world: movies, TV, YouTube, iPods, sporting events, concerts, and more. It's fine to be entertained sometimes, I enjoy it like many others do. But to carry that mentality and expectation to our gatherings, I believe, grieves the heart of a loving Father. Maybe we could start our next church gathering by extending ourselves to just one other person: ask how they REALLY are doing, praying for them, and just loving them.
Maybe we might just start getting more intertwined.
John Wallace
Blood n Fire - Dallas, Texas
Email: jwallace4u@me.com
John Wallace: Currently, John and Suzanne are Community Leaders of Blood n Fire Dallas, a community with a vision "to reach, raise up and release the younger generations to advance the Kingdom of God among the poor of the earth." John Wallace was born and raised in Shawnee, Oklahoma. After graduating from Shawnee High School, he attended and received a B.B.A. from the University of Oklahoma. While at OU, John and his future bride, Suzanne Martin, met. John then graduated from Baylor College of Dentistry in Dallas, Texas. After graduation, John served as a dentist in the U.S. Army for two years. John and Suzanne moved back to Dallas for almost 10 years of private dental practice. From 1981 to 1986 John attended Dallas Theological Seminary, graduating with a Master of Theology degree. He has, subsequently, pastored local churches for the last 24 years. John and Suzanne have 6 children: Jason (wife Alison), Brennan (wife Lisa), and Lindsey (husband Chris), and two grandchildren, Austin Wyatt Wallace and Caleb Sage Wallace.
