As I was reading my devotional the other day, one of the daily scripture readings was John 11, which is largely devoted to the account of Jesus’ friend Lazarus getting sick, dying, and being raised from the dead. After I read the chapter; the Lord showed me an interesting parallel to the Christian life that gave me a new revelation of the function of the church.
While I encourage you to read the whole chapter; I want to focus on the account of the actual miracle found in verses 38 through 44.Please notice in particular that Jesus delegated tasks to those around Him before and after He called his friend forth from eternity. Although I truly believe Jesus was capable of rolling away the stone and removing the burial wrappings Himself; or at least with some assistance, there is a lesson to be leaned here. As Jesus calls us from our spiritual death into new life in Him; those of us already in His body need to come along and help our new family members remove the tattered vestments of the old nature so they can mature in Him.
I realize I am traversing into delicate territory here. Without God’s grace and compassion during this process, one could wander into judgmental attitudes towards our younger brothers and sisters. We need to remember the gospel, what God did for us through Christ, and those He brought into our lives to help us remove our grave clothes so we could\ grow strong in the Lord. As we see remnants of the old nature in others; we need to operate in His love as we endeavor to lift them up and encourage them. Some will unfortunately try to hold on to their grave clothes. Also, there are some self-righteous “mature” Christians who actively try to re-apply people’s grave clothes; usually because they are still bound up in their own (Matt.7:1,2). We can only mature in Christ when we allow Him to show us through His Word, His Spirit, and those spiritually mature believers He has put in our lives where the rotting fragments of our old, dead nature still tenaciously bind us up.
The Holy Spirit Himself has assigned us the task of building each other up. As He distributes the five-fold ministry, the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers train us to do the work of the ministry (Eph. 4:11-16). These works include, but are not limited to:
I realize I am traversing into delicate territory here. Without God’s grace and compassion during this process, one could wander into judgmental attitudes towards our younger brothers and sisters. We need to remember the gospel, what God did for us through Christ, and those He brought into our lives to help us remove our grave clothes so we could\ grow strong in the Lord. As we see remnants of the old nature in others; we need to operate in His love as we endeavor to lift them up and encourage them. Some will unfortunately try to hold on to their grave clothes. Also, there are some self-righteous “mature” Christians who actively try to re-apply people’s grave clothes; usually because they are still bound up in their own (Matt.7:1,2). We can only mature in Christ when we allow Him to show us through His Word, His Spirit, and those spiritually mature believers He has put in our lives where the rotting fragments of our old, dead nature still tenaciously bind us up.
The Holy Spirit Himself has assigned us the task of building each other up. As He distributes the five-fold ministry, the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers train us to do the work of the ministry (Eph. 4:11-16). These works include, but are not limited to:
- Providing saints with the necessary tools for growth.
- Lifting and supporting each other.
- Gaining maturity to discern proper and improper teaching.
In essence, we are all called to walk in the new life of Christ and to put away our old, dead natures, and to help each other do the same. (Colossians 3:12-17).
Some ways we can do this are:
Some ways we can do this are:
- When someone is caught in sin, help restore them in a careful and gentle spirit (Gal. 6:1)
- Putting up with each other’s flaws, knowing that we have them too. (Rom. 3:10)
- Put on love –every interaction must be done in love. (Col. 3:14)
- Teach and admonish one another in wisdom – instruct and reprove one another wisely. (Col. 3:16)
As we partake of this ministry to assist each other in maturing into the fullness of Christ; we need to remember our place. Only God can do the supernatural; we are called to do the natural and only then through His grace and wisdom. Only God can call us forth from our spiritual death. He has appointed us to roll away the stone, as it were by sharing His good news to illuminate the dark recesses of our spiritual depravity and emptiness. And after we have responded to His great love and accepted His substitutionary payment for our debts, we need to be about our father’s business. That business of course is proclaiming the good news to others who have not received Him; and to rid ourselves of the grave bindings from our old nature that seem to cling to us with a vengeance. By His grace and power we need to help our brothers and sisters to do the same. I sincerely pray that all of us walk in the grace and compassion of our Lord Jesus Christ as He works in us and through us to prepare His bride to be without spot or blemish.
John Clark
John Clark