Day 21: Protecting your church

..::*+ Small Talk +*::..

Don't get extreme excited when you say I want to change into a better person. Saying those sweet words prove nothing unless you really do it.

What are you doing - to learn to become more Christlike?
What are you doing - to prepare yourself to lead a Care Group in the future, here in Heilbronn?
What are you doing - to prepare yourself to able to say you love her and take care of her and to be a good husband?
What are you doing - to prepare yourself for the exams which start on 10th July?

What are you doing - when you have so much free time?

I could not answer all, except the last one. That is why, I uninstalled WarCraft III and Need For Speed: Most Wanted. This is not what I want, though they accompanied me for 2 years at least. Memorial, indeed. DotA has accompanied me through winds and storms (direct translate). All the cheerful memories back in INTEC. With ALM - Tim and gang, ALM vs ALG DotA games, Anub'Arak's Vendetta, my super-owning-beyond-Godlike Gondar, Pau's Abbadon, XiangYu's morphling, YenZhao's Lina, Daniel's Rogue Knight... But, it's the time to let go. It has to end here, now. They bring me nowhere near my purpose of life. And very thankful to Steffen, you motivated me, indirectly.

The time, I want to spend on:
1. Learn to love God more deeply.
2. To serve in my church - technical team, then worship team.
3. Building better relationship with other people.
4. Restore broken relationship with those that I hurt and those that hurt me in the past.
5. Equip myself to take up more tasks.
6. Equip myself to be ready for her. Don't be touched, hehe
7. Prepare myself to be a reliable leader.

Lucky 7, lucky goals. Pray for me, so that I can manage these tasks for the rest of 2008. It's never too late for a new year resolution. Pray for me, okie? A heavy challenge for me - I need your prayers - yes, all of you, my fellow readers.

What are you doing?
Jia Jin

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Day 21: Protecting your church

Unity in the church is very that the New Testament pays more attention to it than to either heaven or hell. Rick Warren also thinks it is important:

Unity is the soul of fellowship. Destroy it, and you rip the heart out of Christ's Body.
Rick Warren - The Purpose Driven Life

It is indeed this unity is the core of what God wants us to experience life together in his church. The best model of it is the Trinity - The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and God himself showed the highest example of sacrificial love, humble, and perfect harmony.

Every parent wants his children to get along with each other. And God, as our heavenly Father, enjoy this too. In Bible we know that Jesus still prayed passionately for our unity during his final moments before being arrested. God treasures His church very much, and He wants it protected from devastating damage, caused by division, conflict, and disharmony. And God gave us this responsibility to protect the unity where you fellowship.

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
Ephesians 4:3

And now comes the question: How?

1. Focus on what we have in common, not our differences. In Bible it says:

Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.
Romans 14:19

We share the only God, one body, one purpose, one Father, same salvation, same life, same future. These are some of the factors that are more important than any of our differences. Forget not also that God is the one that created us differently. Backgrounds, personalities, races, preferences, cultures... We should enjoy them, not merely tolerate them. And remember always, that:

God wants unity, not uniformity.
Rick Warren - The Purpose Driven Life

Learn to love each other as Christ has loved us. This is what we should stay focus on. This is also part of reasons what happened in the Small Talk. Remember too that conflict is usually the sign that we focus on other less important issues, things the Bible calls "disputable matters".

I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.
1. Corinthians 1:10

Still remember this verse?

2. Be realistic in your expectation. There is such thing as ideal church. I used to think that every church needs to have a clear structure, hierarchy sort-of-stuffs. But no, it is about Him. And despite the imperfections, we must still love the church passionately. Your church leader, other believers or even your fellowship team will disappoint you. But they are your family, and God tells us that:

Being completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
Ephesians 4:2

Remember church is made up of real sinners. Because we are sinners, we often hurt each other, intentionally or unintentionally. But we need to stay and work out reconciliation, not running away. This is the road to stronger character and deeper fellowship. There is no so-called "perfect church" for us to run to. And if there really is such a thing, you are not qualified to be member too, because you yourself are imperfect.

Disillusionment is a good thing, because it destroy our false expectations of perfection. We must then give up the illusion and start admitting we're all imperfect and need grace. This is the beginning of real community.

He who loves his dream of community more than the Christian community itself becomes the destroyer of the latter.
Dietrich Bonhöffer, a German Pastor

3. Choose to encourage rather than criticize. God warns us not to criticize, compare, nor judge each other.

Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
Romans 14:4

Let's focus on the first 2 sentences.When we judge another believer, 4 things happen instantly:
1. I lose fellowship with God.
2. I expose my own pride and insecurity.
3. I set myself up to be judged by God.
4. I harm the fellowship of the church.

The Bible calls Satan "the accuser of brothers". And if we complain, blame and criticize, we actually doing Satan's job. No other Christian is your real enemy. We should have spend the time criticizing someone to build the unity of our fellowship instead.

4. Refuse to listen to gossip. Gossip is passing on information when you are involve neither in the part of the problem nor the solution. Listen not to gossip to protect your church.

Listening to gossip is like accepting stolen property, and it makes you just as guilty of the crime.
Rick Warren - The Purpose Driven Life

Ask the person to stop telling you gossips. You need not to know. Have you asked the involved person directly? God calls gossipers as troublemakers, and they are the ones who split churches, thinking only themselves.

5. Practice God's method for conflict resolution. Jesus tells us how to do it:

"If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses'. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector."
Matthew 18:15-17

And of course, the last part is the so-called last resort that we do not want to do, no? When you have conflict with someone, pray to God to help u out, and confront that person. Do not make thing worse. Follow how Jesus told you to do.

6. Support your pastor and leaders. Remember there is no this "perfect leader" and there is not even a specific cut-off line that separates you and a leader.

Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.
Hebrews 13:17

We protect the fellowship when we honor those who serve us by leading. They need our prayers too. Our church leader, Steffen asked us during church evaluation to pray for him to make a wise decision - the balance between career and God.


Accept your responsibility to protect and promote the unity of your church. Put full effort in it and God will be pleased. Do things that is the best of the Body, not yourself. That is one of the reasons of what church is all about - to learn unselfishness.

Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.
1. Corinthians 10:24

God blesses churches that are unified.

What are you doing personally to make your church family more warming and loving?
Rick Warren - The Purpose Driven Life

This "what are you doing" question just came back. Indeed, a simple question, but covered every single aspect of life.

What are you doing?





Vincent