The Board & The Cross
I remember reading a unique book years ago. Each chapter was written by a person who had left the church that the Lord said that He would build (Matt. 16:18) and was now a member of a church begun by some man, group, and/or “movement.”
Because of the passing of time (and my not-so-accurate memory), I have forgotten a lot of what I read. I do remember thinking at the time that most of the contributors to the book had “an axe to grind,” some sort of agenda, or some other reason for writing that I didn’t believe to be valid. Before I get some pushback on that, I fully realize that my opinion about that could be wrong.
After all of these years, though, I still remember one thing that one person wrote. (I think that the person was a woman, so I will use feminine pronouns.) This person compared the “message” she saw as she looked toward the front of two different places of worship.
She remembered that, when she looked to the front of the place where she used to worship, there was a board on the wall which provided information about such things as attendance, contribution, etc. She reported that, when she looked to the front of where she was worshiping when she wrote her chapter, there was a huge cross over the pulpit which was suspended by chains.
In her mind, there were two different messages. One message seemed to emphasize how the people were doing while the other message seemed to emphasize what the Lord had done.
Before I go any further with this, I need to try to make it very clear that I am not opposed to using some sort of tool – including something that can be seen by all of the people in attendance at a worship service – to keep people informed about things. I am a firm believer that open and honest communication is vital to the life of a congregation and would support efforts that can facilitate that.
All that I am trying to do as I type these words is to possibly cause those who read this to do what I did years ago and what I still continue to do. I’m merely trying to ask all of us to consider whether or not the person who wrote that chapter might have given us something to think about. I’m also asking us to think about how this might have application both when we worship and when we leave our places of worship.
Is the “message” of my life one that would cause others to believe that the most important things about my relationship with Jesus are the things that I am doing for Him or is that “message” focused on Him, what He did for me, and what He is continuing to do?
In a sense, I suppose that what I am writing about is a discussion that dates back to the time during which the New Testament was being written. From that time to the present day, people have discussed and debated the relationship between faith and works. Some have emphasized faith in Jesus and minimized (or excluded) the need to work for Him. Others seem to teach and practice what could be called a “works salvation.”
I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to “solve that dilemma” when he wrote:
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love (Gal. 5:6, NKJV).
It seems to me that – at least in our minds – we could and should combine the two visuals about which the person wrote. By that, I mean that…
the cross should be the reason for the numbers on the board.
AUTHOR: Jim Faughn
