“Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do His work and build up the church, the body of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-12 NLT)
The role of the local church is clearly defined in Scripture, but because it’s governed by human beings, there are often conflicts that threaten its health. Two key elements must be present for any church body to be healthy and effective – peace and purity.
Peace doesn’t necessarily equate with everyone being on the same page, theologically, methodologically, or even philosophically, it mostly depends on how people perceive what is happening in the church and why. What does that mean? It means that if the leadership Is following Christ’s mandate, and is open and honest about the direction they’re seeking to lead the church, most of the time the people will follow their leadership.
The church of which I’m a part in this season of my life does an outstanding job of keeping people informed and giving us an open door to speak with the leaders about anything on our mind. They’re as Scripturally devoted and Spirit led as any pastoral team I’ve ever known. They are transparent and honest about every aspect of the budget; where the money is going and why; every direction in which they’re leading the church and why; and most importantly, they’re transparent about their own dependence upon Jesus and their need for our prayers and support.
Is it a perfect church? It is in my heart and mind, but I’m sure there are people who have issues with the way some things are done. But having seen a lot of church leaders’ function in a lot of churches, I praise God every day for the gift of my church. And just so you know, I’m not on staff and receive no compensation from the church except the joy of being a member.
So, a couple of questions – first, how do you preserve the peace of the church? And second, how do you preserve the purity of the church? Matthew Henry speaks to these issues when he wrote: “The way to preserve the peace of the church is to preserve the purity of it.”
So, let’s look briefly at how to preserve the purity of the church. In my opinion, purity has to be rooted in Jesus and led by the Holy Spirit. How is that accomplished corporately? Primarily through prayer – individually, as each member holds the church as a body up to the Lord each day. Those in leadership bring the Body together specifically to pray for the guidance of the Spirit in leading the pastors and other leaders in the ways they should go – individually and corporately.
My responsibility as a part of this specific church family is to pray for them every day. We have several pastors who lead ministries in and through our church. I’m trying to learn their names so I can pray for them and their families by name every morning. Why do I do that? Because without the guidance of the Holy Spirit none of them can do anything of eternal value.
One of the pastors with whom I’m close asked me to pray for his purity, which I do every day, not only for his, but for each of the pastors. Why? Because for anyone to lead others in the ways of the Lord without purity of heart, mind, soul, and body is to be limited in their effectiveness. That’s why purity is so key to peace, not only in the church as a whole, but in our individual lives.
To seek to walk closely with the Lord while harboring wicked, evil, or impure thoughts, attitudes, or behaviors is to cripple our effectiveness in not only being at peace ourselves, but in helping others maintain any semblance of peace and purity.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 