Body Life Exercise

Not long ago while I was walking, I ran into a woman I hadn’t seen for about thirty years (we actually recognized one another, in spite of my gray hair and her red). We had once attended the same church, and when I asked her where she was attending now, she began to explain why she and her husband had chosen a particular church: (a) it’s close to Nautilus—she likes to exercise early in the day (every day), so she goes there right after church; (b) there’s an early morning service—she can get church done with and go on over to Nautilus early; and (c) the preaching is short—she’s developed a short attention span over the years and doesn’t like to sit very long.

 

Without comment as to her reasons for choosing her church, I began to consider my own reasons for going to my church. I don’t go to Nautilus, so it has nothing to do with that. However, it has everything to do with exercise and keeping spiritually healthy.

Ephesians 4:15-16 says, "We are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”

We’re body builders. The church is a body and should function as a body. Each of us, when we're joined together and working properly, helps others of us grow. I need to do more than merely attend and hurry out so I can get on to the next thing. Church isn’t just something else I add to my to-do list and make fit where it’s most convenient (if it’s convenient). It’s a vital part of my life. It’s where I receive and give nourishment.

Church is not something I do. It's not a social club that I belong to, and it’s not an organization. Yes, there is socializing and there are organized classes and activities and ways of doing things in a local church body. There may be organization to it, but my church is not an organization. The church is what we are—it’s the body of believers, with Jesus Christ as the Head.

It’s a body of relationships. Ephesians 2:19 says, "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God." That’s not to say that all the relationships in the church body are intimate relationships. In fact, a few people are hard to like. I’m hard for some people to like. But it’s a place where God uses us in each other's life. God sometimes uses someone who rubs me the wrong way just as much as he uses our pastor to teach me something about myself. Why do my feathers get ruffled? Why do I get offended? It’s good to consider those things, to examine myself. Not easy, but good for me. We choose to like one another. We choose to help one another. As a woman, for me it’s Titus2ing—women encouraging and teaching one another.

Church is also where I spend time in corporate worship. It’s part of my life of worship; it’s coming together with like-minded people, encouraging one another in our faith, expressing praise and glory and honor to Jesus Christ.

“Is the preaching long at your church?” she asked. I hesitated as I thought about it, because I really don’t think about it while I’m listening to our pastor’s message. Maybe it’s because he makes the truth of God’s Word so relevant to our lives. No, that’s not it because God’s Word is already relevant, whether or not I recognize it. Maybe it’s because our pastor is a good speaker. He is, but no, that’s not it because God has used poor speakers in the past (Jonathan Edwards, for one) to bring the truth of His Word to the hearts of the people, changing them in tremendous ways. I can’t exactly put my finger on it, but I think some major reasons why I don’t think about our sermons being long is (a) they aren’t, (b) our pastor’s love for Jesus Christ and His Word is infectious, and (c) I want to ‘grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.’ With the church body is where I find myself growing.

Yes, it does have a lot to do with exercise, but not the Nautilus kind. It's body life.

Painting ~ The Church at Gloucester 1918, Frederick Childe Hassam 1859-1924

WikiArt public domain