The Suffering Church

Read 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 …

Why is it that the Church is the first to suffer? The first place we tend to think of the suffering of the Church is from the outside, which is attested to from biblical and secular history, and can even be seen in our own day and time. But it is not suffering from the outside world that concerns us now but the suffering that occurs from the inside. This is, of course, what Paul warned the Ephesian Elders of when they met him at Miletus, “…  and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them” (Acts 20:30, NASB ’95). Indeed, during the first century as during the 21^st century, there have been and are men and women that would do their best to lead Christians away from the solid path of Biblical teaching for their own gain and renown.

But sadly, there is even a more insidious and painful suffering that takes place, and that is when those that are part of a congregation of the Lord’s people stop … stop participating, stop putting the Lord’s work first, and stop transforming their own life.

When Paul was at his lowest, nearing the end of his life, when he needed people around him for encouragement, he wrote this to Timothy: “Make every effort to come to me soon; for Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica, …” (2 Tim. 4:9-10). You see, Demas had decided to stop participating in the lives of those around him. At one time Demas had been described by Paul as his “fellow worker” along with other notables such as Mark and Luke (Phile. 1:23-24). But no longer, Demas had removed himself from the fellowship.

Sometimes people stop putting the work of the Lord first in their lives. This is what happened to Ananias and Sapphira when they “sold a piece of property, and kept back some of the price for himself, with his wife’s full knowledge, …” (Acts 5:1-2). In the end, Peter did not condemn the couple for keeping some of the price back for themselves, it was theirs to do with as they wished, but they lied. Worse, they lied to gain notoriety for themselves. They knew the work of the Lord needed to be done, and anything they would have given would have been acceptable, but they put themselves first rather than God. Their hearts betrayed them.

Sometimes the ways of the world crowd in, and people no longer behave as Christians should. Paul writes, “I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to live in harmony in the Lord” (Phil. 4:2). These ladies were obviously at some impasse in their relationship with one another, and Paul had found out about it. They were a part of the Church but their dis-harmony in the Lord was being felt. They were no longer seeking to transform themselves (Rom. 12:2) which was their reasonable response to the wonderful mercy of the Lord. They might have never gotten along, but as sisters in the Lord they should have at least been able to join together for the strength of the Church, for the honor of the Lord.

These things – when we stop participating, when we stop putting the Lord’s work first in our lives, or when we stop transforming ourselves into the image of Christ – not only damage ourselves, but they also cause the Church to suffer. One might ask how, and the writer of Hebrews would answer …

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near” (Heb. 10:23-25).

You see, we do not have a life in the Church that is in a vacuum. We encourage one another by our presence, in our desire to put God first in our lives, and in continuing to transform ourselves. Christians are part of the body of Christ, and as any human body is, the Church works best when all the parts work together for the good of the whole. God has placed us in the body on purpose and when we turn away from the body, the body suffers.