The question was asked: What one event shaped you for this current role as Pastor of Connections more than any other (apart from your salvation story)?
About 8 months into my new life, I had the opportunity to share Christ with my neighbor, Eric. Eric was 6’ 6” and about 280 lbs. He looked like one of the guys on WWF, but not just in size. I once watched him pile-driver his 200 lbs. brother, Daniel into the sidewalk, splitting his head on the concrete. Eric was a big, scary guy! But that October morning, I could tell something was bugging him and I told Shawna that we might be a little late for our appointment, as I walked across the street to talk with my neighbor.
Eric was in a bad place. His wife had just left him, taking their young daughter with her. I used the circumstances of his life to lead him toward the Lord. He prayed to receive Christ as I shook in fear that it would all go terribly wrong and I’d have story in common with Daniel. But it went very well, and Eric was baptized 2 months later at our church. He even began sporadic attendance. I felt pretty good about my involvement in his redemption.
Two years later, on Halloween Day, Eric showed up at my front door. He had moved away shortly after his baptism, although I knew he was still in the area. I invited him into our living room and then regretted that decision. He was telling crazy tales of being tormented by dark spirits. He showed me how he repeatedly drove them away by using his roofing hatchet to split a rock as he commanded them to leave in the name of Jesus. I guess it made sense to use the hatchet since he was in the midst of a re-roofing project on his home. Again, I was frightened of this huge man, now not only for myself but also for my wife and young daughters who were home. I managed to get him out of our house, and Shawna and I prayed for him. That evening, as we were driving home from a Harvest Party at the girls’ school, we heard on the radio that a crazy axe-wielding man who broke into a home had been shot to death. I told Shawna that I just knew it was Eric.
Eric had broken into the home of his father-in-law, the place where his estranged wife and daughter were living. He was trying to get his daughter to drink something that would “protect her from the dark spirits.” The news stories never said what the liquid was – I believe it was harmless or else they would have shared that information. The girl’s grandfather came at Eric with a shotgun and Eric defended himself by attacking the man with the hatchet. As he wrestled with him, the boyfriend of Eric’s wife grabbed the gun and shot Eric the death in front of his 9-year-old daughter.
That incident began my journey to discover what the church and our salvation is about. I had been taught that Christ died for me. While that is certainly true, it wasn’t the whole story. The Bible says that Christ died for the church (Eph. 5:25). It is clear that Paul’s understanding of the church goes well beyond the sum of all those who are redeemed. The church is an entity and it is created by God from all those who are chosen, whom He builds together into “a holy temple… a dwelling of God in the Spirit” (Eph. 2:21-22). I came to understand that God is interested in so much more than redeeming individual sinners. Christ said, “I will build My church” (Matt. 16:18). Yes, Eric needed a Savior; Eric needed Jesus. But Eric also needed a family to care for him and to help him grow in the faith. Eric needed the church!
Certainly, I see small groups when I read the New Testament accounts of the church. The 1st century church was a house church movement for a few hundred years. But that simply describes how those saints lived out their calling in their historical context. Groups are not prescribed by God. However, Christian community is God’s desire, and Christ’s church in this country settles for far less than His will. I believe that the best way to live out our calling now is in small communities of faith. In a large church gathering where you know of or about someone is not where you find people spurring one another on toward love and good deeds (Heb. 10:24) and carrying one another’s burdens (Gal. 6:2). It’s only thru intimate relationship, true koinonia, that you can do these things which Christ commands of His church. Tell me… How can you fulfill “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs” (Eph. 5:19) apart from meaningful relationship? You’ll be disregarded as a fool!
CS Lewis suggested that it is our duty as Christ followers to carry the “weight of glory” of our brothers and sisters as a willing burden. I carry the burden of Eric’s story. It was not my fault, but it was my responsibility, even more now that I have grown in my understanding of this beautiful creation of the Lord, His bride, the church. You see, God made us for relationship, with Him and with one another. And it was the dying request of Jesus our Lord that the world would look at our Christian community and understand the love that the Father has for the Son and for His church (John 17:23). Christ died for the church. Shouldn’t we live for her?
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Good points. So many of us live in such a small, self absorbed view of the big picture that we think our own salvation and faith walk is all there is. The fact that there is strength in numbers couldn't be more true in the context of the church, which is built one by one, but is not an exclusive club. Everyone needs Christ, and in an age when the church is shrinking, and a mass exodus of our young people is taking place, we must each ask ourselves "Do we really believe what we believe is really real?" If yes, where is the fruit of our convictions. If not, then all we might have is an unproductive, hollow faith, full of empty works for the satisfaction of man. We, the church, were all once an Eric, who've now had the scaled removed from our eyes so that we might see. Now able to see that we need Christ. That we need each other. Now able to see the scales of others. Living for anything less than the Gospel is not living at all, but dying.
ReplyDeleteWell-put, Jeff.
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