Mom Taught me the Value of the Church

Mom Taught me the Value of the Church

 What does the word Church mean to you?

Mom taught me the value of the Church.

I grew up in the church, my grandparents would pick up 

my mom, brothers, sister and I every Sunday morning.

After church we had lunch at grandma and grandpa’s,

 then it was time for the Sunday afternoon nap.

How we hated those naps; it’s funny I sure love them now!

Then back to church that night.

Mom played the piano, and at times, the organ at church.

As I got a little older, we started to go to a church

that was within a mile from our house.

Mom after working at my grandparents flower shop

became the church secretary.

The church was our family.

The Bible uses the word “ekklesia” for church;

it means a calling out or assembly.

To help us understand the church, the Bible refers to it as the Body of Christ.

Each believer according to 1 Corinthians 12 makes up the Body of Christ.

We are His hands and His feet and what God does in the earth today

 is done through people who make up His Body, the Church.

Being a pastor for 30 years, it seemed that hardly a week went by that

someone did not call the church for assistance.

Many of these people would call over and over again thinking

the church was a social service, forcing the church to set guidelines

because the call for needs was greater than the resources.

Many times we had to turn these people down

and they would get angry at the church.

But growing up my mom taught us we were to be members of the church; 

that meant we gave of ourselves to the church.

I can not tell you how many times the people from the church

helped my mom and us kids as we were growing up.

They put a roof on our house, dropped off food when we didn’t expect it, 

and at Christmas time we would find gifts on our front porch.

I saw Jesus in the flesh of those loving people.

All those blessings came because mom taught us

to seek God’s kingdom first.

Some people say, “I don’t have to go to church to worship God.”

I don’t mean to be harsh,

but anyone who would say that does not

 know what they are talking about.

Jesus said, He would build His church;

Jesus is building an assembly of believers.

And when Jesus comes back, the only thing He is coming back for

is His Church, everything else will be destroyed with fire.

When we look at the church being His Body, 

we can see that a person can cut off their finger and live, 

but the finger can not live without the body.

It becomes very oblivious that if you are not an active

part of the church you are out of God’s will.

And if you are waiting to join the perfect church - don’t.

I am glad my mother taught me the value of the church.

Scripture Reading

1 Corinthians 12:12-28 NIV

12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.

13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body

— whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free — and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

14 Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15 If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part,

where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

21 The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty,

24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it;

if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.