Beloved,
What Highlights the Church?
When people ask questions like, “What is the church?” “What does the church look like?” “How do we know if something is the church?”, there are a number of ways that one could answer those queries. Elder Hassell gives a list of identifying marks in his history, and they are based on things the church stands for in core doctrine, practice, and order. Christ gives a simple test of her by identifying how she worships: spirit and truth. (John 4:24) However, there is a list of identifying monikers for discerning the church in II Thessalonians 1:3-7 based on how she acts and conducts herself amongst her members. These marks include: growing faith, abounding charity, patience and faith in troubles, suffering, and rest. The verses include descriptors that indicate that this is found in the church, and those doing these things are counted worthy of the kingdom. Much like what she stands for, the church is seen evidently in both her labors and the response of the Bridegroom towards her in those actions.
Not Stagnant: If there is anything that sticks out in this list, it is the fact that these identifying highlights are not stagnant or static. Faith is growing, charity is abounding, patience is enduring, and rest is found along the way. One of the sad marks of the culture we live in now is that we have become a “good enough” generation. In my youth, people would say, “That’s good enough for government work…” Now that things are just “good enough,” it would appear that everything is “government work” now! The kingdom of God is not described by God’s word as good enough. She is an abounding place. Paul’s prayer to and for the church at Ephesus was that exceeding abundantly above would the output. (Ephesians 3:20-21) He makes repeated exhortations in his writings that the church would be doing things always and evermore (Philippians 4:4, I Thessalonians 5:16), without ceasing (I Thessalonians 5:17), and cheerfully (II Corinthians 9). The kingdom is not a progressing place in belief structure (those foundations are solid and secure in the never-changing character and will of God), but she is a progressing place in activity as we attempt to move closer and closer to the abounding nature of our Husband.
Ups and Downs: Not everything in Paul’s list of activities is what we would term pleasant. Abounding charity sounds nice, but patience in tribulations doesn’t. This list highlights the fact that the church is and has always been a place of ups and downs. Just as Canaan’s Land in the Old Testament was a land of hills and valleys that drinketh the rain from heaven. (Deuteronomy 11:11) Paul desired to know nothing of what he possessed before the Lord came to him on the Damascus road. What he desired to know of Christ was both pleasant and not so much: know Him, the power of His resurrection, fellowship of His sufferings, and conformable to His death. (Philippians 3:10) Why would Paul desire suffering, and why is the church highlighted with patience in suffering? The easiest answer is that suffering is a part of this sin-cursed world, but this type of suffering is special and not common to man. This is the suffering that is not for evil-doing but well-doing. Suffering as a Christian (I Peter 4:15) is what the Thessalonians were enduring and what Paul desired. That type of suffering not only mirrors the life of Christ (suffering for His name’s sake as He suffered for our sake), but it also informs us that God abides with His people in the good times and the bad. As THE faithful Husband, He loves us, “For richer for poorer, in sickness and in health…”
Ultimate Expectation: The way Paul closes this list of highlights is interesting because he both exhorts and informs an expectation. The ultimate aim and goal of the church is rest. Not just rest from the labors of life but rest from our own labors of self and vanity. She rests in the love of God that has paid all that we could not pay. She rests in His faithfulness to abide with her throughout the generations. She rests in the promise that He will never leave us nor forsake us. In all these things, there is rest to be found now in the troubled times of our current generation. (Matthew 11:28-30) We don’t have to wait to rest when we get to heaven, but it is found in this land of ups and downs here and now. However, while that exhortation of Paul in verse 7 mirrors the statement of Christ in Matthew 11 (troubled people can find rest), it gives the expectation of ultimate rest that is coming in heaven. The rest found in the church resting in gospel pastures beside still waters gives the glimpse behind the veil of what heaven must be like. They are of the same substance, and therefore, they share in the same essence of joys.
Something I have heard all my life living in the church is the experience of those who found it, converted, and happily live in it. While their experiences have differing points, a common experience to all that I have encountered is what drew them in. They didn’t understand the richness of the doctrine on the 1st visit (or sometimes even the 10th or 20th visit), but what they immediately saw was a group of people that love each other, treat each other like family (because we are), and who adored just being with each other and sharing the experiences of the kingdom together. That level of display highlights how the church should look. May those hallmarks remain among us all our days until we are called to the great congregation in the glorious church of heaven where we meet to part no more, and rejoice in that day that knows no end.