January 14, 2002
TOGETHER:
You can be 'the presence of Christ'
___Pastor Bob Alderman and church Clerk Olga Smedley from First Baptist Church of Rio Grande City sent an affirming word last week, expressing gratitude for the long history the church has shared with the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
___The Rio Grande Valley church resolved to forward 10 percent of all budget gifts to the Cooperative Program through the BGCT and maintain a unique relationship with the BGCT. The church also pledged to pray for the executive director and the president of the convention and to support the BGCT vision by being "the presence of Christ" in its community.
CHARLES WADE
Executive Director
BGCT Executive Board
___As much as I appreciate the commitment to give and to pray and thank them for their encouragement, I believe I was thrilled most by the church's pledge to be the presence of Christ in their world.
___One man said, "I believe if I could ever see a real Christian, I would want to be one." This can be a pitiful excuse to ignore Jesus, but it is also an invitation to shape up our lives according to Christ's call and be the presence of Christ in the world.
___As God robed himself in human flesh that we might know God in the fullness of the bodily incarnation of Jesus, so he fills our hearts with himself. He lives within us. Guided by Holy Scripture and by the Holy Spirit, we can "grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ" (Ephesians 4:15). This applies to the individual Christian, but primarily it refers to the church as the body of Christ and family of faith.
___Not every church in every instance lives up to this calling. Consider a pastor and his family who were asked to leave a church. When illness struck the family, they turned to the Baptist General Convention of Texas' office of minister/church relations, which gave help and built friendships. Recently, when death touched this family, a ministry assistant who had come to know them through five years of caring alerted others who could help. Cooperatively, Texas Baptist churches stepped in to minister.
___We need each other. Sometimes a local church is strong, and other times it may be weak. But through our cooperative work, we can help smooth the bumps and valleys. Together, our churches were able to be the presence of Christ to this family.
___Jesus told the woman at the Samaritan well that "a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ... True worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth" (John 4:21, 23).
___Jesus was teaching that it isn't about holy mountains, holy buildings, holy religion. It is about God, and you can worship him anywhere. God finds a way to put his Spirit in us, and we begin to grow up into the likeness of Christ.
___Collectively, we draw near to God in worship, and we go out to be near him in service to a dying and needy world.
___There is no place you cannot worship him, and there is no place you cannot serve him, as long as your desire is to be fully present and to be the presence of the living Christ.
___He lives through us to give abundant and eternal life, bring others to him and change the world.
___We are loved.
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