Archive for the 'Bible Studies for Life' Category
Connecting in Christ
It is a danger in American Christianity when church membership is viewed no differently than membership in a club or organization. You attend, pay your “dues,” carry out some responsibilities, and you’re a member. Many seem to think church membership has its privileges; the right to complain, the right to command, etc.
But this is wrong. Very wrong.
The Church is not a Club
Part of the danger of the club mentality of church memberships is this: we believe the benefits of membership are truly about us. But, according to Scripture, each person is a member because it benefits the entire body of believers. Thom Rainer, the president of LifeWay Christian Resources, says it like this: “We’ve all belonged to organizations where we pay our dues and are entitled to certain benefits in return. The problem occurs when we bring this same mentality to church. Church membership isn’t about having our needs met.”1
The Apostle Paul was clear about the relationship believers have with each other in the local body. Each person in the church has a role just like arms, legs, eyes, and ears have functions in the human body. The distinctions are real and necessary to complete everything God plans to accomplish in any local body. “But now God has placed each one of the parts in one body just as He wanted. And if they were all the same part, where would the body be? Now there are many parts, yet one body.”2
Connecting in your Church
The best way to connect in the local church is not through attending worship. The larger the crowd, the more difficult it is to connect. Connections are more likely in smaller groups where burdens can be borne, concerns shared, conversations held, and life lived together.
Every believer needs community. None of us are “lone rangers.” Paul again reminds us, “So the body is not one part but many.”3 There are no individual bodies of Christ, only corporate bodies. We support and are supported as one body.
In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul teaches the same truth using the metaphor of marriage, “In the same way, husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hates his own flesh but provides and cares to it just as Christ does the church, since we are members of His body.”4
To experience community, get connected to small groups in your church. Whether it’s called Sunday School, small groups, LifeGroups, Community Groups or something else, be sure to get involved. Growth happens best in community.
Yours for the Great Commission,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Senior Pastor, Cross Church
General Editor, Bible Studies for Life
1– BSFL Fall 2014, Connected: My Life in the Church, by Thom Rainer.
2– 1 Corinthians 12:18-20, HCSB
3– 1 Corinthians 12:14, HCSB
4– Ephesians 5:28-30
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.
Glorifying God in Creation
How did we get here? Where are we going? What is the purpose of life? These are questions that have been asked through the generations. Apart from the truth of God’s Word, the answers to these questions fall into the realm of pure speculation. Revelation illuminates. Speculation darkens.
Not Here by Chance
Materialists, if they are honest with themselves, must admit we came from nothing, we are going nowhere, and nothing matters. For the materialist to assert meaning in life, he or she must borrow from a belief system other than their own. To claim no Lawgiver, yet claim a law, is logically inconsistent.
The Bible reveals to us that we did not arrive on this planet by chance, although things are not exactly in tip-top condition. As Ben Trueblood notes, “The Bible gives us a clear picture of the One behind the universe. In the pages of Scripture, we discover the all-powerful, all-wise loving Creator God.”1
God Has Always Been
The first book of the Bible, Genesis, affirms that everything came from God. It may be true there was a time nothing material existed, but it is not true nothing existed, because God has always been. “Before the mountains were born, before You gave birth to the earth and the world, from eternity to eternity, You are God.”2 There has never been a time when God did not exist. He existed, in fact, before time – “from eternity.”
Praise from the Psalms
One writer in the book of Psalms could scarcely contain himself as he burst forth in praise when considering God’s creation:
“Hallelujah! Praise the LORD from the heavens; praise Him in the heights.
Praise Him, all His angels; praise Him, all His hosts.
Praise Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all you shining stars.
Praise Him, highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens.
Let them praise the name of Yahweh, for He commanded and they were created.
He set them in position forever and ever; He gave an order that will never pass away.”3
God Created All
From the complexity of the DNA code to the vastness of a universe light-years across; from the field mouse to the Tyrannosaurus Rex; from the minnow to the blue whale; from the tiny seed to the mighty Sequoia, God created it all.
Think for a Moment . . . Our God is Real
We are a busy people these days. Think for a moment. When was the last time you have been overwhelmed, like the psalmist, to a passionate praise at the creative power of God? Can you glorify Him in the sunset or does traffic fully occupy your mind?
Sometimes an hour at the lake, on a hiking trail, or bicycling at the local park can restore a joy buried under the frantic pace at which so many of us live life.
We need not fall into the false worship of creation in place of God to praise God. It is His handiwork and points unfailingly back to Him. The universe, as has been said many times, bears the fingerprints of its Creator. And, like fingerprints on chrome, they are very easy to see.
The universe was designed, and the earth was designed. It was designed for humanity, where we would live, move and exist. This is the place we would experience the ultimate love of God in Jesus Christ who died and rose again. Yes, our God is real! To God be the glory, great things He has done!
Yours for the Great Commission,
Ronnie W. Floyd
1– Bible Studies for Life, Resilient Faith, Ben Trueblood
2– Psalm 90:2
3– Psalm 148:1-6
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.