Whether at work, in a social setting, in an educational institution or even at church, paying attention to Human Dynamics is always an interesting study. However, because of the spiritual factor, it is particularly fascinating in the context of church. Scripture is filled with passages and stories that give us clues as to what God’s expectation is in terms of the interaction that exist between people. That is why forgiveness is such a focal point of the gospel. Luke 10:27 sums it up in a few words…Love God and Love Others as you Love Yourself. Loving others as we love ourselves is vital to human interaction.
I believe that the majority of people who are actively pursuing faith want a genuine sense of God’s presence when they go to church. When God’s presence is sensed people leave feeling spiritually satisfied. Church, having such a strong social element can display a dichotomous spectrum with relation to expression. One extreme has a demonstrative expressive style which others would like to tone down, others exert a non demonstrative seemingly reverent preference making others long for more vibrancy. Either way, they often accuse each other of the same thing…God presence is lacking. For one the God factor has been dried up; for the other it has been blown up. Statistics however suggest there is yet another group; the sixty to seventy percent in the middle. This makes it very difficult for the continuum to harmonize. In this range of preference, how do we complete this need for a genuine sense of God’s satisfying presence? Here is a starting point.
At the beginning of ACTS 2 in verse 1 says…
When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven...(at which point things began to happened)
At the end of ACTS 2 after the recorded event happened, verse 46 states…
So continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart.
Between these two verses, God really moved and displayed his person and power. There was a indisputable authentic Presence of God resulting in many people getting saved; 3000 the first day (v.41) plus daily additions (v 47). This was anything but non demonstrative faith, nor was it human emotionalism. It started with 120 people in an upper room for 10 days, then it grew. Somehow this increasingly large number of believers were able to maintain the essential ‘one accord’ factor and things continued to happen.
One accord can’t happen until we see each other as individually significant to God for a corporate purpose.
Simply put, by divine design we need each other. When we recognize our need for one another in the context of The Body, God’s Spirit of unity and accord come into play. We then begin to see the results of this sincere spiritual action. The longing to experience His presence will integrate and make us, not disintegrate and break us. Perhaps that is when church growth will be made up of less transfers, and more of the Lord adding daily such as should be saved.
What will you choose? To make it or break it?
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