When she comes together, the functioning body of Christ is like an orchestra, with
the Holy Spirit acting as the conductor. The richness of a symphony occurs
because all of the different instruments in the orchestra play the melody
assigned to them. If we all play the same tune in church, we miss out on the
magnificent creativity of the bride of Christ.
But Paul goes beyond that. He says that the weaker members
are necessary and worthy of greater honor. The contributions of those who are
shyer or more reticent to speak should be given greater attention.
Of course, the head of this body is Christ, and as each
person follows the prompting of the Holy Spirit, the body functions as it
should. You see, the Lord wants to be more than “the guest of honor” in our
meetings. He actually wants to be in control.
If we are not careful, house or simple church gatherings can
run like a traditional church meeting, what our friend John White likes to call
“Honey, I shrunk the church.” Someone has been asked to lead the worship,
another person has been asked to teach . . . the venue has just changed from
pews to couches. But that excludes a major dynamic of a small group meeting; namely,
that the Lord has a plan for our times together. He knows what is going on in
people’s lives. If we will let Him, He will touch and change people and the
world around us.
God has given us the pattern for this in 1 Corinthians 14:26
which says that each person should take part and bring a contribution to our
time together. (This is one of the reasons that we are so sold on the concept
of church being small. In a larger gathering, it would be impossible for
everyone to have a part in the service.
(Taken from the rewritten and updated "An Army of Ordinary People", due out May 1st)
3 replies on “How to be an orchestra”
Mat 18:18 “Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.
Mat 18:19 Again I say to you that if two of you shall agree on earth as regarding anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them by My Father in Heaven.
In this verse, the word, “agree” is from the Greek word, sumphōneō – to agree together . This is where we get our English word, “symphony”
I was reading an entry on another blog that described the author’s by chance meeting with the musician Yo-Yo Ma in a Chicago airport. The following sentence from that blog entry made me immediately think of the word symphony, its Greek root, its usage in the New Testament, and the implication for a disciple’s body-part mind-set: “I think that Ma’s mindset — outward-focused, perceptive, action-oriented — is no accident. Being a great performer, in the most profound sense, is not about the individual — rather, it’s about the music, or the athletic move, or whatever intricate series of thoughts and movements that are being connected. In truly great performances, the performer disappears.” Not suggesting that we are in a performance of course, but interesting thoughts on the dynamics of many moving as one. The blog entry is this: http://thetalentcode.com/2010/03/26/yo-yo-ma-to-the-rescue/
Great comments everyone!