What we are risking in seeking God’s word in the body is acting on the faith that Christ, as a living Lord, is indeed present and speaking to us as a corporate body. There is always a third party present in all our individual and corporate deliberations.
When the preacher delivers a sermon and the congregation listens, between lips and ears the living Christ seeks to address us. In making a decision about the use of our church building, there are three elements to the process. There are the needs before us and the thought patterns of the members of the official board and a living Christ who seeks to speak to us. When we are reading Scripture, the content of the Scripture evokes in each of us our own response based on our hopes and fears but the living Christ also seeks to express a word to us. When we are furious at the behavior of a group of teenagers who have failed to show proper care for the building which they used for their gathering, as Christians we are aware of the teenagers and their behavior as well as our reaction to the results of their actions. We also try to listen to a living Christ who may surprise us with a saving word.
When we speak, make decisions or refuse to act, we are daring to make Christ visible to the world. The first response of people who experience the church will be to sense the fruits which are made visible. If what they observe is evidence of enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissension, factions, envy, etc., they will likely conclude that nothing is happening here that does not happen among most groups in the world. On the other hand, if, under trying circumstances, they continue to see signs of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self control, they will sense something unique is being spoken in the world.
At the same time, God is not dependent on our achieving perfection. Even when the fruits of the flesh appear to dominate, God is capable of revealing the Word. Therefore there is no time or condition in which we are not called upon to be attentive to the revealing of God’s Word.
