Jump Start # 1777

Ephesians 4:32 “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.”

We visited one of our grandchildren the other day. He sleeps with a teddy bear that someone gave him as a present. I was told it was a “Build-a-bear” teddy bear. I’ve seen those stores but never actually “built” a bear. A person picks out the color, features and actually designs a bear that they like. I’ve seen car companies that allows a person to build a car on their websites. You pick out the model you want and from that the exterior color, the type and color of seats. You pick out the engine you want, wheels and available options. You build a car.  This idea is also being used in the housing industry. You pick out a floor plan that you like, type of flooring, cabinets, paint and you have built a house for yourself.

The idea behind these “build you own” projects is that you are allowed your personal tastes. If you designed a red car and then declared, “I don’t like red cars,” whose fault is that? All of these “build your own” projects have limitations. Cars have only certain engines and colors that come with each model. Houses have only certain floor plans. Even “build-a-bear,” has a selection that you must stay with.

All of this got me thinking the other day. What if we could “build-a-church member.” What if I could pick out certain features and build a member to my liking? What would my church member look like? Here we go:

• He would attend every service
• He would smile, hug and be happy
• He would love to sing, pray and listen to sermons
• He would connect with others
• He would volunteer to help out
• He would be supportive, kind and easy to talk to
• He would love the Lord
• He would be holy, spiritual and follow the Bible
• His family would be right with him in all of these steps
• He would be one that you could count on

What an amazing thing to build your own member. If you had enough resources, you could build your own church with just the members you designed. Everyone would be just the way you wanted them to be. What a thought.

But hasn’t God already done that? Our verse today, is just one of many places that shows what God is looking for in a member. He has chosen what He wants. He wants us to kind, tender-hearted, and forgiving. Those words express our connection and relationships with one another. This is how we are supposed to be with each other. In other places, God tells us to be strong. He tells us to love the Lord with all that we are. He wants us to grow in grace and knowledge.

God has designed a member just like He wants. God has built-a-member. In fact, when Jesus said, “Upon this rock I will build My church,” that’s exactly what He is doing. The church isn’t a building. He is constructing people, His people. This is how God wants His people, His church to look like. The beatitudes, that begin the sermon on the mount, illustrate the type of material that God has chosen to be us. He has not “stuffed” us with us, but rather with Him. We long for God. We want to be with God. We want to be like God. The Lord has “built-a-member.” It’s all through the N.T.

One other thought that comes from this, what kind of member am I? Have I chosen the elements and qualities that God wants in a member? Am I acting like our verse today? Or, as too often is the case, I have my issues, my past, my baggage that prevents me from being kind, tender-hearted and forgiving. Instead of being what God wants, I have settled on something else. It’s not what God picked out. It’s not what God wants. You take your child to a “build-a-bear” store and help him pick out a cuddly teddy bear but what they  hand you is an ugly buzzard that isn’t soft, isn’t the color you wanted and is not close to what you chose. Would your child like that? You “build-a-car” on a website. You go to pick it up and finance it and it’s a two-door, not a four-door which you wanted. The engine isn’t what you picked out. The seats are the wrong color. The exterior is the wrong color. Would you still want it? You sit down with a builder to plan a house. He builds it and the rooms are in the wrong place. There isn’t a fireplace, which you wanted. The kitchen is different than you picked out. Happy?

So, God has designed what a disciple of Jesus ought to look like. Here we are. Do we look like what God wanted? Or, instead, do we fuss with one another? Do people have to beg and plead for us to come to worship? Do we ignore the Bible? Are we filled with worry, fear and doubt? Are we what God picked out?

My grandson loves his bear. He has a name for it and he sleeps with it every night. It is just what he wanted. I wonder if you and I are just what God wanted? If God held up a piece of paper with a check list of all the things He wanted in a disciple, would we look like that? He has a piece of paper, actually, several pieces of paper. It’s called the Bible. When you read, Paul said, you will know my insight. When you read, John wrote, you will know if you have eternal life. When you read, you can know if you are what God had planned and designed.

Build-a-bear…build-a-car…build-a-house…build-a-disciple—

How are we turning out? Are we becoming what God planned and wanted?

Roger