by Tim Shorey

I have been much in meditation in this past year on apple seeds. Apple seeds have become this means of me seeing the glory of God.

An apple seed is really, really small, but it’s a lot bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. Put it in the ground and what happens? A tree happens. And then what happens? Hundreds and thousands of apples happen on that tree. Then what happens? Millions of apples end up eventually growing out of those apples as their seeds fall into the ground. If you’re so inclined you can take the wood from apple trees and you can warm houses, or you could build houses, or you could build sky-scrapers if they made sky-scrapers out of wood. You could also build boats if they made boats out of apple tree wood. I’m not sure they do that, but you get the point. Inside an apple seed there is a world of existence. There are millions of apples and thousands upon thousands of trees and houses. What is on the inside of an apple seed is far bigger than what’s on the outside of an apple seed.

The same is true of every true church of Jesus Christ. Every local church is far bigger and far more magnificent on the inside than it is on the outside. There is no such thing as an inconsequential local church. There is no such thing as an unimportant local church. The local church is part of God’s plan for his kingdom. Your church matters in the purposes of God.

* Adapted from Tim Shorey’s sermon 10/21/2012 “The Local Church: A Hidden Wonder.” Posted here with permission.

From CJ Mahaney over at CJ Mahaney’s View From the Cheap Seats:

As the pastor of a local church for 27 years, I am deeply grateful for every person who, when they came to Covenant Life Church, remained for many years. Those who persevered through the years and were patient with me personally and patient with my deficiencies in preaching—it was these people who ultimately made the difference in the church and helped build the church. They demonstrated their love for the Savior through their enduring service.

That’s how local churches are built. Local churches are built when humble servants commit, and remain, and serve, and do so over a period of years. Local churches are built by those Kevin DeYoung identified as “plodding visionaries.” In his message at our Next conference in May, Kevin DeYoung made this compelling point.

He said:

It is easy to blast the church for all her failures. It is harder to live in the church day after day, year after year, with all of the ho hum, hum drum, and to slowly and consistently make a difference.

What we need are fewer revolutionaries and a few more plodding visionaries. We need to ask the right questions, we need to have the right expectations, and we need to establish the right vision.…

Here is my burden for our generation: along with all of the necessary pleas we have to be earnest and intense and radical and sold out. With all of that, I just also want to wave the banner from Zechariah 4:10, “Do not despise the days of small things.” That is what I mean by being plodding visionaries.

If you are a visionary, you don’t have your head in the sand. You are going somewhere. You are looking out. You are moving in a direction. But you are a plodder. One foot in front of the other.

Many of us are attracted to a Tasmanian Devil kind of Christianity…splattering, spinning around. You get fired up—praise God for that—and you spin out like the Tasmanian Devil ready to conquer the world for Christ and you blow up into a tree somewhere.

We need plodding visionaries.

When I wrote the book on the church I read nine books that called for a revolution. Every other day it seems like I read of a new manifesto. We may need to just simplify a little: Get on the right road and keep going.

Our generation in particular is prone to radicalism without follow-through. We want to change the world and we have never changed a diaper. You want to make a difference for Christ? Here is where you can start: this Sunday, volunteer for the nursery. Say, “Here I am, pastor. What can I do to serve?”

Without folks like this, Covenant Life Church would have never been built. No church can be built without plodding visionaries.

Kevin’s entire message, “The Church,” can be downloaded from the resource page at thisisnext.org.

On CJ Mahaney’s blog, he reflects on a recent Kevin DeYoung sermon on the topic of loving the local church.  In his sermon, DeYoung addressed the subject of disappointment with the local church.  His insights, drawn from Scripture, are extremely helpful.

Read the entire post here.

John Stott, writing 27 years ago (I Believe in Preaching, p. 69):

“It is difficult to imagine the world in the year A.D. 2000, by which time versatile micro-processors are likely to be as common as simple calculators are today.

We should certainly welcome the fact that the silicon chip will transcend human brain-power, as the machine has transcended human muscle-power.

Much less welcome will be the probable reduction of human contact as the new electronic network renders personal relationships ever less necessary.

In such a dehumanized society the fellowship of the local church will become increasingly important, whose members meet one another, and talk and listen to one another in person rather than on screen. In this human context of mutual love the speaking and hearing of the Word of God is also likely to become more necessary for the preservation of our humanness, not less.”

HT: JT

This past week, I gave a message entitled “What’s the Big Deal About the Church?”  We had some difficulty with the audio recording, but are still working on making that available shortly.  In the interview below, Joshua Harris, Senior Pastor of Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, MD, insightfully and succinctly answers the questions,” Why should someone commit to a church?”  and “What does it mean to commit to a church?”