Without a beating heart there is no life
My dad passed away March 8, 1996. He had been sick for about five years. For the last 3 years of his life he had been dependant on others for his every need. During those last three years he did not resemble the dad I had known all of my life. The disease drastically altered his physical appearance. After his death the funeral home did a remarkable job with his body. For the first time in years he looked like I remember him looking before he had gotten sick. As I looked at my dad in the coffin it looked like he could have gotten up and walked out of the building. He looked exactly like he should have looked. The appearance was right. Every detail of his body just right, every hair was in place. One thing was missing; there was no life in the body. Without a beating heart and life in the body it could not be my dad. As much as I wanted it to be my dad it wasn’t him. My dad had left this earth at 12:10 A.M. March 8, 1996.
We in the churches of Christ have made a genuine effort to reproduce the 1st century church, as we believe it looked in the apostles day. I am convinced that in many ways we have gotten it exactly right. For the most part we have reproduced the structure of the church. We have reproduced to the best of our knowledge and ability the formal worship assembly. We have replicated many things about the 1st century church. It may look exactly as it should on the outside, but I fear that in many ways it is as far from the original as my dad’s body in the casket was from the man I had known all my life.
Unless Churches of Christ have the heart and life of the church Jesus built we will never be that church. Going through the motions of doing church does not build life. Priding ourselves in doctrinal perfection does not instill a beating heart. We must develop a passion for evangelism before there will be life. It isn’t about arguing the verb tense of Greek words, it is about bringing people to Jesus. I plead with my brethren in Christ, “Lets develop a passion for evangelism. Let our reputation be that of a people who have a heart for introducing lost souls to grace and truth through Jesus Christ. Without that passion for lost souls we can’t be the church Jesus purchased with His blood regardless of how closely we have replicated our perceived patterns.
