October 5th, 2013

1 Corinthians 12:4-5 — Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.

I thought I was going to be writing about something else today — about when Myra and I thought we were destined for the mission field — but this came into my head, and so that must be for another time.
Who’s the cook in your house? (If there is one … Maybe you just eat out…). In our house Myra does most of it but sometimes, like today, I get to put my pinny on and work some magic. Today’s masterpiece is a nice spicy Thai curry, and that seemed to start this train if thought.
You know, some of the ingredients of a tasty dish don’t taste so good on their own. In fact you might spit them out! Put them all together and apply the right kind of energy, and amazing things happen.
Churches are the same. Let’s be honest, when God is truly at the center of a church He can add some pretty odd ingredients to the mix. And (while we’re still being honest, and just between us) I don’t necessarily always like all of them.
Of course not every dish a cook prepares works. Quite a few things can go wrong.
If a meal goes cold … The energy goes out of it, What’s left? A lukewarm dish. And we know what The Lord thinks of lukewarm – “because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.”
Then, of course, there’s the time when the ingredients are just bad. Or maybe they just dried up.When the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted?
If there’s too much of one ingredient or too little, if the balance is wrong, the flavor doesn’t work. Sometimes it’s like one ingredient wants to say “it’s all about me … Garlic is much more important than mushrooms!”
Then there’s the dish with no heart. You know, the one that’s all decoration and flavorings and seems to have no main ingredient, nothing at the center?
Am I pushing the metaphor too far? I don’t know that I am. There are churches where the Holy Spirit isn’t working — there’s no energy. There are churches where people have dried up and churches where people really don’t have the Spirit in them. There are churches making no difference to the community around them.
Perhaps the worst dish of all is one you never find in any kitchen. What happens when the ingredients get confused, and think they’re the ones doing the cooking? As for me, I’m just trying to figure out what kind of ingredient I am, and how I can help the dish come together. I know who the best cook in the house is!