A Pro Life Church

Awhile ago after preaching a sermon on pro-life, God convicted me that perhaps I’m not always as pro-life as I think I am. Here is why:

A pro life person is somebody who believes that a small molecular human body is just as filled with life and valuable as a big human body. Now apply that to the Church: a pro life Church is one Who believes that a little Body of Christ is no less valuable than a big Body of Christ.

Sometimes, not often, but sometimes I fail to realize that God’s Church Body is a living Church Body because of the Spirit of Jesus that indwells the people to unite them together as body parts of Christ fused together. It isn’t the size of the Church that makes it a Church, or more useful and valuable, as if a taller Jesus would have been of more use in His earthly ministry as opposed to a shorter Jesus. It isn’t the size of the Church that makes the Body of Christ more lively or useful as if Jesus with a larger waste would have been of more use here on earth than if Jesus had a body with a petite jean size. It’s not as if Jesus was any more alive or perfect because of His body shape or dimensions. And it still isn’t true that Christ’s Church Body is any more alive, useful, or pure because of it’s size.

For that matter, even before Jesus had a body, in His physical pre-conceived state, that is, before He entered the world as John says, “the word became flesh & dwelt among us,” still Jesus was Jesus Christ, filled with life, eternally active, the Son of God, Creator of the universe, and older than time. And when Jesus was still a little not completely formed body in His mother Mary’s whom, His cousin John leaped in his mother Elizabeth’s womb. Even then, the little tiny unborn body of Jesus was making a difference in the little tiny life of another human being unconvinced…His cousin John.

Is it possible that there is even such a thing as an unborn Church, not fully developed Body of Christ that we can’t see yet, but God does? And for the little unborn Church Body of Christs that God has been forming, but we can’t see, God is using to create spiritual leaps and bounds in other tiny and invisible forms to us, but not to Him.

God reminds me to be content with the size of the Body of Christ that He has put me in. I’m also no fool to assume that if God placed me in a bigger Body of Christ, I wouldn’t miss the awesome dynamics of this little Body of Christ. I certainly would!

I’m sure that Mary enjoyed her Divine Son’s little rambunctious 3 year old body self in a unique way that she missed after He grew up into a man. Can you relate? Do you miss your little child’s body that they grew out of to become a big full grown adult?

Likewise, as God makes His little Warrensburg Body of Christ grow, and me along with it, I’ll no doubt miss the days of the small Body.

There is something cute and remarkable about small little human beings, isn’t there!? In one sense, they are small and you can easily overlook them. Yet in another sense, they are un-ignorable because they draw your attention to their simple and nimble structure. They can reach places that big people cannot, and they can do things that bigger people cannot.

God has taught me to see the remarkable side of a small Body of Christ. The Warrensburg Body of Christ is quaint in that we are unusual and old fashioned in some ways. We do have a good deal of older folks and widows (and yet we are increasingly getting some new families!). We sing old fashioned hymns. We don’t have all of the most polished skills for running a Church service with flashy or current songs. And yet that makes us different.

We may be small & quaint, but if people like small & quaint old cabins in the woods because of the refreshing and detoxifying effect it can have on your busy schedule and crowded life, then certainly there is something very pristine and relieving about being apart of a simple Church Body. There may be less distractions and less to get lost in.

My wife and I have been watching a show called “Tiny House Nation,” where people are downsizing their homes and building very very very small and minimalistic homes for themselves. It’s a trend in our culture. And the people love it!

Why not apply that to the Body of Christ which is also called the “House of God” (becuase He indwells us as our divine Resident Who lives in us)? Downsizing your home can be a great thing. It comes with it’s advantages.

So I have learned that our little House of God comes with it’s advantages and I have learned to love them!

If God ever takes me to a bigger House of God, or expands the current One that I’m pastoring (and apart of), I will miss the more simple days where we were nimble and quick, efficient, small, quaint, and intimate in fellowship.

And don’t get me wrong, the analogy goes the other way around too: small Church Body’s of Christ are not any better or valuable than big Church Body’s of Christ. A giant is no less useful than a midget!

Big Church Body’s can likewise do things that small Church Body’s cannot. However, a big baby born with rolls of fat at 12 pounds is no less valuable than a cute little baby born at 4 pounds. I wonder how big Jesus was born? It doesn’t matter, because His body dimensions would not have changed His deity, or His mission.

Neither should it for Christ’s Body now. Whether big or small, the Body of Christ is valuable and useful because of the love and deity of Jesus Christ Who indwells them.

Praise the Lord!