The Church at Its Best

Observers frequently say the church is at its best when people are in need. They point to the way church members respond when someone dies or when illness strikes or some other special need bursts on the scene. 

Church members almost always respond to such situations with love and compassion. They are there to comfort the grieving, to care for hurting and to help the needy. They bring food. They care for family members. They provide transportation. They clean houses. They sit in hospital rooms or with those waiting the outcome of some surgery. 

Pretense falls away in times of need. Who we are as Christians, who we are becoming under the leadership of God’s Holy Spirit, comes pouring out. That is why observers conclude the church is at its best in times of need. That is when the Spirit of God can most clearly be seen in God’s people.

It was like that on April 27, 2011, and the days that immediately followed. Sixty-two tornadoes had left disaster in their wakes across two-thirds of the state — 42 of Alabama’s 67 counties were declared official disaster areas. More than 250 people were dead or dying from tornado-related injuries — 272 became the reported final death count. Property damage was in the billions of dollars. 

Alabama Baptists did not blink. They simply went to work and in the days and weeks and months since then, Alabama Baptists have not stopped comforting the grieving, caring for the hurting and helping the needy. It has been a time when Alabama Baptists have been at their best.

Beginning on page 5 of this issue is a recap of some of the highlights of what happened April 27, 2011, and the days following and how God continues to work through Alabama Baptists. It is good  to reflect on all that has occurred in the past year.

It is also good to remember why Alabama Baptists responded with such an outpouring of care.

Alabama Baptists did not respond out of human instinct. Too often human instinct is brutish and beastly. People stand on corners and watch others being mugged or maimed, all the time doing nothing. People look at destroyed homes, damaged communities, broken bodies and injured spirits and shrug their shoulders and go their own way.  

Compassion that causes one to act comes from God. It models what He has done for us. Through Jesus Christ, God reached out to humanity just because He chose to love us. He provided a way for the undeserving to escape the death-hold of sin. Theologians call this grace — God’s unmerited favor. And once one has been touched by God’s grace, one is never the same. 

God’s grace does not come by ascent to a theological proposition. God’s grace comes from a relationship with the living Lord. Every time someone asked Jesus about salvation, He responded with an answer that pointed the person toward a lifelong relationship with Himself. To the rich young ruler of Luke 18, for example, Jesus told him to change his priorities and “follow me.”

Only by opening himself to a lifelong relationship with Jesus could he experience God’s grace. That is what theologians call discipleship. 

Even the invitation to those who would later be called apostles began with a call to follow Jesus.

Following Jesus is more than intellectual agreement with the statement that Jesus died for one’s sin. Following Jesus is a life-altering commitment. The rich young ruler could not change his priorities so he turned away. Peter, Andrew, James, John and others left their nets and followed Jesus. For them, changed priorities were the first step of a lifelong journey. It was the first step toward God’s grace.

These and others who have followed the example of Jesus’ first followers opened themselves to God through faith in Jesus Christ. God’s Spirit filled them to overflowing and others were blessed as God’s Spirit flowed through them. 

Isn’t that what happened following the tornadoes? God’s grace overflowed through chain saw crews and through chaplains. God’s grace overflowed through people clearing lots of debris and those stacking shelves with supplies. God’s grace overflowed through gifts donated for victims and through the construction skills used in rebuilding.

Numerous people asked Alabama Baptist volunteers why they volunteered to helped total  strangers, why they worked for free. Every time the answer was the same — the grace of God. God has freely given to us through His Son, Jesus of Nazareth. Now, because God lives inside the believer, the believer allows God’s Spirit to overflow from him or her and touch those in need. It is all an act of grace that begins with God. It is all a demonstration of the Church at its best. 

The apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:7, “We have this treasure (the grace of God) in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” In the same way, Alabama Baptists provided untold hours of service in a myriad of ways. But what they really offered was the grace of God so that to Him people might offer praise and thanksgiving and to God those still held in sin’s death grip might turn through faith in Jesus Christ. 

Discipleship without decision is impossible. There must be a time when one decides to change priorities and follow Jesus. But decision is not discipleship. Decision is a step. Discipleship is a lifelong journey. Discipleship is being filled with the “all-surpassing power of God” and letting that power, that grace overflow into the lives of others.   

Thank God for those Alabama Baptists who are on the discipleship journey and who allowed God’s Spirit to overflow through them in grace-filled deeds following April 27, 2011. That really did demonstrate the Church at its best.