Love God. Love Others. Live Sent.

Have you ever heard the saying that the sum of the parts is greater than the whole? I've been thinking about this a lot lately and in the context of the Church I think this is absolutely true. Each of us as individuals have our talents, abilities, and giftings, but it is only when each of us contributes to the whole that something magical happens and the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. I think that is one of the most amazing things about the Church.

You can see this idea come to life in another way. Look at wikipedia. At first glance it is a pretty normal encyclopedia website, but with one huge difference. Anyone can add input to the discussion. If you are an "expert" on a subject, or even if you just have information that no one else has posted yet, you can add your voice and information to the collective whole. No one person knows all of the information posted on wikipedia, but anyone has access to all of the information posted there.

Our unique experiences, giftings, and expertise are blended together to form something incredible. That is a picture of the Church. Unfortunately sometimes our local expressions of the church don't look anything like that. Many of our local churches look very homogoneous (vanilla in simpler terms). I'm not even talking about race here, although that could be another discussion. What I'm talking about is the idea of sameness. I think it is usually very subtle, but most of the local churches that I know want all of their members to be the same: in their beliefs, in their approach to worship, in their attendance and service, even in their dress. I'm all for unity within the church, but sameness doesn't equal unity.

We see an incredible picture of unity in Revelation when we read that people from every nation, tribe, and tongue will gather together to worship the Lamb. Do you think that all of those people worship the same way, or agree on every point of doctrine, or dress the same way right now? No chance! They will be united in their love for and worship of the King, not in the way they think, act, look, speak, or dress.

All that to say that we need to review what is really important and essential to the DNA of Christ's Church. His Church will have His DNA. So what is His DNA? I think it can be summarized by three commands that Jesus gave to us. He told us the greatest commandment was to love God with everything within us, and the second commandment was to love others that way as well (see Matthew 22:36-40). Just before He left the earth He gave another command with all of His authority, to go and make disciples (see Matthew 28:18-20). He sent us, just as His Father sent Him. Love God. Love Others. Live Sent. That is Christ's DNA. If we are His followers, it should be our DNA as well.

Everything we do in a local church should reflect that DNA. Our budgets, our gatherings, our programs, our calendars, our ________________. Everything. Will that lead to sameness? I doubt it, but it will lead to unity. Think about your home church. Is your church showing the DNA of Christ's Church? Does your budget and calendar and bulletin reflect Christ's DNA? What about your own life? Does your schedule and checkbook reflect Christ's DNA? If we are honest with ourselves, we have a lot of work to do. So let's get started. Begin today. Love God. Love Others. Live Sent. Pass it on. Spread the virus of Christ's DNA. You'll be glad you did.

Blessings,
Shiloh