The Perfect Church Member

This was my newsletter article for April.

The Perfect Church Member

After church this past Sunday, someone jokingly asked if I’d be preaching a sermon on the perfect church member.  Well…I won’t be preaching on that topic, but since you asked…

·         The perfect church member is young, married, with young children, and has 90 years of experience in living as a Christian.

·         The perfect church member is an enthusiastic new Christian who has been a lifelong Christian with deeply rooted faith.

·         The perfect church member is single and dedicates all free time to serving the church, while simultaneously establishing a wide net of friendships inside and outside of the church.

·         The perfect church member is extremely wealthy and can give generously to the church, but doesn’t work and so is always free to help out.

·         The perfect church member teaches Sunday School, while being in Bible Class, and then stays around to help count the offering.

·         The perfect church member is an extroverted introvert who loves to quietly pray while simultaneously evangelizing everyone in the room.

·         The perfect church member constantly displays all of the fruit of the spirit all of the time, is the most humble person in the church, and has memorized not only Luther’s Small Catechism, but the Large Catechism too.

·         The perfect church member directs the choir, while playing the organ, singing in the choir, and running the sound board.

A slightly ridiculous list?  Yep, it is.  Obviously, just as there are no perfect pastors, there are no perfect church members. 

The list does remind us of certain truths however. 

·         No one member can do everything, but every member plays a part in the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12).  The church needs young and old, married and single, rich and poor, blue collar and white collar, baby Christians and experienced veterans in the faith.  Every single person has a role, can contribute to the work of the church, is needed, and is vital to the health of the church.

·         We cannot do everything and must depend on others in the church.  While this might not be an American ideal, it is a Biblical one.  One of the illustrations of the church is that we are being built up together into a dwelling place for God, as it says in 1 Peter 2:5, “you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”  Like stones stacked, one on top of another, we depend on each other and we are there to support one another.

·         As an imperfect church member, you need Christ’s forgiveness that is there for you every Sunday.

·         As an imperfect church member, you need to have your mind renewed by the Word of God, which is something available to you in Bible Class.

·         And most importantly, we have a perfect Savior through whom God actually sees each and every baptized believer as perfect.  Because Jesus has clothed us in His righteousness and holiness, we are saints (holy ones).

So at St. Paul’s, you get a pastor who is imperfect, sinful, but forgiven and made holy by the blood of Jesus serving a community of people who are imperfect, sinful, but forgiven and washed in the blood of Jesus.

And that’s just how God designed it.

Pastor Meyer