CONDUCT IN THE CHURCH

I Tim. 3:14-15 I am writing these things to you now, even though I hope to be with you soon, so that if I can't come for a while, you will know how people must conduct themselves in the household of God. This is the church of the living God, which is the pillar and support of the truth.

Paul had a real love for the church. He longed for people to live righteously in the church. He wanted people to know that was true for our individual lives also applied to our church life. We are obligated before God to conduct ourselves in the church in a manner that was pleasing and acceptable to God.

Sadly, we fall so far short of living up to the standards of God in the church like we should. When we get together with other Christians, we can favor some over others. We can be critical of the opinions of each other. We can let pride rear her ugly head and think of ourselves as better than others, or better than we really are. We can ignore those we have problems with. We can let self-righteousness isolate some in the church. We can gossip about others. The church ought to be a loving and caring community of believers, but so often it's something else entirely.

Paul reminds us that the church is not ours; it's God's. We dare not forget that Christ is the head of her, not us. The church is God's chosen body to uphold the truth of the Gospel. She is given the responsibility to support the Gospel message and by example live it out. When we don't practice in the church what we preach in the church, the world will ignore us, and rightly so.