Articles
Together...In Harmony
Together...In Harmony
Michael Hite
My family and I love to go to the symphony. Trust me, that is not as highbrow or cultured as it sounds. We get a teacher's discount and prefer John Williams (Star Wars and Indiana Jones themes) to Mozart or Beethoven. But one of my favorite parts of the symphony is watching as the musicians come on stage and do their warm ups. One by one each musician takes his/her seat on stage and begin doing scales, tuning the instruments, and playing small parts of the larger pieces they will be playing later in the concert. As more and more musicians join the stage, the sound gets louder and louder, but it is anything but musical. With each instrument making a different sound, playing their own notes and their own fragments of different pieces of music separate and apart from each other the sound more chaotic than melodic.
But when it is time for the concert to begin, they all suddenly become silent. The first chair violinist comes on stage and plays one stead note that they all duplicate that note with their own instruments. The lights go down, the conductor comes on stage, and he raises his hands and suddenly all those different instruments, each still making its own unique sound, blend into some of the most interesting and beautiful music you'll ever here. Now, even though each musician is still doing their own thing, striking their own notes, making their own unique sound, they play in unison and the instruments together work in harmony and fill the room with the complex and intricate, yet harmonious sound of music.
The music is not made by making each instrument play the same note on the same beat at the same time. Each contributes its sound to the whole. Each instrument participates by working together with each of the other unique sounds and notes to make the music. Whether it is the smallest sound of a ringing triangle, the booming of a base drum, or the soft sound of a woodwind, each sound made is critical to the whole. Each different instrument and its musician is needed to make the music.
The church is much the same as this group of musicians each with their own instrument. Each member of the Lord's church is unique. Each of us plays our own instrument, if you will. “As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10). We have each been given a gift - a talent or ability. Paul reminded the early church that each member does not have the same function. Each of us have gifts that differ according the grace given to us and very importantly each of us is to use that gift understanding that God gave it to us to be used.
“For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness” (Romans 12:4–8).
Paul lists seven gifts here that differ from one another. We cannot, and should not, try to force each individual in the body to "play the same note at the same time." Trying to get the violin player to make the same sound as the flute player will never work. The one that has been given a gift for service, may not have a gift for teaching. It would be a mistake to try to force them all into the same mold. It would also be a mistake for the one with the gift of exhortation (encouragement) to look at the one that has the gift of giving and ask why they are not exhorting others the way they should. Each has a different function to contribute to the whole. Each of us needs to contribute our unique talents and abilities to the Lord's work and seek to use them "in unison" with others in the church to accomplish a work greater than we could accomplish individually.
But much like the symphony orchestra warming up, if each of us does our own thing, our own way, in our own time, we will lack the unison and harmony we need to make "music" together. We each have our different talents and abilities. Each has a function and each is needed for the body to work to accomplish what the Lord expects His church to accomplish. But It is in the blending of those talents and abilities TOGETHER working IN HARMONY that we as the Lord's church can be most effective.
So we each need to ask ourselves - Am I using the gifts God gave me to serve others and God in the church? Many today are so busy using their talents and abilities in their careers and in the world that they "don't have time" to use them in the church. The church needs your gifts - those that have a gift for teaching need to teach in the church. Those who are gifted with tech skills need to help the church with reaching out through technology. Those who are gifted encouragers need to spend time visiting and encouraging others. Each of us has a gift - we need to discover what it is and use it for God, not just ourselves.
Everyone doesn't have to play the same instrument or the same note at the same time. But for the church to accomplish her mission each one of us must contribute our unique sound to the orchestra–TOGETHER and IN HARMONY.
