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Healthy Church Part 1

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What is a healthy church? 1 Corinthians 12 describes the church as a body, with each part functioning well so that the whole body is healthy. But we all bring our brokenness and pain with us, how can we function together as a healthy body?

In Acts 2, we have a model of a healthy church. One hundred and twenty followers of Jesus, praying in the upper room, were filled with the Holy Spirit and they went into the streets proclaiming the Gospel message. Three Thousand people were added to the church that day and this same church has influenced the world for the past two thousand years. But what was their secret?

A Focused Church

The few weeks have been filled with mission trips, outreaches and praying for those going out to share the message of the Gospel, focusing on the lost in our city and across the nations. This is all good, but a church that only looks at missions without caring about the discipleship of the members is not healthy. Just like a church that focuses only inward is not healthy.

There needs to be a balance of equipping (discipleship) and mission (going out).

Athletic trainers will tell you that a strong core is vital for the body to function well and spend hours strengthening the core. If the core is weak, the whole body is weak and cannot operate at its best. The same applies to the analogy of the church as a body. If the core of the church is weak, the whole body does not function well.

The early church was more than a gathering of like-minded believers who came together once a week for a time of fellowship and worship. It was a body of fully committed people, committed to the lordship of Jesus Christ personally, and committed to each other in fellowship and unity. The first church was the healthiest and most effective the Church has ever been.

A Devoted Church

Acts 2:42 begins with the phrase, “And they devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teaching…”

Devotion means a regular observance. Individual committed devotion is a sign of genuine salvation. Saying that you do not desire to read God’s Word regularly is like saying that you are alive, but don’t need to drink water. The foundational mark of a true believer is someone who abides in Christ, who feeds on God’s word (see John 8:31).

So, what were they teaching? The Apostles had sat under the greatest teacher of all time for three years. In the upper room at Pentecost, they were filled with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth and now they were teaching the new believers who in turn taught others. This is the pattern of the early church and sadly something that we have lost in the modern church. We all need to carefully study doctrine, know what we believe, why we believe it and then be able to teach it to others. This message is intended to come to us and then flow through us (2 Timothy 2:2).

In the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20), Jesus commands all of us to make disciples, to win converts and disciple them. This is not only a command to go to the ends of the earth, but also to the person sitting next to you, or the young person who is desperate for a mentor to help them walk the Christian life in the twenty-first century.

A Dead Church

The Dead Sea is the lowest body of water on the planet and lies between Israel and Jordan. The river Jordan flows into it from the sea of Galilee but does not flow out of it. As a result, the Dead Sea has ten times the concentration of salt than the oceans and is unable to sustain any life. This is a picture of many individuals and even churches who pride themselves on their theological knowledge, amassing more teaching, but never applying the word.

Such people and churches are deep, salty and dead!

A healthy body of water allows the life-giving resource to flow in and then out again, feeding another pond or stream. Are you stagnating on the word? Or are you allowing the word to flow through you to others?

A Gospel Church

The early church focused on the resurrection of Jesus and the Gospel message, they preached John 14:6. The Gospel is the good news that Jesus is the eternal Son of God, who spoke all of creation into being. He came to earth in the form of a baby, his mother Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit. Jesus lived a perfect life, he was crucified and buried, but he rose again on the third day, overcoming death and paying the price of the judgment of God for our sins. This Jesus ascended into heaven, where he is seated at the right hand of the Father and where he is preparing praying for us and preparing a place for us to be with him. This same Jesus is coming again to restore all things and judge the earth.

This Gospel message is the message that saves us, but it is also the message that sustains us and keeps us growing in our own personal walk with the Lord.

We have the blessing of the eternal Word of God; a healthy church devotes themselves to the Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16-17 and Hebrews 4:12).

The church and individual that studies and meditates on the Word of God will be healthy.

Jonathan Edwards, the 18th century theologian defined 5 metrics for determining a genuine move of the Holy Spirit in a church.

  1. A growing esteem for Jesus Christ.
  2. A discernible spirit of repentance.
  3. A dogged devotion to the Word of God.
  4. An interest in theology and doctrine.
  5. An evident love for God and neighbor.

Are you healthy? Is our church healthy?

Sermons

Why the Church Needs Mothers

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Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a woman of integrity and prayer. God chose her to be the one who would carry the Messiah.  But there is an unusual encounter in Matthew 12 that causes us to pause and question the way we view mothers in the church (see Matthew 12:46-50).

This was a challenging time in the ministry of Jesus. In reading through Matthew 12, we read that the pharisees frequently challenged him and tried to trip him up. He was being put under pressure and probably being fully man, he was tired of the false accusations and possibly stressed. In verse 47 we read that a man came to let him know that his mother and brothers were outside and looking for him. He responded with an abrupt answer that seemed to indicate he was a little frustrated, “who is my mother and who are my brothers?”

We know little about the relationship that Jesus had with his family, however we do know Mary was with him all the way to the cross. Mary knew that Jesus was her son, but she also remembered the promise of the angels and the miraculous conception.

To Jesus, Mary was his mother, but also a person he came to save, and he knew his purpose was significantly bigger than his family. Jesus is not making light of natural family, but he was emphasizing the greater importance of spiritual family.

Our commitment to the Body of Christ and to the call of God on our lives must have a higher loyalty than to our own family. I understand our first mission field is our homes, but when God calls, sometimes family is left behind (see Luke 9:57-62).

Two weeks ago, we saw the apostle John in Revelation 19, where he begins to worship the angel. The angel rebukes him and says, “I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers…” Rev 19:10. Who are John’s brothers? Who are our brothers and sisters?

The Greek word “Adelphoi” is a plural and can mean blood brothers and sisters. What is being conveyed here by the original language is that our fellow believers around the world are closer than blood relatives. We are united together by the spirit of God and washed by the blood of Jesus, we are closer than natural family. That is the body of Christ.

The church needs spiritual mothers who can love and raise up the next generation. The way the church is designed by God is to be nurturing and caring. There is no shortage of pain and hurt in this world and many women in the church through their life experiences are uniquely positioned to be a mother to someone else.

But spiritual mothers are not to rebuke and correct at every opportunity.  We know that people don’t need more correction or telling them what they are doing wrong. What the world does not need is more people giving worldly advice.

The primary role of spiritual mothers is to pray for younger women and young families. And when a word of counsel is needed, or invited, then by all means, step in with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.

Paul writing to Titus in chapter 2:3-4 writes to older women, perhaps widows, he says, “Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good,and so train the young women to love their husbands and children,”

Before we get too distracted about not being slaves to much wine, in order to contextualize this for our generation, it is basically any addiction that removes your ability to be an effective counsellor. To have a temperate and self-controlled life that understands the importance of training up the next generation and not wasting time with distractions such as social media, mindless entertainment, and the like.

What if the Lord would lay a young person on your heart, and you would simply begin to pray for them. Maybe a young married couple, just starting out, maybe their parents are out of town or even absent. It doesn’t matter what if the Lord would simply have you come alongside them and pray for them, encourage them and make yourself available.

Debbie and I have navigated the past twenty-three years away from our parents, and I can list a long line of spiritual parents who adopted us. They may not think they adopted us, but their love and actions were exactly what we needed as immigrants and as young parents navigating the challenges of adoption, ministry, immigration, financial stress, sickness and life in general.

Just this past week we visited Tom and Joyce Lyle in Oklahoma, and this is a couple who have adopted many children throughout their lives. Not adoption through the courts, but through love and action.

How different would the church be if we would actually be the family that Jesus calls us to be. We would be irresistible to the world, they would long to be a part of a family that lavishes love on the next generations and disciples them in the ways of the Lord.

Who is the Lord calling you to be a spiritual mother to today.

Sermons

Sermon Sunday September 22, Healthy Church Part 5

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Acts 1:1-14

In the first chapter of Acts, we read the last words that Jesus spoke on the earth before he ascended into heaven. Jesus was preparing the disciples, he told them to go to Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Holy Spirit, which was the power that they would need to be the church.

The church cannot be the church without us recognizing and responding to the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We can hold meetings and run programs, but we cannot be the church without the Holy Spirit.

In Acts 1:8 we read, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Jesus promised the Holy Spirit so that the church would have the power to do what Jesus called them to do. The Holy Spirit is given to the church to be the church and to proclaim the good news.

A healthy church is like a railroad track.  The two tracks of the church are: Evangelism and Discipleship. These two tracks run parallel and continuously in order for the church to be what God has called it to be.

The first component of the church is Discipleship.

Discipleship is the walking out of the Christian life with a community of believers. It involves instruction and the study of God’s word, but more importantly, it involves a walking together in community, encouraging each other as we all pursue becoming more like Christ.

Andrew Davis in his book, “Revitalize”, uses the acronym K.F.C.A.

Knowledge: More than just head knowledge, the church matures as we study and feed on God’s word. Discipleship occurs as we allow the Holy Spirit to transform us by the power of the Word of God applied to our lives. When Jesus was tempted in Matthew 4, he quoted scripture when he was tempted. How can we expect to stand against the attacks of the enemy unless we know the Word.

Faith: Having a strong sense and firm belief that the promises of God’s Word are true. An active reliance on Christ and trusting that God really does speak to us. Growing in faith pleases God as we read in Hebrews 11:6.

Character: Character is who we are when we are alone before God.Our life before making Jesus Lord must be different to our life today. Our decision making is no longer selfish, our language is different, we are more generous, and we care for the broken and the hurting. Our character is transformed as we become more like Christ.

Action: Mature Christians do what God tells them to do (see John 14:15). Mature followers of Jesus are on mission for Christ, daily walking out their salvation (see Ephesians 4:16).

Andrew Davis wrote, “I believe Scripture shows that biblical knowledge feeds faith, faith transforms character, and out of a transformed character, we walk in newness of life.”

Discipleship is not getting together once a week, studying a book written by a Christian author and drinking coffee. That is good, but true discipleship is activation, leading to a church on mission. True discipleship challenges and transforms us to be a people of action, doing what God has called us to do.  

The second component of the church is evangelism. Jesus said in Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

If the purpose of our Lord was to seek and save the Lost, why would we as his representatives, those who call him Lord, not have the same passion.

As Jesus instructed his disciples in Acts 1:8, we are also to go to our neighbors, our city, our nation and to the ends of the earth. As people empowered by the Holy Spirit, we have all we need to do the work God calls us to do (see Ephesians 1:3).

The church exists to bring glory to God, and the greatest example of the Glory of God is the salvation of sinners as they put their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.

The world around us is a mess and desperate for hope. Everyone we meet is an eternal soul, and they will either spend eternity in heaven, or in hell, eternally separated from God.  

Frequently, you will hear that there are many different ways to get to heaven, however there is no other religion or system of faith that has a living savior. Jesus is the resurrected Lord and only He can save (See John 14:6).

We as a church must be focused on evangelism, sharing the good news of the Jesus Christ from our homes to the ends of the earth. It is such a blessing that we have so many people at Grace Point who understand this. This past summer we had individuals and teams that went to seven different nations, while at the same time we have outreaches to Ruskin Heights, Warford elementary and right here in our neighborhood.

Evangelism, like discipleship, is a primary component of the church, and like two railroad tracks they are tied together. The tie that holds these two components together is the Gospel message, God’s plan of salvation (See 1 Corinthians 15:1-5).

This Gospel message is the most important message we have, and it holds the church together in discipleship and mission.

Just like railroad tracks, which are only useful if each track is perfectly parallel and that they continue together. If the one track veers off or is longer than the other, the railroad track is of no use. So, it is with the healthy church, discipleship and evangelism must run parallel and continuously, held together by the Good news of Jesus Christ.

The progress of the Gospel is the evangelism track

The progress in the Gospel is the discipleship track.

But you can only participate in either of these if you have put your faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

As a follower of Jesus are you participating in both discipleship and evangelism?