God Reaching Down to Us

Christianity may be summed up in grace or God reaching down to us (condescending) and acting on our behalf in doing for us what we didn't deserve--this is unique in Christianity.  All other religions are based on works because man is incurably addicted to doing something for his salvation (cf. John 6:28-29) and are summed up in man's effort to gain the approbation or approval of God by his good deeds, rituals, morality, etc.   You might say man's vain effort in reaching out to please God.

The Christian life is about seeking God and His presence and face in our daily walk.  But this does not take place apart from grace:  we didn't find Him; He found us.  Pascal said that he would not have sought God, had He first found Him.  Paul said that "there is none that seeks God" in Rom. 3.  God's chief quarrel with man, says John Stott, is that he doesn't seek.  God is no man's debtor and if we seek we will find. 

The miracle is that He is found by those who were not looking:  "I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me" (Isa. 65:1). Many people are looking for the benefits, not the Benefactor.   Actually, according to R. C. Sproul, the search for God begins at conversion, it doesn't end there. Jonathan Edwards said that seeking God is the main business of the Christian.   When we say we found God, we really mean He found us.  We begin our search for God at salvation because only in the Spirit can we know Him and be aware of Him.   Soli Deo Gloria!

Belief's Correlation with Obedience

There is a direct relationship between faith and obedience; faith is manifested only in obedience--there is no such thing as disobedient faith.  Our faith is not perfect or faultless, but genuine faith is sincere and unfeigned ("The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith," says 1 Tim. 1:5).   No one has perfect faith or perfect obedience and perfectionism is a false doctrine.  We never reach a point of sinless perfection  (of sins intentional, or no)t.   "...He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him"  (Heb. 5:9). 

The Holy Spirit has been given to all who obey Him (cf. Acts 5:32).  Dietrich Bonhoeffer had a famous saying that is now an axiom:  "Only he who believes is obedient; only he who is obedient believes."  We are saved through the obedience of our faith that is a gift of God. ("...He greatly helped those who by grace had believed," says Acts 18:27).

There is no such thing as a brand of Christian called "disobedient Christian," though Christians can disobey, sin, and fall short; but they have a desire and longing within to obey in their spirit.  "For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ...For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.  Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I  who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ...For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being"  (Rom. 7:15-22).  In other words, we all fall short of our ideals and can't live up to our own standards--thank God for grace.

There is also no such thing as a carnal Christian having an excuse ("It's okay, pastor, I'm a carnal Christian") when caught in a sin.  He must repent and if he belongs to the Lord he will be disciplined ("For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives," says Heb. 12:6).  Christians don't get away with sin and are not happy out of fellowship with the Lord.  The exhortation to all believers is to "trust and obey"  and the song goes:  "For there is no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey."

The acid test or the litmus test of the believer is his obedience and they are correlated in Heb. 3:18-19 as follows:  "And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient?  So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief." True faith is manifested or demonstrated by obedience only.  "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams"  (1 Sam. 15:22).  Soli Deo Gloria!

How Do You Prepare for Worship?

We don't just roll out of bed and show up at church for the show hoping we can get blessed!  Some believers go to see what they can get out of the worship and complain when they get nothing or aren't blessed.  We go to church to corporately worship God and it is a serious business.  Would you go to see the president dressed casually or as nice as you can?  Of course, it depends on how well you know the president!  But we are to worship God in holy array ("Worship the LORD in the splendor of His holiness," says Psalm 29:2b) and this is an inward attitude, not our outward appearance--"Man looks on the outward appearance, God looks on the heart" (1 Sam. 16:7).  Come as you are (God won't let you stay that way, though),  God will change you from the inside out and make you a neater person or one that dresses to please others, and not just yourself.  

 Worship is not a performance we go to see, but it involves our effort and input as we become sensitized to the Spirit's message to us.  Unconfessed sin can get us out of fellowship and is a hindrance to worship--we must realize that sin is a barrier that must be overcome by confession and repentance.  Discover the power of praise and get your eyes off of yourself and onto Jesus--"looking unto Jesus."  It is depressing to get our eyes off of Jesus and focused on ourselves or the world.

We get into the spirit of worship or some may say the mood by entering His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise (a friend of mine says he gets into the mood at Bible study when they sing the hymns)--we just do it and if we are in fellowship with no unconfessed sin (cf. 1 John 1:9) it is God's pleasure to bless His children as they worship Him. 

 We must be patient and not go by feeling but wait on the Lord.  For me the best preparation is to read the Bible and let God speak to me--O how I love the Word--it is a vital part of my walk and fellowship (from the Greek koinonia, meaning sharing things in common).  Case in point:  "When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart's delight" (Jer. 15:16).

Note that fellowship is not only vertical but horizontal--we prepare by making sure we don't have any unholy relationships and by fellowshipping with our brethren--that's why it is a good idea to show up early for worship and let the Lord lead you and enjoy the fellowship of believers in the Spirit and see why the apostles were so devoted to it (cf. Acts 2:42).   Soli Deo Gloria!

What Is A Healthy Church? Are You A Happy Camper?

Rationale:  Other teachers have taught on this subject and I am not ignoring them, but my purpose is to tell my own personal insights after having been in many churches during my life.  First of all, let's tell my story, we have a choice to go to a church where we can be of service and God can use us, or we can go to a church where we feel we can fellowship and most importantly grow with others of similar doctrinal persuasion--just how important are our beliefs?  I had a sudden awakening where I realized that what I believed was important and I couldn't compromise that anymore.

I went to a church that had a motto of "a place for you."  I felt needed there and God gave me an opportunity to serve, but eventually I woke up and couldn't tolerate the church government and the doctrines of the church that I couldn't approve of any longer--specifically the watering down of the gospel message and the so-called agenda of the pastor who didn't seem to know the Lord any better than me--though I don't deny he was Spirit-filled and put a lot of fire into his sermons and he should've put more of his sermons in the fire!  I would fall asleep during his sermons because I heard it all before--he repeated himself as a methodology.  I was ready for greener pastures.

I now know that God can speak to me through a pastor who doesn't necessarily get that worked up, but is more the one that God wants me to listen to and I can relate to.  I firmly believe that we go through spiritual stages, that there is a right church for us at a certain level of maturity.  I started out as a Lutheran, and I am glad I didn't remain loyal to that denomination, seeing how liberal most of them have gotten.  We are not to be faithful to a church, but to Jesus Christ--there may come a time that we have to take a stand and decide where we want to be and what God wants us to do, and knowing who we are in Christ is vital, i.e., knowing our spiritual gift or calling (cf. 2 Pet. 1:10). 

We are not to look down on our brethren in other churches or to become sectarian (1 Cor. 1:10ff), which is a sin according to Paul who rebuked the Corinthians for saying they were of Paul, Peter, Apollos, or Jesus himself!  We don't take pride in our labels; in fact, we shouldn't label other believers at all and we are not called to straighten the church because we disagree and think they are wrong.  Who wrote the book on comparing ourselves?   God condemns those who cause division among the brethren or who are divisive, quarrelsome, or schismatic, and we should warn them to "strive for the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (cf. Eph. 4:3).

A healthy church is a serving church that is involved and has opportunities to reach out and minister.  A healthy church must have a vision ("Where there is no vision, the people perish," cf. Prov. 29:18).  But some people will end up being converted to the program, not to Christ!  The pastor has to know where he wants to lead the flock and be one step ahead of them and not be a one-man show but is involved in the body, realizing that he needs them as much as they need him (for all parts of the body are necessary).  There should be no doubt that it is the Lord who is the head of the church and not an individual who is a control freak or power-hungry and likes to be number one like Diotrephes. 

Choirs are fine, but they are not necessary, because the goal is to get us to worship--worship is not vicarious, but involved--the question should not be "What did you get out of the worship today?" but "Did you give God the glory and worship Him adequately?"  Soli Deo Gloria!  Worship is giving one his due!  The church service is not a show where we see people perform but sincere heartfelt worship that involves us personally.  Worship leaders should not draw attention to themselves, but focus the glory on Christ--and this is a calling and gifting to be able to lead in worship. 

A healthy church is not a crowd but a family of interacting and fellowshipping believers or called out ones as the term, ekklesia, from the Greek implies.  Some churches give no opportunity to get to know the members and one can get lost in the crowd or lost in the shuffle--nothing against so-called mega-churches if they have interacting "mini-churches" or subunits that give the members the opportunity to reach out individually and exercise their spiritual gift.  Each member has a ministry to the church members and a mission to the unsaved.  Most of all the church is an organism, not an organization.  Many people are rightly against the institutional church because it smacks too much of institutionalism.  Jesus himself was anti-establishment and a revolutionary in his own right--turning the world upside down.

Many people are turned off by the church because it is too much like the establishment--we need to get away from that image and tailor the church to the needs of the members and not all churches are at the same level spiritually; but we should not think we are the only church in town doing God's will(a sect or cult thinks they are right and everyone else is wrong, being the only show in town), or have cornered the market on truth and have a sort of Bible-club mentality.  No church has a monopoly on truth or has the right to judge other churches--they are there for God's glory and He has a purpose for them and the people in them. 

We don't want to be a dead orthodoxy (it must preach the Word, as Paul taught the "whole counsel of God," and not just pet doctrines or passages, as commanded, and not be content just to be doctrinally correct) but a vibrant interacting fellowship that members can call their home church.  It should be their second home and the body of believers should be their second family.  The members are in solidarity with each other and don't feel someone is not needed or isn't useful to the body.  A healthy church recognizes elders and deacons among candidates who desire the office, it doesn't make or elect elders and deacons but recognize them--this is a gift and a calling and like teaching one exercises it and sees if God blesses him and given him the gift.

Harmony and unity (not uniformity) are essential in the church and discipline must be done to divisive brethren that cause division over nonessential doctrines.  St. Augustine's dictum was right:  "In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; in all things, charity."  The early church was known for four elements:  the Apostles' doctrine, fellowship, prayer, and the breaking of bread or communion (cf. Acts 2:42).  The sign of a powerful church is what Jesus said, quoting Isa. 56:7, "My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations." As they say:  The church is not a hotel for saints, but a hospital for sinners--no perfect people need to apply!

In conclusion:   If you think you have found the perfect church don't join it (remembering that the Reformers called the church semper reformanda, or always reforming) because it will no longer be perfect!  Soli Deo Gloria!