When a Church Gathers

But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort (1 Corinthians 14:3 NIV).

The local church is a gathering or assembly of God’s people committed to the Lord and one another for worship, the spread of the good news of Christ, and the good of each other. The first century Corinthians wrote to the apostle Paul with some questions. Though they were richly blessed (cf. 1:4-9), they struggled about spiritual matters. So, they reached out for help. (Too often these aspects of the Corinthian church are overlooked. They had issues, and they knew they had some and sought help for them, even as they failed to take other issues seriously. This sounds like a typical church to me!)

Paul wrote his brothers and sisters in Christ to help them apply the instruction of the Lord to their local situation. Believers in Christ have heard the good news, yet we need the teaching of the word to know how the message ought to transform our thoughts, ideas, attitudes, and actions. We have the benefit of this instruction, but we need to listen to it carefully and to apply it to our local gatherings.

We can lose sight of the point of the above verse through discussions about the exact nature of prophecy and other related spiritual gifts. The point that Paul makes in 14:1-25 is that all verbal contributions during worship must be intelligible to all, or they are profitless and so loveless (13:1-13). Paul told them that intelligible prophecy was far superior to speaking in tongues, which required an interpreter for anyone to profit. Using prophecy as an example in contrast to tongues (14:2), Paul set forth what people ought to experience when a church gathers. I mean a shared experience. Each one is to contribute according to their growth in grace, spiritual gifts, and wisdom. We should not attend as mere consumers but as helpers of one another.

We should experience strengthening. Every local gathering is to build itself up in love (Ephesians 4:16). This requires each part of a local body of believers to function. In this chapter, Paul spoke to their failure repeatedly (14:3-5, 12, 17, 26). He told them to speak in an intelligible way that would build up the church.  We must sense that the spiritual strength of others is our responsibility. We need to look at ourselves. How has the Spirit of the Lord equipped me to make others stronger:

  • In their consecration to God (sanctification)?
  • In their participation in the mission (shared evangelism)?
  • In their communication with God (prayer)?
  • In their understanding and application of the word of God (Bible study)?

The contemporary church has “staffed these things out”, with the result that strengthening has been selectively and inadequately done. Paul did not write chapter fourteen to “the elders and the staff.” He wrote to all, and all are to contribute to strengthening. Our churches need immediate and drastic change.

We should experience encouraging. Like strengthening, encouragement requires knowledge of one another. We need to grasp the life experiences and present situation of our brothers and sisters in the Lord to be able to encourage them. This necessitates an atmosphere of trust, awareness of acceptance, and the absence of perfectionism. People sin, people fail, and people suffer. We must expect others to need encouragement from us. We come with hearts taught by grace (Titus 2:11-12) and motivated to lift others up graciously and kindly.

We should experience comfort. To comfort, we draw upon the comfort that we have received from our God and Father (2 Corinthians 1:3-11). We receive comfort, and we act from comfort to comfort. This is one reason that a close walk with the Lord is important. We have learned how the Lord reached out to us in our misery or shame, and we apply those principles to our interactions with those hurting. Some matters cannot be learned from sermons and seminars. The Lord teaches us in the furnace of affliction, and because we have felt the heat, we know what cools and calms the soul, so that it again produces fruit.

These three ought to be an important part of our gatherings as a church. Wise words, kind attitudes, and beneficial actions show forth the beauty of the glory of the Lord. Become a part of what the church ought to be and not a contributor to what it is not.

Grace and peace, David

On the Pilgrim Way (Part Two)

Hebrews 6:11

Now we desire each of you to demonstrate the same diligence for the full assurance of your hope until the end (CSB).

Our subject is the Christian way of life. We are on a journey from this world to the heavenly city. God has provided great helps to us on the journey. We have his word to tell us the story of his glory and to set forth wisdom in the light of that story. The Spirit of God is our ever-present Friend to provide the presence of Christ, power to serve, and purity of life, and passion to communicate with God (cf. Romans 8:9-17). We also have brothers and sisters in Christ and their gifts for mutual benefit. With all these benefits, our progress to the city of God might seem to be automatic.

However, spiritual leaders understand that those in their local assembly need to demonstrate diligence. In the previous verse, the initial readers of this book were commended for demonstrating work and love as they served the saints. (A saint is someone set apart for God, which means a follower of and believer in Christ.) The Lord does not hesitate to congratulate people for diligence in their works of faith, hope, and love (cf. 1 Thessalonians 1:3).

Diligence is a quality that people admire from a safe distance. For the third year in a row, the NBA Finals will feature two teams that have battled for the championship. Each has won once. They will compete again because they have great talent, but they also have diligence, which is indispensable to win a championship. Diligence involves hard work, commitment to a goal, endurance of hardships, and the ability to resolve conflicts. People admire the diligence of these two teams, but most don’t want to pay the price of diligence, especially the first two “four letter words”: hard work.

Diligence on our spiritual journey is not a casual stroll in the park. Yes, it is a life of joy and peace, but those blessings come as we “walk with the Lord, in the light of his word”. Diligence is required in the following ways:

  • Prayer (individually, with one’s spouse/family, with other saints)
  • Reading of the Scriptures
  • Putting sin to death
  • Putting on God’s armor and spiritual graces
  • Meeting together
  • Sharing your faith

All these can seem overwhelming, and they are unless you believe in their importance, make them a priority, and build them into your life. Trade less important things for matters of spiritual and eternal importance. Value people more than things and personal entertainment. A holiday weekend is an opportunity to reflect. As you enjoy life with family and friends, set apart some time to evaluate your spiritual diligence and how you can change according to this verse.

Grace and peace, David

Days of Preparation

DSCN34372 Chronicles 14:6-8

Asa’s early reign was a time of preparation. If we are wise, we prepare for the future. Early preparation is the best for we have time to adjust, to correct, or to repent of our plans entirely. For example, it’s better to buy a car when you are not pressured to make a purchase because the “old clunker” is in its last useful days. As I learned in years gone by, the time to get your wood cut, split, and stacked is in the summer and early fall, before you need it when cool days arrive.

Consider Asa’s sound ideas. He reasoned that they needed to protect and preserve what the Lord had given to them (14:7a). He saw their country, not as an item to be consumed, but as a trust to be guarded. This is forward thinking that is rarely considered in our time. There is more to human life than our brief time here and how many precious resources we can consume. If we are self-centered, we will only think about pursuing pleasure for ourselves, rather than considering how to build a strong future for others. While the world squanders its resources, the church has to think about generations still to come. Now assuredly we should be looking for the return of Jesus Christ. And many question, “Can things get any worse than they are now?” I’ve been in the ministry for over forty years and was a pastor for thirty-five years. I’ve heard that question for more than that time, back to the days of my childhood. Many back in the sixties and seventies were sure that things couldn’t get worse. But they have. Yes, look for the Lord’s return, but don’t waste your life idly looking into the sky (cf. Acts 1:8-11). We must use days of peace to make preparations for the future of God’s spiritual family. We must seek to build a godly heritage for those who will follow us, if the Lord does not return in our time.

Asa understood the principles of life for his old covenant nation. The old covenant was given with an “if” (Exodus 19:3-6). Israel’s life before God depended upon them seeking the Lord and walking in his ways. He pointed back to the reformation in worship that the Lord enabled him to accomplish (“because we have sought the Lord our God”, 14:7 NIV). Now they needed to improve the opportunities provided by that reformation.

Asa demonstrated wise leadership to protect his kingdom.

  • He built fortifications. For most of human history, forts and strong defensive points dominated military strategy. If you were unable to take such positions, you were unable to conquer a land, because they enabled the defenders to be safe and to launch an attack. So Asa had a comprehensive plan for a strong future.
  • He trained a military force. Fortifications are useless, unless one has trained troops to man them. So Asa developed a form of universal military training, so that in a time of need, he had capable soldiers to call up to defend against any attack.
  • By taking these steps, Asa led his people into a situation of prosperity. We prosper when we are strong.

Think of the early church in Acts. How did so few people become ready, strong and able by God’s grace to change the world? The Lord Jesus had built a strong core, and that small core group in turn strengthened others who became followers of Christ (Acts 2:42, 46). They were full of faith, wisdom, and the Holy Spirit (Acts 6:3, 5). Then they followed Christ’s plan, even when life got tough (Acts 8:4). All we need to do in our time is to prepare and live continually according to their example record in God’s word and invest time in prayer for the Spirit of the living God to act powerfully, very powerfully, through the Lord’s people.

The key to Asa’s actions is recorded in 15:7. And he said to Judah, “Let us build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours, because we have sought the Lord our God. We have sought him, and he has given us peace on every side.” So they built and prospered (ESV). He pointed them to the source of their security. Yes, they needed to do what was wise, but they realized that their greater hope was in the Lord God. He gave his people peace.

Grace and peace, David

Counter Strategy in Spiritual Warfare (Part One)

DSCN0511Ephesians 6:13

Every follower of Jesus Christ is involved in a spiritual war. Satan and his evil allies have an implacable hatred for God and his people. The spiritual forces of evil endlessly seek to oppose God’s plan to display his glory, and they strive to ruin God’s chosen people. It matters not to the enemy how he strikes us; any harm he causes is a reason for perverse delight. However, Satan and his army are doomed to defeat, because God has already won the war through the saving work of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The Lord has spiritually outfitted us with spiritual protection and has made available to us the greatest resource, his almighty power to face the enemy and his malicious schemes. Although the war is won, there are still many battles to fight until the Lord returns and finally ends all evil works. We face a desperate, fatally wounded dragon, which still lashes out at us before he meets his eternal doom. God has willed that we must confront the enemy to make known God’s triumph in his Son. How do we do this? What is the Lord’s counter strategy for us?

We must be actively engaged in spiritual warfare. The true Christian life is not a way of passivity or of inactivity. At various times in church history, there have been those who have taught a passive view of the Christian life. Their teaching has been presented something like this: “Don’t struggle; that is the way of the flesh; just let go and let God.” I think that they wanted to protect the importance of faith against works, but they went wrong in the process.

One thing that people want to avoid is a struggle. We want life to be easy; Christians want the Christian life to be easy. In the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, many taught the error of sinless perfection—that a Christian could achieve, in various ways, freedom from sin. It is still taught and followed today. Many teachers of perfectionism taught that it could be attained by effort of will. The tragic error is that human effort can never perfect a person. Although others saw that perfection could not be achieved by human effort, they could not let go of the concept of the possibility of perfection. So for effort they substituted a redefined idea of faith that taught, “You can’t become perfect by struggling. Instead, you must not struggle; let God make you perfect. ‘Let go and let God.’”

But faith is not passivity. It is an active reliance or dependence upon God that produces action, as the letter to the Hebrews makes very clear. Think about the following verses from that letter’s chapter about faith (11:3-4, 7-8,17, 20-23, 24-28, 29, 33-36). Faith reasons that God is able to do what we cannot, and then moves forward in obedience, actively relying on God to supply our need.

In this entire text (6:10-18), the Lord calls us to action. In this passage the Holy Spirit gives us five clear commands: “be strong… put on… put on… stand firm… take….” The Lord through the apostle demands that we carry out these orders! Everyday we have these orders; to disobey them is to sin. How many Christians are nowhere near as holy and godly as they suppose themselves to be, because they assume that doing nothing is the way to please God? Why is it that a professing Christian can have great troubles of conscience about shop lifting or telling lies, and not feel the least anxiety about direct disobedience of to the Commander of the Lord’s armies? I suggest there are many poorly taught consciences.

The Spirit teaches us that we are in a struggle or more literally, a “wrestling match”. We come into close combat with the powers of darkness, and in their view, there are no “illegal holds”. Addiction, abandonment, betrayal, sexual immorality, domestic violence, robbery, and verbal abuse scar the human heart and provide pain-filled targets for the enemy to strike with self-pity, jealousy, anger, an unforgiving attitude, despair, discontent and plain old unbelief.

Have you been scarred in the ways that I mentioned? Do the evil spirits wrestling with you seem to have you in an unbreakable hold? For example, when something causes you to remember how you were robbed or cheated, you are tempted to become angry or perhaps are filled with a near paralyzing fear that it might happen again. Is there a way out? Yes, if you want to follow the Lord, you will find his way. He promises the way out (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Grace and peace, David