"7 Things Your Church Needs from You"

Tim Challies has a great article addressed to young men and women entitled, "7 Things Your Church Needs from You." Below are the headings, but you should really read the article.

1. Be Humble
2. Prioritize the Church
3. Consider Giving God a Day
4. Live Like a Christian All Week Long
5. Get to Know People Not Like You
6. Learn Generosity
7. Be a Great Church Member

He concludes by writing, "Find the place you can serve your church, and serve there without fail, without excuse, without requiring praise and accolades. Do it for the good of others and the glory of God."

Dangers of Being in a Church that Loves God's Word: #5 Creating an Intimidating Atmosphere for Visitors or New Believers

I am continuing the series on potential dangers we face in regards to being a church that loves the Bible. We now come to the fifth one. In case you missed the earlier ones, they are:

1. Forgetting the Importance of Reminders
2. Failing to Apply the Word
3. Missing the Goal of the Bible
4. Speaking the Truth without Love 

The fourth one and the one we will look at today both deal more with how we interact with others while the first three have dealt more with our individual spiritual life.

Danger #5 Creating an Intimidating Atmosphere for Visitors or New Believers
As with all the other "dangers," this is not a problem inherent to a church that loves the Bible. In otherwords, it does not automatically follow that a church that loves the Bible will struggle in these areas. It is simply the case that we might be more prone to fall short in these ways.

In this case, the danger is that we are so biblically literate that we might put off an intimidating attitude to those newer to the Bible. We can quickly find the book of Habakkuk (maybe not). We can use the proper theological terms to refer to the great doctrines of the faith (harmatology, theology proper, Christology, etc.). We can (hopefully) remember a pertinent passage when trying to help a friend.

There is nothing wrong with these abilities. We should all strive to grow in our biblical agility. We should know more today than we did two years ago. We do not need to try and hide our knowledge, but we don't need to boast about it either.

Furthermore, we don't need to make someone who is relatively untaught feel like a second rate Christian. We should not look at them like they are crazy for using a translation of the Bible that is not as "solid"  as ours.

To be clear, we should encourage one another to grow in our knowledge and ability to handle the Bible. But we must also be gracious and hospitable. Hospitality is the act of welcoming a person and showing them kindness. When people come to church, and they are not as well versed in the Scripture, we out to welcome them and enjoy seeing them grow as their hunger for the deep and accurate teaching of the Word is satisfied.

Dangers of Being in a Church that Loves God's Word: #4 Speaking Truth without Love

I am continuing the series on potential dangers we face in regards to being a church that loves the Bible. The first dangers I covered all dealt with issues which mostly affect us as individual Christians:

1. Forgetting the Importance of Reminders
2. Failing to Apply the Word
3. Missing the Goal of the Bible

Now, I want to consider some potential pitfalls in how we relate to the Bible and other people. Like the first dangers, these do not imply that there is a problem with our deep love for God's Word. On the contrary, our love for God's Word is necessary if we are to really love others.  Those who have a low view of the Word will come very short in loving others (no matter how loving they might feel). We, however, as those who know the Bible very well, are prone to our own specific ways of failing to obey God's Word in our relationships. (It is ironic that all these "dangers" are ways we are not obeying the Word we love).

Danger #4: Speaking the Truth without Love
It is interesting how we can love God's Word which tells us to love other people, but then not love other people. This is a further reminder of our indwelling sin and ongoing need of God's gracious work in our lives.

The truth of the matter (pun intended) is that God's Word calls us to use the Word in our ministry to one another and to have a spirit of love. When writing about our need to be grounded in the Word, Paul says,

"speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love." (Eph. 4:15-16).

Paul also makes it clear that knowledge of truth without love for fellow Christians is rather empty. In dealing with the issue of meat sacrificed to idols, he says, "we know that...an idol has no real existence" (1 Cor. 8:1, 4). That is true. But, in this case, they were using their knowledge to benefit themselves with no real regard for loving their brother. "This 'knowledge' puffs up, but love builds up" (1 Cor. 8:1).

The danger is that we can forget that loving the Word and speaking its truth does not automatically mean we are honoring God. Truth must come from an attitude of love for God and love for others. This doesn't mean we will never say hard things. It does mean we will aim at humbly helping others grow and at encouraging others.

Two failures are possible here. First, I can speak the truth in pride. I can say truth to you in order to build myself up. I can aim at making me look smart rather than at encouraging you. Second, I can speak the truth in self-righteousness. I can get a thrill out of correcting others because I think I am doing so well myself (contrast with Gal. 6:1: Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted). 

The solution is not to change the definition of love. The solution is not to stop saying hard things. The solution is to learn humility and to reflect on God's grace towards my sin and failures (Matt. 7:3-5). From this posture we will be better able to speak the truth in love.  

Dangers of Being in a Church that Loves God's Word: #3 Missing the Goal of the Bible

For the past couple of weeks I have been doing a series on dangers that we must watch for in ourselves as individuals in a church that loves God's Word. The first week I discussed the danger of forgetting the importance of reminders. Last week I wrote about the danger of hearing but not obeying the Word of God. 

Today, I will take up one more danger that mostly affects us as individuals (the next two will deal with dangers that we need to be aware of in terms of how we relate to others). Today I will discuss the danger of missing the goal of the Bible.

Danger #3 Missing the Goal of the Bible
What?!  Yes, even we who love God's Word can still miss the point of the Word. What is the point? The Bible aims at drawing us nearer to the Father through the Son, by the power of the Spirit.

This is connected to the importance of obeying God's Word too. Why do we seek to obey God's Word? Psalm 119:2 "Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart." Those who keep his testimonies are those who "seek him with their whole heart." We are after knowing and obeying God; not just knowing facts.

The Bible is not something we are to "master" but leads us to know our Master. If we are not careful, we can get so caught up in the facts that we forget this is not an English literature class or a study in ancient texts. It is a living Word that draws us to the Living God and His Risen Son by the Life Giving Spirit. Think about it. What is the purpose of our Creator giving us special revelation about himself? Is it not so that we would know Him?

Read Psalm 119 and ask yourself, "What is his goal in knowing God's Word?" For example, just look at verses 10-12:

¹⁰ With my whole heart I seek you;
    let me not wander from your commandments!
¹¹ I have stored up your word in my heart,
    that I might not sin against you.
¹² Blessed are you, O Lord;
    teach me your statutes!

There is a seeking of God, a desire to obey God, and an overflowing desire to praise God by learning his Word. This is not how you would talk about Shakespeare or any other author. This is not the perspective you would have as you came to any other book. Why? Because this is God's Word. 

To be clear, I am not suggesting that we must go mystical and divorce the work of the Spirit from the Word he inspired. God's Spirit inspired the Word and uses the Word he inspired (otherwise why go to all the "trouble" of inspiring it?). So, I am not saying we need to stop reading and thinking deeply about the written Word. I am saying that we must be careful that the aim of our knowing the Word is loving God.

The danger is that if I lose sight of the purpose of the Bible, I can start judging my spiritual growth inaccurately. I can assume that personal time in the Word and prayer has as its goal mere attainment of more knowledge.  Perhaps instead of asking ourselves, "How often am I reading and praying?" we should ask, "Did I read something of the greatness of my God and the love of my Savior and the power of the Spirit as I read his Word?".  I am not saying that every time we read the Bible we are equally moved to trust and worship the Lord. Our hearts are often dull and cold. But, by God's grace, let us keep the goal of the Word in our view and pray that God helps us attain that goal.

Dangers of Being in a Church that Loves God's Word: #2 Failing to Apply the Word

Last week I began a short series on "Dangers of Being in a Church that Loves God's Word". Let me assure you that being in a church that loves God's Word is not a danger. In fact, it is one of the greatest gifts of God to us, because a church that loves God's Word is one which will hear often from God in his Word.  When I mention "dangers," what I mean is that there are potential pitfalls for how we interact with the blessing we have. Our flesh often twists blessings in ways which can be dangerous. So, we must "take heed, lest we fall."

Danger #2 Failing to Apply the Word We Hear
The second danger I want to point out is closely associated with the first one, but it is distinct. Not only can we forget the the importance of remembering, we can also fail to obey what we hear from the Word.

The danger is that we get so focused on knowing more, but we forget to take the time to apply what we know. We hear so much teaching, but sometimes we fail to sit down and ask God to help us apply what we have heard. Our pastor or teacher does the hard work of studying and communicating the Word to us and we do the hard work of listening, but then we stop there. The problem is that the Word has not completed its intended work, and we miss out on blessing. Read James' classic text on the issue and pay attention to the last verse

²² But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ²³ For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. ²⁴ For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. ²⁵ But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.  (James 1:22-25)

How Can We Apply the Word?
When we go to apply the Word, we are not simply saying "stop doing this and start doing that." The Bible does give us that sort of application. But it also gives us things to believe and new ways of thinking. God gives us promises that we must battle to believe and hope in. He gives us new ways to think about our joys, struggles, and identity. Think about our struggle against sin as described in Romans six. Even before telling us to put off sin and put on righteousness (which he does in 6:12), God tells says to "consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus" (Rom 6:11). This is a truth about our identity which must be rightly understood and believed.

So, let's take some time to prayerfully reflect on what we heard on Sunday or at Bible study and ask is there a promise to believe, a truth to apply, a behavior to stop or start, or a new way of thinking to embrace? Let's really believe that God has sovereignly placed us under the teaching we are hearing so that we will be blessed in obeying it.

Dangers of Being in a Church that Loves God's Word: #1 Forgetting the importance of reminders

God's Word is vital to our lives individually and as a body of believers (local church). And a church that loves and teaches God's Word accurately and on a regular basis is an unmitigated good thing. In fact, it is one of the marks of a healthy church. However, there are still dangers to watch out for. Every blessing and trial comes with its own potential dangers in this fallen world. In fact, it is often in great blessing that we find great temptations. The problems are not the blessings but our propensity to go astray.

So, are there any dangers to the unambigiously good gift of a church that loves God's Word? I would say there are some. Over the coming weeks I'll list several dangers.

Danger #1 Forgetting the importance of reminders
A church that loves God's Word usually is a church that loves to learn new things from God's Word. There is a potential danger here though. We can get to a point where we hear each sermon and Bible study as falling into the categories of "I already knew that," verses, "I learned something new."  We can then assume that the whole point of the teaching of the Word is to merely give us new information. We then define "getting something" from the message as "I learned something new." In other words, a good message is one which gives us new facts.

While we should learn new things often, that is not our only goal in hearing the Word or reading it. The Apostle Peter is clear that his teaching (even inscripturated, God-inspired teaching) aimed not only at teaching new things but at reminding believers of things they already knew.

Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things. 2 Peter 1:12-15

He writes to "remind" believers of truths they already knew in order that he might stir them up to greater faith and the obedience it produces (2 Pet. 1:3-11).  It could be that we often "don't get anything out of the message" because we fail to see that our foolish hearts are prone to go astray and need constant reminding and exhortations and encouragements to run the race of faith (Heb. 3:12-13).

Advice on How to Face Hostility towards the Gospel

I hope and pray that as the semester is off to a start that you are finding opportunities to share the gospel with new friends and professors. As you seek to be faithful to speak the good news of Christ, you might (and at times will) find yourself facing hostility. Recently, I was reading in Spurgeon's Lectures to My Students" on the topic of a minister's conversation. As I read it, I noticed that what he said would apply to sharing the gospel in the face of hostility. He writes,

In all probability, sensible conversation will sometimes drift into controversy, and here many a good man runs upon a snag. The sensible minister will be particularly gentle in argument. He, above all men should not make the mistake of fancying that there is force in temper, and power in speaking angrily. A heathen who stood in a crowd in Calcutta, listening to a missionary disputing with a Brahmin, said he knew which was right though he did not understand the language- he know that he was in the wrong who lost his temper first. For the most part, that is a very accurate way of judging. Try to avoid debating with people. State your opinion and let them state theirs. If you see that a stick is crooked, and you want people to see how crooked it is, lay a straight rod down beside it; that will be quite enough. But if you are drawn into arguments, use very hard arguments and very soft words. Frequently you cannot convince a man by tugging at his reason, but you can persuade him by winning his affections.

The point is not to avoid using reason. Spurgeon used reason and made clear arguments. But, the point is that reason does not change those who "suppress the truth in unrighteousness."

Remember, your goal is not to protect your pride. Your goal is to put the gospel on display in word and deed. The powerful message of the gospel is best communicated by those who entrust themselves to God and do not seek to revile. In the classroom, remember that it is the professor's class. In humility seek to winsomely and accurately lay the straight gospel beside crooked philosophies of the world. Finally, don't forget to pray that God will open blinding eyes to see the beauty of himself in Jesus Christ.