My wife does an amazing job of decorating the walls of our almost-100 year old colonial. Between frames full of family pictures and tasteful art, my wife has also strategically placed Bible verses. A Psalm on the piano. A quote from Deuteronomy in my son’s bedroom. Well-known Proverbs on the stairs leading to the second story. When a plumber had to cut through one of our walls, she even wrote a quote from Romans on the white wall paper we used to cover up the hole. Until recently, however, I never thought about the benefits of hanging up verses in your house. And as I thought about it, three came to mind.
It is a reminder for yourself
Hanging up verses around your house first and foremost is a reminder to yourself. No matter how long or encouraging your quiet time is, the daily distractions and busyness can cause you to forget the very truths you and I are to treasure and live out. Sometimes in the thick of the day, you don’t have time to sit down, pause, and open your Bible. But maybe you can glance at an encouraging verse on a letterboard in your kitchen. The more avenues you have in your daily life to read and engage with the Word of God, the better. And having up verses around rooms that you inhabit is one of the easiest ways you can put truth before your eyes.
It is a discipling tool for your children
The Bible has no shortage of verses in Deuteronomy, Proverbs, and the Epistles that specifically and directly address children. My wife is very intentional with what verses she hangs in our sons’ rooms. They serve as reminders and encouragements for our family to live and function under Christ’s Lordship. Although my oldest son is still under two, sometimes he wants us to stop and read a passage from Proverbs that hangs hear the top of our stairs. I am confident that, as the years go on, having opportunities to point out these important verses to our children as we go throughout the house will be an aid in daily discipleship.
It is a visible testimony for those you have over
Having Bible verses prominently displayed in your home says something to the people you have over. Your family and thus, by extension, your home are “taking the Lord’s name.” You are publicly identifying to those you have over that:
You believe God’s word
You want God’s word to be a part of your home.
Now, I won’t go so far as to say “evangelize your neighbors simply by displaying Bible verses!” Of course there is more to having a good testimony than externally decorating your walls. But don’t forget that in your home, you are creating a distinct environment that people will inhabit. You should want that environment to, both internally and externally, testify to the value and majesty and importance of God and of Christ.
Including God’s word in the very adornment of your home may be only a small and external way to show off God’s importance, but it is by no means an unimportant or unimpactful.
As a personal example, we recently had some workers over to fix some plumbing issues we have had. I noticed them several times pausing to read a section of Romans 8 we had out as well as a beautiful picture my wife found at a thrift shop containing part of Psalm 127. Now, what was the effect of them reading these verses? I cannot be sure. But I also cannot be sure when was the last time they read even one Bible verse. Perhaps the Lord can ensure that His Word in frames around a house won’t return to Him void.
Hanging up verses both decorates and disciples
God has made humans visual creatures. We even use the metaphor “seeing” to describe “knowing” or “learning” something. What do you want yourself, your family, and your guests to see when they look around your home? People often display items around their house that they value. If you and I value the Word of God, does it not make sense that we would want people to see that glorious, life-giving word as their eyes dance around our homes? There are plenty of websites and online shops that sell aesthetically pleasing Bible verses. Incorporating some into your home décor can have benefits for you, your family, and for guests that you welcome into your home.
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It is no secret that the laws and legislation passed in America these days do not conform to the moral law of God. You and I live in a time where people are calling “good evil and evil good” and then enshrining such unbiblical thinking in the legislation that is passed. Seeing society as a whole and elected politicians abandon God’s standard of truth and morality is disheartening. Christians know that God’s law is good because it displays who God is and what He considers to be just and right. So the question is, how should Christians think about politics and God’s law? How should you and I act in a country that does not esteem what the Lord esteems?
Legislating popular pragmatic opinion
To answer these questions, I will start by asking “In the time in which we live, where do are our laws coming from?” My answer: “popular pragmatic opinion.” By “popular” I mean if a majority of people in society thinks something is right or wrong, that is what tends to become law. “Pragmatic” means that our society is obsessed with short term solutions to current problems rather than thinking long term about the impacts that a particular legislation will have on our nation. And by “opinion” I mean that there is no ultimate theological, philosophical, or natural law that people appeal to in order to make the case for legislation. Morality is generally defined personally based on one’s own experience and that personal experience ends up becoming the ultimate appeal for the rightness or wrongness of a thing.
A recent example of “popular pragmatic opinion” at work can be seen in American legislation redefining marriage in the eyes of the law in a way inconsistent with Scripture. If you look at recent polls, it seems even professing evangelicals are becoming more comfortable with redefining marriage to include same-sex marriage. Therefore, the legislation is “popular”. Redefining marriage in this way also doesn’t appear to have any “near term” consequences, therefore it is “pragmatic”. And finally, although you can find more thought-out arguments in favor of redefining marriage, most “off the street” arguments are based off of simple opinion. People seem to generally think marriage is “good” between a same sex couple and therefore, in there opinion, it should be accepted societally and codified in law.
There are dozens of other legislation in the past 10 years that I could use as an example. But suffice to say, popular pragmatic opinion is the main driver in what ends up becoming a “right” in America. In the eyes of American law, you can choose to partake in all sorts of behavior that God’s word condemns without consequence. As the end of Romans 1 says, the result of mankind’s rebellion is rejecting God’s righteous decrees and giving approval for people to sin. That is what America has chosen to do at societal level: give approval for it’s citizens to sin against God without any consequence.
Opinions cannot change the “oughts”
So how should a Christian think about the laws coming out of this popular pragmatic opinion? First, you must remember that something can be declared “legal” by the United States government that is still declared “immoral” by God. Although our society would beg to differ, making something a legal “right” does not make something “right” morally or in the sight of God.
The Christian basis for morality is not surveying what sinful, rebellious people consider to be “good” at a particular moment in time. Our basis is the unchanging revealed will of God.
In other words, societal opinion cannot fundamentally change what God says you and I “ought” to do and what we “ought not” to do. Moral obligations and laws are not “up for grabs” so to speak. As an example, if popular pragmatic opinion dictated that stealing is okay and America passed a law making it a “right” for individuals to steal under certain circumstances, Christians would still teach and preach and practice that stealing is a sin. Why? Because the shifting sands of popular opinion do not change the firm fixed foundation of the word of God.
Regardless of what America considers is “right” or “wrong”, Christians and the Church should help people see and abide by God’s fixed standards of “right” and “wrong”.
Adultery is still wrong even when divorce is celebrated in America.
Murder is still sin regardless of whether the life you are taking is 6 weeks old or 60 years old.
Racism has been and continues to be an insult to the inherent dignity of every human being made in the image of God.
Gender was established by God and human beings don’t have the power or autonomy to change it.
Sexual immorality goes against God’s plan for marriage and family regardless of how accepted cohabitation becomes.
God’s law was originally written on stone, not with erasable marker. Society can rage against God’s law, hate those who abide by it, and legislate the very opposite of what it commands. But the truth stands firm.
How should Christians respond?
What then can a Christian do in a society such as ours? You and I know that votes cannot change what God has declared good or evil. And yet we see America consistently enshrine the opposite of Biblical morality into laws. So what should we do? Two brief responses come to mind.
1. Work in society to conform legislation to God’s law
As God gives you the opportunity, seek to uphold God’s moral law in society. This certainly includes political involvement at some level. Christians from the local up to the federal level should unashamedly seek to conform America’s public morality with the morality revealed in Scripture. I think part of being “salt and light” is to stop the decay of the society in which we find ourselves living in. Certainly that primarily means preaching the Gospel that blind eyes would be opened to see the glory of Christ and of God’s will. However, I don’t think it means waiting until every person in America is converted before seeking to conform American ethical and moral standards to God’s standards.
As a Christian, you are a citizen of a heavenly kingdom. But you are also an ambassador for Christ to the nations. Just as Paul used his “natural” rights as a Roman citizen on occasion, leverage any rights you have as a citizen for God’s glory. And since God is certainly not glorified when a nation legislates immorality, fight to uphold God’s moral standards in society. Vote for public officials who will affirm Biblical morality. Speak out against legislation that is evil in God’s sight. Show up to community meetings and be a voice for Truth. Don’t merely represent your own personal interests when you engage politically. Fight for Biblical morality in society, whether you personally think it is a losing battle or not.
2. Teach others God’s moral standards and their excellency
For example, teach those around you God’s standards for marriage and why He hates divorce. Explain to others how a Biblical view of marriage is superior to the “easy divorce” culture in which we live. You might not change America’s view of divorce or marriage from a legal perspective. But by God’s grace, you can help those around you see the goodness of God’s moral standard. The goal ultimately is for individuals to obey God from the heart regardless of whether or not a behavior is allowed in society.
And of course, ultimately none of your efforts to help those around you see the glory of God’s standards will matter without also sharing with them the Gospel of Christ. I will say this again so that I am not misunderstood: fighting to uphold Biblical morality will be fruitless unless you also preach Christ. You and I don’t have the power or desire in and of ourselves to keep God’s law in its entirety. This is the great paradox of fighting for Biblical moral standards: you are fighting for a standard that you know sinful humanity cannot meet through their own abilities. So don’t just offer the standard to society: offer Christ. Offer the Gospel. For until the God’s law is written on your heart, your flesh will desire sin regardless of any external standard applied to you.
At the end of the day, you and I shouldn’t want mere external conformity to God’s moral law. Rather, we want to see lives transformed by the Gospel so that, in love of God, people are eager to “keep his commandments.”
For more of my assorted reflections on a myriad of topics, click here. If you found this post helpful, please share on social media below and subscribe.For a helpful teaching series by R.C. Sproul on Ethics and Morality that I found very helpful, click here.
I recently was teaching a Sunday School at my local Church on Galatians 4:12-21. It occurred to me as I was studying that Galatians 4:19 gives a wonderful summary of 3 marks of Christian ministry:
My little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!
Galatians 4:19, ESV
In one little verse, Paul lays out the affection inherent to Christian ministry, the suffering that accompanies Christian ministry, and the goal of Christian ministry. I wonder if much of what bears the title of “Christian ministry” actually reflects what Paul describes in Galatians 4:19. I know in my own life, I have found myself involved in “ministry activities” with the wrong heart attitude or the wrong focus. Today, I want to think through what Paul says in this single verse and it’s implications for how you and I “do ministry” in the local Church.
Background
Paul’s words in Galatians 4:19 appear in a unique section of Galatians. Up until this point, Paul has directly addressed the Galatians leaving the true gospel of “justification by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone” to follow a false gospel of “Jesus and circumcision saves.” Paul defended his apostleship to the Church and laid out in chapter 3 that the Old Testament does not teach a salvation by works. Throughout the first three chapters of Galatians, Paul has expressed his astonishment that the “foolish Galatians” could be led astray so quickly from the true Gospel into error.
In chapter 4:12-19, however, Paul’s tone changes. His tone is less harsh and he addresses the Church more personally. I think in these verses you see Paul’s heart towards the Galatian Church which puts the rest of what Paul says in the letter into perspective. It is in this personal section that Paul gives that great summary of the marks of Christian ministry in 4:19. Paul is sharing with the Galatians both the love he has for the Church and the pain he feels that they are listening to false teachers. So, with that context in mind, how does Paul describe his ministry to the Galatians and what the the implications for Christian ministry in general?
First Mark of Christian Ministry: Genuine affection for those you serve
The first statement Paul makes in Galatians 4:19 is “my little children.” This is the only time in the letter that Paul uses this phrase to refer to the Galatian Church. Contained in this little phrase is a profound metaphor for the affection Paul has for the Church. If you are a parent, then you know the unique, special love a father or mother has for his or her child. Even when your child is misbehaving and needs correction and discipline, as a parent you still love them genuinely and deeply. In fact, even your correction is an externalization of the affection you have for your child.
Paul is saying the same thing here. At the time, the Galatians were listening to false teachers that were making Paul out to be their enemy. Yet even then, Paul still views these believers with a deep love. Even though Paul has been correcting the Galatian Church throughout the letter to the Galatians, this verse makes it clear that this correction came from a place of affection, not anger. Just as a parent genuinely wants the best for his or her child, Paul truly cares for the Galatian’s souls and wants the best for them on a spiritual level.
Implication: Do you serve out of a love for others? or do you serve to “get something out of it” for yourself?
What is the implication for you and I? One of the marks of Christian ministry is a true care and genuine affection for the souls of those you serve. True Christian ministry flows out of a love for others. If you serve in ministry, whether that is at Church or in the home or when you parent or when you disciple or when you teach with an attitude of “I am doing this so I can get something out of it” then you are not involved in Christian ministry. Christian ministry is about serving the other person, not so that you can “get something in return.”
Now, certainly as you pour yourself out for others, you will receive spiritual blessings yourself. However, the starting point of Christian ministry is not you wanting or needing something from those you serve. Rather, you start with a genuine love and affection for the other person. And this love, like it did in Paul’s case, can lead to correction and direct conversation that might not be pleasant. But for the one involved in true Christian ministry, love of others, not of self, will dominate all you do.
Second Mark of Christian Ministry: Suffering on behalf of those you serve
Even though Paul starts Galatians 4:19 with a term of affection, the next phrase shows that the kind of love he has for the Galatians is not “easy”. He compares his current ministry as “suffering labor pains.” What a vivid metaphor for ministry! If you talk with any woman who has given birth, I guarantee that they will struggle to find words to describe just how painful labor is. The pain of labor is agony. It is suffering. It has a glorious end, in that a child is brought into the world. But talk to any woman in the middle of labor and I guarantee they will not describe it as a pleasant or enjoyable process.
Paul here is comparing the agony of ministry to the physical agony of childbirth. Paul is not indifferent to the Galatians abandoning him and the true gospel for false teachers and works-based religion. He is in agony because of the Galatian Church’s behavior. He is suffering. And this agony on behalf of the souls of the Galatian Church is something Paul felt for all the Churches he ministered to. In 2 Corinthians when Paul gives a long list of physical sufferings and persecutions he has experienced, at the end of the list he adds “besides this I have a daily concern for all the Churches.”
Implication: Are you willing to suffer personally for the good of another? or will you only serve as long as it doesn’t inconvenience you?
The second of the marks of Christian ministry is a willingness to suffer on a personal level for those you serve. When you are a true Christian minister with a true concern for the souls of those around you, you are going to suffer. You are going to constantly think about the spiritual health of those you serve. You will suffer when a friend you have spent time ministering to betrays you or leaves the faith. When a member of your body falls into sin, you will suffer. As you spend more and more time loving and serving people, you will find there are more opportunities for the very people you serve to cause you the deepest pain.
I think there is a temptation to go into Christian ministry because it seems like a glorious, shiny thing. And it is glorious! But it is glorious in the same way the Cross is glorious: Jesus suffered an unimaginable death for the glorious result of buying a people by His blood. If Jesus’ ministry on this earth involved suffering for the good of His people, why should you and I expect anything different as we seek to serve His people? True Christian ministry is glorious the same way childbirth is glorious. The suffering yields something incredibly beautiful and glorious and valuable. But you can’t reach that glorious goal without going through intense suffering in the present. And so it will be with you if you are engaged in Christian ministry.
Third Mark of Christian Ministry: The goal is the Christlikeness of those you serve
So why would Paul suffer on behalf of the Galatians? What is the goal of these “labor pains?” It is for “Christ to be formed” in the Galatian Church. Paul wants to see Christ’s character matched, mirrored, and imitated in the Galatian Church. This is the goal of suffering in Christian ministry: the sanctification of those you serve. And this really is the key for understating Paul’s entire letter to the Galatians. Paul isn’t trying to get the Galatians to like him. Paul is trying to get them to look like Christ.
This single-minded commitment to the Christlikeness of the Church characterized all of Paul’s ministry. Paul elsewhere said his goal was to teach every man and warn every man “that we might present every man perfect in Christ.” Paul could persevere in a ministry characterized by suffering and personal sacrifice because he understood and grasped the glorious goal of it all: for other people to look more like Christ. Because Paul understood the value, the greatness, the significance of Jesus and His gospel, he understood that seeing other people look like Jesus and saved by that Gospel is worth any personal suffering.
Implication: Is the goal of the Christian ministries you are involved in for the Christlikeness of others? or are you serving for some lesser goal?
The last of the marks of Christian ministry is simply having the right goal. The agony you go through in ministry is for the sanctification of those you serve. For a Christlikeness that is seen not just talked about. If that is not your goal, than whatever activity you find yourself doing, it is not “Christian ministry”. For a ministry to be “Christian” in practice, not just in name, Christ must be the goal and center of everything. If you do a quick look at the New Testament, you will indeed see that Christlikeness is the end goal of all the activities you and I are called to do in all the spheres of our lives:
Husbands are called to love their wives just as Christ gave Himself up for the Church to sanctify her
The goal of disciplining and evangelism as described in Matthew 28 is teaching others to observe all that Christ has commanded
Parents are called to raise their children in the training and admonition of the Lord
Elders teach their congregations so they are equipped for the work of service
So, the question you must ask of your Church, your family, your small group you are leading, and the person you are discipling is “are they looking more like Jesus?” Do they love Jesus more? Are they delighting in obeying Him? Is Jesus more important to them than whatever they are tempted to idolize? These are much harder questions to answer than “did they like what I said?” or “how many people am I pouring into?” or “how frequently am I leading family worship?” But if you are passionate about Christian ministry, you will be passionate about the Christlikenss of those you serve and you will accept no other measure of success.
Conclusion: Affectionate Affliction for Another’s Sanctification
How can we summarize the three marks of Christian ministry laid out by Paul? I would summarize this verse by saying “True Christian ministry is affectionate affliction for another’s sanctification.” You need all three pieces. You must have a genuine love for the person you are serving, not just a “I love them for what they can do for me” mentality. You must be committed to laboring on through suffering and difficulty. True Christian ministry fights against the world, the flesh, and the devil, so you should expect and prepare for strong resistance. And finally, your goal should always be that whoever you are ministering to becomes more like Jesus.
This is the type of ministry that glorifies God and is according to His will. The Father wants Christ to be the “firstborn of many brethren”, for Jesus to be “all and in all”, for every knee to bow at Christ’s name, and for all things in heaven and on earth to be united in Christ. Therefore, when you labor on for the sanctification of others, no matter how difficult it gets, you have abundant encouragement to persevere. You can endure knowing that you are serving in accordance to God’s will and for the most glorious goal in the universe.
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When I was a single college student, I operated under the assumption that family worship is simple to implement and execute. I expected to find the “perfect formula” soon after I was married and then spend the rest of my life executing that perfect plan. How wrong I was. I am sure for some people, implementing family worship is easy and straightforward. But I would wager for most people, even though you have a desire to start and continue regular family worship, you find that it is easier said than done. This can quickly become discouraging if you don’t remember that family worship is typically incremental and iterative.
Incremental: Little victories build to bigger victories
What do I mean by incremental? Oftentimes, your family worship will not start with a long, complicated liturgy right off the bat. There are a dozen different things you can do with your time: Bible reading, catechism memorization, hymn singing, prayer for your local Church, and on and on the list goes. If you try to do too much all at once, the habit of worshiping together as a family each day actually becomes more difficult to nurture. There is a lot you could do with your family worship time. The question is what is most realistic, spiritually edifying, and glorifying to God way to spend the time that you have.
If you want to start worshiping God together as a family on a consistent basis, start small. Focus on one or two activities primarily, like reading a chapter of the Bible together and then singing a hymn. Your family worship time does not need to become a daily mini-Church service right away. In fact, biting off more than you can chew with family worship is, in my opinion, one of the main reasons so many families with good intentions end up giving up on it. Start small and build up as you go. If you can win little victorious like getting the family together after dinner to read the Bible briefly, then you can slowly add in more features to your family worship time as you go.
Iterative: Changing your family worship as your family changes
“To everything there is a season” the Preacher in Ecclesiastes says. This is true with family worship as well: what you do when your family is young will look different than when your family grows up. Even once you slowly build up your family worship into the time that you want it to be, life and schedule changes will often require you to change your perfectly planned set up. Rather than fighting against the reality that worshiping as a family looks different at each stage, embrace it. If your kids are young and you prioritize singing hymns, great. As they grow up and you want to teach them the catechism, take out some hymn singing time to add that in.
You know your family’s needs and the nuances of their daily schedule better than anyone but the Lord. So don’t feel bad if you have to adjust what you do or when you do it to maximize the time you have worshiping God together as a family. At the end of the day, the goal of family worship should be nothing less than glorifying God and delighting in Him together. Of developing the habit of consistently meditating on God’s infinite value and greatness as a family and then responding accordingly. There is no “one way” or “one method” to do this perfectly in the context of family worship. Be flexible and keep God the main thing, not your planned structure or schedule.
Conclusion: Don’t despise the day of small things
Family worship will look different for each family. And that’s okay. The goal isn’t to have the most complicated or longest time worshiping God together as a family. It is to build the habit of seeking the Lord’s face together as a family unit. The end goal is praising God together and exposing your family consistently to the Word. If you find that it is difficult to develop this habit within your family, perhaps you are trying to do too much at once. Or maybe you need to adjust what “family worship” looks like for your family in this season of life.
If your family worship is short and unimpressive in your eyes, my council would be “don’t despise the day of small things”. Any time worshiping God together as a family is precious and important and beneficial. God can use the small act of faithfulness in gathering your family together to pray or sing or read His Word for His great ends. There will always be more that you want to do with your family worship time. But by starting small and incrementally building and by adjusting your plans as needed you can ensure that your family keeps up the habit of growing in the knowledge and love of the Lord together.
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You have probably at one point or another heard phrases like “dream big”. “Don’t settle.” “Everyone has their own mountain to climb.” “Believe in yourself.” And so on. This type of advice can be summarized as “find out what you want or value most inside yourself. Then spend your whole life chasing that thing. Make it your biggest dream, the mountain you spend your life trying to climb.” This is the wisdom the world has to offer. But what about the Christian? What is the Christian’s biggest dream? What mountain should a Christian dedicate their life to climbing?
Glorifying God with your life is the mountain you must climb
Reformed Christians throughout the ages have argued convincingly from Scripture that glorifying God is the reason you and I exist. The famous first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism says that “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” Jonathan Edwards in his famous treatise “The End for Which God Created the World” argued from reason and from Scripture that God created all things to display His glory and so that His glory could be delighted in.
What is “God’s glory”? I wrote a longer post detailing what “God’s glory” means in Scripture. Simply put, God’s glory is his inherent value, greatness, and importance. You glorify God when you respond to His value, greatness, and importance in thought, feeling, or deed. The Bible is full of references to the fact that you and I exist to know God’s infinite greatness, value Him most highly, and live in a way that draws attention to His significance and majesty.
Therefore, the Christian’s biggest dream is nothing less than glorifying God with his or her life. That is the mountain you must daily climb: how can you live in a way that draws attention to the infinite value and beauty and greatness of God? Christians do not look to their own personal desires or dreams or goals to determine what they should life for. Rather, when the Holy Spirit regenerates a person, He supernaturally allows them to value the Triune God more than anything else. The lifelong goal of a Christian becomes understanding more deeply God’s value and inviting those around them value God in proportion to His holiness and greatness.
All other dreams are infinitely small
The Christian’s biggest dream must be to glorify God because all other dreams are infinitely small. If God is the creator of all things, He is himself greater than what He created. He has more value and is more important than anything He created. And since God is infinite and creation is not, then God is infinitely more important than anything or anyone else. God isn’t just a little bit better than other things, He is in a category of His own. There is nothing and no one that can compete with God’s inherent glory.
Therefore, for a Christian to prioritize any other dream than that God’s glory would be magnified is to dream small. Infinitely small. Unspeakably small. The biggest dream you have ever had apart from God is nothing more than a single grain of sand next to the ocean of God’s greatness. Wealth, fame, comfort, recognition, a big house, a perfect family, might seem like “big dreams” when you think about them in your mind. But when you truly, by the Holy Spirit, have even the faintest glimpse of God’s value and God’s greatness, those “big dreams” suddenly seem petty, small, and idolatrous.
Don’t waste your life pursuing a tiny, insignificant, finite, self-focused dream. The Christian’s biggest dream is to live for God’s glory because no other dream or desire compares. Of course, in our sin, you and I oftentimes prefer the lesser. We become stuck in our small dreams. But God calls you to a bigger dream and a better life than you could possibly imagine for yourself: to live to display God’s worth in everything you do.
You weren’t created to climb any other mountain
Because you are a human created by God, for God, and in the image of God, your life has inherent purpose. You don’t have to create yourself or define your own worth. God didn’t create you and sovereignly place you in the time and place you find yourself in for you to squander your life trying to find a mountain to climb or a dream to realize. God has revealed in His word exactly the mountain you should climb and exactly the dream that should motivate you day in and day out: to live for and delight in God’s infinite greatness, value, and perfection forever.
There are a ton of “big dreams” that the idolatrous modern culture tells you to pursue. All of them are focused on maximizing your comfort, finding your value, showing off your “greatness.” In the end, however, none of those dreams will satisfy or give you peace or comfort you when it comes time to die because God created you for Himself. To live for yourself when you were created for an infinity greater Being is cosmically foolish, sinful, and damning. Don’t “find your purpose” or manufacture life goals for yourself. There is an unspeakable peace that comes when the Christian’s biggest dream matches the purpose for which God created them.
Conclusion: God chooses your mountain, not you
You don’t need to come up with your own dream. God, who created you and loves you with an everlasting love in Christ, has already told you in His word what you should spend your life doing. A life lived for God’s glory is never misinvested. There is more joy and satisfaction to be found in living to know God’s greatness and value and to share God’s greatness and value with others than you could possible imagine.
Don’t follow your dreams. They are small and self-focused and misleading. Instead, follow God, your creator, who has already revealed to you what your greatest dream should be. Daily seek the Lord in the Word to remind yourself of who you should be living for. Pray “hallowed be your name” and “for Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory.” A life lived for yourself or for a created thing will never satisfy because you are finite. But if you live for an infinite God, your cup will never run dry and daily you will find new opportunities to delight in and display that infinitely glorious God.
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Recently, I preached a sermon on Revelation 4:11. What initially intrigued me in this text was the fact that at the very end of the Bible, God is still being worshiped because He is the Creator. As I progressed in my study, however, I was stunned by the all-consuming worship and exaltation of the Lord pictured in Revelation 4. Because of this, I did a word study of some of the key words in the verse, including the word ”glory”. This idea of responding to God’s glory with praise and exaltation has occupied my mind the past few weeks, and I decided it was time I started working through my thoughts by writing them out.
In this post, I want to think through the sense in which the Bible describes God as glorious and the sense in which glorifying God is our proper response to that reality. I want to think through responding to God’s glory with glory: understanding who God is inherently and then how that drives your response to Him. Right off the bat, I am indebted to Jonathan Edward’s The End for Which God Created the World for engaging my mind on this topic and for influencing what I write in this post.
A brief word study
The word “glory” or “glorify” is used so frequently in good Christian conversation and preaching that I sometimes find it difficult to remember what exactly “glory” means. In the Old Testament, the word most often translated “glory” is the Hebrew word “kabod“. The word’s literal meaning is “weight” but clearly in Scripture this is a metaphor for the significance of something or someone. If something is “heavy” it is inherently more important and significant than something that is “light”. Other ways of understanding this idea of “weight” include splendor, reputation, and honor.
When you come to the New Testament, the word translated glory is “doxa“. You likely recognize this word from the English word “doxology.” This word was used outside Scripture to refer to someone’s reputation i.e. an opinion or estimate of someone. The greater a person or object is, the greater it’s “doxa” or it’s reputation. In Revelation 4:11, this word appears next to a word “time” which is translated “honor”. This word means “a value” or esteeming something. So, in both the Old and New Testaments, it seems that “glory” refers to the significance, the reputation, the value of something.
“Glory” is who God is
What does it mean when the Bible talks about “the glory of God?” Theologians answer this by distinguishing between God’s inherent glory and His ascribed glory. God’s inherent glory refers to the reality that God is, in and of Himself, the greatest, most valuable, and most significant of beings. Exodus 34 famously connects God’s glory to His attributes or who He is:
Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.
Exodus 33:18-19 ESV, emphasis added
The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands,[b] forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” 8 And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped.
Exodus 34:5-8 ESV, emphasis added
You see from the above passage that God reveals His glory, His value, His reputation to Moses by declaring who He is and what He does. This is God’s inherent glory. God, by the very nature of who He is and what He does, is the most valuable and significant. Notice also that God connects His glory to His name as well as His goodness. This passage is worthy of a much more extensive exposition, but for our purposes today, it is enough to see that God is inherently infinitely valuable because of who He is.
“Glory” is our response to who God is
“Glory” is not only used to refer to who God is inherently. Glory is also used to refer to humanity’s response to God’s inherent glory. Theologians refer to this as God’s ascribed glory. This is what you refer to when you talk about “glorifying God”. If you notice, Moses illustrates what it means to respond to God’s glory in the passage above: immediately after God reveals His inherent glory of Moses, Moses makes haste to worship in response. This pattern of “revelation then worship” is repeated throughout Scripture when humans are confronted with a revelation of God’s inherent glory.
So what is ascribed glory then? I think in the most basic sense, it is agreeing with God’s evaluation of Himself. God declares through Scripture and creation that He and He alone is the most awesome, great, valuable, and significant being. He is ultimate, the “alpha and the omega”. Therefore, the most basic response a human can give when confronted with this reality is to simply say “amen”! It is so. What God has revealed about Himself is true. “Ascribing glory” means you agree with God’s revelation of Himself by faith and attribute to God all the attributes and worth that He declares are true of Him.
The idea here is when you truly grasp God’s worth, gravity, and reputation, you respond in some way. Worship. Exaltation. Singing. Rejoicing. Obedience. The list goes on and on. Each of these actions “ascribe” glory to God when they are motivated by an understanding of and a desire to display God’s glory. There is much that could be said here, but for the remainder of this post, let’s consider how responding to God’s glory with your mind, emotion, and will occurs in your daily life.
Responding rationally to God’s glory
How can you display the worth and gravity and reputation of God in your mind, heart, and will? How can you respond to God’s infinite value, supreme reputation, and greatest significance properly? Starting with your mind, responding to God’s glory means first and foremost holding this high view of God in your mind.
Your mind is constantly assaulted by a culture that elevates humanity and their autonomy while demeaning the reality of God and His glory.
If you want to display God’s worth, value, and importance, you are going to have to guard your mind from internal thoughts and external voices that would de-value God. Internally, pride, sin, and your own flesh will push you to either think less of God or think of God less. By thinking less of God, I mean you will be tempted to lose a mental grip on the sobering reality of God’s inherent glory. And thinking of God less means becoming so distracted or disinterested in the Lord that you never stop to contemplate God’s value.
External assaults to your mental focus on God’s worth come in a myriad of forms. But they all typically have the common factors of elevating mankind by substituting subtle or overt lies about God. The key for fighting both internal and external temptations to belittle God is given in Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
A mind renewed by God’s word and prayer is a mind ready to remember God’s value.
So positively, how can you value and honor God with your mind?
Daily go to His word to mentally understand who God is revealed to be. Memorize verses like Isaiah 40:21-23 which extol God’s greatness.
Meditate throughout the day on God’s inherent glory. A mind that does not think of God’s greatness is not actively glorifying God. In the clutter of your own thoughts and the voices around you, dedicate mental energy to contemplation of God’s glory.
“Take captive every thought” that comes from within or without that would elevate self and dethrone God or Christ in your mind.
If you would glorify God with your mind, you must be active and vigilant. If you wake up assuming you will naturally glorify God with your mind, you will no doubt fail. You must work to get your mind fixed on God and to keep it fixed on God.
A mind fixed on God and a mind that prefers contemplating God over worldly things displays the value, the greatness, and the importance of the Lord.
Responding affectionately to God’s glory
How do you love the Lord with all your heart? How can your emotions, feelings, and affections show that God is supremely valuable? Jonathan Edwards and John Piper have both expounded this point extensively, but I’ll add my own reflections to the mix. Emotions seem to me to be both responsive in nature as well as volatile. By responsive I mean that almost every emotion you have is attached to an object. That object can be an event, a person, a circumstance etc. Emotions are also volatile in the sense that they seem to shift at a very rapid pace depending on what object you come in contact with or sometimes they seemingly shift on their own without an object.
As Piper and Edwards have written, the proper emotional response to God is joy. Delight. Satisfaction. When you truly grasp the gravity, goodness, and greatness of God, your heart should overflow with delight. Why is this often not your experience practically? I think it is because you and I let other objects besides God grip our hearts and thereby shift our emotional response delighting in God to something lesser. The fight of glorifying God with your emotions is a fight to keep your heart continually delighting in who God is. This is easily said, but hard to do practically.
Responding to God’s glory with affectionate authentic joy requires anchoring your emotional faculties to who God reveals himself to be.
The goal is not to conjure up some sort of fake, excessive, emotional response. Emotions, because they are volatile, come and go rather rapidly. What you can control, however, if the consistency and fervor with which you pursue delight in the Lord. A good analogy would be feeling affection and delight for your spouse. Your emotional response to your spouse is not always proportional to their value. But as you spend time with them, think over their attributes in your mind, talk with them, prioritize them, oftentimes a proper affection follows. The hope is that over time, your emotions become less volatile with regards to your spouse and you enjoy more consistent times of extended delight. By consistently returning again and again to the desired object or your affections, you will likely experience more frequent moments of love and delight and joy in that object.
A heart overflowing with love and delight and joy in who God is shows God’s inherent greatness, worth, and importance.
Responding volitionally to God’s glory
How can you display God’s infinite value with your will? Actions? Lifestyle? This is a big question and a whole post could be written on answering this question in each area of life. But I think at a fundamental level, displaying God’s worth with your actions means obedience. In particular, obedience to the moral commands laid out in God’s word. The world would have you determine your own fate, decide what you want to do, ”do what is right in your own eyes.” When you remove an eternal sovereign God from the picture, you are left to determine and serve yourself.
Therefore, the simplest and most fundamental way to display the worth and weight of God is to deny yourself and live for Him. To let God determine who you are and what you are to do with your life. Was there ever a time that self-denial and prioritizing God were more counter-cultural? By choosing to obey God rather than choosing to obey your own desires, you are effectively saying to the sinful world around you ”I am not ultimate. You are not ultimate. There is a God who is ultimate. And He determines what life is, what life isn’t, and what we, as create creatures, should do.”
Radical, ordinary, everyday obedience is a testimony to God’s glory.
It is a testimony that God is so exceedingly glorious and valuable that He is superior to your own desires and pleasing Him is the greatest good you can do. Now, just because glorifying God with your will is simple at a fundamental level does not mean it is easy. Choosing God over self is a daily battle to ”deny yourself, take up your cross” and follow Christ. But in calling us to lose our life for the sake of the Gospel, Jesus is calling us to show to the world that there is someone greater than anything and is worth us losing our life for.
Obedience and self-sacrifice are both acts of the will by which you can display God’s glory to the world around you.
Conclusion: Responding to God’s glory is the privilege of the Christian
Responding to God’s glory with a life of worship is the great privilege of the Christian. Unbelievers live their lives in this world blind and trapped in the black hole of self-glorification. While the culture pretends this is an enlightened and viable way to live, the Christian knows better. Self-glorification is nothing more than trying to quench your thirst with a broken cup when a fountain of living water is in front of you (see Jeremiah 2:13).
In that sense, the Christian’s chief end to ”glorify God and enjoy Him forever” is not a burdensome duty, anymore than the invitation to drink from a fountain of life is a burdensome duty. It is the highest privilege and blessing you can be given. It is a calling to taste and see that the Lord is good, to come and buy food without price, and to experience the eternal life of knowing the Lord. You cannot be too committed to pursing a deeper knowledge of God’s infinite value. Nor can you be too committed to displaying with your mind, will, and life that knowledge you have of God’s infinite value. If you are a Christian, revel in the knowledge that you get to live a life of ”praising the one who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
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100th Post: 3 Reasons I Created the Average Churchman
Today marks the 100th post on “The Average Churchman.” I really can’t believe it has been over a year since I started The Average Churchman. I’m grateful to the Lord for this opportunity to write and reflect on His truth. I’m grateful to my wife for all her support. And I am so very grateful to you, my readers, who have encouraged me along the way and appreciated my thoughts. In light of this milestone, I thought it would be useful to write out some of the reasons I created The Average Churchman.
1. To keep track of all the Bible study tools I found
The first of several reasons why I created the Average Churchman was both personal and practical: I simply wanted a place to contain all the different Bible study tools I found. Before this website, I simply used a massive Google document full of different Bible study methods, application questions, tips and tricks and anything else related to Bible study. It got a little unwieldy, so I thought a better solution would be a website.
This idea especially came to me when trying to teach younger men at Church how to study the Bible. Why not have a website with the different tools I had found so I could give them the resources they needed? This became the “Tools” section of my website in which I write some of my favorite and most technical posts. Even though I have written on topics such as outlining, applying a text, structuring a sermon, and many others, I still have a ton more Bible study tools to share with you. Hopefully in the coming years, I will be able to get more and more resources that I have found on this site for you to utilize.
2. To practice writing
I have always been an avid reader, but I had never tried my hand at writing consistently. After I started the Average Churchman, it became clear to me that I wasn’t just creating a place to store Bible study tools. Another one of the reasons I created the Average Churchman was to give me a place to practice my writing. If you look at one of my early posts compared with a recent one, you can see how far I’ve come. I’m more than a little embarrassed by the quality of my early posts.
Practicing writing also had a personal and practical purpose. My local Church has given me more and more consistent opportunities to teach and preach. I currently am teaching Kids4Truth every Sunday night, teaching Sunday School once or twice a month, and preaching several times a year. I realized that, as a busy husband, father, and employee, I needed to become better at writing in order to create better teachings at a faster rate. I needed a place to practice taking my Bible study or personal thoughts, structuring them into a logical flow, and then expounding on them in written prose.
Honestly, looking back over the past 100 posts, I am so grateful for the ways God has grown me through simply writing what I am learning and what I am reading. The simple act of writing several days a week clarifies your thoughts, improves essential skills like analysis, communication, and outlining, and also has the added reward of externalizing your thoughts to share with others. If there is one thing that has surprised me, it is how much I have enjoyed writing posts for others to read.
3. To encourage average Church members in their walk with the Lord
I chose the website name “The Average Churchman” for two reasons. The first, is that I am not an Elder at my Church, nor a Pastor. In that sense, I am just an “Average Churchman” who writes his thoughts on Scripture and Church-related topics. No MDiv. No ordination. I am just a Christian who is a member of a local Church. But the second reason I named this site “The Average Churchman” is because I wanted to encourage all Church members in their walk with the Lord.
I wanted to write about topics normal Church members who work a 9 to 5 think about and deal with on a week to week basis. To talk about things as simple as “how should I do my work?” and “I feel lonely at Church. How can I grow closer to those Church members around me?” Every Bible study tool I have shared, every book quote I have analyzed, every reflection I have shared has been for one purpose: to encourage you as you seek to glorify God and imitate Christ.
Conclusion: My love letter to the local Church
I love the local Church. And as much as I have been encouraged by my Elders and my Pastor, ultimately every Sunday morning service, every small group, every Bible study is made edifying by normal Church members. People who aren’t called to formal ministry but who do ministry every day in their homes, at their work, and yes, in the local Church. I’d like to think that this website is, at it’s best, simply my love letter to the local Church.I owe everything I am today to God using “average” Church members in extraordinary ways.
And if my writing encourages one Church member to be more faithful to the Word of God, then this website is a success and has done exactly what I intended it to do.
If you are a Christian, then according to Ephesians 1, you are blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus. You have been given everything you need for life and godliness. Moreover, Christians are invited by both the Old and New Testaments to give thanks to God for His goodness. So what could be a better use of your time than to start your year with thankfulness? In this post, I want to share 7 truths (in no particular order) that Christians can thank the Lord for as they start into 2022.
1. You have peace with God
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 5:1 ESV
If this was the only promise on the list, it should cause you to be grateful to the Lord for your entire life. The world is at odds against God: it denies God’s existence, breaks His law, and worships anything but the living God. The majority of the world is starting this year against the Lord and thus does not have peace with God. But for the person who has repented and believed in Jesus, the war against God has ended. There is peace. Not because of anything you have done or could do. But because of the gospel.
This promise is sweet enough to give you joy every single day this year. Peace with God. Your sins forgiven. Start your year overwhelmed by the goodness of this good news.
No matter how chaotic your life or the world gets, you have peace with the only person that matters in the end: your Creator.
Let this “peace that passes all understanding” guard your heart and mind this year.
2. You don’t have to fear death
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:56-57 ESV
Death is an ever present reminder of sin and God’s judgement against it. God promised Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden that on the day they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would surely die. The Bible says it is appointed for man once to die and then comes judgement. Death is a certainty that humbles us and testifies that there is something fundamentally wrong with the world. And it is this powerful enemy that Christ destroyed through His resurrection.
The world fears death, and rightfully so: it is too powerful for any person to avoid. But if you are united to Christ by faith, then you have victory over death. You don’t have to fear death anymore than you would fear a wasp without a stinger. Jesus has defeated death at it’s root: your sin. Your sins have made you deserving of death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. Oh that we would thank God daily for this gift in 2022!
3. God is Lord over the nations and over history
Psalm 2 is one of my all time favorite passages. It was the text I chose for the first sermon I ever preached. It paints a compelling picture of the nations setting themselves against God and His anointed, but failing. God cannot be defeated by sinful humans and His plans are not thwarted by mankind’s rebellion. There is no individual, organization, or government that is strong enough to face Him. In fact, the only reasonable response to God’s sovereign majesty is to submit to His king: Jesus.
God’s rule over His universe is a truth you and I should remember in 2022. Oftentimes, it seems like current events are dictated by politicians or other powers in our society.
Let us never forget that there is only One who rules over history: the unchanging, all-powerful, eternal God.
You may not know what the year will hold, but you can start your year with thankfulness knowing that the one who does control what the year will hold is the same loving God who mercifully saved you through Jesus.
4. The Church will prevail over the gates of hell
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Matthew 16:18 ESV
It has become commonplace to discuss the “state of the Church.” More often than not, there are a dozen ways people can find in which the Church is not living up to her high calling. Such analysis is necessary, but always remember that no matter how weak the visible Church may seem to you now, Jesus has promised that the Church will have victory in the end. In fact, He goes as far as to say the very gates of hell will not withstand the Church’s attack.
In other words, start 2022 with a positive outlook on Church, particularly your local Church. Don’t start the year by thinking about all the ways it falls short of the biblical ideal. Don’t start complaining or critiquing the things you think need to change. Start your year by reminding yourself that Jesus has already promised the Church victory. The world, the flesh, and the devil won’t win in the end. Then, go serve in your local Church this year with the full knowledge that your efforts are not in vain.
5. Nothing can separate me from the love of Christ
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38-39 ESV
Loss is inevitable in a fallen world. Everything in life is fleeting and transient. Your life in 2022 will be different from your life in 2021. People change, circumstances change, opportunities come and go. But one thing will never change or alter: the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. If you are a Christian, you have something eternally indestructible. You have something that life’s changing circumstances can’t touch.
The love of Jesus is something you can always enjoy, always rely on, always count on.
The question is how much does Christ’s love for your affect your life? I once read a secular quote which said “…a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for.” Well, for the Christian, you have all three of these things in Christ: a Savior to love and be loved by eternally, a commission given by Jesus to devote your life to, and the hope of fully experiencing Jesus’ love for you after death. Pray that the indestructible love of Christ would compel you to greater faithfulness this year.
6. Christ will return and set all things right
“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.
Revelation 22:12-14 ESV
I don’t think Christians can meditate too much on the return of Christ. This world is cursed, full of sin and evil, and characterized primarily by rejection of God and His gospel. Jesus is resisted as He was during the time of His earthly ministry and those who side with Him are persecuted, slandered, and rejected. This has been true in every age of the world and will be true in 2022 as well.
But you and I can start the year with thankfulness because Jesus has promised to return and set things right. He is coming soon and will usher in the New Heavens and New Earth where righteousness will dwell. Such a promise should remind us to stay alert and watchful in the present. Now is the time Jesus has given us before He returns to do the works God has called us to and to preach the gospel to all nations.
7. The Holy Spirit is presently active in raising spiritually dead souls to life
He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit
Titus 3:5 ESV
You can probably think of loved ones, coworkers, or people you know who are starting 2022 spiritually dead. They have not submitted to Christ, they have not interest in spiritual things, and are living in open, unrepentant sin. Remind yourself this new year that as spiritually dead as people are around you, the Holy Spirit can still open their eyes to see the glory of Christ in the gospel. With man it is impossible, but nothing is impossible with God.
The reality that the Holy Spirit regenerates people should give you boldness in your evangelism and every day conversation this year. You have no power to raise people from the dead spiritually. In fact, you couldn’t open your own blind eyes. It is God who must act if any human is to be saved. And He is acting.
2022 will be full of many events. But the most glorious events that will happen this year is God saving people from eternal death through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
There will be more saints in heaven praising the Lord for His mercy and grace because of God’s work this year.
So, start your year with thankfulness to God for all these precious promises. Read His word so you can uncover other promises to thank Him for and live in light of in 2022. Your love for Christ and your conformity to Him will grow in proportion to the promises in Scripture that you know and believe.
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The doctrine of the Church is one of the most glorious, practical, and discussed doctrines in the New Testament. Simply looking at the metaphors the New Testament authors use to describe the Church gives you a sense of it’s importance. The Church is the “body of Christ,” the “bride” of Christ, the “household of faith,” a “holy temple in the Lord,” and much more. The ideal Church as laid out in the New Testament overcomes the gates of hell and overcomes the world through faith in Christ, the Church’s chief Shepherd.
But how do these realities guide you in choosing a particular local Church to attend? How do they give you wisdom for deciding if and when to leave a Church? After all, the glorious vision of the Church in the New Testament is not lived out in its fullness within every local body. So what should you, as a normal believer, do when you struggle to find the “ideal Church?” In this post, I want to lay out three practical steps for applying the doctrine of the Church to your life.
Know the local Church ideal as laid out in the New Testament
If you and I only knew and believed the truths about the local Church as laid out in Scripture, how many of our problems would be solved? The local Church is not merely a Sunday morning service you sit through once a week. If you want to start getting excited about the local Church and having a Biblical view of it’s importance, the first step is to study and internalize what the Bible says about the Church.
I would recommend taking a month or two to read through the book of Acts. Pay attention each time Luke mentions the Church, what it does, and how it grows. Acts 2 in particular has one of my favorite passages on the “ideal Church.”
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Acts 2:42-47, ESV emphasis added
Why do I recommend studying the New Testament Church?
You will never make the right decisions about where to go to Church, what to look for in a Church, or what to value in the Church if you don’t first understand the Church as presented in the New Testament.
Everyone can give you different opinions on where you should go to Church and what your role should be in that Church. But only in Scripture do we have the authoritative record of what God expects of local Churches and you as a Church member. So remind yourself of the glorious doctrine of the local Church as expounded in Scripture.
Commit to a local Church that partially lives up to that ideal
Once you have a biblical vision of the ideal Church, find a local Church that approximates that ideal. What do I mean by this? You will never find a local Church that perfectly exhibits all the desired traits given in the New Testament. In fact, local Churches in the New Testament time didn’t even exhibit those traits perfectly (see 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, and the letters to the 7 Churches in Revelation). So when you are looking for a local Church to join, look for one where you see its members and leadership who are aware and are striving for the New Testament ideal.
Others have developed countless resources to determine whether a Church is healthy or not. But at the end of the day, all the “tests”, “marks”, or “criterion” for a healthy Church are simply ways of answering the question “is this local Church aware of and pursuing what the New Testament teaches about the Church or not?” And in the end, whatever Church you end up joining will have some strong areas and some weak areas. That is expected in a fallen world. As I said, even the first generation of local Churches had some areas of strength and other areas where they needed correction.
The key point here is to commit to a local Church that partially lives up to the New Testament ideal.
It will do you no good to memorize every passage on the local Church if you never actually formally join one.
An analogy is helpful here: you might have an idea of what you want in an ideal spouse, but if you never actually marry a real human being, your ideal will do you no good. And, as every married person discovers, the person you marry will at the best only approximate the ideal spouse you conjured up in your head. So don’t spend your whole life looking for that “perfect New Testament Church.” Commit to the best option God provides for you locally, then move on to the final step.
Work to make that local Church better reflect the ideal Church
As soon as you are a member of a local Church, you are now partially responsible for ensuring that local collection of believers obeys what Scripture teaches about the ideal Church. You, not someone else. As you stay committed to a local body over the years, you will see more and more clearly the ways in which your Church falls short of the New Testament teaching. When this inevitably happens, the temptation will be to either complain, or to leave to find a different Church.
Now, there are certainly situations where you should leave a local Church. But in modern America, most reasons people give are neither Biblical nor wise. Your default when you notice an issue in your local Church should be:
Do not complain or sow discord
Seek to understand the problem
Prayerfully seek to find a way to help fix the issue
If every Church member had a selfless, serving-others-before-myself mentality, a lot of issues in local Churches would evaporate. Seek to lead in working to help your local Church better reflect the ideal Church. Take responsibility. You don’t have to be an elder or a deacon or a particularly wise or smart person to make your Church more holy and godly.
If you are a local Church member, you are part of a body. And every part of the body is sovereignly knitted together by God to serve a purpose.
In conclusion, don’t over complicate the local Church. Understand clearly from Scripture what the local Church is and should be. Then commit to a body in your local area that approximates this ideal Church. And then spend your days seeking to help that local body better reflect what the ideal Church is in Scripture. Being an average Church member is a high calling. So go and serve your local body for the glory of Christ and the edification of the saints.
When you hear the word “Church” what image pops into your head? A sanctuary full of pews? Pews filled with people? People with their Bible’s open listening to God’s Word? “Church” is most commonly used to describe the Sunday morning sermon and accompanying service. You go to Church in order to hear a sermon.
But the Church is so much more than a Sunday morning sermon. In fact, if you equate Church to a worship service between the hours of 10-12 am, then you are going to miss out on a lot of the joy and excitement that the Church is. In this post, I give you a three “mindsets” to develop. Each will help expand what you think about when you hear the word “Church”.
1. The Body Mindset
The Church is a dynamic gathering of Saints
You might have heard the phrase “the Church is not the building, it is the people.” Someone could also say “Church is not the Sunday morning sermon, it is the people.” Men, women, and children who are redeemed by Christ, united by the Holy Spirit, and who have covenanted together in a local assembly. When you drive to Church on Sunday, you are driving to gather with that “body” of people.
Having this “body mindset” keeps you from what I will call “movie theater mindset.” When you go to see a movie, you come in and sit together with a bunch of total strangers. This random group made up of different families and individuals watches the movie together but then leaves to return to separate homes without ever interacting or acknowledging each others’ existence. “Movie theater mindset” is coming to Church to listen to the Pastor preach alongside a bunch of strangers who you do not know and who you do not interact with after service is over.
In contrast, the Church as laid out in Acts is a completely different type of gathering:
44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Acts 2:44-47 ESV, emphasis added
You don’t “go to Church”; if you are a Christian you are a part of the Church, this dynamic body of believers. This means you gather together with fellow Saints past 10-12 am on Sunday morning. It means you see yourself as a part of their lives and realize each Church member is an important part of your life. You have to fight “movie theater mindset” and seek to know those in the pews next to you.
Thinking of the Church as a body changes how you come to Sunday service and how you plan your weeks.
2. Warfare Mindset
The Church equips the Saints to do ministry
Passive listening is the enemy of Christian preaching. I have written about getting more from your Pastor’s sermon and created tools to help you stay engaged during a sermon. Why? Because a sermon is not a motivational speech, a lecture, or entertainment. Preaching is training grounds for the spiritual battle you face each day of your life.
Paul says in Ephesians 4 that the Church “equips the saints for the work of service.” One of the main means God uses to equip you is the Sunday morning sermon. But “equipping” implies not just a passive listening to preaching. It implies that you go out an apply what you learned to your life as you go throughout the week.
Each time you go to Church, God is arming you to go out and fight the good fight of faith the rest of the week.
This simple shift in thinking will completely change how you approach Church. You aren’t driving to an old building on a Sunday morning while scrambling to get kids fed and in the car merely to have a few “positive thoughts” before starting your week. Equipping, not entertainment, is the goal of preaching. Equipping you as a Church member to leave Sunday morning service ready to serve the Lord wherever He calls you that week: at home, at work, with family, interacting with unbelievers. Go into Church to prepare for going out and ministering to others.
3. Eschatological Mindset
The Church is the bride of Christ from every tribe, tongue, and nation
The whole reason I write on this website is because I love the local Church: the average Christians who live their lives week by week seeking to glorify the Lord in their specific, small corner of the world. But sometimes a local Church mindset can lead you to imagine the Church is small. It isn’t. Your little local Church is one piece of a much bigger puzzle. And you see how the puzzle fits together in one of the greatest passages in the whole Bible:
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,
Revelation 7:9 ESV, emphasis added
You need an “eschatological mindset” when you come to Sunday service. This means you see clearly that your local body is a part of God’s plan from all eternity to save a group of sinners through Christ for His glory. Sure, there are problems and difficulties within your body. I am sure it is a struggle some Sundays to get to Church or stay awake during the sermon. Maybe your Church is small and seemingly insignificant. But remind yourself that there is nothing insignificant about a part of God’s plan.
It does not matter if your local congregation is small. It is a part of God’s infinitely wise and glorious plan.
Coming to Church knowing that each Sunday is fitting you and your fellow Church members for an eternal weight of glory puts you in a much more worshipful state than if you come to Church merely thinking about the here and now. Open your eyes to the beautiful Scriptural truth that God is sovereignly saving sinners from every corner of the earth for an eternity with Him. And you, as a Christian, get to be a part of that plan in your little Church.
Conclusion
To summarize, come to Church with these three mindsets:
Body Mindset-you aren’t there to just listen to a Sunday morning sermon, you are there to interact with a dynamic body of Saints
Warfare Mindset-you go to Church to get equipped by the Word of God to go out and live for His glory throughout the week
Eschatological Mindset-your Church, no matter how small, is a part of God’s cosmic plan of redemption
As you cultivate these perspectives, you will find how you think about Church will change from something static and dull to something glorious and exciting.
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