CHAPTER 1
THE CHURCH ON PURPOSE
"But seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33).
The principles and purpose of the church has remained the same since Christ founded it 2000 years ago, but the methodology for achieving that purpose has changed throughout the generations. A church is effective so long as it single-mindedly pursues the purpose God has ordained for it. That is, proclaiming the gospel audibly, and living Christ-like lives together in local congregations making the gospel visible (see John 13:34-35). However, methodology [the how-to] must change and adept to the relevancy of the times and environment without compromise.
While a very noticeable cloud of despair has settled over the non-Christian world, due to the failure of mankind's idol-gods, a vacuum is left ready for the gospel of Christ to fill. It is a time of great opportunity for the Church of the Living God; whenever and wherever foundations are shaken doors open unexpectedly. Depending on who is talking; today is perhaps the greatest opportunity since its founding, for the church to shine not inside the four walls – but outside in the streets and marketplace where it was birthed.
The authority of Christ compels Christians individually and corporately to study the Bible's teaching on the church. So many congregations act as if the Bible comprises only the four gospels and the Book of Revelation and therefore they reject the Old Testament, the Book of Acts and the General and Pauline Epistles as irrelevant Church History.
ITS TIME TO WAKE UP
The church in America has been compared to a rich sleeping giant with great and powerful potential. This conclusion has been reached in view of church history. However, the church around the world has proven to be resilient and tough throughout the centuries. Notice the stand made by the Coptic Christians in Egypt, and other parts of the Middle East. God is still the Pilot! Due to the present crisis of decline many Christian communities have produced through prayerful innovation, some new models, while remaining spiritual and doctrinally pure.
Remember, the church is to make Jesus visible to the world, and particularly individual Christians in their areas of influence to include family, community and the marketplace. How? The same way Jesus made God the Father visible by being full of grace and truth. Therefore the Church is called and empowered to make the ascended Christ visible in the world today by being absolutely full of grace and truth. The apostle Paul says,
"God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages now and forever He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:6-9).
That is, God has poured out His grace on us in order that we might, in turn, be demonstrators of His grace to others. In other words, when people see God's grace in us, they will see Jesus in us [Christlikeness], just like people saw God in the fullness of Jesus' grace. As the body of Christ, the universal recipients of God's grace, we visibly represent the work and person of Jesus to the world. The glory of God is seen both in the person of the Son and in the collective witness of the church! This is the authentic Christian Church, the body of Christ. I say again, Christlikeness is the ultimate goal of God's redemptive plan for every born again Christian – and nothing less. Emphasis added.
The expectations of Christ for the local churches and individuals who have bowed to the new pseudo-progressive religious Christianity by compromise are impossible to complete. Such churches on many moral issues have assimilated the culture's secular worldview. People are getting sick and tired of deceptive sugar substitutes. They are looking for the real thing!
Church leadership must be ever mindful that wrong ecclesiastical teaching and practices result in:
• the loss of the fear of God
• the Bible is no longer center
• they no longer discern the will of God
• unless revival comes – soon they lose the gospel
• they are standing on the wrong foundation
As the tides are changing more and more people are seeking an authentic Biblical and Christ-centered spiritual life. As the numbers grow daily, millions of people are not finding the kind of spiritual vitality in the local churches today that Jesus described. People want the simple, powerful, transformation evidently found in the New Testament.
The higher echelons of the various denominations' causes are loosing support at the local grassroots levels because too many of their causes are just plain materially and secularly oriented. The local churches and more specifically individual Christians are the focal point of the kingdom of God – what happens at their level is ultimately important. Certainly God's will, should spearhead all thoughts and actions concerning any process of change, but we must keep in mind the fact that God has made human beings active agents in these spiritual matters.
As for conditions of change under human control – the outcomes vary. The influence of God or Satan on the matter is dependent upon the variableness of human spirituality and interaction. Without revival of the Christ-centered authority and worship all efforts are our own and fruitless. Today many local churches are drifting into currents of pragmatism, assuming that the immediate response of non-Christians is the key indicator of success. Blindly they can't see that:
• Christianity is being very rapidly disowned in the culture at large.
• Evangelism is characterized as intolerant.
• Portions of biblical doctrine are classified as "hate speech."
• More and more congregations are conforming to the culture, which if not countered could mean the loss of the gospel again!
• As long as numbers and buildings remain the primary indicators of church health, the truth will be compromised.
• For authenticity churches must once again begin measuring success not in terms of numbers, but in terms of fidelity to the Scriptures.
• Those churches that truthfully persevered throughout the generations promote themselves as "relevant."
EVALUATION OF PURPOSE
In proper evaluation of the local church's purpose, some aspects of the congregational life and work are negotiable and open to change and some are non negotiable because of biblical mandate. Therefore, any change must be preceded by pursuing the answers to two very important questions; which must be asked of the congregation [all of the people]:
1. What is the clear purpose statement of what we, [all of us], are seeking to accomplish?
2. How well are we doing it?
Successful congregations have a clear, strong sense of purpose, around which they center their whole lives. Dynamic churches have these characteristics in common:
• They know where they are going.
• They have a clear plan for getting there.
• They [all] work wholeheartedly in unity to get the work done.
Spirit-directed purpose functions as a GPS or goggle map giving the individual believers and the church direction, general stability and balance no matter which direction the conditions of life may turn them:
• Integrating church life into consistent unity
• Providing a driving power and
• A compelling urgency
God is purposeful and moves toward consistent objectives. Of all His creatures, the human being is most like God in His ability to set goals and intelligently pursue them. The Biblical view of history is an intelligent, deliberate movement toward precise goals in the fulfillment of God's kingdom purpose.
Biblical Examples
Jesus' life was completely transparent because of His single-minded pursuit of a precise objective:
• He must be about His Father's business (Luke 2:49).
• For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10).
• My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work (John 4:34).
When Jesus' purpose was threatened by the king, Jesus sent His word, "Go tell that fox, 'I will cast out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach My goal" (see Luke 13:32).
Because Jesus maintained His single-minded commitment to a clear purpose:
• He drove-off every opposing friend or foe.
• He maintained His own timetable.
• He could avoid unproductive activity and channel His entire life toward reaching its precise target, by death in the finishing of His work.
• His followers shared this quality.
The apostle Paul showed this totally focused life in Philippians 1:27-2:2:
"Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God. For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me. Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind."
The student is no greater than his or her teacher. Christ is not only our Teacher, but also our Example. Church is Christ's idea, so His priority of goals must become ours. Otherwise we are trying to work His plan without Him. Paul wanted to cut a new path for the Philippians to follow to victory – the increasing of their faith would result in the increasing of their joy.
He may have said, "... that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me." Circumstances may cause us to lose our joy, but people can also bring trials that rob us of joy. How many times do we lose our peace and joy because of what people say and do?
The best remedy for these trials is a humble and single mind of purpose that seeks to honor Christ! Pride is the cause of much unrest and contention in the church (carefully study James 4), but genuine humility brings peace and joy. In other words, Paul lived on fruitfully, knowing that their joy and confidence would overflow because of Christ's working in him, not because of anything he himself did by his own ability.
Believers are to have integrity and live consistently what they believe, teach, and preach. This is in line with Paul's theme of unity of heart and one mind with the Philippians.
This task includes all the people, not just the "faithful few." He appealed to them on the basis of their Christian experience to have unity of mind and heart and to put others ahead of themselves.
It is captivated by Christ's mission. His purpose functions as the church's mission. Such a church has all the characteristics of a model's model. An early Christian document known as the letter to Diognrtus describes Christ's people in this way:
Christians cannot be distinguished from the rest of the human race by country or language or customs. They do not live in cities of their own; they do not use a peculiar form of speech; they do not follow an eccentric manner of life. This doctrine of theirs has not been discovered by the ingenuity of deep thought of inquisitive men, nor do they put forward merely human teaching, as some people do.
Yet although they live in Greek and barbarian cities alike, as each man's lot has been cast, and follows the customs of the country in clothing and food and other matters of daily living, at the same time they give proof of the remarkable and admittedly extraordinarily constitution of their own. They live in their own countries, but as aliens only.
They have a share in everything as citizens, and endure everything as foreigners. Every foreign land is their fatherland, and yet for them every fatherland is a foreign land ............ It is true that they are "in the flesh," but they do not live "according to the flesh." They busy themselves on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven. They obey the established laws, but in their own lives they go far beyond what the laws require. To God is the glory!
SUMMARY: CHAPTER 1
1. A church is effective so long as it single-mindedly pursues the purpose God has ordained for it.
2. From our study list several characteristics of a dynamic church.
3. Jesus' life was completely transparent because of His single-minded pursuit of a precise objective.
4. Believers are to have integrity and live consistently what they believe, teach and preach.
5. Discuss the negative effects caused by pride in the church.
CHAPTER 2
IN HARMONY WITH REALITY
Then God said, "Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them" (see Genesis 1:26-28).
Every church or Para-ministry has a philosophy of ministry to which they think or operate. It may be consistent or filled with contradictions, true or false, clear or cloudy. However, that philosophy provides a conceptual blueprint that reflects the purpose of how things ought to be, and how things really are; a diagram of views, assumptions, and convictions that provide direction. It is the standard by which ideas are tested.
Actions grow out of our operating value system – what we really believe; and our deepest convictions. However, it is possible to espouse one philosophy and operate by another. For example:
• Many of our local churches verbalize a biblical world view philosophy, but actually operate out of a philosophy based on institutional traditions of men, politics and favoritism.
• To be effective we must possess an integrity in which practice conforms to ideals.
A high level of effective church life and achievement happens when its leaders and members reach a consistently clear understanding of God's purpose for the church from [where it is] to [where it ought to be] and an accurate philosophy of ministry that is held in common; and guides the corporate effort.
___________________ "where God wants the church to be" ___________________
The leadership must help the church to move from "where it is" to "where God wants it to be" today in [His purpose].
___________________ "where the church is" ___________________
Again, all of the people must be clear and unified on such questions as:
• What are we as the church?
• Why are we here?
• Where are we going?
• How can we get from here to where we are going?
• How should we operate?
This is a key concept to which the apostle Paul called the Christian churches in Colossae and [the church worldwide] today as well:
"For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins" (Colossians 1:9-14).
CREATION TO RECREATION AND THE CHURCH
God created the human being, designing it to function according to His principles and certain relationships in accordance with creation, other humans, and with God Himself. He desired a response from man that would be a voluntary, freely chosen, corporative relationship of trust and obedience. The man functioned according to design in harmony with reality (see Genesis 1, 2).
Satan opposed God with intentions of his own for humanity which comprised of contrary purposes, values, and standards for living that are in direct opposition. He engaged man in a relationship of manipulation, deception, and bondage (see Genesis 3).
The first man [Adam] chose Satan's alternatives to God's plan for man. His life was ejected from its creation design sending him into a state of tension and discord with God's principles which were structured in creation. Thus sin resulted in:
1. Man's alienation from God
2. Man's guilt
3. Disharmony with reality
4. Confused values and purposes
5. Frustration for women in labor
6. Pain and death
