THe Church from Worst to Best

Around Christmas I either received or purchased several books which I intend to read over the next few weeks/months.  One of those is Twelve Challenges of the Church by Mark Dever, pastor of Capital Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC.  Dever, a leading authority on church growth and health, deals with major issues which the church has faced since her inauguration.  He contends that, “These twelve challenges, if left unchecked, can cripple a church and stifle its ministry to a needy world.”  However, he firmly believes that any church which will immerse themselves in the Word of God and follow the advice laid out in the scriptures can and will overcome these tremendous obstacles becoming a mighty army commissioned by her Commander. 

One of the first and foremost challenges which Dever addresses is division in the body.  In Paul’s address to the church of Corinth (1 Corinthians) he tackles this problem head-on in the first three chapters.  Dever concurs on the importance of unity in the body by stating that, “Unity is important because its shape and center—what we are united around—show what we are about.”  However, the process of unity must not be the primary focus but the Pioneer (Jesus Christ) of unity should.  A.W. Tozer shares a great insight on this concept when he talks about the tuning of 100 pianos.  While the tuning of 100 pianos is done by utilizing the same tuning fork the sole purpose is not to for them to be in tune with one another but rather with the standard.  This technique must be the same in the church.  For a follower of Jesus Christ to be closely in tune with the Father brings that person in line with others who too are closely in tune or aligned with the Father.  This process is of greater success than for the followers to become solely aligned with one another while their eyes are not fixed on the One who is the true expression of unity.

 
In the book of 1 Corinthians Paul gives seven great reasons for the church to remain unified in heart and purpose.  Over the next several weeks we will look at these reasons individually.  The first is that when we are unified in God we display Christ!  Paul states in verse thirteen of chapter one a rhetorical question, “Is Christ divided?”  His emphasis is that if we, as Christ’s bride in being the church, are divided what message does that send about our bridegroom?  Dever points out that when the church is divided a lie is created about what Christ is like.  Christ is not divided.  However, if the church is divided, regardless of the issue, then an erroneous message about Christ is sent to the world outside the church, as well as those inside.  We must not allow tertiary issues to divide us on the matters of greater importance which are:  our alignment with Christ, the proclamation of the Gospel, and the sanctification of the saints.  We must align our hearts with Christ by ingesting His Holy Word daily, submitting our wills to His, and confessing our sins to Him.  Afterwards we must follow the leadership of His Holy Spirit in sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ to make disciples as we have been commanded.  Then, we must nurture these new believers in the ways of the Messiah to mature them in faith to make more disciples.  If we have anything distracting us from this purpose then we are displaying a false image of Christ. 

 In closing remember the words Paul spoke in 1 Cor. 1:10 when he told the church of Corinth, “I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.”  Let us maintain the faith honoring our Lord by being one in heart, one in mind, and one in purpose.

In Christ Love,

 

Pastor Ric