How Church Can Change Your Life by Josh Moody

HOW CHURCH CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE by Josh Moody

Just 84 pages and 10 chapters - could be easily read in one go but no it needs time!  Josh Moody addresses 10 of the most common questions about church:

1. Is church only for Christians?
2. Do I need to go to church if I am a Christian?
3. Which church is the true church?
4. Why are there so many different kinds of churches?
5. What is the point of baptism and communion?
6. Why is preaching important?
7. Why is there so much politics in church life?
8. Should I go back if I have been hurt by church?
9. What should I look for in a healthy church?
10. How can I serve in a church?

In each chapter Josh sets out his answer to these questions and then follows it with a story from real life, an individual who asked the same question and how they drew a conclusion that was appropriate for their circumstances.  These stories help to understand and give food for thought.  I have been attending church for a long time and found this book refreshing.  If only some of these issues were addressed by the church themselves!

The overarching question is "Why should I go to church at all?"  Josh answers that by saying "The answer to that would be easy to oversimplify or shove down people's throats in an unsubtle and insensitive way.  It would also be easy to say that the answer is simply to make the church more contemporary.  I am certainly not opposed to 'bringing the church up-to-date' (thought what that means depends on who is proposing it) as long as that does not also mean abandoning what Jesus said, in his Word, the church should be.  But my instinct (and experience) is that people are not asking the question 'Why do I need to go to church?' because they are looking for more rock drums (and that comes from someone whose wife is a rock drummer).  Smoke machines, dry ice, skinny jeans and laser shows are not wrong.  But they are not the answer either."  Josh goes on to explain that an attempt was made to answer this question at a time when he was working in an area of the world which was considered very secular and postmodern which meant that not many people went to church anymore.  Josh steps the question back further to "Is it necessary to go to church? Do I have to go?"  The answer to that is we need a vision of what the church is and in doing so we will ask the question 'what can I do to serve the church?'  

Josh goes on to show that people have different ideas of church and really if they understood what a real biblical church is supposed to be then possibly they might come back to church.  He shows that a typical picture of the church would be of 2 elderly people and a large empty stone building.  Our problem is pride.

"The reality is that it is very hard for us to believe that the secret of the universe, the center of the infinite majesty of all reality, the revelation of God in Christ, the word eternal is all being discussed in one rather small building on the corner of our street - or even in one very large building in the centre of our town.  Going to church gets us out of our self-oriented prison.  We are forced to put up wth music that is not our taste.  We are made to listen to truths that we wish were rather not true.  All this is essential for us if we are to find joy."

Question 1 - Is church only for Christians?

The problem is - how inviting and welcoming is my church to those who are not Christians?  William Temple "Church is the one society that exists for the benefit of its non-members."  The whole point of church is to be a living testimony to who God is for those who are looking to discover him.  Church is a zone which God has designed where; if you come with an open heart and if the Spirit is at work in your life, you will encounter God himself.  It's not our place, it's his place, it's not a 'sanctuary' in the sense of a special religious area which is separate from normal human reality; its more like the centre of the TARDIS in Doctor Who.  It's a place where the time orbit of the universe is designed to be able to open up.  This 'temple' is really Jesus himself and the church is simply a means to that encounter with Jesus.

Question 2 - Do I need to go to church if I am a Christian?

Augustine "There is no salvation outside the church."  Today certain groups of Christians might instead say "There's not much of any salvation in the church!"  Today the mantra is "Love Jesus ... not quite so sure about the church."

Biblically the church is the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12 verse 27).  That means that a Christian is part of that body.  when Paul, the author of the letters to the Corinthians said that the Corinthian Christians were part of the body of Christ, he was not talking about what theologians term 'the universal church' (that is, the church everywhere and at all times).  He meant that actual church in Corinth.  "You are the body of Christ" he told them.  To be a member of Christ, that is to be a real true Christian, is to be a member of the church.  There is no distinction because the church is the body of Christ; therefore you cannot be a member of Christ without being a member of a church.

Here is what this does not mean - that going to church saves you all on its own.   We are saved by faith in Jesus not by church attendance.

Here is what it does mean, however, it means that if you say you follow Jesus but you are not a member of a local church that is biblically founded and gospel preaching, I have no reason to know for sure whether you actually are following Jesus.  In fact, I have pretty good evidence to sugggest you are not.  Church is the natural expression of someone who follows Jesus in the same way that the natural expression of a hand is to be attached to its body.  Going to church means going to a local church that calls itself church.  Being a member of a church does not mean simply putting your name in some electronic data base and getting annoying mailings and emails, it means expressing in a formal way a personal commitment to a local body of Christ.  Should you go to a church if you are a Christian?  Yes!

Question 3 - Which church is the true church?

Jesus only talks about the church using that specific term twice.  Jesus' disciples are the church in miniaure: 12 disciples for the 12 tribes of Israel.  The first occasion is when he says to Peter "on this rock I will build my church" (Matthew 16 verse 18).  Jesus means what Peter has said (Jesus is the Christ), not who said it (Peter).  After having confessed Jesus as the Messiah, he then goes on to tell Jesus not to die on a cross.  Jesus then looks at Peter and says "Get behind me, Satan!" (Matthew 16 verses 22 - 23)  If you say that the first time Jesus meant Peter himself, not what Peter said, then you'd have to say that the second time Jesus meant that too.  So now Peter has been moved from the rock on which Jesus will build the church to the embodiment of Satan himself.  Instead it is far more likely that in the second instance Jesus means the same as he means in the first instance - in both instances Jesus is taking about what Peter said.  When Peter said Jesus was the Messiah, Jesus is saying that that confession of Jesus is the rock on which he will build his church.  And when Peter says to Jesus not to die on a cross, what Peter said then is devilish.  This means that the foundation, the rock of the church is the message of Jesus Christ and him crucified.

The answer to the question 'Which church is the true one?' is that the true church is the one that has at its foundation the proclamation from the bible of Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Jesus mentions the word 'church' one other time.  In this instance it is when Jesus is asking how on earth his followers are going to get along and live together in community.  The answer is that they have to forgive each other.  How are they going to do that if someone sins against them? Jesus gives a 3 step plan:

First go and tell the person his fault just between the two of you.  However, sometimes the person who hurt you won't listen.  Well then, second, you go with one or two others to the person.  The 2 witnesses are there to help discern who is at fault.  Then it is usually sorted out.  But if it is not (here comes the word 'church') then third Jesus says 'tell it to the church' (Matthew 18 verse 17).  So the other mark of a real church is that it takes seriously its responsibility to act in a way that represents what it means to follow Jesus.  The church as a community is intended to be able to showcase what it means to follow Jesus authentically.

If you want to find a true church you are looking for 3 things - the true preaching of Jesus Christ and him crucified.  You are looking for healthy discipleship and discipline.  Also, you are looking for the way that the church does baptism and communion to be biblical.

Question 4 - Why are there so many different kinds of churches?

The thought behind this question is really that the church is disunited and therefore somehow witnesses against the truth of the church as an expression of God today.  Jesus prays that his disciples would be one as he and the Father are one.  He does not pray that they would all be able to fit into the same box.  He never prays any of that.

The point of Jesus' prayer is relational not institutional.  To be one as Jesus and the Father are one is a relational oneness.  Jesus is part of the Trinity - he is fully God and fully man in one person.  Jesus means that we are to be one like that.

The reason why there are so many different churches is because there are quite a number of different kinds of people.

Question 5 - What is the point of baptism and communion?

A - these are church things.  They are designed to be the entrance to the church (baptism) and the expression of ongoing involvement within the church (communion).

B - these things have a particular meaning.  Baptism is an expression of being born into the Christian family by the Spirit of God.  When you are born of the Spirit you die to your old way of life and you rise to a new life in Jesus.  Baptism is an outward expression of this inward reality.  Communion is a sign of what Jesus has done on the cross.  It was designed by Jesus to help us remember that what he did on the cross was enough to take away all our sins.  

C - A lot of the other distinctions - and there are many - about these 2 matters are fine, and worth considering and getting straight in your own head, but are not to be divisive between Christians.

Baptism and communion are visible signs pointing to the same reality.  In short baptism and communion are not as complicated as some have made them out to be.

Question 6 - Why is preaching important?

Preaching is important because it is how God speaks today to his people through the Bible.  "Preaching is the God-ordained means by which he meets with his people through his Word and by his Spirit in such a way that his people's eyes are opened to see Jesus and be captivated by him."  The reason why preaching is important is that Jesus is important.  Jesus has set up preaching to show us himself and help us see how great he is.  The more you love Jesus, the more you will love preaching.

Preaching is teaching.  Preaching is motivation.  It is, when genuine, God addressing us through his word, the Bible, to show us the beauty of Jesus

We should come to hear preaching not merely with a desire to lean more stuff, but with a desire to encounter Jesus.

We should leave from having heard biblical preaching with a desire to do something about what we have just heard.  "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock" (Matthew 7 verse 24).

We should pray for and support our preacher.  We should advocate for and ensure that there is enough time, space and resources for the continued development of excellence in preaching.  Churches are meant to be led by Christ through his Word, which means that preaching is centrally important.

Question 7 - Why is there so much politics in church life?

The church has always been like this - most of the letters in the NT are written in response to some problem in the church to which it is written.

Some Christians look at Jesus' teaching about the parable of the wheat and tares (Matthew 13 verses 24 - 30) and say that this means that even in church life there are those who are not really Christians growing up alongside those who really are Christians and that we shouldn't try to discern which is which, but just let them grow up together until God decides at the end.  Other Christians think that Jesus is talking about the world, not the church, and that we can't decide exactly who are Christians and who are not, but God will judge in the end and we should let him do it for that is his job. Either way we have a situation whereby we cannot expect perfection here.

It is an issue about the last days and how we understand where we are in God's plan for the whole universe.  What we have to grasp is that while Christ has come, and the church is built upon that confession of Christ as Lord, we still live in a 'now-and-not-yet' time.  There are still problems and difficulties and politics - and people who really annoy us by singing loudly and often and flat (and such annoyance that we find is an expression of our tendency to feel annoyed by people).  So we shouldn't be surprised to find churches less than perfect and to have issues in them.  It's what churches were like in the NT; it's what Jesus knew they were going to be like (look at all those disciples squabbling about who would be the greatest among them in the Gospels); and it's an expression oft he reality that while we are in Christ, we are not in heaven ... yet.

However, though this should not surprise us, at the same time it should also not satisfy us.  We should be aiming for our churches to grow in godliness, in Christlikeness, in love for each other, in simple humble appreciation of each other, in the ability to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ, for that is love.  Love for God.  Love for his Word.  Love for each other.  Love for the people around us.  In the same way that we should not be satisfied that we are not (yet) who we are meant to be as Christians individually, so we should not be satisfied that churches are not (yet) who they are meant to be as Christian communities.  We should aim to be presented without spot or blemish, holy and pure, without stain or wrinkle; that is, full of Christ and full of his love.

How should we go about improving?

First, chill a little!  A lot of stress and strain in church life results from people being too intense.  If everything is of eternal significance, pretty soon everyone gets a bit jumpy.

Second, the Word should not only be theoretically central to church but functionally central.  A lot of issues emerge when something else becomes central, perhaps a human personality or a particular theory about how to do church or a particular approach to how to rear children, or whatever is the latest hot button issue in Christian subculture.  All that is bound to cause friction because no one ever completely agrees on.  We need to  talk about stuff that not everyone agrees on, otherwise our lists of things we can talk about would be pretty small.  But that stuff, that secondary stuff, cannot be either theoretically or funtionally central.  That means we have to leave time for the explanation of the Bible, and to have that at the heart of what happens when we meet in big gatherings, as well as in small ones.  

Third, love.  The Bible says that love covers a multitude of sins.  Jesus said you could tell his disciples by how they love one another (John 13 verse 35) and so we who are loved by him love each other in turn.

Fourth, true Christians join the membership of the church.  In the judgment of charity, as much as we can discern, we want to make sure that the members of the church are actually regenerate, true followers of Jesus.  If that is in place, then most other things go much easier, for fairly obvious reasons.

Fifth leadership.  it really matters who churches have in leadership, as elders and pastors, and we need to be careful to pick good ones, ecnourage them and support them.

Question 8 - Should I go back if I have been hurt by church?

The obvious answer is 'yes' but it is more complicated than it may first appear to some people.  Just remember it may not be entirely the fault of the church!  What other alternative is there other than to try to go back to another church and start again?

If church is the local representation of the body of Christ and if you are a member of Christ, you will be longign to be actually and practically reunited with that body of which you are truly and spiritually a part.  You will not want to stay away forever.

If you want to re-enter church life, the next question is when and how?

First, don't just join any church.  Some churches hurt people because they are not healthy churches,  You want to join a church that not only says they follow Jesus, but actually does follow him.  That means the bible should be taught from the pulpit.  That means that the gospel of Jesus Christ should be central to the church's life.  That means that the church should not only be well-ordered and structured, with a healthy eldership or leadership but a place of committed love, authentic discipleship and disciplined Christian living.

Secondly, guard your heart against cynicism.  When you have been hurt, it is easy to throw up protective psychological barriers and be cynical about everything that seems to be occurring to think to yourself 'Oh, yeah you say that but I know what churches are really like.'

Thirdly, practice a biblical authenticity.  Being authentic does not mean who you are without processing what you should be or trying to be who you should be.  We need to aim to live up to our authentic self, not downgrade ourselves to an inauthentic, unfocused, lowest-common-denominator self.  The word 'authentic' holds the key to understandin this distinction: the author of the authentic self is not finally you, but actually God.  So your true authentic self is you as God has designed you to be.  

Fourthly, understand the difference between friendshp and fellowship.  To be in a chuch with other Christians means that you are called to love them.  That does not mean that you are called to like them.  A lot of people get hurt in church life because they misunderstand this distinction.  They think that being in church means you have to like everyone around you and everyone has to like you.  Not at all.  There may well be some people in the church who you like, who can actually be your friends; but there is no reason to think that includes everyone.

Fifthly, don't import into your next church the baggage from your last church.  That means not projecting onto people around you the stuff you have from the people at the last church.  

Sixthly, take commitment slowly but steadily.  Start with attending.  Then find a small group.  Then get involved with serving.  Give of your time, your talent and your treasure.  Bit by bit, swo but steady wins the race.

Seventh, guard your ultimate centre of loyalty for no one else but Jesus.  You are called to love and serve people and to be in fellowship with Christians.  ALl this requires a degree of trust, commitment, loyalty and involvement.  But it does not require the ultimate degree of trust.  Only God is worthy of that sort of worship  Some people get hurt because they are really exposing the inner person to another human person, when the hony person who can handle that level of vulnerability and tenderness is Jesus.

Look at it like the spokes of a wheel.  As we are all joined to the hub, the spokes span out to the rim of the wheel, and the wheel spins effectively.  Jesus is the relational hub of the church - not the pastor, not the small group leader, no other human.  Keep Jesus in the centre and our love and commitment to one another grows as we are all connected to him.

Question 9  - What should I look for in a healthy church?

Five things:-

First, a thorough commitment to the prevalence and prominence of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Second, a thorough commitment to the actual teaching of the bible and its functional and genuine authority over all matters.

Third, a Biblical involvement in each other's lives through life and fellowship and community.

Fourth, a thorough commitment to reach out with the gospel to those around us, locally and globally, to be part of God's mission for the whole world.

Fifth, a biblical commitment to authentic, Word-driven, Spirit-filled worship around the biblical trajectory of the gospel.

Gospel FLOW - Fellowship, Learning, Outreach and Worship.  Basically it's all about the gospel.  The gospel is not just the ABC of the Christian life, it is the A-Z, as Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end (Revelation 22 verse 13).  Each of the 4 core values is driven forward by that gospel and expresses that gospel in various ways.  Acts 2 verses 42 - 47

'How can I contribute to make a church more healthy?'

Support your leaders.

Be committed in your attendance at worship services.

Give regularly, consistently and joyfully with generosity of your money, your time and your commitment to the work of the gospel in the church.

Find ways to serve in the church.

Find ways to tell others about the church and live a life whereby you are inviting people to Jesus and to church.

Forgive others quickly, do not bear grudges, love and have mercy.

Live a life of gospel holiness, that is, pursuing Christ with all you have, loving him above all else, and loving your neighbour as yourself.  Be devoted to regular Bible reading and prayer, take care of your family spiritually if you have one and turn your household into a place of godliness and Christlikeness, so that church is not just one day in 7, but a seven-day-a-week, 365-day-a-year living experience.

With a healthy church and increasingly healthy people involved - the church, under God's grace and only by his favour, as it remains committed to Christ and his word, will organically, gradually become more like Christ and more effective at his mission to the world.  That's not just health, it's life, vitality and dynamism.

Question 10 - How can I serve in a church?

Here is what not to do - don't come to a meeting or into a church gathering of some kind and offer what you think of as your very best gift or ability and insist that it comes to the forefront, no matter what anyone else says.

It's much better though, to actually speak the truth in love and tell each other what we perceive are each other's gifts.  There neds to be a level of community discernment that rubs against the grain of our individualism.

How do you serve in church life?  The answer is that word SERVE.

S - start small.

E - every endeavour.

R - real relationships

V - virtual virtue.

E - exceptionaly excellent

We will fulfillment as we do.  We will discover our gifts and capabilities as we do; our God-given gifts that he has invested in us for his glory,  We will find ways to continue to grow in these capabilities.  After all, even, Jesus came to serve, not to be served (Matthew 20 verse 28).