Why Bother With Church? Sam Allberry

 

Why Bother With Church?

Sam Allberry

In the introduction Sam describes walking through a park on his way to church one Sunday morning.  At first glance it looked like a better option.  It looked like a lot of fun, more normal whereas church increasingly isn't.  Today particularly with the pandemic, there are a huge number of alternatives to church on a Sunday. The statistics speak for themselves - 25% of British adults were in a service on a Sunday whereas today is it 5%.  Church is an effort - so why bother making it a priority in my week?

Why on earth would I not bother with church?

When we get what the church is and whose the church is, we realy won't want to go to the park (or anywhere else) on Sunday morning.

In the concluding chapter Sam returns to the park.  He noticed that no-one seemed to care when he walked through the park that day.  The entire church service went on without the people in the park being aware it was going on.

Sam points to Ephesians 3 verses 10 and 11 and shows what when God's people gather, the spiritual world is watching.  Both those loyal to God and those who oppose him will look on.  And they won't notice what either impresses or disappoints us about our church.   They instead will be struck by who is meeting there - that such diverse people are sitting together and loving each other because they know that the Lord Jesus loves them and died for them  When the church gathers to worship - the supremacy of Christ is once again being placarded across the spiritual realms.

Church is the most important show in town.  Why?  Because it is God's family, it is God's embassy in this world, it is God's way of preaching to the spiritual world and it is amazingly Jesus' bride, who will live with him in the next world.

And guess what - I get to be part of it!  Through faith in Christ I get to be part of the way God builds it.

Chapter 1 What is church?  

It is easy to think of church as being a meeting place for those whose hobby happens to be God.  But there's a lot going on beneath the surface.  The Greek word for 'church' is ecclesia which simply means assembly or gathering.  In Acts 19 verse 32 it is used twice.  In one instance it refers to a riotous mob, in the other to a legal body.  In both cases it simply describes the gathering of a group of people irrespective of their purpose and composition.  But as the early Christians, maintained the habit of gathering regularly together, ecclesia became more and more to refer specifically to a Christian gathering - to the weekly meeting of believers to worship God and serve one another.  In Acts 5 verse 11 Luke wrote that "great fear seized the whole church" using the same word.

Ecclesia being the New Testament word for church is a significant indication of what a church actually is in essence.  A church is a particular gathering of Christian believers - of people who have heard Jesus' promise that in him "the kingdom of God has come near" and obeyed Jesus' command to "repent and believe the good news" by accepting him as King of their life and as trusting him as their Saviour who gives them eternal life.  It is a particular gathering because it is clear from the bible that any meeting of 2 or more Christians, whatever the context, does not constitute what the New Testament regards as church.

What is it that makes church such a distinctive way of meeting?  Go back to the story of the Israelites being rescued from Egypt.  God brought the people together at the foot of Mount Sinai.  They camped in the wilderness there while Moses went up the mountain to meet with God - Exodus 19 verses 1 to 6.  It was during this time that God spoke to the Israelites as his chosen people and identified them as uniquely belonging to him, commissioned for his service.  God also gave them his law, by which they would live as his rescued people.  This law served to define them and to teach them how they were to live out their status as his people.  The bible later looks back on this gathering as being the prototype of the church.  Stephen in Acts 7 describes the gathering of God's people at Sinai as "the assembly" - literally "the ecclesia".  At the foot of Sinai, the people of God were "churching" together.   This gathering was marked by being in the presence of God, receiving his words of promise and direction and being constituted as his people.  The weekly gathering of Christians that the New Testament describes as church is something of a re-enactment of this moment.  Christians gather as the people of God to receive his word afresh, to be reconstituted and recommissioned as this.

These local, weekly meetings of God's people are not just rehearsing a key moment from the Old Testament; they are a local and time-bound expression of something that is universal and timeless.  All of the people of God, from across the ages, constitute his church - what is sometimes referred to as the universal church.

Spiritually, Christian people are seated with Christ at the right hand of the Father - Ephesians 2 verse 6.  Wherever we happen to find ourselves on earth, we are part of a vast and timeless spiritual gathering one that the gathering at Sinai was just the foretaste of - Hebrews 12 verses 18 - 19, 22 - 24.  Our mountain is not physical and earthly but heavenly - this is the universal church.  The local church is the outpost of this ultimate church.

The church is the gathering in a particular location of God's people, as his people, in his presence, to hear and respond to his word.  2 things follow from this:

the church is not the building God's people happen to meet in.

the church is not the denomination 

In 1 Timothy 3 verses 4 and 5 Paul says to Timothy that a church leader needs to be able to "manage his own family well ... if anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?"  A church is a spiritual family!  Later in verse 15 Paul describes the church as "God's household". We have been brought into God's family through the reconciling work of his Son.  When we were adopted by God as his children, we were adopted into his family - we became part of a familial community.  When God draws people to himself, he draws them into family.

In 1 Timothy 3 verse 15  Paul describes the church as "the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth."  The way in which the church depends on the truth is obvious, it is the truth of God's word that brings the church into existence and shapes all that she is to be.  But there is also a way in which God's truth depends on the church; not that the church approves or decides on what the truth is, but that the church is the means by which God's truth reaches into his world.  The church is the earthly outlet for God's truth, the embassy that represents him.  Christians are this individually too, of course.  But it is through the church being church, rather than primarily through individual believers each separately doing their bit, that the truth is upheld and commended to a watching world.

The world needs a church in every place.  Paul said to Titus "The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you." (Titus 1 verse 5)  Notice Paul does not say "elders in every church".   Churches need leadership.  Paul's point is broader.  It is not just the case that every church needs a leader, but that every town needs a church.  Paul's concern is with mission.  For the gospel to penetrate the urban centres of Crete, there needs to be at least one church in ever town.  Churches are God's way to reach whole regions.  

When Paul spends time in a city he does not just seek to make a few disciples here and there and then considers his job to be done.  He forms an assembly - a church - and appoints elders to oversee and lead them.  He is not just wanting converts but churches.  Church is foundational and central to what God is doing in this world.

In one of the final passages in the bible, the elderly apostle John is given a glimpse of the future, of the day when God recreates the cosmos for his people to enjoy in perfection for ever.  Look at Revelation 21 verses 1 and 2.  The church is a bride - a beautiful one.  Revelation 19 verses 7 and 8.  The church is the beautiful bride of the Lamb - of Jesus himself.  And so the day of Jesus' return will be a wedding feast - and Christians are invited to it not as guests but as the bride.  

At the end of time, at the wedding feast of the Lamb, the church will look beautiful, but only because clean, righteous "linen" will be "given her to wear" (Revelation 19 verse 8).  This promise of what the church will be in the future is a wonderful assurance that one day she will be perfect.  But it is also a reminder that she is sadly still very imperfect in this present age.  She is not yet the beauty she will one day be.  Alongside the wonderful status we have as God's people there is still considerable ugliness and failure.  We are not yet the bride we should be.

In the Old Testament, God had used a human marriage to show what his people were like.  He told Hosea to "Go marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land (that is, God's people, living in Israel) is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord." (Hosea 1 verse 2)  Hosea's wife was adulterous - she cheated on her husband.  And God is saying that his people were, and are, spiritually adulterous.  That's what sin is - it is loving something more than God; it is cheating on God.  Spiritually speaking the church is unfaithful.

Yet Jesus is the husband of the church.  And as Hosea was sent to "Go show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress." (Hosea 3 verse 1).  Jesus still loves us, despite what we're like.  And as Hosea had to pay "fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley" (verse 2) to free his wife to live with him again - a high price - so Jesus paid his own life to free us to live with him for ever - the highest price.  That's how much he loves his church.  All we bring to this relationship is our need and our guilt.  But he brings freedom, a "dress" worth wearing and a perfect future with him for ever. 

Church is Jesus' marriage - and it's ours too.  We will gather on a Sunday, look round and look at ourselves and be absolutely amazed at who we are before him.  We will hear about who he is in his word, and sing about who he is in our hymns, and be completely awestruck that we get to be part of his bride.  And we will live each day safe and secure in the knowledge that Jesus could not care more about his church: he died for it.

Chapter 2 Why do I need church?

Throughout the bible, we see that God's plan is to make a people for himself.  This is crucial.  God's purpose is not to have persons relating to to him individually but a people that together are his.  God's promise to Abraham was that he would be the father of a "great nation" (genesis 12 verse 2).  The vision of heaven that the apostle John is given right at the end of the bible is of a "great multitude that no one could count" worshipping God together (Revelation 7 verse 9).  God has always promised there would be a people himself.

This means that part of God's work in drawing people to himself is drawing his people to one another.  When he saves, he gathers.  Individuals who come to Christ are assembled together with one another.

Question - can't I just have Jesus?  Does Christianity have to come with Christians?

You can't come to Christ without coming to his people.  Paul shows us how our relationship with Christ shapes our relationship with one another - Galatians 3 verses 26 - 28.  As Christians we are united to Christ - we are baptised into him and clothed with him (meaning he gives us his perfect record, and changes us to become more and more like him).  And being united to Jesus means we are united to everyone else who is united to Jesus. We are "all one in Christ Jesus".  This is true of the whole worldview, universal church.  Through faith in Christ, we are one with Christians around the world we may never even met.  Wherever we are in the world, we are not far from family.  But it's in the local church that this oneness is to be particularly expressed out.  Paul likens the church to a human body in Romans 12 verse 5.  Being formed together into one body gives us an obligation.  We belong to the rest of the body.  It is impossible to be in Christ and not belong to others.  A Christian, by definition, has a connection with and a responsibility to other Christians.  You cannot claim Christ and avoid his people.  If God is your Father, then his people are your family and you are to treat your family as your Father wants you to be.  Church is therefore not a meeting you attend, but a body you belong to.  Elsewhere Paul builds on this idea and describes the church as "the body of Christ" (1 Corinthians 12 verse 27).  This is an insight that was burned onto Paul's consciousness from his very first encounter with the risen Christ.  When Jesus appeared to him, Paul (then known as "Saul") had been aggressively and systematically trying to stamp out Christianity.  Jesus' words to him were stunning and life-changing: "Why do you persecute me? ... I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting." (Acts 9 verses 4 and 5).  Twice, Jesus accused Paul of persecuting him.  The implication was clear: by persecuting the church, Paul was persecuting Jesus.  The relationship between Jesus and his people is so tight that what you do to them, you do to him.  This insight never left Paul, and it should never leave us.  Christ utterly identifies with his people.

You can't serve Christ without serving his people.  What you do to the church, you do to Jesus.  And when you fail to serve the church, you fail to serve Jesus.  Jesus himself taught this - Matthew 25 verse 50.  Jesus is not talking about serving people in general, but about his "brothers and sisters" - his people.  The New Testament has much to say about helping the needy in general, but it is when it comes to his own people that Jesus tells us that what is done for them is done for him.  Again, how we treat his people is how we treat him.  If we serve our brothers and sisters, we serve him.  The reverse is also true.  If we fail to serve his people, we fail to serve him.  Neglecting the church is neglecting Jesus.

So what do I miss out on if I don't join a church?

Church is the local gathering of God's people.  It's not the denomination and its not the building.  But neither is it just the teaching and music, because it is possible to experience those things without actually being around other Christians.  The point of preaching and worship is that they are corporate activities.  And therein lies the heart of what a church-skipping believer misses out on: God's people.  The attempt to have Jesus without the church is evidently not new - Hebrews 10 verses 24 and 25.  Some were already in the habit of not meeting together.  But notice what the alternative is - "not giving up meeting together ... but encouraging one another."  We have been designed to need other Christians to help us keep going in the faith and to whom we can be an encouragement to do likewise.  The urgency of this mutual encouragement is spelt out in the final words of these verses "all the more as you see the Day approaching."  There is another day approaching, infinitely more significant than the holidays - the return of Jesus Christ.  And the way to prepare for that day is to be encouraged in our faith in Christ and to be growing in love and good deeds that flow from this faith.  To do that we need the input of others and to have input into others.  That is how God has designed his people to flourish.  Outside of the local church, we will lack the encouragement God has for us, and we will be failing to help others grow in their faith too.  

This encouragement will take a variety of forms.  The New Testament talks of us "building one another up" in the faith and of times when we need carefully to correct and sometimes even rebuke one another (1 Thessalonians 5 verse 11; 2 Thessalonians 3 verse 15; Galatians 6 verse 1).  Church will be where we find inspiration.

The church is where there will be a loving challenge and accountability - where our Christian profession is properly examined to see if it is genuine.  It is the church that can welcome new members through baptism, and encourage the faithful through sharing of the Lord's Supper.  In all these ways we are spurred on in our faith.  Without the church we lose vital spiritual momentum.  But failure to be involved in a local church means we miss out on more than spiritual encouragement - John 13 verse 35.

A significant part of the church's evangelistic impact will be due to the quality of relationships it demonstrates between its members.  Jesus says it is the defining mark of true discipleship: we must show ourselves to be his followers when we exhibit his self-giving love to other disciples.  Jesus assumes that the quality of relationships between his followers will be of a kind found nowhere else.

And it will not just be other disciples who recognise the supernatural origins of this love, but "everyone"  The world will not be able to attribute this love to anything other than the presence of Jesus in the lives of these people.

In other words, the life of God's people together will have a huge impact on the world around us.  It is in this context - the corporate life of the church - that we learn how to live out the love that Christ has shown us.  It is here we sharpen our sense of what it means to be disciples and become trained up in distinctive sacrificial love.  Jesus' expectation is that the kind of love we have for one another will be found nowhere else on earth.

1 Corinthians 12 verse 15  Your church needs you.  You may not have the gifts you wish you had, or that seem the most important or visible, but you are as vital to the health of the church as anyone else.  There will be a contribution you can make to your church that is unique to you.

The truth is that "God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be ... there are many parts, but one body."  The membership of every local church is no accident; it is by divine design.  There is no one there who is a spare part, a third foot or second nose.  There is no one there who is not necessary, or who doesn't need the rest of their church.  That includes you - which is really quite exciting.  God has chosen to include and use you.  You can make a real, lasting, eternally significant difference by being a part of your church.  Your church is vital to you and you are vital to your church.

Chapter 3 What makes a good church?

In Acts 2 Luke gives us a picture of the early Christian church.  Jesus had only recently ascended into heaven and just as he promised, the Holy Spirit had come to empower his people.  The impact was dramatic.  Peter had just preached and more than 3000 people had joined the Christian community.  And next, we're given a snapshot of the church life that developed among these believers, and it shows us the marks of a Spirit-filled church.

Learning - "they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching" (verse 42)  "Disciple" means "learner" and so all who come to Christ begin a lifelong process of learning more from him and about him.  The apostles were the group specially authorised by Jesus to pass on his word to the early church.  They had all met with the risen Jesus and had been appointed to speak for him, and so their teaching had and has a unique authority for Christians.  This authority is reflected in what Luke goes on to say about them; "everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles." (verse 43)  This was one of the ways in which their unique authority was accredited.  It doesn't mean miracles have never been performed by anybody else since, but the amount of miracles we see going on through the apostles is one of the things that marked them out as apostles (2 Corinthians 12 verse 12), just as Jesus' miracle pointed towards his identity as the Son of God (John 2 verse 11).  Such miraculous acts served to underline the way in which their teaching bore the authority of Jesus himself. A sign that the Holy Spirit is at work among is that we are devoted to the teaching of the apostles in the bible.  A key priority for any church, therefore, is to spend time learning from the bible together.  Our preaching needs to be based on it, and our songs, hymns and prayers need to reflect it.  Those who lead us need to be skilled in unpacking this teaching for us, laying it out before us in a way that is easy to grasp and apply.  We need to give adequate time to the teaching of God's word in our meetings, and make sure other things do not squeeze it out.  And we need, as individual Christians, to come to our church gatherings expecting to learn from the bible and excited about doing so.  Luke does not tell us that the apostles were devoted to teaching - that was necessary, but not sufficient.  He tells us that the Christians were devoted to listening to their teaching.  

Partnership - Acts 2 verse 42 "they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."  This church's commitment to learning is followed by their commitment to one another.  One of the signs that a church is drifting from the apostolic gospel is that its fellowship is becoming more and more superficial.  The word for fellowship in the New Testament - koinonia - can just as easily be translated as "partnership".  To be committed to fellowship is to be conscious of how you are now partners in the same venture. It speaks of our common goal and of how we have a stake in one another as Christians.  We see this partnership in the early church in a couple of key ways.  First of all, they shared their time.  They hung out together a lot: "All the believers were together ... Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.  They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts." (verses 44 and 46)  Luke particularly draws attention to how often they ate together, twice mentioning that they regularly broke bread.  And as they broke bread and shared meals together, they would no doubt have shared in the Lord's Supper at the same time.  The bread and the wine would have been shared in the context of a whole meal together.  It is a reminder that church members are to share their lives with one another.  Secondly they also shared their possessions.  These Christians had "everything in common" (Acts 2 verse 44).  Luke speaks in the same passage of people having homes and possessions.  What we see here is not forced collectivism, but radical generosity.  The members of this church were eager to share what they had in order ot meet any needs that arose among them.  People were willing to sell their land for the sake of others (Acts 4 verses 36 - 37).

Worship - this church enjoyed making much of God.  They were devoted to prayer (verse 42).  It was a feature of these Christians that their time together was marked by prayer.  In the chapters that follow, we see them praying in response to persecution and praying when they needed guidance.  When Peter is arrested and thrown in prison, they all pile round to one of their homes to pray - even in the middle of the night.  Praying wasn't something this community of believers did out of duty or obligation.  It was no hardship and no chore.  That is the mark of a church touched by the Holy Spirit!  We also see their worship in their praise of God: "they broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere heart, praising God." (verses 46 and 47)  This church praised God, in a joyful (glad), wholehearted (sincere) way.  Joy in God seemed to mark their corporate life, whatever they were doing together.  They knew their God to be unfathomably good and enjoyed reflecting that in the way they spent time with one another.  his praise would hae included singing.  God's people have always been singers, because God has always given his people good cause to sin.  Joyful praise will mark any healthy church.

Growth - the early Christian church saw enormous growth "and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." Acts 2 verse 47  Luke reminds us that it is God who does the growing.  It was not these Christians who converted people; God added to their number.  Any growth - in number or in maturity - is God's work not ours.  Devotion to the teaching of the apostles, tangible partnership with one another, and heartfelt praise and worship of God together will produce a community deeply compelling to a watching world.  It is a church God will tend to grow!  But such a church will also have a hunger to grow.  We cannot enjoy the gospel without being burdened for the lost.  The early church, it seems, didn't need to be told to do evangelism.  They simply did it.  The gospel contains its own evangelistic impetus.  Peter would later tell the churches of what is now modern-day Turkey that they existed to  "declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light"; that they must "live such good lives among the pagans that ... they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us" and that they should "always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have ... with gentleness and respect" (1 Peter 2 verses 9, 12 and 3 verse 15).  The people of God today as in the Old Testament, are to "seek the peace and prosperity" of the cities win which they find themselves (Jeremiah 29 verse 7).  Paul tells us to "do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers" (Galatians 6 verse 10).  Churches are both to declare and display the gospel in how they treat each other, and in how they treat those who live around them.

Priorities - all churches are different.  They hold their services at different times, their styles of worship together are different; their sizes are very different.  But all Christian churches will have these priorities in common - and these will (or should be) priorities not only for those tasked with leading the church, but for "all the believers" (Acts 2 verse 44) whom Christ purchased with his blood: 

apostolic teaching

partnership

worship

growth

This makes church and doing church both very simple and ver hard.  Simple, because these things are not difficult to understand.  Hard, because it's far easier to join a tennis club or go to a park - something we can dip in and out of, according to our mood and circumstances - than it is to be a biblical church.  Easier but less exciting.

Chapter 4 - How is church run?

The most common word in the New Testament to describe such leaders is "elders".  When Paul planted churches, he was sure to appoint elders to lead them before himself moving on to plant elsewhere.  It was not enough for him to see a group of Christians established in a particular place; there needed to be appropriate leadership put in place for them.  "Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord." (Acts 14 verse 23)  The work of properly setting up a church was not finished until this step had been taken.

An important feature of this leadership is that it is always plural.  The New Testament never speaks of a church having just one leader, but instead describes a number of elders being appointed.  It is the plural elders from the church in Ephesus that Paul called to a meeting (Acts 20 verse 17) and who laid their hands on Timothy at the formal start of his ministry there (1 Timothy 4 verse 14).  Nowhere does the New Testament envisage a ministry equivalent of a one-man band, where there will be no one able to offer vital challenge or support.  The church needs leadership and no one individual leader will be sufficient for this.  Elders are always plural.

Other terminology besides "elders" is used to describe church leaders.  Paul refers to them as "pastors" (Ephesians 4 verse 11).  Elsewhere they are described as "overseers" or "bishops" (translating the Greek word episkopos, from which we get the word "episcopal").  Though these are 2 different terms, it is clear that both describe the same office.  Paul says of the elders in Ephesus "keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers" (Acts 20 verse 28).  "Overseer/bishop" here simply highlights an aspect of what it means to be an elder; it is not itself a whole separate office (even though it has come to be so in some denominations).

As well as the role of elders, the New Testament also describes the role of deacons within the running of the local church.  This is distinct from the role of an elder.  As he introduces his letter to the Philippians Paul writes "To all God's holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons" (Philippians 1 verse 1).  This is a separate role to that of an elder/overseer and seems to be focused more on practical and administrative duties.  In the early church, deacons were appointed specifically so that the apostles could be free to focus on the ministry of God's word (Acts 6 verses 1 - 6).  Although their role is never fully spelled out in the New Testament, deacons appear to have been appointed to serve the church in a variety of ways.  Unlike elders they do not have ruling authority, but as with elders, Paul lists specific qualifications for this role (1 Timothy 3 verses 8 - 13)

 

What should church leadership look like?

Episcopalian - local churches together form part of a diocese overseen by a bishop who is himself overseen by an archbishop.  Each bishop therefore oversees a number of congregations and each archbishop oversees a number of bishops.  The local congregation itself will have its own pastor (often called a rector or a vicar), as well as office-holders such as church wardens and a parochial church council.  Under this system, a certain amount of authority lies outside the local congregation.  Episcopalians would see the role of bishops in their denomination as a continuation of the wider roles of men like Titus in the New Testament.

Presbyterian - comes from the Greek word for elder, and indicates that it is the elders who are the focus of decision-making authority in the local church.  In this system each congregation has a number of elders (including the main teaching pastor who themselves belong to a presbytery which will oversee a group of churches.  Some members of each presbytery will in turn belong to a General Assembly which has final authority over all the churches within the denomination.

Independent elder-led.  Within the local church, this functions much like a Presbyterian church.  But it is not part of a denomination, so the authority resides with the church's elders.

Congregational.  In this system, it is the congregation itself that is the decision-making authority.  Church members will elect officers (such as elders) to lead and run the church.  In some cases the church will have one pastor and a number of supporting deacons; in others the pastor will be one of a number of elders overseeing the congregation.  Some churches will vote on all matters; others only on the most crucial ones, such as the appointment of a new pastor.

What is a pastor meant to do?  Job description.  In Acts 20, Paul has been travellling around what is present-day Turkey and Greece and before he leaves that region, he has one last stop in a place called Miletus, and sends for the elders of the church in nearby Ephesus for one final meeting.  As he addresses them for the last time, Paul reflects on his own ministry and as he does so, he gives us one of the clearest explanations of what a pastor is to do.  In outlining the priorities for Christian leaders, what Paul says does not only apply to pastors and elders, but to anyone in any level of Christian leadership.

Serve God - "I served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents" (verse 19).  The word Paul uses for service is more akin to slavery, and this is the foundation of all Christian ministry.  Pastors are to be slaves of Christ and therefore to serve him "with great humility"  A pastor's main aim is to make much of Jesus and not of themselves.

Teach people - "You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house" (verse 20).  We need pastors to teach what is "helpful"  This will mean knowing their church members well enough to know what to say and how to say it.  At the same time they are to teach "the whole will of God" (verse 27) including the difficult and unpopular parts.

Accept the cost - "I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me.  However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me - the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace." (verses 23 and 24)  Serving th Lord is certainly not easy but Paul was prepared to suffer.  It will be the same for all who have been given a task by their master, Christ.  

Care deeply about their church - "keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.  Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood." (verse 28)  Ultimately of course every local church is God's - and he has purchased his church at an astonishing price: the blood of Jesus Christ.  This flock is precious to him.  If the church is worth Christ's blood, then it is certainly worth its leaders' labour.

Protect their flock - every church is in need of protection.  Sheep are extremely vulnerable animals, with no resources of their own with which to fight or flee.  The flock is vulnerable to attack - "After I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.  Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them." (verses 29 and 30)  It is not persecution from without Paul warns against, but false teaching from within.  Teaching that distorts the truth is as savage to the church as a ravenous wolf is to unprotected sheep.  The Christian leader is to protect the flock from distortions of the truth.

Guard themselves - "keep watch over yourselves" (verse 28).  Church leaders are to keep themselves protected from spiritual harm before giving such protection to others.  The heart of the Christian leader's task is the ministry of God's word.  As Paul has shown, this will take many forms.  It is more than the formal teaching on a Sunday.  It includes leading Bible-study groups, one-to-one discipleship and even going door to door in an effort to share the word of God.  Underlying it all is the reality that it is the "word of God's grace" that can "build you up" (verse 32). The word that encourages us also grows us as God's people.

It is in this context that the bible also talks about church discipline.  This kind of discipline is like the discipline that takes place in healthy families.  It is part of parental wisdom to discipline children appropriately (Proverbs 13 verse 24)  Similarly God himself disciplines his children; in fact, it is an expression of his love for them (Hebrews 12 verse 6).  Jesus outlines how this discipline is to take place - Matthew 18 verses 15 to 17.  Discipline is the responsibility of each member of the church family.  If we are aware of a fellow church member, sinning, it is for us to appropriately raise it with them.  James says as such in his letter - James 5 verses 19 and 20.  Paul reminds us that this is all to be done "gently" and while keeping watch of ourselves (Galatians 6 verse 1).

Jesus anticipates that there will be times when this one-another discipline is sufficient. Knowledge of the sin being committed is to be kept to as small a number as possible.  But if the sin persists, it is necessary to involve a wider group, even the church membership as a whole.  Jesus also shows us that there may sadly be times when the church needs to implement the ultimate sanction - removing someone from church membership.  This is a necessary and last resort.  If someone is still refusing to repent and ignoring church-wide calls to do so, they are effectively living as an unbeliever and it is therefore appropriate for the church to reflect the seriousness of this by treating them as an unbeliever.

In all of this, it is very clear what the overall purpose is.  Jesus talks about the individual concerned being "won over" (Matthew 18 verse 15); James of them being "brought back" (James 5 verse 19); Paul of them being "restored" (Galatians 6 verse 1).  In each case, the goal is the same; for them to be restored before the Lord and any whom they have sinned against.  Sin affects our fellowship with God and one another, and so discipline is to restore what has been disputed.  The purpose of discipline is always ultimately positive; not that we express disapproval or anger, or that we seek to pay someone back for hurt they may have caused others. It is to restore them back into loving fellowship with the church and its Head.

Chapter 5 - How do I survive church?

There's a sense in which church is meant to be hard work.  It is made up of imperfect people.  It is not driven by self-interest.  Its mission and character are meant to go against the grain of how things normally work in this world . In fact, the very things that make church hard work are often the things that make it great.  Philippians 2 verses 3 and 4.

Any church is a collection of sinners - saved sinners, but still sinners - and so no local church is going to be perfect.  The only perfect church is the heavenly assembly.  So until you're called to join the throng around God's throne, you're called to belong to a church in which others will get things wrong - and so will you.

Sticking with church - loving it and serving it - is often going to be the harder option than either just leaving it or turning up but not really getting stuck in.  How do you survive church?  3 imperfections in our churches that often become reasons why Christians switch off in their church or leave it altogether.  

Church is boring

A major part of our services is a monologue.  Add to this either side of these monologues might be a hymn that uses Victorian language, and taken as a package it is not hard to see why some people might find church boring.  It is not what many of us are used to, unless we've grown up going to church.

There are, sometimes, reasons why you might find church legitimately boring.  It's possible for preaching to be based on a Bible text, but to be dull.  It's possible for church music to be a dirge, even while the words of the hymns are joyful and exciting.  We can be doing the right things, but in a very dull way.

Such reasons exist, but I don't think that's why most of us tend to find church boring.  It might just be that we don't find the right sort of things interesting.

Jesus promised that "where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them."  For all its faults and idiosyncrasies, your church is still a community that God has gathered and in which he is present by his Spirit. If the idea of that is boring, then the problem might be with us and not with the church.  

As well as asking what we think is going on, we need to ask why we actually come along.  The writer of the letter to the Hebrews recognises the temptation to give up going to church - and he commands his readers to resist that temptation - Hebrews 1 verses 24 and 25 "Let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another."

Notice what he doesn't say.  The focus is not primarily on what we do or don't get out of attending our church but on what we can give to others.  Church is not there for your entertainment, as a consumer, but for you and others to find encouragement, as a contributor.  If our "boring-ometer" for church is based on whether we sang songs we liked, or whether the sermon was relevant enough or short enough, or scratching where we have been itching this week, then it could be  sign that we're going to church for our sake and not for the sake of others.  A lot of our experience of church has to do with the mindset with which we arrive week by week.

There is a balance here, of course.  The preacher does need to be thinking through the points of application of his text that week and considering the various kinds of people who will be listening.  The music does need to be a good reflection of the cultural diversity that the church represents and is wanting to reach.  It might well be that these things are not being thought about as fully as they might be.

But we do need to examine ourselves and ask not just whether the ministry team is doing all that they're meant to be doing, but whether as church members we are doing all that we are meant to be doing.  It is almost impossible to overstate the positive impact we can have on others if we are coming looking for ways in which to be an encouragement.  If that is one of our main goals then there is every possibility that we can come home from church each week excited, rather than bored.

It is not all one way.  And none of this is necessarily going to happen overnight.  But if we regularly feel bored by church, it is worth asking whether at least part of it is down to the fact that we have forgotten what is going on as we meet as church, or forgotten why we ourselves turn up to church.

Are we praying regularly for our church?  The answer to that question is a good indication of whether we're coming as Christians or as consumers.

Church has hurt me

If you're in church for long enough, it will hurt.  This might range from an unkind comment from someone else, to being seriously let down by someone you trust, all the way through to being abused by someone else within church.

For most of us, though, our experience of being burned in church is lower level than that, though still hurtful.  It could be that we've been hurt by poor leadership.  Perhaps it was leadership that was domineering and bullying.  Or leadership that was ineffectual and unsupportive.  Or leadership that did not continue to hold to the truth of the Bible.  Or leadership that was insensitive.  

It could be that we've been hurt by other church members.  Again, we are all sinful and sometimes our sin will hurt someone else.  It might be that someone betrayed a confidence, or let us down in some way.  Or a brother or sister has been, frankly, vindictive to us, either as a one-off or as a pattern of behaviour.

When wrong has been done there needs to be repentance and forgiveness.  Both are necessary but they don't necessarily rely on each other - it's easy to make your forgiveness conditional on someone saying sorry; equally we can hold off from saying sorry because the other person doesn't seem ready to say it's ok.

Jesus himself knew his church would be a place where hurts would be caused - and gave us a roadmap on how to deal with it "If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you.  If they listen to you, you have won them over."  Matthew 18 verse 15

We need to be willing to forgive.  The journey back to church will need to be done gently and slowly - but at the same time, you do need to be up for making that journey.  You need a church, and there's a church out there that needs you.  

Church has exhausted me

Churches can all too easily end up amassing people who used to be full of zeal and now are full of disappointment.  It might be that we had great hopes for a particular ministry and yet are now just demoralized, tired, and wondering why anyone bothers.  Maybe we're tired of being asked to do more that we can bear.  We might feel that our efforts are unappreciated, or make no difference, or are never enough.  We were on fire; now we're burned out.

To survive (and maybe even thrive) in church, it's necessary to keep two realities simultaneously in our minds; what the church is humanly and what it is spiritually.  Doing this enables us to be hopeful and ambitious, all the while remaining realistic.  We need to avoid both cynicism and naivety.

Humanly, the church is a group of very flawed people who meet regularly on Sundays and through the week.  People do not generally change very quickly.  People make mistakes and there are tensions and disagreements.  There are difficult characters.  Not much would look immediately impressive to a first-time visitor.

Spiritually, the church is a group that God has gathered together to himself and to each other.  Despite even vast socio-economic or cultural differences that might exist between them, they are bound together by something that transcends anything this world can rally around.

So in church, there is real community and sharing of life.  There are people who have been quietly and gradually drawn to Christ.  There are people who have been quietly an gradually healed of deep wounds.  These people, for all their quirks, meet together to celebrate all that God has shown himself to be to them and to showcase his grace to a watching world.  All that this church is and does cannot be ultimately accounted for by the usual measurements of this world.  God is undeniably present and at work.

If we only take the human view, we'll become cynical.  If we only remember the spiritual view, we'll become naive.  Either way, we'll become disillusioned.  So we have to learn to look at our church as Paul looked at the Corinthians church.  This was a church he had planted, a church he had pastored; a church he had given years to.  But by the time he wrote his first letter to them, it was a total mess.  It was divided, proud, immoral and theologically wobbly.  Paul could even say to them "your meetings do more harm than good" (1 Corinthians 11 verse 17)  it's hard to imagine a church so bad that it would be better off not having Sunday services!  Things were in serious disarray.  From a human view, we'd expect Paul to be totally demoralised. 

But he isn't, because, as he reminds the Corinthians despite all their huge flaws and failings, they are still "the church of God in Corinth ... sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people." (verse 2)

They are horribly sinful, but they are also sanctified - pure and Christ-like - in God's sight, through their faith in Jesus.  And so Paul, without ignoring how much of a mess this church is, says "I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus." (verse 4)

He views this church from both a human and a spiritual view, so he's realistic about them but not demoralized by them; ambitious for them but not surprised by their sin.  They are a mess, but they are God's mess, and Paul knows that straightening out messes like this are something of a speciality for God.

Remember who is there as you meet and why you are there - and church will never be boring.  Seek to be patient, to lovingly confront and completely forgive when you are hurt - and you'll be able to survive being sinned against.  Hold together the human and spiritual view of your church - and you'll remain both realistic and ambitious.

After all, your church is a miracle.  Next Sunday look at those sitting around you.  It's amazing that they're there.  It's amazing that they're still trusting Jesus this Sunday - another week of God's grace to them.  it's amazing that you're there, trusting Jesus this Sunday - another week of God's grace to you.  And it's amazing that you, with all your differences and sometimes disagreements, are sitting in the same room,, serving the same God and encouraging each other - a wonderful visual aid of God's grace to his people.  Your church is imperfect.  And that makes your church all the more miraculous.  Its imperfections are in themselves exciting because they show just how powerful and loving the God who has brought you together must be.

Chapter 6 - How can I be a good church member?

Church is not something we go to but something we belong to.

We are to see ourselves as members of our local church, not just attendees or supporters: "In Christ, we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others." Romans 12 verse 5

The question "why should I bother with church?" necessarily raises the question "How should I bother with church?" - what does it mean in practice to belong to my church family?  How do I love the people Jesus has loved enough to die for?"

The most obvious way to express our membership of a church family is by committing to being there regularly and making weekly attendance a priority - at midweek groups as well as on Sundays.  We show up.  We're determined to.  We won't just be there when we happen to be in town with nothing else on.  We'll be there when it inconveniences us.  We'll be prepared to cut a weekend trip short to be back in time for church.  We'll go when the weather's bad.  We'll go when we're tired and would rather have the time to ourselves.  We recognise that we need this kind of fellowship and encouragement every single week of our lives, even when we're rea;ly not the mood for it.

Going to church is not about me and what I'll get out of it this week.  I belong to the others there, and so it is about them and how I can encourage and serve them.  This shifts my focus.  I'm not now thinking "is church going to scratch where I itch today?  If not, maybe I will give it a miss."  No, I'll be thinking "I need to be with my Christian family today.  I need the rest of the body and the rest of the body needs me."

It is hard to get to know the rest of my church family and for them to get to know me if I am not attending regularly.  It is hard for me to be led by those God has placed over me if I only show up occasionally.  The most fundamental way in which we express our membership of a church is by being there.

Involvement

As well as physically being at church week by week, we need to be actively involved in the life of our congregation.  We need to be aware of what is going on, what the needs are and what issues are facing the church at the moment.  If it is our church we should (a) know what is going on and (b) have a stake in that.

Praying

We need to pray for the life of our church in a way that is informed and regular.  We need to be at the prayer meeting, where particular needs and news are shared. If you've never really felt as if you've belonged at your church, try praying for the other members, by name and regularly.

Serving

Belonging to a church family means that we put the needs of others there before our own.  As Paul said to the church in Philippi, we must "do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.  Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others." Philippians 2 verses 3 and 4

In doing so, the church body is simply following the example of its Head, Jesus (verse 5).  We need to serve our church family.

God has given gifts to every member of the body of Christ precisely so that they can serve the body and help to build it up.  "Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good." 1 Corinthians 12 verse 7

Each of us will have been given ways of being a blessing to our church family.  We need to find out what the needs are in our church and think about where and how we might be able to help.

Giving

One of the ways in which we express our being part of a church family is by having a financial stake in it.  It is one of the ways that most solidifies our commitment - we are literally invested in the work when we are giving our money to it.  Giving financially to the ministry of your church is a way of directing your heart there.  "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6 verse 21

If you have never felt that you truly cherish your church, it may be because you've never really given sacrificially to its needs.  There's another reason for giving - Paul says that it is right for churches to financially support their pastors.  "The one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor." Galatians 6 verse 6  To his young protege Timothy he wrote "The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honour, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching 'The worker deserves his wages'".  1 Timothy 5 verses 17 and 18

Giving regularly is a discipline and one it does us good to develop.  Paul describes giving as a "grace" (2 Corinthians 8 verse 7); if we don't give at all, we're the ones who will miss out the most.

Submitting

Hebrews 13 verse 17 "Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account.  Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you."  Many of us live in cultures that are increasingly suspicious and resentful of authority.  We may be aware of how little secular leaders have our best interests at heart.  The idea of someone having spiritual authority over us, still worse of our submitting to that authority does not naturally sit well with us.  Yet this is how God has designed us to flourish as his people: to have leaders over us that we are to honour and submit to.

Our respectful submission to their authority will make their work joyful and not burdensome and that in turn will be a blessing to us.  We're allowed to disagree and we're allowed to thrash issues out in respectful discussion.  But we are called by God to submit to our leader.  And if we only submit when we agree with them or when it suits us, we are not allowing ourselves to be led by them, which means we're not really letting ourselves be led by God.

Saturday is a great day to pray for your pastor, your church and yourself as you prepare to meet with God's people.

It is also the responsibility of church members to make sure their pastor is being well looked after and cared for.  Churches are to support their pastor financially.  But there is also a need to make sure they have a healthy work-life balance, spending enough time with family and friends.  Many pastors are prone to overwork - there is always more that needs doing.

We also need to remember that pastors are church members too.  They need the same pastoral care as anyone else.  We need to let our pastors be Christians, not putting them on any kind of pedestal and assuming that the Christian life just happens automatically for them, but getting alongside them, encouraging and supporting and loving them.

Devotion

When Luke gave his sketch of the early Christian church in Acts 2, this was the adjective he used "they devoted themselves" to being taught, to one another in fellowship and to drawing close to God together in prayer.  These were not aspects of church life they were just approving of.  They even go beyond cold commitment.  it was a matter of the heart - they were devoted.

Devotion is not a laid-back, feet-up-on-the-couch kind of word  It speaks of spending ourselves - using our time, giving our gifts, investing our emotions.  But it speaks of doing so gladly, because of God's church we find something worth being devoted to - an embassy of God's kingdom, a family of God's people, the bride of the Lord Jesus.  it is remembering what the church is, and whose the church is, that makes hard work glad work and keeps us joyfully devoted.

When the apostle John wrote his first letter to the churches under his care, he repeatedly used affectionate language.  They were not just his colleagues; they were his beloved (1 John 2 verse 1).  And they were his beloved because they were Christ's beloved.  Once we grasp Christ's deep affection for the church, we cannot help but begin to share it.  we become devoted.