From The Archives: Quality of (Eternal) Life

You often hear about people wanting a great quality of life.  Usually you will hear about this as people begin to grow older.  They want to do things such as exercise and eat healthy in order to improve their present quality of life and their quality of life in the later years.  You can’t blame anyone for wanting to do this, so that they are able to continue doing many of the same things as they age as they do in the present.  I wonder, though, if followers of Christ do the same thing so that they will have a great quality of eternal life.

Contrary, perhaps, to popular belief, eternal life doesn’t begin when we die.  Jesus came to give to those who believe in him eternal life. So, once you have this eternal life, why wouldn’t someone do all they can to have a great quality of eternal life?  Surely it isn’t just about punching a ticket to heaven, is it?  So, what can we do to develop this great quality of eternal life right here and right now?  I think it’s pretty simple.

1.  Saturate your life with prayer.

2.  Saturate your life with God’s word.

3.  Saturate your life with Godly fellowship.

4.  Saturate your life with Godly worship.

Do you do these things?  Are there other things that you think will give you a great quality of eternal life right now?

4 Important Qualities Of A Church

I have been in more churches in the past year or so than I have been in my life. Church searches will do that for you. I have been in churches ranging from a mega church to where barely one hundred people were there. I’ve been in traditional churches and uber-contemporary churches.

I had a list of things that I was looking for in a church. Some of these I even wrote down. Others I had in my head and perhaps I didn’t even realize they were there. Now that we have settled in a church and love it, I’ve come to realize that there are really four things that are most important in a church. I did not get these from some book or some preconceived idea of what I want in a church. I don’t even get these from the church I am a part of now. I don’t believe that any church is perfect or even has all four of these things nailed down. But these are what every church should be striving to excel at.

Word of God

The early church was devoted to the apostles’ teaching. The apostle’s were devoted to the word of God. This is what they preached. They preached from what we call the Old Testament. They preached what the Holy Spirit was revealing to them on a daily basis. They even got some other guys to help out with the physical needs so that they could spend their time devoted to the word.

Guess what happened? Thousands were coming to know the Lord. Their numbers were added to daily. They didn’t just wait for Sunday to preach and extend an invitation. There was something different about them.

Is that kind of power in our churches today? Perhaps some. Far too many fail. Nice little sermons that don’t really have any power are preached all across our nation. Many are basically self-help messages wrapped in Christian language. The Gospel must be driving what we say and proclaim. It is the power of God to salvation.

Fellowship

I don’t think this means that they simply got together to eat and laugh together. That may have been part of it. However, I believe they were devoted to fellowship with each other. They loved being together in Christ’s name. They sought it out. They worked for it. They pursued it. They didn’t just let it happen. These early believers depended on each other. If one needed help, they helped. If one was rejoicing, they all rejoiced. If one was grieving, they grieved together.

Do we have that type of fellowship in our churches now? Do we truly pursue fellowship the way the early church did? I know that we can use the excuse that it’s a different day and that we’re busier. Perhaps we’re too busy. Maybe there are things we should eliminate from our lives so that we can fellowship with our brothers and sisters.

Breaking of Bread

I used to think that they spent a lot of time eating together. That doesn’t mean that I don’t think that today. But when I see that they were devoted to the breaking of the bread, I believe more was going on than simply eating. They were devoted to the Lord’s Supper or Communion. They spent time remembering together what Christ had done for them. They remembered that His body was broken. They remembered that His blood was shed.

Do we take this seriously? Do we really remember what He has done for us? Or is it something we’ve always done in our lives and in our church?

Prayer

The early believers prayed. And they prayed together. I don’t think they simply gathered together on Wednesday night for a prayer meeting, called out some prayer requests and said a prayers. These folks where serious about their prayer. Things happened. Prisoners were freed. Souls were saved. The Church exploded.

Do we pray? I mean do we get down to real, serious prayer? The kind that is life and world-changing?

When I think of these things, I realize how much I fall short in these areas. Most of my life in church has been set on cruise control. I would simply be happy when I got “there”. We simply don’t have time. We and our churches are surrounded by people who need to hear the message of the gospel that we have. We don’t have time to float. Where do we start? A good place to start would be with our churches focused on these four qualities.

What do you think are the most important qualities of a church?

A Gospel Centered Year

I know that we are just about past the time for posts like this, but please indulge me one last one.  I promise that I won’t continue these beginning of the year type posts.

What kind of year do you want?  Since most of you who grace me with coming to this blog follow Christ, I specifically mean what kind of year spiritually do you want.

Do you want your year to be worship centered?

How about fellowship centered?

What about prayer?  Do you want prayer to be the center of your life this year?

Bible study?  Reading the Bible through?  Would that be the focus of the next few months?

All of these are wonderful ideas.  I want all of these things to be part of it, but I want all of them to point to and derive their power from one thing.

The Gospel.

I want the Gospel to be the center of my life this year.

Someone may want to get all over me about that.  Perhaps they would challenge me and say that Christ should be the center.

I don’t disagree.  I just happen to think that you can’t have a Gospel centered year without Christ being the center.

So this year, at the center of my life, I want the Gospel of Jesus Christ to be central to everything I do and think.

Will I succeed?  The answer is in the future.  I do know that If I don’t go fishing there is a good chance I won’t catch a fish.  If I don’t make the effort there is a pretty good chance that I won’t succeed.

I want 2013 to be a gospel centered year.

What is going to be the center of 2013 for you?

Just Wondering

I sat around today and wondered a few things yesterday.

I wondered about us joining churches when we cannot join the Church.

I wondered about how to give our money in ways that help widows and orphans and those that need justice and mercy.

I wondered about having fellowship instead of fellowships.

I wondered about us praying instead having  a prayer meeting.

I wondered about us devoting ourselves to the apostle’s teachings more than other teachings.

I wondered about us breaking bread together instead of just breaking bread.

I was just wondering…..

First Church Year #18: The Church Picnic

Yesterday, we had a church picnic.

Rather than having evening services, we met at a small park and had a simple church picnic.

I haven’t always been a big fan of these.  I have rarely looked forward to them.  If I haven, it’s been years.

This one was different.  I looked forward to it.

Why?

It wasn’t the food.  I’m not knocking it, but that isn’t what drew me.

I looked forward to seeing everyone I see at church in a different setting.

I looked forward to fellowshipping in a different way than I normally get to.

I looked forward to meeting some new people who I hadn’t gotten to know.

I looked forward to laughing with some folks.

I looked forward to catching up with others.

The old, simple church picnic.

I’m looking forward to the next one.

Have you been to a church picnic lately?

First Church Year #2

This Sunday brought new experiences to our journey in our first church year.

First, Sunday School was a good time.  One person needed prayer and we gathered around to pray this person and their circumstance.  From there, we had a lesson on unity.  One thing we all agreed on is that we cannot go through this life alone.

I have a college friend who is a member of this church.  She came over and talked with Jan before the service began.  She was checking with Jan on her recovery from surgery a week ago.

The worship service was another good one.  It was a mixture of contemporary music with some old hymns.  I would give you more details, but the flow goes from one song to another.  I don’t have time to stop in the middle and write down the song titles.   I also don’t want to in the middle of singing.

The sermon was about the demon possessed man from Gerasenes.  My friend on staff preached about how this man had a story, but had an even greater story once Jesus had healed him from the possession.  The point was that we all have a story to tell as well.  We all have a story that we can share with people about how we came to know Christ and what He has done in our lives.

Following the service there was a fellowship lunch.  We were able to eat with the church  and get a better picture of what the church is really like.

That was it for yesterday.  Jan is still recovering and does not feel 100%, so we did not return last night.

How was your church service yesterday?

My Wrong Picture Of The Church

I have gone to church, basically, all of my life.  Recently while reviewing my life and thinking about my almost 43 years of church attendance, I realized that I have had a wrong view of church for almost the entire time.

When I was a  kid it was a place where I had to wear itchy clothes and stiff shoes that hurt my feet.  I had to sit there for a tortuous hour (two if you counted Sunday School) until I got to go home and have fun the rest of the day.

As a teenager, it was a place where I was made to feel guilty for, well, sometimes just for being a teenager it seemed.

As a young adult, it became a place where I tried to earn God’s favor by working for him.  After all, by then I was married and living a moral life.  I got to work for God in all sorts of ways that would “make Him happy.”

Even after I came to salvation (how’s that for a nice ”churchy” phrase?) I don’t think my view was right.

I still viewed it simply as a place to go learn about God and Christ.  I still saw it simply as a place to do things for the Lord.  I saw it as a place where I got to go worship God through His Son.

Here’s what I didn’t see church as.

The Bride of Christ, a bride that Christ died for so that the members of the Bride could live.

A creation of Christ that the gates of hell will not prevail against.

A fellowship where God’s grace is displayed through the relationships of those who gather together.

The Body of Christ where I am one member and must depend on all of the other members to operate.

A place to love and practice love and display love and even be loved.

A place where people care me and others about despite all of our faults and foibles.

There’s much more that I probably can’t think of right now.  Those are just a few.  I’m learning this a little every day.  And eventually my wrong view of church will be gone.

What about you?  Do yo or have you ever had a wrong view of church?

Quality of (Eternal) Life

You often hear about people wanting a great quality of life.  Usually you will hear about this as people begin to grow older.  They want to do things such as exercise and eat healthy in order to improve their present quality of life and their quality of life in the later years.  You can’t blame anyone for wanting to do this, so that they are able to continue doing many of the same things as they age as they do in the present.  I wonder, though, if followers of Christ do the same thing so that they will have a great quality of eternal life.

Contrary, perhaps, to popular belief, eternal life doesn’t begin when we die.  Jesus came to give to those who believe in him eternal life. So, once you have this eternal life, why wouldn’t someone do all they can to have a great quality of eternal life?  Surely it isn’t just about punching a ticket to heaven, is it?  So, what can we do to develop this great quality of eternal life right here and right now?  I think it’s pretty simple.

1.  Saturate your life with prayer.

2.  Saturate your life with God’s word.

3.  Saturate your life with Godly fellowship.

4.  Saturate your life with Godly worship.

Do you do these things?  Are there other things that you think will give you a great quality of eternal life right now?

God Is Light

Here are some things that I learned recently in my Sunday School class about 1 John 1:5-10:

1.  God is light.  No darkness is found in Him.  This is the message that John has declared to his audience.

2.  We live in either Light or darkness.  This is how John divides our lives.  His opponents would say the division is spiritual and physical.

3.  Followers of Christ walk/live in the Light.

4.  Followers of Christ have fellowship with each other

5.  We are cleansed from all sin.

6.  We have all sinned and need forgiveness.

7.  We are affected by God’s forgiveness and confess our sins.