Tag: Church

We Can Have Great Peace in a Church Filled with Differences

On By BrianIn Books of the Bible, Virtue Miscellaneous

In Acts 16, we get a glimpse of the planting of the church at Philippi. The first members include a wealthy woman, a jailor, and possibly a slave girl. These are very different people – hardly people that would have associated with each other until they came to Christ. But now in spite of their differences, they are part of the same church. And Paul admonishes them to stand firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving side by side, and again to be of the same mind, the same love, in full accord, of one mind (Philippians 1:27, 2:1-2). Paul calls the Philippians to oneness, to unity, to be at peace with one another.

Our own churches include some very different people (I hope). There are different backgrounds, different types of employment, different seasons of life, different opinions, different ideas, and on the list goes. And God calls us to stand firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving side by side. He calls us to be of the same mind, the same love, in full accord, of one mind. God calls us to oneness, to unity, to be at peace with one another.

How is this possible? How can we live in peace together in midst of all of our differences? Philippians provides us with two very important answers:

First, we must center on the gospel of the Lord (1:27). We are to strive side by side for the faith of the gospel. It is the gospel that unites us. The gospel is what brought us together. With all our differences, we became one in Christ. And we are to strive side by side for faith of the gospel. We cling to that faith together. We encourage one another in that faith. We proclaim the faith together. We live that faith together. As soon as we elevate our differences above the gospel, we have problems. As soon as we start chasing after our own pet projects, we have problems. As soon as we come to church expecting things to follow our own opinions, we have problems. The gospel brought us together and it is the gospel that will keep us together as we strive side by side for the faith of the gospel, as we keep the gospel central.

Second, we must walk in the humility of the Lord (2:3-8). There is to be no rivalry among us – it is not about getting my way. There is to be no conceit among us – thinking we are better than others. Instead we are to humbly put others first. We are to look beyond ourselves to the good of the others. It is not about you…or me. Strife is hard to have when we have this kind of attitude. We are to have the same attitude that our Lord had as he humbled himself, coming down from heaven to be born as a little baby and ultimately die on the cross. This is God we are talking about! The King of Kings humbled himself! The only one who can honestly say it is all about him chose to humble himself. And he calls us to follow.

We can have great peace in a church filled with differences as we center on the gospel of the Lord and walk in the humility of the Lord.

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

Sloth – Mike Wittmer
I’ve spoken of sloth because I suspect it lies at the root of many people’s crisis of faith. More people shrug away their faith than are argued out of it.

What He Could Have Been – Tim Challies
I have been reflecting recently that some of the greatest evidences of God’s grace in the life of the Christian are the things that person could be or inevitably would be without the active presence of the Holy Spirit and without a commitment to the pursuit of holiness.

12 Reasons You Should Pray Scripture – Andrew Naselli (Themelios)
So why should you pray Scripture? For at least twelve reasons….

Four Little Words – Julian Freeman
Customs start with single acts. Good customs start with single acts of conscious obedience. So … where will you be this Sunday?

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day worshiping the Lord with your local church!

Ministry Monday

On By BrianIn Ministry Moments

Here are some helpful posts on worship for pastors and worship leaders:

What Is Worship? – Matt Mason (TGC Worship)
Some helpful summaries…

Scripture in Worship – Joe Thorn
Because God’s word is what revives the soul, makes us wise, enlightens the eyes, and is the means by which God sanctifies us (Ps. 19; Jn. 17:17), we should be eager to give it a prominent place in our worship. While it is common to read the Scripture with the sermon and before the Lord’s Supper, I want to suggest 5 more places in worship where the word of God can be lifted up.

Truth We Believe and Songs We Sing – Matt Smethurst (Gospel Coalition)
Sound theology should shape everything we do in corporate worship. But what does that mean for music in particular? Don Carson recently sat down with worship leaders Keith Getty and Matt Boswell to discuss the relationship between the truth we believe and the songs we sing.

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some must-read posts about the church:

Church as an Oasis of Grace – Trevin Wax

Cultivating a Gracious Climate in Your Church – Jared Wilson

Is Your Church a Learning Community? – David Wells via Kevin DeYoung

Create a Contrast Culture in Your Church – Jonathan Leeman (Gospel Coalition)

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day applying some of these great ideas!

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points1 Comment

Here are some good posts related to the church for your weekend reading.  As a pastor, I’d highly recommend the last two.

How To Stop Church-Killing Gossip – Justin Taylor

The Difference between Congregational Worship and a Concert – Justin Taylor

How To Criticize a Preacher – David Murray
So you’ve heard a sermon and you’re not happy. You feel the preacher got it badly wrong in either his interpretation, his words, his manner, his length, his whatever.
What now?

Praying for Your Pastor – Joe Thorn
There are a number of ways we should be praying for our leaders in the church, but as we approach Sunday I want to encourage you to pray for your pastors and their preaching in 4 specific ways.

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day with your local church!

Ministry Monday

On By BrianIn Ministry Moments

Here are some helpful posts on preaching:

6 Bullet Points on Preaching – Tim Challies
The Apostle Paul had a lot to say about preaching, but I think the majority of it can be grouped under six main headings or ideas. You could, of course, extract specific teaching points from each one, but I think there’s value in looking at them in a broad sense. Here is what Paul says about the preaching of God’s Word…

3 Questions To Ask of Your Sermon – Trevin Wax
The more I’ve thought about these questions, the more I am convinced that pastors ought to ask these questions of every sermon they preach. Teachers ought to ask these questions of every lesson they prepare. The questions are a helpful guide to keeping Christ as the focus of our ministry.

Preaching That Cuts to the Heart – Tim Keller (via Gospel Coalition)
Put another way, you should preach the truth, not just your opinion; you should preach the good news, not just good advice; and you should preach to make the truth real to the heart, not just clear to the mind.

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts to ponder as you gather with your local church this Lord’s Day:

The Excitement and Anticipation – Tim Challies
…there is value in elevating the preparations we make for worshipping in the local church, and elevating the anticipation we feel for Sunday morning’s sermon.

How to Listen to to a Sermon – Phil Ryken (Reformation 21)
So what is the right way to listen to a sermon?  With a soul that is prepared, a mind that is alert, a Bible that is open, a heart that is receptive, and a life that is ready to spring into action.

How to Listen to a Sermon – Justin Taylor
More resources to consider on this important topic.

Ten tips for going to church with your family – Christine Jensen
Church-going should not be a drudgery and mere duty. If you treat it as such, so will your children. If it is an opportunity to meet the Lord and to meet the Lord’s people, why would we not greet it with enthusiasm and expectation? Do we really think that will happen?

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for you to consider this weekend:

So You Want to Sin, Do You? – Tim Challies

10 Ways to Resist the Devil – Tim Challies

12 Ways to Preserve Christian Unity – Tim Challies

Can Life Have Meaning Without God? – James Anderson (Gospel Coalition)

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day worshiping the Lord with your local church!

Passion Points

On By BrianIn Church Collection, PASSION Points

Our church had VBS this past week, which means I have been really busy the last two weeks – and so the lack of blogging.  But I’m back, and here are some good posts to consider as you prepare to meet together with your local church tomorrow:

Pastors Need Your Care Part 1 – Jason Helopoulos
Pastors Need Your Care Part 2 – Jason Helopoulos
As a pastor, I can affirm that these are some great suggestions.

How Much Time Do Pastors Spend Preparing Sermons? – Thom Rainer
Most church members give little thought to the amount of time it takes a pastor to prepare each sermon. In reality, sermon preparation is a large portion of a pastor’s workweek. Unfortunately, this work is invisible to typical church members. They don’t realize the enormous amount of time it takes just to prepare one sermon.

Why I Pray Publicly for Other Churches – Greg Gilbert
Each week, I choose one or two churches and pray for their services that day. I pray for the church to be attentive to the Word of God. I pray for the pastor to speak boldly and accurately from the Bible. I pray for people to be convicted of their sin, for Christians to be encouraged in the faith, and for non-Christians to be converted. I also thank the Lord that we live in a city where we are not the only church in which the gospel is proclaimed.

8 Ways Satan Keeps You From Worship – Thomas Brooks (via Tim Challies)
Satan wants to keep you from worshipping the One he hates. He wants to keep you from doing the right thing, whether that is spending time alone with the Lord in Scripture and prayer, attending and participating in public worship services, or any other thing that will draw you closer to the Lord. Here, courtesy of Thomas Brooks, are eight ways Satan will keep you from worship.

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day!

Unity in Fellowship

On By BrianIn Book of Acts, Church Life

In Acts 15, the Jerusalem Council requested the Gentile believers to avoid food offered to idols, food that had been strangled, and food with blood still in it.  Why focus on food issues?  Because eating together was and still is an important part of fellowship, and these three things would offend the Jewish believers.  If Jewish and Gentile believers are going to have fellowship together, eat together, and find unity together, then the Gentiles need to strive to avoid offending their Jewish brothers and sisters in Christ.

We too must strive not to offend each other.  We all have different personal convictions regarding behavior based on our age, how we were raised, where we have lived, and more.  We ought to strive not to offend each other in what we do.  We may need to agree on some things we will all avoid so as not to offend each other.

We have all seen one child figure out that something bugs another child, and so this first child goes out of their way to do that something just to irritate the second child.  Scripture teaches us to do the opposite.  If we know something offends someone, we should graciously strive not to do it.  Pursue unity in fellowship.

But notice also that the Gentiles were only given three things to avoid so as not to offend their Jewish brothers.  But the Jewish believers held many more personal convictions from the Mosaic Law, and the Gentiles were not expected to keep the Law to please them.  There was still a lot of room for Gentiles to do things that the Jews would find offensive, but the Jewish believers had to avoid being offended.

We too must graciously strive not to be offended.  We can’t expect others to follow our personal behavior convictions, or judge them when they don’t.  We must avoid being offended by what our brothers and sisters in Christ do.

If you go out in the rain in a t-shirt, you will soon be soaked.  You need a rain slicker, so the rain “slicks” off of you.  When you go to church, don’t wear a “t-shirt” in which every offense soaks in until you are drenched with anger.  Wear a “rain slicker”, so the offenses just slick off of you.

In sum, we all need to focus on ourselves.  Graciously strive not to offend.  Graciously strive not to be offended.  Pursue unity in fellowship.