WHY ARE WE HERE?                                                                   9-7-03

To Become Healthy Christians

Acts 19:32

Let me read a single verse for you that caught my attention as I was reading through the book of Acts recently:

Acts 19:32 The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there.  As I read that, it sounded like some churches I know.  And I wondered: do people in our Assembly know why they are there?

Do you know why we are here?  Why are we here?  Why do we gather each week in this place?  I want to talk about that for the next several weeks during our Sunday morning times together.

I have written in the flyleaf of my Bible these words: “This will be a healthy church.”  Those words were spoken 17 years ago today: September 7, 1986, as Antone Sawyer, a woman from South Africa spoke to our congregation.  It was following the morning message, and it came in the form of a prophetic word.  “This will be a healthy church.”

We were not a healthy church at that moment.  We had recently been through some very difficult times, and even at that moment one of the associate pastors was involved in an affair, although none of us knew of it yet.  But God knew, and He reassured us that spiritual health would be a part of our future.

I have held onto those words through the years, asking God to fulfill His word to us.  And I believe He has been doing that.  Yet a healthy church must be made up of healthy Christians.  What does it mean to be a healthy Christian?

Jesus said: Love God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself.  In broad terms, that is what it means to be a healthy Christian.  But what does that look like in everyday living?  That’s what I want to talk with you about this morning.

The ushers have given you a worksheet.  I want you to more than to listen to me; I want you to think about your own life and how you are doing in each of these 10 areas.  We will talk about each one and then   I will ask you to evaluate your life in that area.

1. He considers what God wants in the decisions he makes. 

2 Sam. 5:19; 2 Chron. 20:2-4,12-13; Acts 22:8-10

It’s one thing to say, “yes, I love God with all my heart”, but it’s another thing to make that practical.  How can we say we love God with all our heart, and then go through life as if He didn’t even exist, never considering what He wants when we make our decisions?

When we talk about the will of God, all we are saying is “This is what God wants in this situation.”  This past Friday and Saturday our pastoral team & our wives got away to pray and talk together about this coming year in the life of our church.  And as I prayed earlier in the week I sensed that we needed to make sure we didn’t see prayer as something we needed to get out of the way so we could get on with our planning.  Instead our planning needed to grow out of our times of prayer.

God has plans for our future at Valley Assembly.  God has plans for your family.  He has plans for your life as an individual.  A healthy Christian considers what God wants when he is making his decisions in life.

In 2 Chron. 20, Israel was facing an overwhelming situation.  V.3 says Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the LORD, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. The people of Judah came together to seek help from the LORD; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him.  Then v. 12 says we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you.”  All the men of Judah, with their wives and children and little ones, stood there before the LORD.

God, what do You want in this situation?  That’s what a healthy Christians asks.  How about you?  On your paper, rate yourself.

2. He lives unselfishly, sacrificially, serving others in whatever way he can.  Philippians 2:5-8; Romans 15:2-3

Last Sunday morning our missionary speaker talked about “it’s not about me.”  Unhealthy Christians don’t understand that.  Healthy Christians do.  Listen to the words of Philippians 2:5-8 (read).

I read this week: “Christianity is not a religion or a philosophy, but a relationship and a lifestyle.  The core of that lifestyle is thinking of others, as Jesus did, instead of ourselves…Thinking of others is the heart of Christlikeness and the best evidence of spiritual growth.”

Last Sunday morning I watched as a couple came into church late.  Things were a bit full last Sunday with only two services.  They looked around and could not find a place to sit.  So they walked back out into the foyer, and out the front door.  Maybe they will never be back.

The thing that grieved me was that no one said to them: “Here, let me stand by the wall and you sit down.”  “Why would we say that?  It would be uncomfortable to have to stand up and let someone else sit down – sort of like a sacrifice or something.”  We said to that couple: “It’s all about me; it’s not about you.”  And I think they heard us, loud and clear.

A healthy Christian lives unselfishly.  He willingly makes sacrifices for others.  That’s loving your neighbor as you love yourself.  On your paper, please rate yourself.

3. He spends time reading his Bible to feed himself spiritually. 

Matt. 4:4; Job 23:12

Our spiritual life is sustained through spiritual nourishment, and the primary source of that nourishment is the Word of God.  I am not opposed to reading books written by Christian authors.  There is a certain spiritual smugness that thinks God hasn’t spoken to anyone else and we can never profit by what He has said to others.

But God wants to speak to us directly.  Whatever you read from others needs to be compared to what the Bible says, because there is a lot of false teaching mixed in with the good stuff sometimes.  But let the Bible be your primary book.  Don’t just read what others say about the Bible.  Read it for yourself and let God feed your soul from it.

In Matt. 4:4 Jesus said ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’  Yes, we need physical bread. But that’s not all we need.  We also need to feed our spirit.

If you went 24 hours without food, you would be hungry, and starting to get weak.  What if you went 2 days, or 4 days, or 7 days?  So why do we think we can fail to nourish our spirit man and not have it affect us?  Spiritual weakness is a direct result of our failure to spend time feeding ourselves from the Word of God.  On your paper, please rate yourself.

4. He lives in obedience to the teachings of the Bible.  

James 1:22 says Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.  On three occasions this week I have talked to people about sexual purity in their relationship with someone of the opposite sex.  Sexual purity is a Biblical value, not a worldly value.

The world says “As you move toward marriage, why wouldn’t you experiment sexually?  That’s the only way you will know if you are compatible.”  God says “Keep yourself pure.  Save your sexual experiences for marriage.”  Worldly values and Biblical values clash time after time in our society.

Are you a Christians who lives by the values of the world, or by the values taught in the Bible?  We have a standard for the leaders of our church when it comes to alcohol use.  I have been talking about this with deacon candidates the past couple of weeks.  No matter what your personal conviction, if you are going to be a leader in this church, you must agree to drink no alcohol.  When so many of our students struggle with the pressure from their peers to drink, I don’t want them pointing to leaders in this church and saying, “Well they drink, so it must be ok.”

Worldly values say “Do whatever you feel like doing.”  Biblical values say “Do nothing that may cause a weaker brother to stumble, for then you are sinning against Christ.”

This fourth point is a very broad one, but a very important one.  I guess we could have this one alone and it would be sufficient – just live by the teachings of the Bible and you will be a healthy Christian.  So, how are you doing in this regard?  On your paper, please rate yourself.

5. He prays, both talking to and listening to God.  

Colossians 4:2 says Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.  This is more than asking the blessing on your food and praying “Now I lay me down to sleep” when you go to bed each night.  The word that is used in this verse means “to persevere and not to faint, to be steadfastly attentive unto, to be devoted or constant in” – prayer.

Too often we pray like we talk to our spouse.  The TV is running, our minds are more on watching the baseball game than they are on what our spouse is saying, and what we are saying.  To have a healthy marriage you have to do some uninterrupted talking…listening.

And so it is with our relationship with God.  Praying while we do other things is good and necessary.  But if that is the only praying we are doing, we will not be healthy Christians. 

God wants some uninterrupted time with us, time when we shut other things out and concentrate only on Him – when we shut off the TV, we put down the book or magazine or newspaper, turn off the talk-radio and turn our attention to Him.  How much time do we spend praying in what we used to call a “closet of prayer”?  It’s not a literal closet, though it may be.  It’s that place where we shut ourselves in with God and pour out our heart to Him and let Him pour out His heart to us.

On one of our response sheets from visitors to our church someone wrote “I’m looking for a church that provides opportunities for people to gather for prayer.”  And I’m glad we are a church like that.  But to be healthy Christians we must also learn to pray where it is just God and me, talking together one on one. On your paper, please rate yourself.

6. He meets with other Christians for prayer, spiritual growth,   accountability, and support.  Hebrews 3:12-13; 10:24-25

Here is the other side of the equation.  While solo prayer is important and necessary, we need other people are well.  I need the group of pastors I meet with each Thursday morning.  In recent weeks as we have gone through some things here at the church, I have met with them and they have prayed for me and for our church. 

One of the pastors we meet with has been asked to leave his church. We prayed together for him last Thursday morning.  When one of them was struggling with his wife’s depression, we prayed together for him and for his wife.  When I was facing a particularly tempting situation, I shared that with them and they prayed for me & held me accountable.

Do you have people like that in your life?  Listen to these words to us from the book of Hebrews. 3:12-13 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

10:24-25 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

This sort of thing does not happen primarily in our large gatherings for worship and teaching.  It happens in smaller groups where there is discussion and interaction.  And if you are going to be a healthy Christian, there is no way you can do that all by yourself.  That’s the reason we are moving toward a stronger emphasis on small groups in our church.

Our desire as leaders in this church is to help you to become all that God wants you to be in Jesus, to be healthy.  Our calling is not to make you comfortable or to make everyone happy.  Some of the things God is calling us to do will cause criticism.  Some will be misunderstood.  But we are committed to leading the church in the direction we sense God is calling us to move, whatever the cost. 

This is a good church, but we are not yet all that God wants us to be.  More of us need to be in small groups for prayer, spiritual growth,   accountability, and support.  On your paper, please rate yourself.

7. He talks of his faith in Jesus with unbelievers, backing up his talk by the way he lives.  Acts 1:8; Eph. 5:15-16

He talks the talk, but he also walks the walk.  I hear way too often of people claiming they are Christians, but talking and living & displaying attitudes that are far from Christlike.  They don’t walk the walk.

Some just want to live the life and never say anything.  So then how will people know about Jesus?  It’s not your exemplary life that saves anyone.  Only Jesus can do that, and unless people know about Jesus, they can go to an eternal hell admiring the way you have lived.  There must be words about Jesus if we are going to be the kind of witnesses God has called us to be.

But there must be a life that backs up that verbal witness or else what we say will be out-shouted by what we do.  On your paper, please rate yourself.

8. He disciplines his thoughts, attitudes, words and actions.           2 Corin. 10:5; James 3:2; Prov. 25:28

Listen to these words from 2 Corin. 10:5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Self-control is one of the most important virtues you can seek to have.

Without self-control in your thought life, your mind becomes a playground for the devil and his demons.  Fear, bitterness, lust, insecurity, doubts, resentment, deep-seated anger, envy, jealousy – these things all start in our undisciplined mind.  What you let your mind dwell on will determine the kind of person you are.  That’s why we are to take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ.

On your paper, please rate yourself.

9. He stands firm against Satan’s attacks. 

Eph. 6:11; 1 Peter 5:8-9; James 4:7; 1 Cor. 10:4

We will be looking at becoming spiritual warriors 4 weeks from this morning.  There is an enemy.  He has a plan and a strategy for accomplishing his plan.  And unless we understand that, and know how to use the weapons God has given to us, we will live in spiritual defeat instead of spiritual victory. 

Eph. 6:10-11 says Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.

And 2 Corin. 10:3-4 says For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

A man called me this past week and asked: “Why is the devil picking on me so much?”  As we talked together it became apparent that much of what he thought was the devil was simply the consequence of his own wrong choices.  But the tempter was there, offering him options that seemed so appealing to his sinful nature.

“Why is the devil picking on me so much?”  Because he is your enemy, not your friend.  He is seeking to steal and kill and destroy that which is God’s.  He can’t touch God Himself, so he attacks that which is God’s.  If you weren’t God’s, he wouldn’t bother you so much.  But that’s not a good option either, making a pact with the devil in exchange for your soul.

How successfully are you standing against the devil’s temptations and attacks?  On your paper, please rate yourself.

10. He is growing spiritually. 

Hebrews 6:1; 2 Peter 3:18; 1 Peter 2:2

Healthy things grow.  I’ve stopped growing physically, and some weeks I even lose a pound.  But this week I had to get a hair cut, and I trimmed my finger nails, and washed some of the old skin cells off my body because some new ones had taken their place, and my bones continued to produce red blood cells. 

When those things stop taking place, the doctor begins to get concerned, because healthy things grow.

Healthy Christians grow spiritually.  Hebrews 6:1 says Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity.

2 Peter 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

And 1 Peter 2:2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation.

God wants us to grow up in our salvation, to grow in His grace and in our knowledge of Him, to go on to maturity.  I am harvesting right now literally hundreds of ripe, juicy, sweet, red tomatoes.  That’s why I planted those 32 tomato plants in my garden.  It wasn’t for the green leaves and yellow flowers; it was mature fruit that I was wanting.  And I am delighted to get that fruit.

God is seeking fruit in your life.  The leaves, the blossoms, the green tomatoes, they are good in their proper time, but that is not the harvest we look for.  God is looking for harvest.  Are you moving in that direction or are you stuck in the leaf stage, the blossom stage, or the green tomato stage?  Growth, maturity, progress, that’s what God is wanting from your life.

On your paper, please rate yourself.

If any of you have all your checks in that first column, you need to change places with me this morning and become the pastor of this church.  I could not put all my marks in that first column.  I yet have some work to do, allowing God’s grace to touch some more areas of my life.  And these 10 things are not the only things that are marks of health in a Christian’s life.  So even if you did really well on these, there may be some other things where God wants to speak to you.

We haven’t even talked about faithfulness, about integrity, about thankfulness, about financial giving, and generosity and humility and faith and a whole host of other things.

Where does God most want you to change?  Would you ask Him that as we close today?  “God, to what specific area of my life would you have me give attention this coming week?”  If you will sincerely ask Him, He will show you.  And He will give you His grace and His power as you address that area of need in your life.

Pray

Salvation invitation.