What Does A Good Church Look Like 1d
What Does a Good Church Look Like • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Continue to answer the question, what does a good church look like. Anyone remember the WWJD bracelets in the 80s - What Would Jesus Do? I want to make some new bracelets -
WDAGCLL?
Good idea?
Review: We already established that
Spiritual gifts or graces are supernatural abilities God has given to His people for the purpose of empowering them for the work of ministry and partnering with Him in building His Church.
Read again. Let that linger for a moment.
God wants to empower you and He wants to partner with you.
We’re told in
Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.
So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.
Again, God wants to empower you and partner with you to build His Kingdom on earth. What are we going to do about it? I gave us 5 simple things that everyone can do.
1. Pray to receive.
2. Practice to perfect.
3. Get and give Permission to practice.
4. Persist until something supernatural happens.
5. Purify your motives.
That’s five. We have one more to add, but we’ll get to that later. But I’m curious, has anyone put any of these into practice in the past two weeks? I’ve been praying and looking. Here’s the thing – if spiritual gifts and being empowered by the Spirit are not on your radar – gifts don’t show up just because you’re a Christian. Gifts are there but we must receive, practice, perfect, persist and ….
That was a review - let’s head in a different direction.
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.
In Romans 12, Paul lists prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, generosity, leadership, and mercy as spiritual gifts.
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;
and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord;
and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.
To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
Spiritual gifts are given to Christians for the benefit of others.
Hold onto that. Then Paul lists wisdom, words of knowledge, faith, healing, the working of miracles, prophecy, the distinguishing of spirits, speaking in tongues, and interpretation of tongues as spiritual gifts. Even Peter mentions a few of these in his letter.
Curious, when we put these lists together (Romans and Corinthians and Peter), do we have an exhaustive list of spiritual gifts? Is this it or might there be more? IDK, but consider this. In 1 Corinthians 6 & 7, Paul wrote about sexual purity, marriage, self-control and celibacy. In 7:7 he wrote,
I wish all people were like me, but each has a particular gift from God: one has this gift, and another has that one.
You picking up what Paul put down? Two things here.
A) Paul affirms that spiritual giftings exist and that each person has been given one.
B) Paul lists celibacy (God’s call to be single) as a spiritual gift.
That’s interesting. Nothing big and flashy about that – but it’s a gift.
How might that reshape your understanding of spiritual gifts? Might you need to expand your understanding of Spiritual Gifts?
Go back to what a gift is. It’s given. Received. From God. Spirit empowered. Supernatural ability. In other words,
I could not do ______________ without God’s supernatural empowerment (the Holy Spirit actively working in me).
Paul said I have a spiritual gift – singleness. I couldn’t do it without Him.
So, how would you fill in the blank? If you can’t fill it in, go back to the 5 steps of discovering your gift. Experiment – see what God does – but use wisdom.
Look at 1 Timothy 4. The Apostle Paul wrote this letter to Timothy, a young “pastor” in Ephesus. Pay attention to what Paul says -
Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you.
Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress.
Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.
(sounds like the 5 simple things)
What can we learn from Paul’s exhortation? It’s right there in Scripture –
1) Do not neglect the gift.
Don’t blow off. Don’t ignore it, but tend to it, give attention and energy to the gift, use it.
2) Practice the gift.
Practice here means to continue to perform certain activities with care and concern. In other words,
Diligently and continually put these spiritual truths (including gifts) into action.
He said immerse yourself ….
3) Persist in the gift.
Why persist? Because we never know when it will pay off. When our children are learning to ride a bike and they wobble and fall down – what do we tell them? Get back on! Keep trying! Why? Because eventually they’ll get and when a child knows how to ride a bike – watch out! Same principle with spiritual gifts! Keep trying because you never know when it will touch another’s life!
Look at 2 Tim. 1. Paul’s second letter to Pastor Tim. In his first letter, Paul said don’t neglect the gift. In his second letter Paul says,
For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands,
for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
Fan into flame literally means to rekindle, reactivate, relight, get the fire going again (e.g. reengage the gift and put it back into practice)!
I think we can surmise that Timothy was either not using his spiritual gift or it was not being used to its potential. Don’t know why, but I’m curious -
How did Paul know that Timothy’s gift was not being used?
Think about the progression: Timothy received a gift. Paul said don’t neglect the gift. Paul said rekindle the gift. Somewhere in Timothy’s life Paul had seen the decline of this spiritual gift. Question -
How could Timothy reactivate or rekindle this spiritual gift unless he knew what gift to reactivate?
He had to know what Paul was talking about. Somewhere in here Timothy quenched the Spirit – put out the fire.
My family and I enjoy watching Survivor (TV game show). When contestants go to tribal council, someone will get voted off the island. At their first council, Jeff tells them to grab a torch, stick it in the fire and light it. He says, “In this game fire represents your life. And when your fire goes out” – anyone know? “So do you.” When he snuffs out your fire you’re out of the game.
Not quite like that in God's Kingdom. Yes, we’re told not to quench the Spirit. But if we do, that doesn’t mean we’re out of the game. What does Scripture tell us? We just read it - fan into flame the gift of God! Get the fire going again!
What do we do if our fire has gone out? Six simple things – already gave you 5. Here’s number 6 and the most important -
6) Enter into God’s Presence.
Being in God’s presence is different than just praying or reading our Bibles.
I love talking to Susan on the phone and I like reading notes from her – but there’s nothing like being alone in her presence. Same with God.
How do we enter God’s presence?
“Ask for God’s presence; don’t assume it. Come to his Word desiring to meet and talk with a Person. Listen as you pray and meditate.” ~ Jack Deere
Six essentials: 1) Salvation. 2) Prayer. 3) Humility. 4) Desire. 5) Time. 6) Silence.
That’s just to get us started.
Call to Action.
“I have come to the point in my life where I realize that if I ever get passion for the Son of God it will not be because I earned it; it will be because he gave it to me as his greatest and most gracious gift.”
“The Devil knows that if he can keep you out of God’s presence, he will defeat you.”
“We will never grow in passion for the Son of God, nor be ultimately profitable for his service, if we do not come into his presence on a consistent basis.
Jack Deere wrote, “The most powerful people on earth are those who have been with Jesus (cf. Acts 4:13).”
Jack Deere: Surprised by the Power of the Spirit.