Healthy Churches

Introduction

Text: Acts 14:19-28

I want you to imagine a scene that unfortunately does happen in real life. A young mother who comes from an abusive low income family is pregnant. Her boyfriend left her the moment she found out, but she is too ashamed to tell anyone. She brings the child to term and delivers a baby, but leaves it on the door step of a church. If no one ever came and picked up that baby, fed, clothed and nurtured it; what would happen? It would die. What if some gang members take pity on the baby and raise it but the environment is not healthy. The child might grow up physically, but they would not flourish like God intended them to in a normal home life.

Seeing people experience New birth is an amazing thing and if you have never experienced that New birth we invite you to come talk to us during the invitation at the end of the service. Jesus said in John 3:3 “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” The miracle of human birth is only surpassed by the miracle of spiritual birth in Jesus Christ. But so often newborn Christians and newborn churches are left to themselves to grow and develop. Without someone to help them along in their growth, they will not flourish spiritually the way God has intended them to.

As a newborn baby is helpless to feed and nurture itself, so the newborn churches needed the hand of a parent to nurture them. Just like children need parents to parent them, churches need to be parented. Most likely Paul spent a couple months in Iconium before they were chased out but in Lystra they may have been there just a few days. In Derbe they spent a significant time, but in all three of these churches you have newborn baby Christians in a hostile environment to their faith.

This chapter completes Paul’s first missionary journey and he could have taken a more direct route home to Antioch by land, but Paul and Barnabas circle back around to visit all the churches that they had visited on their first missionary journey because Paul knew that Healthy Christian communities need to be strengthened to stand strong in face of opposition.

Strengthening the Churches

Verses like these are probably where the Catholic church gets its idea of confirmation where young people are taught the basics of the Catholic faith in a formal setting. The idea of formally training our children in the faith isn’t so bad an idea really, but Paul as he established baby newborn churches knew that they needed to be confirmed in their faith.

There are four different words translated “confirm in our Greek NT” The word Luke uses exclusively is επιστεριζω. The word means to lean upon or prop up and a good formal definition would be to strengthen believers in their commitment and resolve to remain true in the face of troubles. Thus it is translated strengthen in Acts 18:23. We will see Pau and others with him doing this later in Acts 15 and Acts 18.

One of the weakest ministries in a church is often the ministry of discipleship with new converts. Soulwinners lead them to the Lord but then just leave them to grow on their own just by being around us. Paul was a little more proactive about helping new converts and new churches be healthy and growing.

Even churches that are not newborn need to be strengthened? John uses this same word in Rev 3:2 “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.” for a settled church that was drifting spiritually.

Tonight we are going to ask ourselves “How do we strengthen the churches to be healthy churches?” There are many things we could say on this topic, in fact there is even one ministry solely dedicated to answering this question by giving us what they call the 9 marks of a healthy church. Tonight we are going to look at three that are taught in this passage:

I. Teaching them the word Vs 21-22a

Marks of a healthy Church #1: Preaching and Discipleship

Acts 14:21 “And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch,” Paul didn’t just leave the churches to figure things out on their own. They taught them the scriptures. A healthy church is a church that is saturated with bible preaching and teaching. Sometimes I think that we depend solely on the preaching of the word from the pulpit to do this though. I think a healthy church is going to have one on one relationships where we disciple and mentor others in the faith. We need to be more intentional about how this happens.

People don’t just magically know all the right things to believe and practice. That takes time and effort on our part to teach people and just like we shouldn’t expect a baby to know how to do algebra, we should not expect everyone to think and act biblically without teaching them.

A. AssuranceOne of the first parts of teaching them the word is giving them assurance of salvation. Notice the text says confirming the souls of the disciples. 1 John 5:13 “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” A lot of people show interest in the gospel and even in Christianity, but they come short of placing their full dependence on Jesus Christ to be their savior. What they need is to know for sure that they are saved from their sins.

I spoke with a woman once who wanted to be baptised, but when I asked her about her salvation, she did not know how to be saved. After I went through the plan of salvation with her, she said well I ask him to forgive me every single day. I understand the sentiment, but what that shows me is that she has never come to a place where she has fully trusted him to save and forgive her once and for all.

Hebrews 10:10 “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

B. Basics of the Christian faith- We should be teaching young converts what the bible teaches about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Bible. They should know things like the trinity, the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, the virgin birth of Christ, the inerrancy of scripture, the substitutionary death of Christ. They should know about biblical authority in their lives, the two ordinances of the local church, individual soul liberty, the two offices of the church. They should be learning how does a church function and what is my role in the church. They should be learning how to minister. The list could go on one the basics of the Christian faith.

C. Basics of living the Christian life- The new believer needs to know that the Christian life is lived in the power of the spirit and not by legalism. They need to know what God’s moral expectations are for their life and how God wants them to live now that they are saved. These are all issues that at some point they may get it from the preaching of the word in the pulpit but I can only preach on so many things at once.

There needs to be a plan in the church to actively be teaching new Christians and new members some of these things if we are going to be as healthy as we can be as a church.

II. Encouraging vs 22

Marks of a healthy church #2: Biblical theology

The word exhorting means to encourage, but when we hear the word encourage we think of making people feel happy or making pain go away. For the Christian exhortation or encouragement is not an anesthesia to num the pain; rather it is a stimulant to excite them to correct action. There is nothing encouraging in our modern sense of the word in the message that Paul gives them. The message he gives is pretty bleak, but for the Christian it is happy because their is heaven to look forward to. He encourages them in two areas:

continue in the faith- It is one thing to know the truth and another thing to continue in the truth. When temptation comes many will face the temptation to deny truth to get along. In our day there is an inconvenient truth that homosexuality is a sin and our world wants us to celebrate that sin. When the pressure is on at work, what are you going to do. When the bible uses the phrase the faith it is most often referring to the doctrines of truth that we hold as Christians. There has been a departing from truth in many churches. It is now more cool to deconstruct your faith than to continue in your faith. The temptation is to deny the clear teaching of scripture to be accepted by our peers.

The most obvious case study of this in the history of the church is Billy Graham. Billy Graham was actually a Fundamentalist in the early days. He was a good preacher and I have a lot of respect for what God was able to do through him, but Billy Graham did not hold steadfastly to the faith as he should. 2 John 1:10 “If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:”

Gal 1:8-9 “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.”

The clear teaching of scripture is that if a teacher or preacher comes and does not preach the true gospel, we are not to receive him, wish him well on his way and we are to separate from him. He is to be unto us accursed- which comes from the Greek word αναθεμα- which means to set up or place apart. We are to place him away from us, separate from him. The word is also used for excrement that is taken away.

When did Billy Graham violate these commands? In 1957 in his Madison square garden crusade local priests of the Catholic church protested the crusade. From that point on Billy Graham tried to bridge gaps between himself and the Catholics, by encouraging them to join in the crusades. Billy desired all those who came forward in the crusades to get saved to get plugged into their own local communities so he had Catholic priests up there to receive those who came forward. By doing this Billy Graham was compromising the faith, even the gospel by receiving and promoting the Catholic church.

The temptation today among younger preachers and believers is to compromise in areas of doctrine and practice. Wokism is making its inroads into our churches and many young people are willing to go to churches that do not preach the truth just because it is more entertaining or has programs for them. Paul’s concern for these churches was that they not abandon the faith in the face of persecution.

continue to endure through tribulations

This phrase tells us why they would be tempted not to continue. Paul wants them to endure tribulation. When they first got saved they were probably on cloud 9, but the moment persecution comes they might be tempted to think that something is wrong. Paul is teaching them that tribulation is a normal part of the Christian life. In fact according to him, Tribulation is the gateway to the Kingdom. Jewish tradition taught that the time before the Millennial kingdom is established would be proceeded by a time of tribulation for the people of God. This is reaffirmed in the teaching of scripture about the tribulation. Notice Paul is saying that even then believers would face trials and hardships. A Christian who is truly living out his faith is at some point going to face opposition from the world wether it is soft or hard persecution. As an aside, I think it is significant to notice that even tough the Kingdom is inaugurated in the blood of Christ, this Kingdom’s ultimate fulfillment is future. This argues against amillennialism and some forms of post-millennialism.

If you know that hardships are ahead for you, you are less likely to quite when they actually come. 1 Peter 4:12 “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:”

1 Peter 4:13 “But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.”

As believers, when we face persecution of any sort, it shouldn’t throw us for a loop. Our response should actually be to rejoice.

we are partaking in Christ’s suffering

we will experience complete utter joy when we see Jesus.

III. Guiding Vs 23

Marks of a healthy church #9: Leadership

The third mark of a healthy church given in this text is leadership. Luke says that Paul and Barnabas ordained which means to appoint or install into office elders in every church. Especially during times of persecution churches need leaders.

Leaders:

should protect the sheep from false teachers Acts 20:28-29 “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.”

should uplift their people when they are struggling Heb 12:12 “Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;”

should guide the church in the right direction 1 Peter 5:1-3 “The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.”

should be teaching and growing their people Heb 13:17 “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.”

should be encouraging their people to serve God by doing ministry Eph 4:11-12 “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:”

There are churches out there that deny pastoral leadership such as the Plymouth Brethren and the House church movement practiced by many in Gothard type circles. But Even here in the first moments of the Gentile church we see that Paul thought it was necessary to ordain elders in every church.

This story shows us that:

you don’t have to have been saved for a long time to be an elder although the bible tells us not to ordain a Novice.

it also shows that ordination should be taken seriously by fasting and prayer.

Pastors/elders are given to the church for the good and joy of the church. Paul in 2 Corinthians 1:24 “Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers (fellow-workers) of your joy: for by faith ye stand.” There is so much joy and life to be experienced in a relationship with Jesus Christ and any pastor worth his salt passionately desires for you to enter into that. Sometimes we are like children who look at a Kiwi and see that it is green and hairy so we don’t even want to try it, but when we bite into it we find that it is really delicious. We don’t want to make your lives miserable. We just know that in Jesus Christ we can experience abundant life and seeking God’s glory is our ultimate good.

Conclusion

Paul knows that he can’t personally be with them day in and day out so vs 23 ends with these words they commended them to the Lord. Paul takes every step that he can to ensure that these newborn churches are prepared for their spiritual life, but in the end, he just has to trust God to watch over them.

So what is the application or take away from this message: If we are going to have a healthy church, we need to have a church that is focused on preaching and teaching the word of God, encourages each other in our walk with the Lord to stay faithful to truth even in hard times and is led by godly elders within the church.