Let's be healthy...

If you’re a Christian parent, what do you want for your kids? If you’re a Christian kid, what do you want for your family?

Probably you want a number of attributes to increasingly mark your family: love, joy, holiness, unity, and reverence before the Lord. You can probably think of a number of items. But let’s try to sum up all those qualities with one not very exciting word: healthy. You want a healthy family—a family that works and lives and loves together as God designed the family to do.

So it is for our churches. I propose that Christians, whether pastors or church members, should aspire to have healthy churches.

Maybe there’s a better word to describe what the church should be than “healthy.” After all, we’re talking about the people purchased by the blood of the eternal Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords—is “healthy” the best that I can come up with? Yet I like the word healthy because it communicates the idea of a body that’s living and growing as it should. It may have its share of problems. It’s not been perfected yet. But it’s on the way. It’s doing what it should do because God’s Word is guiding it.

I often tell my congregation that when it comes to battling sin in our lives, the difference between Christians and non-Christians is not that non-Christians sin whereas Christians don’t. The difference is found in which sides we take in the battle. Christians take God’s side against sin, whereas non-Christians take sin’s side against God. In other words, a Christian will sin, but then he will turn to God and his Word and say, “Help me fight against sin.” A non-Christian, even if he recognizes his sin, effectively responds, “I want my sin more than God.”

A healthy church is not a church that’s perfect and without sin. It has not figured everything out. Rather, it’s a church that continually strives to take God’s side in the battle against the ungodly desires and deceits of the world, our flesh, and the devil. It’s a church that continually seeks to conform itself to God’s Word.

Let me give you a more precise definition, and then we’ll look at several passages of Scripture that support this definition: A healthy church is a congregation that increasingly reflects God’s character as his character has been revealed in his Word.

So if a pastor were to ask me what kind of church I would encourage him to aspire to have, I might say, “A healthy one, one that increasingly reflects God’s character as it has been revealed in his Word.”

And Christian, what kind of church might I encourage you to join and serve and patiently work toward? A healthy one, one that increasingly reflects God’s character as it has been revealed in his Word.

What Christian Doesn’t Want That?

Imaging God’s character as it’s been revealed in his Word means, quite naturally, beginning with God’s Word. Why should we turn there, and not to “whatever works” (pragmatism) in determining what our churches should do and be?

In Paul’s second letter to Timothy, the pastor of the church in Ephesus, he told Timothy that the Bible would “equip him for every good work.”

— 16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

In other words, there are no good works for which Scripture would not equip us. If there is something our churches think they should do or be that’s not found in God’s Word, then Paul was wrong, because in that case Scripture couldn’t be said to equip us for “every good work.”

For example: in 1 John (chapter 4 specifically) we learn that “loving one another” is a distinguishing mark of a true Christian. In letting the Scriptures (not tradition nor “what works”) be our guide, what will a portion of our gatherings look like each week?

I’ve spoken to some of you, we are seeking to establish some small groups that will meet here at the church and in our homes for the explicit purpose of joyfully carrying out the command of God in loving one another, thereby showing that we love God.

If we use the Scriptures this way and look briefly at six moments in the big storyline of Scripture, it helps us to see that why want churches that increasingly reflect God’s character as it’s been revealed in His Word.

1) CREATION

In Genesis, God created the plants and the animals “each according to its kind” (esv). Every apple is patterned after every other apple, and every zebra is patterned after every other zebra. About humankind, Scripture reads, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness” (1:26). Man is not patterned after every other man. He is patterned after God. He uniquely mirrors, or resembles, God.

Given that we’ve been uniquely created in the image of God, humans must uniquely image God and God’s glory before the rest of creation. Like a son who acts like his father and follows in his father’s professional footsteps (; ), man is designed to represent God’s character and rule over creation: “… and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth” ().

2) FALL

But man decided not to represent God’s rule. He revolted against God and went to work representing his own rule. God therefore gave man what he asked for and banished him from his presence. Man’s moral guilt meant that he could no longer draw near to God on his own.

Did humans preserve the image of God in the fall? Yes, Genesis reaffirms the fact that man is still made in God’s “image” (5:1; 9:6). But both image and imaging are now distorted. The mirror is bent, you might say, and so a false image is portrayed, like a grotesque carnival mirror. Even in our sin we are imaging something about God—true and false things mixed together. In the language of the theologians, man became both “guilty” and “corrupt.”

3) ISRAEL

God, in his mercy, had a plan to both save and use a group of people for accomplishing his original purposes for creation—the display of His glory. He promised a man named Abram that he would bless him and his descendants. They, in turn, would be a blessing to all nations (). He called them a “holy nation” and a “kingdom of priests” (), meaning they had been specially set apart to mediate, or image, God’s character and glory to the nations by obeying the law he gave them (as Adam was supposed to do). Show the world what I’m like, God was saying to Israel. “Be holy, because I am holy” (; ; ).

He even called this nation his “son,” since sons were expected to follow in their father’s footsteps (). And He promised to dwell together with this son in the land he was giving them, a platform on which the nation could display God’s glory ().

Yet God also warned this son that if he failed to be obedient and display His holy character, He would cast him out of the land. To make a long story short, the son didn’t obey, and God cast him out of His presence and the land.

4) CHRIST

One of the main lessons of ancient Israel is that fallen human beings, left to themselves, cannot image God—even if they have all the advantages of God’s law, God’s land, and God’s presence. How every one of us should be humbled by the story of Israel (for we are like them in so many ways)! Only God can image God, and only God can save us from sin and death.

So God sent His one and only divine Son to be “born in the likeness of men” (). This beloved Son, with whom the Father was well pleased, submitted himself fully to the rule, or kingdom, of God. He did what Adam did not do—resist Satan’s temptation: “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God,” he told the tempter when fasting in the wilderness ().

And He did what Israel did not do. He lived entirely according to the Father’s will and law: “I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me” (; see also 6:38; 12:49).

This Son who perfectly imaged His Father could say to the disciple Philip, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” ().

Like Father, like Son.

Looking back, the writers of the New Testament epistles would refer to him as the “image of the invisible God” () and “the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being” (). As the last Adam, Jesus Christ redeemed the image of God in man.

Yet not only did Christ image God’s glorious holiness through obedience to the law; He displayed God’s glorious mercy and love by dying on the cross for sinners, paying the penalty of guilt they deserved (). This substitutionary sacrifice is something the Old Testament had been pointing toward all along.

Think of the animals that were slain to cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve after they had sinned.

Think of how God provided a ram in the thicket for Abraham and Isaac, saving Isaac.

Think of Joseph, the son who was sacrificed and sent away by his brothers so that he could one day mediate for a nation.

Think of the people of Israel smearing a lamb’s blood over the doors of their houses, sparing Israel’s firstborn sons.

Think of Israelite families bringing their sin offerings to the temple courtyard, placing their hands on the head of an animal and then cutting its throat—“the blood shed by the animal should be mine.”

Think of the high priest entering the Holy of Holies once a year to offer a sacrifice of atonement for all the people.

Think of the prophet Isaiah’s promise, “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed” ().

All these and much more pointed to Jesus Christ, who went to the cross as the sacrificial lamb of God. As He told His disciples in the upper room, he went to offer a “new covenant in his blood” for all who would repent and believe.

5) CHURCH

We who were dead in our sins were made alive when we were baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection. So Paul declares, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (). And “Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father’ ” ().

What are these many sons of God to do? We are to display the character and likeness and image and glory of the Son and the Father in heaven!

Jesus tells us to be “peacemakers,” since the Father has made peace between himself and us through the sacrifice of his Son ().

Jesus tells us to “love [our] enemies,” since our Father in heaven loved us, who were once his enemies (; ).

Jesus tells us to “love [our] enemies,” since our Father in heaven loved us, who were once his enemies (; ).

Jesus tells us to “love one another,” since he gave his own life to love us and since it would show the world what he is like ().

Jesus tells us to “love one another,” since he gave his own life to love us and since it would show the world what he is like ().

Jesus prayed that we would “be one,” even as he and the Father are one ().

Jesus prayed that we would “be one,” even as he and the Father are one ().

Jesus tells us to “be perfect,” as our heavenly Father is perfect ().

Jesus tells us to “be perfect,” as our heavenly Father is perfect ().

Jesus tells us to be “fishers of men” and disciple makers in all the nations (; ). He sends us just as the Father has sent him ().

Jesus tells us to be “fishers of men” and disciple makers in all the nations (; ). He sends us just as the Father has sent him ().

Like Father, like Son, and like sons.

Cleansed of their sin by the work of Christ, and granted new-creation, born-again hearts by the work of the Spirit, His people have begun to recover the perfect image of God. Christ is our firstfirsts (). He removed the veil and opened a way for the church to behold the Father’s image once more (, ). We behold His image by faith now, and “are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” ().

Do you want to see God’s purpose for the church summed up in just two verses? Paul declares,

[God’s] intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. ()

How does the church display the manifold wisdom of God? Only an all-wise God could devise a way to reconcile His love and His justice while saving a sinful people who are estranged from Him and from one another. And only an all-wise God could devise a way to turn hearts of stone into hearts of flesh that love and praise Him. May the cosmic powers in all the universe look on at FBR and marvel.

6) GLORY

We will image him most perfectly when we see him perfectly in glory: “But we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” ( ).

Holy like him.

Loving like him.

United like him.

This verse isn’t promising that we’ll be gods. It’s promising that our souls will gleam brightly with His character and glory, like perfect mirrors facing toward the sun.

Did you follow the big storyline? Here’s the recap.

God created the world and humankind to display the glory of who He is.

Adam and Eve, who were supposed to image God’s character, didn’t.

Neither did the people of Israel.

So God sent His Son to image His holy and loving character and to remove the wrath of God against the sins of the world. In Christ, God came to display God. And in Christ, God came to save.

Now the church, which has been granted the life of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, is called to display the character and glory of God to all the universe, testifying in word and action to his great wisdom and work of salvation.

Now the church, which has been granted the life of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, is called to display the character and glory of God to all the universe, testifying in word and action to his great wisdom and work of salvation.

Friend, what are you looking for in a church? Good music? A happening atmosphere? A traditional order of service? How about:

a group of pardoned rebels …

whom God wants to use to display his glory …

whom God wants to use to display his glory …

before all the heavenly host …

before all the heavenly host …

because they tell the truth about him …

because they tell the truth about him …

and look increasingly just like him—holy, loving, united?

and look increasingly just like him—holy, loving, united?