A Healthy Church Embraces Teaching and Discipleship

ILLUST: Medical Report

Initiative for testing (suggested, I wanted to know)

Results - read opening sentence - then reject or read on

Numbers

FIndings - “ANEMIC” - really? Me?, seems harsh, judgmental, personal

Correction - choice

Change, and live healthier

OR Get sick, worse health, die too soon

A Healthy Church - Teaching/Discipleship

(previous topics, all areas of teaching, to be heard, learned, practiced)

KEY POINTS:

Disciples intent on following Christ WILL grow

Followers who reject growth, teaching, and choose not to respond in obedience, will fall away

QUESTION: What if God sent us a letter and health report, with normal ranges for each category of spiritual health?

CAN WE HANDLE THE TRUTH?

Better yet, HOW would we handle the truth?

1) Source of Truth -

Accept?

Reject?

Can be hard choice, but clear. Tough? Too much? Walk away or choose to learn

- we have the ultimate source of truth

- we have “areas of concern” the problem is sin, and the answer is the truth of God’s Word

ILLUST - Medical Report

Do I trust the source? Credentials, testing, equipment, etc.

I went to doctor, assuming I would accept the results (good/bad?)

We go to the Bible, we say we want the truth, but do we like what we hear? Do we accept it, or not?

Q: What do I do with my report, the truth?

2) Truth Can Hurt

This nurse practitioner called me ANEMIC! Me! How dare she?

It’s like she’s comparing me to some independent, objective standard of truth! :)

So is God - The standard is Christ, the Word

When we fall short, and when He says we can improve/grow - He’s simply using His Word as the standard

I could be angry at the NP

She ALSO said my nonHDL is slightly elevated (that’s none of her business, right?) she wrote in INK, too!!

She used a standard to show me “areas of concern”

READ:

Many left; some may have stuck around for the novelty of it all, or to look the part

They heard, understood what was at stake, and said “No, thanks”

3) Truth Prompts Choice (Demands it)

READ: - Peter gets it

ILLUST: Medical report (I have the truth, now what?)

Ignore it - toss it, hide it, pretend it’s not there

Procrastinate - plenty of time, right?

Q: Do these options change the truth?

Anemic - need sources of iron

Cholesterol - need food to help keep it low, under control

Oatmeal works for both, it turns out

POINT: I can do something about this, or not. MY CHOICE

SO WHAT ABOUT US?

Do we care about physical health?

Do we care about our spiritual health?

Do we care about the health of this church? (some do, some don’t)

Some want it to be healthy enough just to stay open.

What about strong growth, robust health? THRIVE!

OUR COMMAND - Go, teach/make disciples

Jesus: “Follow Me!” - commanded

His sheep hear His voice - some here have never heard it

This is not forced

What if nobody chooses to be taught/discipled?

Church might look fine, but the truth is that it’s not

It gets weak, sick, sicker, and dies

Some people find they are sick, never had a checkup, and realize it could have been prevented. OK, so, now what? Here they are.

HERE WE ARE

We can be just like those refusing to get medical help

Can go through the motions, not growing healthier, no “real” health

THINK: Spiritual health should continually increase with age.

(even as physical health declines)

MY REPORT:

Diet and exercise

Leave me alone....OR....OK, Got it

But, junk food feels good

We’ve learned to crave what is not healthy

OUR REPORT

Are we “anemic” - lukewarm, wishy-washy, not interested?

Diet

What is our intake of spiritual food, the bread of life?

What am I excluding?

Junk food of weak Bible teaching, spiritually deadly, just like physical junk food

Exercise

Takes work

E

Treadmills don’t help if you don’t get on them

God’s Word won’t affect you if you’re not in it.

Prayer is a great “concept” for many, but not used

CHURCH WILL NOT GET HEALTHIER IF INDIVIDUALS WILL NOT

Christ is the head of this body, and the head tells the body what to do - THIS BODY needs to respond! OR - weak, sick...

THIS BODY needs to respond! OR - weak, sick...

ILLUST: Compare:

Compare what people expect in church...

Service length, music, communion done this way, kids ministries, programs, dinners and what we eat at them, temperature, etc.

I like this church because......

...With God’s Command for the church:

Love God with all your heart (priorities) Go, share the Gospel, Teach/Make disciples, Love one another

QUESTION: What do you think upsets people more?

Our church not living up to our expectations?

Our church not following God’s commands?

GOD COMMANDS THIS CHURCH TO GO>TEACH>OBEY ALL THAT JESUS HAS COMMANDED

IF we follow, then it changes the answer to “I like this church because....”

We are called here to minister to the lost, the “sick”

We can’t do that if we are not healthy ourselves!

We don’t have a report from God, BUT we DO have His Word, the “remedy” and answer for anything life throws at us.

WE HAVE THE WORDS OF LIFE - THE TRUTH (as Peter said)

And discipleship, starts at home, so much of it takes place beyond 10-11 on Sundays

If that (10-11) is the extent of our walk with God, I can assure you, we are anemic, we have serious “areas of concern”

How do we address them? Do we want to?

We need leaders, people willing choose to get healthy

Need to admit areas needing growth, and ask God to help

DIET and EXERCISE

Evaluate your spiritual intake, and what you exclude?

Could be backward, we could be excluding the healthy, out of habit for the unhealthy

Evaluate your service, your “working out your salvation”

Hearing is not enough, God commands obedience, not a superficial “belonging to Jesus”

Reading the medical report is not enough

Medical advice - diet, exercise, rest, no need for medications

Spiritual advice - diet (relationship with God), service (exercise), and resting in Him - that is a healthy walk

It was tough for those closest to Jesus to hear the truth and choose to follow.

What about us?