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The Church

Church members need to know how to walk with God and how to hear Him speaking.

In the Bible, God gave direction to people and equipped the spiritual leaders He called. These leaders then guided the people. Their walk with God and their sensitivity to what god was doing among the people were crucial (Acts 6).

Perhaps one of the greatest challenges in Christianity today is for churches to walk with God so closely that the world comes to know Him through their witness. When a church allows God’s presence and activity to be expressed through them, a watching world will be drawn to Him.

 

Being is More Important Than Doing

How God does something is as important as what God does. God receives glory from the process as well as the result. God wants His people to be holy, clean, and pure. He desires unity in the church: “There would be no division in the body” (1 Corinthians 12:25). He calls members to love one another, because the world will know we are His disciples by our love (John 13:35).

God wants His people to:

1. Be holy and pure
2. Display unity
3. Love one another

 

Knowing and Doing God’s Will as a Church

The way a church comes to know God’s will and the way an individual comes to know God’s will are different. A church is the body of Christ. A body functions as one unit with spiritual leaders and members. All are interdependent; they need one another. Each member has a role in the body (Galatians 6:1-5), and each leader has a responsibility to equip the members of the body (Ephesians 4:11-13). The pastor is responsible for the body as well as to the body.

Being a member of the church is a selfless act! The church does not merely exist for what you get out of it. It is your opportunity to invest in the lives of God’s people and to join God’s activity through His people.

Have you considered why God added you to the church He did? Are you functioning in that role?

 

Discerning God’s Will as a Body

You need to prepare yourself before going to church so you’re ready to join God in whatever work He may be doing in your congregation. Too often, church members attend services and merely seek out their friends. It never dawns on them that people may be there who are experiencing tremendous pain and hurt. There may be first-time visitors without anyone to offer even a greeting.

The Holy Spirit can guide you to someone who is hurting if you are sensitive to His leading. Perhaps as you enter the auditorium, the Holy Spirit will prompt you to sit in a different place than you normally do in order to talk with someone who needs encouragement at the close of the service.

Additionally, consider a “God watch” where members of the congregation are asked where they saw God at work around them the previous week.

The church does not come to know God’s will in exactly the same way an individual does. Individuals come to know God’s will through an intimate love relationship with God. The Holy Spirit speaks through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways. A church comes to understand God’s will when the whole body hears what Christ—the Head—is telling it.

 

Church Decision Making

Blackaby’s church business meetings never took a vote, asking, “How many of you are for this, and how many of you are against it?” That is the wrong question. Every time you ask that question, you have a divided church, and you have acted as if your own opinions are more important than God’s. Sometimes the majority is wrong! But God never is!

The right question is “After all the information you have heard and after all you have prayed, how many of you sense God is clearly directing us to proceed in this decision as a body?” This question asks them to vote based on what they sense God is saying to His church. On critical issues, they never voted at the time the issue was first discussed. After discussion, the church would pray and seek the mind of Christ.

People often ask, “Did you always wait until you got a 100 percent vote?” Blackaby responded, “No, I knew one or more members could be out of fellowship with the Lord and couldn’t hear His voice. Others might be purposely disobedient. However, we usually waited until the votes were overwhelmingly in favor.”

Wise guidance from God may be lost by missing God’s timing. Not only does a church need to know what God wants to do, but it also needs to know when He wants it to act. A church body must wait on God’s timing. God will seek to adjust a congregation to Himself. Waiting on God develops confident patience in the Lord and loving trust in one another.

Pride causes problems in the body. You should think of yourself with sober judgment (Romans 12:3), honor others above yourself (Romans 12:10), live in harmony, and associate with people of low position (Romans 12:16).

 

The Holy Spirit Equips Each Member to Function in the Body

All members of the church—Christ’s body—are gifted with the Holy Spirit’s presence. Each person’s experience of the Holy Spirit is for the good of the entire body, not merely for that individual. That is why we need one another. When church members do not relate to each other properly, the church misses out on much that God intends.

The Old Testament is the kindergarten for understanding the Holy Spirit’s work. Here is the pattern we see in the Old Testament:

1. God gave assignments to people.
2. God gave the Holy Spirit to people to equip them to accomplish the task.
3. The proof of the Spirit’s presence was that the person was able to complete the assignment effectively through His supernatural enabling.

Throughout the Old Testament, the Spirit of God was always present to equip individuals to carry out divine assignments. God didn’t give things. He gave Himself. The Spirit manifested His presence by equipping people to function where God assigned them.

Scripture exhorts believers to “carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). God’s Word also says, “So we must not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, we must work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith” (Galatians 6:9-10).

 

God’s Concerns for the Body of Christ

1. Jesus is the Head of the body. The body ought to be Christ-centered.
2. God wants the body to maintain unity and oneness of heart.
3. Love like that described in 1 Corinthians 13 should prevail in the church. Members of the body ought to love one another as they love themselves.

Here are some common perspectives of church members:

• “I think we should clean up our church’s rolls and get rid of the names of people who don’t attend anymore.” If God added them to your body because that is where He wanted them (1 Corinthians 12:18), do you have a right to delete them? A church needs all members God has given the body. This church should pray and ask God to show them how to reclaim these wayward members into active fellowship.
• “Bill got himself into trouble by breaking the law. It serves him right that he has to spend time in jail.” When one member suffers, everyone feels the pain (1 Corinthians 12:26), even if the suffering is the consequence of sin.
• “I think I should be elected as the chairman of the deacons. After all, I have been a member of this church for 25 years.” This could be a self-centered desire. We serve in the church by God’s assignment. If God intends for you to serve in a particular capacity, the Head, Jesus Christ, can bring the rest of the body to recognize that. Will you trust Him to do that through your church?
• “If I can’t be a Sunday School teacher, I’ll quit coming to the church.” Church members need to be sensitive to what others sense God may be leading them to do. A nominating committee for church-leadership positions must prayerfully discern God’s will. Both the individual and the church must carefully seek God’s will and trust Him to make His will clear.

One problem we face in the body is that we seldom see God at work. We just see people.

God can display Himself anywhere in your church you are willing to let Him place you.

• “If those 10 families can’t agree with the majority, that’s tough. In this church, the majority rules. If they don’t like what we are doing, they can go somewhere else.” The church functions by the rule of the Head—Jesus Christ. We often settle for majority rule because we don’t want to wait until the Head has time to convince the body of His will. Didn’t Jesus pray for the unity of the church in John 17 so the world would believe in Him? We ought to have a similar burden for unity. Give Jesus—the Head—time to do the convincing.
• “Because God told me what His will is for this church, you should listen to me. Anyone who doesn’t agree with me is unspiritual and outside God’s will.” The body needs everyone to express what he or she senses. When the church puts together what each member senses, the body comes to know God’s will. No one individual can fully know all of God’s will for a church. Leaders understand God’s will for the church when they listen to the whole body express what it is experiencing in the life of that body.

When God brings the body to unity, we know the timing is right.

Godlike love ought to prevail in the body. God decides where each of us should function in the body.

We can understand God’s will for the church when we listen to the whole body express what it is experiencing in the life of that body. Each member is precious to God.

 

A Covenant Relationship

When individuals approached Blackaby to join the church, he would respond, “God is adding you to our church for a reason. He wants to do something through your life to help us become all He wants us to become.”

• Will you allow God to work through you to make this body more complete?
• Will you open your life to allow this body to minister to you and help you grow into all God wants you to become?

After the person answered these questions, Blackaby turned to the congregation and asked:

• From the testimony you have heard, do you believe God is adding this person to our body?
• Would you allow God to work in your life through him or her?
• Would you allow God to work through each of you to help this person become all God has purposed for him or her.

Blackaby’s church took this covenant relationship seriously.

Because God builds the body to match the assignment, Blackaby paid close attention to the people He added to the church. Sometimes that indicates an assignment God is preparing the church for. God doesn’t add members to the body accidentally.

God builds the body, gives it an assignment, and equips it to carry out its assignment.

God adds people to church bodies for a reason. He wants to use your life to make a positive difference among the people where He has placed you.