Joyous New Life

Today’s post is the sixth in our series entitled “Ten Marks of a Healthy Church.”

When it comes to evaluating church health, we have the first chapter of 1 Thessalonians to help us see the things that are praiseworthy in a church. Paul identifies ten marks of a healthy church.

“You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit.”

1 THessalonians 1:6, esv

The sixth mark of a healthy church is “joyous new life.” During holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, people gather with their families all over the nation to spend precious time together. In my experience, the focus of most celebrations is the children. A few years ago during one of our family get-togethers, when my sister informed us that both my niece and my nephew’s wife were expecting, my mother’s face brighten and she smiled. There is joy when a child is born; they bring new life into a family.

The same is true for churches. Reproduction is a sign of good health. Notice what Paul said again in verse 6: “You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit.”

I have been in churches big and small, rich and poor, traditional and contemporary, quiet and loud, with drums and guitars and without . . . sometimes because the decision-makers think that it will “enliven” the worship services. But what really brings joy to a church is newborn believers. When a church is experiencing people becoming followers of Christ, there is a joy that can come no other way. And that joy breeds more joy. The most exciting event in a worship service for me is not the music, and really it’s not the preaching – although these can be exciting. But these can in no way compare to baptism. When someone goes under the water to signify that they have been transformed by the power of Christ, wow! That’s pure joy! Paul here is talking about three things: becoming an imitator (a type or imprint of Christ), receiving the word, and having the joy of the Holy Spirit. These all in various places in the New Testament are related to being born again, saved, or converted.

Last year, Touro Infirmary of New Orleans resurrected a cute ad campaign they ran some years ago. The TV commercials have children either asking or being asked, “Where do babies come from?” The answer, of course, was “Babies come from Touro!” But where do baby Christians come from? Paul wrote in Romans 1 that God’s righteousness is revealed from “faith to faith.” That simply means from one person’s faith in Jesus inspiring another person’s newfound faith in Jesus.

Healthy churches are sharing that faith-to-faith gospel plan following these basics:

1. Healthy churches develop a gospel-centered church mentality. That means they tie everything down to the anchor of the gospel. Churches are not country clubs or service organizations. They are lighthouses, sending out the light of God’s truth, beckoning those on the seas of life to avoid the rocks of sin and the perils of hell.
2. Healthy churches foster a spiritually healthy and nurturing environment. Have you ever heard or used the phrase “like father, like son”? Some of you observe your children and say, where did you pick that up? Progressive insurance has a series of commercials on what they call Parentomorphosis. Grown children turning into their parents is funny in a creepy sort of way. Their tagline is “Progressive can’t protect you from becoming your parents, but we can protect your home and auto.” They are simply recognizing a universal truth: we imitate what we see. New Christians imitate existing Christians. If a church exhibits a community of Christians who are godly and mature, good. But if a church is worldly and sinful, they will reproduce in like kind.
3. Healthy churches notice prospects from family, friends, and acquaintances. The most potential reach a church has is within their own contacts. You can lead strangers to Christ, but the likelihood of them being involved in your church is pretty low, unless they are in your community vicinity. Going to church is not like going to the store. It is more like going to someone’s family reunion. So it’s uncomfortable for outsiders. Less so for someone with a connection. They say we are all separated by only six degrees or seven. That means that if we can reach one person within our direct sphere and they reach one beyond that, and that happens six times, we could potential reach anyone in the world. Every heard the phrase, “Small world”?
4. Healthy churches open the front door. Front doors have welcome mats. Getting someone to come into the church is significant. Why? Because the first time is the hardest. It gets easier and easier. That’s why churches need to offer “front door opportunities.” Fellowships, special events, luncheons, community programs, and the like. They are effective because it is an easy invitation to give and receive.
5. Healthy churches connect with people through calls, cards, and personal visits. As connected as this world of the internet is, people still crave the personal touch. All the more so in light of the plastic and fake social media outlets.
6. Healthy churches redeem every opportunity to share the gospel. The point of all of this is to share the gospel. To tell someone how they can be made right with God through the risen Lord Jesus. When those opportunities present themselves, church members must act. Paul wrote, “Redeem the time, for the days are evil.” Healthy churches attempt to tell everybody about Jesus!

A healthy church is made up of spiritually healthy members. Those members are seeking to reach those around them with the good news of Jesus Christ.

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A Strong Pulpit

Today’s post is the fifth in our series entitled “Ten Marks of a Healthy Church.”

Let me review some of the foundational truths that form this series. Churches are local bodies of God’s children united by covenant to Him and to one another. The church exists for the glory of God and should be submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. She is intimately connected to Christ. When the church fulfills her mission, God is honored. When the church fails in her calling, Christ is shamed.

As a body, a local church can be healthy and strong, or it can be diseased and sickly. If any part of the church does not function properly, the other parts are affected.

When it comes to evaluating church health, we have the first chapter of 1 Thessalonians to help us see the things that are praiseworthy in a church. Paul identifies ten marks of a healthy church.

The first mark of a healthy church is a “working faith.” Genuine saving faith produces fruit and draws others to Christ. In a church with a working faith, you’ll see people wanting to serve God.

The second mark of a healthy church is a “laboring love.” Healthy churches are motivated by love for God and love for others.

The third mark of a healthy church is an “enduring hope.” Hope is the biblical solution for dark days. When a church has hope, they will have a vision for the future.

The fourth mark of a healthy church is an “obvious election.” Healthy churches are made up of members who are truly saved and have assurance of their salvation. That assurance is based on the experience of God’s Spirit at work on them, both convicting them of sin and convincing them of the gospel message. And this leads to hope for the future because what God does, no one can undo. And what He begins, He completes. “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Php 1:6). We saw last week that those who are truly saved: (1) believe the Bible, (2) live out a pattern of obedience, and (3) love God’s people.

The fifth mark of a healthy church is a “strong pulpit.” A pulpit ought to be made of oak, well-constructed, and pretty solid. No! I am not talking about wooden furniture. The reality is that churches can have strong pulpits without any furniture. I am talking about the preaching ministry of a church, especially the office of pastor. Notice again what Paul wrote in verse five:

. . . because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.

1 Thess. 1:5, ESV

Four circumstances are listed here regarding the presentation of the gospel to the Thessalonians. The gospel came to them in: ‘word,’ ‘power,’ ‘Holy Spirit,’ and ‘full conviction.’ Here Paul is referring to the missionaries’ experience. He, Timothy, and Silas experienced the initial proclamation of the gospel at Thessalonica. They were present when God moved among them. They were there when the word was delivered, and they witnessed the power of the Holy Spirit.

Now, the phrase “full conviction” may refer to the Thessalonians’ conviction, and surely the new believers had become convinced of the gospel message. But the construction of the phrase in Greek suggests this phrase—full conviction—characterizes the missionaries. And on this particular characteristic I want to make a few comments.

The word translated here as “conviction” is plerophoria and it means “an absolute certainty with no reason at all to doubt.” Paul further intensified it with the word “much” or “great.” This, I believe, refers to a confidence on the part of the preachers that was unshakable. They know what they believe, they know Whom they believe, and they proclaim the gospel with utmost confidence. Paul followed this with a statement of what kind of men they proved to be “for your sake.” In other words, they were not there for selfish gain but to proclaim the true message of God.

I have heard a good bit of preaching. One of the things that causes me some concern is when a preacher says something, but it seems as though he either does not believe what he is saying or he is afraid to say what he really believes. We need confident preaching in the pulpits today.

Notice what Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8, which I believe casts light on the phrase “full conviction.”

For you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain, but after we had already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition. For our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit; but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men but God, who examines our hearts. For we never came with flattering speech, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed–God is witness–nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, even though as apostles of Christ we might have asserted our authority.

1 Thess. 2:1-8, NASB

Paul’s posture was clear: be bold in the Lord, preach the truth whether people want to hear it or not, be willing to suffer for it, keep your life free from impure motives, seek the glory of God, stand in your God-given authority, and rejoice in both persecution and productivity. No pastor should strive for anything less. A healthy church will have competent and confident men who will shepherd the flock faithfully. This matter beckons for us to review the qualifications of a pastor.

In 1 Timothy 3, we find the qualifications of those who would be overseers, church leaders, ministers:

The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.

1 Tim. 3:1-7, NASB

Peter had the same concerns Paul did. In 1 Peter 5:1-3, he wrote,

So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.

1 Peter 5:1-3, ESV

If you are a pastor reading this, I encourage you to reaffirm your commitment to faithfully proclaim the word of God and lead His church under the guidance of the Lord Jesus Christ. Give your life to study and teach the Scriptures. Preaching is no game; it is a calling. Develop a love for the word of God. Commit to making your pulpit ministry as strong as you possibly can.

If you are not a vocational minister, you may wonder how this applies to you. I am glad you asked. Here are Four Ways you can work to Ensure a Strong Pulpit Ministry and that this mark of a healthy church is a characteristic at your church:

Crave the truth of God’s Word. What prompts a mother to feed her child? That child let’s her know he’s hungry. A church that craves God’s Word will get it, because God will make sure they do.

Pray for your pastor regularly. Every time he proclaims God’s Word, he is putting a bulls-eye on his back, challenging the forces of evil in a showdown. He needs your effectual and fervent prayers.

Encourage your pastor in the work of proclamation. This involves a lot of different things you can do. Let him see and hear your responses to his messages. Tell him when God speaks to you. Take notes. Share with others. Anticipate Sundays; build an expectation.

Free your pastor to prepare. Preparing to preach well takes a lot of time—time that could be spent on a lot of other good things. But only one person fills the pulpit. His responsibility lies there, and it is of tremendous importance. That means other church duties and responsibilities need to be carried by members of the church.

These are four ways you can help build a strong pulpit ministry and a healthy church. God bless you, and God bless His Word!

The Glory of Christ’s Cross

As we draw near to Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, consider the following quote from Arthur Pink:

“Through Christ’s obedience and death God magnified his law (Isa. 42:21). The law of God was more honored by the Son’s subjection to it, than it was dishonored by the disobedience of all of Adam’s race.

“God magnified his love by sending forth the Darling of his bosom to redeem worthless worms of the earth.

“He magnified his justice, for when sin (by imputation) was found upon his Son, he called for the sword to smite him (Zech. 13:7).

“He magnified his holiness: his hatred of sin was more clearly shown at the Cross than it will be in the lake of fire.

“He magnified his power by sustaining the Mediator under such a load as was laid upon him.

“He magnified his truth by fulfilling his covenant engagements and bringing forth from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep (Heb. 13:20).

“He magnified his grace by imputing to the ungodly all the merits of Christ.

“This, then, was the prime purpose of God in the Atonement: to magnify himself” (Arthur Pink, The Life of Faith).

An Obvious Election

This is the fourth entry in our series entitled “Ten Marks of a Healthy Church.” The fourth mark of a healthy church is an “obvious election.” It comes from 1 Thess. 1:4 — “For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you” (ESV).

The doctrine of election is one of those controversial topics that often arises between theologians and aspiring theologians. Election is clearly a biblical doctrine. Let us simply observe here that Paul claims to know these Thessalonian believers have been chosen by God. He does not say, “For we know, brothers loved by God, that you have chosen Him.” Paul bases his knowledge of God’s election on two proofs: (1) the experience of the missionaries and (2) the experience of the Thessalonians.

I want you to see that the primary thrust of this is evidence of God’s activity. What God does, no one can undo. And what He begins, He completes. “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Php 1:6).

How can you know someone is truly saved? They experience God’s Spirit at work on them, both convicting them of sin and convincing them of the gospel message with the result, and this is the key, that they embrace Christ Jesus as Lord by grace through faith. It’s that simple.

Often I encounter people who doubt their salvation. Instead of trying to assure them on the basis of what they did to be saved, I ask them, “What did God do?” For the longest time, as a child and teenager, I struggled with questions such as, “Did I pray the right prayer?”, “Did I really mean it when I asked Jesus into my heart?”, “Did I know, as a seven year old, what it all meant?” And those questions kept me from growing in the Lord. The reason is they were all based on what I did to get salvation.

In college, I began studying the Bible like I never had before. I was extremely hungry to know what it said. And I began to realize that God takes the initiative in saving people. I was the one who needed saving; only He could save me. And whenever I encountered those same old doubts, I began to change the questions. I began asking, “When I look at the time I made a profession of faith and was baptized, what was God doing in my life?” “What was God showing me?” “What changed in my thinking about God and how I related to Him?” “Did I become convicted of sin?” “Was I convinced that Jesus is the Risen Lord and my only hope?” And these diagnostic questions are not tests of what I did, but tests of what God was doing to bring me into a saving relationship with Himself.

That is what Paul is doing here. He is recounting the experience he had when he planted the church at Thessalonica and the experiences of those new believers. When he surveyed what happened, he saw clear evidence of God’s work. God moved powerfully on him and his coworkers; God accomplished a mighty work in the lives of the Thessalonians. In the next few verses he recounts those experiences. Nothing thrills the heart of a man of God more than to experience the power of God, the moving of the Holy Spirit, in his life and in the life of his church.

God has given us clear teachings in the Scriptures so that we may know where we stand with him. An entire book of the New Testament is devoted to testing one’s salvation. That book is 1 John. In 1 John we find a three-fold test of salvation. I would like to summarize that for you in the hopes that you may have assurance of salvation. 1 John 5:13, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.”

The first test is Belief in the Bible – “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him” (1 John 5:1). If you do not accept the Scriptural claims about Christ – that he lived a sinless life, died on the cross for our sins, rose again on the third day, is Lord of all, is the exclusive way of salvation, is coming again to claim his people, you are lost.

If you reject the Word of God, if you have no real desire to hear it or heed it. If you argue with its truth claims and try to dismiss them, you are not saved. If you make little to no room in your life for God’s Word, you do not value eternal life (see Acts 13:46). Second Timothy 3:15-16 says that the Scriptures are “able to make you wise unto salvation.” James 1:21 is similar: “receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” And 1 Peter 1:23 makes the statement, “you have been born again, . . . through the living and abiding Word of God.” Biblical truth plays an essential role in salvation.

The second test of salvation is Obedience to God – “But whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him. Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked (1 John 2:5). “No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him” (1 John 3:6). “By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother” (1 John 3:10). “We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him” (1 John 5:18). Constant habitual sin that you do not intend to change or that you just accept as not a big deal is a strong indication that something is wrong between you and the Lord. You probably have never truly been saved.

The third test of salvation in 1 John is Love of the Brethren (Church) – “Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause from stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes (1 John 2:10-11). “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7). “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15).

Years ago, a Christian counselor named Gary Chapman came out with a book entitled The Five Love Languages. It outlined how people express and receive love. The “languages” are Giving Gifts, Quality Time, Words of Affirmation, Acts of Service, and Physical Touch. God says if we love Him, we will love His church. What says we love his church? Do you spend quality time with his people or do you begrudge having to attend church? Do you speak words to build up the Lord’s church or tear it down?
Are you a regular, proportional, and joyful giver? Do you serve in the work of the church or are you content just to be served? Let us all evaluate ourselves, lest we be deceived (Gal. 6:7-8).

An Enduring Hope

Today’s post is the third mark in our series entitled “Ten Marks of a Healthy Church.” We are learning that churches are not merely organizations, they are bodies of God’s children united by covenant to Him and to one another.

The church is not like the Rotary Club or the Red Cross. In fact, no other organization on the face of the earth is like a Christian church. The church exists for the glory of God. No other organization, Christian or non-, is called the Bride of Christ; as such, she should be submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And no other organization represents Jesus like His church. As Paul said, “Glory to God in the church.” When the church fulfills her mission, God is glorified. When the church fails in her calling, God is shamed and Christ is reproached.

Now a church can be healthy and strong, or it can be diseased and sickly. If one part of the church body becomes spiritually diseased or does not function properly, the other parts are affected. That’s what it means to be a body.

Evaluating church health can be difficult. We are very blessed to have the Word of God to help us evaluate everything according to God’s truth. And when it comes to church health, we have the first chapter of First Thessalonians to help us see the things that are praiseworthy in a church. In that chapter Paul says some marvelous things about the church there. In fact, what he is doing is remembering them and thanking God for them. And when he does, he identifies ten marks of a healthy church.

2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. 6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8 For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. 9 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come (1 Thess. 1:2-10, ESV).

The first mark of a healthy church is a “working faith,” not mere intellectual assent, but steadfast trust. A faith that gets up every morning and goes to work. Genuine saving faith produces fruit and draws others to Christ. In a church marked by faith, you’ll see people wanting to serve God. They value the things of God. They sacrifice for God’s purposes and mission. They believe Jesus’ words, “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.”

The second mark of a healthy church is a “laboring love.” Loving Jesus and loving others means that you will often clash with the impulses you have naturally. To overcome is a labor. Healthy churches are motivated by love for God and love for others. Love drives selfless labor. Love cares; it is not apathetic. Jesus said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn 13:35). Genuine love is a rare thing in today’s world, and that means the church has an opportunity to show the world something different.

The third mark of a healthy church is an “enduring hope.” The word ‘endure’ here is from the Greek word hupomone, and it indicates the “capacity to continue to bear up under difficult circumstances” (LN 25.174). The related verb hupomeno means to remain under. Again, here is an action based on a virtue. The virtue here is hope, an interesting and somewhat difficult word to define. It means “to look forward with confidence to that which is good and beneficial” (LN 25.59). The only way a person can bear under the pressure of internal and external trials is to possess an enduring hope.

Hope says, “This is not all there is.” Hope tells us, “The future is good, just, righteous, glorious.” (Eph. 1:18). What gets you through a difficult time? Hope is the biblical solution for dark days. The Thessalonians experienced persecutions and difficulties. They encountered problems. But no problem can extinguish an enduring hope. In fact, the phrase here could be translated your “steadfastness of the hope of our Lord Jesus Christ.” If you want to see hope personified look at Jesus. His hope was not contingent upon His circumstances; it was based on the glory to come. That hope in the future glory was what enabled Him to endure the suffering. Someone once told me the story of a farmer and his mule:

A farmer had an old mule that could no longer pull plow or wagon. The farmer could not bear the thought of putting down the beloved animal, so he decided that instead of waiting for the creature to die, he would just bury it alive. So he put Lucky in a large hole he made with some dynamite and began to cover the mule with dirt. Every time that farmer would cast a shovel full of dirt on the mule, the mule would just shake it off and step up. Shake it off and step up. He just kept doing that simple but effective act. When the farmer saw Lucky climb back out of his grave, he changed his name. He’s not Lucky, he’s Steadfast Hope.

You too will make it if you don’t give up. Shake it off, and step up. Brighter days are ahead for those of us who know Jesus. There are lots of things in this life that might bury you. But not a single thing can keep you down. You have a promise that nothing can destroy: Resurrection! And that’s where our hope should dwell. Christian, let your hope endure!

When a church has hope, they have a vision. And where they have a vision, they will not perish. Hope springs from the eternal. When we look beyond our present circumstances to the greatness and goodness of God, we can take that next step. Without hope, you will be paralyzed with fear and throw your faith out the window. We will turn aside to replacements for God. We will follow our own weak and miserable plans instead of God’s bold mission.

Without Christ, a person has no hope. Hope begins when you are rightly related to God. The Good News is that Jesus lived and died and lived again so that you might truly live in hope. Will you turn your life over to Him today? Will you embrace the hope of the ages? Yield your life to Him now and embrace the greatest hope of all.

A Laboring Love

This is the second characteristic in our new series entitled “Ten Marks of a Healthy Church.”

In our last entry we considered the first quality – a working faith, not mere belief, but trust. Such a faith is essential to being rightly related to God. Faith is the antidote to anxiety, pride, fear, shame, impatience, covetousness, bitterness, despondency, lust, and a whole host of other ills that plague us. We learned that the true nature of strong faith is found in day-to-day persistence. Faith gets up every morning and goes to work. Genuine saving faith produces fruit and draws others to Christ.

The second mark of a healthy church is a laboring love. Again, Paul has combined two terms here that bring together a quality (love) and an action (labor). The virtue of love (here the term is agape and carries the nuance of high regard and appreciation) is proven by what it does. In this case, Paul uses the word kopos. This word is a little different from “work,” with a bit of intensification. While “work” connotes normal activity, “labor” indicates hard work, toil, and hardship.

Love is not a natural response. Human nature protects, pleases, and promotes itself. Loving Jesus and loving others means that you will often clash with the impulses you have naturally. To overcome is a labor. If a church is going to be healthy, its members must be motivated by love. Why else would someone arduously labor, sacrifice, and work to the point of exhaustion? Love drives selfless labor.

If I were to ask you what is the opposite of love, you might be quick to answer “hate.” But I want to you reconsider that notion. When you expend the energy required to “hate” someone, you are really not as far from love as you might think. If loving someone is to care for them, then not caring would be its opposite. The word for that is apathy.

Our world is very self-centered. People in our world, Christian and non-Christian, have developed an overemphasis on self. And what that does is destroys relationships that should be built on mutual concern for one another. When you are hyper-focused on yourself, you do not care about others.

The church has a real opportunity in this culture. Jesus said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn 13:35). Christians can show the world something different. Genuine love is a rare thing in today’s world. People do not care. And Jesus said, “Because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold” (Mt 24:12).

Paul offered this thought, “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people” (2 Tim 3:1-5). The word “heartless” is a shocking word. It means “a lack of love or affection for close associates or family—‘without normal human affection.’ [Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 292].

Let’s take a quick look at love in the Bible. Let’s start first with Jesus’ teaching on Love. Matthew 22:34-40. The Greatest Commandment is to love God with all our being. The second greatest is like it — to love our neighbors as ourselves.

How did Jesus define Love? “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (Jn 15:13). Love is selfless and sacrificial.

Now let’s move to Gal 5:22. “The fruit of the Spirit is love.” Without the Spirit of God we can do nothing. If we are filled with the Spirit, we will show love. The Spirit of God empowers us to obey the Word of God – the commandment to love. If a person is not loving, they are not saved. 1 John 3:14 – “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.”

What does love look like? We find that in 1 Corinthians 13. Genuine love cannot be divorced from truth. In contrast to the way love is defined in our culture, it is not purely emotional. Love is commitment . . . it does not fail; action . . . it is not words alone; choice . . . it is not a whim that comes and goes; selfless . . . it puts others first; sacrificial . . . it is willing to suffer for the good of others

Now, you may say, there are too many people for me to do that for everyone. And that is true. I believe that biblically we have a responsibility first to our immediate family – spouse and children and parents, in that order. Next we are responsible to the family of faith, fellow church members with whom we have covenanted ourselves. After that, those who are outside those circles. Christians are called to put their love to labor. Leave a legacy of a laboring love.

Love begins when we are rightly related to God. As Paul wrote in Romans 5:5-6, “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” The Good News is that Jesus lived and died and lived again so that you might truly live. Will you turn your life over to Him today? Will you let His love wash over you and change you? Yield your heart to Him today.

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A Working Faith

Churches are not merely organizations. They are organizations (at least they should be organized) but they are not merely organizations. As is often said, churches are organisms. They have a life of their own. Consequently churches can be healthy and strong, or they can be diseased and sickly. Churches are kind of like people. In fact, one of the writers of the Bible compared the church to a body. The human body is made up of many parts. They all have functions. If one part of the body becomes diseased or does not function properly, the other parts are usually affected. That’s what it means to be an organism. Now all kinds of things can go haywire with our bodies. Some things are noticeable to others; some are not. The appearance of the body does not tell the whole story of what is going on with that body. Do you see where I am going with this?

Just as we can see some people and conclude quickly that they are not in good health. On the flip side, we can look at other people and think they are in good health, but they are not. The same is true with churches. We may look at a small, shriveled congregation and conclude that something is wrong. Usually that is the case, but not always. We may look at a large, rapidly growing congregation and think it is the healthiest church around. It may not be. In the human body, cells that grow very rapidly and abnormally are called cancer.

In this series, we are going to look at the first chapter of 1 Thessalonians. In that chapter Paul says some marvelous things about the church there. In fact, what he is doing is remembering them and thanking God for them. What does the apostle to the Gentiles thank God for when he thinks about a church? I call them ten marks of a healthy church. These are not the only marks of a healthy church, but I think they are perhaps the most important.

The first three marks of a healthy church come to us from a single verse, verse three, and reflect the Pauline trinity of godliness: faith, hope, and love: “remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” These first three are what Paul remembers about them.

Today we are going to consider the first – your work of faith. Paul highlights their working faith. The Thessalonians possessed a faith that works.

The word for “faith” occurs in the NT 243 times. That is not counting its verbal forms. It is an essential element for any church, because it is essential to being rightly related to God. Faith is our posture toward God. It is that expectancy, dependency, trust, and confidence that keeps us going. Faith is the antidote to anxiety, pride, fear, shame, impatience, covetousness, bitterness, despondency, lust, and a whole host of other ills that plague us. The church at Thessalonica possessed an active, productive faith.

One day, a friend and former student of mine, out of the blue, sent me a definition he found of faith. It comes from Art Azurdia, a pastor and seminary professor in Oregon:

“Authentic faith is the confident assurance in events not yet seen. Faith is not a call to believe in things when common sense tells you not to. Faith is not a mindless stab in the dark. It is not a crossing of the fingers and hoping for the best. It is not a leap into apparent nothingness. It’s a word that speaks of reasoned, careful, deliberate, intentional thought. Thought upon what? God and his promises. If you are absolutely gripped by the coming realities that have been promised to you by God, then how you live your life in the present will be radically different than if you did not possess that certainty. This is what faith is, my friends! Positive certainty expressed in action.”

He points out in his definition what Paul highlights – a working faith. The word here for work is ergon, and it means simply the day-to-day work that one normally does. Other ways to translate ergon are workmanship, handiwork, occupation, business, or job. Now I really like this pairing of terms, because it expresses the true nature of strong faith. We do not see strong faith in flashes of brilliance, but in the day-to-day persistence in the mundane and the ordinary. Faith gets up every morning and goes to work.

Some years ago, I saw a commercial for Monster.com, the online job search site. In it, everyone in the city begins climbing out of bed and they start running . . . to something. They grab umbrellas, furniture, mattresses and all sorts of things. It is just before daybreak when they all dash up a hill and throw up their possessions as if to block this massive tidal wave. Then, as it always does, the sun comes up and its rays peek over the hill. When it overcomes the crowd, they all sigh and give up. They groan and head back to their houses dragging their implements behind them. Then the screen says, “Don’t fight Monday. Monster.com. Your calling is calling.”

You may have trouble welcoming Mondays, too. But perhaps it would help if you had faith. If you saw your day-to-day responsibility not as showing up at the job site or punching a time clock or having to do this job or task, but as expressing faith in God. Your calling as a Christian is a calling to walk by faith. Faith works.

Another passage of scripture that has to do with this subject is James 2:14-26. An active faith, according to James, is a real faith, a genuine faith. Genuine saving faith produces works.

Now Paul has made very clear elsewhere in the New Testament (Romans 3-4; Galatians 2) that salvation is by faith alone, apart from works of the law. You cannot work your way to heaven. The only one who works for someone to be saved is God working to save us. Salvation is a gift. However, let us not be confused. One who is saved and transformed by God will produce works. “It is faith alone that justifies, but the faith that justifies is not alone.”

When Paul surveyed the Thessalonian church, he saw fruit, the produce of a living faith. If I may paraphrase James here, and pose a question: What use is it, brothers and sisters, if a church says it has a relationship with Jesus but is content to do nothing of significance? Is that not a self-deceiving illusion? Can that “faith” be real? Healthy churches put their faith to work.

Let’s look at a few more scriptures. Romans 1:5 indicates that Paul’s purpose as an apostle was to bring about the obedience of faith among the Gentiles. And in Romans 1:17, Paul quotes Habbakuk saying that the righteous shall live by faith. Then, Acts 16:5 says that one of the results of a church’s growing faith is the addition of more members. Authentic faith draws others to Christ.

You may want to know, How do I boost my faith? The Bible says, “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17). If you want to boost your faith, meditate on the Scriptures. Ponder the things of Christ. Focus on the greatness of God. Faith does not grow when we look at the world. It does not develop when we look inside ourselves. We must look beyond ourselves, hear the testimony of the scriptures, fellowship with the faithful, and cast ourselves on the all-sufficiency of God. When we do that, the results are immeasurable.

10 Marks of Healthy Churches

For the past fifteen years, I have been in a position to instruct, train, and counsel those who are called to lead God’s people through full-time vocational ministry. And I have in the past few years counseled several of them who are just absolutely scared of what might happen to them and their families when they accept a call from a church to become a pastor.

One student expressed to me this concern in this way. He said, “I just do not want to go to a church with problems.” Now, I could have given him a variety of answers ranging from silly to profound, but I believe the Lord directed me to say to him, “If a church does not have problems, then it does not need a pastor. That’s the reason why God has given pastors to the church.” And it is true. On the other hand, let’s recognize that there are some churches that are more problematic than others.

Some churches command respect; some destroy it. Some churches are very hard on pastors; some are pleasant to shepherd. Some churches are easy to love, some not so much. Some churches require that pastors exert authority; others follow with gratitude and submission.

The churches in Macedonia during Paul’s ministry were great churches. When Paul wrote to the Thessalonians and to the Philippians, he had no need to refer to himself as an “apostle”; the title is conspicuously absent from all three canonical correspondences to these two churches. In each of these three letters he gives an extended thanksgiving for them and expresses great joy upon his every remembrance of them.

In reading Acts, you will find that Paul’s experiences in both places, Philippi and Thessalonica, were not the best of circumstances. In Philippi he was imprisoned; in Thessalonica he was run out of town by the Jews. But when Paul considered the character qualities of these churches, nothing could damper his rejoicing. Paul says he always gives thanks for all of them. The basis of his thanksgiving consists of ten characteristics I will call “Ten Marks of Healthy Churches.” We will blog about them in the days to come.

English Bibles Since the KJV

In my last two posts, we looked at the history of the English Bible up to the King James Version. The King James Version was an excellent translation at the time it was completed. The translators used the best manuscripts and the best methods current in their time. The KJV is well-known and well-loved. It should be well-respected and appreciated.

However, two important factors helped drive the continuing work of translating the Bible into English. One is that the KJV is based on manuscripts that are not as close to the original manuscripts’ ages or contents as manuscripts discovered more recently. Second, the KJV’s translation contains phraseology and vocabulary that is no longer in common use today. Languages change over time, so that words no longer have meanings they once had or acquire new meanings or simply fall out of use and become archaic. New readers of the Bible inevitably have difficulty deciphering the lingo of four-hundred years ago. Therefore, translators of the Bible continued to work to produce readable and reliable versions of the English Bible.

The King James served as the beginning point for a number of more recent translations. The English Revised Version of 1885 was the first modern English translation to make use of modern principles of textual criticism. In 1901, the American Standard Version was produced as a revision of the ERV. The Revised Standard Version (RSV) was produced in the mid-twentieth century. The RSV translators used the best of modern scholarship, while also using language that would be appropriate for public and private worship. And then we have the New King James Version, which updates the language of the KJV.

That’s just a handful of the English Bibles since the KJV. Below is a longer list of those that are significant, but it is also quite short. A complete list of English Bibles (including full Bibles and portions) has over 200 entries.

A Short List of Other English Translations

• Young’s Literal Translation (1862)
• A New Translation (Moffatt – 1926)
• Amplified Bible (1965)
• NT in Modern English (Phillips – 1958)
• Jerusalem Bible (1966)
• Today’s English Version (1966)
• New American Bible (1970)
• New English Bible (1970)
• New American Standard Bible (1971; updated 1995))
• The Living Bible (1971)
• Good News Bible (1976)
• New International Version (1978)
• New Jerusalem Bible (1985)
• New Living Translation (1997)
• New Century Version (1987)
• New Revised Standard Version (1989)
• Contemporary English Version (1991)
• New King James Version
• New International Reader’s Version (1996)
• New English Translation (1998)
• The Message (1995)
• English Standard Version (2001)
• Holman Christian Standard Bible (2004)
• Today’s New International Bible (2005)

How Did We Get the Bible?: Part Two

Between Wycliffe and our next influential figure, several key historical developments took place. One was Gutenberg’s invention of the moveable type printing press in about 1450. This is considered the most important invention of the modern era, and it fueled the proliferation of literature that led to the Reformation and the Renaissance. A second development was a renewed interest in the biblical languages. Scholars began going behind the Latin to the underlying Greek and Hebrew. Erasmus produced his eclectic Greek New Testament in 1516. Now scholars could use Greek as the base for translating the NT into other languages. So instead of the English NT being a translation of Latin which was a translation of Greek, a much-preferred direct translation from Greek to English was possible. The third important development during this time was the igniting of the Protestant Reformation by Martin Luther and others. Luther produced a NT translated into German from Greek in 1522.

The most influential person in the history of the translation of the Bible into English was William Tyndale (1494-1536). Tyndale produced the first complete translation of the New Testament from Greek into English in 1526. He was able to translate much of the OT into English from Hebrew before he died, his body burned at the stake for translating the Bible. His was the first English Bible to be printed on the printing press. Tyndale’s passion was that people who spoke English could have the Bible in their own language. Prior to his execution, Tyndale offered this prayer, “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.” Two years later, the King of England authorized a translation into English, the Great Bible, which was done by Tyndale’s disciple, Miles Coverdale. This was the first English translation authorized to be read in the Church of England. To give you an idea of Tyndale’s influence, some estimate that around 80% of the King James Version uses Tyndale’s wording.

Another translator, who, like Miles Coverdale, was a disciple of Tyndale, was John Rogers (1500-1555). Rogers actually worked under the pseudonym “Thomas Matthew.” He produced the second full Bible in English, but his was the first to be based completely on Greek and Hebrew. Known as the Matthew-Tyndale Bible, it was published in 1537.

In 1539, The Great Bible, was published. Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, hired Miles Coverdale to produce a new English translation of the Bible to be used in the newly formed Church of England. The Great Bible was available to the public but chained to keep it in its place.

After King Edward VI died, the reign of Queen “Bloody” Mary began. She was intent to return England to the Roman Catholic Church. In 1555, John Rogers and Thomas Cranmer were both burned at the stake. Mary order reformers by the hundreds to be burned at the stake for being a Protestant. Many English Protestants fled to Geneva, Switzerland. Work on the English Bible continued there, and the Geneva NT was completed in 1557; the entire Bible was produced in 1560. This was the first Bible to add numbered verses to the chapters, and the first study Bible, having extensive notes on the text. The Geneva Bible remained the most popular English Bible until well after the Authorized Version (King James) was published. And the Geneva Bible was the first to America aboard the Mayflower. It had a nickname: it was sometimes called the “Breeches Bible.” Why? Because it’s translation of Genesis 3:7 reads: “and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves breeches.”

Now, the Anglican leadership did not particularly care for the Geneva Bible, because of its inflammatory notes (like calling the Pope the Anti-Christ). So they produced the Bishop’s Bible in 1568, which was basically a revision of the Great Bible. It did not become popular.

The Catholic Church sought to regain some ground with the English, so they produced a Catholic version of the Bible in English known as the Douay-Rheims version in 1589. Named for the cities in which the OT and NT translations were produced, this Bible was translated from the Latin Vulgate, which Erasmus had shown was based on corrupted Greek and Hebrew manuscripts.

In the year 1604, King James I authorized a translation project that produced a new Bible in 1611. The king commissioned it in order to satisfy factions within the English Church. It would be a translation in the common language, yet still dignified for worship. In England, it is known as the Authorized Version. In America, we call it the King James Version. The Authorized Version underwent significant revisions in 1629, 1638, 1729, and 1762. The 1769 revision is the one predominantly in use today.

I hope this survey of English Bible history answers some of your questions about how we got the Bible. There is much more to the history of the Bible than this. Every time I consider the brave souls who labored to translate the Scriptures into my language, I am humbled and grateful for their sacrifice. I hope you are too. May we never think too lightly of the sacrifices made to get us God’s Word.

In a future post, I hope to continue with a little more history of English versions of the Bible after the King James Version, and we will compare some newer translations of the Bible to help you know how to choose which one is right for you.