Jun 23, 2020
By Tim Smothers
My mind goes back to when I was 39 years old. I was young and felt that I could do it all—I was invincible. Then I turned 40 and those feelings of invincibility ceased, and I found myself praying that I would just have the strength to make it through the day. Back then I could eat what I wanted when I wanted, I could go on very little sleep, and I could do it all and please everyone while I was doing it—or so I thought. My doctor had warned me that I was a heart attack just looking for a place to happen. I did not pay attention and continued to do as I had always done. It turns out that he was right, and I was wrong.
Good health is something that I seemingly took for granted. Why is that? I was surrounded by people who cared for me and wanted what was best for me. I think back to those times and wish that I had listened to my wife, to my doctor, and to those who loved me. They observed in me things that needed to change for me to become healthy. My doctor continuously shared information with me on the importance of good diet, exercise, and rest. I did not listen then, but I am listening more now.
I cannot help but think that we approach church the same way.
For many people, the thought that their local body of believers may be unhealthy is something that has never crossed their minds. We will go to church for several hours on Sabbath, we will greet each other, sing together, listen to the pastor as he preaches the Word, and then we will go home. We will do the things that we have always done and not give any thought to the actual health of the body of believers that we assemble with week in and week out. We need to pray about and think about our health as God’s church.
Mark Dever, the author of “What is a Healthy Church?” gives a great definition of what a healthy church is. He writes: “A healthy church is a congregation that increasingly reflects God’s character as his character has been revealed in his Word.”1 Sounds simple, right? There is much that he packs into this short definition. We need to understand what the character of God is and then we can rightly reflect that to those who are around us.
A healthy church will be the church that reflects the character of God as we realize and live out the purposes of His church. One of my joys last year was to be able to take the Applied Ecclesiology course through SDBU. In this course we were shredded and stretched in our understanding of why we are here as God’s church! The church has a five-fold purpose as we assemble as His church. When we are practicing these purposes, our spiritual temperature as the church will increase.
Worship: We focus solely on who God is and what He has done for us! Jesus Christ was born as a baby for us, lived for us, died for us, and lives again for us! We have great cause to rejoice!
Fellowship: We partner together in life and ministry with the local church. It is more than a meal—it is all about following the command to love one another (John 13:34).
Service: We serve God because we love Him and we love others. Serving involves crossing any barriers (religious, racial, or geographical) to show the love of God to whomever we meet.
Practicing what we believe: We as God’s church are to reflect God’s character not just as we meet together, but wherever we may be. We live out the truths of God’s Word 24/7 and are to be that example to others of what being a child of God is all about.
Proclaiming what we believe: It is one thing to live our faith and quite another to tell others about our faith. Reaching people for Christ is the definition of the Great Commission!
How do we accomplish these things as God’s church? We pray, we pray, and then we pray more. We submit ourselves to God and be obedient to Him. We pray more. We meet to worship together, fellowship, serve, practice what we believe and proclaim it boldly. We pray more. When we have completed this list, we start all over again!
God’s desire for His church is for us to be a church that reflects His character. My prayer for all of us is that we do not take our church health for granted, but that we commit each and every day to reflect His character as we, the church, live out His purpose for us!
1 Dever, M. (2007). What is a Healthy Church? (p. 40). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.
