"So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied."
I'm sure we all wish this could be said of our church, or of our community, or of our state, country, etc. What Christian body doesn't long to have peace, be built up, and multiply? Even churches who don't believe in the whole "seeker friendly" thing truly long to have God-given, lasting growth (both spiritually and numerically). The problem with modern churches is that they try to develop a formula for church growth. How many ten-step programs have we seen? How many books have been written that guarantee your church a successful surge in attendance, if only you have enough faith to believe it's possible? Well, here we have a God-ordained formula.
Firstly, we must keep in mind that it was God who was giving them peace and building them up. They have no achieved this by developing just the right number of church events, programs, youth leaders, and worship (the modern term for music) teams. They were being blessed by God.
Secondly, what was it that they did they led to the "multiplying"? They were walking in 1) the fear of the Lord, and 2) the comfort of the Holy Spirit. They were "walking". They were moving, growing, running, traveling on the journey of the Christian life. They weren't stagnant. They didn't consider themselves to have reached a point where they were complete Christians and now all they needed to do was evangelize. No, they were walking. But in what were they walking? Listen closely, because this is the formula every church needs to follow.
We need to walk in the "fear of the Lord". We all know that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge" (Proverbs 1:7). Any endeavor we begin must be founded in the fear of the Lord. If it is not, it will fail. It is as simple as that. So if we want to grow spiritually and numerically, we must fear the Lord. What that entails is too long for this present discourse, but summarily, it means accepting the creature/Creator distinction and accepting what God says about Himself, us, and the world. Fearing the Lord means believing what He says, obeying Him, and living lives for His honor. God is the great Creator, the El Shaddai, the Most Holy One, the Alpha and the Omega! He demands obedience and faithfulness. The opposite results in damnation.
Throughout the Bible we find the delicate balance between fearing the Lord and loving the Lord, which are not so different, but have different emphases...slightly. We fear God as our Creator. We love God as a Father. Of course, the inverse is also true, but these are the character traits brought our in Scripture and the appropriate responses. Subsequently, while we need to walk in the fear of the Lord, we need to balance that with the "comfort of the Holy Spirit". The Spirit tells our spirits that we are sons of God (Gal 4:6). The Holy Spirit comforts us as He ensures us of our relationship to God, not only as creatures of God whom He owns and who owe Him obedience, but as children (Romans 8:15).
So this is the formula: obey, love, reverence, adore, and follow God's ways as we take comfort that Christ has died to us and sent us the Holy Spirit. All else is in God's hands.
I'm sure we all wish this could be said of our church, or of our community, or of our state, country, etc. What Christian body doesn't long to have peace, be built up, and multiply? Even churches who don't believe in the whole "seeker friendly" thing truly long to have God-given, lasting growth (both spiritually and numerically). The problem with modern churches is that they try to develop a formula for church growth. How many ten-step programs have we seen? How many books have been written that guarantee your church a successful surge in attendance, if only you have enough faith to believe it's possible? Well, here we have a God-ordained formula.
Firstly, we must keep in mind that it was God who was giving them peace and building them up. They have no achieved this by developing just the right number of church events, programs, youth leaders, and worship (the modern term for music) teams. They were being blessed by God.
Secondly, what was it that they did they led to the "multiplying"? They were walking in 1) the fear of the Lord, and 2) the comfort of the Holy Spirit. They were "walking". They were moving, growing, running, traveling on the journey of the Christian life. They weren't stagnant. They didn't consider themselves to have reached a point where they were complete Christians and now all they needed to do was evangelize. No, they were walking. But in what were they walking? Listen closely, because this is the formula every church needs to follow.
We need to walk in the "fear of the Lord". We all know that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge" (Proverbs 1:7). Any endeavor we begin must be founded in the fear of the Lord. If it is not, it will fail. It is as simple as that. So if we want to grow spiritually and numerically, we must fear the Lord. What that entails is too long for this present discourse, but summarily, it means accepting the creature/Creator distinction and accepting what God says about Himself, us, and the world. Fearing the Lord means believing what He says, obeying Him, and living lives for His honor. God is the great Creator, the El Shaddai, the Most Holy One, the Alpha and the Omega! He demands obedience and faithfulness. The opposite results in damnation.
Throughout the Bible we find the delicate balance between fearing the Lord and loving the Lord, which are not so different, but have different emphases...slightly. We fear God as our Creator. We love God as a Father. Of course, the inverse is also true, but these are the character traits brought our in Scripture and the appropriate responses. Subsequently, while we need to walk in the fear of the Lord, we need to balance that with the "comfort of the Holy Spirit". The Spirit tells our spirits that we are sons of God (Gal 4:6). The Holy Spirit comforts us as He ensures us of our relationship to God, not only as creatures of God whom He owns and who owe Him obedience, but as children (Romans 8:15).
So this is the formula: obey, love, reverence, adore, and follow God's ways as we take comfort that Christ has died to us and sent us the Holy Spirit. All else is in God's hands.
We are on the same brain wave my friend. So strange.
ReplyDeleteSomehow that happens when people follow the Bible.
ReplyDelete