Author Archives: alanconrow

What Should The Church Expect From You?

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Two weeks ago I wrote a post entitled,  Three Things You Should Expect From Your Church Elders. It looked at the responsibilities of every church elder toward their members. If you’re considering church membership or already are a member of Fellowship you should take a moment to read it.

This week I want to move from the responsibilities of the church elder to the responsibilities of the church member. Specifically, what should the church expect from each member?

By church I don’t mean a building. The Greek word for Church in the New Testament is Ekklesia, which means an “assembly of people.”  In this case it the assembly of God’s people. Every time Christians assemble together, they are a church.

So, the question is, when we gather in our local assemblies, what should we expect from one another? Or to put it another way, as a member of a local assembly, what should my assembly expect from me?

God’s Word is clear, there are certain duties each member of a church should strive to carry out. When each member is faithful to carry out such duties, the church flourishes and is a beautiful community.  But, when church members fail to carry out such duties, the church dwindles and the community is down right ugly.

What are these duties which can make or break a church?

First, there are  the “one another” commands.

Then, there are a few other duties.

Now, I would encourage you to read over the above list a few times. And please click on each of the links,  and read all the Bible verses (they took me forever to link, so please use them :).

Then think for a moment, what would a church (an assembly of God’s people) be like if each member actually pursued all these duties?

Of course all us are imperfect, and all of us need the help of Jesus to carry these things out. But hopefully you can start to see just how beautiful a church could be if its members sought after these things.

If you knew that your church had members like this, wouldn’t you want to bring your friends? Wouldn’t you talk about your church to people at the office, or at school? Wouldn’t you want everyone you know to come to your church? Of course you would.  Because a church with members like this would be a church you would LOVE!

You can see now why such a church would flourish.

Jesus knows the potential beauty of every local church. And Jesus knows the potential every local church has to flourish.  And what He wants us to know is that such beauty and flourishing doesn’t happen with flashy programs or a lot of money. It doesn’t happen with celebrity preachers or even media savvy.  It doesn’t happen with the latest business techniques, or “church growth model.”  It simply happens when each member of the church strives to live out the responsibilities they have been called to.

I would love to see every local church grow and radiate with beauty because its members were living out their calling. Imagine if our city were filled with such churches. Imagine if our state or country were filled with such churches! What a difference there would be.

Maybe it’s a silly fantasy to think about. But maybe it isn’t. Maybe it just starts with you and me committing to live out our calling as members of a church.

Would you help us become such a church?

 

 

 

 

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List of church member responsibilities taken from Mark Dever’s  Nine Marks of a Healthy Church

Was Indiana Jones Right About The Holy Grail?

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Getty Image

Getty Image

Last week, two Spanish historians claimed to have discovered the Holy Grail–  a cup which Jesus supposedly drank from at the Last Supper.

Now, I’m very skeptical of this claim—but not for the reason a lot of  other people are. Most skeptics, are skeptics because they believe the cup in question is far too eloquent for Jesus. Because Jesus was an economically strapped carpenter’s son. This belief was made famous in one of my favorite movies, Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade.

But is it true? Would Jesus have only used a cup that was unadorned and ordinary?

I obviously can’t say for sure, but let me give you a couple of reasons I think it was possible that Jesus could have drank from a very ornate challis.

 Jesus may have been the son of a carpenter, but he had wealthy friends.

There was the disciple Matthew, a former tax collector, who hosted Jesus at a lavish party. There was Zacchaeus a chief tax collector, who after believing in Jesus gave away enormous amounts of wealth. There was the  women who poured  expensive  perfume over Jesus.  And there was Joseph of Arimathea, who used his wealth to provide the tomb for Jesus.  Jesus was comfortable with people from every social and economic background. And although he often preached about the abuses and misuse of wealth, he had no problem rubbing shoulders with people using their wealth to bring honor to God.

Jesus did not use his own resources for the Last Supper, someone else did.

Matthew 26:18-19 tells us,

 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”

He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’” 19 So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.

Jesus celebrated the Last Supper at the house of someone else. The house of a man that respected Jesus enough to call him “Teacher”.  Given Jesus’ other associates, it is quite possible this man was wealthy. And if this “man” was wealthy, it is easy to imagine Jesus drinking and eating with his disciples from ornate dinnerware.

I have been blessed by the generosity of wealthy Christians enough to know that when they provide for you, they do so, not with your standard of living in mind, but with theirs.  In others words generous believers are generous with their stuff. They love to share. The generous people I know, would have no problem letting a “carpenter’s son”  use their fine china– especially if they knew that carpenter’s son was also the Son of God.

Did Jesus drink from an elegant, and very expensive cup at the Last Supper? Maybe, maybe not. But if he didn’t it wasn’t because he was a carpenter’s son.

When God pours out his grace and provides for a person’s needs,  he doesn’t do so based on where a person came from, or their current social-economic status. No God pours out  his lavish grace and provisions, based on who he is, and his social and economic status. If Jesus had wealthy friends who loved God and reflected the character of God, we would expect them to treat others the same way God had treated them.  We would expect them, to use their wealth to bring God’s grace and abundance to others.

If the discovering by the historians is authenticated and it turns out Jesus did in fact drink from a lavish cup. It will only serve as a beautiful picture of God’s lavish grace. Jesus as the “poor man”  was allowed to drink from a cup he did not pay for, just as we who are poor are allowed to drink from the cup of salvation we did not pay for.

Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. (Matthew 26:27-28)

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— (Ephesians 2:6-8)

Believers vs. Disciples

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Is a believer in Jesus the same thing as a disciple of Jesus?

I’ll admit as a pastor I’ve used the terms synonymously. But more and more I think to do so can be dangerous.

The Gospel writers did not see believers and disciples as synonymous. For them, believers and disciples represented two different groups of people. To be sure there was some overlap. A disciple of Jesus was a believer in Jesus, but a believer in Jesus was not necessarily a disciple of Jesus.

In the Gospels, what Jesus required of a disciple was different than what he required of a believer.  And because of that, the rewards Jesus promised to a disciple were very different than the rewards he promised to a mere believer.

Believers

Jesus called many people to believe in him. And the Gospel of John, frequently tells us that “many people believed in Jesus”.  But it seems that out of the many who believed, many did not follow.  For example after Jesus ministered to the Samaritan Woman, her village welcomed Jesus, believed in Jesus, yet did not follow Jesus. John 4:40-42 says,

So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

But then in verse 43 Jesus leaves for Galilee and no one from Samaria followers him. In fact throughout the Gospels there is no indication that anyone from Samaria joined the crowds of disciples that followed Jesus. It seems the people physically stayed where they lived and went back to their normal life. The only difference was that now they believed that Jesus was the Savior of the world.

How will these believers in Jesus be rewarded?

 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God (John1:12)

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned… (John 3:16-18)

All believers are rewarded with being adopted into the family of God, and receiving eternal life. These of course are great and wonderful acts of God’s grace. But they are not the only rewards offered by God. There are greater rewards for a disciple.

Disciples

When Jesus called people to be his disciple he raised the stakes from believing in him, to dying with him.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me (Matthew 16:24)

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:25-27)

To be a disciple of Jesus was serious business. It obviously required more than praying the sinners prayer, and asking Jesus into your heart. Jesus called people to not only believe in him, but submit to him, and physically follow him.

To be a disciple required death. Death to calling your own shots. Death to the idols of your heart. Death to other people’s opinions and expectations of you. Death to finding your security in the things of the world. Death to your version of success. Death to  finding significance outside of Jesus. Death to letting your life be about anything else other than following Jesus.

The Apostle Paul understood this when he wrote:

  If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. (Romans 14:8)

So, how will disciples of Jesus be rewarded?

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it (Matthew 16:25)

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you,…everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first. (Matthew 19:29-30)

The first reward for a disciple of Jesus is life. The Greek word used in verse Matthew 16:25 is “psychē” .  It can  also be translated “soul”. Jesus is saying the disciples reward is deep soul-life.

But more than life for your soul, Jesus also promises rewards in heaven. To give up something for Jesus is like making a deposit, or investment in future rewards in heaven.  And Jesus pays enormous returns (100 times) to those invest in him.

Believers will go to heaven. But to the degree that they did not invest in Jesus on earth is to the degree that they will miss out on rewards from Jesus in heaven. To be sure heaven is joyful place for everyone who is there. But that doesn’t mean that everyone’s experience is the same. Jesus is clear, what you do on earth affects your experience of heaven. And for disciples of Jesus, the experience is better.

Maybe, this is one reason why Jesus wants disciples, and not just believers.

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”(Matthew 28:18-20)

 

 

How To Help Students Stop Sinning

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Don’t do this! Work harder to do this!

Is our job as pastors, parents, and youth leaders, just to help students stop sinning?

It can often feel that way.stop sign

But ask yourself, what’s the point of telling a student not to sin? Even if they stop with one sin, aren’t they just going to commit another sin later?

What then, should we do?

Should we just give up encouraging students to live moral lives? Should we not tell them what the Bible says about sin and its consequences? Of course not.

But what we should do, is help students understand why they sin in the first place.

James 1:14 says “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.”

Sin happens when we try to meet a good desire in the wrong way.

When I was in 5th grade a friend of mine introduce me to pornography. I’d like to say I ran the other way, and never looked back. But I didn’t. I looked, and I looked a lot. But the reason I looked was not because I wanted to rebel against God or my parents, or do something that was wrong. I looked because I desperately wanted my friend to like me. I looked because I had a deep desire to be wanted. And in those moments that desire was fulfilled. I was accepted by my friend, and I felt wanted. My problem was not that I liked pornography, my problem was that my heart was empty.

I have been in some kind of pastoral role to students for over ten years now. And I have often thought about what I as a student needed back then to change my behavior. I know without a doubt that I did not need someone to tell me to stop, or show me from the Bible how pornography was wrong. I had been a Christian since I was four– I knew all that. What I did need was someone to help me understand what was behind my sin. And then how Jesus could help me.

G. K. Chesterton is attributed with saying “Every man who knocks on the door of a brothel is looking for God.” I believe more and more everyday these words are true.

I still have the desire to be wanted. But unlike my fifth grade self, I now know the right way to have that desire met. His name is Jesus Christ. And there is no desire he cannot abundantly meet. His love is often made tangible through his body, Christians, like my wife, accountability partners, family, and friends. But it is his love meeting my desires that has, and will, keep me free from such sin.

The best thing we as pastors, parents, and youth leaders can do for students, is not to help them stop sinning. Because, life is not just about not sinning.

Rather, the best thing we as pastors, parents, and youth leaders can do, is to help students identify their deepest God-given desires. And then, show them how Jesus can abundantly fulfill them. When this happens they will know the love of Jesus and his body (the church), and the temptation to sin will take care of its self.

David Platt on American Idols

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When we think of worshiping idols and false gods, we often picture Asian people buying carved images of wood, stone, or gold or African tribes performing ritualistic dances around burning sacrifices. But we don’t consider the American man looking at pornographic pictures online or watching ungodly television shows and movies. We don’t think about the American woman incessantly shopping for more possessions or obsessively consumed with the way she looks. We don’t take in to account men and women in the Western world constantly enamored with money and blindly engulfed in materialism. We hardly even think about our busy efforts to climb the corporate ladder, our incessant worship of sports, our temper when things don’t go our way, our worries that things won’t go our way, our overeating, our excesses, and all sorts of other worldly indulgences.

330px-American_Idol_logo.svg

Maybe the most dangerous of all, we overlook the spiritual self-achievement and religious-righteousness that prevents scores of us from ever recognizing our need for Christ. We can’t fathom a Christian on the other side of the world believing that a wooden god can save them, but we have no problem believing that religion, money, possessions, food, fame, sex, sports, status, and success can satisfy us. Do we actually think that we have fewer idols to let go of in our repentance?

 

 

 

 

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Excerpt from David Platt’s Follow Me: A Call to Die. A Call to Live.

Matthew On Denying Oneself

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If you would have asked me last month, what is the theme of the Gospel of Matthew?  I would have told you it is a gospel dedicated to showing Jesus to be the true King/Messiah of God’s people. And though I still think that is true, after studying  for this week’s sermon, a second theme has become glaringly obvious. It is the theme of Self Denial/Sacrifice. Just look at this survey of verses from  Matthew’s gospel: 

4:4 “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

4:9-10 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”

5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

6:19-21 19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where     thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

8:19-22  And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” 20 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”

10:7-10 And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food.

10:38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

16:23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

16:24-25 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

19:21Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

19:27 Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?”

19:29-30 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

20:26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant.

Matthew is clear, to follow Jesus means to be God-Dependent and to give your life away. How could Jesus make such radical demands? Because it is exactly what He did for you and me.

 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant,  being made in human likeness.And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself  by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:5-8)

How The Big Bang Proves The Existence of God

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Last week scientists discovered evidence which confirms the Big Bang theory. You can read all about it here.

And articles like this one, have pointed out, evidence for the Big Bang is evidence for the existence of God.

How so?

Say hello to the Cosmological Argument.  It’s an argument that originated with medieval Muslim thinkers, but was made famous by a Christian theologian name Thomas Aquinas (1225 – 1274). The basic argument goes like this:

  1. Whatever begin to exist has a cause
  2. The universe begin to exists
  3. Therefore it has cause

As you can see if the Big Bang theory is true, then there is a definite beginning to the universe. That in turn means that there had to be a definite cause to that beginning. The question is what was that cause, which caused the beginning of the universe?

For Christians the answers seems obvious, the cause which caused the Big Bang and therefore the beginning of the universe was God.  The first line in the Bible says just that, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth“. But why couldn’t the beginning of the universe be caused by say another universe, or something other than a personal Creator God?

To find that out watch this short video.

Three Things You Should Expect From Your Church Elders

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At Fellowship we’re gearing up for another church membership class. This is a great opportunity for attenders of our church to take the next step on the Path of Discipleship. And move from church attender to committed member. Now often when pastors talk about church membership we talk about expectations for our church members. But today I want to flip the conversation, and talk about what members should expect of church Elders[1]. Here are at least three things which every church member should expect from their Elders:

Soul Care– Hebrews 13:17 says, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account.”

As a church member you should expect your church leaders to keep watch over your soul.  In fact, this job is so significant that each Elder will have to give an account to God about how they did.  What does soul care look like? At least three things. (1) Elders should help you grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. (2) Elders should encourage and offer counsel to you when you are burdened by the things of this world. (3) Elders should protect you from the lies, deceptions, and evils which keep you from having joy in Jesus.  In short, Elders should care for your soul by teaching, encouraging, counseling, and supporting you, in every area of your life.

Now as much as Elders (myself included) would like to give this kind of care to every person we meet, the truth is it is just not possible.  But as a church member, you have made a public statement saying “I want my soul to be cared for by the leaders of this church.” Therefore, you can and should expect to have the priority of such care.

Tangible Acts of Love- 1 Timothy 3:2 says, “Therefore an overseer must be… hospitable… “

Hospitality is a lost art in our culture. But the Bible is clear an overseer (that is a church Elder) must be hospitable. Why is hospitality an necessary quality of Eldership? Because hospitality is a tangible expression of love for one another. To be hospitable is to open not only our homes to others, but our lives as well. It is to no longer minster to someone at arm’s length, but instead to bring them in close and  show them love.

Again, this isn’t something Elders can do for everyone. But if you are a church member, then you have committed to be a part of our family, and so in turn we commit to you. And one way we commit to you is by loving you in real tangible ways, like being hospitable. So as a church member you should expect your Elders to invite you into their lives and into their homes, as a way of showing you love.

Equipping– Ephesians 4:11-12 says,  “ And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,…”

Elders fall under the categories of shepherds and teachers. But like the job of the apostles, prophets, and evangelists, our job is “to equip the saints for the work of the ministry”. What does this mean? First, it means our job is to help you grasp deeply the truth and power of the Gospel for your life. Then, help you understand how to rightly handle the Word of God. Next, we should help you discover your spiritual gifts. And finally, we should help you find a context for using those gifts to serve others.

Equipping the saints is something I’m passionate about. But it is a really big job, even in a not-so-big church.  Thus, it is not something that I or any other Elder can do for just anyone who comes to one of our ministry programs or who visits our church.  But if you’re a church member, then you are our target audience. And you can and should expect for us to equip you for the work of the ministry.

I’ll be honest as I look over the above three expectations I get a little nervous. Because as a pastor I’m reminded just how significant my job is, and at the same time just how often I fall short of meeting these expectations. And of course the above list isn’t even complete–there are still more expectations I could have added.  But despite my weaknesses, I still want to encourage every church member to expect these things from me and every other church Elder.

We might not complete our work with perfection (that’s why we too need soul care, love, and equipping as well). But even so, this is the job Christ has given us to do, and so you should expect us to do it.

[1] For Presbyterians, Pastors are also Elders.