Letters to the Modern Church

     Whenever I visit a church I have never been to before, one of the bigger things on which I base my opinion of the church is, how many notes I take during the sermon. How much of what is being taught, is edifying and enlightening? Am I learning more about who God is, as well as being challenged to grow, or am I just sitting in on yet another sermon on the same basic, generic topics that you can hear in any church? This may seem cynical at first, but bear with me for a few minutes, and please don’t mistake my meaning to be that the basic truths in scripture are not worth learning or being reminded of.

     In the average church (at least from my experience) I have found myself listening to many of the same sermons on the same topics, simply presented by different people, in slightly different ways. Most often topics that cover personal growth in many of the same areas. Personal growth is good and important but, admittedly, I sometimes get tired of nearly every sermon being about how God relates to me and what I can get out of this relationship with Him.
Some things that I have learned over the years, as I have moved from one place to another, are how to make friends and build relationships. One of the biggest components necessary for developing a relationship with anyone, is to spend time learning about the other person. Not simply telling them about yourself, understanding how you relate to them in mutual interests, and learning what they can do for you. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a healthy one sided relationship, except for one between a parent and child, and then, even the child must grow up at some point.

“When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.”
1 Corinthians 13:11 NIV

     As Christ followers, we began our life in Christ with basic understanding of spiritual truths. Everything was new and we began to gradually have more and more understanding of these spiritual truths as we spent time in God’s word and the Spirit spoke to our hearts and minds. I have attended so many different churches that have wonderfully helpful teachings for people in this season of spiritual growth. Basic truths are so important to have a firm grasp on in so many different aspects of life. But, if you simply cover the basics over and over, focusing primarily on people as unbelievers or new believers, you end up in a drought, with little or no spiritual growth. A dry season where older believers become stagnant and newer believers fall away from their faith, because they lacked the knowledge and understanding of how to grow deep roots.

“Hear then the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”
Matthew 13:18-23 ESV

     I don’t want pastors, teachers, and leadership to misunderstand me and think that I am saying that they are fully responsible for peoples spiritual health and growth.

     Let me be clear, each person is ultimately responsible for their own growth and relationship with God.

     However, you, church leadership, are in a position that is responsible for equipping people with the knowledge and tools they need to help them deepen their relationship with Christ and follow Him in all they do. When you solely focus on the basics, aiming your teaching at new or young believers, you are neglecting those who have the potential to grow deeper roots, and hindering their ability to mature and grow to be an even greater impact on the Kingdom of God.

“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”
Ephesians 4:11-13 NIV

     The church’s primary focus should not be solely on new or young believers and getting people in the door, but an equal focus needs to be on helping older believers grow their roots deeper and continue to develop their relationship with God.

“Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”
Ephesians 4:14-16 NIV

     As human beings, we have a deep desire to be known and understood. I do not believe that God wants that any less for himself, than we do for ourselves. And, without fail, the more I learn about God’s character and who He is, the more I Love and desire to follow and know Him better.

     Established Christ followers ought to continue to grow and deepen their relationship with God. Your pastors and elders are great resources, but listen to other teachers as well (and be discerning in what you read or listen to, comparing it against scripture to correctly determine what is true). Listen to podcasts or sermons from other pastors or teachers, read books and converse with friends and family on spiritual matters. One podcast I listen to fairly often is called The Bible Project. I highly recommend it. I have deepened my understanding of who God is greatly through listening to them and continue to learn that God is deep, as well as wide. God’s character and the scriptures are not as simple as I used to think.

“About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”
Hebrews 5:11-14 ESV

“Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.”
1 Corinthians 3:1-2 NIV

     I implore you to not be content just listening to a sermon on Sundays. It is simply not enough to help you grow into what God desires for His people. Seek to be fed spiritual food that will take longer to digest. And the thing about food that takes longer to digest is that it sustains you for a longer period of time, giving you longer lasting energy to keep you going. Then, as you grow you will be able to pass on what you have learned to those younger in their faith, but always continue to seek to grow more.

“Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God”
Hebrews 6:1 ESV

     For those who who feel comfortable with the current state of their relationship with God, I want to encourage you to grow in knowledge and relationship for a practical reason as well: so that you will not be deceived by the Enemy into believing incorrect doctrine and drawn away from your faith.

“Speaking of these things in all of [Paul’s] letters. Some of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction. You already know these things, dear friends. So be on guard; then you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing.”
2 Peter 3:16-17 NLT

     Some of my closest, most fulfilling, and life giving relationships have been ones where there is a mutual care and understanding for each other’s emotional and physical well being. Additionally, the more I know about the other person’s history and character only serves to deepen my connection and relationship with the other person. Picture your closest ever friendship with anyone. The one where you both know all the stupid and embarrassing stuff the other has done. The good, the bad, and the ugly. But you’re even better friends because of that knowledge of the other person. Can you imagine anything better? What about a friend who knows all of the awful things you’ve said, thought, and done, yet they still choose to spend time with you and love on you?

“I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”
John 15:15 NIV

     Spending time building your knowledge of and relationship with God will enable you to hear and recognize His voice more clearly.
And how do you build relationship with Him? In large part, by spending time talking with Him in prayer.

     Once upon a time, prayer was a chore for me. It was another thing that I needed to carve out time for in my day to go to a quiet place, by myself, and recite a list of my and other’s wants and needs.
     While quiet time alone with God is incredibly important, I have come to learn that I was severely limiting myself in my spiritual growth with that perspective on what prayer really is.
     Prayer isn’t just time alone with God. It’s a mode of communication just like talking with anyone else. I realized that I can talk with God as I go about my day. I talk to Him about what I’m doing and what I’m thinking. I talk to him during interactions with people and about the interactions after. It can be done as you’re driving to work and as you walk through the grocery store. While you’re cooking dinner or doing chores, and when you lay down to sleep and when you get up to prepare for your day.

     However, just as important as talking with God, is the ability to listen. So often we feel as though we need to fill the silence, but more often than not, I have found that God has spoken to my heart and mind the most clearly in my silences.
     How do you feel the most cared about, respected, and understood when interacting with people? Is it when people talk about themselves and their problems, tell you about what they think about the best way for you to handle any given situation? Or is it when they quietly listen to what you have to say? There is a lot to be said for people who listen well. Being a good listener is something that we all could stand to be a lot better about.

“This is what the Lord says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord.”
Jeremiah 9:23-24 NIV

“Give ear and come to me;
listen, that you may live.”
Isaiah 55:3a NIV

“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry”
James 1:19 NIV

     What you have to say should not be more important than what God has to say, and you cannot listen and hear Him, if you are doing all of the talking.

“Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.”
Ecclesiastes 5:1 NIV

     I went through a very difficult season a number of years ago. A season in which I was asking God a lot of ‘why’ questions that there was no easy answer for. In the midst of those questions, God managed to get a word in edgewise. He showed me that if I was going to ask Him questions, I needed to give Him an opportunity to answer.
It was here that I learned just one reason for the importance of being still and quiet in prayer. It gives God an opportunity to speak to us uninterrupted, which in turn gives us an opportunity to hear Him more clearly.

“Be still, and know that I am God.”
Psalm 46:10a ESV

“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him”
Psalm 37:7a ESV

     A handful of years ago, I signed up for a group Bible study for the first time in years. On my way out the door, my young daughter asked where I was going. “To Bible study” I replied. Her eyes grew wide and she said “But I thought you already knew about God!” I responded “No one could ever know everything there is to know about God. I’ll be learning about God for the rest of my life!”
     I’m sure there are things that you, reader, know about God, that I haven’t learned yet. There are also probably things that I know, that you have not yet learned. Seek to know better the one who has called you “friend”. We often hear things like “God wants to have relationship with you”, but how often do we think of that in terms of friendship? The kinds of close and happy friendships that last a lifetime?

“I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”
John 15:15 NIV

Though this next verse is talking about wisdom, by remembering that wisdom is an aspect of God’s character, in gaining wisdom, we also gain more understanding about God.

“I love those who love me,
and those who seek me find me.”
Proverbs 8:17 NIV

God wants to be more than just a conscience to us. He wants to be our friend, in all that the word entails. He wants to be the person we whisper to late at night, the one we joke around with, the one we chat with about our day.

“This is what the Lord says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord.”
Jeremiah 9:23-24 NIV

Seek to know Him better. Seek to go deeper in your relationship with Him than you ever have before. You are Loved and chosen by the Creator of the universe, who seeks a friendship with you. Don’t cheat yourself by having a superficial relationship with a conscience.

“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
2 Peter 3:18a NIV

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
Jeremiah 29:13 NIV

And finally:

“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.”
Ephesians 1:17 NIV

“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.”
Philippians 1:9-11 NIV