Every time I meet another Christian I ask “Of what church are you a part?”  I don’t ask “Where do you attend?” or “What church do you go to?” because living out a growing Christian life is about so much more than simply attendance or adherence to a local church body.  As Christians we are “members” of the body.  The local is a microcosm of the universal.  Local church membership matters.   

I’m teaching a membership class at our local church this Sunday afternoon/early evening.  In preparation for the updates I’m making to my class notes I finished a book this afternoon called What is a Healthy Church Member?  Here is a basic summary of the 10 attributes the author brings out, accompanied by quotes and observations.     

A healthy church member is…

1) An expositional listener

“Expositional preaching is that preaching which takes for the main point of a sermon the point of a particular passage of Scripture.  Expositional listening gives us a clear ear with which to hear God.  It helps us to focus on God’s will and to follow Him.  Expositional listening protects the gospel and our lives from corruption.  It encourages faithful pastors.  It benefits the gathered congregation.” 

2) A biblical theologian

“To practice biblical theology is to know God himself…the church member who is serious about knowing God is the member who is committed to what the Bible says about God, because the Bible is where God tells us about himself.” 

3) Gospel saturated

“The first order of business is to know the gospel.”  Timothy Keller sums up the gospel this way: “You’re a sinner saved by Jesus’ work, not by your own work.”  “It sometimes appears as though some Christians believe the gospel was meant to be preached widely until it reached them and then stored safely in the vault of their personal history, away from everyone else.” 

4) Genuinely converted

“The healthy church member—the true church member—must know the work of God’s grace in his or her own soul.”

5) A biblical evangelist

A biblical evangelist is genuinely converted and calls others to the true gospel.

6) A committed member

“The local church is the place where love is most visibly and compellingly displayed among God’s people.  It’s where the “body of Christ” is most plainly represented in the world.”

7) Seeks discipline

“Not only do healthy church members accept the Lord’s chastisement, but they humbly accept correction from others.” 

8) A growing disciple

“We’re far too vulnerable to settling for being thought of as mature rather than actually being mature.”

9) A humble follower

This chapter talks about the healthy church member’s attitude toward leadership within the church. 

10) A prayer warrior

“The how and when of prayer boil down to two biblical teachings: pray constantly and pray in the Spirit.”  

This is a great book well worth the read.

Jonathan Edwards:
“Pride is the worst viper that is in the heart, the greatest disturber of the soul’s peace and sweet communion with Christ…the most hidden, secret and deceitful of all lusts…’What a foolish, silly, miserable, blind, deceived poor worm am I, when pride works.” 
(from Humility)

Charles Spurgeon:
“Depend upon it, our judgment is very much like a pair of scales: if Christ goes up self
goes down; and if self rises Jesus falls in our esteem. No man ever sets a high price upon self and Christ at the same time.”
(from my source for Spurgeon quotes)

John Stott:
“At every stage of our Christian development and in every sphere of our Christian discipleship, pride is the greatest enemy and humility our greatest friend.” 
(from Humility)

D.L. Moody:
“God sends no one away empty except those who are full of themselves.”
(from 3000 Quotations on Christian Themes by Carroll E. Simcox)

C.J. Mahaney:
“Humility is honestly assessing ourselves in light of God’s holiness and our sinfulness.” 
(from Humility )

Terrell Owens:
“I love me some me!” (I’m sure you can find this on YouTube)

We’ll be diving into the issue of humility, because humility is the main ingredient in a community, relationship, or any group that is unified.  You and I will never attain unity without humility.  And the level of unity we experience will be in direct proportion to the level of humility we exercise. 

Humility is a discipline.  It’s not something that “just happens.”  It results from a conscious decision an individual makes to get over themselves.

Humility marks the mature Christian.  John Newton put it this way:  

“Young Christians think themselves little; growing Christians
think themselves nothing; full-grown Christians think themselves less than
nothing.” 

How beautiful is that phrase “full-grown Christians?”  Our goal as Christians should be to attain to a level of maturity that can be categorized by “full-grown” (Ephesians 4:11-16 comes to mind).  Full-grown doesn’t mean we stop growing, it means we stop acting like my 4-year old. 

I love my 4-year old.  She is so sweet and so thoughtful.  But there come times, many times over the course of a week, where she shows herself to be just what she is: four.  As her father I don’t let those times discourage or dissuade me from working to unconditionally love and care for her.  I’m not surprised when she acts her age.  As a father I work hard to develop her, lead her, and set a context in my home that can provide optimum opportunity for her to mature.  But maturity is only possible through humility. 

When is it that you and I grow?  Is it when everything works out perfectly and we are swept along in a rhythmic current of ease and comfort?  No.  It is when things are tough, confusing, burdensome, and painful that we truly grow and mature.  But I would venture to say that without humility such growth is impossible. 

Why?

Because humility postures us to look within and ask the question: “How can I change?”

I’ve heard it said that to pray for humility is a “dangerous prayer.”  But is it one worth making?

Charles Spurgeon said it this way:

“I believe every Christian man has a choice between being humble and being
humbled.”

Sound like it may be time to hit my knees.

In about an hour our youth leave for Winter Camp, a weekend journey to Mount Adams where they’ll have a “Run-in With Grace.”  I spent this morning with my good friend Mike Goff, he flew in from Boston last night and is here to preach for the camp.  Mike preached a couple of youth camps for me when I was a youth pastor in Olympia and is an outstanding communicator.  In all, 127 students and leaders are heading up to Winter Camp, 40 of them were able to receive partial or full scholarships due to over $2000.00 contributed by givers at LPC.  Amazing stuff!  The youth will return Sunday afternoon.  

Later tonight (7pm) our Mpact girls (K-5th grade) will be joined by their Dads for the Father/Daughter Ball in the Gym at LPC.  It’s a great time where Dads and daughters dress up and enjoy a night full of decorations, dancing, and good food.     

On Sunday morning I’ll be continuing Surprised by Joy: Penned in Prison, a series on the book of Philippians, with an exposition of Philippians 1:27-30.  I started my prep this week intent on making it through Philippians 2:4, but once again this marvelous letter blew me away.  There is far too much depth in the last four verses of chapter one to make into chapter two this week.  My message is titled “Walk Worthy,” and I’m very expectant about the impact this passage will make on all our lives.  It’s going to be a fun one! 

Sunday night our weekend culminates with our Annual Business Meeting.  Over the last 6 weeks we joined together on Wednesday nights in a short series I put together called Talkin’ Church.  The goal of that month and a half was to teach through the “Gear Up” vision that we are currently engaged in for the year of 2012 at LPC.  Sunday night will be the finale of Phase 1 of Gear Up 2012, as we look back through 2011, vote on Constitution and Bylaws Resolutions, and affirm members for the Church Board.  I encourage all members to come out, and if you’re one of the 78 members who have joined in the last 9 months, I highly encourage you to join us for your first annual meeting as an LPC member.  It will be a good time, we have a lot to celebrate as a church family.

Agriculture:                            Archeology:

John Piper:
“Oh, how we need to wake up to how much “nothing” we spend our time doing.  Apart from prayer, all our scurrying about, all our talking, all our study amounts to “nothing.”  For most of us the voice of self-reliance is ten times louder than the bell that tolls for the hours of prayer.  The voice cries out: “You must open the mail, you must make that call, you must write that sermon, you must prepare for the board meeting, you must go to the hospital.”  But the bells tolls softly: “Without Me you can do nothing.” 

A.C.Dixon:
“When we depend upon organizations, we get what organizations can do; when we depend upon education, we get what education can do; when we depend upon man, we get what man can do; but when we depend upon prayer, we get what God can do.”

Talkin’ Church Bibliography

Anyabwile, Thabiti.  What is a Healthy Church Member? Crossway Books, 2008.

Belcher, Jim.  Deep Church, InterVarsity Press, 2009.

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich.  The Cost of Discipleship, Simon & Schuster, 1937.

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich.  Life Together, Harper & Row Publishers, 1954.

Chand, Samuel.  Cracking Your Church’s Culture Code, Jossey-Bass, 2011.

Chester, Tim and Steve Timmis.  Total Church, Crossway Books, 2008. 

Collins, Jim.  Good to Great, Collins, 2001.

Collins, Jim.  Built to Last, Harper Business, 1994.

Collins, Jim.  How the Mighty Fall, Harper Collins, 2009.

Dever, Mark and Paul Alexander.  The Deliberate Church, Crossway Books, 2005.

Dever, Mark.  Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, Crossway Books, 2004.

Dever, Mark.  A Display of God’s Glory: Basics of Church Structure, IX Marks, 2001.

Driscoll, Mark.  The Radical Reformission, Zondervan, 2004.

Driscoll, Mark.  Confessions of a Reformission Rev., Zondervan, 2006. 

Driscoll, Mark and Gerry Breshears.  Vintage Church, Crossway Books, 2008.

Getz, Gene.  Elders and Leaders, Moody Publishers, 2003.

Guinness, Os.  Dining with the Devil, Baker Books, 1993. 

Hughes, Kentand Barbara.  Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome, Crossway, 1987.

Hybels, Bill.  Courageous Leadership, Zondervan, 2009.

Lencioni, Patrick.  Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars, Jossey-Bass, 2006.        

MacDonald, Gordon.  Who Stole My Church? Thomas Nelson, 2007.

McNeal, Reggie.  Missional Renaissance, Jossey-Bass, 2009.

Newton, Phil.  Elders in Congregational Life, Kregel Publications, 2005.

Osborne, Larry.  The Unity Factor, Owl’s Nest, 1989. 

Osborne, Larry.  Sticky Church, Zondervan, 2008.

Osborne, Larry.  Sticky Teams, Zondervan, 2010.

Rainer, Thom and Eric Geiger.  Simple Church, B&H Publishing Group, 2006.

Rainer, Thom and Sam Rainer.  Essential Church, B&H Books, 2008.

Stanley, Andy, Reggie Joiner and Lane Jones.  7 Practices of Effective Ministry, North Point Ministries, 2004.

Tchividjian, Tullian.  Unfashionable, Mutlnomah, 2009.

Thumma, Scott and Warren Bird.  The Other 80 Percent, Jossey-Bass, 2011.

White, James Emery.  Re-thinking the Church, Baker Books, 1997.

Holy Bible: English Standard Version, Crossway Books.

Here it is (footnotes below):

Talkin’ Church: Gear Up 2012 Overview 

Week 1: January 3, 2012
Birth: Whence is the church?[1]
Identity: What is the church?[2] 

Week 2: January 10, 2012
Ownership: Whose is the church?[3]
Character: How is the church?[4] 

Week 3: January 25, 2012
Structure: Who is the church?          

Week 4: February 1, 2012
Existence: Why is the church?[5]
Purpose: Whither is the church?[6] 

Week 5: February 8, 2012
Context: When is the church?[7]
Reality: Where is the church?[8]
Official member meeting #1: Constitution and Bylaws Resolutions[9]
Official member meeting #2: Sunday night, February 12.[10]

[1] What is the source from whence it comes?