What We Can't Stray From

How do you know if you really love Jesus and it is not just words that you say? Jesus himself answers that in John 14:15, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments". Pretty straightforward from the one who alone gets to define what it means to be His follower. No one else gets to define this but Him. Not the traditionalists, emergents, the liberals, or those of the seeker persuasion - He did not give us any kind of authority to redefine what loving Him looks like. Why then does it seem that this is some kind of debate today? Have we become so enlightened in our day that we have discovered something new? If loving Him is truly seen by walking, talking, and living in obedience, then we should preach the word, hold out the commandments, and implore all Christ followers to be keepers of the truth.
If we in ministry are not pushing this with the people we are servant leaders of, then it is short of what the gospel teaches. It is actually not the gospel. Keeping commandments means embracing the rule and reign of God and it happens because we love God much. How we got away from this aim is in large part why we have such confusion in the church today about who God is and what he desires of our lives.
Leading people to walk in obedience is the great task of the minister of the gospel. Paul said it to Timothy in this manner, "If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed" (1 Timothy 4:6). If our aim is to be a good servant of Christ Jesus, then we will make sure all things from Jesus are taught.

We cannot stray from this aim.

The Content of our Message

JC Ryle was the first Aglican Bishop of Liverpool. He said there were seven characteristics of the preachers during the great awakening of the 1800's. They are listed below.

1. They taught the supremacy of the holy Scripture. 2. They preached the total corruption of human nature. 3. They taught that Christ's death upon the cross was the only satisfaction for man's sin. 4. They preached the doctrine of justification by faith. 5. They taught the universal necessity of heart conversion and new creation by the Holy Spirit. 6. They spoke of God's eternal hatred against sin and of God's love for sinners. 7. They preached that there was an inseparable connection between true faith and personal holiness. If one lived an ungodly life, then that was evident that there had been no true conversion as being converted means being changed.

What are we doing if we are not holding the supremacy of Scripture and the gospel as central to everything we do?

Even Paul, with his creativity in Athens and at the Areopagus (Acts 17:16-34) spoke of these things:

• vs 16 - Spirit was deeply bothered by idols
• vs 17-18 - Reasons with them about Jesus and the resurrection
  

Those 2 things show he watered down nothing. The gospel was his original message with them.

• vs 23-28 - Clearly portrays who Jesus is
• vs 30 - Tells them they have to repent
• vs 31 - a day of judgment is coming

This passage is championed by those who are calling for the church to communicate the gospel in new ways, but just look at the content of Paul's message and what happened during the 1800's. The content is really not that different.

What does that mean?

It means we should stay with the same message regardless of the disappointments with the church as an institution or postmodernism call for change. The content must not change. Do not change the content. There is something seriously wrong if we want to change or water the content down. It is this same Paul who said these words to his disciple in 2 Timothy 4:2-3 "preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teaching to suit their own passions."

Preach the Word, in its entire content. We are deeper in a time of the gospel "being out of season" in our culture, I think that is clear. So, what do we do? Paul says preach the Word anyway and still reprove, rebuke, and exhort. Those 3 indicate that our job is not to make sure everyone always feels good about everything. A rebuke does not bring encouragement unless it lands on a spiritually wise person.

The content of the gospel must not be altered for any reason.

Shaping the Identity of Church

Every local church or ministry needs an identity and will naturally have one. The problem at times is that some choose to allow themselves to be shaped by the wrong things or they fail to know what they need to do to be shaped by the right things. I want to offer what could help in this process.

• Rules - For church to be church we have to follow what the Bible says about the both the bride and life. Let's face it, the word rules is not so popular today, but there are standards that have to be embraced and followed. Call them what you want, but they are rules. Rules are not bad, really they aren't. As parents we set standards for our kids to follow and we don't bend them. Culturally, people may not like to be told what to do, oh well! Rules are a part of all of life and they make things better. They also help define the expectations which aid in building identity. One thing about this, the rules have to only come from scripture, not culture. Scripture over culture.
  
• Responsibilities - As rules are settled, the next important thing for shaping of identity is for the members of the church to take on personal responsibility for the best of the church and the glory of God. Do we really love our church if we do not take responsibility for it? If we don't, we just an attender and like so many other people in the church. When the majority of the members take responsibility then you have a strong church. When they do not, then you have a weak church.
  
• Relationships - We are so shaped by those around us. Unhealthy relationships will produce dysfunction and this is true for the church. Relationships within the body shape who a church is and where they are going. Is gossip, envy, jealousy, or impartiality present in your ministry? or Does evidence of love, unity, forgiveness, and inclusiveness dominate the life of your body? How the relationships function will shape the body. The leadership must model this.
  
• Rituals - The church needs to be about certain things that they do in both private and public expressions of personal faith. Yes, rituals is not so popular and in some ways I get why, but it is really a good word. Every group has rituals whether it is a spiritual one or not. You see this in sports, music, or preparation for a test. They all have some sort of a ritural. Why should a church not have rituals that define who they are? Obviously, the rituals need to be embraced by the people, if they are not, then they need to be thrown out. Consistent rituals build identity and they need to be in line with scripture.
  

Hope these are helpful.