At the heart of the problems in our relationships is self-centeredness. The engine that runs Christ-like relationships is serving one another in love (Eph. 5:21). But what does a servant's heart look like? Here are three characteristics:

(1) The ability to hear criticism without being crushed (lack of self-defensiveness).

(2) The ability to give criticism without crushing.

(3) The ability to forgive people without residual anger (forgive people and really let it go).

In short, the ability to get your mind off yourself.

In our study of the book of James we have reached James 4:1-4 which deals with the topic of worldliness. Over the last several weeks we have done a study of the Scripture's teaching on worldliness looking at the definition of worldliness, what worldliness looks like, and finally how we can overcome worldliness. Yesterday morning I promised to post these questions which are based off the passages we considered together and are designed to help us discern what is worldly.

(1) Does this activity, thing, or pursuit take my heart away from God?

(2) Does it sabotage my communion with God and my walk in the Spirit? (Note: this will often differ from person to person depending on our circumstances, past experiences, and particular sin struggles)

(3) Does it undermine or seek to displace my relationship to Christ as the power of my life? (e.g. a moralistic, external code as opposed to a true-heartfelt worship)

(4) Does it attempt (is it designed) to do so?

(5) Does it feed the self-centered, appetite-driven, God-hating part of me called the flesh?

(6) Does it inflame my desire to disobey God's commands?

(7) Does it produce pride, contention, immorality, or any other behavior contrary to the love of God and the love of others?

(8) Does it lure me into obsession with what is earthbound and temporal versus what is heavenly and eternal?

Dear Church Family,

Yesterday morning we finished our seven week Newcomers Class with a time of question and answer. One of the questions that we addressed was the question of why we use the type of music we do in our church services. Of course this is a broad and particularly divisive issue in churches all across our nation. Some churches have responded by literally dividing their congregations according to musical preference and holding multiple services based on these preferences. Other churches have responded by attempting to read more into Scripture than is there regarding music, insisting that everyone in the church adopt a certain application. In both cases, the result is division. 

The desire of the leadership of our church is to be faithful to Scripture--by not stopping short of what Scripture says on this subject, thus violating God's law; and by not going beyond what is written, thus holding people to a man-made standard. We also desire to earnestly endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph. 4:3). 

Towards this end, I have written a brief overview of what I presented to the class yesterday. It is certainly not exhaustive and there are better things written on the subject. But it represents my prayerful attempt to lead our congregation in faithfulness to Scripture with a spirit of charity towards each other. You will find it attached below. By God's grace, I trust it will be helpful.

Your Pastor,

David Crabb

Attachments:

File	Description	File size
Thoughts on Music for Our Congregation		44 Kb

In last Sunday's sermon (AM), I mentioned some recent attacks on the deity of Christ, including attacks even on the popular level (I mentioned The Da Vinci Code). The example given in the message, was the popular assertion that Jesus never claimed to be God and the apostles (and early church) never thought him to be God. He was only determined to be God later (usually in A.D. 325). We showed how that was untrue from our passage for that day, James 2:1.

Afterward, someone in the church asked me about other passages in the New Testament that claim that Jesus is God. There are lots of passages that we could go to (e.g. John 14:9-"He who has seen me, has seen the Father"), but I've copied a chart below that shows the passages where the Greek word for God (Theos) is used of Jesus.

Jesus Is God: Specific Examples Where Greek Theos (“God”) Is Applied to Jesus

I ran across this article today by Thom Rainer, a long-time pastor who is known for his emphasis on evangelism. It was an especially interesting article after just finishing our series on personal evangelism. In the article, he makes the point that evangelistic churches are simply churches with evangelistic people. He then gives seven characteristics of evangelistic people. The article is copied below:

For over twenty years I have been researching and studying churches, primarily those in North America. I had the joy of serving as senior pastor in four churches where God blessed with evangelistic growth. I have written over twenty books about the church in America.

I am not giving you my credentials to impress you, but simply to share that my life’s passion has been leading and learning about evangelistic churches. At this point in my life and ministry, however, I realize that I have not given sufficient attention to one of the primary characteristics of evangelistic churches.

The Great Omission

It is so obvious. Indeed it is so clear that I am surprised at my neglect of this factor. Stated simply, the evangelistic churches that I have researched for the past twenty years have one or more highly evangelistic Christians.

I know. The previous statement is no great revelation. It is almost stating the obvious. But, if it is reality, why are we not hearing more about these Christians who seem to have a passion for evangelism? Why are we not doing a better job of telling their stories?

In this short article I hope to address this great omission.

Seven Characteristics

It is inevitable that, when we do research on evangelistic churches, we learn about one or more members in the church who, to use the book title by Charles H. Spurgeon, embody the traits of "The Soul Winner." Oftentimes one of those members is the pastor. But we have also seen many laypersons who are themselves soul winners.

In our interviews with these people, or with those who tell us about the soul winners, we began to discern some clear patterns. We called those patterns “the seven characteristics of highly evangelistic Christians.”

1. They are people of prayer. They realize that only God can convict and convert, and they are totally dependent upon Him in prayer. Most of the highly evangelistic Christians spend at least an hour in prayer each day.

2. They have a theology that compels them to evangelize. They believe in the urgency of the gospel message. They believe that Christ is the only way of salvation. They believe that anyone without Christ is doomed for a literal hell.

3. They are people who spend time in the Word. The more time they spend in the Bible, the more likely they are to see the lostness of humanity and the love of God in Christ to save those who are lost.

4. They are compassionate people. Their hearts break for those who don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. They have learned to love the world by becoming more like Christ who has the greatest love for the world.

5. They love the communities where God has placed them. They are immersed in the culture because they desire for the light of Christ to shine through them in their communities.

6. They are intentional about evangelism. They pray for opportunities to share the gospel. They look for those opportunities. And they see many so-called casual encounters as appointments set by God.
7. They are accountable to someone for their evangelistic activities. They know that many good activities can replace Great Commission activities if they are not careful. Good can replace the best. So they make certain that someone holds them accountable each week, either formally or informally, for their evangelistic efforts.

The “Secret” of Evangelistic Churches

The secret is really no secret at all. Ultimately, evangelistic churches see more persons become Christians through the passionate efforts of highly evangelistic Christians. More than any programs. More than any church events. More than anything else, we are the instruments God has chosen to use.

Sometimes we ask the question "What is my church doing to become more evangelistic?" But the better question is "What am I doing to become more evangelistic?"

Charles H. Spurgeon was right. We need more soul winners.