“Our present need is to change our concept and our system. We must learn to serve and how to serve with others. This responsibility lies first with the co-workers and then with the elders. We have fellowshipped about this in the past, but in our practice we continued in our habits and disposition. As a result, useful saints have not been raised up. We must remember not to replace the saints…This is contrary to our habit…it is easier for water to flow downstream. Our habit has been to take the easy way…” (Shepherding the Church and Perfecting the Young People, Chapter 3, Emphases added)
This is part 3 of a 3-part series summarizing the points on the God-ordained way brought out during the recent vitalization training for the churches in the West San Gabriel Valley in Southern California. Please use the comment section below for further fellowship on these points. Click to see part 1 and part 2.
9) Three things that need to be changed (or reconsidered):
- Our concept
- Our system (structure)
- Our practice (habit)
10) Mutuality – “one another” in Romans
- “Members one of another” – 12:5
- “Love one another” – 12:10; 13:8
- “Honor one another” – 12:10
- “Same mind one toward another” – 12:16; 15:5
- “Not judge one another” – 14:4, 13
- “Building up one another” – 14:19
- “Receive one another” – 15″7
- “Admonish one another” – 15:14
- “Greet one another” – 16:16
11) How can God gain the earth? Through the gospel to all the nations = different languages in the homes
- Gentiles=Nations=Ethnos
- Rom. 4:17 – “Father of many nations”.
- 15:9-11 – “And that the Gentiles (nations) should glorify God…I will extol You among the Gentiles (nations)…Rejoice, Gentiles (nations), and let all the people speak praise to Him…He who rises to rule the Gentiles (nations), on Him will the Gentiles (nations) hope.”
- 11:13 – “Apostle of the nations (Gentiles)”
- 15:16 – “Minister and priest of the nations (Gentiles)”
- 15:16 – “Gaining offering of the nations (Gentiles)”
- 15:27 – “Fellowship among the nations (Gentiles)”
- 16:4 – “Establishing churches of the nations (Gentiles)”
- Matt. 24:14 – “This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole inhabited earth (oikoumene) for a testimony to all the nations (ethnos), and then the end will come.”
Lord, change our concepts and habits that we may cooperate with You for the carrying out of the God-ordained way to build up Your Body!
The first characteristic of the church of Philadelphia is seen in its name “brotherly love”, and “brotherly love” is to care for every one’s function. Imagine having a part of your body that does not function, or having a 5-year-old child that does not speak. In these situations, surely, we will become more than desperate because we love ourselves and our child. But we may have very little, if any, feeling for a brother or a sister who does not function according to his or her full capacity. May the Lord as the Head fills us with His love for every member of His Body so we may care for everyone’s function as He does. When this happen, then we know we are in Philadelphia.
Lord, change our concepts and habits that we may cooperate with You for the carrying out of the God-ordained way to build up Your Body!Amen!!!