Monday: A Careful Balance
The Seventh-day Adventist Church in an African country is growing rapidly. What is the secret? Church leaders have stated that there is a strong connection between this growth and the unselfish and unconditional service of the church members to people in communities throughout the country.
Image © Rolf Jansson from GoodSalt.com
The widespread confidence in the Seventh-day Adventist Church came to the attention of the country’s president. He attended a large Adventist Community Services rally and thanked Seventh-day Adventist Church members personally for their service.
At the same time, as representatives of Christ we need to walk a fine line. We need to, as Jesus did, win the trust and the confidence of the people. But their confidence in and trust in us needs to be directed toward Jesus. We are mere conduits. They see something of Christ in us-be it selflessness, love, caring, self-denial for the good of others-and they are drawn to us. As always, though, if they look at us too carefully, because we are all sinners, they might not like all that they see. Hence, we must always point them to Jesus, in whom alone they can put their full confidence. The rest of us are, sooner or later, bound to disappoint.
Read 1 Corinthians 3:1-9, 1 Corinthians 5:1. What is Paul dealing with in the church? What kind of witness would result if these people were inviting others to their church and the visitors saw what Paul was talking about?
Of course, we don’t have to be perfect or have a perfect church before we can seek to minister to the needs of others. At the same time, we must seek to be the kind of people whom, to some degree, others can learn to count on and trust. And we can do that only to the degree that we faithfully and diligently care for people as Jesus did. Indeed, there’s no question that many of the quarrels and struggles within a church would quickly dissipate were the members focused solely on ministering to the needs of the community and revealing to them the love of Christ.
| If some visitors started attending your church regularly, what would they see, and what kind of witness would it present to them? |
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For the church of Christ to witness effectively there is a great need for revival and reformation. It is for this reason that the General conference of the SDA church came up with a series of revival and reformation in the last five years before bringing up the new series, Reach the World: Mission Priority. A revived and reformed church will do much more through its influence in pointing people to a wonder-working savior that has touched their own lives. As people witness a strange supernatural force working in us for the good of the community, they will be drawn to the Savior. Let us not forget that God wants to use us to lighten the world, but before then He needs us to commit fully to Him in self-surrender so that He can work in us both to will and to do. Let us pray for each other that we will stand up against sin in all its forms so that the church of the living God can be sanctified.
The lesson brings a great title and we as SDA Christians, we suppose to be distinguished from the world from an eye-earviews path if we want to represent Christ. There has to be a divisive line from the ways of the world of which we portray while we are walking in His footsteps, by our mannerism, dress, character and how we treat one another. The visitor has to want and see the Power of Christ's influence over us as disciples! There was an online comment posted quite some time ago about an particular church that "it was hard to tell the visitors apart from the members! Remember we are the light of the world, and if the light can't be seen, we have to fix our heart circuits!
Many of the churches in North America, attend our services by visitors frequently. The reasons are varied. The admonition to be something that makes the best impression may be helpful, however I believe the number one reason a visitor attends is they are looking for words of encouragement from the pulpit. We can criticize the content of our Sabbath services and often do, but hopefully not for publication or visitor edification. The fine line that is mentioned, although imaginary for some, may become blurred rather easily. Of course Apostle Paul was referring to the new church in Corinth. 1Cor.3:1-9.
If visitors were to visit chruch, they would see a loving people for the most part. However, if these same visitors decided to become members, they will see alot of disturbing and annoying things in the chruch. And this is not because the people are bad, but it is because we are human. No man is perfect. But luckily when we let Jesus and and the holy spirit in they will change us.
We should solicit feedback from our visitors. When we announce the welcome, we should always encourage them to contact us with comments and suggestions. One of several ways it is done at my church is to invite written comments via the comment cards placed in the back of the pews. It is a good way to get an idea of the image and atmosphere we present.
* The careful balance in this lesson is for us to:
(1) Always remember that we should present Jesus as the Savior
(2) Always remember that people are watching you
(3) Always remember why we are doing what we are doing
(4) Always remember that our own lives are in the balance
(5) Always remember that it does not matter who gets the credit for a soul saved. God will give you
credit for how you followed the directions of the Holy Spirit, and your good works
* Lastly we should never go ahead of the Holy Spirit, allowing Him to do His work. We should always remember that we are just delivering a message to people about God's Son who came to set us free. Free from sin, free from guilt, forgiven, restored, and find peace within.
Thank you Mattie E Johnson for that comment.We need to be Spirit filled and Spirit led in ALL that we do.We do as the Holy Spirit leads us and may we have spiritual ears so much that when God speaks we hear Him clearly and we do as we are told to do.
It also applies to seeing the physical needs of people.People may appear well from the outside so much that you cannot tell that there do not have food at home but it takes a person who has eyes that see beyond,I am talking about spiritual eyes.
That is so true. As an Adventist I have been exposed to cruel and insensitive behavior from some church members. So I believe the admonition and encouragement from the pulpit must be continuous and consistent. Members and visitors alike must be told what sinful characteristics are not welcome within the walls of the church. Selfish, rude and disrespectful attitudes and actions should not be countenanced at all.
It is very important that when we are teaching Christ we do not impress on others that we are equal to Christ, but sinners and humble servants doing God's will to spread his message.
Perhaps it is also important to appear as fellow learners with others. The idea of, "Let's learn together", rather than, "I have the truth and you had better listen to me or else!" is a much more winning approach.
The church of God must be aware that we are nearing the last day event. We must uphold the true teachings of God and eschew evil. Not forgetting that, if we are not careful, we are going to be seduced by the devil and work seriously towards our own well being rather, than what we are called to sacrifice, as our Lord Jesus came to offer to mankind.
As children of God left on this earth to continue and complete Christ’s work, we are duty-bound to follow in His footsteps; adopt His methods; solicit His help and only do what He tells us to do. Jesus kept a close relationship with His Father through prayer. We too need to deepen our relationship with God Almighty through prayer. Christ built relationships with people, mingling with them even on the social board and then He'd go on to meet their needs. By doing so, Jesus touched their hearts. We can be sure of one thing: we will not succeed if we build a brick wall between the people we serve and us. We are yo engage with the community and be seen to be relevant. Another thing Jesus did was to show sympathy for them in their daily secular struggles. In this way He was able to win their confidence. Then once that was done Christ ended up calling them to come to Him. God calls us to live the life Jesus a sacrificial giving life
Its so true what Bernette that certain christians can be totally devoid of empathy and compassion. Many have been wounded in the house of God. I can imagine how distressing and enfeebling, to be on the receiving end of cutting and obtuse remarks made with the intention to wound the soul. Nothing delights satan more and serves his evil purposes than to have professing christians treating each other the way the devil treats sinners. In this regard I've been told by a friend I believe played an important role in leading me to the feet of Jesus that she suffered and was wounded in the house of God for a mistake she'd made. I do not have detailed knowledge of the case but I merely present it as a case in point. In the case of Mary Magdalene we are told that priests and leaders of the people trapped her and then brought to Jesus. Bitter words were oozing with toxic hatred. The stoning of Mary had begun with verbal stones, stones that were meant to sting, to wound, to decimate the soul before they could throw the first vicious stone at her body. Jesus stood still, looked at the pitiless religious leaders devoid of human pity and read their hearts; fixed His heart on Mary in her shame and simply stooped to the ground and began writing in the dust. His pardoned her and said, "Go and sin no more!"
Its so true what Bernette says above that christians can, at times, be totally devoid of empathy and compassion. Many have been wounded in the house of God. I can imagine how distressing and enfeebling, to be on the receiving end of cutting and obtuse remarks made with the intention to wound the soul. I am sure nothing delights satan more and serves his evil purposes than to have professing christians treating each other the way the devil treats sinners. In this regard a childhood friend of mine who played an important role in leading me to the feet of Jesus, told me that she suffered and was wounded in the house of friends for a mistake she'd made. I do not have detailed knowledge of the case but I merely present it here as a case in point. But I recall that in the case of Mary Magdalene we are told that priests and leaders of the people trapped her and then brought her to Jesus for condemnation. Bitter words were already oozing from the mouths of her accusers with toxic hatred. The stoning of Mary had begun with verbal stones, stones that were meant to sting, to wound, to decimate the soul before they could throw the first vicious stone at her body. But look what Jesus did on that memorable day. He stood still, looked at the pitiless religious leaders devoid of human pity and read their hearts; fixed His eyes on Mary in her shame and simply stooped to the ground and began writing in the dust. Oh yes, He pardoned her and said, "Go and sin no more!" Are we expected to do or must we do less to a sinner just like? Surely we are expected to always show compassion and love our brothers a s sisters all the time.