Title: Healthy Church (Ephesians 4:7-12)
Contents
Today is the last week of Family Month. Above all, the image of the church to be considered in Family Month is that "the church is a spiritual family." Just as the true family required in this age is a healthy family, the church that can be called a spiritual family must also be a healthy church.
A healthy and good family is when children want to return home as soon as possible when they are stressed and struggling at school or outside. However, on the other hand, a family that only thinks about leaving the house because it is stressed, anxious and uncomfortable when entering the house is a problem family and a sick family. So is the church. When a member goes to work, school, army, market, or society, his mind is at peace, but when he comes to church, his heart is stuffy, anxious, and temperament. Is a good church? Would it be a bad church? A sick church? Would it be a healthy church?
A sick family or a sick church cannot change the world. You cannot influence the world. The most actively discussed ecclesiology today is the discussion of a healthy church.
Today's children are taller and have a lot more weight than the children of the past. However, if you take a physical examination, it is said that you lack strength and persistence. It is said that the number of children suffering from various diseases such as obesity and allergies has increased because of their weak physical constitution. Furthermore, my mind and body became weak. Even if you run into a small problem, you will quickly become discouraged and discouraged.
The Korean church is just like children these days. The Korean church has grown, but has fallen into a weak constitution that has lost the power to lead history. So it is not important for the church to grow, it is for the church to grow healthy. Modern churches are in a situation where church health is becoming a vision rather than the word church growth.
A healthy church must have healthy lay ministers.
1. A healthy lay minister is the first to experience a change in values.
Only when values change can true human change occur. Isn't there a saying that all pigs see only pigs? What you value is important. If we think as worldly values, see them as worldly values, and live by worldly values, we will be enslaved by the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of this world, becoming slaves and captives of the world and live a life of oppression. There is no satisfaction in the world. We must change into the values of the kingdom of God.
When a person whose values have changed in this way is established as a worker in the Lord's church, the church becomes a healthy church.
2. A healthy lay minister is a worshiper who exalts God.
In 1 Samuel 2:12-17, the words of the two sons of the priest Eli are recorded. The two sons of the priest Eli were the sons of the priests and the priests, but they were "doers of evil." In the translated version, it is written as "bad person". Above all, they were “those who did not know the Lord.” The King James Version says, "He did not know God."
It is intercepting what you give to God in the middle. Above all else, the attitude to give to the Lord first, the attitude to give the Lord's things to the Lord, must be the right attitude of the saints.
God warned them. "Do not despise the sacrifice of the LORD"
For me, God is third.
Number 1 is what you want to do,
2nd thing to do,
Third place is meeting God.
I do what I want to do, and I finish what I have to do...
After that, if you can afford it, you will meet God.
God is third.
Even when difficult things happen, God is third.
I'll try it with my own strength...
If that doesn't work, ask someone close to you for help.
When things don't work out, call on God.
God is third.
3rd place on the street.
The one closest to me is myself,
Then someone who understands my heart...
After that, it is God who is far away in heaven.
God is third.
By the way, by the way...
To God, I am number one.
No matter what happens, just call me and he will help.
When I'm in trouble, he puts everything aside and runs to me.
When I think that no one is by my side...
You come to me alone and comfort me.
I am always number 1 in God.
I wish I could think of God as number one.
Put everything aside and meet...
At every small turning point, I hold your hand tightly.
I hope that God is close to you..
I want to have God, who is number one in me, also number one.
3. A healthy lay minister is a person with positive leadership.
From the mid-20th century until now, the subject of psychology has been focused on the pathological phenomena of people. In other words, it was to analyze and criticize how people's thinking was wrong. Among the papers published in the Journal of Psychology from the 1960s to the 1990s, about 90,000 articles were about despair, anxiety, and anger. Conversely, only about 5,000 articles mentioned happiness, satisfaction, and joy. The negative outweighed the positive by a ratio of about 18 to 1.
Psychologists who deal with people's minds were looking at people with negative glasses, so the world could only be filled with gloom. Then, only recently, I changed my glasses and started looking into people. Satisfaction with life, the best experience, a happy life, a worthwhile life... At last, the word well-being began to be talked about. Then, hope began to grow in the world. This is called 'positive psychology'.
The question is, why didn't he have any intention of caring for a world like this right away?
So is the church. So far, I have tried to extract only the negative of the church. As a result, everything I saw was negative. But in the end, it was the church that lost its power, and eventually the missionary and evangelistic conditions deteriorated to the point where the church did the wrong thing for the church.
No one throws away a child when they throw out the water because the water they washed with a child is dirty. The child is to be pulled out and only the dirty water is thrown away. There are parts of the church life that feel like dirty water. It is not that the church is wrong, it is a temporary phenomenon that occurs because people are weak and people are still immature. However, when we throw away dirty water just because we hate dirty water, we cannot throw away the church, the gospel, and salvation together.
Saints! The church must constantly have clear water. That is the mission of the saints. Dirty water must be thrown away. However, it is important to ensure that valuables are not thrown away with the dirty water. A foolish person also makes the mistake of throwing away the child with the dirty water.
Now you have to turn it over. We need to think about and find a happy church, a healthy church, an ecstatic worship service, and an ecstatic life of faith. Then, naturally, the church will recover its strength and the souls of the saints will be healed.
The evangelism situation and the missionary environment will also improve. I am sure of this.
4. A healthy lay minister is one who experiences the empowering presence of God.
The Open Right Party paused the election campaign last week, convened an emergency meeting, and complained to the people, "Please stop the GNP from sweeping away." Why did you come all the way to Lee Ji Kyung? It has the correct answer in this one word. “An incompetent government is worse than an unclean government” is a popular saying among the people today. That's it.
What kind of church is the church that Jesus wanted to establish, the church that was in the heart of the Lord? That church will not be the unfamiliar and gloomy church as if you had entered Sangyeo's house. It will not be the kind of church that seems lonely and powerless. It will not be the kind of church that has been attacked by the world and is hiding in the depths of the mountains.
The church that the Lord longs to see is a meaningful, beautiful, and always full of energy. It is a church where people come to life, experience change, and everyone is full of happiness. It is a church that has the power and power to change and conquer the world.
The church is the body of our Lord Jesus Christ. However, some of these bodies are healthy and some are sick. We want our church to be a healthy body of Christ. A healthy church is ultimately made by healthy members.
God always blesses us if we love such a healthy church and lead a proper church life. Problems are solved through the correct church life (Psalm 84:5-6). You will receive true rest and hope of life (Matthew 11:28~30). The soul is healed (Ex 15:26). Healing of physical ailments also takes place (Mark 16:17). The family will be saved and enjoy happiness together (Acts 16:31). Problems are solved through prayer (Mark 11:17). You will enjoy the blessings that Abraham enjoyed (Galatians 3:13-14).