I will speak for myself. Perhaps some might say an “Amen” to it because they are or have found themselves in the same space. Though I would NEVER dream of renouncing my faith in Jesus, I can functionally reduce Jesus to something instead of someone. It is possible for me — in the day in, day out happenings of life to reduce Jesus to an idea rather than engaging Him and experiencing Him in a meaningful, personal way as my living Lord and Savior. In a very real way I can essentially relegate Jesus to a spot on the bookshelf with my theological reference materials. I can find myself nodding in agreement with the doctrine of Christ, His redeeming love, His victory over the grave and His eternal Kingdom, while at the same time be loading all of my hopes and dreams into things other than Jesus — as if they are the source, the sum and the substance of real joy and real life.

This can be very subtle for believers because we can load our hopes and dreams into Jesus things rather than Jesus. When that happens, I am actually loading all of my hopes and dreams into a delivery system that will fail! A theological concept did not die in my place for my sin — JESUS did! A theological concept did not come out of the grave three days later — JESUS did!

I believe that the opening words of the book of Philippians is the divine antidote for that spiritual condition.

“Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:1)

There’s something really important in the way Paul introduces himself in this letter. Paul began nine of his 13 letters by referring to himself as an apostle. That’s how he began 2 Corinthians.

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God that is at Corinth” (2 Corinthians 2:1).

He began his letter to the Galatians with:

“Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2and all the brothers who are with me, To the churches of Galatia” (Galatians 1:1-2).

When Paul opens those nine letters by referencing his apostleship, it was for a reason.

Either his apostleship had been brought into question or challenged (as was the case with the church in Corinth), or he needed to rebuke a church for spiritual immaturity, moral failure or flawed church practice (as was the case with the church in Corinth); or he needed to address a doctrinal issue (as was the case with the churches in Galatia because the gentiles were being told that, besides believing the Gospel, they had to be circumcised in order to be saved). He even opened his two letters to his dear friend Timothy — with, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus…. Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,” because his true son in the faith was facing false teachers, and people were saying he was too young to pastor them. As an apostle, he urged Timothy to command certain people to not teach false doctrine. Paul also commanded his true son in the faith to teach very specific things — to not give up on the calling and gifting of God on his life — to hold fast to sound doctrine.

But Paul doesn’t introduce himself in this letter as an apostle because he wasn’t writing to address them about gross moral failure or false doctrine swirling around in and threatening the church in Philippi. Paul didn’t need to introduce himself in this letter as an apostle because the church in Philippi never questioned or challenged Paul’s gifting and calling. They had never attacked him. In contrast to the Christians in Corinth who were saying, “I’m of Paul, or I’m of Apollos, or I’m of Peter;” the believers in Philippi were never divided over the place Paul occupied in their hearts in minds.

It’s not as if the church in Philippi was free of troubles.

There’s never been a local collection of believers that has been, because every local church is made up of us — humans that have been redeemed and washed from their sins by the blood of Jesus. But Paul wrote this letter to let his dear friends in Philippi know how much he thought about them, what he treasured about them, how he prayed for them, and what he prayed for them. There’s no regret, no resentment. As Paul sat in jail all of those things — by inspiration of the Holy Spirit — moved from mind and heart to pen and ink on parchment.

Over the years, I’ve come to see an overarching theme in this letter. I believe the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write this letter so the 1st century believers in Philippi (all the way out to 21st century believers in this room and around the world) could see the heartbeat of Paul. Pick any part of the letter. It doesn’t matter if your reading what Paul remembered about his fellowship with the Philippians, or what Paul is praying for them, or what Paul said about his own life and circumstances — you discover from every angle that Jesus was the Source, the Sum and the Substance of his life. I believe that from every angle (personal and autobiographical, practical or theological) Paul wanted his dear friends in Philippi to know that Jesus is the Source, the Sum and the Substance of life for every believer, whether they’re in prison for faith in Jesus — or living in a Roman colony called Philippi.

It’s understandable that we find it so easy to say that the big theme of this letter is JOY!

Running through this letter penned in a dungeon is a powerful current of joy — which spoke powerfully to the Philippians — and speaks powerfully to us tonight of the reality of that Jesus was the Source, the Sum and the Substance of Paul’s life — even sitting while imprisoned.

“… Joy at the beginning, joy at the end, joy everywhere in between. Joy is God’s creation and gift. No authentic biblical faith is conceivable that is not permeated with it.”– Eugene Peterson

The life of Jesus was as real as the chains that bound him — and transcended his circumstances —that is why Paul would use the words “joy” and “rejoice” in this little letter more times than the rest of his letters combined.

THAT is what Paul had to offer those he loved so deeply! Paul had NOTHING ELSE to offer them than Jesus. Paul offered them NOTHING LESS than Jesus!

There is no shortage of men and women around us in the church and outside the walls of church who are hurting.

The Gospel is such great news because in it we discover that the life of Jesus is as real as the “chains” of pain that can bind us — the life of Jesus can’t be restricted by our circumstances and our pain.

But here’s something else to consider. It can be argued that 21st century America is the most affluent and comfortable place to live in history. We live in a culture of comfort — a culture of “more.” We need to understand — and our lives need to show — that the life of Jesus is more real than the best of our comforts — and transcends any and all of them. I pray that every follower of Jesus will walk into his or her slice of the lost world, knowing that the last thing we want to offer 21st century American culture is a subculture of religion that is merely an add on to every other comfort they enjoy. I pray we will realize, as did Paul, that we have NOTHING else to offer our very comfortable, but very lost world, than Jesus — and that we will offer it NOTHING LESS than Jesus!

Look at how Paul does identify himself:

“Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:1).

FIRST — Paul wanted them (and you and me) to know that in the deepest sense of who they were he and Timothy were servants of Jesus.

The word servant sounds bad. But in a way, every employee is a servant — they serve the person or company for an agreed upon wage. You might have a job description and even a title — but you’re being paid to serve an individual or a corporate entity. You pick the person or place you’re going to serve on the basis of the benefits package. But an employee working for minimum wages under harsh conditions is nothing close to what Paul said about himself and Timothy.

The word servant is from the Greek word doulos (δουλος) – “A slave.”

The word slave is a painful word for us because of the shameful reality of the slave trade in America’s history. Here’s some more depth on the definition of the word Paul used here to describe his relationship with Jesus:

“…One who is in a permanent relation of servitude to another, his will (the will of the doulos) being altogether consumed in the will of the other.”¹

“…Pertaining to a state of being completely controlled by someone or something—‘subservient to, controlled by.”²

Despite the lingering reality of racism, and not ignoring the reality of human trafficking — 21st century Americans know nothing of what it is like to be slaves. But Philippi was a Roman Colony. The citizens of Rome on foreign soil understood life in Italy. In 1st century Italy, 30-40% of the population were slaves! When Paul said, “Timothy and I are slaves,” his readers got the picture.

HERE’S THE DEAL — Most Christians live their relationship with Jesus as though they’re employed by Him.

That work relationship came with an amazing benefits package: Eternal Life in the presence of their heavenly employer! But like paid servants of an employer, they see themselves as on the clock or off the clock. Like paid employees — they don’t feel it’s within the scope of their relationship with their employer to include Him on their decisions and desires unless they’re on the clock, and those choices are connected to their job. THAT is not how Paul and Timothy understood themselves in relationship to Jesus! A servant is free to come and go, but a slave is not.

If any one were to ask Paul or Timothy, “Who are you?”, they would answer: We are slaves! Slaves of Christ Jesus. In the deepest sense of who they were, they understood that they belonged to Jesus, body, mind and spirit — they were subject to Him in everything. Their will was altogether consumed in the will of Jesus.

Put another way — they processed who they were in light of who Jesus is. Their identity was wrapped up in the identity of Jesus. One commentary on this passage put it like this:

Doulos (δουλος) is the correlative of “Lord.” (That term has a mutual relationship with the term “Lord.”) When Paul identifies himself and Timothy as “servants,” he means that they are the absolute possession of Jesus Christ, their Lord and owe absolute obedience to Him.³

Doulos is the correlative of Lord! File that one away! For a LONG time I could never understand why anyone would want to be totally sold out for Jesus. But here’s the deal: The Bible tells us that everything broken in the world has its origin in man refusing to find his identity in relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ. At this moment individual lives are broken and are contributing to the brokenness of the world at large because men and women refuse to find their deepest sense of meaning in that correlative relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ. We find that refusal expressed with perfect clarity in the words of Luke 19:14 — “We do not want this man to reign over us.”

The Bible tells us the truth about those who refuse to be slaves of Christ Jesus.

Everybody has a master. Everyone is serving a master passion. Money and Lust are the big ones in our culture. They are subtle masters! The Police wrote a tune called “Wrapped Around Your Finger.” There’s a line that says: “You will find your servant is your master.” They give the illusion that they serve you.

“Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death.” (Romans 6:16, NLT).

And they are cruel masters. There is only ONE Master that sets you free. Jesus! In the second chapter of this letter, Paul reminds the Philippians of WHO Jesus is and HOW He set us free. Jesus — who is the Lord over all time, all places, all people — became a servant. There’s our word doulos. The will of Jesus was consumed in the will of the Father. And as a doulos, Jesus was obedient to the point of death — even death on the cross — to redeem (buy out of slavery with a price) those who refused to live for His will.

And THAT is why Paul and Timothy wanted their will to be consumed in the will of Jesus.

When you discover that Jesus is the Lord of lords, and He shed His blood to purchase you out from under the power and bondage of idols and sin — rescue you from the penalty of sin — you don’t want Jesus to be your 9-5 boss — you want Him to be your master! You want HIS will to become your will. You want HIS passions to become your passions. You want HIS kingdom to come instead of yours.

SLAVE is a really big word in understanding the nature of relationship with Jesus.

Notes:

¹ Zodhiates, S. (2000). The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.

² Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 471). New York: United Bible Societies.

³ Loh, I.-J., & Nida, E. A. (1995). A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Philippians (p. 5). New York: United Bible Societies.

It is an interesting time that we live in. People are more connected than they have ever been yet more isolated than ever as well. We literally have thousands of “friends” in our pockets whom many of us interact with on a daily basis. Yet the depth of our relationships are exceedingly shallow. As I was thinking through this, I had a visual of social media as an ocean vast as the Pacific but an inch deep. It may look impressive from a distance, but no matter how far you wade in, you will not find depth of any kind.

I recently read a couple articles about the correlation between social media and isolation, one was by NPR and the other from Psychology Today. Both articles were pointing out the vicious cycle of isolation and anxiety, saying isolation produces anxiety and depression, then anxiety and depression cause people to isolate farther. This is a destructive circle we can get in, and contrary to what one might think, these articles showed that social media not only does not help, but fuels this cycle.

The article in Psychology Today said this:

“The relatively modern phenomenon of social media and its associated technology adds a new dimension to loneliness and anxiety by offering the young person a way of directly quantifying friendships, viewing the friendship networks of others for comparison, and providing immediate information about social events. You can compare your own popularity with that of your peers, and manage that adolescent ‘fear of missing out’ (FOMO) by continually monitoring what’s going on socially. So it’s easy to see how technology use can take the place of more traditional social interaction and provide a yardstick for one’s popularity – or more significantly, one’s feelings of loneliness and alienation.”

The NPR article references a study from the American Journal of Preventive Medicine that showed that people who visited social media outlets more frequently (58 or more times per week) had more than three times the odds of perceived social isolation than those who visited less than nine times per week. They hypothesize the cause as follows: “You might watch all these interactions where it seems like everyone else is connecting…That could lead to feeling excluded. The images of other people’s seemingly perfect vacations, homes and lives, even though those are not likely to represent reality, can make you feel like you’re missing out.”

So, we are living in the middle of this tech era, ruled and governed by social media outlets of various descriptions, who are all promising friendship and community, but are bearing the bad fruit of isolation, anxiety and depression.

However the reality is, social media is not ultimately at fault, and social media is not evil. The true problem is so much deeper, and it is not new; I would like to make the case that you can trace it all the way back to the beginning of humanity, and then I want to show that Jesus is the only solution!

So I have five points that I hope will provide some clarity on this subject of our need for and struggle with community.

1. Community is in God’s very nature.
2. We were created FOR community.
3. Sin broke (and breaks) community.
4. Jesus redeems us TO community.
5. The Church IS community.

1. Community is in God’s very nature.

The God of the Bible is a Triune God. He reveals Himself as such from the start. Genesis 1:26 says, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…'” As The New City Catechism so eloquently states in questions two & three:

“Q: What is God? A: God is the creator and sustainer of everyone and everything. He is eternal, infinite, and unchangeable in his power and perfection, goodness and glory, wisdom, justice, and truth. Nothing happens except through him and by his will. Q: How many persons are there in God? A: There are three persons in the one true and living God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are the same in substance, equal in power and glory.”

The implications of God’s Triune nature are vast, one of the most significant of which is that it means God Himself not only is in community, but that He Himself IS community. God, in His very nature is a loving community from eternity past. And from that communal nature, He created us, His image bearers, as communal beings. Which brings us to our next point.

2. We were created FOR community.

God is a community of love, and He created us to live in loving community. In Genesis 2:18 we see a glimpse into the mind of God as He was creating humanity: “Then the LORD God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.'” This is why isolation is damaging, as the studies I referenced show, isolation produce anxiety and depression, because it is not good that man should be alone! Community is our created intent, so when we are not living in it, we do not thrive. The nature of the community God created us for is twofold. It is 1) Loving (as I mentioned) and 2) Shares purpose or mission.

God’s design for community is that we would live in loving harmony with Him and with one another. Serving and obeying God, while preferring and complementing (completing) one another. Additionally, God’s community has, from the start, always revolved around shared purpose or mission. In Genesis 1 we see that God called our first parents not just to be fruitful and multiply, but also to subdue the earth, have dominion over the creatures and tend to the garden. If our first parents would have walked in this, humanity would live in paradise and harmony! But you know the story. Genesis 3 comes along and everything starts to fall apart. Our first parents sinned against God and against one another. Hence point number three.

3. Sin broke (and breaks) community.

In Genesis 3, the account of the fall, we see a systematic deconstruction of our created intent: The Serpent arrived and called the command of God into question, and our first parents began to doubt, or disbelieve, God’s word, which led them to betray their mission. Rather than caring for creation, they abused it, using it for their own selfish gain (eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil).

Their disbelief and their rejection of their purpose caused the community they were created for to begin to break down. They rebelled against God, which broke communion with Him. Rather than walking with Him, they hid themselves from Him out of shame. Then rather than loving and preferring one another, they turned on one another! The man blaming the woman for their rebellion (shocking, I know).

From that point on, as we read through the grand narrative of scripture, and of history for that matter, we see this pattern over and over: Community broken by sin. Sin breaks community because, as I mentioned, in order for community to work, its foundation must be love.

But sin, at it’s core, is selfish, and selfishness is the antithesis of love. We could talk about this on a large scale, in reference to nations waring against nations, or political parties, or social and racial conflict. All of which are examples of community that is broken by sin.

But let’s bring it a bit closer to our personal lives. Returning to what I mentioned in the start of this article. In this age we live in, we are increasingly isolated because the spirit of our culture is individualism, independence and success, where the end of all is being successful, wealthy, powerful and glamorous. The narrative we are fed is watch out for “#1.” Do whatever it takes to succeed, love yourself, work yourself to the bone to advance your career because it’s a dog-eat-dog world. It is this godless philosophy that drives us away from true community. We are so “busy” with our own lives that we do not make time for real community. But we have this pseudo community that is social media, which gives us the illusion of friendship but with no real personal investment, no sacrifice and no love. And as I said in the start, we are beginning to see the fruit of this broken system.

This is the great tragedy of our existence, the struggle between our God-given need for community and our inherited sin nature that rules us apart from Christ. So what is the answer? JESUS.

4. Jesus redeems us TO community.

If the problem goes all the way back to creation, sin breaking communion with God and community with one another, then the solution needs to resolve the root of the problem, not just the symptoms. Queue Jesus.

Romans 5:12-16 shows us that Jesus came to this earth to undo the work of Adam, our first father. Jesus, as He walked on this earth, was the first man who ever fully and perfectly lived out our created intent. He had unbroken communion with the Father; He did not rebel against Him. He selflessly loved those around Him. He fulfilled the mission and purpose of God without wavering. And finally, Jesus gave Himself up freely to the cross to pay the penalty for our sin; He went to the grave and was raised by the power of God, victorious over sin and death once and for all. So now, as you and I place our faith in Him, we share His identity and are freed from the power of sin in our lives. Through the work of Jesus, God restored our communion with Him by breaking down the barrier of sin, freeing us from the prison of our destructive selfishness, so we can love Him. And consequently, He saved us TO a redeemed community as He adopted us into the family of God. See Romans 8:14-17.

In short, by the grace of Jesus we are set free to walk in our created intent. Though we will not do it perfectly, in Christ we are able to live in communion with God, community with one another, fulfilling the mission and purpose of God in our lives. This is what it means to be part of the Church.

5. Church IS community.

When we understand the Gospel in this light, it changes the way we see church. Church is not something we do on Sundays; it is certainly not a building. Church is the community of God’s people who commune with God together and share HIS mission.

We see this lived out in the snapshot of the early church in Acts 2:42-47. For them church was not a once or twice a week thing, it was day by day meeting in the temple and in one another’s homes. They were receiving teaching. They were fellowshipping. They broke bread. They prayed. They had all things in common, sacrificially giving to one another. They praised God and had favor with all the people, and God added to their number day by day those who were being saved. This type of community is hard; it takes sacrifice and time. It takes a shifting of priorities. But this is what it means to be a part of Christ’s church. This is the very thing Jesus commands us to do.

” A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).

“About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James the brother of John with the sword, and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread” (Acts 12:1–3).

Not much is told to us of the ministry of James the brother of John. Part of Jesus’ inner circle of three, James isn’t spoken of much in the book of Acts. Luke’s mission in writing Acts wasn’t to recount the ministry of every apostle, but primarily the ministry of Peter and then Paul, for they were major players in advancing the gospel to the Gentile world.

A major detail we do get from James’ life, however, is of his death.

Herod, keeping his family tradition alive, killed James during a time of sweeping persecution against the church. It seems James was to drink of Jesus’ cup and be baptized with Jesus’ baptism, just as he’d asked for a decade earlier. It is the placement of James’ death in Acts that is notable to me today, though. Immediately following the single verse about it in Acts 12, Luke goes on to describe, in detail, God’s angelic deliverance of Peter from prison. Herod, it seems, wanted to kill Peter too. But God saved Peter. He lived.

So James died, but Peter lived. One apostle dead, the first to die, while another survived. One apostle crushed like incense, another with additional life given.

Some suggest the only difference between the two were the prayers of the church. Perhaps the church failed to pray for James, believing the apostles immune to death. The apostles had, after all, already been miraculously delivered from prison. Perhaps they thought God would always set all apostles free. Not so, after all. Maybe James’ death kicked the church into prayer mode once Peter was arrested. Maybe they realized they had to cover even Apostles in prayer.

Maybe this happened, but I doubt it is the reason God allowed Peter to live while James died. I doubt anyone knows the reason for that, except the Lord. He alone knows His mysterious purposes.

I think Peter would say the same. Do you remember the conversation He and Jesus had on the shores of Galilee after Christ’s resurrection? Jesus had just restored him to his post – Peter would feed the sheep and tend the lambs of Christ – when Jesus announced to Peter the kind of death he would experience in his old age. Peter then asked about John. Essentially, Jesus told him it was none of his business how John would die. What was that to Peter? He had his own race to run (see John 21:15-19).

So I think Peter would tell us it doesn’t matter why James died and he lived. Each man had a course to run. There is no point in comparing them. God’s judgments, as Paul wrote, are unsearchable. His ways are past finding out (Romans 11:33).

James’ race was done; Peter’s was not. And only God could see the total length and contour of their courses.

Let us run the race Christ has for us. Comparison is an easy game but a fool’s game. We have a testimony to finish, and we will not die before our time (Revelation 11:7). Both James and Peter lived beautiful lives before God for God. Let the same be said of us.

In Acts 2 we learn some very important things about Authentic Christianity and Authentic Church. On the Day of Pentecost, Peter proclaimed the Gospel (the record of what God has done for us in the sending of His Son). 3,000 men and women believed the Gospel! The moment they repented of their sin and believed the Gospel, they were transformed on every level. Repent = change of thinking. They changed they way they thought about Jesus. Only 50 days earlier they thought He was nobody, worthy of the utterly excruciating and utterly humiliating death of crucifixion.

But now they saw Jesus as the Son of God who was worthy of their trust, their love, their worship and their service because He loved them and died in their place for their sins and had risen from the grave, conquering death! There was another radical transformation that transpired. Prior to that moment, those 3,000 men and women were living in the sphere of sin and death. But the instant they believed the Gospel, they were placed into Jesus, and in Jesus, they experienced genuine life, joy and peace because Jesus is life, and Jesus is our peace.

Prior to that moment, those 3,000 men and women were wholeheartedly a part of this world that, since Genesis 3, has been organizing itself without God and against God. But the moment they believed with their heart on the Lord Jesus, they were taken out of that kingdom and placed into the Kingdom of God’s Son. The Bible calls that collection of people the Church. The Greek word is ekklesia, “those who are called out” — “called together.”

The ekklesia is a people who are no longer trying to organize themselves without God and against God.

It is a people being organized by God and for God, so that they might individually and collectively be the expression of the rule of God in a world that refuses to be ruled by Him.

By definition and essence there is a GREAT DIVISION between the ekklesia and the world! In Acts 4 the brand new, infant Church was beginning to experience the reality that they were living for Jesus, loving Jesus, worshipping Jesus and proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus in a broken world that is irrational and unreasonable in its rejection of Jesus and the Gospel. That irrational and unreasonable rejection of Jesus would ultimately be expressed in persecution against them.

“So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, ‘Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.’ And when they had further threatened them, they let them go…”(Acts 4:18-21).

In a short while, the threats would turn to violence and these men would be beaten.

“ ‘…We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.’ But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.’ When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them…And when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go” (Acts 5:28-40).

What did these first believers do when they were faced with rejection, persecution and were threatened with violence? How did they view themselves in relationship to the Church? What did the Church mean to them? What did the Church do when the unbelieving world wanted to exterminate them? These are huge and crucial questions for us because the great, overarching theme of the Book of Acts is summed up in a single word — “Authentic.”

The entire book [Acts] is the account of what Authentic Christianity is — what its authentic mission and message is. It is the account of what Authentic Church is in its nature and its action.

The mere fact that we may think we are Christians does not prove that we are Christians. The Authenticity of our Christianity, the Authenticity of church can only be determined if we examine ourselves in the light of all that we are told about these men.

In the remainder of this chapter, we have another benchmark for what is Authentic Christianity and Authentic Church. Here’s the “acid test.”

Let’s look at what Peter and John did when they were faced with rejection, persecution and were threatened with violence. We’ll see how they viewed themselves in relationship to the rest of the believers in Jerusalem (a.k.a. the Church). We’re going to see in this moment and in the writings of the New Testament what the Church meant to them. It is in that light alone that we can measure what is Authentic about our own lives.

Paul wrote to a local gathering of believers in Philippi, whom he loved dearly. In that letter he told them. “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake” (Philippians 1:29). Some years after the events of Acts 4, this same Peter would write to other Christians who were suffering because of their faith in Jesus:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this (in your salvation) you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved (thrown into sorrow) by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:3-9).

“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen” (1 Peter 5:8-11).

Words like “suffer,” “grief” and “trial” are not exactly the things sitting at the top of our MUST HAVE LIST! But Peter tells his readers that those are the very things that God uses to refine us and make us more like Jesus. Then — in the context of suffering, grief and trials — Peter calls the Authentic Christians to love one another. “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart” (1 Peter 1:22). KJV = Love one another with a pure heart fervently.

Peter was simply writing down what he had always been living out! THIS IS HUGE — From the beginning of the Book of Acts, Peter understood that his life in Jesus was never intended to be, and in reality, never could be autonomous. How do we know this? Luke tells us about the very first thing they did after they were threatened. “When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them” (Acts 4:23).

“Friends” is a very important word. ἴδιος one’s own: (1) belonging to a particular thing or person private, one’s own, in contrast to public property (κοινός common) or what belongs to another.

We believe in the VERBAL, PLENARY INSPIRATION of the Bible. All of it is inspired. Not just in thought or idea but the very words. The Holy Spirit inspired Luke to use this word in describing the people Peter and John were going to because He wants to impress upon us how Peter and John viewed the other believers in Jerusalem. KJV = They went to their own company.

Yes — they understood that Jesus was sending them, even as the Father sent Him.

Like Jesus, they were on mission in culture — to be used by Jesus in His work of seeking and saving the lost.

But they understood that they had a special relationship with a special people. They made their way to the other men and women that they belonged to in a special way! In a very unique and personal way, to the exclusion of the rest of the world, they belonged to those who had come to saving faith in Jesus, and who were now being organized by God and for God.

What a change in atmosphere! Only a few minutes before they were in the midst of the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court of ancient Israel, being interrogated and threatened. Now they were in the midst of their own company!

HUGE STUFF — This moment, along with the others like it in the Book of Acts and the writings of the New Testament, make it inescapably clear that Authentic Christians are not wired to live outside of the ekklesia (the people assembled by God in to this thing called the Church).

It is within the Church/ local church where the love of Jesus is expressed to the members of the Body of Christ.

Authentic Church is the place where God wants to comfort the person who is discouraged. It’s the place where God wants to strengthen the person who is weak. It’s the place where God wants to encourage the person who has no hope. It’s the place where God wants to come alongside the person who’s alone in and through the lives of other believers. Authentic Church is the place where God wants to give guidance to the person who has lost his way. It’s the place where God wants to warn the person who is beginning to wander. Bottom Line — Authentic Church is where God’s presence and love is expressed in and through His children. That’s why God WANTS us to be together.

“Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near”(Hebrews 10:25).

Do you see the Church — and in particular — the local church — as the people you belong to in a unique way — assembled by God to those ends?

Preaching is the act of proclaiming God’s word to people. In evangelism, it announces God’s good news about Jesus and His salvation. In edification, it nourishes, encourages, and equips. Preaching is the Church’s responsibility and privilege.

Homiletics is “the art of preaching.” The word “homiletics” comes from a Greek word that means, “to assemble together.” It aims to provide principles and methods for clear and effective preaching. Having said this, I understand that what we learn in homiletics is only as good as its source. If it is taught without an emphasis on the Bible, then preaching is reduced to human ideas and opinions. If it is taught without an emphasis on the Holy Spirit, then preaching is reduced to lifeless and powerless oration. People who desire to become better equipped in their calling as preachers need a good source of instruction. With this in mind, I have found the Apostle Paul to be a good teacher.

Paul dedicated over 30 years of his life to proclaiming the Gospel in the world and teaching Christians how to live and serve like Jesus. He did this humbly and passionately. He maintained clear objectives, and he emphasized godly character and integrity in his preaching. 2,000 years later, the Church and the world still feel the impact of his preaching. More than this, God continues to be glorified in it. Paul is a good source to learn homiletics from.

As can be expected, we can generate a long list from Paul’s example of preaching –a list too long for this article–since space and time is limited. I will, however, make mention of five.

1. PAUL PREACHED CHRIST

Paul wrote, “HIM we proclaim” (Col. 1:28). This is “HIM-iletics.” In his letters alone (excluding “Hebrews”), “Jesus” appears 213 times and “Christ” 375 times. The focus of his preaching was not history, science, politics, or pop culture. It was Jesus Christ – God in human flesh: holy and righteous, sacrificed and risen, ascended and exalted. In the same way, we must emphasize and exalt the Lord Jesus, looking for Him in the Scriptures and proclaiming Him in our preaching.

2. PAUL PREACHED THE SCRIPTURES

Paul charged a young pastor named Timothy, “Preach the word” (2 Tim. 4:2). Paul’s preaching was Biblical. He expounded Old Testament Scripture. He explained New Testament doctrine. He believed the Bible to be God’s inspired, infallible, converting, sanctifying, edifying, equipping, and sustaining Word and proclaimed it as such. He was unashamed of it and relentless in proclaiming it. Is this true about you and me? We must preach a Biblical Gospel, expound Biblical texts, and communicate Biblical truth.

3. PAUL PREACHED IN THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Writing to the Church in Thessalonica, Paul testified, “Our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction” (1 Thes. 1:5). Paul’s preaching was not limited to human wisdom and eloquence. In fact, it was the opposite, “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom” (1 Cor. 2:1). His preaching was marked by the power of the Holy Spirit, “My speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1 Cor. 2:4). Without the Holy Spirit in preaching, people are left with sermons that inform and reform, but do not transform. We must make it a priority to seek God for the presence and power of His Spirit in our preaching.

4. PAUL PREACHED WITH A CLEAR CONSCIENCE BEFORE GOD AND PEOPLE

The character of the messenger either validates or discredits his message. How a preacher lives will determine how people will receive his preaching. Paul understood this. For this reason, he paid careful attention to maintaining a clean and clear conscience before God and people. He declared, “I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man” (Acts 24:16). Also, “We give no offense in anything, that our ministry may not be blamed. But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God”(2 Cor. 6:4). His life authenticated his sermons; his sermons overflowed from his life. We too must not neglect this part of our sermon preparation (Ezra 7:10). We need to attend to our character and integrity as Christ’s representatives that hold forth God’s Word to others.

5. PAUL PREACHED WITH A LOVE FOR GOD, AND A COMPASSION FOR SOULS

Paul preached, because he loved God, “Just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts” (1 Thes. 2:4). Paul preached because he cared for the souls of people, “Being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us” (1 Thes. 2:8). Do we love God and care about others in our preaching? Do we aim to please God? Do we ache for Christ-less and condemned souls? Do we yearn for the progress and perseverance of God’s people? If not, we need to pray for more of Jesus’s heart to be conformed within us. When this happens, we will proclaim more than God’s truth: We will transmit God’s heart, “I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding” (Jer. 3:15). This is God-praising and God-pleasing preaching.

As I write this, I have more than 25 years of preaching behind me. Looking ahead, Pauline Homiletics continues to challenge me and help me to become a better communicator of Christ and His truth. I never want to stop being challenged. I never want to stop learning. May God continue to shape us into God-exalting, Christ-centered, and Holy Spirit-empowered preachers. Amen and amen.

In a perfect world we would not need to govern people in the earthly sense, because everyone would behave just as they should. Obviously, the same would be true in the church. However, the church is full of sinners, redeemed sinners, but sinful people nonetheless. Yes, we have a new heart and a new position in Christ, yet we still sin every day we are on this earth. Pastors and leaders are not even exempt from this plight. The great reformer, Martin Luther, is known for often using the Latin phrase, “simul justus et peccator”, which means that we in the church are simultaneously both saint and sinner. With this in mind, we need a plan to help us flawed saints to function properly in community with one another. Proper church governance is a necessity in order to hold men and women accountable to God and to each other.

We know that the Holy Spirit birthed the church: as believers, we are now redeemed men and women under the “Head” who is Christ (Ephesians 1:22, Colossians 1:18). According to Ephesians 4, Jesus also equips people through dispensing spiritual ‘gifts’ to His church. Within God’s various giftings, He has provided leaders to serve His church. They are to lead under His guidance and by His Spirit as they use the spiritual gifts that He has graciously provided. However, (and this is very important) God has set these leaders in the ‘body of Christ’ to be part of an accountable whole. Let’s remember that church leaders are gifted people sharing the Gospel, yet they themselves are still growing in the likeness of Christ.

Since God has given spiritual gifts to His church for the purpose of governing (while at the same time there is the persistent problem of sin) how must we organize to carry out His mission on earth? Well, God has made it abundantly clear: we are to function as a body (1Corinthians 12:20). How then does a body function? A body functions as a set of equal and necessary parts all connected to the head, the command center for the body. No body part is any greater than any other as the Apostle Paul so eloquently elaborates. When one part of the body is valued or looked at as greater than the rest, it gets unhealthy. Only Christ Himself, the preeminent Head, is greater.

Keeping this very important fact in mind, let me share three essential points to consider when selecting a style of church governance. These are general guidelines not intended to get into the ‘nitty-gritty’, but to emphasize that we have some clear non-negotiable guidelines that apply no matter what governance model a church adopts.

Is the model Biblical?

God appoints leaders to the church to protect the integrity of the Gospel (Acts 15), and to build up His people in the Word of God (Acts 6:1-7). There are many profound examples of leaders in both the Old and New Testaments of Scripture. For example, Moses, Joshua, David, Jehoshaphat, and Esther (among many others) were leaders appointed by God in the Old Testament. Christ Himself also appointed and empowered apostles, by the Holy Spirit, to be leaders in the New Testament. Of course, Jesus was undeniably the greatest leader who ever lived, so ultimately we want to follow His leadership model. Hermeneutics 101 is interpreting the whole of Scripture with Scripture itself. We call this maintaining the unity of Scripture. Therefore it makes sense to apply this principle to the formation of our ecclesiology. It’s helpful to glean from all the men and women God used throughout Scripture as leaders of His church, but especially Jesus.

In the New Testament, we are given clear structural guidelines for what governance should look like in the church. In Acts 6:1-6, Acts 14:23, Titus 1:5, and Acts 20:17 we see that leaders need to be “appointed” to oversee or “govern” the church. In 1 Peter 5:1-4, 1 Timothy 3:1-13 and Titus 1:6-9 we also see the character traits that must accompany the overseers. Please take time to read these passages, they exemplify what the Apostles require in the lives of those who would govern under Christ’s authority.

Is the model spiritual?

By spiritual I mean, there a spiritual purpose. Spiritual oversight of the church is necessary, but also spiritual oversight of the governing members. The purpose of church governance biblically is to help keep the church in a spiritually pure place – a place in which Christ is supremely exalted. Whenever sinful human agendas cloud the true purpose of the church, a spiritually minded governing body should graciously, yet firmly, steer people back towards the glory of Christ. When adopting a governance model, questions should be asked about what safeguards should be in place in order to maintain the spiritual focus of the leaders and the flock they are shepherding.

Is the model sustainable?

As the gospel goes out from the church, the Lord adds to the church, and in many cases multiplies the church. The church is then continually reproduced in other communities, cultures, and contexts. In a church’s history there is always a founding group of oversight, but as time goes on and people are added, will the founders’ model endure to the next generation? Will the model work in other cultures and in missions? These are good questions to ask. For example, certain corporate models of organization familiar to the American church, do not work well in other ethnic contexts. Overseas missionaries will tell you that what works in America does not always work well in the country they serve in. Therefore it is important that the guidelines laid out in Scripture are appropriately contextualized to each unique culture where Jesus is building His church. This requires much prayer and sensitivity wherever you may be serving in the Lord’s Kingdom. Christ does not want to see the church’s advancement crippled under the weight of man made tradition. Ultimately, if a church governing body seeks to continually maintain its biblical integrity and remains humble in exalting Christ alone, it will be impossible for the Gospel to be marginalized, no matter what culture we serve in.