What Should We Then Do?

As Christians, what are our responsibilities to God, to His Word, to His Son and to each other?

1. We need to know the Scripture. We don't have to memorize a whole bunch of verses, although knowing some in context would help. We need to know what the Bible is about and what it teaches about what it is about. The Bible is about God. It is His revelation of His character, His love fore His creation and His plan for its redemption.

When we read scripture, we need to discern its deeper, ultimate meaning. It is not helpful to quote many verses on a given subject, draw a conclusion about some attitude of God and form a faith system on them. That's what heretics and cults do.

For instance, if I read 2 Kings 9:24 "Then Jehu drew his bow and shot Joram between the shoulders." I cannot conclude that I should use a bow and arrow to shoot somebody. Nor does it mean that if I want somebody dead, if I use a bow and arrow it's OK. That's ridiculous, right?

Well, the Scripture says it and so if I am to follow Scripture I must do what this passage says, mustn't I? No, you mustn't. That is out of context.

How about Deuteronomy 21:15, "If a man has two wives and he loves one but not the other, and both bear him sons..." That means I can have more than one wife (as long as I don't want to be a deacon, since 1 Timothy puts the Kibosh on that). The Bible says it, so I can do it.

What we really need to do is to discover how these verses (and all of the other verses of Scripture) reveal God's character. How do they relate to His love for His creation? What do they tell us about His plan for our redemption? If you cannot find the answers to those questions in the Scripture you are reading, you are misinterpreting it.

Go back to school, dump your previously learned mistaken concepts and learn what the Bible is really about. Otherwise, forget it.

2.  We must see people the way God sees them. Without Christ He sees them as lost. With Christ He sees them as saved for eternity. This should be our passion. We must care about them the way Christ cared for us. He died for us. Are we willing to die in order to propagate the gospel?

What about the tribes in the deepest Amazon who have never heard about Christ?

What about them? Why haven't they heard? Have you told them about Jesus? If not, why not?

We have Internet, radio, TV, airplanes, boats, cars, trains and a myriad of other ways we could be reaching them to tell them about Jesus. Why haven't we? Weren't we told to do so?

3. We should have a passion to train new Christians. They are His babes, and He has charged us with the responsibility to help grow. Do you think "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it." is a reference just to physical children? Does it not apply to those who are just now saved, who know only the milk of the Word?

We should also have a passion for further training for those who are more mature in Christ. They need and want to grow, too. Don't worry. You will never train them in everything they need to be trained in, even if you started tomorrow and kept on until they die. There is ALWAYS more to learn to do for Christ.

4.  We should encourage membership in a local church. It is good to become a part of the family known as the "universal church," but to be effective ministers for Christ (and you DO know that you are a minister for Christ, don't you? If not, you need to get some of that training I was talking about in the section 3), we need to plug in to a local congregation.

You might think you can worship God anywhere, and you can. But you won't. You might think you can serve God anywhere, and you can. But you won't. Besides, the Word of God extols corporate worship, and you can't do that by yourself, no matter where you are.

5.  We must be leading people to serve in the local church (this also goes back to number 3). Christianity is not a spectator sport. People who are committed to being involved will be able to fill the needs of the church. We need to involve people in leadership, in music, in Bible teaching, in A/V ministry, in children's ministry and any other place there is a need.

6. People need to be led to take part in worship. We meet on Sundays for the very reason of worshiping God and celebrating the resurrection of His Son. Sunday worship should not be a time when we perform, either for ourselves or for the pastor. We should be celebrating Christ. Otherwise, we might as well go back to the Old Covenant way of doing things and forget about being religious.

7. We must call leaders who understand the true meaning of the Word of God, who are committed to serving Christ and His church and who set an example of dependability that people can follow. We must choose leaders of right doctrine. We must select leaders who plan for the advancement of the Kingdom of God in the church. We must find leaders who can coordinate and evaluate the functions of the church.

8.  We must invoke and follow the Holy Spirit as He gives us proper interpretation of the Word, as He leads us to effective leadership, as He gives us compassionate hearts and as He leads us to giving the best we have for our King.

Those are some of the things we must do as Christians and as members of the Body of Christ.

Wherever Your Church Is, It Is Where It Has Been Led and Where You Have Allowed It to Be Led

Is your church growing? Is it shrinking? Is it maintaining the status quo? Wherever it is, it has been led there by the pastor, the staff and the lay leaders.

If your church is growing, give praise to the Lord for leadership that knows where it is going and knows how to get there.

If it is shrinking, pray that the Lord will inspire the pastor, staff and lay leaders to have an awakening as to what has to be done to turn it around.

If your church is maintaining the status quo, it is stagnant. It is Laodicea (Revelation 3:14-22).

A church might well remain "small" and not be stagnant. If it is baptizing many and spawning a lot of new works, it is being the church God wants it to be.

God has given us a blueprint for growth in His Word. His blueprint is organization and order.

The Word of God is filled with organization and order. In Genesis He organized the order of creation. In the universe He organized atoms, molecules, moons, planets and stars. In Numbers He organized the tents of Israel in the shape of a cross, such that Balaam could not curse them. In Kings He organized the building of the temple. In Nehemiah He organized the building of the wall of Jerusalem.

The fact of Christ's birth, life, death and resurrection for the salvation of those who would place their faith in, and only in, his finished work at the cross of Calvary was ordered and organized from before the beginning of time.

God is not the author of confusion, but of peace. God is a God of order and organization. If you follow some other kind of God, you don't follow God at all.

Where Would He Lead?

Suppose you were a church that had been led to grow to 3 or 4 times your original size. Suppose you were then led to purchase a new building to accommodate that growth. Suppose then you were led into financial difficulties and had to split up. Who would you call to lead you back to where you once were and into the future?

Click here to see some of the pastoral qualifications a pastor should fulfill.

Here are some ministerial questions a prospective pastor should be asked.

1.  If you are called to be our pastor, what steps would you take to establish a meaningful Bible study ministry for all age groups?

2.  If you are called to be our pastor, what steps would you take to establish a meaningful ministry to train all age groups in sound doctrine and to train leaders to lead in such a way as to make their leadership a proper offering to Christ?

3.  If you are called to be our pastor, what steps would you take to establish a meaningful missions ministry that taught the importance of missions and activities for missions to all age groups?

4. If you are called to be our pastor, how would ;you prepare your messages in such a way that the central theme of each one is the gospel of Christ?

5. If you are called to be our pastor, in what way would you lead to make certain that all worship services are geared toward worship and praise as pure and acceptable offerings to a holy an sovereign God?

6. If you are called to be our pastor, in what way would you lead to assist the church to establish and maintain sound Biblical fiscal responsibility?

7.  If you are called to be our pastor, what would be your God given vision as to where we will be five years from now?

8.  If you are called to be our pastor, how would you go about insuring that all leadership is steeped in sound Biblical, New Covenant doctrine?

9.  If you are called to be our pastor, what steps would you take to ensure that all members are afforded a realistic opportunity to know everything there is to know about every aspect of the life of our church?

10.  If you are called to be our pastor, what objective, goals and actions would you lead us toward in the next year?

Those are nine questions that every prospective pastor should be ready to answer. They speak to his ability to lead into the future in a positive, Spirit-filled way. They speak to his administrative skills.

Come to think of it, they are questions every pastor, new or established, should be ready to answer.