If you asked a doctor or nutritionist what are 3 marks of a healthy lifestyle, they might say to you:
- Eat plenty of fruit and veg (ideally 5 a day?)
- Take regular exercise (perhaps 30 mins a day?)
- And, be a non-smoker (certainly not 20 cigarettes a day!)
On a similar theme, a doctor might say that 3 marks of a healthy body are:
- A good height to weight ratio (or Body Mass Index, as its known)
- A resting blood pressure that’s within a normal range;
- And Cholesterol levels that are under control (so not too many sweet treats or fatty foods!)
But what about the body of Christ? What are 3 marks of a healthy church congregation? What are three qualities we should seek after as Christ’s body here in Ashton Hayes?
Well in Colossians chapter 3 today Paul draws out three distinguishing features of a healthy church – three things he wanted the church in Colossae to aim for, three things we should continue to aspire to as well.
A healthy church is…united in Christ
If you were here last week you my recall these words: “Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.” With those radical, counter-cultural words, the apostle Paul was telling the church in Colossae that whatever might have previously divided them were now irrelevant having come to Christ.
Regardless of their social class, ethnicity, age or gender – in the eyes of God they were all one. Spiritually speaking they all now belonged to the one body of Christ – they were truly brothers and sisters in the redeemed family of God.
Wonderfully, the same is true today! Every Christian here this morning is united by our common faith in the Lord Jesus. Whatever our background, we are all equal members of Christ’s body – we are all spiritual siblings.
As Paul puts it in verse 12 today, every Christian is one of “God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved”. We have all been forgiven our sins solely by Christ’s cross. We have all been saved for eternity by God’s grace alone – regardless of our income, employment, age or stage.
If we truly are brothers and sisters in Christ, it follows (as night follows day) that we should love one another. In our dealings with each other we must abstain from the type of things Paul mentioned in verses 8 and 9 last week – things like anger, rage, malice, slander and lies.
There should be no place for back-biting, gossiping or ‘giving someone the cold shoulder’ within any church congregation. Instead, we should exhibit the kind of behaviour Paul commends in verse 12 and 13 today. We must “clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone.”
Those qualities are non-negotiable apostolic commands. So if we fail to obey them we need to say sorry – sorry to God and sorry to whoever we have hurt or offended. If we fail to clothe ourselves with those qualities, we need to pray earnestly for the Holy Spirit’s help to manifest them in future. We should not be satisfied with anything less.
Take a moment to think how you could better love your brothers and sisters here at St John’s:
- Perhaps you could simply commit to come here more often – week by week rather than month by month or ‘off and on’ – so that you can deepen your relationships with your Christian brothers and sisters?
- Perhaps you could make more of an effort to speak to members of our church family you don’t know so well – maybe to someone new to our fellowship, or to someone here from outside your normal social circle?
- Or perhaps you could commit to pray more often for our church family? Take time to pray each week that we might truly fulfil our vision to be “focused on Christ, united in faith and serving our community”.
Because one mark of a healthy church is unity in Christ.
A healthy church is…guided by God’s Word
What do satellites, stars, compasses, lighthouses and maps all have in common? The answer, of course, is that they are all guidance systems. Without them ships would get lost at sea, hikers would get disorientated on hillsides, and aircraft pilots would be flying blind, without adequate navigation.
But what about the church? What is the guidance system for a healthy congregation? Well the answer is given by Paul in verse 16 this morning: “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly” he says, “ as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit’
Paul is saying here that a healthy church is guided by God’s Word. The message of Christ should be the guidance system for his Church. By the ‘message of Christ’, Paul means the teaching of the Bible in general, and of Jesus in particular. We are to pay close attention to it, we’re to let it “dwell” within us (to use Paul’s phrase) – we’re to let it navigate each one of us safely through the trials and temptations of life.
Familiarity with Scripture will also enable us to “teach and admonish one another” with it, says Paul. Whenever we counsel one another we should do so in accordance with Scripture, not simply with conventional wisdom, common sense or whatever our contemporary culture believes to be true.
When we talk to a friend or relative facing relationship difficulties, ill health, bereavement or trouble at work, we should draw on the wisdom of Christ – not on the wisdom of the world.
If its so important, how do we actually make the word of Christ ‘dwell’ in us? Well, one essential way of course, is to read the Bible here in Church, in our midweek study groups and on our own at home. But in verse 16 Paul particularly mentions the value of singing Scriptural truths as a way of embedding them in our hearts and minds.
Whatever our personal musical tastes, whether we prefer “psalms, hymns” or spiritual “songs”, Christians benefit from singing biblical truth to one another.
One of the reasons why traditional hymns by composers like Charles Wesley or John Newton – and contemporary songs by artists like Stuart Townend or Keith Getty – are all so good is that their lyrics are soaked in Scripture.
These hymns and songs aren’t just great tunes – they remind us of tremendous biblical truths as well. As we sing Scriptural songs and recite Psalms we are constantly reminded of the promises of God, the work of Christ and our hope of glory. The best hymns and songs are edifying and educational, not just expressions of worship and praise.
A healthy church is…full of gratitude to the Lord!
Before I finish, did you notice one recurring theme in our reading from Colossians?
- In verse 15 Paul tells the Colossians to ‘be thankful’.
- In verse 16 he encourages them to sing to God ‘with gratitude in their hearts’
- And in verse 17 he instructs the Colossians to ‘give thanks to God the Father through Christ’.
Paul clearly thinks the Colossian Christians have much to thank the Lord for. He clearly sees thankfulness as a character trait of a healthy church. He evidently believes that gratitude should be a defining mark of God’s people.
And as Christians we do indeed have so much to thank the Lord for, don’t we? For example, let me remind you of some of the blessings that Paul has already itemised in this one short letter:
- We have all been reconciled to God, saved by the blood of Jesus;
- We have all been indwelt by the Holy Spirit, transformed by his work in us;
- We have all been adopted into a worldwide family, the Church of Christ;
- And we have all been given an inheritance in the Kingdom to come, a hope of glory.
Each one of those things is mind blowing when you think about it. Each one of those blessings should revolutionise our view of ourselves. Any single one of those things should move us to worship and praise. No wonder Paul suggests that a healthy church should be overflowing in gratitude to God.
But if you are not full of gratitude to God this morning – if your faith feels cold today – then take time to dwell in God’s word. Prayerfully re-read Colossians 1 to 3 and ask the Lord to apply its glorious truths to your heart. Ask the Lord to reawaken your love for him, to increase your appreciation of the Gospel – and to arouse more gratitude in your heart.
Conclusion
With all that in mind, lets pray now for the health of our church family – that we may be ever more marked by unity, ever more guided by God’s word, and ever more overflowing in gratitude to the Lord.