Nine Marks of a Healthy Church
THE GOSPEL
The gospel is good news. News is something you tell people, not something you coerce someone to accept. You proclaim the good news of the Gospel, and the Holy Spirit is the one who softens the hearts of those who hear and gives them faith in God. “...we don’t do the gospel, we proclaim it.” (Dever 97) It is a gift of God not of man. [Ephesians 2:8 ] This should free us to share the news without the pressure of making someone into a convert. We pray for God to do that work. When the Gospel is rejected we should still see it as success if we did our part to make it known. The idea of being able to say just the right words in just the right way to the right person at the right time is abolished in place of simply proclaiming the gospel to all at any time.The gospel should cause change. A person can’t just have knowledge about Christ dying for them, “according to the Bible, our response should be to repent and believe.” (Dever 99) If someone hears the gospel and prays a prayer to be saved but is unaffected then they don’t truly know the love of Christ and the hopeless state they are in without him. [Colossians 2:13] “The Bible utterly rejects the idea that we are okay,” (Dever 88) I have been growing more in my conviction that the Bible makes it clear there is no such thing as a lukewarm Christian. [Revelation 3:16] I know people who say they’re a Christian but you would never know it by the way they live their lives. [James 2:14-17] “We cannot claim to be believers and yet knowingly, repeatedly, and happily break his law.” (Dever 89) My concern has grown a lot for friends claiming to be Christians who don’t live their lives like Christ is their greatest treasure. “True belief demands not only faith but also repentance; it demands that our lives actually change.” If I truly love my brothers and sisters who claim Christ but don’t live it out then I will gently and lovingly challenge them. I will point them to the gospel and remind them that they are lost and there’s nothing they can do without Christ because they’re dead in their sins. I will encourage them and pray for them that Christ would be their greatest treasure, not the things of the world.
A BIBLICAL UNDERSTANDING OF CONVERSION
The book points out that “people today are skeptical that anyone can really change.” (Dever 105) “But for all of this uncertainty and suspicion, people do have a deep longing for change.” (Dever 106) I have seen this when I talk to my atheist coworkers. They have gone as far as saying they see value in some of the moral teachings in the Bible but don’t know how people can stick to it. They see that most people are sinful pitiful messes but since they don’t believe in the power of God to change unregenerate hearts they think being good is accomplished with will power. They think that some people are just evil and so hearing the good moral teachings of the Bible won’t do anything for them. [Romans 8:5-8] I like how Dever’s book proclaimed that change is possible and that “the change we need is not merely to ‘discover’ ourselves, but to turn... from our sin and to the one true God.” (Dever 110) This countercultural truth is also one my atheist friends can’t accept because they have no faith in God so the only way they see change happening is again from our own strength and willpower. The world preaches to look within yourself for healthy change and growth while our holy scriptures proclaim that we need a renewal of our minds from God. [Romans 12:2]This line from the book really stuck out to me: “We are called to tell people to turn to God. But we must understand that God is calling us to talk to a bunch of corpses.” (Dever 118) This really should cause me not only to pray for opportunities to share the gospel with non believers, but also to pray for God to change their dead hearts. [Ephesians 2:1-3] I have become so close to one atheist friend at work that I almost talk to him like he’s a fellow Christian. I think sometimes I’m almost assuming he has a renewed mind and if I can just make the things of the Bible clear enough for him he will get it and believe, but that’s just not true! My convictions to pray for God to do a great work in his heart have grown. I have shared the gospel with him many times, which is great and I rejoice in that, [Romans 10:17] but I need to pray more for God to do the work. [1 Corinthians 3:6] He knows the truth, but he is still dead in his trespasses and sins so he cannot choose to turn from them to God.
A CONCERN FOR DISCIPLESHIP AND GROWTH
I’ve always thought of the word discipleship as more of describing when one person mentors another in becoming a better Christian. Even in as narrow of terms as a situation where two people have a set time where they meet and go through the Bible or a Christian book together. I still think that can be a healthy and great way discipleship happens, but my view on it has broadened. Now I see discipleship as something that should take place constantly among all Christians as they fellowship and grow in the Lord together. At church, in small groups, and at casual social gatherings; talking about what they’re learning from God and his word. Sharing how they’ve seen him work in their life. Holding each other accountable when they recognize sin. [Colossians 3:16] It should be a natural part of life among Christians, not only set times to meet.I really liked how Dever showed a church with expositional preaching encourages growth. It has been so true in my life, but I loved the way Dever highlighted and explained it. Preaching is an amazing way for people to be helped in their understanding of scripture so their minds can be renewed and the truths in God’s word can penetrate their hearts and change them. I loved how he pointed out it makes us “less dependent on the preacher” (Dever 217) and more concerned with the word of God. I’ve experienced that. Expositional preaching leaves me not thinking of how great the speaker was, though that’s sometimes part of it, but more with an excitement to read my bible more, pray more, and work on my relationship with God. When preaching encourages us in these ways it helps us grow, and “God’s word is what we need if we are to grow.” (Dever 216)
I also loved what Dever wrote about preaching the Bible, not just that God is love among many other things. “Preachers who talk only about God’s love talk about it less and less with every sermon they preach,” (Dever 219) The bible doesn’t diminish our sins or how they are going against our holy God and preaching should not either. An “I’m okay you’re okay because God loves us” message will not inspire growth but a lackadaisical listless person who is happy to remain in their state of immaturity. [1 Peter 2:2, 1 Corinthians 3:1-3] That is not someone treasuring Christ above all else.
I liked how this book pointed out that God uses tough times to grow us in him. They give “us the opportunity to trust.” (Dever 218) It is in those times that we are often most desperate for God. This is why we draw nearest to him. When our faith is tested. [James 1:2-4] I used to have a hard time with verses like we find in James 1 when we are told to count it all joy when we meet trails. I had the attitude that almost everyone reads that verse with a bit of a grin like, “well that’s what we’re supposed to do but no one actually does.” Now that I’ve been through trails, however, I see the wisdom in it. I am very thankful for the tough times I’ve gone through because they have resulted in my growth in the Lord. [Luke 8:15] When we are in a situation we can’t handle on our own, we turn to him. We rely on his strength when ours fails. We don’t see a way we can fix or get through something so in our desperation we cry out to God for his help. Then we see him work and move, often in ways we weren’t expecting. We see the sovereignty and love of God for us in our situations and through his faithfulness and power at work we learn to trust him to pull us through life when the storms of the world rage against us. “We grow in that ability [to trust God] partly through the difficulties God allows us to go through.” (Dever 218)
Scriptures References
Ephesians 2:8For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
Colossians 2:13
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
Revelation 3:16
So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.
James 2:14-17
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food,
16 and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?
17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
Romans 8:5-8
5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Ephesians 2:1-3
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience- 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Romans 10:17
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
1 Corinthians 3:6
I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.
Colossians 3:16
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
1 Peter 2:2
Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation-
1 Corinthians 3:1-3
1 But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?
James 1:2-4
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Luke 8:15
As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.
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