Habits and Attitudes of Highly Effective Churches (Part 2)
Devoted To Scripture

Does anyone here remember a phrase used in our fellowship in years past:
"chapter and verse?" It carried the idea that we knew our Bible and use
it regularly. It’s a phrase I hope is remembered in this assembly and I
hope it will always be set before us as the beginning standard of who we
are and why we do what we do!

We ought to require it of anyone who seeks to press their agenda upon
us...or creates tensions which need to be clearly identified as "matters
of opinion."

We began a series of lessons last Sunday night entitled Habits and
Attitudes of Effective Churches....and made the case that any successful
congregation must first be Centered on "Christ.

· Second only to an affirmation of faith in an allegiance to Jesus
Christ, a faithful and fruitful church declares its confidence in the
Bible as the authoritative Word of God.
· It may even be a mistake, in fact, to list these two affirmations as if
they were somehow capable of being separated.
· All we would dare affirm about Jesus is what we can ground in Holy
Scripture.
· It is our definitive source of information about him and the normative
guide for understanding his function as head of the church.

The Christian faith rests upon the data found in the Bible, for "faith
comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word
of Christ" (Rom. 10:17).

The world around us is looking neither for someone to toss away the Bible
nor for a group that will turn its authority into a heavy yoke no one can
bear:
· It is waiting for churches to so embrace, affirm, and live Scripture
that they cannot but see Jesus in them.
· They want churches both to teach and to model the life of Christ.
· Those churches will draw men to God.
· They will lead men and women to salvation in Christ.

1. THE WHOLE COUNSEL OF GOD HAS BEEN PROCLAIMED
Paul spoke these words to the elders at Ephesus:
Acts 20:20-21: "You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything
that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house
to house. {21} I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must
turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus."

Acts 20:24: "However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I
may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given
me--the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace."

Acts 20:27: "For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will
of God."

Acts 20:32: ""Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace,
which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who
are sanctified."

2. WE HAVE ALL THINGS PERTAINING TO LIFE AND GODLINESS
2 Peter 1:3: "His divine power has given us everything we need for life
and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory
and goodness."

3. THE FAITH HAS BEEN REVEALED ONCE FOR ALL
Jude wrote of "the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints"
Jude 1:3: "Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about
the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for
the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints."

In the Greek, "once for all" is "one time for all time." I.e., the faith
(that body of knowledge we are to believe) was delivered one time for all
time:
· The faith wasn’t partly revealed, with more to come through later
revelations years later!
· The faith wasn't revealed just for that generation, with a different
faith to be revealed for a generation yet future!
· Therefore the task we have is "to contend earnestly for the faith", not
be looking for a new faith to fit our desires or expectations!

4. THE SCRIPTURES CAN MAKE US COMPLETE, EQUIPPED FOR
EVERY GOOD WORK
2 Timothy 3:16-17: "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for
teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, {17} so
that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

When I turn to the Scriptures, I find that I have all I need to...
a. Believe in Jesus - Jn 20:30-31
b. Have life in His name - Jn 20:30-31
c. Have fellowship with the Father, the Son, and the apostles 1
Jn 1:3
d. Have joy that is full - 1 Jn 1:4
e. Have help when I sin - 1 Jn 2:1
f. Know that I have eternal life - 1 Jn 5:13
g. Understand the revelation of the mystery of God - Ro
16:25-26; Ep 3:3-4
h. Be fruitful in the knowledge of Jesus Christ and have an abundant
entrance into the everlasting kingdom - 2 Peter 1:8-11

There will always be a distinction related to "the all-sufficiency of the
Scriptures." The distinction becomes apparent as one considers the
doctrines and practices of any religious group...
a. Those who accept it are more apt to be like the church you read
about in the Bible
b. Those who deny it will quickly evolve into something much different

Introduction to 2 Kings 7 events:
In the period of Israel's history known as "The Divided Kingdom"
a. The nation was divided into two parts
1) The kingdom of Israel in the north with Samaria as its capitol
2) The kingdom of Judah in the south with Jerusalem for its capitol
b. The weakened condition of both kingdoms left it open to attacks by
other countries

We read of one siege of Samaria in 2 Kings 6, which brought a terrible
famine upon the city of Samaria

Among those suffering in the famine were four lepers:
2 Kings 7:3-8: " Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of
the city gate. They said to each other, "Why stay here until we die? {4}
If we say, 'We'll go into the city'--the famine is there, and we will
die. And if we stay here, we will die. So let's go over to the camp of
the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us,
then we die." {5} At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the
Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp, not a man was there,
{6} for the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots
and horses and a great army, so that they said to one another, "Look, the
king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!"
{7} So they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned their tents and
their horses and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their
lives. {8} The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp and
entered one of the tents. They ate and drank, and carried away silver,
gold and clothes, and went off and hid them. They returned and entered
another tent and took some things from it and hid them also."

· They discussed their plight
· In desperation they decided to surrender to the Syrians
· To their surprise, they found the Syrian camp abandoned
· At first, they splurged in their newfound riches

But upon reflection, they knew they needed to tell others what they
found, and did
so:
2 Kings 7:9-11: "Then they said to each other, "We're not doing right.
This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait
until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let's go at once and report
this to the royal palace." {10} So they went and called out to the city
gatekeepers and told them, "We went into the Aramean camp and not a man
was there--not a sound of anyone--only tethered horses and donkeys, and
the tents left just as they were." {11} The gatekeepers shouted the news,
and it was reported within the palace."

The lepers knew what was right, and did it
a. They knew they would be wrong by keeping silent
b. They knew punishment would befall them if they kept the good
news to themselves -- So they went back to the city and told the good
news!
Many Christians are not like these lepers...
a. Despite it being "a day of good news", they remain silent!
b. While many die of spiritual starvation, they feast on the
gospel!

Matthew 28:18-20: "Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in
heaven and on earth has been given to me. {19} Therefore go and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit, {20} and teaching them to obey everything
I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of
the age.""

1 Peter 2:9-10: "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of
him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. {10} Once
you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had
not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."

Today, the church is God's "watchman" to the world! We are to take the
gospel to every person! Those who have not heard will die in their own
sin, but we will be held accountable if we gave them no warning!

We are not obligated to teach the non-Christian beyond the "first
principles" Only if they accept the "first principles", will they ready
to receive the "second principles"

Brethren, if we are silent with regards to the "good news" (the gospel),
then the words of the four lepers is true of us:

"We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we remain
silent. If we wait until morning light, some punishment will come upon
us. Now therefore, come, let us go and tell..."- 2 Kings 7:9

Story to bring together our first two points of this series:
(The following story is a true one and told on a first-hand basis, though
not my own personal experience)
I was only browsing in the airport gift shop — definitely not buying.
Most of the section where I was were patriotic in nature. Anything I
would have been interested in taking home, however, was far too expensive
to consider. So I just looked.

The one item I remember from the shop was first an oddity, then an
amazement, and finally something of a parable. It was a shiny copper
plate. It was under glass to keep fingerprints from spoiling its polished
surface.

Engraved on the plate were the words of the Declaration of Independence.
They are precious words indeed to all of us who live in the United States
of America. To despise so important a document in our nation’s history
would be beneath any patriotic American. It is part of our birthright and
heritage.

But something strange and delightful happened as I looked at the engraved
plate. As I started to move on along the counter and therefore changed my
angle of perspective on it, I began to see a face. Moving deliberately
now to catch the light just right, I saw the face of George Washington
looking back at me. Some creative artist had etched the details of the
face of our country’s first president into the words of its most
cherished document!

Noble words became the face of a person, and I would have missed the
point of the artist’s effort if I had not seen the face.

"Sublime ideals reduced to a written text dissolved into human persona. A
revered text became someone I knew."

I stood and stared in amazement. I thought about the time, skill, and
patience it must have taken to create such a piece.
I certainly understood why it was so expensive — and kept under
protective glass. Only as I reflected on it later did I realize how
perfectly it illustrates a central truth of the Christian faith. But
you’re ahead of me, aren’t you?

A highly effective church is so focused on Jesus that its own experience
of the Word of God reveals him to everyone who sees it. If we cherish,
teach, and offer the Word of God to others merely as a library of
statutes and case studies, we reveal our own impoverished understanding
of the Bible.

The Bible is God’s revelation of himself in the person and work of
Christ. And we are reading and interpreting it correctly only when we see
beyond the words and cry, "I see Jesus! I see Jesus!" And we teach it
effectively only when we model it so faithfully through the life of our
churches that unchurched people around us cry, "I see Jesus! I see
Jesus!"

Last modified: April 18, 2006