We’ve learned that Christians are to give out of love, with love being the measure of how much to give. In this message we’ll learn that Christians are also supposed to be motivated by compassion and give accordingly. We’ll examine the difference between giving out of love and giving out of compassion, encounter a group of Christians who served as an example of compassionate giving, and learn how we can be confident when we give out of compassion to those we do not know.
A relationship in which both members declare their love for each other but one or both never give to the other is a suspect relationship. If we love we give. That’s what God did, and that’s what the first Christians did. In this message we’ll discover two facts about giving by the first Christians, and then make three observations about the way they gave. These will help us answer the questions, “Should Christians give to the church?” and “How much should Christians give to the church?”
From the beginning of the church there was some thing extraordinary about its life. The word Luke, John, and Paul use to describe this something special is the word fellowship, or the Greek word koinonia. In this message we learn what fellowship is, what it does for believers, and how it can be experienced. Once you’ve experienced genuine Christian fellowship you’ll appreciate why it is so important to believers.
In this message we focus on the application of the truth that the church is Christ’s body and we are members of his body. First of all, what does that mean? Then, what does it mean for how we look at the church and our relationship to others in the church? As we’ll see, as members of Christ’s body we each have an essential role to play in the church, a role that has been chosen for us by the Holy Spirit to help the entire church be healthy and do the work God wants it to do.
The purpose of the church is to make disciples. But what is a disciple? How are disciples made? What role does the church play in disciple-making, and how do individual members of the church help the church to grow in making disciples? We’ll answer these questions, and then ask one more. If we love the church shouldn’t we be helping it grow by making disciples?
The emotionally warmest picture of the church in the New Testament is the church as the family of God. In contrast to the idea of believers being members of an organization or society, Jesus thought of his followers as brothers and sisters. The family image is the most frequently used image of the church in the New Testament. It has real significance to not only what the church should mean to believers, but also to how they should behave towards others in the church. We’ll explore this in today’s message.
How do you feel about the church? How you feel determines how you act toward the church. Jesus loves the church. That determined what he did and does for the church. He’s our example. We ought to love the church just as Jesus did, not in word alone, but in how we treat the church and act toward the church. You and I are invited to love the church as Jesus loved the church. If we do, it will also show as Jesus’ love showed.
If we are to love what Jesus loves (the church, Ephesians 5:25) then we have to be sure of what that is. In this first in a series of messages about the church we’ll answer the question, “What is the church?” We’ll see some things the church is not, then discover what the church is according to the New Testament. We’ll not only define the church, but we’ll use some of the New Testament names for the church to help us get a clearer idea of what the church is supposed to be. Join us as we learn to better love what Jesus loves.