God wants our church to faithful and fruitful One without the other is only half of the equation. Numerical results are no justification for being unfaithful to the Message, but neither can we use faithfulness as an excuse for being ineffective! Churches that have few or no conversions often attempt to justify their ineffectiveness with the statement, God has not called us to be successful. He has just called us to be faithful. I strongly disagree because the Word of God clearly teaches the God expects both. The sticking point is how you define the terms successful and faithful. I define being successful as fulfilling Gods will as an individual and as a church. Jesus has given the church a job to do. We will either succeed or fail at it. Using this definition, every church should want to be successful! What is the alternative? The opposite of success is not faithfulness, but failure. Any church not obeying Christs commission is failing its purpose, no matter what else it does. Therefore they are disobedient. But they [MANY Christians and MANY churches] have NOT ALL OBEYED THE GOSPEL. For Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? (Romans 10:16). Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven [of God]; but HE THAT DOETH THE WILL OF MY FATHER which is in heaven. MANY [THE MAJORITY IN THE CHURCH] will say to Me in that Day, Lord, Lord, have we [Christians, churches] not prophesied in Thy name [of Jesus]? and in Thy name [of Jesus] have cast out devils? and in Thy name [of Jesus] done MANY wonderful works? And then will I [JESUS] profess unto them, I NEVER KNEW YOU [fake Christians, disobedient churches]: depart from Me, ye [ALL OF YOU] that WORK INIQUITY. And EVERY ONE that heareth these sayings of mine, AND DOETH THEM NOT. (Matthew 7:21-23 & 26). For THE TIME IS COME [RIGHT NOW TODAY] that judgment MUST BEGIN at the house [CHURCH] of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them [fake Christians, disobedient churches] THAT OBEY NOT THE GOSPEL OF GOD? And IF THE RIGHTEOUS scarcely [Gk: with difficulty] be saved, where shall the ungodly [fake Christians, disobedient churches] and the sinner [non-believers and atheists] appear? (1st Peter 4:17-18). And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them [non-believers and atheists] that know not God, and [fake Christians, disobedient churches] that OBEY NOT THE GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST: Who shall pay the penalty with age-abiding ruin [and what or who will be doing the ruining for this age of chastisement?] from THE [consuming lake of firey] PRESENCE [Gk: appearance] OF THE LORD, and from THE GLORY OF HIS POWER [Gk: brimstone]; when He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that Day. (2nd Thessalonians 1:7-10). What is faithfulness? Usually we define it in terms of beliefs. We think that by holding to orthodox beliefs we are fulfilling Christs command to be faithful. We call ourselves defenders of the faith. But Jesus meant far more than adherence to beliefs when He used the term. He defined faithfulness in terms of behavior -- a willingness to take risks (that require faith) in order to be faithful. The clearest example of this is the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30. The two men who doubled the talents the Master gave them were called good and faithful servants. In other words, they proved their faithfulness by taking risks that produced fruit. They were successful at the task that they had been assigned, and they were rewarded for it by the Master. The passive, fearful servant who did nothing with the talent he was given produced no results for the Master because he would not take the risk. He was called wicked and slothful in contrast to the two men called faithful for producing results. The point of the story is clear: God expects to see results. Our faithfulness is demonstrated by our fruit. Faithfulness is accomplishing as much as possible with the resources and talents God has given you. By Rick Warren Is any so foolish as to think Jesus tells all seven churches to … hear what the Spirit says to the churches (all the other plural churches), so that they can compare themselves among themselves and see which one Jesus thinks is the holiest of them all? That is nonsense! For WE DARE NOT make ourselves OF THE NUMBER, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by [next to] themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, ARE NOT WISE. (2nd Corinthians 10:12). ALL seven churches individually, have ALL the problems and ALL the strengths of all the churches combined. It is ONE prophecy, of ONE church, in ONE hand of Jesus, which combine the characteristics of seven churches in Asia that shared all of the good qualities and all of the shortcomings. Some think that Smyrna and Philadelphia did not have any shortcomings. They did. The Scriptures prove it because they both has within their midsts the synagogue of Satan. Thats why comparing churches is an illegitimate way to measure success. Success is not being larger than some other church; it is bearing as much fruit as possible given your gifts, opportunities, and potential. Christ doesnt expect us to do more than we can, but He does expect us to produce all that we can by His Spirit within us. Thats a lot more than most of us think is possible. Verily, verily [Truthfully, truthfully], I say unto you, He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and GREATER WORKS than these shall he do; because I go unto My Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in My name, I will do it. (John 14:12-14). Now unto Him [GOD] that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think [imagine, dream], according to the power [holy SPIRIT] that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all generations, of the age of the ages. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21). Thats a lot more than most of us think is possible. Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. (Mark 9:23). We expect too little from God, and we attempt too little for Him. If youre not taking risks in your ministry, then it is not required that you have faith. And if your apostolic ministry doesnt require any faith, then you are being unfaithful.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 01:10:14 +0000
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