The 4 Elements of a Church that Has the Heart of God

In our church we are doing a series on why people do not go to church and in part of the teaching I thought I would share with you. Hope you enjoy it. DaRonn

The 4 Elements of a Church that Has the Heart of God
On new years night eve night I shared with you 4 characteristics that the church in Acts 2:41-47 had and my desire that our church carry as well. These are the 4 elements of a church that has the heart of God. A church that has the very purposes of God for its existence. One that God is able to send the lost to. As we look at these 4 characteristics I want you to examine your own conduct in whether you are helping the church in this area of hindering it.

Element #1 – The church that has the heart of God is a church that covers others with the wings of unconditional love. – John 13:34 “4A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” - When Jesus formed the church His desire was that it would be recognized by its expression of love. He actually meant that the world would recognize us by the way that we loved each other. Outside of this family people would experience judgment but within this family there would be the presence of unconditional love. This was meant to be express by:

• Liberty to be oneself and not conform to a mold.
• Acceptance that everyone had the potential to make mistakes and grace was applied for that tendency.
• The understanding that as a community we worked on our shortcomings as a work in process.
• The community looked for mercy as opposed to judgment.

This does not say that they never judged one another simply that they used the rule of judgment before they judged. (1) The applied the measuring stick to themselves first before they administered it to others. (2) They did so from a forgiving Spirit. (3) They involved church leadership. They allowed church leadership to judge there motives to see if they were pure. (4) They left room for restoration and the grace of God.

What does the wings of unconditional love look like in ICN? First of all each and every member should consider it their responsibility to show acceptance to those who are trying to enter into our community. It should be an expression of who we are that people are accepted in our midst. That means that we should carry the Biblical expression of friendliness. We should talk to people we do not know. We should express interest in them. We should smile more when we look at them. The church should be the most encouraging place that people attend through out the entire week. That is not necessarily done from the pulpit but from the congregation. WE ARE HERE TO MAKE CHURCH THE MOST ENCOURAGING FAMILY ATMOSPHERE THAT WE POSSIBLY CAN MAKE IT.

Element #2 – A house of friendship of doing life together – Acts 2:42 “42And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread,...” The second element of a church that has the heart of God is a when the church transforms itself from a once a week meeting to a circle of friends that do life together. If we study the church in the books of Acts one of the things we will notices is that the church is not a just a place where they hosted meetings. In all actuality the church was a group of people that mixed their lives together. Christ never meant for the Christian life to be lived alone. He meant for the church to be an interconnected organism that interrelated itself with one another. So church was much more what they did outside of the four walls of the meeting then inside. This was expressed by:

• The believers having spontaneous times of fellowship.
• Eating at one another’s houses on a regular basis.
• Sharing in the needs of one another.

The church became more of a circle of friends that enjoyed spending time with one another, seeking God with one another and fellowshipping with one another. They actually liked being together.

What does a house of friends look like in ICN? The idea is that we are friends. Friends enjoy spending time with one another and place a high priority on being with one another. They enjoy and appreciated one another. A circle of friends in ICN is making a conscious effort to spend time with the members of your church family outside of church. Eat together. Spend time together. Get to know each other. Do things together. Anything you can do to make your journey of seeking Christ a communal one and not a solo one.

Element #3 - The mystery of finding God - Philippians. 3:8 “8Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,” The early church spent a considerable amount of time setting and learning the Apostles teachings. One of the reasons was that the church was the central focus of the Jewish life. The synagogue was life to Jews. After a while the Jewish Christians began to be kicked out of the synagogues and they needed something to fill the void. So instead of going to the synagogue each day they decided to plan meetings to learn the Apostles teachings. One of the main reasons why the early church was so strong and grew so fast was because there members were learning the Word of God all of the time. It was the excitement of learning the mysteries of God that motivated them to have an increased hunger for the teachings of God. The showed up whenever the Word of God was presented because they did not want to miss the mysteries that would be presented.

• Constantly sitting the under the teaching of the Word of God allows you to understand who Christ is better.
• Constantly setting under the teaching of the Word of God allows you understand the will and plans of God better.
• Constantly sitting under the teaching of the Word of God allows you to not get bored with the Christian life. Mystery is not boring but captivating.
• Constantly sitting under the teaching of the Word of God prepares you for the challenges of life.

Those who make learning His Word a priority have a love for God that others do not have. The church is the mechanism where the Word of God is expounded. So your life line to God is the consistency of your time being taught the Word of God in the local church.

Element #4 - The answer for the search for significance – Jer. 29:11 “11For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” Life is a journey that one embarks on and the goal is significance. We want our lives to amount for something. Either for our immediate family, our friends or loved ones. There is somehow an instinctive measurement that we know is there even if we have not been able to identify it. Life is meant to have meaning. As important as meaning is to life it is interesting that God hides that meaning from us to a certain existent. What I mean is that the purpose of life can not be discovered by ones self it almost always is through the interaction with others.

• Life is meant to be explored with others.
• Life is meant to be evaluated by how we influence others.
• Life is measured in what we did for others.

The answer for significance in a nutshell if how our lives, no matter how brief it was, rubbed up against other people lives and affected them. The most satisfying thing a person can do is leave another persons life better then it was before they know them. Significances can only be measured in the context of others. There is no other greater expression of this then the local church. It is a moving breathing organism that works together touching the lives of others for the better or the worst. I some how think that is what Christ designed it to be.