HOW TO DEAL WITH PROBLEMS WITHIN A MEETING OF
BELIEVERS (CHURCH).
"How to Deal with Problems Within a Meeting of
Believers" is based on the first letter Paul
sent such a group at Corinth about A.D. 55. Our
comments are in brackets and quotations are from
the N.I.V. Bible.
(What follows assumes you are a believer in
Jesus Christ. If you aren't yet, you can become
one by praying this prayer:
Dear God, I have been going my own way
but now I want to turn and go your way.
I believe you will forgive all my past
sins and give me a new life as a member
of your family. I believe the way to
do this is through trust in your Son
Jesus Christ.
Thanks for accepting me.
You have done the most important thing possible
- become a member of God's family. God now lives
within you in the person of the Holy Spirit.
This means you have become God's masterpiece.
You can't be more special than that. To grow you
will need to meet with other members to give and
receive encouragement.
You can do that by joining a loving and
accepting Christian denominational church or
meeting in your home. Our book, "How to Meet
with God at Home" has details).
God has set your church meeting apart for His
use. (The word church means a meeting of God's
family, [true believers in Jesus Christ]. It
does not exist between meetings because it is
not an organisation but an intermittently
observable organism. From here on the word we
use for church is meeting).
May you enjoy God's love, favour and peace.
Jesus Christ will enrich your speech and
knowledge. He will give you the spiritual
abilities you need to help others, keeping you
strong and blameless (not faultless) until you
meet Jesus in person. God called you to be one
with His son and you can trust Him to do it.
Be perfectly united in mind and thought in your
meetings, by putting Christ first, then there
will be no divisions among you.
The goal is to have everyone hear the Good News
that they can get right and stay right with God
not through their own efforts but through
turning to and trusting in Jesus Christ. This is
not achieved with words of human wisdom but
through the power of the Cross of Christ. The
Good News makes no sense to some but to others
it's God's power to save them.
Scholars and philosophers seek answers apart
from God, others want a religion that puts God
in their debt as a reward for their religious
activities. To such people the Good News is
foolishness, but to those God has called, it's
the power and wisdom of God.
Probably not many in your meeting were worldly
wise, influential or from the nobility. Thus
none of you can boast before God. After all it's
only by God's undeserved favour that any of you
are united to Christ Jesus. He alone is your
wisdom, He alone gives you right standing with
God and He alone has paid the penalty for your
sins. So the only thing you can boast about is
that you are one with Jesus Christ.
(An elephant and a flea walked across a
suspension bridge. The flea looked up at the
elephant and said "We sure made that bridge
bounce." It's okay for you to boast like that).
(Chapter 1)
Your eloquence or superior knowledge is not what
counts when you are telling the Good News of
Christ. Knowing Him personally is the key. If
you are weak, fearful, trembling, and without
wise persuasive words, it gives God the Holy
Spirit a chance to demonstrate His power. Then
those who come to faith in Jesus Christ will do
so on the basis of God's power not your wisdom.
God has taken you into His confidence, all you
need to know is revealed to you by His Spirit.
The Spirit enables you to understand what God
has freely given you so you can speak words
taught by Him "expressing spiritual truths in
spiritual words." Thus you have the mind of
Christ.
(Chapter 2)
There must be no jealousy or quarrelling in your
meetings. Avoid the temptation to split into
alliances behind different Christians. Remember
that "neither he who plants nor he who waters is
anything, but only God makes things grow."
You are all God's fellow workers like labourers
in His field or workers on His building site.
Christ is the only foundation for your meetings.
Your members may build on that foundation
encouraging each other to be more controlled by
Christ.
The quality of each believer's building will be
tested as by fire on the day God judges
everyone. Some will be rewarded for good work,
others whose work was useless, will see it
burned. They will be saved "but only as one
escaping through flames."
Your meetings are God's temple. His Spirit
dwells there. (If anyone destroys the temple God
will destroy him). All things are yours,
members, the world, life, death, present, future
"and you are of Christ and Christ is of God."
(Chapter 3)
God has entrusted you with the Good News about
Jesus. Be faithful to that trust as God's
servant. This can be tough. Like Paul, God may
call you to be a fool for Christ, weak,
dishonoured, hungry, thirsty, in rags, brutally
treated, homeless, working with your own hands,
considered to be the scum of the earth and the
refuse of the world. But bless those who curse
you, endure persecution, answer slander kindly.
Your way of life must match what you teach.
Remember that the kingdom of God is not a matter
of talk but of power.
Don't judge others, that's God's job. When He
comes He will "bring to light what is hidden in
darkness and expose the motives of men's
hearts."
(Chapter 4)
If members of your meeting are deliberately
sinning, and refusing to stop, the other members
must take corrective action. Left undisciplined
such sin will have a dangerous influence on
other members. Paul cited a case of a man having
sex with his mother or stepmother. He said he
must be expelled (lovingly not vengefully)
hoping that this will make him wake up to
himself, turn from sin back to Christ "and his
spirit saved on the day of the Lord." (Judgment
Day).
Your meetings must be characterised by sincerity
and truth. So don't associate with anyone who
calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral,
greedy, an idolater, slanderer, drunkard or
swindler.
(Chapter 5)
If members of your meeting have a dispute,
resolve it among yourselves instead of taking it
to a secular court. There must be no cheating
and wrongdoing among members of your meetings.
Some say they follow Christ but prove they don't
by persisting in sin with no sign of turning
from it. For example, the sexually immoral,
idolators, adulterers, prostitutes, homosexuals,
thieves, greedy, drunkards, slanderers and
swindlers will not get into heaven unless they
genuinely turn from their sin and trust Christ.
Some members of your meeting may have lived such
lives but, by turning to and trusting in Christ,
their sins were washed away, they were set aside
for God's use and pronounced not guilty for
their sins "in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
and by the Spirit of our God."
Your body is not meant for sexual immorality but
for the Lord. Other sins you commit are outside
the body but sexual sin is against your own
body. It is "A temple of (God) the Holy Spirit
who is in you, whom you received from God. Your
body is united with Christ in Spirit, it is a
member of Christ. You are not your own; you were
bought with a price. Therefore honour God with
your body."
(Chapter 6)
It's good to be married. Do not deprive
yourselves of sex except by mutual consent for a
time while you devote yourselves to prayer.
If you're unmarried it's better to marry than to
burn with passion for sex.
If you're married, one partner must not separate
from the other. If one does however, they must
remain unmarried or be reconciled. Divorce is
not an option for believers in Christ.
If you're married to a non believer stay
together so that God may bring your partner to
faith in Christ through you. Your children will
also be blessed as Christ's love flows through
you to them.
If you are married (do all in your power to make
it work) and your unbelieving partner leaves,
accept it.
When you become a believer in Christ, stay where
you are and continue with what you are doing
unless Christ clearly tells you He wants a
change. (Christ wants His light, life and love
to flow through you wherever you are). Suppose
you were a slave when Christ called you. He
makes you a free man. If you were a free man
Christ makes you His "slave."
Use the things of this world in serving Christ
but don't be sidetracked by them. Live a life of
undivided devotion to Christ.
Husbands and wives are bound to each other as
long as they live but if one dies the other is
free to marry another believer.
(Chapter 7)
For you "There is but one God the Father, from
whom all things come and for whom we live; and
there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through
whom all things came and through whom you live."
This means you are free but also responsible to
ensure that your manner of life does not cause
problems for other believers. For example, you
may enjoy having a beer in a pub, knowing it's
okay with Christ. But if there was a risk that
this could lead a weaker believer to become an
alcoholic by following your example you would
give up going to the pub. If you knowingly risk
leading your fellow believer astray you are
sinning against him and Christ.
(Chapter 8)
Your goal in life is to be a channel for the
Good News of Christ. It is best if you pay your
own way so the Good News comes free of charge.
Like Paul "Become all things to all men so that
by all possible means I might save some."
Discipline yourself like an athlete in strict
training to achieve your goal and "get a crown
that will last forever." Don't be like an
athlete running around in circles getting
nowhere. Head straight for the finish tape - the
goal Christ has for you.
(Chapter 9)
The history of the Jews is that many headed
toward the Promised Land but, because of
unbelief in God, few arrived. It's in the Bible
as an example and warning to you so don't be an
idolator (putting paper or plastic money, power,
position or professions in God's place). Don't
commit sexual immorality, don't test the Lord,
and don't grumble.
If you think you're standing firm as a believer,
be careful you don't fall. If you're tempted you
can be sure others have been also in the same
way. God is faithful, you won't be tempted
beyond your ability to resist. He will also
provide a way out so you can stand up to the
temptation.
Bear these things in mind when you give thanks
for Christ at your meetings by breaking bread
and drinking from the cup. There is one loaf and
the members of your meeting are also one body
(the body of Christ). So whether you eat or
drink or whatever you do, do it all for the
glory of God. Don't seek your own good but the
good of others so that they may come to know
Christ and be saved.
(Chapter 10)
When you meet remember that "The head of every
man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man
and the head of Christ is God." "- in the Lord
however, woman is not independent of man, nor is
man independent of woman."
Jesus Christ wants you to have peace within and
without - in your relationships. For this reason
He has given lines of authority (not
superiority) to provide order and security.
Women's submission in meetings shows love,
respect, maturity, commitment and co-operation.
(It doesn't mean surrender, it's a sign of
strength not weakness and it doesn't show
inferiority). It's submission among equals in
God's sight, by choice not force.
Christ is your example. He is equal with the
Father but He submitted to vilification,
disgrace and torture to death on trumped up
charges so you could be saved.
(There is too much emphasis on people's rights
these days [including women's rights] and too
little emphasis on responsibility. If Christ had
exercised His rights, instead of love, He'd have
stayed in heaven and we all would be destined
for hell on earth and for eternity).
"The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed,
took bread, and when He had given thanks, He
broke it and said, 'This is my body, which is
for you; do this in remembrance of me.' In the
same way, after supper He took the cup, saying,
'This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do
this whenever you drink it, in remembrance of
me.'" Thus Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper
which occasionally is to be a normal part of
your meetings. It should be shared by all
members at the one time in an orderly loving
way.
Examine yourself and confess your sins before
you share in the Lord's Supper. Remember that
"Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the
Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of
sinning against the body and blood of the Lord."
He "eats and drinks judgment on himself."
(Chapter 11)
Anyone in a meeting who says that Jesus is Lord
and means it, can be taken as being a true
believer in Jesus Christ and worth listening to.
In a meeting, members will have different God
given abilities for service, working etc. but
they are all given by the same Spirit, the same
Lord, the same God.
These abilities are to be used for the common
good of the members. Examples are messages of
wisdom, messages of knowledge, faith, healing,
miraculous powers, explaining God's will and
word, distinguishing between abilities, speaking
in different languages (earthly and heavenly)
and explaining the languages. All these are the
work of the one Spirit through members of His
choosing.
The human body is a unit made up of many
different parts. It's the same with your
meetings. When each member of your meeting
turned to and trusted in Christ,they were united
with Christ as part of His body or "baptised by
one Spirit into one body." Thus meetings, for
effectiveness and unity, are wholly dependent on
Christ with no racial, cultural or social
distinctions.
God has arranged the parts of the human body so
each member should have equal concern for the
others. There is no division among members, for
example, the eye can't say to the hand "I don't
need you." If one part suffers, all do - if one
rejoices all do.
It should be the same in your meetings. Use your
abilities for the benefit of other members.
Recognise and encourage their abilities.
Recognise the diversity God uses to create
unity. Don't consider your ability to be
superior or inferior to others. Remember that
(in a spiritual sense) your meeting is the body
of Christ, each member being a part of it.
(Chapter 12)
(The most important ability you can use is love.
This means that you unselfishly want and act to
get the best for others [as much as for
yourself], whether they deserve it or not. It
comes from obeying God's command to love Him
with all your heart, soul, strength and mind and
your neighbour as yourself. It's the kind of
love Christ showed when He died for you).
Suppose you:
"Could speak in the tongues of men and angels"
"Have the gift of prophecy,"
Have the ability "to fathom all mysteries."
Have "all knowledge."
Have "faith that can move mountains."
Give all you "possess to the poor."
Surrender your body as a martyr for Christ "to
the flames."
All that, without love would be like a
resounding gong or clanging cymbal," it would
mean nothing, gain nothing and you would be
nothing.
(This is why your every activity in meetings
must be motivated by love which is to say
motivated by Christ in you. It's so easy to go
through the right motions in a meeting and
present a false front).
But if you're "fair dinkum" your love will show
as being genuine because it will:
Be patient.
Be kind.
Rejoice with the truth.
Always protect.
Always trust.
Always hope.
Always persevere.
Never fail.
And it
Does not envy.
Does not boast.
Is not proud.
Is not self seeking.
Is not easily angered.
Keeps no records of wrongs.
Does not delight in evil.
All other abilities of members in meetings are
only temporary and without lasting value.
Prophecies will cease, tongues will be stilled,
knowledge will pass away. These imperfect
abilities will disappear when we meet Christ.
Then it will be as if, having reached adult
maturity you put away your childhood toys.
The three things that now and forever last are
faith, hope and love and the greatest of these
is love. (It is the eternal driving force of the
universe for God is love).
(Chapter 13)
Using this principle when you meet means that
use of the God given abilities of members will
be to strengthen, encourage, comfort and build
everyone up. One ability is to speak to God in a
language only you and He knows (speaking in
tongues). This should only be done if someone
present can interpret so all can understand.
This way, if an unbeliever is present he can
hear and understand what God is saying. He may
then be convicted he is a sinner, the secrets of
his heart being laid bare and "fall down and
worship God exclaiming, 'God is really among
you!'"
So when you meet each should "have a hymn, or
word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or
interpretation - for the strengthening of the"
members. God is not a God of disorder but of
peace so your meetings should be orderly and
everything done in a decent loving and fitting
way. The submissive place of women in this
regard has been mentioned previously.
(Chapter 14)
The Good News is that Christ died for your sins,
was buried, rose to life 3 days after death and
appeared to more than 500 people. Adam brought
death but Christ brought resurrection and
eternal life. Christ rose first and when He
returns, all dead believers will rise from death
too. Then He will hand over "the kingdom to God
the Father after He has destroyed all dominion,
authority and power."
You may ask, "How are the dead raised, what kind
of body will they have?" A seed sown in the
ground "dies" there, then breaks through the
ground to new life. The resurrection is like
that. The body is buried perishable and raised
imperishable, it is buried in dishonour and
raised in glory, buried in weakness and raised
in power, buried a natural body and raised a
spiritual body.
So, after you die and are resurrected,
you'll have a recognisable body that's
imperishable, glorious and powerful, fit to live
eternally with God. Adam was of the dust of the
earth, Christ is from heaven. You'll die like
Adam but you'll rise like Christ and live with
Him forever. This will happen "in a flash, in
the twinkling of an eye" (whether you're dead or
alive) when Christ returns. Then what the
prophets Isaiah and Hosea wrote about 2700 years
ago will come true, "Death has been swallowed up
in victory." "Where O death, is your victory?
Where O death, is your sting?"
Sin brings death and the law tells you what sin
is. "But thanks be to God! He gives us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Therefore stand firm and immovable. Always give
yourself "fully to the work of the Lord because
you know that your labour in the Lord is not in
vain."
(Chapter 15)
As you live for Christ you may find
opportunities for effective work opening up
together with inevitable opposition. So "Be on
your guard; stand firm in the faith; be
courageous, be strong, DO EVERYTHING IN LOVE and
the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you."
(Chapter 16)
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