The Focus of the Early Churches
It is easy to determine when something is aflame. It ignites other material. Any fire that does not spread will eventually go out. A church without evangelism is a contradiction in terms, just as a fire that does not burn is a contradiction.
Reading through the book of Philippians again this week I was struck how sharing the news about Jesus is the central theme.
Paul is Christ-centred
He explains that his life’s desire is to to honour the Lord Jesus and he recognises that this will need courage:
“I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.” Philippians 1:20
What a tragedy it is that so many contemporary church leaders emphasise social problems and political problems but very rarely that the Lord Jesus is our greatest need. The early church was very different.
Paul obviously knew that this would be the problem of many churches. Look through Philippians chapter 1 and notice how Jesus is the obvious central focus. Jesus is mentioned in most verses, seventeen times in this one chapter:
1:1 (x2). 2, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 15, 17, 18, 20, 21, 23, 26, 27, 29.
The Bible is clear, every Christian must determine to live for Jesus Christ. Paul makes this clear:
“For to me, to live is Christ.” Philippians 1:21
We organised an inter-church youth service and a lady from a local liberal church came with three of their youngsters. She went and sat alone so I went up to welcome her and sat down next to her. I was taken aback when almost the first thing she said was,
“Do you know the trouble with your church, you talk too much about Jesus.”
Looking at how often Jesus Christ is mentioned in nearly every sentence both is this letter to the Philippians but also in the first letter to the troubled church in Corinth reveals what the apostle |Paul thought of such thinking!
Paul’s purpose does not waver even prison did not blunt his ardour:
“. . . what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ.” Philippians 1:12-13
We can imagine Paul’s guards, chained to him for hours, discussing why Paul had been arrested and his explanation of the gospel. It seems that through them many became Christians.
Living his life out for Christ was Paul’s great ambition:
“I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Philippians 1:20-21
For Paul his existence was centred on working for his Saviour.
“If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labour for me.” Philippians1:22
Note that Paul uses the word ‘fruitful’ – he wants to produce more ‘fruit’ for his Lord.
All God’s people should be mission-centred
Sam Shoemaker, an Episcopalian bishop, summed up what being ‘fishers of men’ should not become:
"In the Great Commission the Lord has called us to be, like Peter, fishers of men. We've turned the commission around so that we have become merely keepers of the aquarium. Occasionally I take some fish out of your fishbowl and put them into mine, and you do the same with my bowl. But we're all tending the same fish."
Both the Old and New Testaments make it abundantly clear that evangelism is bringing people to repentance and so bringing people into the Kingdom of God. In the old Testament we read:
“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and he who wins souls is wise.” Proverbs 11:30
“Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens and those who lead many to righteousness like the stars for ever and ever.” Daniel 12:3
This is reflected in what Jesus taught:
As Jesus was planning to return to his Father he repeatedly told his people why they had been commissioned. At the end of Matthew we have the Great Commission:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations . . .” Matthew 28:19
Who was this commission given to? Verse 16 says it was said to the eleven so why is it relevant to us today? Read on:
“. . . teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Matthew 28:20
John 13-17 is the final briefing Jesus gave to his disciples prior to his execution. He is preparing them for their future ministry in mission. He certainly doesn’t want followers in name only. In John 15 Jesus describes himself as being the true vine and therefore:
“He cuts off every branch that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” John 15:2
What does Jesus mean by fruit? As so often he is using a concept from the Old Testament:
“. . . but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.”’ Exodus 1:7
“They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, “The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.” Psalm 92:14-15
God people are meant to always ‘bear fruit’, to multiply, even in old age and they do this by passing on to others the confidence that they have found in their Lord.
Some have suggested that this fruit is just the character change that occurs when people follow Christ, and is ‘the fruit of the Spirit’ that we read about in Galatians 5:22 – ‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control’. However these characteristics are all about the interpersonal relationships that are necessary if we are to bring people to Christ, there is much more to being a Christian than these interpersonal features. Warm relationships with people are vital if we are to bear fruit and win people for Christ.
John makes it abundantly clear that Jesus is talking about evangelism when he talks about ‘every branch that bears no fruit’ as later in the chapter he says:
“I chose and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last.” John 15:16
No fruit would be harvested by just sitting at home watching television, we have to go out into God’s world to be effective for him! How will people be won for Christ? Jesus then gives us the answer:
“The Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father – he will testify about me. And you also must testify.” John 15:26-27
Jesus clearly knew that the temptation would be for Christians to keep quiet about their commitment to him, so he warned us:
“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.” Matthew 10:32-33
We must all acknowledge our allegiance to Jesus openly. For many this will necessitate a change of direction. What prevents Christians being more open about their commitment to Christ? Isn’t it essentially a fear of man? Jesus warns us not to succumb to this:
“Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” Luke 9:26
Yet so many calling themselves Christians are ashamed. What we put into our service of Christ will be reflected in the next life. Isn’t that what the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) and the parable of the ten minas (Luke 19:11-27) are teaching us. We must all use the gifts God has given us to promote the glory of the Lord Jesus.
The Philippians were mission-centred
The opening chapter of Philippians is not only full of Jesus Christ but also focusses on mission. He starts the letter by saying what gives him great joy:
“I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now . . .” Philippians 1:4-5
For Paul gospel work was not easy and had a cost but the Philippian church as a whole were sharing in this work:
“. . . since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me.” Philippians 1:7
For Paul, the fruit of righteousness was the change of character to becoming that of christ and sharing in christ’s mission to produce fruit for God’s kingdom: This is what Paul prayed for the Philippians and what we should be praying for each other:
“. . . filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.” Philippians 1:11
Paul uses this idea of bearing fruit as short hand for gospel ministry in his letter to the Colossians:
“All over the world the gospel is bearing fruit and growing.” Colossians 1:10
The example of Paul, constantly telling everyone he could about the Lord Jesus has a great stimulus to others to do the same:
“And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.” Philippians 1:14
‘Advancing the gospel’ must involve proclamation, teaching and preaching. In the next paragraph ‘preaching’ is emphasised three times:
“It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill..” Philippians 1:15
“The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition . . .” Philippians 1:17
“The important thing is that . . . Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.” Philippians 1:18
This power of example can be seen today. When church leaders, pastors and elders have this same desire and others can see this, then people in the church will be infected with the same passion.
Paul’s visit to Philippi on his second missionary journey was in 55-56AD and a church was founded then. The letter to the Philippians was probably written from Rome in 60-62 AD, just 5 years later. Yet during this time the church had grown to such an extent that it had several overseers and several deacons!
After Paul has shared his own ambitions with regard to serving christ he returns to reminding the Philippians that this is their responsibility too:
“Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, . . . I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you.” Philippians 1:27-28
The ‘work of the gospel’ is sharing the message about Jesus. This is what Paul’s co-workers were active in doing. Promoting Jesus and the gospel of salvation through faith in him must always be the priority of Christians:
“For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel.” Philippians 2:21-22
To be fruitful Christians will always entail hard work, we will have to ‘strive’ and we will face opposition but this is the way to bring glory to our creator and Lord. Proclaiming Jesus is vital:
“This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God.” Philippians 1:28
Being Christ-centred will have consequences but all will be worthwhile:
“For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.” Philippians 1:29-30
In any church there will inevitably be tensions but for the sake of Christ’s reputation we must behave as he did.
“Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold out the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.” Philippians 2:14-16
We are all meant to shine for Jesus as we both hold to the Word of God and show him to others.
Too often people attempt to draw people into a church by their social activities and leave the message about Jesus on the sidelines. Dr Paul Brand was speaking to a medical college in India on
“Let your light so shine before men that they may behold your good works and glorify your Father.” Matthew 5:16
In front of the lectern was an oil lamp, with its cotton wick burning from the shallow dish of oil. As he preached, the lamp ran out of oil, the wick burned dry, and the smoke made him cough. He immediately used the opportunity.
“Some of us here are like this wick,” he said. “We're trying to shine for the glory of God, but we stink. That's what happens when we use ourselves as the fuel of our witness rather than the Holy Spirit. Wicks can last indefinitely, burning brightly and without irritating smoke, if the fuel, the Holy Spirit, is in constant supply.”
The Holy Spirit always points people to Jesus.
The Thessalonians were also mission-centred
This focus on evangelism seems to have been a major feature of most early churches. Quite close to Philippi was Thessalonica and the young church there was also established during Paul’s second missionary journey. It was built on the character, leadership and teaching of Paul, Silas and Timothy but Paul pointed them to Jesus and the Scriptures.
“. . . our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake.” 1 Thessalonians 1:5
The gospel, the word of God, came to them not just as information but it came endued with power. The Lord Jesus was relevant and able to answer the needs of peoples’ hearts. It is important to see the effect that gifted individuals have on others but then look past them to see who it is that they are following. Christians are the first reflection of Jesus that some might see, we are reflecting the character and person and work of Christ to the people who are looking at us, watching what we do and say. But what they ultimately need to see is not just the mirror that will be smudged and streaked but the person of Jesus we reflect to them. To some measure Paul was able to do this and he taught others to remain focussed on Jesus and God’s message to mankind through his word.
“You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so that you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.. The Lord’s message rang out from you not only on Macedonia and Achaia – your faith in God has became known everywhere.” 1 Thessalonians 1:6-8
Paul says that others are being influenced by the lives and words of these Thessalonians. So what is it that made them so effective in setting the example to the people and villages and cities around them? They both lived Christ-centred lives and spoke about the one who motivated them.
You have probably heard of Gandhi's legendary mantra,
“Be the change you want to see in the world.” He also said, "An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching?"
The leaders we look up to often have inspired us because of both their words and actions. The need for excellent examples in life is fundamental. Hypocrisy is most unattractive as many have noted:
“Setting an example is not the main means of influencing others, it is the only means." - Albert Einstein
“People may teach what they know, but they reproduce what they are.” - John C. Maxwell, American pastor and author
“Nothing so conclusively proves a man's ability to lead others, as what he does from day to day to lead himself.” - Thomas J. Watson, Chairman and CEO of IBM
“The leader sees things through the eyes of his followers. He puts himself in their shoes and helps them make their dreams come true. The leader does not say, ‘Get going!’ Instead he says, ‘Let's go!'’ and leads the way. He does not walk behind with a whip; he is out in front with a banner.” - Wilfred Peterson, actor and film producer
“Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.” - Mark Twain
“What you want to ignite in others must first burn inside yourself.” - Charlotte Bronte
In 1873 two Christian preachers were talking about a conference they had just attended. Henry Varley said to his new friend D.L.Moody,
“Moody, the world has yet to see what God will do with a man fully consecrated to him.”
These words so pierced Moody’s heart that he couldn’t get them out of his mind and said these words to himself,
“I will be that man. If God is looking for a man of integrity, a man of honour and courage and faithfulness, with God’s help I will be such a man.”
Moody would go on to become one of the greatest evangelists of the 19th century.
BVP
