This post has much to cover, so let’s get to it.

Clarifications

After Sunday’s service, Chris Guastaferro sent this text to our elder group thread:  “The example you gave about sick kids. I want to make sure I understand.  Are we encouraging parents to attend even with sick kids? I’m sure I misunderstood.”  

My response was, “Haha!  No. I got mixed up in what I was saying. I’ll clear it up in musings tomorrow. I meant to say that we understand having sick kids and having to be out for weeks on end because of sickness. But when the kids got healthy, we returned to church as soon as possible, and Jill sometimes had to be in the foyer because kids weren’t used to returning to church.”

Jill and I experienced this quite a bit raising five kids.  We planned a two-week vacation.  Then, kids were sick on the front end and sick on the back end.  She was out of church for almost six weeks.  If the church weren’t a ‘big rock,’ the habit of not attending church would’ve been easy.  

The point of that illustration was to say that if we don’t plan to be a church (make it a big rock in our schedules), unplanned things like sickness come up and keep us out even longer.  That can lead to the bad habit of ‘neglecting to meet together.’       

Biblical Perspective of Our Mission Statement

Sunday, I introduced our church to the CLF Mission statement: “CLF exists to glorify God by worshiping Him, fellowshipping with one another, growing in Christ, and serving others.”  I didn’t have much time to explain the biblical basis for this.  So here it is:

In Acts 20, Paul addressed the Ephesian elders.  He told them about his ministry like this:  “You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews; how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” Acts 20:18–21 (ESV)

You’ll notice that he said he taught them publicly, house-to-house, and he testified to individuals.  When we think of how people grow in the faith at CLF, all three of these components should be in place.  There’s public teaching in the worship service or significant events (think Ladies Conference coming up in September or the past Men’s Conference in November).  There is to be a house-to-house connection (think small groups).  There should be one-on-one discipleship or mentoring (think counseling, personal discipleship, discipleship groups).  You can see the first three components of our mission statement:  worship, fellowship, and growth.  

But to what end?  This is where serving comes in.  Serving is the sense of serving others for the sake of the gospel.  Demonstrating and declaring the gospel.  It’s not one without the other nor exclusive to another – Both/and.  

We desire that every person who calls CLF their home church will become a disciple-making disciple.  

What makes a church…a church?

I mentioned this Sunday and gave three main elements of what makes a church a church.  It’s an important distinction because there is so much confusion because of our independent, western mindset.  I have heard several well-meaning Christians tell me that they don’t come to Sunday service, nor do they belong to a church because they meet with many other Christians, and when they gather, they are the “church.”  This mindset has caused me to think quite a bit about this and to push back on that.  Not because of what I do for a living, nor to put rear-ends in the seats but as a matter of biblical principle and for the good of peoples’ souls.  

Here are things that the New Testament indicates that a church has and does:

• It has qualified, faithful leaders. 1 Timothy 3:1-13
• The church sings.  Colossians 3:16, Ephesians 5:19
• The Word of God is read and taught, with Christ as the centerpiece.  Together, Christians speak God’s word to each other, and publicly, we hear God’s word taught by qualified, faithful men.  1 Timothy 4:13
• The sacraments are appropriately used. Matthew 28:19-20 and 1 Corinthians 11:17-31
• The church disciplines unrepentant people in their midst and restores repentant people.  Matthew 18:15-21
• The church prays.  1 Timothy 2:1-2

Now, you can see a few things that can be done in a small group of Christians.  But some require the church:  appointing qualified, faithful leaders and church discipline and easy to see, but there’s quite a strong biblical case to be made for the sacraments being led by recognized church leaders.  

Please understand me. Meeting with other Christians is remarkably beneficial for our souls. However, it is not a church gathering with a biblical church unless the above things are in place.  

So, this means your community group is not your church.  It’s a great meeting for you but not your church. Your Christian school is not your church. While getting an education from a biblical worldview is terrific, it is not your church. Similarly, your accountability group is not your church. I’m grateful you seek Christian growth and godly change, but that is not your church.  

Hebrews 10:24 – 25 addresses this, which I discussed on Sunday. After studying this text, the writer seems to encourage us not to neglect the gathering for worship, reading/teaching of God’s word, and communion as a minimum for the ‘normal’ Christian experience.   This would indicate that if we make anything a ‘big rock’ in our schedules, it’s the Sunday gathering.   

Sundays? Really? Yes. The New Testament church met on the first day of the week (Sunday) because Jesus’ resurrection occurred on that day (see Matthew 28:1, John 20:19, 26, Acts 20:7, 1 Corinthians 16:2, and Revelation 1:10). 

Looking Ahead

This Sunday, we will continue to study our church’s mission as we look at fellowshipping together.  We will study Acts 2:42-47 to see the effects of the gospel on a community of Christians.   

Podcast Update

I have had many of you ask when our podcast will begin.  Well, we did our first three episodes last week, and we’re trying to get four to five in the hopper before launch.  It should be in a couple of weeks.  We would love to have your questions to know how to serve you.  The podcast title is “CLF Conversations,” and it will primarily be a source to serve our church.  If you can think of friends who could benefit from this, please share it when it comes out.   

From the Cheap Seats

• My picks last week weren’t bad.  So here goes for this week:  Ohio State over Texas.  Notre Dame over Penn State.  
• I’m not an oregon fan (lower letters on purpose, even though I love Dan Lanning).  But there is no way they should’ve played Ohio State in their first game of the playoffs.  Hopefully, the committee will re-evaluate.  I loved Coach Lanning’s comments after the game when he said that Ohio State was ready to play, but they weren’t.  He took ownership rather than blame the committee.  
• I never thought the Lions would win 31-9.  The Vikings were playing so well heading into that game.  Getting Alex Anzalone back was a massive boost for the Lions’ defense, and I’m not sure there’s a more electric running back than Jahmyr Gibbs.  
• Pitchers and catchers next month…        

Have a great week! Christ is King!

In Christ, 

Dave York