What did you expect? – part 1

Well, this one quickly got out of hand. When I blew past the 1200 word mark I decided that one post wouldn’t contain it all. I’ll deal with more of this over the weekend. I really don’t know how long it might take, and that’s exciting for me.

I asked the question a couple days ago (go read it here) about what are your expectations of the church you attend and what do you feel that your church expects of you. There were a few responses to it, and I had a couple great conversations outside of here that added to the responses. I had mentioned in the previous article that I had a definite opinion on the subject, which I will now present to you.

I believe that in our current evangelical church culture, especially in the Western church, we expect too little of our members. Based on not-at-all anecdotal evidence, the influence of the church is in a decline and has been for some time. One of the trends that indicates this decline is the lack of discipleship. I’m not talking about lip service to discipleship that is paid at many churches, I’m talking about people willing to hunker down in the trenches with each other, hungry for the Word of God, and willing to take a bullet for their fellow believers.

This is not the first time anyone has put these thoughts to paper (screen? keyboard? How does that translate?). Ed Stetzer writes in the Winter 2012 Facts and Trends that “(t)he elephant in the Christian church today is that we are not seeing robust disciple-making taking place….Why? We’ve done great at getting them in the door, but we’ve done terrible at actually growing them up and grounding them in the faith.”¹

Much of this centers on the fact that we as the Church try to avoid offending others over defending our faith. The gospel is offensive to those who don’t believe. This is not to say that we should be offensive in presenting the gospel, but we should be willing to stand our ground and be able to defend it. How many of us are willing to do that? How many of us are able to do that? The defense of our faith is not something to be left up to those who are called pastors or teachers. You have to be able to understand your faith enough to explain it to others.

I guess that it becomes less about what we as a church expect of each other and more about what God expects of us. So, how can we know what God expects? Read the Word. Here are a few verses that make it clear where God stands on whether we should read the Bible or not.

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.  - 2 Timothy 2:15

16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. – 2 Timothy 3:16-17

(A)s newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow – 1 Peter 2:2

Not only does God expect us to read the Word, but we are expected to know the Word. My friend Frank wrote in our church devotions yesterday that:

(U)ntil we – as a church – put daily time to really study and KNOW God’s Word, we can’t expect to experience church like the Apostle’s did.

That’s powerful stuff. Are we expected to do that? Most importantly, are we held accountable for that? I speak from the position of someone who does serve in a leadership position at a church and I know that my fellow church members don’t. I don’t say that to point fingers at others either, because I’m not holding anyone else accountable. Know that through this entire post I’m pointing the finger of blame directly at myself. I most certainly have not done all these things I’m bringing up. However, God has lit a fire under me to change that.

^1.Ed Stetzer. “Three important church trends”, Facts and Trends. (Lifeway Christian Resources: Nashville, TN, Winter 2001) 43.