The Qualities that Every Believer and Congregation Should Strive For

All Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible 1995 Ed. (NASB95)

The church of Christ, which is His army, is an elite fighting force that He’s ransomed from hell through His precious blood. We are the human instrument God has sent into the world to rescue precious souls from impending destruction. And yet most of our assemblies in the West are inept, defective, disorderly, and undisciplined. If we want to strive to be mighty and victorious in our spiritual battle, mutual discipline, order, accountability, and encouragement need to be cultivated. But first we need to realize what it looks like to be a healthy warrior brotherhood, and why we fall short of the Lord’s ideal for us.

The Scriptures set forth to us both in example and precept what God’s standards are in Christ. These standards serve as the goal toward which all of us should strive to lead ourselves and our brethren to follow. As we “strive together for the faith of the gospel” as a spiritual family, we should be purposed to teach our fellow members to obey the Lord toward the end of “presenting every man complete in Christ” (Phil. 1:27; Col. 1:28). This was the goal of the apostles, and it should be the mission of every local fellowship. It’s only as we’re continually growing toward spiritual completion that we will be effective in destroying ideological and spiritual strongholds, and setting sinners free from spiritual bondage. The only battalion that’s dangerous to the devil’s kingdom is one that’s continually growing in purity and love. And this means that we should have a clear idea of what we want to see in the character of our brethren in Christ.

Thus, let’s first see the Scriptures’ portrait of growing believers and healthy congregations, so that we know where we need to focus our efforts in teaching and discipline. And then we’ll also be able to more clearly see the besetting areas of sin that need to be dealt with. When we get to those sins that are preventing us from seeing the kind of virtues the New Testament requires, we’ll use the example of the Corinthian assembly as a characteristic group that failed to discipline each other in the most important areas. And these areas are among the most commonly neglected in our day.

The Ideal Growing Christian Soldier

There are several areas of Christian maturity and vibrancy toward which we should all work. We could divide them into a few different spheres of life, such as personal, relational, and evangelistic. Among the most prominent marks of a Christian who is consistently growing in obedience to the Lord is regular service of others. If you’re serving appropriately, then you’ll almost always be growing. Thus, a lack in the service of others shows that a believer is lacking in devotion, difficulty, and even repentance.

As a start to the virtues possessed by a growing Christian, let’s talk about those that are usually displayed privately. The most obvious include the foundational personal disciplines of prayer and Bible reading. If a believer wants to grow in Christlikeness, he’ll recognize that the main means that will produce growth is an earnest attitude of reliance on God. He’ll see that everything comes from the hand of God, and anything needed will only be obtained by asking our Father. Further, the one whose heart is set on pleasing the Lord will recognize that prayer is the ultimate way that we experience the presence of God on earth, and this will drive him to set aside devoted time to pray.

Alongside prayer comes Bible reading. However, the zealous and focused believer won’t see reading Scripture as a mere ritualistic duty, but as the way in which his Father and Lord speaks to him. He’ll read the Scriptures as God’s very message to him personally, and treasure its teachings, truths, and wisdom above every other knowledge source. This is reading with an eye to learning what God is like, what He’s done, and what He wants us to do.

A third more general private trait practiced by a growing believer is an attitude of sobriety, wisdom, and intentionality. He’ll recognize his eternal value to God in Christ, and therefore see himself and his life as an instrument to bring joy, glory, and honor to the Lord. Thus, he’ll seek to order his life according to God’s will, and “present [his] body a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God,” as his “reasonable service of worship” (Rom. 12:1 ESV). In his private routine, he’ll seek to act in ways that display the glory of God, and serve his own, and his neighbor’s needs.

This brings us to the relational marks of a growing believer. As already said, the first of these is service to others. Having been served by the King of kings, he’ll have a longing to first care for those loyal to the Lord, and then to care for all sinners walking in darkness. Paul expresses it in the explanation that “the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 5:5). If a Christian truly understands the love that God has for him, then he’ll naturally be inclined to share sacrificial love with those who bear God’s image. This will work itself out in practical acts of kindness and help.

Second, a growing Christian will pursue close friendships with his or her spouse, fellow church members, and outside believers. Generally speaking, someone who is actively partnering with the body of Christ will have three types of friends. He’ll have someone in a mentor role to whom he looks for leadership, a friend at roughly the same stage of maturity, and someone less mature whom he seeks to lead toward growth. But the important point here is that ideally these relationships will be friendships, not formal partnerships devoid of affection. That would be like making those in your family nothing but business partners, whose only task is to fulfill their agreed obligations. Christian friendship isn’t less than an obligatory partnership, but it’s far more than that. Basically, the growing Christian will be treating some of his brothers or sisters in Christ as close brothers or sisters, sharing life’s struggles, problems, temptations, as well as victories.

The final type of character trait exemplified by a spiritually healthy Christian is a regular effort to share the gospel with unbelievers. This doesn’t necessarily mean that someone is planning extended periods of time to go to some unusual place to share the gospel. Rather, if someone is striving to obey the Lord fully, then he will naturally be impelled to speak of the Lord Jesus and His salvation with those walking in rebellion. And this principle is really simple – if we understand that people’s greatest need is God’s forgiveness and peace, then we’ll have an undeniable impulse to attempt to announce that our enslaved neighbors can be set free through Jesus’s death and resurrection. Even if a believer isn’t skilled enough to share an eloquent gospel presentation, someone who’s Spirit-controlled will make the attempt to bring up the good news that Jesus died for sinners, and God calls all to receive His forgiveness through faith.

This suffices for a general overview of the Christian virtues toward which we should encourage ourselves and our brethren in Christ. Now, if the majority of Christians in a local fellowship are exercising these qualities, then it follows that that assembly will also look a certain way. The New Testament clearly gives us the practices and beliefs that a healthy church should live out. And this should also be the goal that all church members, or Christians, strive for.

A Sketch of a Healthy Assembly

Obviously, the first characteristic of a healthy congregation is that most of the true believers (since there are usually hypocritical or self-deceived people among us) will have a devotion to learning the Scriptures and praying. But a growing church manifests these things in corporate ways. To begin, a faithful assembly will devote a significant portion of time to the reading and teaching of the Scriptures. In this priority, Acts 2:42 gives us the example:

“They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”

The first pursuit forms the basis for our priority of learning God’s Word. We are to devote ourselves to “the apostles’ teaching”. And what did they teach? They taught who Jesus was, what He did, how He required His people to live, and how the Old Testament taught these things. And this teaching is condensed for us in the New Testament. Thus, systematic and practical reading, explanation, and application of the Scriptures is an essential part of any healthy assembly.

Secondly, a healthy body of Christ will corporately live out the leadership and mentoring going on among small groups. In other words, there need to be men in assemblies that fulfill the function that the apostles filled in the first one described in Acts 2:42. They are the “pastors and teachers” given to us by the Lord (Eph. 4:11). It’s clear that any healthy family or nation must have competent leaders, and the same goes for churches. Yet, a healthy congregation won’t possess leaders in name only, or leaders that treat their followers as their servants. Instead, the only strong fellowships are those led by Christlike, loving, sacrificial, and caring elders. This means that some of the most mature, wise, loving, and instructive men diligently fulfill the duties of prayer, teaching, counseling, and training the younger brethren to obey Jesus.

Third, a growing congregation will also have a practice of mutual love, affection, and concern for each other. Most true believers who gather will recognize their value in the lives of others, as well as their need for the help, encouragement, and services of the rest. They will all be committed to working together to become more obedient to Christ, and to spreading the gospel to more ignorant people. This is what the New Testament calls “fellowship,” which is a biblical word for “partnership”. An assembly that is zealous to glorify the Lord Jesus will agree together on specific ways in which they can serve each other, and serve the people who live around them.

But this fellowship won’t be merely formal. What’s already been said about the close friendships pursued by growing believers takes on a group form when the fellowship gathers. A truly devoted and well-led congregation will openly love each other as brothers and sisters. This means that their gatherings will include regular conversations about spiritual things and personal problems, at least the occasional confession of sin between close friends, and generally a familial atmosphere.

It’s at this point that “the breaking of bread” comes in, which is the Lord’s Supper described in some of the Gospels, and in 1 Corinthians 11. If a congregation is truly following the teachings of Jesus, then they will regularly share in the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper, as well as in normal meals. It can be said as a truism that the family that eats together, stays together, and this should apply to Christ’s local body. First, a local fellowship should clearly be eating Christ’s body in bread, and drinking His blood in the wine, as He passed down to all His future disciples. But any sensible person knows that any family worth the name shares meals together, which is exactly what we see the early Assembly doing in Acts. Shared meals provide us with the most natural and intimate context for discussing with, learning, and appreciating each other. Hence, any congregation that loves each other will want to manifest that love by sharing in one of the most basic necessities of human life.

Also, based on Acts 2:42 and sound biblical reasoning, a growing fellowship will pray together, both in a public setting, as well as among smaller groups. A congregation that loves the Lord, and is wholeheartedly seeking to know and please Him, will agree together in prayer and praise to God. This doesn’t just mean that a healthy assembly sings hymns or praise songs (which is essential), but that they set aside a chunk of time to pray about their needs, concerns, and blessings. As is a dining church, so also a praying church is one that stays together, and grows together.

Finally, we come to the main concern in this lesson on maintaining the strength and cohesion of congregations. Although this practice should be a natural outworking of loving fellowship, it’s usually neglected by western assemblies. This practice is accountability and discipline. Oftentimes, the reason this is neglected is because the friendships among the brethren are really shallow, unintentional, and unfocused.

When I refer to “accountability and discipline,” I’m not speaking of the last resort for the discipline of believers in the fellowship, which is excommunication. What I really have in mind is the normal, average, and brotherly counseling, confrontation, and confession that should be a natural part of our Christian brotherhood. This starts with the mutual agreement that our friendships entail the accountability of each other to the duty and privilege of Christlikeness, godliness, and righteousness. The reason that accountability is needed, of course, is that we are all tempted to sin in many ways, and have many faults, whether known or unknown. Since we are frail, often weak, and assaulted by the lusts of the flesh constantly, we need brethren in our lives who will love us so much that they’ll do whatever it takes to help us stop committing sins, and develop godly habits.

There are at least a few instructions in the New Testament that specifically instruct us to confront our brethren when we learn they’re consciously committing sin. The most famous is Matthew 18:15, where the Lord urges,
“If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.”

This should be the most common, and most effective actions of confrontation in our fellowships. Most cases of sin should progress no further than this, since it should be done as soon as possible, and spoken to a freshly convicted and repentant heart.

The next clearest instruction in the New Testament about the confrontation of sin is Paul’s words to the Galatians:

“Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.” – Gal. 6:1

Here we see the main goal of confronting our brother’s sin – restoration. This word conveys the meaning of mending or healing a broken wound. The aim of our confrontation isn’t to punish, but to allow the Holy Spirit to persuade our sinning brother of the sin, and to motivate him to confess and forsake it.

Sadly, in most assemblies, brethren are either too ignorant, selfish, or cowardly to risk the approval of someone, and point out their sin to them. In even fewer cases of disciplining sin, Christians neglect the next two steps of the process given by the Lord. In Matthew 18, He goes on to command that an unrepentant brother be confronted by a couple more brothers, and then the entire fellowship is to call him to repentance if that fails. Finally, it seems that many assemblies are so neglectful and hardened to the urgency of disciplining a sinning member, that they don’t even consider the possibility of telling an unrepentant member to avoid their fellowship until he repents.

Nevertheless, the Scriptures are clear that a congregation devoted to fulfilling their part in the Great Commission, and glorifying the Lord Jesus, is one that works toward the purity, holiness, and blamelessness of their members. And that requires the regular, consistent, and compassionate confrontation, conviction, confession, and repentance of sin.

The New Testament shows us that there are clear marks that all our Christian fellowships should show through our obedience and teamwork. There should be a united and mutual devotion to learning God’s Word, serving each other, eating together, praying together, and leading each other toward greater conformity to the Lord’s commands and example. Now that we’ve seen these things, let’s survey the situation and problems of the Corinthian assembly when Paul wrote his first letter to them. According to the fifth chapter, the Corinthians were failing to confront and discipline each other at all. And this is because they were “fleshly,” or “babes in Christ” (1 Cor. 3:1-2). What’s especially instructive about this congregation was that they had been taught by Paul himself for one and a half years (Acts 18:1-18a). In spite of this teaching and example from Paul after such a long time, the Corinthians were some of the most sinful Christians that can be imagined. Looking at the roots of their problems will help us to discern why many of our fellowships fail to keep each other accountable, and Paul’s instructions for them will show us the steps to take if we want to be holy, blameless, and powerful in advancing Christ’s kingdom in people’s lives. One of his concluding exhortations in the letter highlights again the fact that we are to live as spiritual soldiers in this hostile world of sin and evil:

“Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.” – 1 Cor. 16:13-14