A CHURCH THAT KNOWS HOW TO WIN

A CHURCH THAT KNOWS HOW TO WIN

A couple of months ago, a young man was invited to our church. He was not a church goer. But the day that he turned up in our weekly Sunday morning worship service something happened to him. Although English was not his first language, and despite coming from a culture that is famously opposed to Christianity, he heard and understood clearly enough that day – and despite what he had been told all his life – that there was a God in Heaven who loved him and had been directing him throughout his life to this moment. In response to this work of the Holy Spirit he declared his surrender to Christ and was subsequently baptised in our June water baptism service. From that point, each time someone asked him how he had come to Christ, his eyes would water and he would get emotional just at the thought of how Christ had saved him. But all of this could have been derailed if it hadn’t been for the warm welcome, love, and acceptance he found in our church when he first came. It’s the stories like these that make me proud to be the pastor of our church!

Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
Romans 15:7

 We live in apple orchard country which is why most of us understand what’s involved in harvesting them. Each mature apple tree has low hanging fruit which is the easiest to harvest. The rest of the tree involves a bit more work to harvest – especially the high hanging fruit. In some respects, the above story is an example of harvesting ‘low hanging fruit‘. The idea of harvesting an apple true is a great way to illustrate how our church can become a church that wins.

W – WELCOME

 This, and many other stories like it, show how we can win as a church. This particular story is an example of what happens when we pray for God to bring people in, and then He does. But like any prayer we pray, our partnership with God doesn’t end with the “Amen” of our prayer. When Abraham prayed for a son, God came to him and promised him that ‘this time next year, Sarah will give birth to a son’ (Genesis 18:4). I’m pretty sure and Abraham and Sarah didn’t just keep praying that this promise from God would be fulfilled! We too must take the next steps of faith in order to receive from God the answers He has for us. When we pray for God to bring people into our church, and He does, our next step is to welcome them. 

 Welcoming people to church involves acknowledging them with a greeting (such as, “Hello”, “Hi”, “Welcome”) and doing it with eye contact. We don’t need to give them 20 questions – we just need to let them know they are welcome, and that we accept them. When God answers our prayers to bring people to church, and all we have to do is welcome them, we are, as they say, picking the low hanging fruit – an expression which means this kind of outreach is relatively easy. I think everyone in our church can be a part of this. 

For I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed Me
Matthew 25:35

I – INVITE

He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where He was staying, and they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour…(46) Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
John 1:39, 46

 Metaphorically (using words as pictures) the fruit that is notlow hanging and involves a bit more effort to reach and is little harder to pick. We continue to pray for God to help us to reach these people and again the answer to those prayers will involve us inviting people to church. This may come after we’ve shared our story with them, or after they’ve shared with us about some of the challenges they’ve been facing in life. While I would love for everyone in our church to be an inviter, I understand that this is not always easy for everyone to do. But there are some (and perhaps you’re one of them) who find inviting people to church, or an event our church puts on, to be an easy thing to do. According to one study I saw, around 70% of people would say yes to an invitation to attend church if they were invited. I would love to see our invite rate improve. Perhaps for those of who feel more comfortable welcoming people to church than inviting people to church, it might be nice to pray for our inviters to be bold, attractive, winsome, and effective as they invite their friends, family, and work colleagues to church.

And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.
Luke 14:23

N – NUDGE

 There are some people who seem to be so hardened to Christianity, that it seems they could never turn to Christ. These are the people who are unlikely to just turn up at church – even in answer to prayer – or ever accept an invitation to come to church. Their unwillingness to even discuss the matter might even arouse a hostile response from them, “Don’t you dare ever talk to be about religion!” Maybe they were hurt (or worse) by some ‘Christian’ or perhaps they had a negative experience with a church, or maybe they are defiantly living a life so opposed to Biblical standards that they resent the God of the Bible. Possibly the best way to reach such a person as this is to nudge them.

He answered them, “I also will ask you a question. Now tell me…
Jesus (Luke 20:3)

 There are several ways to nudge a person who is this resistant to the Gospel. The first way is to put ‘a stone’ in their shoe, so to speak. This can be done with an appropriate question that gets them thinking and even questioning their views about life, the world, and the existence of God. The second way is to provide them with an inexplicable act of kindness. The third way is to let them observe your life over a longer period of time as you deal with life’s highs and lows – and even tragedies – so that your faithful, consistent witness, throughout it all bears a clear testimony to the presence of God in your life. Nudging someone toward Christ can take years. Many years.

One of the best examples of this that I am aware of relates to someone no one ever thought would ever turn to God. In the middle of the twentieth century, Professor Antony Flew, along with some other secular humanists (atheists) produced The Humanist Manifesto in which they argued against the existence of God and the need for all humans to behave ethically despite this. Many years later, Prof. Flew toured America promoting atheism in public lectures and denouncing Christianity in particular. He and his fellow collaborators, including Prof. Bertrand Russell, thought that all Christians were fools and morons for believing in God. As part of his USA lecture tour he agreed to a series of public debates about the existence of God with a Christian. His debating opponent was Professor Gary Habermas. As the debates got underway, Flew realised that Habermas was more than his equal intellectually. In fact, Dr. Habermas challenged Prof. Flew’s atheism in ways that Antony Flew had never considered. This was a significant stone in Professor Antony Flew’s shoe! After each of these debates Gary Habermas would take the aged British academic out for dinner. Prof. Flew was surprised by the kindness of Dr. Habermas. As they talked over their dinners, Antony Flew got to know Gary Habermas and discovered that for several years he had had to care for his very ill wife (this was something the sceptical atheist Chicago Tribune journalist, Lee Strobel, also encountered when he interviewed Gary Habermas for a story he was writing and ended up featuring Habermas’s story in the movie about Lee’s conversion, The Case For Faith). These very personal exchanges between Flew and Habermas revealed that Habermas’s faith in the God of the Bible was not some cold, formal, religious duty, but a personal relationship with this God that enabled him to be sustained throughout life’s tragedies. Dr. Gary Habermas and nudged Prof. Antony Flew! 

 The result of these little stones in Flew’s shoes was dramatic but not immediate. The last book that Antony Flew wrote before he died was a book in which he renounced atheism as wrong and extolled the God of the Bible!  

 While I think everybody in our church can make visitors/new attenders to our church feel welcome, I realise that not everybody can invite someone to church. Let’s pray for our inviters! And, I acknowledge that only a few in our church can be good nudgers. Let’s pray for our nudgers! By welcoming, inviting, and nudging, we are learning to become a church that wins.

Pastor Andrew Corbett

DO YOUR BEST

Bruce Hills tells the story in his book, Inside Out – A Biblical and Practical Guide To Self-Leadership, of a story he read in Gordon MacDonald’s book, Ordering Your Private World (1993, 103), who had borrowed it from a book he read by Polmar and Allen’s in their biography of Admiral Hyman Rickover, “the head of the United States Nuclear Navy from 1949-1982” (2017, 13). He writes, “By all accounts, Admiral Rickover (1900-1986) was a controversial man. He personally interviewed and selected every prospective officer to serve on a US nuclear vessel. Interviewees would often leave the Admiral’s office ‘shaking in fear, anger, or total intimidation.'” Bruce goes on to describe the time that a future US President was interviewed by Rickover after applying for an officer’s position on a nuclear submarine.

To do so, he too had to be interviewed by Rickover, whom he’d never met before. Carter wrote:

…we sat in a large room by ourselves for more than two hours, and he let me choose any subjects I wished to discuss. Very carefully, I chose those about which I knew most at the time – current events, seamanship, music, literature, naval tactics, electronics, gunnery – and he began to ask me a series of questions of increasing difficulty. In each instance, he soon proved that I knew relatively little about the subject I had chosen.

 He always looked right into my eyes, and he never smiled. I was saturated with cold sweat.

 Finally, he asked a question and I thought I could redeem myself. He asked, “How did you stand in your class at the naval Academy?” Since I had completed my sophomore year at Georgia Tech before entering Annapolis as a plebe, I had done very well, and I swelled my chest with pride and answered, “Sir, I stood fifty-ninth in a class of 820!” I sat back to await the congratulations – which never came. Instead, the question: “Did you do your best?” I started to say, “Yes, sir,” but I remembered who this was and recalled several of the many times at the Academy when I could have learned more about our allies, our enemies, weapons, strategy, and so forth. I was just human. I finally gulped and said, “No, sir,  I didn’t always do my best.”

 He looked at me for a long time, and then turned his chair around to end the interview. He asked one final question, which I have never been able to forget – or to answer. He said, “Why not?” I sat there for a while, shaken, and then slowly left the room.

President Jimmy Carter in the background with his former Naval Commanding Officer, Admiral Hyman Rickover

DID YOU DO YOUR BEST?

Bruce Hills, having retold this story of Jimmy Carter being interviewed by Admiral Rickover, writes, “That same question, ‘Why not’, shook me to the core.” But as Jimmy Carter discovered, when we look back, we can then see how we might have done better. But that’s the key to it: looking back. But life doesn’t afford us the luxury of hindsight in advance! 

Last month, I was privileged to be the guest speaker at Catalyst in Ipswich, Queensland. One of the things I really enjoyed about being at this wonderful church was their multiple services. I have rarely ever preached any message twice. Whenever I am invited to a church, even if I am asked to speak on a particular topic, I always prayerfully consider what should be said and how it should be presented for that church. With this in mind, it has been said that every preacher always has three sermons: the one they prepare; the one they preach; and, the one they wish they’d preached! This brings me back to my time at Catalyst, a 900 member church, which has two multiple services on a Sunday morning. I preached my heart out in their 8:30AM service. I then had 30 minutes before the next service started at 10:30AM. In the break in between the services I had time to self-evaluate the message I’d just given. I saw several ways I could have done better and made some of the points clearer. At the 10:30AM service I preached my heart out again – but this time had the advantage of learning from my inadequacies in the first service. (I wish life was more like this!) I later overheard the pastor of Catalyst, Pastor Carl, tell someone, “Andrew did well in the first service, but he did better in the second service!” 

But if Admiral Rickover had looked me in eye and asked, “Did you do your best?” I would honestly say, “Yes sir!” This is despite my confession that I knew I could do better if I had another go, because even in evaluating my efforts in delivering the message the first time, I really did do my best. I think this principle applies to life generally. Most of us do do our best most of the time – especially when it comes to the important things in life like being a friend, an employee, a team-mate, a wife, a husband, a politician, a sales executive, a medical doctor, or a parent. But life’s episodes don’t come with multiple services where we get to have another go. 

Life is a sequence of unchangeable events in which we are usually doing our best with what we have and what we know.   

DOING YOUR BEST IS NOT A COMPETITION

For some people the word “best” implies being better than anyone else. But the only best we can be expected to do, is the best that we can do! This kind of best is our best effort, our best attitude, and our best focus. The apostle Paul warns against thinking in terms of a competitive best being equated to our best. 

Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.
Second Corinthians 10:12

Of course, there are times when a challenge from someone we respect is able to bring out our best. I remember being in a church planting directors meeting with David Cartledge who asked about our church in Legana. I shared with him what we had done, and what we still hoped to achieve for the Lord. His parting words to me were, “Andrew, if anyone can do it, you can!” I don’t know if he said that to every young pastor, but his words to me that day filled my motivation tank for at least the next year. I tried harder. I wasn’t trying to compete with anyone else, I was simply trying harder to give my best to the Lord and His church.

WHAT DO YOU DO IF YOU HAVEN’T DONE YOUR BEST?

  In André Agassi’s book, Open, he describes his demise from world number 4 to world number 140. He has put on weight. He didn’t train much. And his recent marriage to Brooke Shields was on the rocks. His brother suggested that he get a coach to help him turn things around. He took the advice and engaged Brad Gilbert (1994-2002) who began to help him rebuild his game. He also went back to Gil Reyes, his fitness trainer who helped him to rebuild his body. Gilbert told Agassi that he wasn’t worthy to continue playing the pro-tour; instead, Gilbert told him, he had to go back to basics and begin playing club tournaments. Agassi had the humility to accept Gilbert’s humiliating rebuke and did indeed go back to play club tournaments. To his shock, the first club tournament he played saw him losing in the first round! It was then that he realised just how much trouble he was in. He continued to work hard and entered in more tournaments. After he eventually won one of these club tournaments, his brother was driving him back to the motel in the heat of a Californian summer’s day when André told him, “Pull the car over!” His brother asked why. “Because I didn’t give my best!” André told him. “But you won! And we’re still miles away from our motel – and besides, it’s blistering hot out there!” his brother replied. “I did win, but I only did the minimum I needed to do – and from now on, I’m only going to give my best! I’m running the rest of the way back to our motel.” Indeed he did. After the age of 29, when it was usual for most professional tennis players to have retired, André Agassi went on to win another 4 Grand Slam titles (largely due to his next coach, Darren Cahill). 

What do you do when you haven’t given your best?

1. Acknowledge it. 
2. Recognise how you could have done better. 
3. Do better next time.

In life there are times when we know we have not only not done our best, but we have, in fact, done our worst. When this involves hurting or harming others – especially God – we have a serious problem. I think of the young girl who rebels against her Christian upbringing and gets involved with the wrong crowd. In time she learns to drown her guilt with alcohol, pills and needles. But despite her numbness there is still that feint divine beckoning to come home that she feels is the right thing to do. The good news is, for anyone who has wandered, that God’s Word gives the hope that if we: 1) acknowledge what we have done has been wrong; 2) recognise that actions have hurt those we love, or at least the One who loves us more – God; and, 3) ask for forgiveness, then God promises to forgive us and wipe our slates clean. 

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
First John 1:8-9

There is tremendous power in an authentic apology. It can begin to heal a fractured friendship, a strained marriage, an injured daughter, or an offended father.

GOD’S HELP TO DO OUR BEST

Paul charges his protégés, Titus and Timothy, several times to do their best. His words to Timothy resound in my heart two thousand years or so later and I would covet your prayers to help me to do my best to be your pastor.

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
Second Timothy 2:15

The future will reveal that we could have done better – but none of us live in the future; we live in the now, and we do the best we can with what we have and what we know. For me, as a friend, husband, parent, pastor, the good news is that as I strive to do my best, I am not yet who I will one day be, and God’s Word tells me that it is God who works in the heart and life of those who strive to do their best for Him.

for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
Philippians 2:13

Pastor Andrew 

THE THREE STEPS TO UNSTOPPABLE CHRISTIANITY

It might be easy to assume that all religions are like Christianity and spread by converting people; however, while there might be some exceptions, other religions predominantly grow by being born into them. Christianity is an evangelistic religion that appeals to people to be converted and become disciples (followers) of Christ. This might mean that Christianity, perhaps unlike other religions, leaves converts susceptible to falling away from their newfound faith because they would not have had the advantage of years of enculturation like those born into their religion. But, as Christ and His disciples taught, becoming a disciple is indeed marked by a conversion moment (even if it is subtle and not immediately recognised); but, it should not just be an event. When someone becomes a new Christian, their security and development in Christ can be ensured when they are taught, or catch, the essential truths of Christianity; namely, the Bible, about their salvation, and their place in the church.

THE FIRST OF THE THREE STEPS TO UNSTOPPABLE CHRISTIANITY

The truths of Christianity are found in the Bible which also provides the instructions necessary to know and please God. This is affirmed by what the Scriptures themselves declare- 

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” 
Second Timothy 3:16-17

This makes the knowledge and understanding of God’s Word foundational for every Christian to grow in Christlikeness. In the parable of the sower and the seed, it was the seed sown in good soil, which Christ said was a metaphor for those who received the Word of God with understanding, who became the most fruitful for the Kingdom. 

“As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” 
Matthew 13:23

New Christians, in particular, must be taught why the Bible is God’s inspired and infallible Word to mankind (this establishes the objective authority for all belief and conduct), that its message is the consistent unfolding story of redemption (which dispels the false notion that the God of the Old Covenant is different to the God of New Covenant), that its contents nourish our souls and fascinate our minds (this motivates regular devotional reading and study of God’s Word); and, what the basic elements of sound hermeneutics (pertaining to the interpretation and application of Scripture) are (this buttresses against the new believer’s susceptibility to false gospels).

THE SECOND OF THE THREE STEPS TO UNSTOPPABLE CHRISTIANITY

As well as understanding the importance of the Bible, a new believer should be taught that the distinguishing feature of authentic Christianity is that salvation is by grace through faith in Christ. 

This makes Christianity completely different from false Christianity. Nearly all of the New Testament epistles provide an apologetic (a defence) for this doctrine of salvation. Some of the epistles even add a polemic (showing why a false argument is false) against the various false teachings which denied that salvation was by grace and were vying for the early believers’ acceptance (Col. 2:20-23). But the New Testament is clear that salvation is because of Christ’s merit alone, not human effort. 

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” 
Ephesians 2:8-9

The new believer must be shown why this salvation provides right relationship with God because of Christ’s merit, not theirs, and that while their lapses into sin may inhibit their fellowshipwith God, it does not cancel their relationship with Him. This is critically important because the new believer is extremely susceptible to the lies of the enemy who will seize the opportunities afforded by a believer’s old fallen nature to bring them under condemnation and attempt to deceive them into feeling rejected by a disgusted God who must surely be fed up with them now. The new believer must be taught that the enemy’s lies bring condemnation and death (Rom. 8:1); but, the Spirit’s truth brings conviction and life (Rom. 8:2). This is why the New Testament makes it clear that our salvation was a type of resurrection from the dead which invokes the recognition that we could not initiate it. 

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.” 
Ephesians 2:4-5

Thus, Paul later declared that, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:1-2). Thus, an essential aspect of salvation by grace through faith in Christ that a new believer must learn is that repentance is not just an event but the means by which our fellowship with God can be restored after we have sinned. 

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 
First John 1:9

THE THIRD OF THE THREE STEPS TO UNSTOPPABLE CHRISTIANITY

However, salvation is not just about our sins being forgiven and being made right with God. The late Howard Crago wrote that too many Christians view their decision to follow Christ as the end of their spiritual journey. 

“This decision needs to be made, not because you might die to-night and go to hell, but because you will probably live to-morrow and go to work.” 
T. Howard Crago, Real Discipleship, 1940, page 14 

Salvation is also about being adopted by God the Father. 

“He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will.” 
Ephesians 1:5

Being adopted involves coming into a new household – a new family. 

“So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family.” 
Ephesians 2:19 (NLT)

This household is the church. 

“If I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.” 
First Timothy 3:15

The new believer must be shown that they now have brothers and sisters with whom they are now connected in the Spirit. 

“For He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why He is not ashamed to call them brothers.” 
Hebrews 2:11

The weekly gathering of the local church, most commonly done on a Sunday, is therefore an essential time for all believers, not just for the new believer, to assemble together with their church family and should not be neglected (Heb. 10:25). It is in this community of believers that God has ordained for the newborn believer to be fed so that they can grow in Christ (1 Pet. 2:2), and as they do, together with their fellow believers, they become a vital part (a “living stone”) in the spiritual house that Christ is building (1 Pet. 2:5). It is only in this relationship with fellow believers that the believer can fulfil the commands of Christ to “let love be genuine” (Rom. 12:9), “love another with brotherly affection” (Rom. 12:10), “contribute to the needs of the saints” (Rom. 12:13), “rejoice with those who rejoice” and “weep with those who weep” (Rom. 12:15). This is why belonging to a local church is an indispensable aspect of Christianity that the new believer must be taught.

¶ I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Romans 12:1

In Paul’s epistle to the Romans, perhaps the greatest explanation of what salvation entails, he grounds his arguments in the Word of God (Rom. 1:2; 4:3; 9:6; 10:11; 15:4) as he explains that salvation is a gift of God’s grace, and that those who are redeemed can only mature if they are committed to a local church. Having outlined God’s plan of redemption, he concludes by stating the believer’s response should be to present their lives as an offering to God (Rom. 12:1-3); contribute their spiritual gifts into the community of the church (Rom. 12:4-8); and, then learn to play their part in getting along with each other, and being a blessing to their brothers and sisters in Christ in various ways (Rom. 12:9-21). Of course, these truths only a means by which the believer can come to know and love God. Thus, by grounding the new believer in these three essential truths, the Bible, salvation by grace, and the indispensability of belonging to a local church, we have the best possible chance of securing the new believer in Christ and making Christianity unstoppable!

-Pastor Andrew Corbett