OceanSide church of Christ

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WHAT AM I WORTH TO THE CHURCH?

Bill Horne

 

“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.  Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth.  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.  Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth:  fornication, uncleaness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:  For which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience; In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.  But now ye also put off all these:  anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, and filthy communications out of your mouth.  Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Where there neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarion, Scythian, bond nor free:  but Christ is all, and in all,  Col 3:1-11

 

  1. The tendency during recent years, it seems, has been to build up the church numerically, without giving much consideration to the genuiness of conversion.

 

  1. This practice has resulted in many unconverted people being deceived into thinking they are Christians.

 

  1. Being a Christian is more than merely having your name in the directory and on the rolls.

 

  1. Almost every congregation is carrying a certain amount of dead weight in the person of inactive church members.

 

Matt:  3:10  “And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees, therefore, every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.”

 

“For the time is come that judgement must begin at the house of God, and if it first begins with us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God?”

 

I.                   THE SCRIPTURES REQUIRE A PERSONAL EXAMINATION.

 

1.  “Let a man examine himself, and so let him drink of the cup”  I Cor 11:28

(To examine is to test, to prove to scrutinize) to see if a thing is genuine or not,

 

II Cor 13;5  “Doeth not behave itself unseemly; seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil,”

 

Gal; 5:5  “ For if  a man think himself to be something when he is nothing he deceiveth himself but let every man prove his own work, and then he shall have rejoicing in himelf alone and not in another .For every man shall  bear his own burden”

 

  1. SOME SEARCHING QUESTIONS TO AID IN THIS PERSONAL EXAMINATION

 

(1)    Am I an asset or liability to the Church?

 

(2)    Am a help or a hindrance to the work?

 

(3)    Does my being a member of the church add strength and character to it?

 

(4)    Am I by my daily life having an influence for good?

 

(5)    Am I daily growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ?

 

(6)    Am I becoming more efficient worker in His service?

 

(7)    Have I been instrumental in leading someone to Christ

 

(8)    Am I giving encouragement to the unsaved and new converts by attending the various services of the church and extending them a glad welcome or am I manifesting a spirit of indifference carelessness with reference to my own salvation and that of my fellow man?

 

II  THE STANDARD OF MEASUREMENT

 

1.      For illustrative purposes, one’s worth to the church may be measured by practical business standards.  For example: 

 

(1)    A man feels it is his duty to be of some value to the business firm that is employing him and trusting him.

(2)    He should go to his work filled with enthusiasm and thanksgiving that he has a job.

(3)    Suppose he dropped out of the business at will and be gone for days without saying anything to management.  Would some official of that company send someone out to find him and drag him back to work?

 

Heb 13:17  “Obey them that have the rule over you  and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls. As they must give an account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief for that is unprofitable for you,”

 

2.      Another good way for one to measure his worth to the church, and, incidentally, to see himself as others see him to ask himself the familiar question:  “If every member of OceanSide were just like me, what kind of church would OceanSide be?

 

 

 

 

 

3.      The standard that really counts is the one revealed in the new testament.

 

“Wherefor, by their fruits ye shall know them”  Mat 7:20

 

One’s ability plus his opportunities equals his duties and/or responsibilities

 

III  SOME PRACTICAL WAYS IN WHICH ONE MAY BE OF VALUE TO THE CHURCH

 

1.By faithful and zealous attendance at the various services of the church.  “Success breeds success.”

     2.  By demonstrating loyalty to divine authority,

 

Acts:  3;22-23  “For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God will raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; Him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.  And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.”

 

  1. By living a godly life among your fellow men.

 

“Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; Having your conversation honest among the gentiles; that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.”  I Pet 2:11-12,

 

Phil 2:14-15  “Do all thing without murmurings and disputings:  That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.”

 

  1. By striving to become more efficient in his service.

 

  1. By maintaining a cheerful and enthusiastic attitude toward the work.  “Like begets likes”

 

  1. By assuming responsibility, financial and otherwise, for the success and welfare of the church.  Every member should take it on himself to invite to the services, and BE THERE TO WELCOME THEM WHEN THEY ARRIVE.