INTRODUCTION
• I want you to think about the Auburn Christian Church for a minute. When you think of our church, do you see it as a strong vibrant church, or do you see it as one that is on the week side just limping along?
• PAUSE
• Now as you have pondered that question, by what criteria did you come to your conclusion? What did you base your thinking on? How do you know if the church is a strong church or a weak one? Is it only a numbers game? If the offerings and attendance are high, that must mean the church is strong?
• It is just numbers or are there some other things we can look at to determine if the church is strong or weak?
• SLIDE #1
• Today we are going to look at the strength of a church.
• As we read the book of Colossians, we see that Paul is very passionate about the church, the church is his love.
• In Colossians 2:1, he says that he has been through a great struggle on behalf of the church. The word struggle comes from the word that we know today as “agony”.
• He tells us in chapter 1 verse 29 that he labors hard for the church, to see it be strong.
• What is it that the leadership of this church is trying to establish? Why do I preach, teach, and counsel? Why do we have bible studies and Bible Fellowship classes? Why do the Elders take time out of their lives to lead this church?
• Today we are going to look at three areas of which, when they are strong, the church will be strong, then the numbers whether they be people or finances will follow.
• If we are weak in any of these areas, the church will not be a strong church.
• Today as we look at these three items, you need to ask yourself how you are doing in each of these areas, what are you doing to make sure ACC is a strong influential church in Auburn!
• Let us turn to Colossians 2:1-5 and read God’s Word together this morning.
• SLIDES 2-3-4
• READ COLOSSIANS 2:1-5 says:
• SLIDE #5
The first mark of a strong church is:
SERMON
I. A STRONG HEART.
• A person is only as strong as their heart; a church is only as strong as its heart.
• In verse 2, we are told that Paul has been working hard to the point of agony so that the hearts of those in the church would be encouraged.
• SLIDE #6
• The word literally means to “come along side of.”
• Because a person can be called alongside for many purposes, the word has a wide range of meanings. They include to entreat, appeal to, summon, comfort, exhort, or encourage. In the present context, however, it could be translated “strengthen” because the Colossians were inundated by false teachers and needed strengthening rather than comfort.
• During this time in the church, the New Testament had not been compiled so the main source for the church for biblical truth was the Apostles. This is one of the reasons the false teachers were able to come in and get such a strong foothold.
• Paul wanted the people to know that what they had been taught was truth.
• When used figuratively in the Bible, the word heart is usually more general and refers broadly to the inner person, the center of life. It often equates specifically to the mind.
• The emotions respond to what goes on in the heart, to what the mind perceives. The way to control the emotions, then, is through the mind. When the mind is filled with biblical truth, the emotions respond properly.
• Figuratively the heart is where feelings and faith come from.
• SLIDE #7
• Proverbs 4:23 (NASB) 23Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.
• You have heard the statement, “don’t lose heart” or “your heart is not into it.” When our heart is weak, we will be weak. Many of you have known people with heart problems, they may look fine on the outside, but inside they are weakened to the point of not being able to do much physical activity.
• When we lose heart, we will not be strong for the Lord, we will be spiritually beaten and weak. We will be spiritually listless.
• Commentator William Barclay cites an example of “encourage” from classical Greek that parallels its usage here. There was a Greek regiment which had lost heart and was utterly dejected. The general sent a leader to talk to it to such purpose that courage was reborn and a body of dispirited men became fit again for heroic action. That is what [parakaleō] “encourage” means here. It is Paul’s prayer that the Church may be filled with that courage which can cope with any situation. (The Letters to the Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians [Louisville, Ky.: Westminster, 1975], p. 129)
• This issue of the heart really deals with the inner strength of a person and of the church.
• There are too many people and churches that look great on the outside, but on the inside they are weak and listless spiritually.
• A strong heart will take you places you never knew you could go!
• SLIDE #8
• Where does this strength of heart come from?
• Ephesians 3:16 (GWT) 16I’m asking God to give you a gift from the wealth of his glory. I pray that he would give you inner strength and power through his Spirit.
• It comes in part from God and the Holy Spirit living within you.
• As we live in the power of the Spirit, we grow stronger! As we exercise our Spiritual muscles, the heart grows stronger!
• SLIDE #9
• Secondly, it comes from each other!
• 1 Thessalonians 3:2 (GWT) 2we sent our brother Timothy to you. He serves God by spreading the Good News about Christ. His mission was to strengthen and encourage you in your faith
The second mark of a strong church is:
• SLIDE #10
II. A STRONG BOND OF UNITY BASED ON LOVE.
• I talk a lot about love. I do so because the Word of God speaks a lot concerning the subject of love, and the concept of loving one another!
• The issue of a strong heart deals with our inner strength, whereas the issue of unity deals with our outer strength.
• Fervent love balances a strong mind and heart. Without love, what we have, what we do means little of nothing.
• For us to be able to maintain unity, we must first humble ourselves before God and each other. We have to understand that God desires us all to love each other and to grow together.
• Verse two gives us a good picture when it says that our hearts are to be knitted together in love.
• To “knit together” means to unite, or bring together. This phrase explains the main idea (may be encouraged) by further defining the strengthened heart as one filled with love.
• It refers in Ephesians 4:16 and Colossians 2:19 to the various parts that unite to form the human body. Believers share a common life with love as its basis.
• All believers possess the same eternal life, all come to Christ in the same way, and all were placed into the Body of Christ by the same Spirit (cf. 1 Cor. 12:11-13). The church’s unity is not organizational, but organic. Believers are “all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28; cf. Rom. 10:12).
• When a person knits something, they are taking the material they are knitting and they are making something of use and value out of it. When our hearts are knitted together in love, we are valuable and useful to God and His kingdom.
• The encouragement believers receive when they unite together in love gives them a rich and full understanding of God’s mystery—Christ. When we can see Jesus active in the lives of those we love, it helps us to be strengthened and encouraged!
• “United in love” is a call to the virtue which binds “all together” (3:14) and which was inspired by God’s love for them (3:12). (College Press)
• A church that is not united in love is a church that will not be very strong.
• We are called to display love to one another.
• SLIDE #11
• Philippians 2:2 (GWT) 2Then fill me with joy by having the same attitude and the same love, living in harmony, and keeping one purpose in mind.
• Fervent love is the necessary balance to a strong mind. Christianity is not mindless enthusiasm, but neither is it a lifeless intellectual pursuit.
• In John 13 when Jesus washed the disciple’s feet, Jesus was trying to get His disciples to see that if an individual Christian does not show love toward other true Christians, the world has a right to judge that he is not a Christian.
• We cannot expect the world to believe that the Father sent the Son, that Jesus’ claims are true, and that Christianity is true, unless the world sees some reality of the oneness of true Christians.
• Loving someone is not defined by having warm feelings toward them, but by meeting their needs. The last time you made a sacrifice for someone was the last time you loved him or her. Love is first action, then the emotions follow. So the strengthened heart is a heart that has learned to love.
The third mark of a strong church is:
• SLIDE #12
III. A STRONG UNDERSTANDING OF GOD’S WORD.
• This is probably the area most churches struggle with the most, why, because most Christians struggle with this the most.
• We do not have a strong understanding of God’s Word. This is something that HAS to change.
• Paul speaks of wanting us to attain all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding. What we need to understand is that this means that spiritual riches come from practicing what is known concerning God’s Word.
• The “wealth” is meant not only material prosperity, but spiritual blessing. There is no understanding of God apart from Christ. There is no complete understanding of God apart from a personal relationship with his Son. (Life App)
• Paul desires that the Colossians also experience all the wealth that comes from full assurance.
• Without that assurance, believers cannot enjoy all the blessings that are theirs in Christ.
• For example, no one can look forward with hope to the blessings of heaven who doubts whether he is going there.
• SLIDE #13
• 2 Peter 1:10 (NASB) 10Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;
• Understanding means the ability to apply biblical principles to life. When you understand something, you can apply it. When we experience spiritual truth by living it. It means that we truly understand it.
• Many people struggle because they fail to apply what they know, then they want to know more that they cannot apply.
• It is like the person who wants to learn how to multiply and divide before they can add and subtract or before they know the basic principles of math.
• SLIDE #14
• 1 Corinthians 2:14 (NASB) 14But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
• If we are not turned into the things and ways of God, we will never understand God. We can only tune into God by knowing His Word!
• SLIDE #15
CONCLUSION
• Is our church a strong church? How can you tell? Is our heart strong, our love deep and do we understand God’s word?
• These are areas in which the leadership works to help the church build, if we grow in these areas, we will become an even stronger church that will do even more for God!
• God wants us to grow and be strong, if you find that there is something in your life that is keeping that from happening, I would encourage you to change it so that you will not cheat yourself out of a wonderful life in Christ!
• God has a treasure chest of blessings that are available to you, do you want to open the chest?
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