The Church God Uses

Churches come in different sizes. Churches also meet in different kinds of locations.  Churches have different denominational affiliation.  With this bewildering array of different kinds of churches, which kind of church does God do his work through? 

Here are five characteristics of the kind of church God works through.

1.  God uses churches that know they are accountable to God.

Every church will give an account of itself to God. Our ministry is on constant display before God, in the presence of God and of Christ. Nothing is hidden from His sight.

2.  God uses churches that know they are accountable to God.

God uses churches that are committed to communicating the whole Bible.

We’re to communicate the Bible persistently. The command to "be prepared in season and out of season" focuses on persistency.

We’re also to communicate the Bible specifically. 

We also need to communicate the Bible prophetically.  Now the phrase "prophetically" doesn't mean making predictions, but that certain parts of the Bible will go against the grain of our culture’s value system. 

We also need to communicate the Bible expectantly. This is what the word "encourage" refers to. This word means to expect people to respond to the message. We also need to communicate the Bible patiently. We find this in the phrase "with great patience."we need to communicate the Bible patiently, with gentleness and hope, knowing that some people take longer to get it than others. 

Finally, we need to communicate the Bible intelligently. This is what the phrase "careful instruction" refers to. We communicate the Bible intelligently when we not only show people what the Bible means and how it applies, but also why the Bible makes the claims that it does. 

God uses churches that are committed to communicating the whole Bible.

3.  God uses churches that refuse to cater to people’s selfishness.

Throughout human history people have used religion to justify indulging themselves in selfish ways. We’re to communicate with grace and gentleness, with humility and sensitivity, but we are to call each other out of a self centered life and into a God centered life. 

4. God uses churches that are outreach focused.

It’s really easy for churches to lose their vision for outreach. We can get overwhelmed with the needs of our own people, we can grow distracted. Even worse, we can grow indifferent to the plight of those who don’t yet have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

5.  God uses churches that help people finish well.

We can’t all be Olympic competitors, but we can all finish well in life.  God uses churches that want to help their members be able to say the same thing.