Joy of Belonging

Richard Dresselhaus

Description

Ideal for new converts who want to become church members, this book examines the mission of the church as a whole and individually. Focuses on Christian growth, a believer's new life in Christ, church structure, and service evangelism.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Psychology
• Christianity

Informations

• Publié par: Gospel Publishing House
• Date de parution: 14 mars 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781607312178
• Langue: English

Extrait

the
JOY

 
of
BELONGING
RICHARD L. DRESSELHAUS
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, © 1973 by the Lockman Foundation, La Habra, California.
16th Printing 2016
© 2013, 1978 by Gospel Publishing House, 1445 N. Boonville Ave., Springfield, Missouri 65802. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the copyright owner, except brief quotations used in connection with reviews in magazines or newspapers.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 78-66868
International Standard Book Number 978-0-88243-526-8
Printed in the United States of America
C ONTENTS
Part 1: Your New Life in Christ
1 Welcome to the Family
2 Your Place in the Family
3 What Is Church Membership?
4 Your Walk with Christ
Part 2: Your Christian Growth
5 Keep on Growing
6 Following the Lord in Water Baptism
7 A Personal Pentecost
8 Your Devotional Life
Part 3: Your Church and Its Structure
9 Foundations on Which to Build
10 The Structure of the Local Church
Part 4: Your Church and Its Mission
11 Upward in Worship
12 Inward in Commitment
13 Outward in Evangelism
Part 5: Your Church Membership Opportunities
14 Principles for Christian Service
15 Gifts for Service
Part 6: Your Home and Its Christian Influence
16 The Family and the Church
Appendix: Statement of Fundamental Truths
P ART 1
Y OUR N EW L IFE IN C HRIST
1
W ELCOME TO THE F AMILY
The Church is people!
People just like you. People who have met the Lord … whose lives have been turned around … who love and want to be loved. People who are led together to become the people of God.
And this is where the story of the Church begins—with you, for you are His Church.
And that’s what this book is about. People learning to live together as a community of believers … sharing, serving, giving, teaching, correcting, helping, and growing … until more and more we all become one in Jesus Christ.
So welcome. We are all glad you want to be a part of the family—the Church.
Naturally you have a lot of questions:
“What are my responsibilities now that I have become a Christian?”
“How can I really grow in my walk with Christ and in my place of ministry in my church?”
“How is my church organized to carry on its mission, and what is my place in furthering that mission?”
“What does my church believe?”
“Why is it important that I become a member of my church?”
“What do I need to know to help me be an effective member of my church?”
I know you have dozens of other questions. But in these pages you will find the kind of answers that I hope will not only satisfy your curiosity but also motivate you to become dynamically and creatively involved in the exciting life of your church.
Let’s start at the beginning. Do you remember when you first believed? It may have been at the altar bench or by your bedside late at night, or perhaps you don’t remember the time and place—but you know it happened. Christ became Lord of your life, and you became a new creation.
The Bible uses a variety of words and expressions to describe this turning point in your life. Each speaks of action—newness, change, transformation, and hope. Let’s look at them.
B ORN A GAIN
Jesus used this descriptive term. “Nicodemus, you must be born again!”
Appropriately, Nicodemus countered: “Can a man enter his mother’s womb and be born again?”
Jesus alleviated his suspicions: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6).
Jesus instructed Nicodemus to submit to the power of the Holy Spirit so his spirit would be quickened and that communion with God, lost for so long, might be restored again.
The term born again describes this process. Once-dead men—dead in trespasses and sins—are now made alive in Jesus Christ. This is God’s way to bring you into His family. You can’t get in by argument, influence, or good conduct; it is a matter of birth. You have to be born into the family—the family of God.
J USTIFICATION
This is another word to help you understand that turning point in your life. Paul used this term to describe how God looks at you now that you have been born again. The word has judicial overtones and really means “acquitted.” The judge having ruled, the accused is declared innocent of the charge.
You stood guilty before a holy and righteous God. You had no other plea. But God, in His love and grace, declared you innocent.
How can that be? Someone must pay the penalty!
That is exactly what Jesus did. He satisfied the righteous demands of a perfect God and made it possible for God to declare you justified—innocent of the offense for which you stood guilty.
I once spoke at length with a young man who was having difficulty understanding that he now stood perfect, in Christ, before the Father. He had the mistaken notion that sometime, somehow, he could attain a place where eventually he could believe he was totally accepted by God.
Perhaps it is the miscarriage of this fundamental truth that brings relentless condemnation and fear to so many. The simple truth is because you have believed in Christ, you now stand before God totally accepted and justified. This is the place of rest you have been promised!
S ALVATION
This word also is highly suggestive. It is a word of drama. It speaks of a man who has lost his way, or whose life was in peril, being rescued and freed.
How fitting that the very name Jesus means “Savior.” No wonder the angel of the Lord declared to Joseph, “You shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).
Where would you be at this moment without Jesus the Savior? How would you answer for your life if you knew you could not stand fully clothed in the righteous garments of Christ? Think of the vicious, destructive, debilitating effects of sin. That will help you know how really good it is to be “saved.”
A TONEMENT
The Israelites must have had a very good understanding of the meaning of this word. They even had one day a year set aside to celebrate the act of God’s forgiveness in pardoning their sins—they called it the Day of Atonement. In elaborate and ceremonial fashion, the high priest presented the corporate sins of Israel to God, and God extended His forgiveness.
The apostle Paul, against this background, spoke of Jesus: “Through whom we have now received the reconciliation [atonement]” (Romans 5:11). The word speaks of “fellowship restored,” an “at oneness” with God. And Jesus Christ is the linchpin. By His vicarious death He has taken the hand of God and the hand of man and clasped them together. Every time a person comes to Christ, it is a beautiful return to that original relationship of love and fellowship. The ideal fellowship of the Garden of Eden becomes a reality again.
F ORGIVENESS
A bumper sticker puts it this way: “Christians are not perfect, just forgiven.” Christians have no claim to perfection, only a deep joy at knowing they are forgiven.
The ability to forgive is fundamental to the character of God. The Scriptures state that God not only forgives, He also forgets. That is, God possesses both the ability to say, “I forgive you,” and the power to erase even the knowledge of the offense from His mind.
True forgiveness among men must be patterned after this. It is doubtful that forgiveness that is conditional or carries a lingering grudge can be considered forgiveness at all. “I forgive you, but I’ll never forget,” says something about the shallowness with which some people seek to alleviate their responsibility to forgive.
Yes, you have been forgiven.
When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having cancelled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross (Colossians 2:13–14).
Your life bears the stamp of His forgiveness. The guilt is gone. Sin’s hold has been broken. You are free!
F AITH
A helpful formula has been suggested:
FAITH + 0 (nothing) = SALVATION
This means a simple act of faith alone brings salvation. Paul put it this way: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9).
Sometimes this fundamental truth is misunderstood. Man innately wants to find a way to save himself. The notion of simple faith is an offense to his intellect. He wants to help himself—to find a way to earn merit with God. For him the formula reads: Faith plus good works, or faith plus knowledge, or faith plus a new revelation, or faith plus some other human ingredient.
Several years ago I visited the cathedral in Bath, England. I was deeply impressed with the elaborate structure. Two ladders were engraved in the stone on either side of the main entrance. On each ladder were likenesses of humans on their way up. Some were struggling upward, others had fallen, but none appeared to have reached the top. At the head of both ladders a figure, intended to represent the Lord, waited to welcome any successful climbers.
The imagery was intended to show man in his upward journey to find God and earn his salvation. While the architecture and design were aesthetically pleasing, the misunderstanding of God’s plan to save man by simple faith in Jesus Christ was glaring and dramatic. God’s way to himself is through faith in the finished work of Christ—alone!
C ONVERSION
Conversion means the act of turning from one way to another. Repentance is a near synonym, with the same idea—that of turning around and heading in a different direction, a change of mind and heart.
The Bible il