How to Have a Healthy Church - 16

Well, I think all of us would agree that a well-ordered family is a joy to behold, to see father and mother, husband and wife, children, all rightly related to one another.

What a blessing it is to behold that. What an encouragement and help it is to all of us when we are around that. But a dysfunctional family is painful to behold. A dysfunctional family is falling apart all around us and we see the damage that is done to the members of the family.

We know that much of that damage is going to be long-lasting and we wish so much that things would be corrected. But that's not that much different from local churches. A healthy church is a joy to behold and can be such a blessing in so many ways. A dysfunctional church is such a problem and affects adversely so many people.

But how do churches get healthy and stay healthy? The Apostle Paul shows us the way in our text today in 1 Thessalonians 5 verses 12, 13, 14, and 15. We have before us an abrupt change in subject. From chapter 4 verse 13 through chapter 5 verse 11, the focus has been upon eschatology, the study of last things, things to come, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and various aspects of His return.

That is of great importance. That was of great interest to the Thessalonians and they were focusing on that and asking questions about that. And Paul is answering some of their questions in this epistle. But now, the subject changes from eschatology to ecclesiology, the study of the church. And Paul is saying, in effect, it's well and good to think about the coming of Christ and things in the future that is important, that's part of God's revelation.

He wants us to know some things about it, though not to insist upon knowing and thinking we know things that His word does not reveal. But the way we best watch for the return of Jesus Christ is to be obedient and busy in our present responsibilities. So here's what you need to be doing now in relationship to your church there in Thessalonica.

This is how we watch for Christ's return, by being obedient and faithful to our present responsibilities. Many people wonder how to have a healthy church and Paul is going to help us, so put your ears on, listen carefully. How to have a healthy church? We notice first of all a healthy church and its leaders. Secondly, a healthy church and its atmosphere. Third, a healthy church and its relationships. Fourth, a healthy church and its distinctiveness. But first, a healthy church and its leaders, verse 12 and the beginning of verse 13. And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love.

A healthy church and its leaders. Now it's interesting that the leaders here are identified by the work that they do, not by a title, not by a position. It's very clear from what he describes of these leaders, their diligent labor, their faithful leadership, their applied instruction that he's talking about what elsewhere are called elders or pastors or bishops.

If we have a proper understanding of those terms, we won't get hung up by some of the misconceptions we have today. But all of those three words describe one office. They describe the office of the pastor. But Paul does not call them by their title or point to their position, but he points to their work. Those who labor among you, those who are over you in the Lord, those who admonish you. This is not the only time in Scripture that you're going to find similar language. Most of us are familiar with the words of the writer of Hebrews in chapter 13, where twice in the 13th chapter he says something akin to, and I'll just quote one of the texts, obey those who have the rule over you, for they watch for your souls.

But they may do it with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you. He describes what they do. It's clear who he's talking about, but he doesn't name them. He just simply gives the work which distinguishes them from others, and that's what we have here. And so we are given the responsibilities of healthy church leaders.

And what are their responsibilities? Three things. Number one, diligent labor. Number two, faithful leadership.

And number three, applied instruction. Recognize those who labor among you, who work hard among you. That's really what that word means. Work very hard to the point of weariness, to the point of exhaustion. The work of a pastor, if it is properly carried out, is difficult and exhausting labor. This very same word for the work of pastors is used elsewhere in the same context of ministers and the hard, hard work that they are called upon to do. Let no one who is thinking that perhaps God would have you go into the ministry carry with you any concept that this is an easy job.

I don't want to do any hard work. I'll just become a pastor. That'll be easy. Not if you do it right. Not if you do it in a God-honoring way. It's hard work. It's no easy job. It requires long hours, hard labor. And there are heavy pressures upon those who are called to serve the Lord Jesus Christ and his church in this way.

So recognize those who work hard, who labor among you. Recognize those who, secondly, are over you in the Lord. That is, provide faithful, God-honoring leadership for the church. They are over you in the Lord.

That means to stand before you. It carries the idea of guiding, leading, governing, directing, but in the Lord. According to his instructions, according to his power, according to his example, doing it in the way that he would have us lead.

We've got to heed the warning of Peter, who says to the elders that you are not to lord it over God's heritage. Lead in the heavy-handed way, like leaders in the world often do, and unspiritually-minded ministers in the church sometimes do. No, that's not it, but it does require leadership. It does require oversight. That's what the very word bishop means, an overseer.

It does require an ability and a willingness to lead, and you should recognize those who take up that responsibility and fulfill it well. And you should recognize those who admonish you. That word literally means to put in mind.

That has the idea of instruction coupled with correction. Those of you who take the Word of God, they teach you the Word of God, and they not only tell you what it says, but they drive it home to your mind, to your conscience, to try to help you to apply it properly so that you will make the appropriate corrections in your life. They admonish you. They correct wrong doctrine and wrong behavior, correction which is profitable and necessary if we're going to have healthy churches. Why is it so hard to find a good church?

Partly because it's so hard to find Christians who are willing to submit to what the Bible says about their relationship with God-honoring pastors. Nobody's going to tell me what to do. Nobody's going to correct me.

Don't you talk to me like that. I don't want nobody preaching to me. Just tell me encouraging stories. You won't get into healthy churches that way. No, recognize those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you.

Though that admonition is distasteful to many, it is appreciated by those who are wise, spiritually wise. So that's the responsibilities of the church leaders, but what is their reception? How are they to be received? How are they to be treated by the church?

And three words will describe that. Number one, they need to be appreciated. Number two, they need to be honored.

And number three, they need to be loved. We urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. Appreciate them, esteem them. It's translated various ways in different versions because the word actually means to know, which doesn't exactly sound like esteem, but when you're taking it all together in context, that's the connotation that is applied to it. To get to know so as to value, to get to know so that you understand what they're doing and why they're doing it, to get to know them so that you can see how their labors line up with the instructions of God's word, get to know them, their work, their value to the church.

Isn't it interesting? Ministers are told that you need to get to know your ministers. Ministers aren't told here that you need to get to know your members.

Now, that should be obvious. I don't know that anyone should suggest that ministers don't need to get to know their members, don't have a responsibility to know their members, won't need to know their members in order to minister to them right. I didn't take a lot of time to search for this, so maybe I missed it, but I couldn't think, just going through my mind, I couldn't think of any place in Scripture where ministers are told you need to get to know your members, but here's a place where members are told you need to get to know your ministers.

Isn't that interesting? So many things are the opposite of what we expect, the opposite of what we've become accustomed to. You get to know them. You get to know them so that you can value them properly. Number two, you need to honor them, esteem them very highly, we're told in verse 13. If I didn't preach verse by verse in an expository way through the Bible, I might be embarrassed to even preach like this because, of course, I'm telling you how you're supposed to treat me in a sense, but I do it to be true to Scripture, but more than anything else because of the need to have healthy churches.

I do this to help you. I do this to help the church. I do this because this is what the Word of God says, and church members are to esteem their ministers very highly. To hold them in the highest regard, the Greek word has the idea of beyond all measure. It's so over the top, so effusive that, again, it's almost a bit embarrassing to me, but members are to honor their pastors at the highest level possible.

Now, what is possible is going to be mitigated by certain things, and we'll touch on some of those later, but the highest level that it's possible to do in a God-honoring way. So members are to know, to appreciate their ministers. They are to secondly honor their ministers. They are, number three, to love them.

You do all this in love with an attitude of affection. Isn't it sad that in so many churches the prevailing attitude between so many of the members and the pastor is adversarial? Always just a little bit of tension, a little bit of testiness.

That never seems quite to end. Now, that's not true of everybody in every church, but there's far more of that than there ought to be. What Paul is saying is that won't produce healthy churches. That's going to produce problematic churches. That's going to produce dysfunctional churches. Number one, you need to pray that God will give you the right kind of pastors who are diligent in labor and faithful in leadership and who apply God's Word properly to your life. They're willing to admonish you on the basis of Scripture, not upon their own opinions and whims of the day. But when you have faithful leaders like that, you have a responsibility to appreciate them, to honor them, to love them.

You put all this together and you begin to see the contours of a healthy church taking place. And the reason why this is important is told to us here. Why do you appreciate them? Why do you honor them? Why do you love them?

It is for their work's sake, or as the New American Standard says, because of their work. That's why you do it based on personality. I like that guy. He's friendly. He's warm. He relates to me in a certain way. I like that.

I value that. He may not be doing the work that he's called to do. He may not be doing the hard work of studying Scripture and teaching it to you faithfully. He may not be leading in the right way. He may not be admonishing at all. He may be one of these who goes after people with itching ears and gives them what they want to hear rather than what they need to hear. But, oh, he's a good guy and I really like him. That's why you've got such a dysfunctional church.

Because you're not valuing the right things. Because the ministry of God's Word is not as prominent as it ought to be. I can tell I've already made some of you a little bit nervous, a little bit uneasy.

I'm sorry. I'm just trying to be faithful to admonish you in the Lord on the basis of God's Word. So that's a healthy church and its leaders. Secondly, we see a healthy church in its atmosphere.

In the last part of verse 13, esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And then this, be at peace among yourselves. That's the atmosphere of a healthy church. It's a peaceful place. A healthy church is a place where people are at peace.

What's but that? I hope that's not what you think you're finding here. But that is far too common in so many churches. But that's the kind of atmosphere that produces unhealthy churches. But a healthy church has an atmosphere where people are at peace among themselves, not quarreling. Peacefulness is the norm.

That's the way it is almost all the time. We would like to say all the time, but there's no such thing as a perfect church, and we can't say all the time until we get to heaven. That's the way heaven will be. When we get to heaven, it'll be this way all the time. We'll be at peace among ourselves.

No quarreling, no arguing, no gossip, no slander, no jockeying for position. None of that in heaven. And the church is supposed to be a little slice of heaven on earth with people who are still not fully sanctified, so it's not going to be perfect in this regard. But a healthy church is one in which breaches of the peace are rare.

They will occur from time to time. What did Paul say to the Philippian church? He said, Remind syndikey and euodagus to get along in the Lord. Help these ladies to get along in the Lord.

They were having some quarrels in Philippi, weren't they? But a healthy church is a place where breaches of the peace are rare, and when they occur, they are quickly addressed and resolved. They're gone and back to the norm, which is peace, peace, peace, the prevailing atmosphere of a healthy church week after week and month after month. Thirdly, we consider a healthy church and its relationships.

And I would have you note that these relationships are relationships of mutual responsibility and mutual ministry. Look at verse 14. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the faint-hearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. Now wait a minute, Paul.

That must have been a slip of the quill. You didn't mean that. You didn't mean we exhort you, brethren. You meant I exhort you elders. I exhort you ministers. I exhort you pastors, you spiritual leaders. This is your job.

But no, it's no slip of the quill. This is the word of the living God. And Paul is addressing these responsibilities to the brethren, that is to all the members of the church. It applies to everyone and these four things that may at first seem like the elders' work, and it is the elders' work. It's not that it's not the elders' work at all. It certainly is theirs, but it's not theirs exclusively.

It's not theirs totally. If they're the only ones that are doing this, you're not going to have a very healthy church. It's a mutual responsibility, a shared responsibility in which all the members of the church take part, in which all the members of the church feel a responsibility that these things be done. Yes, it certainly is elders' work to warn those who are unruly and comfort the faint-hearted and uphold the weak and be patient with all. And elders will be doing that in a big way and should be encouraged and supported by the members when they aren't.

It's a shock to many to hear that that is indeed the case. What a challenge. You mean it's my responsibility as a church member to warn the unruly? That's probably the hardest one of the four, as well as comfort the faint-hearted and uphold the weak and be patient with all. It's my responsibility.

The Bible says it's your responsibility. A lot of things will happen if we'll take this responsibility before the Lord. Number one, it will increase our appreciation for the work of elders. You mean this is what they have to do and have to do a lot of and I find it hard to do hardly at all?

Yep. Helps me to esteem and love and appreciate them more highly for their work's sake, doesn't it? Another thing that will happen when we take these responsibilities seriously is promote greater humility and spiritual growth within ourselves. We find this difficult so we need to ask God for greater humility. We find this difficult so we're going to need to call on God for greater grace. We find this difficult so we realize that we probably have some growing to do to be able to carry out these responsibilities well before the Lord. And beyond this, engaging, as the Bible tells us to, will foster greater partnership within the body. When we endeavor to do some of these things, we find we can't do it alone. We need help.

Perfect, perfect. If you're understanding, perfect. Now, engage with others. This is a body, many members.

It may take some help in order to profitably warn the unruly and correct them. It may take some help in order to uphold the weak or about to fall down, and you can't hold them up all by yourself, but you can with the help of your brothers and sisters in Christ. It develops strong partnerships within the church.

Ah, good. Relationships are developing. This is the way the church is supposed to function. This is the confines of a healthy church. But as much as anything else, taking up these responsibilities by the members of the church is a requirement for healthy churches. Instead of decrying the fact that it's so hard to find a good church, why don't you roll up your sleeves and make the one you're in a good church?

That's the point. What is this mutual ministry that Paul calls all church members to? Number one, warn the unruly. Number two, comfort the faint-hearted. Number three, uphold the weak.

Number four, be patient with all. Number one, warn the unruly. Some of your Bibles have warned the idle or the lazy, which would certainly be an area of unruliness when it's properly understood.

And probably the reason why some of the translations insert that thought here is because that really is how this concept is used when we get to 2 Thessalonians. But the word unruly literally means out of line. Warn those who are out of line. It really has the idea of a military company lined up for review and somebody's out of line. We use that phrase, you're out of line.

Well, that's where it comes from. Get back in line, soldier. Get back in order, in proper order, in rank where you're supposed to be.

Get back in line. And that's what this word unruly means. It has the idea of insubordinate, disorderly, undisciplined. Church members who are acting that way are to be warned. They are to be confronted. They are to be admonished by the pastors, right?

Yeah, but not just. They are to be warned by the pastors plus the members, and it probably ought to start with the members, and if it doesn't have the desired effect, it probably then will be moved up to the plate of the pastors. That's the way healthy churches operate. The word warn is actually the same Greek word as the word admonish in verse 12, and there we saw it was one of the things that pastors do. They labor among you. They are over you in a leadership position, and they admonish you. And you remember that carried the idea of instruction coupled with correction.

Same thing here. When you warn the unruly, that's what you do. You bring instruction from God's word that will correct their misbehavior and get them back in line, and you can do that too. In fact, you're supposed to do that too. It's not just the work of the pastor. Take the word of God and say, here's what the Bible says.

Is that what you're doing? Warn them. Number two, comfort the faint-hearted. Who are the faint-hearted? They are the timid.

They are the fearful. They are those who are easily discouraged. They are the ones who are in danger of giving up. They are the ones who are finding adversity so difficult. They are ones who are finding the burdens and trials and problems of life so heavy that they just can't hardly go on. They simply put one foot in front of another. And they don't need warning.

They don't need rebuke. What do they need? Encouragement, encouragement.

Go alongside and help them, encourage them, strengthen them. Comfort the faint-hearted. And third, uphold the weak. The weak literally means without strength.

That's pretty obvious, but we don't always know the obvious because we don't always know the original language. But that's what the word weak would suggest to us, the opposite of strength. And that's what it means. The weak are those without strength. It can probably refer here to weak faith, to immature faith. It can sometimes also refer to weakness in health or weakness financially.

It can have physical dimensions to it as well. But most commentators, I would think unanimously among the commentators I consulted, they're all convinced that it has more of a focus upon the spiritual condition of these people. And these are people of weak faith who are immature, who need to be held fast. They need to be supported. And as much as anything, sometimes all it needs is for you to just take an interest in them. Don't ignore them in their weakness, in their immaturity. Just take an interest in them. Ask them how they're doing.

Check in with them from time to time. That's the way you uphold the weak. The idea of upholding them has the idea of grab ahold of them and hold them up. If somebody's about to fall, you see them getting ready to fall, they're walking along with their cane maybe, and you see them stumble and they're getting ready to fall, what do you do? You reach over and grab them. Keep them from falling. Well, it's the same idea here. When you see somebody who, because of spiritual weakness, looks like they're getting ready to fall, you, as it were, reach out to them and in your conversation, your interest and your prayers and your interactions with them, and you hold them up, hold them fast.

Don't let them go until you know that they can stand on their own again. Isn't this beautiful? This is the way churches are supposed to function. This is how healthy churches operate. In this particular one, uphold the weak, the words of this hymn kept running through my mind. It took me two or three days before I could remember where those words came from.

That happens to me a lot. I'm working on a sermon, and I'm thinking of a certain phrase, but it's not enough for me to locate the hymn. Pastor Cowner has the same problem. He even calls Greg Phillips and says, help me out. What song do you find these words in?

And I haven't done that. It usually comes to me eventually. The church stanza of this hymn by Chris Anderson, a triune prayer, said, Blessed Spirit, meet our need. In our silence intercede.

Translate groans we cannot speak. Heal the broken. Help the weak. Yes, we pray for God's Spirit to do that, but then God's Spirit says, Okay, I'm going to take your hands and do it. I'm going to take your lips and do it. I'm going to take your feet and do it. The way I help the weak is through the members of the body.

That's how it's done. And finally, be patient with all. That is all the members of the body and all of their needs and all of their conditions, whether we're talking about the unruly or the faint-hearted or the weak. Be patient with all, even those who irritate you. And I know you don't get irritated, only I do. But I have to be reminded, even those who irritate, in fact, maybe especially those who irritate.

You can't imagine that pastors ever get irritated at anybody, but I hope I didn't shock you to let you know if that can happen and does happen. Be patient with all, even the irritable. Be willing to wait. Be long-suffering. Wait as long as possible before taking confrontational action, corrective action.

It is the responsibility, not only the pastor, but all the people to warn the unruly, to admonish them, to correct them. But be patient in giving them time to respond. This takes a lot of wisdom. You realize that you don't always get it right. Did I step in too soon?

Did I wait too long? Please guide me, O Lord, but help me to be patient with all. If they won't get in line, then eventually you're going to have to take some stronger measures to get them in line, but give them time to grow and change and get themselves in line.

Isn't that better? They'll get themselves in line. Be patient with all. So a healthy church and its relationships means that everybody in the body is involved in ministering to the other members of the body. We're all engaged in this work. We're all interested and concerned about one another.

We're all reaching out and helping those who are weak. We are all, yes, admonishing and warning the unruly, and that makes for a healthy church. And finally, we have number four, a healthy church and its distinctiveness in verse 15. See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good, both for yourselves and for all.

A healthy church and its distinctiveness means no retaliation, no one renders evil for evil to anyone. That's what Christ taught in the Sermon on the Mount. We love to hear the Sermon on the Mount. I don't know how many people I've talked to over the years that said, well, I don't know about the whole Bible. I don't know about those words of Paul, but I believe in the words of Jesus. I believe in the Sermon on the Mount.

Well, how about this one? You've heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. You like those words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount?

Are you doing them? Is that the way you behave? Easier said than done. In Romans 12, Paul said in verse 17, repay no one evil for evil. Repay no one evil for evil, have regard for good things in the sight of all men. Peter had a similar word. 1 Peter 3, 8 and 9. Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another, love as brethren, be tenderhearted, be courteous. Almost sounds like a rephrase of the words of Paul that we're looking at in 1 Thessalonians 5. But then verse 9, not returning evil for evil, reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. Wow.

It sounds like this is serious stuff. It sounds like this is the way Jesus expects us to live. And the apostles of Jesus, likewise, the apostle Paul, the apostle Peter, this is the way they expect Christians to live. You see, when we retaliate for wrongs that are done to us, that's the natural response. That's the natural inclination. When somebody does us wrong, we want to strike back. But when we retaliate, we are overcome by evil. They did evil, we return it. We'll show you what it's like. We'll give you a tit for a tat.

We'll let you have a dose of your own medicine. That's expected by the world, but not by Christ. We've got to learn differently, don't we? In fact, it's even expected in many religions. You ever hear of honor killings? You ever hear of religions that teach their people you are the agent of God to revenge those who speak out against God or who do something harmful to the people of our religion?

You're an agent of God to bring judgment upon them. Well, not in Christianity, we're not. You see, that's what's distinctive.

What are we talking about? The distinctiveness of Christianity, it's different. And this will be a powerful testimony to the world. Christianity is apart, set apart from other religions. And a healthy church demonstrates that.

A healthy church is distinctive in this way. But not only do we not retaliate, but we even go a step farther and we do good in the place of bad. Somebody does us wrong, and what do we do? We bless them in return. We do good to them in return.

Oh, wow. Lord, help me. We replace the harm with positive good. We pursue it, pursue what is good.

A word that means to seek after, to run after, to strive for. It takes work. It does not come naturally. It's going to require humility. It's going to require grace.

It's going to require intentional purpose to think and do differently than what we've probably thought and done most all of our lives, to think and do differently than what we do from our Adamic fallenness. And we do that according to this text, not only in the church, for yourselves, for one another. Verse 15, see that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good, both for yourselves within the church and for all. That's those outside the church. This is the way we are to behave with one another in the body of Christ, but this is also the way we are to behave toward others outside the body of Christ.

Now, I had to think about whether I would make this application or not, but I'm going to. Hold your hat. The January 6 riots in the Capitol, I was saddened to hear as the investigation began to unfold this week how many of the people who were involved in that identified themselves as Christians, actually carrying placards and other things that said we are Christians and here we are to riot at the Capitol. Well, what about the riots all summer long out in the cities? Yeah, what about them? They were wrong, weren't they?

They were shameful. They were un-Christian, so what do we do in return? The same thing? Is that what the Bible teaches us to do for Christians? How do we respond? In kind?

No. No evil in the place of evil. We do good when others have done evil. Now, I have an extended conclusion, but I think I can cover it pretty quickly, but I'm going to nail this one home. Some real admonition going on here, so hold on to your hat.

Here we go. Why is it so hard to find a good church? And, of course, one reason is because people define good in different ways. They don't all have biblical definitions in mind, but why is it so hard to find a good church? I'd rather use the word healthy church, spiritually healthy, because healthy churches require healthy Christians. All churches have some responsibility to make their church healthy, but that, of course, requires active participation. Not only attendance, but building relationships within the body of Christ that enable you to relate to others in the ways that are described here, including being able to warn and admonish those who are out of line. Healthy participants in a church need some sense of ownership of the church.

I have some responsibilities in this. It's not, what's wrong with them, but what's wrong with me? Isn't this strange? Somebody can be a member of a church for years, and then they get irritated about something, and suddenly, what's wrong with those people? What's wrong with you?

What's wrong with them? Hey, you're a part of this church. What do you mean, you, them? It's you! It's me!

It's us! And one reason it's so hard to find a good church is because healthy churches require healthy church members. Where does the Bible teach church membership? Among other places, right here. It's before you. If you've got your Bible, open to 1 Thessalonians 5.

If it were a snake, it'd bite you. It's right there. Now, the word isn't used, of course, but what's there? Clear membership relationships that are necessary to obey these instructions. You can't do it unless there's a sense of belonging, of ownership, of membership in this church. I recently heard someone who said that he had talked to another person about the biblical teaching on church membership by taking them to Hebrews chapter 13 that I referred to a moment ago. Verse 17, obey those who rule over you and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls.

You're not a member of a church. Who are you submissive to? Who are you obeying as your spiritual leaders? That guy on television?

That guy on the CD? As good as it is to listen to good Bible messages elsewhere, that won't meet the requirement. You've got to have a relationship, an understood relationship, a relationship of members to leaders and leaders to members that involves a certain level of submissiveness, not beyond what Scripture teaches and requires, but up until that extent, not less than that either. Who are you obeying?

Who's going to give an account for you as those who must give account? Who has a responsibility to shepherd you and to give an account to Christ for you someday if you are just kind of unaffiliated, kind of wandering around out there? You see, many people want a good church to attend, but not as many are willing to make the commitment to make your church a healthy church. Many people want a good church to attend if somebody else will do the work and present it to them on a platter and say, here it is, enjoy it. I can't find a good church. Yeah, how many years have you gone without ever being an active member in a church? Are you yourself a Christian?

Go ahead and squirm. Because this is what is required to have healthy churches. Shall we pray? Father, thank you for giving us your word. Give us grace to believe it, to receive it, to apply it, to live it out to the honor of Christ. Amen.