City Life Starter

Written by Scott Fiddler

The Word

23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Hebrews 10:23-25 (ESV)

Reflection

For a little over a year of my life, fifteen years ago, I got a crash course in how to pastor a church. Being a learner, I read as much as I could on the subject and asked a lot of questions from experts in Every Nation. I wanted to be successful, but I needed to know how to judge success. I needed a metric. In short, I needed to know how to judge the spiritual health of our church. 

The problem is there is no x-ray for the soul. The closest thing to that would be persecution. When someone is forced to risk their life to confess Christ it becomes very easy to tell those who really love Jesus from those who are merely kicking the tires. But we don’t face that kind of persecution in the United States.  Measuring how much time a person spends in prayer and the Word each day would be a helpful metric, but it is not information that is readily available.

What I learned fifteen years ago about evaluating the spiritual health of a church, and what has proven true since then, is the importance of nickels and noses. Quite simply, the readily accessible indicator of the spiritual health of an individual Christian is that they come to church consistently and they give of themselves and their money. In short, people who are healthy spiritually come, give, and serve. They pour out themselves to the world around them. Conversely, people who are unhealthy spiritually are black holes; they don’t give of themselves, their time, or their money. Not surprisingly, when people fall away, it usually starts with their giving, and then their attendance. We see it over and over again.

Hebrews 10:25 hits on one part of that metric—“not neglecting to meet together.” People who are healthy spiritually want to be around other believers. They realize that by interacting with others who are filled with the Spirit of God, they experience God’s presence, as they do during praise and worship. They also realize it is an opportunity to talk to, pray for, and minister to other believers. It is an opportunity to share the grace of God and His Spirit with others. 

Application

Only the Lord can perfectly judge person’s heart and true spiritual health. As humans we deal with approximations. But the personal application of the importance of nickels and noses is this: if you feel yourself not wanting to come to church, you should evaluate your walk with the Lord. You should ask yourself: Have you stopped consistently spending time in the Word and in prayer? Is there unconfessed sin in your life? Do you have an offense against someone that needs to be addressed?

Prayer

Lord, thank You for giving me a community where I can be encouraged and encourage others. Amen.