A Church That Honors God, Part 3

“All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. … all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.” Acts 2:42, 47 (NLT)

A church that honors God dreams big and prays hard! Those are the first two dynamic principles for the kind of church that Jesus founded and over which He is the head. Today, let’s look at two more:

Third, the church that honors God builds people. The church was never a building or an organization in Scripture. It is a living organism, called the body of Christ. It’s all about people, not property or programs. When we build the lives of people it honors God. God called us to be fruitful and multiply. He made us to be builders. So the real question is, “What are you building?” You can be a home builder, a builder of business and financial portfolios but who are the people that you are building up along the way? This is the focus of a church that honors God. From it’s genesis in Acts 2:42 (NLT), the Bible tells us that the church was about building people to become fully committed followers of Jesus Christ. It says, “All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.”  They were devoted to these four essentials that build people: Biblical instruction “the apostles’ teaching”; fellowship, communion, and prayer. If these essentials are missing in a church, it is not honoring God. Fellowship involves encouraging one another, building each other up in the Lord. First Thessalonians 5:11 (NLT) says, “So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.” We all experience enough discouragement from the world. We need encouragement. Think about it, for over 2,000 years Jesus has been building His church. Whenever you serve, whenever you give, you are joining Jesus in building people and honoring God!

Fourth, a church that honors God praises Him! This is what the first church in Acts did. They recognized that their growth and the miracles being done in the church were not of their own ability or leadership. Acts 2:47 (GW) says, “At the same time, they praised God and had the good will of all the people. Every day the Lord saved people, and they were added to the group.” The church that honors God is not about celebrities and powerful personalities. It’s a church that gives all the credit to God knowing that it is not by might, nor by promotion, but by God’s Spirit that the church grows. It’s all God but He uses ordinary people like you and me who are restfully available and instantly obedient to Him. Every weekend in worship is a time for celebration for all that God has done. Like the Psalmist in Psalm 107:31-32 (NLT), the church that honors God can say, “Let them praise the LORD for His great love and for the powerful things He has done for them. Let them exalt Him publicly before the congregation and before the leaders of the nation.”

Praise God for what He has done in the church. Praise God for what He is going to do until He comes again and takes His church home. Until then, if you want to be a part of a church that honors God then dream big, pray hard, build people, and praise God!