The Daily Word

 

In all of Paul’s letters to the young churches, many of which he had helped to form by his preaching, there is a broad format, which I suppose we too adopt when writing a letter. Again, broadly speaking, the letters start with greetings, then comes the main reason(s) why he is writing the letter, which may be more than one and his solution to any problems that have arisen and then a closing section, always including farewell messages, but sometimes containing more guidance and personal Christian growth advice/requirements, always as part of the last chapter.

We use those letters today as the basis of governance and practices within our churches because Paul’s ‘advice’ is timeless. One of the responsibilities of elders within the local church is to take a spiritual view of any changes to practices to ensure they are in accordance with what God, through Paul, has defined, including the reasons for change. 

Having been pretty much ‘thrust’ into eldership many years ago, we had to question, refine or even abandon some practices which we saw were not in accordance with God’s Word, and that process of scripture search and then ensuring that what we plan to do will be to the glory of God is still adopted today. And that process is not easy and if we see that a plan does not fit these criteria, then as shepherds of the flock, we have to take decisions that risk unpopularity. But Paul must have faced this many times, and some of his letters have strong words of rebuke.

For the next few days, I want to remind us of some sound doctrine taken from the last chapter of one of Paul’s letters. 

Article written by Brian Preston, Elder @SFGH Church