The Characteristics of an Outstanding Local New Testament Church

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What makes an outstanding local New Testament church? This is all about how the power of the Holy Spirit brings forth the power of Christ to those who are His. Before everything, let's consider reading 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10:
Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. 
We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father; knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. For our Gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost: so that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing. For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

To give an enumeration, here's what makes an outstanding local New Testament church:

1.) There's the inevitable change of life because one is a born again, Bible-believing Christian

Some Christians may say that to say "born again Christian" and "Bible-believing Christian" is to say it's like saying old ice cream. This is all about making a distinction between the Christian and the false Christian. Anybody can say they're Christian but they belong to a pseudo-Christian denomination like Roman Catholicism, Jehovah's Witness, Charismatic, Iglesia Ni Cristo, Charismatics, etc. which reject Sola Scriptura, add something to salvation and teach another Jesus. We are talking about the Christians that continue biblical tradition (2 Thessalonians 3:6) which is in the apostolic writings and not manmade inventions created by misquoting Bible verses.

Becoming a born again Christian isn't joining some organization. It's not founded by Billy Graham who by the way is an ally of Rome. Although John 3:3 says "born from above" to be born again means to be born from above. This is all about an actual spiritual rebirth that can't be administered by infant baptism or by putting a trust in a sinner's prayer. Okay, some may say that some people got saved in spite of the sinner's prayer and altar call evangelism. That's because the pastor who leads them doesn't preach a diluted presentation of the Gospel and confronts false converts when need be. Some get saved in a sinner's prayer evangelism because they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ unlike today where many think they were born again by simply saying a prayer. There's a difference between saying a sinner's prayer when you are repentant vs. putting one's trust in a sinner's prayer. No wonder so many say a prayer but are never saved to start with.

To be born again means to acknowledge and repent of one's sinfulness. This is metanoneia which means a change of mind which begets a change of purpose. What does it mean to repent of one's sin? Some people say that to repent of one's sin is to forsake it and do good works. On the contrary, it means a change of mind about how dreadful sin is, how one is incapable of saving one's self and how it has displeased God. Don't confuse the fruit of repentance with repentance. If you're repentant then there's this willingness to turn from sin. Many people who don't want to get saved also have that love for sin. How often are many people comfortable in being religious and living sinful lifestyles. They think their religious lifestyles can make up for their sinful living. But the Bible warns in James 2:10-11 that you only need to break one rule to violate the whole Law. God's standard is much higher than that!

2.) The compliant labor happens because you love the Lord

 If Christians aren't saved or kept saved by good works then why do good works? It's not just for the reward but because it's the inevitable result of good works. God is too holy and loving to leave Christians saved but not bearing any fruit. There's no such thing as barren Christianity. Nobody can get saved but God leaves them barren. If you're saved the whole attitude towards sin is never the same anymore. The Christian may find temporary pleasure in sin but the Holy Spirit convicts. Hebrews 12:5-7 says that God will chastise those who are His.

There's the question of what about the unteachable? God makes them teachable. God's grace can't be resisted. Titus 2:11-14 says that God's grace teaches righteous living. While good works don't save the Christian but they certainly happen because a Christian is saved. Although salvation from sin is by faith alone but this faith is never alone. In short, when one has saving faith it's accompanied by good works that happen only by God's grace. Ephesians 2:8-10 says that you are saved by grace through faith then God equips you unto good works.

1 Corinthians 6:11 gives this wonderful truth about what it means to go from being unrighteous to righteous. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 shows just how dead we are. The lifestyles of the unsaved are shown. Yet verse 11 states this one wonderful fact, "And such were some of you." This verse talks about redemption and sanctification. It's pretty much the truth that you were once lost in sin but God saved you. You get saved and you don't want to sin anymore. You want to leave your sinful lifestyle. That's true conversion. If you teach a license to sin or believe you have a license to sin then you're really nothing more than a false convert to the "gospel" of Antinomianism.

The Christian has Jesus as the Lord of one's life. You can't have Jesus as Savior but not Lord. If your Jesus is not Lord then you were never saved to start with. Every time the Gospel is preached, Jesus' Lordship is always preached. This always makes one see that Jesus is Lord. Submission to Jesus' Lordship is not optional. Rather, it's inevitable from the time you get saved and it continues daily. When a person receives Jesus Christ as one's Lord and Savior after seeing they can't save themselves they have done what He asked for salvation. He's Lord of all but not all submit. Now the lost sinner who's now found submits. Then everyday, this submission continues as a result of salvation.

This labor is also in love. 1 Corinthians 13 is the great love chapter in the Bible. The introduction really shows the truth that it doesn't matter what greatness you possess but love is needed. Knowledge not spoken in love is a clanging cymbal. Ephesians 4:15 says that the truth must be spoken in love. Christians are commanded to speak the truth but in love. Every good work must be done out of love for God and for fellow men. It must be done out of love even for one's enemies. The Bible commands us to treat our enemies kindly (Romans 12:9-21).

There is the patience of hope. God has been patient so why be impatient? Love is patient. Love can wait for the right time. Patience should not be mistaken with tardiness. Rather, it's all about redeeming the time and not rushing the time. Are you on time to do your work? Then it's time for you to do your work without rushing it. While one must be on time but one must also learn how to wait. In a world of "instant" today it's very easy to think patience means being too tolerant. Patience is rather being reasonable and setting the right time. It means doing your work, enduring your work and waiting for the right time to do something. God has a perfect timetable so don't argue with it.

3. Courageous leaders are needed

 Pastors need two voices - one for calling sheep and the other for driving out wolves. It's stupid to have pastors who have no spine. Spineless pastors are one reason why certain churches fall apart. If you're called to be a pastor you should be ready for false accusations, physical attacks and any form of persecution to hit both you and your church. To be called a pastor is not a glamorous existence. In the Old Testament, the duty of the priest and the prophet has not been glamorous. The Tribe of Levi and their families had to live a life set apart. Imagine the life of being a priest's son means one has to live to be trained to succeed one's father. A priest can't even marry a widowed woman. A prophet has been set to a life of hardship. Jeremiah was even called to a life of celibacy because of the danger that would happen. Elijah lived a lot of his life confronting the evils of Ahab and Jezebel. John the Baptist lost his head for criticizing Herod Antipas' adulterous relationship with his half-niece Herodias.

Pastors shouldn't be afraid to confront sin in the church when needed. If sin isn't confronted then that local New Testament church will fall apart. Do you remember 1 Corinthians 5 where Paul addressed the issue of nominal incest between a man and his stepmother? That had to be taken care of. The person was most likely a false convert. There was even the request to set him aside to the destruction of the flesh hoping it will lead to repentance and salvation. There are so many false converts in the church today. How many times is it a problem where some pastors today are afraid to confront possible false converts? They try to disciple them saying, "You shouldn't do that because you're a Christian." even when the evidence suggests otherwise (Matthew 7:14-20).

False converts also abound today because of pastors that don't preach the Gospel without compromise. How often is it that today's Gospel is given a diluted picture. How often it is that we don't talk about the hard part of the Gospel. What's the hard part of the Gospel? While salvation is not of any good works to earn or maintain it but here's what. The Gospel is not something easy to believe because of man's sinfulness. Sometimes, it even takes months or even years for someone to get saved because of unbelief. It's easy to see how promoting the very fact that man is not basically good and that Jesus the sinless Son of God died on the cross for sinful man isn't even attractive. Most people today think they're basically good so the Gospel is utterly offensive because of their pride.

The thought from the late Leonard Ravenhill was this. He would rather have ten true converts than ten thousand false converts. Many times, statistics ends up wrong because those who take the records are wrong. How many people today claim to be Christian but are erroneously recorded as Christians? That would be bad statistics. You need statistics to get things organized but wrong entries can get you disorganized. If the statistics say that many supposedly "accepted Christ" but only a few truly stayed faithful in the long run then that proves only a few truly deserve to be recorded as Christians in church statistics. Unfortunately, the secular world has confused Christian with anyone who claims to be a follower of Christ.

4. Always looking forward to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ

 It's time to look forward for Jesus' return isn't it? One of the greatest examples was how some of the Puritans and other preachers labored hard. Some of the great preachers Calvinist or not (both are brothers in Christ) both do their work believing that Jesus could come back any time. Unfortunately, one of the greatest truths that was spoken by the late Aiden Wilson Tozer was this. It's a problem that some Christians tend to feel too comfortable in the world at times. It's also a problem that some Christians tend to wait until God's loving chastisement comes near before they resume their post. Although a Christian cannot totally fall away but they're not immune from moments where they momentarily fall away.

If you notice Thessalonica is where the Blessed Hope is talked about. Although the word Rapture doesn't exist in the Bible but it's a modern translation for the word "takeb" or taken away. This is where the Blessed Hope is discussed. Remember, no one knows the time. It certainly wasn't December 21, 2012 as some said it would be. If the Rapture did take place last December 21, 2012 then it would have been the Tribulation period already. But we know that no man knows but the Father (Matthew 24:36, Mark 13:32).

If you believe that Jesus Christ would come back any split second now wouldn't it make a difference in how you act? Just think of how often people want to fulfill Matthew 24:14. You could think of how many pastors today that the Lord's coming is near because of the biggest sign: evangelism. Even a pastor would say, "You want Jesus to return? Then preach the Gospel! Let the Gospel fill the Earth as He said then the end will come!" Jesus already said in Matthew 24:14 that the end will not come until the Gospel is preached all over the world. This is really a huge sign that the Lord is returning. The Great Commission is getting fulfilled at jet-age speed. The Great Commission is fulfilled all because of Christians who long for His appearing.

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