A healthy church is a church that is submissive to the Lord. It results from spiritually individual healthy Christians. When the members of a church are healthy Christians, the congregation, in turn, will be a healthy one. This requires each member to be submissive to the Lord in their own lives. We can each ask ourselves this personal question? Am I serving the Lord faithfully? Here’s why: if each of us is consistent in serving the Lord faithfully, then it will result into a congregation that is faithful to the Lord as well. This is quite evident in the life of the early church; they were devoted to the Word of God and to seeking the face of God, and consequently, they served the Lord fervently together.

Serving the Lord is a manifestation of our love for the Lord. Serving the Lord can better be explained by the word “worship” … serving the Lord is our act of worship.

So, when it comes to serving the Lord, it means that we have no will of our own, His will must become our will! Is this the way it is in your life? Has God’s will become your will? As a church congregation, we must get to the point where we have no will of our own! We cannot just do what we want just because it looks good, or just because it will make the most people happy, or just because other churches have done it and it worked for them! We must submit our will under the authority of the Spirit of God, and He, in turn, will show us what the will of God is for us, and will also empower us to be able to do the will of God!

Jesus explained this concept of total devotion, when He was asked to state which was the greatest commandment. The answer Jesus gave, not only shows us the kind of love we must have toward the Lord, but the level of devotion manifested by that love.

Matthew 22:37-40… “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments depend on all the Law and the Prophets.”

Here’s what this looks like in your life and mine: it looks a lot like the words “total surrender”.

The Apostle Paul also talks about that in Romans 12:1-2: I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

One implication of this passage is that serving the Lord faithfully actually benefits us; it keeps us from sinning against the Lord! When we resolve to serve the Lord faithfully, it means we completely devote all that we are and all that we have unto Him! It means that we have no other God but the Lord! And the result is this: we are far less likely to stray from the Lord!

So, let me urge all of us: resolve to serve the Lord faithfully! Resolve to become and obedient child of God and be completely and totally devoted to His will!

If each one of us could do this, if each one of us could live our daily lives this way, it would then make it easier for us to do this as a church body.

We see this example in the early church in different ways.

1. Acts 2:42… And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
2. Acts 2:44… And all who believed were together and had all things in common.
3. Acts 2:45… And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.
4. Acts 2:46-47… And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people.

The reason it was possible for the early church to achieve this level of service to the Lord corporately, was because each one was serving the Lord personally.

Wrapping Up with Key Insights

A healthy church is one that consistently and faithfully serves the Lord. But this is achievable when each member is individually submitted to serve the Lord faithfully. Serving the Lord is not so much about doing things, it is more about living a life that is submitted to the Lord.

Written by Pastor Prudent