Tucked away towards the end of Paul’s letter to the Romans there is a powerful commendation of the church. Paul says,

I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another. But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit

Romans 15:14–16 (ESV)

Full of goodness. Filled with all knowledge. Able to instruct one another. They were full, they were filled and they were skilled. They had character, they had convictions and they had competency. Their hearts were full, their heads were not empty and their hands were put to good use. Their character was being shaped by the fruit of the Spirit, their minds were being renewed by the knowledge of Christ and their energies were being directed towards the building of the church and the kingdom of God. 

All in all, those three metrics serve as pretty good assessment criteria for the health of any church.

FULL OF GOODNESS

I appreciate that the first one relates to character. But we mustn’t forget what Paul has already said about goodness in the rest of the letter. Paul goes to great lengths to remind them that whatever goodness they may have, they have all fallen short of the glory of God. They almost certainly weren’t good enough for someone to die for them and yet someone had. Which is why the Gospel was good news and had led them to repentance. Now under the Lordship of Jesus, and with the presence of the Holy Spirit they could overcome evil with good. The goodness they were bringing into the world was not simply their own, but Christ’s. The world needs Christians to be a force for good in the world whether anyone notices or not. Salt. Light. Preserving. Blessing. Serving. Loving. Caring. Nourishing. Building up. Encouraging. Concerned with doing good for their neighbour to build them up.  

FILLED WITH KNOWLEDGE

There are some really smart people in the world, and I often wish I was one of them but I’m not. But Paul is talking about a very specific kind of knowledge. Do you know what Paul knew? Do you know about the justice and righteousness of God? Do you know how to go through hard times & suffer so not only will it not destroy you but it will grow you? Do you know what your baptism means and signifies? Do you know how to think about your old life now that you’re a Christian? Do you know how to live in the freedom that Christ has won for you and win victories over sins that had previously defeated you? Do you know that Christ’s victory over death means? Do you know the future hope for all creation that Paul knew? Do you know what the Scriptures teach you and the truths that they tell you?

Christians are to be a people that are being transformed by the renewing of their minds and that comes, in part, through attending to knowing the right kinds of things in such a way that it changes how we live. And if along the way you’ve stopped being good to those around you go back to step one.

ABLE TO TEACH OTHERS

Finally, Paul says this goodness and knowledge are being put to good use in service of others. It’s not about giving people your ideas, or making suggestions based on a blog, a podcast or a book, or God help us advice based on a feeling. Instead it’s being able to encourage each other, share with each other, learn from one another in such a way that the knowledge of Christ is growing amongst us in community.

If we continue to humbly acquire the knowledge of Christ then a church is not so much split between teachers and learners but where everyone is a learner and where we can learn from everyone. We all have more to learn, I most certainly do. Do you know everything you need to handle everything in life as Christian? It’s less about looking for that 40 minute opportunity to bend someone’s ear about the secret to Old Testament typology that I’ve recently discovered and that no one else knows but learning how to humbly help others grow in Christ.