The Cap (Or The Roof) The Purposeful Action Of The Church Series

The Cap (or The Roof)

The Purposeful Action of the Church

John 1:29-31 (NIV)

Part 4

THE PURPOSE OF THE CHURCH

Introduction

The Staff, The Foundation, The Walls, and now we cap our series with our Third and very important purpose of the Church, The Evangelization of the lost. In this series we will call this part, or this action “The Purposeful Action of the Church”.

Would you walk past a building where you looked into the store front and see people working and as you pass the corner you see the back of the building engulfed in flames and not turn around and warn those inside of the danger?

If you were walking down a street and saw a toddler walking out into the street, would you say to yourself, “I’m sure the mother is near by, she’ll take care of it, or he’ll take care of it?

Would you live in a house if you were told that it could collapse at any time, but don’t worry, it probably won’t happen until you die.

I would expect your answer to all three questions to be NO WAY. Yet as Christians we see people in crisis situations where their lives are on fire, and often fail to even say that we will pray for them.

If we are indeed disciples of Jesus Christ, let us look at Him as our example. If we use Jesus as our example, not other men, then we will never fail in the work to which He has called us. So to know what our purpose is in Christ, we must know what Christ’s purpose was when He came to us. I often hear this scripture quoted by people that rarely speak of God or Christ. They will say, “All thing work together for good”. Even many mature Christians will use it at times when they just don’t know what else to say and they might know enough to add “to them who love the Lord.” All that is fine, but let’s take a look at that verse. It is found in Romans 8:28 (NIV)

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

When you look at the whole scripture you realize that there is a codicil to the promise that all things work together for good. It requires us to do what we have been called to do.

So if the foundation we build on must be Jesus Christ, then wouldn’t it be a good idea to know what His purpose was?

We have been studying three purposes of the church; let’s look at three purposes of Jesus Christ.

1) Jesus came to teach believers; Edification of the believers.

Matthew 11:1 (NIV)

1 After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee.

2) He came to bring light for the world to see God. Exaltation of God.

John 12:44-47 (NIV) Then Jesus cried out, "When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

3) He came to call the sinners. Evangelization of Sinners

Matthew 9:10-13 (NIV) 10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

Now I have already spent the last two weeks on the Edification of the Believer and the Exaltation of God, so this week and next week will talk about the cap stone of this series, The Purposeful Action of the Church, The Evangelization of Sinners. And Next week The Purposeful Preparation of Gods People.

Our text will be coming from the first chapter of John. We will focus on verses 40-41, but to first give you a quick background to this passage, Jesus is walking and he passes John the Baptist; John says, “John 1:29-31 (NIV)

"Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

30 This is the one I meant when I said, 'A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.'

31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel."