The Measure of a Church’s Value
Mark 8:34-38
Introduction: When we were setting up the new property insurance policy for the church the question of the replacement value of the church came up. What would it take to replace our buildings and all our equipment and supplies? The reality is that the church is not the buildings but the people, the Body of Christ. The question still arises, however, “What is the value of the church?” I would like you to consider with me how the Word of God as opposed the World measures the church.
I. The Measuring Stick of the World and Worldly Christians
A. The world measures the church like any other product or service.
1. What is the Church doing for me?
2. What can I get out of it?
3. What does the church have to offer?
4. Many are consumer Christians who want to enjoy the benefits of being saved but are not willing to pay the price. They focus on all the benefits and blessings of being a Christ follower but want none of the sacrifice associated with it.
B. What are these people looking for
1. They want relative and inspiring worship services
a) Most people want to worship in a style with which they are comfortable and to which they can relate.
b) People want to hear entertaining and motivational speeches that make them feel better about themselves.
• 2 Timothy 4:3 (NASB) “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires.”
c) They want music that is upbeat and pleasing. This is not new as seen in the story of Isaac Watts.
• A young man by the name of Isaac Watts had complained to his father about how the music seemed boring and his father’s response was a challenge to change the way people praised God. Even though his father was kidding, Watts rose to the challenge and wrote over 750 hymns and psalms.
2. They want educational and social programs.
a) They want to have a place where there are activities and programs they can get involved in without long term commitments or that interfere with their schedules.
b) Acts 24:25 “Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, “Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you.”
c) They want convenient services at convenient times with convenient messages, all designed to fit easily into their busy schedule with no demands upon them to change.
3. They want their needs met on demand.
a) They expect the church to fulfill whatever they ask for, when they ask – weddings, funerals, counseling, and benevolence – without demands or expectations placed on them.
II. The Measuring Stick of the Word
A. Is our focus on Christ?
1. Worship is not about us. What truly matters is not what we get out of the corporate worship service but what we give to God. True worship is God-centered worship. God has called us to worship Him and Him alone and our self-interests need to be placed on the altar. - copied
2. Revelation 2:4 “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. (Ephesus)
3. Ray Stedman, Senior Pastor of Peninsula Bible Church, used to say, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”
4. The focus of the church is not the church but God. The whole business of the church is Jesus Christ.
5. Colossians 1:18 “And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.”
B. Are we maintaining doctrinal purity in proclamation and practice?
1. Revelation 2:14-16 “But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth.” (Pergamos)
2. Are we taking the message of the cross and conforming it to the desires and lifestyles of the people? Or are we taking the desires and the lifestyles of the people and conforming them to the cross?
3. 1 Timothy 3:15 “But if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to behave yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground (buttress) of the truth.”
4. Truth is not a smorgasbord; you can't just pick and choose what you like or want.
5. "It is better to be divided by truth than to be united in error. It is better to speak the truth that hurts, and then heals, than falsehood that comforts, then kills. It is not love, and it is not friendship, if we fail to declare the whole counsel of God. It is better to be hated for telling the truth than to be loved for telling a lie. It is impossible to find anyone in the Bible who was a power for God who did not have enemies and was not hated. It's better to stand alone with the truth than to be wrong with a multitude. It is better ultimately to succeed with truth than to temporarily succeed with a lie." --Adrian Rogers
6. Jude 3 “Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”
C. Are we witnessing to the lost daily?
1. Acts 1:8 “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
2. Acts 5:42 “And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.”
3. "If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. If they perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees. Let no one go there unwarned and unprayed for." Charles Spurgeon - from the Sermon Fodder
4. While speaking in London, evangelist D. L. Moody was approached by a British companion who wanted to know the secret of Moody's success in leading people to Christ. Moody directed the man to his hotel window and asked, "What do you see?" The man looked down on the square and reported a view of crowded streets. Moody suggested he look again. This time the man mentioned seeing people--men, women, and children. Moody then directed him to look a third time, and the man became frustrated that he was not seeing what Moody wanted him to see. The great evangelist came to the window with watery eyes and said, "I see people going to hell without Jesus. Until you see people like that, you will not lead them to Christ." What do you see in five o'clock traffic, a busy restaurant, a crowded waiting room, your neighborhood, or your extended family? – Sermon Fodder
5. Someone has said that the church is only valuable to the extent that it contributes to the kingdom of God. I find no fault with that statement.
D. Are we mentoring (discipling)?
1. Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. ”
2. "As you go on your way ... make disciples." Disciple making should be intentional but never incidental. It ought to be the ongoing process of each of us . There isn’t a time we set aside for evangelism and mentoring and then turn it off later.
3. Evangelism and mentoring is to be done by the church. If a person visits a church, and they get a visit from a layperson from the church within 36 hours, there’s an 86% chance they will come back the next week. If it’s a pastor who visits them, the chances of their returning the next Sunday go down to 43%. Everyone expects the pastor to visit. But a layperson who cares enough to make a visit is very special! –Yeager
E. Are we exercising our spiritual gifts in mission and service?
1. 1 Corinthians 14:12 “Even so you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, let it be for the edification of the church that you seek to excel.”
2. At the moment of salvation when the believing person is baptized into the body of Christ, the Holy Spirit gives to every believer one or more gifts, God-given abilities for service as God chooses.
3. Revelation 3:1-3 “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, ‘These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God.’”
4. There are three important virtues which make a person suitable for genuine Christian service: dependability, availability, and stick-ability.
5. Christ expects the church to fulfill his Kingdom plans here on earth.
F. Are we demonstrating brotherly love?
1. Philippians 4:2 “I implore Euodia and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord”
2. Paul in writing to the church at Philippi is concerned about the broken working relationship between two women. Those who were partners are now stuck in conflict with each other, and such conflict gets in the way of the real work of the church. One evangelical leader in the church today has said that nothing so impedes the work of the church as the divided state of so many believers.
3. 1 John 4:12 “No man has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells in us, and His love is perfected in us.”
4. "It is okay to disagree, but do it agreeably. We can agree to disagee--until the Lord shows you that I'm right!" --Harry Ramey (joking)
5. You know the old saying, "United We Stand, Divided We Fall." This saying is applicable within the church too. In the battle for Stalingrad during World War II the Russian commanders ordered their soldiers not to give up any more ground. Any soldier who fled from the Germans was shot on the spot. The Russian commanders knew that if even a couple of soldiers fled their post the Germans would have an opening through which they could pour into the city. Likewise, when the church is divided, Satan finds it so much easier to attack and to conquer. – copied
III. The Value Christ Put on the Church
A. In Ephesians 5:25 Paul states that Christ loved the church and gave His life for it.
B. The Bible refers to the church as the Body of Christ. It is the Bride of Christ.
C. The greatness of God's love for us is demonstrated by His priceless gift to us. How much did God love the church? So much that He would allow his only begotten Son to die for it (John 3:16).
D. How are we demonstrating our response to that love?
E. If Jesus came to our church, to spend some time with us, would things be done just as they’ve been, or would there be a fuss? Would we even know Him if He arrived today, or come and go unnoticed, and would He want to stay? - copied
