The Church Is Worthy
Sermon 1 in the series “Church Matters"
Chuck Sligh
June 23, 2013
NOTE: A PowerPoint presentation of this sermon is available upon request by emailing me at chucksligh@hotmail.com.
TEXT: 1 Timothy 3:15 – “But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.”
INTRODUCTION
Illus. – A pastor in a mid-sized town wrote the local newspaper explaining ten reasons he stopped going to athletic contests. He said…
1. Every time I went, they asked me for money.
2. The people with whom I had to sit didn’t seem very friendly.
3. The seats were too hard and uncomfortable.
4. The coach never came to talk with me.
5. I was sitting with some hypocrites—they only came to see what others were wearing.
6. Some games went into overtime, so I was late getting home.
7. The band played some numbers I had never heard before.
8. The games are scheduled with I want to do other things.
9. My parents took me to too many games when I was growing up.
10. Since I read a book on sports, I feel that I know more than the coaches, anyhow.
It’s easy to see the parallels here with excuses for not going to church…and how silly they are.
The fact of the matter is that many people don’t like church, or going to a church, or committing to a church or getting involved in a church or supporting financially a church.
To some, church is:
• A bother rather than a blessing.
• A nuisance instead of a need.
• A ritual rather than a refuge.
But today I want you to see that the Church is worthy of our support and participation and commitment.
Today’s sermon is the first in a series titled “Church Matters: All Things Church, and Why It Matters.”
In our text, the word “church” (ekklesia) clearly refers to the local church Timothy pastored.
Ekklesia is found 113 times in the New Testament….
• Only a few times does it clearly mean the “universal church,” sometimes called the “invisible church”—that is, the body of Christ, consisting of all born-again believers from all faith traditions and all eras of Christianity from Pentecost to the present.
• About 90 percent of the time ekklesia refers clearly to LOCAL churches—the VISIBLE manifestation of God’s people gathered in local assemblies for worship, witness, fellowship and service—like Grace Baptist Church.
God places a very great degree of importance upon the local church. Today, let’s see how “The Church Is Worthy.”
I. FIRST, IT’S WORTHY BECAUSE OF THE PERSON WHO IS ITS HEAD.
The church, both universal and local, is referred to in a variety of ways in the Bible.
Let’s look at three word pictures the New Testament uses to explain the church to us:
• First, it is referred to as a BUILDING, with Jesus as the chief cornerstone.
In Matthew 16, Peter had just stated that Jesus Christ was the “Christ [or Messiah], the Son of the living God” (verse 16).
It was right after this statement, in verse 18, that Jesus said, “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
Jesus wasn’t making Peter the first pope in this as Roman Catholicism teaches. Rather, this was a play on words, which the original Greek clearly shows.
> Peter’s name in Greek is petros which means “a stone,” by which is meant a detached or small stone that might be thrown or easily moved.
> The word “rock” in this verse is petra, which means a mass of rock; a huge, unmovable, massive piece of rock, such as you would see on a mountain, or as the Rock of Gibraltar is often described.
So Jesus was using Peter’s name to get across a point: that the church would be built upon HIM, the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Paul takes up this theme of Jesus as the strong foundation of a vast spiritual entity called the church in Ephesians 2:20-22 – “And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” – So Paul refers to the church as a BUILDING and the Lord Jesus Christ as its chief corner stone.
• The New Testament also depicts the church as a BRIDE with Jesus as the Groom.
In 2 Corinthians 11:2 Paul writes, “For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.”
The church as a bride to be presented to Christ the Groom is also found in Revelation 19:7 when this announcement is made after the Great Tribulation: “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.”
What a glorious event that will be when Christ weds his bride, the church
• Finally, the New Testament depicts the church as a BODY, with Jesus as its Head.
Paul says in Ephesians 1:22-23 that God the Father “…hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be) the head over all things to the church, 23 Which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.”
In Colossians 1:18, he says, “And he [Jesus] 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.”
So the Bible also refers to the church as a body, with many functioning members, but its head—its ruler and controller—is Jesus Christ.
Now note one critical thing about each of these New Testament word pictures describing the church: There is an inseparable relationship between the church and Christ.
> He is the cornerstone of the Building of God’s church.
> He is the Groom of the Bride of Christ, His beloved church.
> He is the Head of the Body Christ, which is the church.
Listen brethren, the church is worthy because it is unmistakably associated with; connected to; interrelated to the Lord Jesus Christ!
II. SECOND, THE CHURCH IS WORTHY BECAUSE OF THE PURPOSE FOR WHICH IT WAS FOUNDED.
In Ephesians1-3, Paul explains the glorious truth about how God joined the Gentiles together with the Jews to create this glorious new people of God, the church. Twice in chapter 1, in verses 12 and 14, he tells us that God did this for “the praise of God’s glory,” and that God’s glory was the ultimate purpose of the church is also mentioned in a couple of other places in chapters 2-3.
Brethren, the purpose of the church is not to provide a place to have your needs met; it’s not a karaoke gathering to sing fun songs; it’s not to have a place to socialize; it’s not a place to make business contacts. There are sub-purposes for the church that we’ll look at next week, but the ULTIMATE purpose of the church is to bring glory to God!
There is no greater purpose in your life or for the universal church or for any local church than to bring glory to God. That’s the greatest purpose in all the world, and this makes the church more important; its work more vital; its function more critical than any institution on this earth.
And it means it is more worthy of our commitment and participation and support than any club, any sports body, any charitable organization, any social group, any political party, or any business we could be a part of.
• The Rotary Club might do good things, but it’s not as important as the local church!
• The Masons might do charitable works, but it doesn’t touch a light to the church’s importance and the magnitude of its glorious purpose!
• Little League and sports might be wonderful things for kids, but not nearly as wonderful or as important as the local church!
• Your job may provide you great personal satisfaction and fulfillment, but what you do is not nearly as important as your participation in your local church.
Someone once said that “The church has many critics, but it has no rivals.” And what is true of the church as a whole applies to the local church too. P.T. Forsyth said, “The local church is the outcrop of the church universal.”
In other words, THIS church is more important than any other institution or organization or function or activity in this community. Grace Baptist Church’s purpose is more significant in God’s scheme of things than what the U.S. Army does, or what the U.S. or German governments do, or what the German-American Club does, or all the sports teams in Bavaria combined.
The church is worthy because it has the most important purpose in the world and we ought to show by our lives and actions its worthiness and honor!
III. FINALLY, THE CHURCH IS WORTHY BECAUSE OF THE PRICE THAT WAS PAID FOR IT.
We tend to think of Christ dying for our sins personally, and the Bible does teach that. But the Bible also teaches a corporate aspect of redemption—that Christ died for a group of people called the church which one becomes part of he trusts in Christ by faith. In other words, not only did Christ die for YOU and ME personally, but He also died for THE CHURCH as a whole.
For instance, in Acts 20:28, Paul warned the Ephesian elders to be watchful over the flock that God had made them overseers over, and then he instructed them to “feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.”
And then there’s every wife’s favorite verse in the Bible, Ephesians 5:25 – “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.”
So the church is worthy because of the price that was paid for it.
What was that price?—Jesus gave His LIFE for the church.
Illus. – Suppose you bought a brand new Lamborghini Veneno, which you ladies probably have no idea of its worth. Well, neither did I except vaguely, so I looked it up last night, and one of them babies is valued at 4 MILLION DOLLARS brand new.
So let’s say you just bought a brand new Lamborghini Veneno for 4 million bucks, and before you could even get insurance for it, someone took a sledge hammer and demolished it.
It would make your blood boil, wouldn’t it! Why?—Because you paid dearly for it.
Don’t you think Jesus thinks more of the church, which He gave HIS LIFE for, than we would for any car, or all the vehicles on earth?
The church was worthy of Jesus’s sacrifice on Calvary, so it should be worthy of our sacrifice and commitment. If the church was worthy for Christ to die for, it should be worthy of some things from us:
• The church is worth UNITING with.
The outcrops of the church universal are the hundreds of thousands of local churches around the world. You honor the church universal by uniting in fellowship with, and getting involved in, and supporting financially a local manifestation of the body of Christ—a local church like Grace Baptist Church.
In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul likens a church to a body with many different parts. His main point is that every part of the body has a role, a job, a function.
But here’s something you need to see: YOU NEVER SEE A BODY PART UNATTACHED TO A BODY!
Illus. – Suppose the doorbell rang and you went to the door and there was an eyeball or an arm just floating in mid-air. You say, “That’s absurd!” You just proved my point because it is also absurd for a Christian not to be united with a local body of believers.
You say, “Well, I don’t need to join a church. I’m part of the invisible church.”
Illus. – Vance Havner tells of hearing of a man who said to the preacher, “I want to sing in your choir.” The preacher said, “Well, you don’t belong to our church. Where do you have your membership?” He said, “I don’t belong to any local church. I belong to the invisible church.” The pastor replied, “Then I suggest you join the invisible choir.”
You say, “Chuck, I want to keep my membership at my home church in my hometown or where I came from last.” Well, who’s ministering to you here in this community?—The members of that stateside church, or the members here at Grace? Who’s preaching and teaching God’s Word to you and counseling you if you request it, and planning programs to meet your family’s spiritual needs?—Your pastoral staff in the U.S., or the leaders here at Grace? If you go into the hospital, is your pastor there going to hop in a plane and visit you in the hospital, or do you reckon I’ll probably do that? When you get OUT of the hospital, do you expect the sweet members of the ladies society of your home church to fix meals for you, or do you suppose that some folks here might end up doing that?
Quite honestly, that doesn’t quite compute with me.
• Second, the church is worthy of our FAITHFULNESS.
Hebrews 10:24-25 says, “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”
I would submit to you that church attendance is more important than the extra hours of sleep you want on Sunday morning during the GrowGroups Sunday School service. I would suggest to you that rest and family time on Sunday is important, but not more important than gathering together with the faithful on Sunday night to learn more of God’s Word and to fellowship with the brethren. And attending a homegroup is more important than watching your favorite TV show on that night, especially in this day and age when you can record shows.
Brethren, the church is worthy!
• Third, the church is worthy of our SERVICE.
When you serve in a local church, you’re functioning as part of the whole body, helping it to be healthy and strong.
> If my arm is cut off, something vital is missing. – I can function, but not as effectively as I could with my arm.
> If they have to take out one of my lungs, I could survive with my other lung, but I’d be weak and sickly for the rest of my life, unless I could get a lung transplant
Listen—there’s a place for YOU to serve at Grace Baptist.
Men, one of the formative things in my spiritual development is that almost all my life growing up, there were MEN who were my teachers in the church. I had women teachers too, but I needed to see MEN serving God; MEN reaching down and serving the Kingdom by serving us children.
Some of you tough infantrymen would charge through a hail of bullets in battle without a second thought, but you go weak in the knees at the thought of teaching a kids class just ONCE month in our K.I.D.S. Church. If you can be an infantryman, believe me, men, KIDS ARE CINCH! The way our curricula is set up, every man in this sanctuary this morning could easily teach a class as well as all you ladies.
The same could be said of the nursery. Any woman here today could keep the nursery. And any husband here today could work beside your wife in the nursery.
The question on any of these kinds of things is, Are you functioning in the body as you were meant to be to help the whole body be healthy and strong?
• Lastly, the church is worthy of our FINANCIAL SUPPORT.
You say, “I want to keep giving my tithes to my home church.”—All while using our facilities; drinking our water; using our electricity; flushing our toilets; drinking our coffee; using our Sunday School and KIDS Church material; receiving the benefits of the labors of this pastor, and the GrowGroups teacher in this church’s adult class, and the labor of your kid’s GrowGroups class; and the free childcare for your baby or toddler.
Illus. – It would be like going to the Edelwiess Lodge for a week’s vacation. You charge all your meals and activities to your room and all the amenities of the lodge. At the end of a great week, it’s time for you to go home. You’re heading out the door, and as you jump into your car, a Lodge representative stops you and says, “Sir, you forgot to pay your bill.” And you say, “Oh, I sent my payment to the Holiday Inn in my hometown. I figured they needed it more than you.” How do you suppose that would go over?
Brethren, the local church you worship in; that ministers to you; where you are the recipients of their hard work and sacrifice is worthy of your support. Even if you are of a different denomination or cannot agree with our doctrinal statement but attend our church, I’d urge you to assist us by helping to undergird this ministry with your tithes and offerings.
CONCLUSION
The church is worthy—both in its universal and local manifestations.
• Worthy because of the PERSON who is its head, the wonderful Lord Jesus, the Chief Cornerstone, the glorious Groom, the Head of the body.
• Worthy because it has the greatest PURPOSE in all the world—to bring glory to God.
• Worthy because of the price that was paid for it, the sacrifice of the Jesus’s own life.
Therefore, we ought to…
• Unite with a local manifestation of the church of God. (I happen to know a good one, by the way.)
• Be faithful to its services.
• Serve its members in ministry.
• And support it financially.
