Illus: Did you hear about Cowboy Joe, who went to church for the first time? Cowboy Joe was telling his friend Charlie about his first visit to the big-city church.
• He said, "When I got there, they had me park my old truck in the corral," Charlie said, "You mean the parking lot."
• "I walked up the trail to the door." Charlie again corrected him and said, “You mean the sidewalk.”
• Joe continued, "Inside the door, I was met by this dude." Charlie said, “You mean usher.”
• "Well, the usher led me down the chute." Charlie said, "You mean the aisle."
• "Then, he led me to a stall and told me to sit there." Charlie said, “You mean PEW!"
• "Yeah, That's what that pretty lady said when I sat down beside her…PEW!”
Like I said, some folks have some strange ideas when it comes to the church. The question I want to ask you is this, "What kind of church does God want this church to be?”
As we look at the scriptures, we are not without guidance concerning God’s church. For example, based on the scriptures we can see:
I. HIS DESIRE FOR HIS CHURCH
Notice, in our scripture reading the Lord referred to the church as, “My church”.
There are all kinds of religious groups today that refer to themselves as God’s church. For example, we have the:
• UNITARIAN CHURCH - they simply believe that whatever you think is sin is sin, but if you do not think it is sin, it is not!
• METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY CHURCHES - “...created in 1968 as a way of providing an environment where HOMOSEXUAL CHRISTIANS could freely worship God and grow in their spiritual journeys.”
• SATANIC CHURCHES - (Church of Satan - Founded by “Lord Egan”)
All these groups call themselves churches, but as we look at the Scriptures, we see they certainly are not the kind of a church that Christ would call “..My Church...”
Before we can determine what kind of church the Lord wants our church to be, we need to consider two things:
(1) The word Church is derived from the Greek word “KURIAKOS” which means "Belonging to the Lord".
(2) It is also a combination of another Greek word, "EKKLESIA" which means "Assembly".
If we combine the two, we get the true meaning, which is “An assembly belonging to the Lord". Notice, it is an ASSEMBLY OF PEOPLE BELONGING TO THE LORD.
This is why Bible-believing churches believe that people that join their churches should be PEOPLE THAT ARE SAVED, and that love to be in the Lord’s house!
Illus: Did you hear about the church that had a strange way of taking in new members?
Three couples, an elderly couple, a middle-aged couple and a young, newlywed couple wanted to join a church.
The pastor said, "We have special requirements for new members. To show that you have discipline in your life and will never cause an embarrassment to our church, each couple must separate from their mate for two weeks.” They all agreed this would be something they were willing to do to join!
• After two weeks, the elderly couple came to the pastor and he asked them if they met the criteria of becoming new members in his church. The old man replied, "No problem at all.” The Pastor extended his hand and said, "Congratulations! Welcome to the church!"
• The middle aged couple came to the pastor’s office. They walked in and he asked them if they were able to live a disciplined life. The man said, “Yes, the first week was not too bad, but I have to confess that the second week required some hard discipline in our lives.” The pastor said, “Congratulations! Welcome to the church!”
• The newlyweds came into the pastor’s office and he said, “Were you able to reveal discipline in your life and stay away from each other for two weeks?” The young man said, “Pastor, I am afraid we could not show such discipline in our life!”
The pastor said, “What happened?” He said, “I was at Home Depot and I accidentally ran into my wife shopping, and as you can imagine I was VERY glad to see her after several days of not seeing her.”
The pastor said “I can not tell you how bad I feel, I am certainly sorry, but our rules require that we do not allow you in our church again!”
The young man said, “Pastor, don’t feel bad because they told us we could not come back in Home Deport anymore either.”
The church is an ASSEMBLY OF PEOPLE WHO BELONG TO AND LOVE THE LORD, and you can not keep them from the Lord’s house! Every time the doors are open they are going to be there.
WHAT IS HIS DESIRE FOR HIS CHURCH? His desire is that His church MAGNIFY HIM! Everything we do as a church should be for the purpose of MAGNIFYING HIM! If it does not magnify Him we should not be doing it.
God placed the church here on earth for that purpose. While many think the church was placed here for other reasons, the devil knows this is HIS DESIRE FOR HIS CHURCH.
The top priority of the church should be to MAGNIFY THE LORD ALWAYS! Everything we do as a church should show this is our top priority as a church. We are filled with the Spirit of God, and there is no room in our life for anything but Him!
Illus: A professor of philosophy stood silently before his class, waiting for students to take their seats. After they were all seated, he took an empty mayonnaise jar from his desk and filled it to the top with large rocks.
• When he was done, he asked the students whether the jar was full. They replied that, indeed, it was full.
• Next the professor took a box of small pebbles and poured them into the jar, shaking the jar so that the pebbles fell into the open areas between the larger rocks. The students smiled. When the professor asked the students again if the jar was full, they agreed that it was.
• Then the professor poured in a box of sand, which naturally filled up all the spaces in the jar between the rocks and the pebbles. He then began to explain the purpose of the exercise.
Holding up the jar, he said, “This is your life.”
• The rocks represent all the important things, like family, relationships, your health, whatever is so important that were it lost, you would be devastated, nearly destroyed.
• The pebbles represent the other things that matter but are important to a lesser extent, like your job, a car or a house. They matter on a smaller scale.
• The sand represents everything else. Were you to place the sand in the jar first, there would be no room at all for the rocks. It is the same with your life. If you spend all your energy and your time on the small stuff, you won’t have room for the things in life that matter.”
Many churches today have gotten their priorities all mixed up. They have an agenda full of things they want to do, and most of them do not have anything to do with MAGNIFYING the Lord.
WHAT WOULD GOD HAVE THIS CHURCH BE? He desires that this church magnify him! How can we do that?
A. BY FAITHFULLY ATTENDING GOD’S CHURCH
In Hebrews 10:25, we read, “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.”
Many do not realize as they read this verse that THIS IS A COMMAND that states that when the church doors are open, we are to be there.
Notice, it says, “…And so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”
We live in a wicked world, and every Christian needs to find a Bible-believing, Bible-preaching church and attend as often as they can. Today’s Christians need to be faithful to the house of God more than ever before.
OUR CHURCH ATTENDANCE WILL SHOW ONE OF TWO THINGS:
(1) God is not that important. We have more important things to do with our life
(2) God is more important than anything in our life
Illus: Church attendance for some is like the young man who said to his girlfriend,
• “I would climb the highest mountains to see your sweet face.”
• “I would swim the widest ocean to hold your hand.”
• “If it does not rain, I will see you Friday evening.”
Our church attendance reflects THAT HE IS WORTHY OF OUR TIME TO ATTEND CHURCH. He is so important to us that nothing comes ahead of Him.
Illus: Listen, if you live next door to a fellow that is always talking about golfing but you never see him go to the golf course, he is not going to convince you that golfing is a fascinating game. In fact, if all he does is talk about it, we would think that person was goofy!
But if he talks about it often, and every time he has a chance to play golf he heads for the golf course, he is going to convince his neighbors that the game of golf has captured his life and it might be something they might want to consider.
Whether we want to admit it or not, we are all salesmen. And when it comes to salesmen, there are GOOD ONES and there are BAD ONES.
Illus: An inexperienced real-estate salesman asked his boss if he could refund the deposit to an angry customer who had discovered that the lot he had bought was under water. “What kind of salesman are you?" The boss scolded him and said, "Get out there and sell him a boat."
We Christians are salesmen. And our church attendance often tells the lost world that we love our Savior with all of our hearts.
That is exactly what your church attendance does. We are EXALTING GOD’S CHURCH or DEMOTING GOD’S CHURCH by the way we attend church.
This church can be WHAT GOD WANTS IT TO BE by our church attendance.
It will NEVER be what God wants it to be if we do not faithfully attend the house of God.
HOW CAN THIS CHURCH BE WHAT GOD WANTS IT TO BE?
B. BY FAITHFULLY GIVING TO GOD’S CHURCH
Look at Malachi 3:10, we read, “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”
Illus: When the United States was getting ready to invade Iraq, there were many who began to protest that this war was going to cost us greatly. And they were correct!
The price of freedom does not come cheap, and those who think you can have it without paying the price are kidding themselves.
And it is going to cost something for God’s church to BECOME THE KIND OF CHURCH HE WANTS IT TO BE. If it did not cost anything, most likely every church would be the kind of Church God wants them to be.
GOD’S DESIRE IS TO BUILD A CHURCH THAT WILL MAGNIFY HIM AROUND THE WORLD. And we have to be willing to give to His church so the job can be done.
But this church will not exist if God’s people are not willing to faithfully attend and support it financially.
This church can be what God wants it to be BY FAITHFULLY ATTENDING AND GIVING, but also-
C. BY INVITING PEOPLE TO GOD’S CHURCH
• Look at Acts 1:8 “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and YE SHALL BE WITNESSES UNTO ME both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
• Look at Matt. 28:19,20, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”
Some churches have the luxury of building a new church building, and because of new people moving into the neighborhood it will fill up immediately.
But every church does not have this advantage. And there are church buildings all over the world today that are almost empty, because God’s people will not invite their family and friends to come to church with them. They will invite them to eat, go to a ball game, go golfing, and go hunting, but they will not invite them to the House of God.
We can come together and sing, “HOW GREAT THOU ART”, but there is a lost world out there that does not know that. And they never will if we do not START INVITING THEM TO COME TO KNOW HIM!
WHAT KIND OF CHURCH DOES GOD WANT? God wants a church that will MAGNIFY HIM. He wants us to MAGNIFY HIM:
• In our church attendance
• In our giving
• In our witnessing
We have looked at HIS DESIRE FOR HIS CHURCH, but let’s look at-
II. HIS DEMAND FOR HIS CHURCH
WHAT IS HIS DEMAND? His demand is that we OBEY HIM! Obedience is not an option.
Many folks have the idea that they can hear a sermon from God’s Word and cast it aside once they have heard it. They can, but they have put themselves in a position where God can not bless them.
A good example of this is Saul, in the Old Testament. When he was anointed King of Israel, Samuel spoke to him in 1 Samuel 15:1, “Samuel also said unto Saul, The LORD sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the LORD.”
In other words, Samuel was saying that Saul was King of Israel because God made him king. God’s command to Saul was clear and specific in that He wanted him to do something.
Look at 1 Sam. 15: 2-3, “Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.”
A. LOOK AT HIS DISOBEDIENCE
God clearly commanded Saul to eradicate all the Amalekites. Saul failed to realize that PARTIAL OBEDIENCE IS DISOBEDIENCE. This was one of the biggest mistakes that Saul could have made.
Look at 1 Sam. 15:10, “Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel saying, 11 It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the Lord all night.”
The term “repenteth” is somewhat misleading. This word needs an explanation.
It does not mean that God regretted His action of having permitted Saul to be king. If that were the case, this action would imply some sort of imperfection on the part of God. God knew what was in Saul’s heart, and what he would do. So Saul’s rebellion was no surprise to God.
The word “repent” means God would be forced to deal with him in another way. Just like God’s plans for many have changed. If they had repented of their evil deeds and obeyed Him, He would have blessed them, but now His plans concerning them have changed.
Saul denies any wrongdoing, but blames the people.
B. LOOK AT HIS DENIAL
Look at 1 Samuel 15:20-21, we read, “And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal.”
Denying one’s sin will not change the facts.
Illus: Dr. Odell Belger tells that his sister married a man that was a Roman Catholic. He was cheating on her and she found out about his affair. She divorced him, after many years of marriage and having a number of children by him. He married the woman he was cheating with and she also became a Catholic. In order for him to go back into the Catholic church, the church annulled his first marriage as if it had never taken place.
Our denying something does not change the facts. It is never right to do wrong in order to do good. When God says something, that’s exactly what He means.
There are two erroneous ideas brought out in Saul’s explanation for his disobedience.
• The first, “I’ll do evil that good may come of it.”
• The second, “If I do good in one area, then God will overlook my evil in another area.”
Saul seems to be thinking that since he was going to make offerings and sacrifices to God with some of the spoils, God should overlook his disobedience.
C. LOOK AT HIS DOWNFALL
Saul’s disobedience brought about his DISGRACE and DEATH.
GOD’S DEMAND IS THAT A CHURCH OBEY HIM.
Conclusion:
I. HIS DESIRE FOR HIS CHURCH
II. HIS DEMAND FOR HIS CHURCH
