There are a lot of misunderstandings about God’s church, but one of the biggest misunderstandings is about the purpose of the church.
There is a reason that churches all over this nation, week after week, month after month, and year after year never win any souls to Christ.
WHAT IS THE REASON? The reason is because God’s church has been side-tracked. Churches are all caught up in good things, such as:
• Big buildings
• Big budgets
• Big programs
• And a lot of activities
Listen, there is nothing wrong with these things, we need them, but that is not the ultimate purpose of the church. God’s purpose for the church is for THE CHURCH TO REACH THE LOST!
In Rom. 10:15b, we read, “How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”
God sees Christians that are using their feet to carry this gospel, as having beautiful feet. God rates a church that is trying to REACH THE LOST as having beautiful feet.
Illus: Today we have a way of rating pretty women.
For example, they are normally rated on a scale of 1 to 10. If a woman is really pretty, she might be rated as a number 9 or 10.
Today we also have beauty contests where gorgeous women parade before judges to win the privilege of wearing the title of “Miss America!”
We live in a society that is fascinated with beautiful women.
• They are plastered on almost every magazine cover
• They are plastered on the billboards
• They are plastered in every television commercial imaginable
• They are anchors on the evening news
Illus: Two beautiful women are playing golf on a sunny afternoon, when one of them slices her shot into a foursome of men. To her horror, the ball landed on the head of one man and he collapsed in agony. She runs to him apologizing profusely, and kissing him on the top of the head where the ball had landed.
After several gentle kisses on the top of his head, she said, “Are you all right now?” He said, “Well, my lips are really hurting a lot!”
Much is said about the beauty of a woman. But today I want to show everyone how they can have beautiful feet.
“…How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”
God’s Word teaches that the CHURCH THAT WILL CARRY THIS GOSPEL TO THE LOST has beautiful feet.
The Lord Jesus said, in Matt. 18:19-20, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, [Mark’s version says, “...preach the gospel to every creature”] 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.”
There are several verbs in these verses about having beautiful feet.
I. THE FIRST VERB IS “GO”
Do you realize how difficult it is to get people to GO to reach the lost? Every day opportunities knock and Christians can’t hear them knocking
Illus: God was dealing with a Christian man about witnessing to his family and friends. He was praying one day and he told the Lord that if he would give him a sign to witness to the next person that was lost, he would witness to them.
The next day he was on a train, and a man came on that looked very depressed. There were many empty seats, but he sat beside this Christian man.
They started talking and the man said, “I am so miserable. I can not keep living like this.” Later the man said, “I wish I knew how to find some happiness. I am so miserable.”
Later on the man said, “I wish I knew what the Bible said about salvation.” Then he said, “I wish I knew a Christian that could show me how to be saved.” The man fell on the floor and started crying saying, “I can’t take anymore of this, I am so miserable.”
The Christian man got on his knees and started praying and he said, “Lord, is this a sign?”
Every day, opportunities confront Christians to witness for the Lord. The Lord tells us we are to GO with the purpose of telling people about the Lord.
Illus: We have too many Christians that want to operate like a lawyer. They want to hang out a shingle, “If anybody wants to get saved, inquire within.”
We have to GO WHERE THEY ARE! When the Lord said we are to be fishers of men, He used that illustration for a purpose. If you are going to catch fish, YOU HAVE TO GO WHERE THEY ARE!
The CHURCH THAT THE LORD PUT HERE TO REACH THE LOST seems to be saying, we might be fishers of men, but we expect the fish to come to us, we are not going to them.
The Lord said that the church that will go, has beautiful feet.
Illus: Did you know that when your feet get cold it will not be long before you whole body becomes cold?
When a CHURCH DOES NOT USE THEIR FEET TO REACH THE LOST, THAT CHURCH WILL SOON DIE.
Illus: Have you ever been at the hospital when a patient was dying? If you have, you may have noticed that sometimes the nurse will come in and pull the covers up and touch the patients feet to see if they are cold. DO YOU KNOW WHY SHE DOES THAT? Because death starts in the feet, and when those feet get cold, soon that coldness will work it’s way up to cover the whole body.
Listen, this is not a suggestion, this is a commandment – God says GO!
Illus: Did you know that as we grow old and feeble, the legs are the first things to go. You can talk to some of the elderly, and they will tell you that their legs that at one time were strong, have now become weak and they now have a hard time getting around.
One of the first things that the devil wants to take away from the church are the spiritual feet, so they can not go to the LOST WORLD. He knows that if he can take away our spiritual legs, THE CHURCH WILL NOT BE ABLE TO REACH THE LOST.
We see THE FIRST VERB IS “GO”, and -
II. THE SECOND VERB IS “PREACH”
Actually it means to win them. Go out and tell them how to be saved. The first thing you do is to GO TO THEM and GET THEM SAVED!
Certainly it is all right to go and talk to people about:
• Recipes
• Politics
• Sports
But when we go soul winning we have one thing we want to concentrate on, and that is to WIN PEOPLE TO CHRIST. We Christians need to be SOUL CONSCIOUS!
Illus: Did you know:
• When a good car salesman meets you, he will try to sell you a new car
• When a good shoe salesman meets you he will try to sell you a new pair of shoes
Why? Because they are salesman and they are conscious of making a sale.
Illus: Dr Odell Belger has a good friend who operates the largest funeral home in Columbia, S.C. One day, he called Dr. Belger and asked him if he would help him with a charity funeral by doing the eulogy. Dr. Belger looked at his schedule and saw that he could assist him. After the funeral service they were together, and as Dr. Belger stood before him he gave him a look from top to bottom and Dr. Belger said, “Don’t look at me like that, I think you just sized me up for one of those coffins!” He laughed and assured him that was not what he was doing.
• A good salesman is always conscious of making a sale
• A good soul winner is always conscious of winning souls
Christians should be SOUL CONSCIOUS and should always be looking for opportunities to talk to someone about the Lord. Wherever we go, we need to make it a habit to ask people, “HAVE YOU ACCEPTED JESUS AS YOUR PERSONAL SAVIOR?”
Everybody has a soul and everybody needs to be witnessed to and led to Christ.
Illus: Jack Hyles, in his book, “Let’s go soul winning,” says that it never gets easy to ask, “Are you a Christian?” I practice it. In front of the mirror I say,
• “Are you a Christian?”
• “Are y-o-u a Christian?”
• “Have you ever been converted?”
• Are you saved?”
I get in the habit of it. I don’t care who you are; I don’t care where you are, it is never easy.
Illus: Did you ever watch people play bingo? Some of them will have a half dozen cards they are playing. Why? The more cards they have the better chance they have of winning.
Illus: Did you ever watch people deep sea fishing? They will have a dozen or more hooks in the water. Why? The more hooks they have, the more fish the can catch.
The church that will get in the habit of talking to be people about the Lord, will win more souls than a church that very seldom mentions it.
• Talk to the mailman
• Talk to the newspaper man
• Talk to the service station man
• Talk to the laundry lady
• Talk to the repair man
We see THE FIRST VERB IS “GO”, THE SECOND VERB IS “PREACH” and -
III. THE THIRD VERB IS “BAPTIZE”
The first commandment God gives a new convert is to follow the Lord in Believer’s Baptism.
Illus: One day, a preacher told a man that he needed to join the army of God. The man told the preacher he had already joined. The preacher said, “I very seldom see you in church!” He said, “I know, I belong to the secret service!”
Listen, God does not have people in his army that belong to the secret service. The first thing the Lord tells a new convert to is publicly proclaim they are a believer by being publicly baptized.
WHAT IS BAPTISM? Baptism is one of the ordinances of the church. It is the act of water baptism (being immersed in water after receiving salvation) and is a very important first step in the Christian life.
• In Matthew 3:13-17, we see the Lord Jesus Himself coming to His cousin John to be baptized, in order to, "fulfill all righteousness."
• In Matthew 28:19, Jesus then went on to establish baptism as an eternal ordinance for His church, calling on every believer to follow in His footsteps
In the days when the Lord instituted baptism, they would often go down to the river Jordan. John the Baptist would wade out into the water above his waist, and the new believers would march out to him and one by one he would baptize them.
• When he would immerse them, it represented they were buried with Christ
• When he would bring them up, it represented they were risen with Christ
These believers had to be sincere, because there would often be unbelievers on the shore making fun of them.
In our modernized, "comfort zone Christianity," we do, sad to say, tend to take God’s commandments far too lightly.
Illus: Chuck Colson said, "Most Westerners take baptism for granted, but for many in the world the act requires immense courage. In countries like Nepal, it once meant imprisonment. For Soviet or Chinese or Eastern bloc believers, it was like signing their own death warrant."
Water Baptism is an outward SYMBOL that we belong to Him.
• A wedding ring is an outward sign that a person is married
• A military uniform is an outward sign that a person belongs to that particular branch of service
• Water baptism is a sign that a person belongs to Jesus Christ
I use the word "symbol" here with caution. To say that it is "just a symbol," takes away from the depth and beauty of water baptism.
Baptism is a symbol, but it is so much more than that. Water baptism is, in essence, a funeral. It is an act of faith in which we testify, both to God and to the world, that the person we were before is dead and buried, and we are raised as a new creation in Christ.
This is beautifully illustrated by these Scriptures:
• Romans 6:4 "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."
• Colossians 2:12 "Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead."
Being baptized is a command from God, not an option. It is an act that God requires of every believer. In fact, among Jesus’ last recorded words on earth were, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved...." (Mark 16:16.)
Does that mean we are saved by baptism? No, the implication here is that a person who professes to be saved and will not follow the Lord in Believer’s baptism has never been saved.
Think about this, You never read of an un-baptized Christian anywhere in the Bible. In fact, baptism immediately followed a person’s salvation.
Look at Acts 2:38. When the people respond to Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost, the first thing he instructs them to do is, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." We further read in verse 41 that they, "…gladly received his word, and were baptized...."
We see THE FIRST VERB IS “GO”, THE SECOND VERB IS “PREACH”, THE THIRD VERB IS “BAPTIZE” and -
IV. THE FOURTH VERB IS “TEACH”
After they are saved, we are to teach them to, “...observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.”
After a person comes to know the Lord, they need to be taught:
• How to faithfully attend the house of God for worship
• How to give to the Lord financially so that more can come to know Him
• How to pray
• How to interpret the scriptures correctly
• How to avoid people that will lead them astray
I’m teaching you today how to have pretty feet. The Bible says, “How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”
Conclusion:
We need to be a church that will REACH THE LOST!
We see -
I. THE FIRST VERB IS “GO”
II. THE SECOND VERB IS “PREACH”
III. THE THIRD VERB IS “BAPTIZE”
IV. THE FOURTH VERB IS “TEACH”
