Tittle: The Task Of The Church part 1
Theme: The focus of the Church is to be on God and His will in everything we do.
Written: 4-11-99
Introduction:
There are many references in the New Testament
that will tell us what our task is as a part of the Church.
-- What I want to do is look at these references in a series of lessons.
-- In part one of this series I want to look at 4 points.
-- Concerning
The Task Of The Church
[As we live our lives as Christians
there are several items we need to realize that God wants
that God even expects
the first and foremost task of the church
is]
I: To Love God (Rev. 2:2-4)
A: The Church in Ephesus (Rev 2:2-3)
1: The church at Ephesus
- Did everything that a good church would be doing today.
2: Yet there was still a problem that needed to be pointed out.
B: God held something against them (Rev 2:4)
C: Their first Love was to be the same as our first love is to be. (Mt. 22:37-38)
D. Our love for God is displayed
1: through our love for others (I Jn 4:19-21)
[ and while remembering that God is to be our first love, and that we are to show this through our love for others
- we must also focus on the second point in this series ]
which is
II: To Glorify God
A: Why should we want to glorify God in our lives? (Eph 1:5-6)
In Readers Digest, a contributor told of an Aunt Ruby and Uncle Arnie who had adopted a baby boy after five years of trying unsuccessfully to conceive. To their surprise, a short time after the adoption, Aunt Ruby discovered she was pregnant, and she later gave birth to a baby boy.
One day when the two boys were eight and nine years old, the teller of the story was visiting Aunt Ruby, and a woman in the neighborhood came to visit. Observing the children at play, the woman asked, “Which boy is yours, Ruby?” “Both of them,” Aunt Ruby replied. The caller persisted. “But I mean, which one is adopted?” Aunt Ruby did not hesitate. In her finest hour, she looked straight at her guest and replied, “I’ve forgotten.”
When we are adopted as God’s children, we quickly come to cherish our heavenly Father’s forgetfulness. For He chooses to forget our sins, to forget our wayward past, and give us the full rights of sons or daughters. He treats us as if we had never sinned.
1: By sending His Son to the cross to die in our place
-- God predestined us all to be adopted as His children
-- Every man, woman and child on planet earth.
-- Provided they except the offer made through Jesus Christ.
- Eph 1:11-12
- Eph 1:14
- Eph 3:21
2: It is for this that we are to GLORIFY GOD !!
- II Th 1:12
- Rom 15:9-13
[In exhibiting our Love for God and Glorifying God
it should cause us]
III: To Display God’s Grace (Eph 2:6-8)
A: God gave us grace.
1. We do not deserve it.
2. We cannot earn it.
3. We cannot buy it
4. God simply gave it to us.
B: Are we displaying that same unselfish, undeserved grace to the world.
1. Or don’t they deserve it
2. Maybe they can’t afford it.
3. Have they not earned it yet.
4. Have we made it such a reverent sacred thing that we have covered it up.
A man told a story about a primitive tribe that was given a sundial. They were so enthusiastic in their desire to honor it and keep it sacred that they housed it in and built a roof over it. When telling this story Dwight L. Moody asks. Is your belief in God so reverent that you put it to one side carefully, as being too sacred for daily use?
a. Learn to use it.
b. Let God in on your life.
c. Let your faith inspire you to good works.
d. Let your light shine (Eph. 5:8)
[ All of the things listed earlier
- To Love God
-To Glorify God
- To Display God’s Grace
will cause us to desire what God desires
and that is
IV: To Evangelize The World
- Matt 28:19-20
- Luke 24:46-47
- John 20:19-21
- Acts 1:8
Nineteen out of every twenty who ever get saved
do so before they reach the age of twenty five.
After twenty-five, only one in 10,000.
After thirty-five, only one in 50,000.
After forty-five, only one in 200,000.
After fifty-five, only one in 300,000
After sixty-five, only one in 500,000.
After seventy-five, only one in 700,000.
Dr. Wilbur Chapman tested a meeting where 4,000 were present. The result was
400 were saved before ten years of age.
600 were saved between twelve and fourteen.
600 were saved between fourteen and sixteen.
1000 were saved between sixteen and twenty.
twenty-five were saved after thirty years of age.
1,875 were unsaved
- I didn’t give you these statistics to show the importance of focusing on the youth.
- I do feel that youth are important.
- But when you think about these statistics think about the person you know that the odds are getting worse and worse.
- Think about the purpose of the church and your neighbor next door.
Chester Tulga once said:
Told of thousands of souls going to Christless graves in foreign lands, men and women are stirred, but they are not stirred by the man dying in the next block into whose home no pastor has ever entered with the Gospel message. Somehow souls far away seem more valuable in the sight of God than souls nearby, or in the next town. There is a confusion of values among us, not derived from the scriptures.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son. So that whoever shall believe in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”
That is the love we need to display to the world.
This is How we
LOVE GOD
GLORIFY GOD
HOW WE DISPLAY GOD’S GRACE
AND
EVANGELIZE THE WORLD
- This is part of the purpose of
- The Church that Jesus Christ
- Established through
- His.... Death.... Burial..... and Resurrection
- We are offered salvation through Jesus Christ
- All are offered salvation because of the Grace of God.
- Have you accepted God’s grace?
- Have you accepted salvation through Jesus Christ?
- If not; every day can make the odds stack up against you.
- If you have; then continue to focus on the Purpose of the Church
- What can you do to help with the purpose of the church.
