Membership Covenant
I Will Share the Responsibility of Our Church
Matthew 28:18-20
January 11, 2004
Intro:
A. [Pastor will sing, “People Need the Lord” (Greg Nelson/Phil McHugh, 1983 River Oaks Music Co., BMI)]
B. This will be the second in our series of sermons on our new membership covenant.
1. I started last week with: “I will save the unity of our church.”
a. In that sermon I stressed the importance of every member making every effort to protect the unity of our church.
b. We have a strong unity here and we need to do everything we can to protect it.
c. I gave three Biblical ways of making those efforts.
2. Today we come to the second statement in our membership covenant…
a. “I will share the responsibility of my church.”
b. So you may be asking, “What is the responsibility of the church that I should share?”
C. Well, I’m glad you asked!
1. Jesus’ last words before going to heaven were a very clear enunciation of our purpose and responsibility.
2. Mathew 28:18-20 records, "Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’"
3. Jesus said our responsibility is four-fold.
a. Go—He said we are to go into all nations, starting in our own back yard.
b. Make disciples—That is, teach them how to be saved.
c. Baptize—By immersion in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.
d. Teach—After they are saved and baptized, teach them how to live for Christ.
e. "Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’"
f. That’s our four-fold purpose as a church: Go, make disciples, baptize, and teach.
D. Now let me ask you, is that the church’s responsibility or is it the preacher’s?
1. The answer is that it is the shared responsibility of Pastors, Elders, Deacons and the members of the church.
2. It is everyone’s responsibility.
3. None of us are called to make disciples and baptize by ourselves; none of us are called to do all of the work ourselves.
4. We share the responsibility.
5. It is the responsibility of each of us to help our church grow.
E. Therefore our membership covenant calls on each of us to share the responsibility of our church in the following three ways; first…
I. …by praying for its growth
2 Thessalonians 3:1 (NIV), Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you.
A. Now I want to make it clear that not everyone has the gift of evangelism.
1. Ephesians 4:11, "It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,"
2. Not everyone has the gift of evangelism—the God given ability to lead someone to Christ and are therefore very good at it.
3. In fact the Church Growth institute of Lynchburg, VA says that only about 10% of all Christians have that ability.
4. Everyone has different abilities (which the Bible calls “gifts”) that are given to us by the Holy Spirit.
5. All of us are good at different things.
6. Everyone has at least one Holy Spirit gift or ability that is to be used in service to God.
7. Some are gifted by the Holy Spirit to be prophets, some evangelists, some to be pastors, some to be teachers—and there are at least 19 different ability/gifts listed in Ephesians 4, Romans 12, and 1 Corinthians 12.
8. But only a few have the gift of leading people to Christ—the gift of evangelism.
9. That’s what Paul is saying in Ephesians 4:11, "It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,"
10. You may not have the gift of evangelism, but that does not mean that you don’t have any part in evangelism.
11. Of course, if you have the gift of evangelism, you should be learning how to use that gift to help spread the gospel.
2. But even if you don’t have that gift, there are still some things that you can do to help.
B. Whether or not you have the gift of evangelism, you can and should be praying that the gospel will be spread in your church.
1. That’s what Paul is saying in 2 Thessalonians 3:1, "Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you."
2. Paul is telling us that we need to pray for our church that the Word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you.
3. We need to pray that the Word of the Lord may spread rapidly through Somerset.
4. We need to pray that the Word of the Lord may be accepted and honored by those who hear it through Somerset.
5. We need to pray that others may receive the Word of the Lord and be saved just as we ourselves received it.
6. Whether or not you have the gift of evangelism (the Holy Spirit-given ability to lead someone to Christ), you can and should be praying that the gospel will spread here in northern Putnam County rapidly
C. Ephesians 6:19-20 points out some specific things that we should pray about, “Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should."
1. Paul asks the people of Ephesus to pray for him as he works for the Lord.
2. Paul asks the people of Ephesus to pray for him that whenever he opens his mouth, the right words would be given to him.
3. Paul asks the people of Ephesus to pray for him so that he may fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.
4. Paul asks the people of Ephesus to pray for him so that he may declare the gospel fearlessly as he should.
5. You may not have the gift of evangelism, but these are things that you can and should pray for.
6. You should pray for the people of Somerset who work for the Lord.
7. You should pray for the people of Somerset who share the gospel that whenever we open our mouths, we will be given the right words to say.
8. You should pray for the people of Somerset who share the gospel that we may fearlessly make known the good news of Jesus Christ.
9. You should pray for the people of Somerset who share the gospel that we may declare the gospel fearlessly as we should.
10. You may not have the gift of evangelism yourself, but you can and should pray these things for the people who do.
D. Paul wrote nearly the same things in Colossians 4:3-4, "And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should."
1. Paul asks the people of the city of Colossae to pray that he would continue to spread the gospel as he should even though he had been put in prison for it—that’s what he means by being in chains.
2. Paul asked them to pray that doors would be opened for him to spread the message.
3. Paul also asked them to pray that he could speak clearly to people.
4. I think you know that I struggle and work hard at this aspect.
5. I want my words to be as clear as they possibly can be.
6. So I would personally ask you to pray this particular one for me, "And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should."
E. Now listen carefully: I hope that you understand that prayer is probably more important than the actual spreading of the gospel.
1. You may think that I’m nuts; you may think that prayer is not a very important thing.
2. But I’m here to tell you that it is far more important than you or I understand!
3. Prayer for the spreading of the gospel is actually more important than actually spreading the gospel.
4. Prayer for preaching the gospel is more important than actually preaching the gospel!
5. Prayer is very important! I could stand up here and preach for the rest of eternity, but if there is no prayer—what good is it?
6. Will there be more or less results from my preaching if there is more and more prayer for my preaching?
7. Ephesians 6:12 says, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."
8. Then it says to put on the full of armor of God and verse 18 says, And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
9. You see there are things that happen in the spiritual realm with angels and demons battling over the souls of men and women and boys and girls that we can not see.
10.And unless we pray about those battles in the spiritual realms we are wasting our time tying to spread the gospel ourselves!
11. [Illustration]
D. E. Host, who followed Hudson Taylor, wrote a book called Behind the Ranges.
He was trying to analyze a problem he had seen while working in two different villages in China: the people with whom he lived and worked were not doing very well, but the people in the other village across the ranges were doing great!
He visited them only now and then, but they were always doing fine, so he began to ask the Lord what was going on.
How could those across the ranges be doing better than those he lived and worked with?
The Lord showed Host the answer.
Although he was spending much time counseling, preaching, and teaching with those with whom he lived, he spent much more time in prayer for those across the ranges.
He concluded that there were four basic elements in making disciples:
(1) prayer, (2) prayer, (3) prayer, (4) the Word—in that order and in about that proportion.
F. I hope that you are beginning to see how important prayer is in spreading the gospel.
1. The purpose of our church is to go, make disciples, baptize, and teach.
2. There are many different aspects that go into doing that and different people have different ability/gifts that help us to accomplish that goal as a team.
3. Not the preacher doing it by himself; not just the Elders and Deacons; but all of us as a team working together to spread the gospel.
4. You may not have the gift/ability of evangelism, but each of us can and should pray about the growth of our church through our evangelistic efforts—because people need the Lord!
5. "Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you."
6. I will share the responsibility of our church by praying for its growth, and…
II. …by inviting the unchurched to attend
Luke 14:23 (NIV), "Then the master told his servant, ’Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full.
A. You may not have the gift of evangelism, but you can pray for its growth and you can invite people to attend church with you.
1. In this parable that Jesus told from Luke 14, we are told to go out to the roads and the country lanes and make them come in, so that His house will be full!
2. You may not know how to lead someone to Christ, but you can invite them to church—where they can learn how to be saved.
3. We all have friends, family, and neighbors who need the Lord, but you may just feel like you can’t talk to them about God and being saved.
4. But there is no reason that you can’t invite them to church and then pray that they will go and get saved! All of us can do that!
5. All of us can go out to the roads and country lanes and invite them to come in!
B. We live in a society that is hungering and thirsting for God and most of them don’t even know it.
1. They don’t understand that what they are looking for can only be found in Christ!
2. Most people just want to be happy, so they go and look for it in spouses or jobs or careers or cars or trucks or houses or boats or toys.
3. What they need to know is that they will only find real, lasting happiness in Jesus!
4. You can tell them that you have found happiness in Jesus and you go to a great church that can help them find happiness as well!
5. Not everyone will respond, but there are lots in our society that will!
6. We have visitors here at Somerset almost every week—many invited by you!
7. We can all do that, can’t we?
8. Paul wrote in Philemon 1:6, "I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ."
9. We grow in our understanding of Christ when we are actively sharing our faith.
10. We can all be active in sharing our faith by inviting the unchurched to church!
11. Paul also wrote in Romans 1:16 "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes."
12. Are you ashamed of the gospel? Do you see that we have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of in inviting our unchurched friends, family, and neighbors to church?
13. People need the Lord! "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes."
14. So ’Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that [His] house will be full."
C. I will share the responsibility of our church by praying for its growth, by inviting the unchurched to attend, and…
III. …by warmly welcoming those who visit
Romans 15:7 (NIV), Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.
Romans 15:7 (KJV), Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.
Romans 15:7 (TLB), So, warmly welcome each other into the church, just as Christ has warmly welcomed you, then God will be glorified.
A. [Illustration]
A woman was interviewing a prospective servant and asked, “Can you serve company?”
The applicant replied “Yes, mum, both ways.”
The woman looked puzzled and asked, “What do you mean, both ways?”
“So they’ll come again, or stay away.”
B. [Cited by “Eutychus and His Kin,” Christianity Today, June 3, 1977]
This is a little old, but probably still as true in many churches today…
Singer John Charles Thomas, at age sixty-six wrote to syndicated columnist Abigail Van Buren:
“I am presently completing the second year of a three-year survey on the hospitality or lack of it in churches.
To date, of the 195 churches I have visited, I was spoken to in only one by someone other than an official greeter—and that was to ask me to move my feet.”
C. The truth is that that is probably just as true in 2004 as it was in 1977.
1. It is unfortunate that people who call themselves Christians have no more hospitality than that!
2. We need to practice hospitality in the church!
3. There is no excuse for someone coming into this church and no one speaking to them!
4. I believe that all of us want Somerset to be a warm, friendly, loving place for members as well as newcomers!
5. Therefore we need to practice hospitality in the church.
6. We need to warmly welcome others into the church, just as Christ has warmly welcomed us; then God will be glorified.
7. Christ has welcomed us into His church when we didn’t deserve it and we need to do the same for others!
8. And guess what? In order for Somerset to be a warm and friendly place, YOU need to be warm and friendly!
D. You see, this isn’t just about what happens on the platform!
1. The worship leaders need to do everything they can to extend the warm welcome of Christ to the congregation, but it is certainly a lot easier to do that when the congregation is warm and friendly themselves!
2. Some of you know how difficult it is to stand in front of group of people that are sitting there with long, sour looks on their faces almost daring you to keep them awake!
3. People who come through our doors seeking something from God, need to see enthusiastic people on the platform!
4. But people who come through our doors seeking something from God, also need to see enthusiastic people in the pews!
5. People who come through our doors seeking something from God, need to see people who are in God and God is in them: enthusiastic, warm, friendly people!
E. So what are some things that we can do to warmly welcome new folks to our church?
1. Well, I believe we just simply need to try to put ourselves in their shoes.
2. Visiting a new church is usually a very scary experience for most people.
3. What kinds of things do they need to know in order to worship comfortably here?
4. What things do they need to locate in order to worship comfortably here?
5. What do you think people need in order to feel warmly welcomed here?
6. There are coat racks and restrooms that they need to locate.
7. There are bulletins and explanations of our procedures that they need to know.
8. I believe these things are all important, but I believe the most important thing they need is a warm welcome from enthusiastic church members.
F. Now please don’t get me wrong…
1. I believe that Somerset is a friendly church.
2. But I do believe that there is more that we can do.
3. We have made a start in all of these directions—but I believe that there is much more that we could do!
4. I am saying that we all need to make a conscience effort to warmly, enthusiastically welcome visitors into our church.
5. There are so many people around this building that need the love of Jesus Christ in their lives!
6. There are so many people right around this building who need the Lord!
7. “So, warmly welcome each other into the church, just as Christ has warmly welcomed you; then God will be glorified.”
8. Are we welcoming people as Christ does?
9. Is Christ being glorified by the way we welcome people?
Conclusion:
A. I will share the responsibility of our church…
1. …by praying for its growth.
2. …by inviting the unchurched to attend.
3. …by warmly welcoming those who visit.
B. I believe that as we continue to grow both spiritually and numerically, we need to continue to remind ourselves what our purpose is as a church.
1. We cannot allow ourselves to forget what our real purpose is.
2. There are a lot of things that the church can and should do, but we should never lose sight of the main thing.
3. We need to keep the main thing the main thing!
4. And the main thing is evangelism.
5. Romans 12:6-8 (NIV), We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
5. And I don’t think that Paul would mind if I added…If it is evangelism, let him evangelize zealously!
6. But even if you don’t have the gift of evangelism, you still share in the responsibility.
7. Jesus stated our responsibility very succinctly in Matthew 28:18-20 when He said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
8. That is the main thing, and we must always (no matter how big we get) remember to keep the main thing the main thing.
9. And we must always remember that we all have a part in the growth of our church!
C. We need to concern ourselves with the growth of our church because people need the Lord! [Pastor sing again.]
