DEALING WITH TODAY’S CHURCH
The Kind Of Church We Should Be Coming To ….
INTRODUCTION: This morning, I would like to take a look at the thought of the kind of church we should be coming too. Paul, at the end of the book of acts defines the church in some very sobering words. He says this, Acts 20:28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.”
Paul referred to the church as that institution bought with the very blood of Christ. And for this institution to stand, it will require a watch of our personal lives (one of the reasons we are to be in church), watch over the lives of each other (another reason we are to be in church), and the empowerment of the Spirit of God (in other words – the God ordained choice.
So, as we consider what the church we are coming to should be like, we are actually evaluating ourselves, looking for weak areas so to speak. Now, we will also look at areas we have no control over, but we will also look at some areas we do have control over, and should exercise that control in a godly fashion.
I Areas Outside Our Control
A The Sovereignty of God
Romans 9:21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?
1 The analogy is that of God and his sovereignty and a potters right to make out of clay anything he wants
2 Control is beyond the ability of the clay
3 Control is beyond our ability in relation to God
a God can exercise absolute control.
b God does exercise absolute control.
So, when applied to the church ………….
Matthew 16:18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
c Notice the force of God’s statement
1) I – I alone
2) Will – a direction of action
3) Build – responsibility for construction
4) My Church – The church is God’s by God’s own declaration!
B It is important for us to understand that God is going to do what God is going to do.
1 What God does is outside our control
2 What God does is beyond our control
C God can make our church ANYTHING He wants to
1 God can close this church
2 God can keep this church the same
3 God can cause this church to grow
REGARDLESS OF ANYTHING WE DO, GOD ULTIMATELY CONTROLS EVERY FACET OF THE CHURCH
THE DANGER OF SOVEREIGNTY IS THAT WE USE GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY AS AN EXCUSE TO AVOID DOING WHAT WE SHOULD BE DOING TO MAKE OUR CHURCH THE KIND OF CHURCH WE SHOULD BE COMING TO!
II AREAS WITHIN OUR CONTROL
Now before we go any further, I want to dispel a belief. It revolves around the size of a church. God wants people to be saved and come to know him. As people come to know Christ as Savior and Lord, they are to come into churches. Yet, Size is not an indication fo spiritual health. It is a whole lot easier to draw a crowd than to disciple people to maturity in Christ. Let me give you a fore instance, -- if I were to tell you that next Sunday, I was going to preach in boxer shorts, so invite your friends. I am sure that just about anybody you told, “Hey come to church with me next Sunday, our pastor is going to be wearing boxer shorts when he preaches”, I am sure lots of people would come. Hey, we drew a crowd, but for what purpose? Just to see me in boxer shorts! What a site! IN fact, I’d even come to see me in boxer shorts!
Obedience is relevant to God. Outside of His sovereign work here, God is most concerned with our obedience to the principles He has laid down for the church. We certainly know that God is sovereign in all things, yet, we should also be aware that God will certainly not bless a church that is not striving to be a church obedient to Him!
Now on to the areas we can control ……….
A Goal Recognition
1 The Bible declares the primary goal of the church
a The Great commission
Matthew 28:19-20 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, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
1) The Great commission of Christ is far more than what we think that it is
2) It is a “THEREFORE” verse – a verse that wants us to look backward before we look forward
a) We look backward to verse 18
b) Matt 28:18 says that Jesus is that person of the Godhead who has ALL authority
(1) Authority in heaven
(1) Authority on earth
c) Based on Jesus’ authority – His right and ability, He tells us to go
d) Jesus backs up this command with everything He’s got
For a long time, we heard the term in politics – unfunded mandate. What this meant was that a law was enacted, a requirement for us, but their was no funding provided to help us accomplish the requirement. What Jesus tells us here is that the great commission is a FUNDED MANDATE. We have all resources of heaven to accomplish it, and all the access on earth to accomplish it.
3) The Great Commission is an opportunity for obedience in order to receive the blessing of God
a) Part one of the Great Commission is making disciples – in other words are we “making” believers
(1) The Lord gave us some additional information as to the process – It was to be local and then move outwards
Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
(a) Obedience to the Great Commission comes as we follow the plan of Christ.
(a) Jesus meant for us to “make disciples” from Pemberton outward
(a) Interrupting the pattern may bring results, but it does not bring obedience
b) The second part of the Great Commission is to identify those disciples we have made with Christ and the church.
(1) Again Jesus tells us to bring a disciple to the point of public identification
c) The final part of the Great Commission is to teach them everything Jesus taught us.
(1) Once again, there is the responsibility for ongoing instruction in the word of God
(1) Ongoing for those won to Christ
(1) Ongoing for us
The issue here is not whether or not you realize your responsibility to speaks to others regarding Jesus, The issue is whether you have been obedient in speaking to others regarding Jesus.
4) The Great Commission promises Christ’s presence as we go
a) Not He will go
b) He is going
c) Christ goes as our leader, not our servant
Proverbs 16:9 In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.
We need to be serious about this area. No one ever get to heaven watching a Christian. Our duty is not to live our testimony, but to communicate the message. Communication is more than a bumper sticker on the back of our car, or a pin on our lapel. Communication is when we get the message to others in a form that they can understand and respond to.
A BELIEVER IN CHRIST NEEDS TO BE SHARING WHAT HE KNOWS WITH OTHERS
B GODLY LEADERS
1 One of the most influential and obedient things we can do as a church is to place godly people in positions of leadership
a Visible godliness – in other words have those who we put into leadership exhibited godly characteristics and attitudes?
1) Not dealing with the occasional goof up
2) Are dealing with how the occasional goof-up is handled.
3) Need to ask ourselves if those who we put in leadership are godly people, not perfect people
4) Need to assure that those who are in leadership remain godly people
a) Prayer
b) Encouragement
c) Coming alongside them
b Personal godliness – in other words, do we know that we are godly people
1) Often there are facets of our own life that we are able to keep form the eyes of others, but we cannot keep from the eyes of God
2) God knows that we know if we should be a leader or not.
a) When we act against what we know to be true we affect the ability of the church to be biblical.
b) If we seek to lead, we need to make sure we are fit to lead.
c The specific characteristics of leadership
There are two passages that lay out the specific characteristics of leaders:
1 Tim. 3:1-7 Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task. 2Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. 5(If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) 6He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. 7He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.
Titus 1:5-9 The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you. 6An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. 7Since an overseer is entrusted with God’s work, he must be blameless--not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. 8Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. 9He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
1) Above reproach – to have nothing in your character that could be used a charge against you
2) Devotion to wife -- who cannot be taken hold of on the score of sexual promiscuity or laxity—New American Commentary
3) Temperate – stable, free from rash actions
4) Self-control – a sensible person
5) Respectable – orderliness of life that they can be honored for
6) Hospitality – Are they open. More and more in our society today the invitation to ones home is becoming a special event.
7) Able to teach – the ability to communicate Christian truth, not teach a Sunday school class!
8) Not given to drunkenness – not addicted to wine
a) Dealing with the issue of drunkenness
b) Bible does not condemn the use of wine – medicinal uses for wine
c) Bible does condemn excesses of drink
(1) Condemn the person who drinks
(1) Condemn the person who serves the drink
Proverbs 23:31-32 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. 32At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
Proverbs 23:31-32 Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly! 32In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper.
Habakkuk 2:15 "Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk, so that he can gaze on their naked bodies.
Habakkuk 2:15 Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!
9) Not violent, but gentle – not a brow beater
10) Quarrelsome – having a peaceable attitude
11) Not a lover of money – values stuff over people, the material over the spiritual
I am going to stop here, but you get the idea ………
1 Tim. 6:11-12 kind of sums the whole thing up …… But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 12Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
Leaders should flee from certain things in order to embrace other things!
Now we have two responsibilities in this area:
ü Make sure we allow godly people to lead
ü Make sure we pray for our leaders
C DISCIPLED PEOPLE
1 The only thing that matures us as believers is the Word of God
2 The church needs to be about the business of maturing people
3 People need to be about the business of being matured.
a Church must provide the means
b People must avail themselves of the means
4 Over and over again the Bible declares the importance of Christian maturity and discipleship3
2 Tim. 2:2 And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.
Titus 2:3-7 Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. 4Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.
6Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. 7In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness
5 Basic steps of personal discipleship and maturity
a Teach and learn biblical truth
b Apply biblical principles to everyday life
c Seek to solve our problems biblically
A BELIEVER IN CHRIST SHOULD BE LEARNING MORE FOR HIS OWN LIFE
