The Reason for the Church
Matt. 28:18-20
Mt. Bethel MBC
September 26, 1999
I. God’s Eternal Purpose
A. Gen. 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
B. Rev. 4:11 “Thou are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”
C. Turn to and read Rev.5; 13-14
D. John saw this, Isaiah saw it. Jesus said in Jn. 17 that He had glorified God by doing the work He had been sent to do.
E. Eph. 1:9-12
1. God has made know unto us His will, His eternal, perfect will
2. At the end of this church age God is going to redeem all He made.
3. Why? That we should be to the praise of His glory.
F. In every age, God’s purpose had been to receive glory and honor.
G. A little history
1. God created a perfect world.
2. This world suffered much as the result of sin’s curse
3. Mankind fell and became lost in sin.
4. They became so corrupt and evil that God destroyed all but eight.
5. In two generations, they were right back where they were before.
6. In spite of God’s goodness toward His people, they have always found ways to turn from Him.
7. Yet Acts 15:18 “Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.”
H. God know how things would turn out all along. This is why we find in 1Pet. 1:18-20 “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as sliver and gold, from our vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot; who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world…”
I. Certainly we do not understand why God did things the way He did, and probably none of us would have done the same. Isaiah 55:8-9 reminds us, “For my thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so re my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
J. We don’t have to understand it all, but if we are to please God and join up with Him, we must accept it. Electricity.
K. From the time of Adam, God’s desire had been to redeem mankind.
1. The first promise of a Savior if found in Gen. 3:15
2. Later, God promised Abraham a seed which would come.
3. All the Old Testament sacrifices and feasts, the tabernacle and later the temple would point to Jesus Christ like a big index finger.
4. He, 8 and 10 both speak of these things as a shadow. They only help us to see the real thing God had in mind, Jesus.
L. We know form Jesus’ own personal testimony that His purpose in God’s redemptive plan was “to seek and to save that which was lost.”
M. Was Jesus going to remain here and do this personally?
N. We need to understand that the call of the church was no simple afterthought of God but was in fact a part of God’s eternal plan, which is in reality only one of the several means He has used to draw men to Himself.
O. Let us keep this in mind. While many are preaching the church, the ABA or the bride, the Bible teaches that churches are only one of the agents He chose to use. The Bible says to preach Jesus. That is in a nutshell the ultimate reason for the church.
II. The church is to keep Christ before the world.
A. This is the heart of the Great Commission
1. Matthew 28:19 “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations.”
2. Mark’s account says “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”
3. Acts 1:8 “and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
B. Paul understood this when he said, “or I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”
C. The church is founded upon Christ. The central theme of the church’s message is to be Christ, and when it ceases to be there’ll be trouble.
D. In an effort to win numbers, many have become “seeker sensitive” and have gotten away from their primary purpose of keeping Jesus Christ central. They may be enjoying a season of success and prosperity, but they are in fact in trouble with God.
III. The church is to preserve God’s truth.
A. 1 Tim. 3:15 says that the church is the pillar and ground of the truth.
B. Jesus said that He is the truth. Jesus built his church, bought it with His blood, commissioned it, has given it the Holy Spirit, empowered it to do His work, and left it in the world to represent Him. A church cannot represent the truth if will not preserve the truth.
C. That is why Jude says to earnetlsy contend for the faith. We are to earnestly contend for that body of truth delivered unto us.
D. The world is not interested in salvation or the things that Jesus taught and so we find if necessary to preserve those things. Satan will work and work and work to get the Lord’s churches to compromise truth.
E. Jesus gave His churches only two ordinances, and we can see how many have perverted them.
1. Church discipline is a truth.
2. Tithing is a truth.
3. Salvation by grace through faith is a truth
4. The virgin birth of Christ is a truth
5. Many more, and all at some time or another have been perverted for the sake of getting along and numbers.
6. Jesus never said to get along with the world; He said they would hate us. He never said to grow big, he said PREACH THE WORD!
IV. The church is to spread the gospel of salvation
A. Read 1 Cor. 5:18-20
1. We are ambassadors for Christ in this world, working to bring a world at enmity with God into a love relationship with Him.
2. The gospel is the only answer for this sinful world.
a. not church baseball leagues
b. not church drama ministries
c. not any of those kinds of things. They have their place, but out job is to spread the gospel.
B. Jesus said, “Go ye therefore…”
1. He didn’t say build it and they’ll come.
2. He said this to His church, He was the pastor.
3. Let us not ever forget that the commission is a church responsibility, not just a pastor responsibility.
V. Conclusion
A. There are many peripheral purpose for our church
1. Teaching, baptizing, fellowship, encouragement.
2. All of these are important, but I have tried tonight to give you our primary purpose, proclaiming Christ.
B. Let us ever strive to be the church God wants us to be and to always seek to honor and glorify Him through our ministry here.
