Sermon Tone Analysis

Sunday’s sunrise is accompanied by the ringing of thousands of church bells across America.

Churchgoers prepare to gather for worship just as our fathers and their father’s father have done since the birth of our nation.

By noon, a significant number of Americans from Maine to California have participated in one of a variety of spiritual exercises.

In some places those worshipers will gather again on Sunday evening, and some will even return for a mid-week service.

The American comedian and political commentator Will Rogers once quipped that highway engineers in Texas constructed roads for Texas Baptist to wear out going to and from church.

Even though recent decades have seen a decline in church attendance and biblical literacy the church remains a viable influence in our nation.

Over the next several weeks, we will begin looking at the Doctrine of the Church.

We will look at its current state, its origin, its nature, and its mission.

We will also take a look at its polity, ministers and leaders, and its ordinances – baptism and the Lord’s supper.

Speaking of the Church, our Baptist Faith and Message declares:

* /A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth.

Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes.

In such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord.

Its scriptural officers are pastors and deacons.

While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.

The New Testament speaks also of the church as the Body of Christ which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages, believers from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation./

This description will be our guide as we examine the Doctrine of the Church.

The fundamental question is: /“What is the Church?”/

The Church is not merely an /organization/ though it organizes to accomplish its work.

Nor is it an /institution/ though it is a mechanism for social order that helps govern the behavior of the individuals within its community.

The church is not a /building/, though we use buildings.

The Church is not a /club/ though even though we are an association of people with a common interest or goal.

We are the /ekklesia—the call out ones/.

A New Testament church is a body of believers who have been called out from the world by God to live as his people under the authority of Jesus Christ.

We accomplish this by being in covenant relationship with like-minded believers who meet together physically for worship, fellowship, teaching, prayer and encouragement in the faith.

Indeed the term /“Body of Christ”/ best describes what the church is and was the Apostle Paul’s favorite descriptor for it.

/It is a visible expression in this world of the kingdom of God—though at an imperfect one./

!

I. THE CHURCH IS A TWO-THOUSAND-YEAR PHENOMENON

#. the church was founded by Jesus himself almost 2000 years ago

#. since that time the church has suffered /internal turmoil/, /insufferable persecution/, /misunderstanding/, and, in some cases, /serious moral and spiritual setbacks/

#. nonetheless, the church has endured exactly as Jesus promised

#. the Gates of Hell have not overcome it

#.

they never will

#.

across the years, the people have God have lived militantly and often triumphantly

#. during this time certain things have been characteristic of the church

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!! A. DIVISION HAS CHARACTERIZED THE CHURCH

#. our Lord apparently knew that divisions would occur in the church

#.

His priestly prayer in John 17 was particularly a prayer for unity within the church

* /“My prayer is not for them alone.

I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.

May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”/ (John 17:20–21, NIV84)

#. within a few years of our Lords ascension, the early church face the difficulty of deciding whether Gentiles should be admitted to the Jewish-Christian ranks

#. predictably, the early Christians were divided on the issue

* ILLUS.

We see this in what historians have come to call the Jerusalem Council.

We find it recorded in the 15th chapter of the Book of Acts.

The huge question of the moment revolved around circumcision; did Gentile converts to the Christian faith also have to be circumcised and essentially become Jewish?

Here’s the back story: the Apostle Paul and Barnabas had been preaching the gospel in Antioch and many Gentiles had come to faith in Christ.

According to Acts 15:1 “Certain men came down from Judea and taught the brothern, “unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

The very next verse tells us that Paul and Barnabas “had great dissension and debate with them”.

Finally, the members of the congregation decided to send Paul, Barnabas, and others to Jerusalem to request the opinions of the apostles and elders on this matter.

The apostle Peter finally helped to settle the argument by sharing his testimony of the conversion of Cornelius.

Peter ends up by affirming that circumcision is not what saves a believer, but rather the grace of God shown through Yeshua the Messiah.

#. this decision did not fully settled the issue

#. a group arose who we refer to as Judaizers, who constantly sought to undermine the free grace of God by insisting that Christians keep the Jewish law

#.

these people were a thorn in the side to the Apostle Paul’s ministry

#. the issue became so polarizing that the apostle Paul wrote a forthright letter to the churches in Galatia, insisting that keeping the law had nothing to do with God’s program of salvation

#. unfortunately, we see division among believers not only over serious theological issues, but also over personalities

#.

Paul and Barnabas would themselves have a /sharp disagreement/ over whether or not to take John-Mark on another mission trip after he had deserted them during their first missionary journey

#.

Barnabas was willing to give him a second chance

#.

Paul was not

#.

they separated and went their own ways

#. as centuries passed, controversies about the person of Christ rocked and divided the church

#. numerous councils were called where pastors sought to settle the theological issues

#.

these councils often issued /confessions of faith/ that outlined orthodoxy

#. in the early 16th century the Protestant Reformation triggered the modern age of denominationalism

#. 500 years later we have a few major denominational groups, such as Baptists, Methodists, and Anglicans, and Presbyterians and hundreds of smaller, and lesser-known denominational bodies

#. each claims a unique insight and emphasis

#. one would suppose that such splintering would render the church inoperative and ineffective, even unconvincing

#. obviously such divisions have not always been helpful

#. these divisions have caused suspicion and even failures on numerous occasions

#. however, God has worked marvelously and effectively among his people regardless of the splintering of the Christian faith

#. this is illustrated by the way God blessed Paul and Barnabas after their intense debate and eventful separation

#. most people recognize that neither God nor Jesus is responsible for the splintering of the church

#. such splintering occurs because of our human inability to understand all that we should about God

!! B. DILUTION HAS CHARACTERIZED THE CHURCH

#. the witness of the church has also been subject to dilution

#. this has occurred because of encroaching /worldliness/, /materialism/, and the /over emphasizing of one doctrine to the radical exclusion of others/

#. /worldliness is always devastating to the church/

#. in the apostle Paul’s second pastoral letter to Timothy we read one of the saddest commentaries in the New Testament …

* /“Do your best to come to me quickly, for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica.

Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia.”/

(2 Timothy 4:9–10, NIV84)

#. the membership rolls of churches across the nation are filled with people like Demas—they have deserted Christ and his church because they love the world more

#. in the Book of Jude, the author warns us of worldliness …

* /“For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you.

They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.”/ (Jude 4, NIV84)

* ILLUS.

Take Country singer, Faith Hill, for example.

She claims to be a Christian; yet she has posed twice for Playboy magazine!

* ILLUS.

Consider one of the newest evangelistic strategies being adopted by some churches.

In an effort to appear trendy and socially relevant, and “unchurchy” a growing trend in many Evangelical Churches in recent years are Beer Brewing Clubs.

Their motto is WWJB—What Would Jesus Brew.

Now, I understand that not every denomination has a prohibition against the use of alcohol.

And, I know that Monks across Europe, in places like Ireland, Belgium and southern Germany, have carefully crafted renowned beers for centuries.

But using the brewing of alcohol as an evangelistic tool, personifies “worldliness” in my mind.

#. worldliness does not mean that everything in the world is immoral or evil

#. worldliness results from the failure of the Christian to adopt a worldview that is guided by the authority of the Scriptures

#. the result is a morality that becomes relevant to, and subservient to the prevailing view of the culture