The Gospel and the Church
The Gospel and the Teenage Life • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction: Review previous message.
It’s All About Our Values
We prove what we value in life based on what we do. If we choose to flee from temptation, it is because we love and value Christ so much that we wouldn’t dream of disappointing the One who saved us from our sins. On the other hand, if we choose sin, it is because we are selfish and we value our own temporary pleasures more than the One who came to save us. In other words, we do what we do because we value what we value. The bad news for us is that naturally we all value our own selfish temporary pleasures as the supreme treasure. The good news is that when we choose to place ourselves in Christ old things pass away and all things become new. When we choose to place ourselves in Christ, He changes our hearts to value Him as the supreme treasure.
Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.
Now, once we are in Christ, the Bible introduces us to another character that is vital to our Christian lives. Jaquelle describes her this way, “She’s not popular or glamorous or even always lovable. She can be bitter or critical or slothful or self-righteous . . . but God loves her. He loves her so much, in fact, that God sent his Son to die for her,” and we, as Christians, are called to never forsake her. She is vital to our walk with Christ because, although she is not perfect, she is exactly what we need. You see, she has many members and each member is weak in some areas and strong in others, and it is only when her members serve together under the banner of Christ that she can be successful as a whole. Who is she? She is the church.
In opening the chapter about the church, Jaquelle cites the following example of one of her friends.
My friend Manuela wasn’t one much for church. Her family never attended (besides a stray Easter or Christmas Eve), but she wasn’t too concerned about it. I met her the summer I was twelve when we were cabin-mates at a Bible camp. As we walked up to the mess hall together the first day, questions bounced back and forth between us: “Where do you live?” “Is this your first time here?” . . . But then another question popped into my head. And from there, it all went downhill.
I asked, “Where do you go to church?” She shifted awkwardly and paused for an uncomfortable length of time. I felt like I had said something wrong.
Finally, she replied, “My family doesn’t really go to church. We just sort of do our own thing.”
I was speechless. In my naïvety, I had never met anyone who claimed to love Jesus but ignored his church. Her idea is not unusual, though. It’s actually pretty popular, especially in recent years . . . .
I don’t remember how I responded to Manuela. I probably mumbled noncommittally or just replied, “Oh. I see.” But I didn’t see, and I still don’t see.
Crowe, Jaquelle. This Changes Everything: How the Gospel Transforms the Teen Years (p. 46). Crossway. Kindle Edition.
The Gospel Leads Us To Church
The Gospel Leads Us To Church
Upon salvation, God places in the hearts of believers a desire to be a part of the community of God’s people. In Paul gives us an earthly example of how we are united to Christ.
Crowe, Jaquelle. This Changes Everything: How the Gospel Transforms the Teen Years (pp. 45-46). Crossway. Kindle Edition.
Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”
So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
Example: Saying you love being a Christian but forsaking the church would be like a man saying, “I love marriage but I hate my wife.”
It is impossible to simultaneously love Jesus and hate or ignore His body called the church. Upon salvation, it is the responsibility to serve the universal body of Christ by joining and serving the local church.
Consider
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.
So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
There is no one in the New Testament who is encouraged to or commended for separating themselves from the local body of believers. As we just considered in , to be separated or removed from the local body of believers is to fragment the body of Christ. The acceptance of the gospel and participation in the church is inseparable.
Ephesians tells us that it is the privilege of the believer to glorify God in the church.
to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Aren’t you thankful that the gospel has not only saved you, but it has also saved others and together we are a community?
For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.
The church is a community that cares for on another. If one member suffers, we mourn together; if one member is honored, we rejoice together.
In fact, togetherness is an idea that the New Testament places before us over and over again.
but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
We worship together.
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.
We learn together.
Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
We fellowship together
But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
We serve one another
For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
We love one another
This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
We share together
and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.
We weep and rejoice together
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
When you join a church, you join a family, and the blood that binds the family of God is everlasting.
The Gospel Shapes the Activities of the Church
The Gospel Shapes the Activities of the Church
A few years ago a USA Today article came out titled, “‘ Forget Pizza Parties,’ Teens Tell Church.” It quotes Thom Rainer, the then-president of Lifeway Christian Resources: “Sweet 16 is not a sweet spot for churches. It’s the age teens typically drop out. A decade ago teens were coming to church youth group to play, coming for the entertainment, coming for the pizza. They’re not even coming for the pizza anymore. They say, ‘We don’t see the church as relevant, as meeting our needs or where we need to be today.’”
The gospel shapes the activities of the church in that the role of the church is not to entertain with pizza and parties.
Crowe, Jaquelle. This Changes Everything: How the Gospel Transforms the Teen Years (p. 48). Crossway. Kindle Edition.
I came across this article a few months ago written by another teenager named Catherine Forster entitled We Need More Bible in Youth Ministry.
Crowe, Jaquelle. This Changes Everything: How the Gospel Transforms the Teen Years (p. 48). Crossway. Kindle Edition.
I was blessed to have parents who encouraged my brothers and me to get into the [Bible] early, to write things down, to learn for ourselves what it had to teach. I’m sure I thought it was boring at the time; but now that I’m a teenager, I’m starting to realize this personal discipline is essential to my life and future.
It was through personal, inductive Bible study that I learned to really love God’s word. But when I look at the church around me, I don’t see much emphasis on Bible study in youth ministries. We’re encouraged to read our Bible, of course; but what the Christian culture gives us is one lesson after another on “issues,” and very little encouragement to study the Scriptures in depth.
But we teens need Bible study — more than we even realize.
Teens, you need more than entertainment. You need real in-depth Bible study and you need to be challenged to put that Bible study into practice. If church becomes about games and parties then what’s the point? The world offers games and parties.
Do not believe the lie that the church exists only to serve you. God doesn’t call any of us, regardless of our age, to be spectators of the faith.
How do you know if you have fallen into this trap? Here are a few identifying questions: How often do you complain that the games aren’t “fun enough”? How often do you complain that the food is not “delicious enough”? How often do you mutter with you friends that there is too much Bible and not enough “chill time”? How do you decide when and in what activity you will participate? When was the last time you said “thank you” to one of the sponsors? How often do you go out of your way to serve another member of the church? Because, again, what you talk about and do portrays what you value. If you complain that there isn’t enough going on for you while you fail to do anything for others you are are probably viewing the world and the church with an entitled attitude.
Remember, the church is for all believers to sharpen one another and glorify God.
The Gospel Allows Us To Open Up To The Church
The Gospel Allows Us To Open Up To The Church
We all know that it is easy to fall into temptations to sin. Temptations surround us every day. For many of us, temptation is in our pockets right now. Temptation today is right there, at our thumb-tips. Sin is as easy as shrugging your shoulders at your parents or remaining silent when you should speak up or remaining bitter with your parents. Sin is easy and it seems to always be stalking you.
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
This is why we need accountability. Accountability is vital to living a successful Christian life.
Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
James
However, accountability does not mean that the church ought to employ spiritual secret police. Accountability is actually the opposite. According to James, accountability is a manifestation of grace. If there is sin in my life that I am not aware of and someone comes to me and exposes the error of my ways that person has saved me from a multitude of sins. The awesome benefit of being a part of a church family is that we are surrounded by people who love us so much that they are willing to guard us, even from ourselves. Accountability is not being nitpicky with others.
Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
It’s about having honest relationships that guard us from sin and help us towards holiness. One church wrote about accountability this way.
Church membership does not involve an expectation to live perfectly. Rather, church membership is a commitment to worship and minister in a body of believers where the members covenant together to hold each other accountable to pursue obedience to what Scripture teaches.
Conclusion: Jaquelle closes her chapter on the church with this:
Think about this now. You need a local church. You need their accountability, their love, their service, and their worship. And they need yours. I wish I could go back to that summer I met Manuela and see her again. I’d want to give her a hug and tell her as gently as possible that she’s wrong. No Christian can just do their own thing. You need the church, because Jesus gave us the church. You need the church, because it’s your family . . . no one is an island.
Crowe, Jaquelle. This Changes Everything: How the Gospel Transforms the Teen Years (p. 59). Crossway. Kindle Edition.
Crowe, Jaquelle. This Changes Everything: How the Gospel Transforms the Teen Years (p. 61). Crossway. Kindle Edition.
Crowe, Jaquelle. This Changes Everything: How the Gospel Transforms the Teen Years (p. 60). Crossway. Kindle Edition.