The Church
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The Church
The Church
(Insert a slide of the church- already saved on computer)
“We’re going to church!” How often have you heard that or said that? But the church is not a building it is the people. The Church is God’s plan to be used to save sinful man. Are we playing church or are we the church?
We do not want to be a people who slow down God’s plan, misunderstand God’s plan, or have a misconception of God and His plan.
So tonight we are going to look at a few things.
The Church - there is no perfect church
The Church - it is to be different (don’t be a striped candy church)
The Church and the cross
The Church and it’s doctrine
The Church and it’s unity
The Church-it’s not perfect
The Church-it’s not perfect
We were created in perfection, but are imperfect by sin and this fallen world, so there is no perfect church, but we are being perfected in Christ Jesus. We may not be perfect, but we have work to do.
Be perfected - by admonishing and encouraging (1The5:14)
14 We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone.
So what is the instruction here? How can we do it?
Be perfected - by being tender-hearted (Eph4:32)
32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
Why are we to be kind, tender-hearted and forgiving?
Be perfected - by don’t do this, but do that (Gal5:15-16)
15 But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. 16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
Don’t do what? And in turn what are we to do?
So in the imperfect church is perfection not possible? We may not be perfect but we are being perfected when we believe God and His Word and apply it to our lives.
The Church: Be different
The Church: Be different
In a time when the church looks like the world it is hard to tell who the church really is, isn’t it? We are called to be different from the world.
Be different - by being separate from the world (2Cor6:17)
17 “Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord. “And do not touch what is unclean; And I will welcome you.
This does not mean be we are not to be a part of the world, but we need to be protective of the church and not be conformed to the world.
Be different - don’t be conformed to the world (Rom12:2; Rom8:29)
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Not conformed to the world, but to the image of His Son
29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;
Be different - you be a transforming power, by the cross!
The cross of Christ changed everything and changes everything within us. We cannot discount nor compromise the cross. Jesus didn’t, the Father didn’t, the apostles message didn’t and you didn’t when you came to believe, did you?
The Cross was the tool God used for the Son to be the perfect and acceptable sacrifice that made the way for sinful man to be forgiven and transformed.
All this so that we may have the same goal as Jesus.
Be different - have the same goal as Jesus (Lk19:10; Mt16:16, 18)
10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
and add to that
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
18 “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
For here the Lord defines the church and the promise! The church is the called out, the one’s called to be different for we operate under the real authority, so not to be tricked to be a striped candy church.
Be different - know the authority and don’t be a striped candy church (Act2:42; Jn4:14)
42 They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
They, the apostles, they the disciples were devoted, we need to be devoted too.
Jesus did not come to entertain, but to explain and to encourage.
14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
The solution to the striped candy church that gives people something sweet and no meat and truth is found there in (v.14) - drink of the Living water and it will spring up to eternal life.
I mentioned the cross a few minutes ago, but want to develop on that some now.
The Church and the Cross
The Church and the Cross
The church is more than members wearing a cross or carrying a cross. The church is about the message of the cross, the message seems to have changed for many.
The message of the cross includes repentance, without it there is no conversion. -
Without a changed direction there is no changed destination. Repentance is a part of the conversion from sinner to saint, from condemned to conformed, from darkness to light.
The message of the cross includes confession, belief, faith, obedience and a lifestyle that includes suffering.
The message of the cross, the Good News, includes the things we know so well (hear, believe, confess, repent, be baptized and then live obediently until the end) but sometimes we don’t like to think about the suffering that may come because of the cross.
A quick look at the old cross and the new cross (Gal6:14)
14 But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
The old cross slew men - new cross entertains them
The old cross brought men to their knees - new cross to theatrics and laughter.
The old cross saves man - the new cross deceives man
The old cross bears a burden - the new cross claims no burden
Which Cross are we as a church going to show to the world?
In this world where in the church, it has gone from maximum instruction to maximum entertainment and minimum instruction. From 15 minutes of worth to 30 -60 minutes of preaching, instruction to 30 -40 minutes of songs and 15 minutes and heaven forbid 20 minutes of preaching, instruction.
No longer is the word of God the attraction, it is the programs, the events, the food.
Again, which way do we want to be known, seen? It matters eternally.
So thus far I think you can agree that the church, the body of believers all too often look like the world and not disciples of Christ. Gospel meetings of the past have turned into concerts for today all in the name of Jesus. There is a competition to get peoples attention and keep it. Worship has lost it’s priority, I think you can look around you and see that. For us to stay the course that Christ set for us, for us to not be a striped candy church with a new cross before us, we need to continue on.
The Church and its doctrine
The Church and its doctrine
The doctrine is the teaching, the teaching needs to be what the Bible says. And what we believe and do with what the Bible says, including our concept of God and the teaching of the Bible.
Have you ever heard the expression “me and the man upstairs?” or maybe “The God of my understanding?”
The Church and its concept of God (Psm89:6-7; Jn1:1, Gen1:1, 3, 6, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26, 31)
6 For who in the skies is comparable to the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty is like the Lord, 7 A God greatly feared in the council of the holy ones, And awesome above all those who are around Him?
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
In the beginning
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Created light (v.3)
Created the expanse and the waters (v.6)
Separated the waters (v.9)
Created all the vegetation (v.11)
Created the light of night and day (v.14)
Created the creatures of sea and land (v.20, 24)
Created man (v.26)
Then He looked and said it was very good.
31 God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
We need to keep our reverence of God and our awe of God
The Church and being in awe of God (Act2:43)
43 Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.
Maybe at times our concept, our sense of awe may diminish because we have not seen the signs, the wonders, the miracles. Don’t be swayed by the world in thinking “I believe what I can see” for that is the wrong concept, we believe and then we see, it is by faith!
Don’t diminish the right concept of God.
One way to keep the right concept of God, to not be diminished in our concept of God is to know the doctrine and do the right thing with the doctrine of God.
The truth, the whole truth, the uncompromising truth
Stay to the sound doctrine (2Tim1:13-14)
13 Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. 14 Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.
we are going to be judged one day by God’s standard that is laid out in God’s Word. So, stay to the sound doctrine and guard it. For you have been given what you need to be able to endure the sound doctrine
Endure the sound doctrine (2Tim4:3-5)
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.
5 But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
When we gather as the church, do we come with the right expectation?
Come with the right expectation (Col1:28-29)
28 We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. 29 For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.
They had an expectation then, do we have one today?
Do we expect to come, sing 2 songs, a prayer, another song, the supper, the sermon, an invitation followed by another song and a prayer?
Or do we come with the expectation to meet, to encounter God through His Word and by His spirit as we lift our voices, as we lift our eyes and our hearts to Him?
We need not be a cemetery but a cathedral for the saints to exalt the name of Jesus and to edify one another.
A.W. Tozar said
“We need to have a higher expectation of the church to create an atmosphere of worship and to hear from God, to be encouraged by His people and to leave just a little closer to Him with a challenge to do something with what we heard.” -Rut, Rot or Revival “the condition of the church”.
The Church and its Unity
The Church and its Unity
The church is an inside job, not an outside job, about a change of heart that changes our direction and when we remember that we have the unified church.
It’s not outside, it’s inside (1Sam16:7)
7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
From the inside out we are unified (Eph4:1-7)
1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love,
3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling;
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.
7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
We have been called by the Gospel, have heard, believed and responded to it and have been added to the number; so that we can walk worthy (v.1)
Then with all humility, gentleness, patience, tolerance and love, even in the hard times we are to love one another (v.2)
Protect the unity by knowing and walking in the One’s, for they preserve the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace (vv.3-6)
One body, one Spirit, one Hope, One Lord, One Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father!
Finally remember the gift of grace given (v.7)
Did Jesus hold back? NO WAY, so don’t hold back from Him!
we are called, we are challenged, to be the right church with the right concept of God to accomplish what God wants to do through us and by us, as the church!
(Lead to encouragement)
(Insert encouragement slide)
(Pray)