Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Imagine a faithful biblical church that is trying to shepherd and care for the members of that church.

Imagine the leadership in that church lovingly and graciously talking to a church member who has been discovered to be living in fornication.

Yet the lady who he is in a relationship with just tells him, come on over to my church, you can join here, my church is much more loving, they will not bother you like your church is.

The American church has done a good job of americanizing the church.

Many churched people in America shop for a church much like they are shopping for a new car.

They decide which church to go to much like they decide which hamburger place they want to eat at tonight.

I want to have it my way.

consumeristic

Church membership is driven by who is offering me the best deal.

How can i get the most bang for my buck?

conveinence

Therefore the church has become nothing more than a

circus.

Who can bring the most entertainment today?

Who can have the best show in town?

This is the one who draws the biggest crowd?

Who has the best program for my children?

I think that we will see more and more negative results as this church growth movement, which is something new in church history, has it’s full effect.

Parents and grandparents are teaching children and young adults to think about church and decide which church to join in ways that are unbiblical and have never been considered before.

As we continue to think about the church biblically, we need to consider who the church is for and what is the church for.

If these things are not understood then there cannot be a healthy church.

So I want us to ask four questions today that I hope will help us better understand what a biblically healthy church looks like.

Who is church for?

First we need to remember what the word church means.

Church is not a building

Church is not a service

A church is made up of individual believers.

So that to be part of the church one has to have been born again, one has to have been born of the Spirit of God so that now they are a part of the family of God.

So what Peter says is true of every believer

So when we go to church by necessity that has to mean that we are going to gather with those who have been called out of the world and called into the Kingdom of God.

The church is the collection of those who are

1 Peter 2:9

So the church is made up of believers and the Sunday gathering that we refer to as church is simply a time set aside for these believers to gather together to worship, to fellowship, to be taught, to be ministered to, and to minister to others.

So when you have a popular pastor saying things like, this church is not for believers, it is for unbelievers, by definition he is stating an impossibility.

If the Sunday morning gatherings that he is overseeing is aimed toward getting unbelievers to come to hear him preach then he may have a weekly evangelistic campaign but he is not having a weekly church service.

Now I am not against evangelistic meetings but the regular gathering that we refer to as church, is intended to be the gathering together of a part of the people of God who have committed themselves to living the Christian life together for each others good and for God’s glory.

It is a time when the people of God can gather together to be encouraged, strengthened, and prodded along as we use our gifts to minister to one another.

Now let me say this, when we gather together on Sunday mornings, it is for believers, this does not mean that we do not welcome unbelievers, we love for them to come.

We believer that there is no better place for you to be than to be gathered with the Lord’s people, hearing the Word of the Lord declared and seeing evidence of God’s grace and mercy and seeing God’s love put on display as the Lord’s people for one another and care for one another.

when we gather together on Sunday mornings, it is for believers, this does not mean that we do not welcome unbelievers, we love for them to come but we orient our service toward the building up of the body

Why church membership?

One person may ask, well if it is important for me to gather with believers regularly why can’t i just go to a different church every Sunday?

Why should I gather with the same believers?

Commitment

If you are going to be able to live out the commands of the Scriptures to love and to care for and to use your spiritual gifts for other believers then you are going to have to have a clear definition of who those believers are.

In other words you can’t do that for every Christian in Macon.

A commitment to every Christian is really a commitment to no Christian.

If you are going to be able to follow biblical commands like

The only way you are going to be able to consistently live out these commands is if you have committed yourself to a local body of believers.

And the only way that you can know that others have committed themselves to you is if you are a member of a local body of believers.

Joining a church lets the leaders and the membership know that you desire to live out the Christian life within the context of this group of believers.

Joining a church lets the church know that they have responsibility to minister to you and to care for you.

It let’s the leadership know that you are a part of the flock so that applies

.

One of the things that was emphasized early on in Baptist history that was a Biblical idea and that we need to get back to is emphasizing the importance of membership, that membership is a commitment.

One of the ways that this was done was that there was a church covenant that was used as a regular part of the church life.

The church covenant was not something that was extrabiblical, instead it was a summary of the Biblical teaching on requirements and the expectations of church membership.

What should church members expect of the church?

Commitment to the spiritual good of the believer.

Each member should expect that the church, that is the gathering of believers is committed to their spiritual good.

What does this look like?

Ministry of the gifts

teaching, encouragement, prayer, admonishment, comfort, prodding along, fellowship, being loved on, forgiveness, compassion, sympathy, care

Should expect to me shepherded by the leadership

Public proclamation of the Word

Relationships with leaders who are checking on you (deacon family ministry)

Pursuit or correction when you go astray

Gal.

6.1-

You should also expect for the church to take formal action against you if you persist in unrepentant sin after being shepherded by the leadership of the church

Matthew 18.

We see this in

You should expect and desire to be committed to your spiritual good even if it means doing hard things if you are every entrapped in sin or lead astray by the evil one and in a state of unrepentance.

My desire if that was ever the case with me is that as lovingly as the church could the church would be very clear to me, Robbie, you are not living consistent with the gospel and because we love you we are not going to continue to confirm your confession of faith because you are living like one who does not have saving faith.

That is hard, but that is what should be expected of the church and that is what every born again Christian would desire from a church.

One of the ways the church in America has gone so horribly wrong is that the leadership sees members as consumers, as customers that are to be kept at all cost and when that is the case you will have to compromise when it comes to commitment to the spiritual good of the members.

Why is it church discipline has virtually disappeared in most American churches?

Because members and leadership are not committed to the spiritual good of others, they are committed to making people comfortable (here i am using that word in a wordly sense not in gospel comfort).

What should the church expect of church members?

By the aid of the Holy Spirit to

walk together in Christian love

strive for the advancement of this Church in knowledge

holiness

comfort

sustain it’s worship

Heb.

ordinances

ordinances

discipline

doctrines

contribute cheerfully and regularly to support the ministry of the church

maintain secret devotions

seek to share the gospel

walk in world in a way that is honoring to our Lord

care for one another

pray for one another

be patient with one another and forgive one another

What the church should expect is a commitment to the church, that you are committed to the spiritual good, the spiritual advancement of your brothers and sisters in Christ.

Let me tell you, one of the most basic ways that you can do that is through a commitment to being here.

What an encouragement you will be here shortly as we partake of the Lord’s Supper together when you again publicly proclaim to the church that you are continuing to trust in the finished work of Christ alone for the forgiveness of your sins and the hope of eternal life.

We gathered together on mornings like this morning