FBC Pharr: What Do We Do?

We are continuing a brief series for our new year that gives us the opportunity to review where we have been and what we have accomplished during the year. I like to start a new year with a look at where we’ve been, what our calling is, and where we are going. We looked last week at where we have been and what we accomplished in 2022.

I gave a message, titled FBC Pharr: Who Are We? In that message I told you about many of our accomplishments during the year. I also told you about our vision...

I told you that I like to tell people that “we are ONE church, with TWO languages, and THREE great loves: We LOVE God, we LOVE Others, and we LOVE the world with the character of Jesus Christ.”

Our Core Values:

Discipleship

Missions (Service / Outreach / Local & Global Missions)

Bible Study

Prayer

Worship

In telling you who we are, I gave you three words that define who we are as the members of FBC Pharr:

We are Apprentices (learning the trade of discipleship).

We are Disciples (learning the ways of God and Jesus Christ) and Disciplers (teaching others the ways of God and Jesus Christ).

We are Missionaries (engaging in the mission that Christ gave us).

This week, as we continue this series, I want to move beyond who we are into our actions, by telling you what we do...

FBC Pharr: What Do We Do?

This church, First Baptist Church of Pharr, turns 110 years old this year. FBC Pharr was established as a body of believers, practicing Baptist traditions and church governance in the year 1913. Many pastors and leaders over the years have worked to establish a church that:

cooperates with the City of Pharr to enrich the lives of the residents in this city

cooperates with our local Baptist association to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Rio Grande Valley

cooperates with Texas Baptists around the State of Texas to reach the state with the Good News

And cooperates with the Southern Baptist Convention at a national level to reach the entire world with the same message and mission

As a Baptist church, we not only baptize people, we not only practice a congregational form of church governance, we also work cooperatively together with other Baptists to accomplish the work left to us by Jesus in his Great Commission that we look at last week.

Cooperate is an important word for Baptists. You see, we know that we can get busy and do the work that we are able, with what we have. And we know that together we can accomplish much for the kingdom of God, but when we expand that word together by cooperating with others, we can do even more for the kingdom of God.

Here at FBC Pharr, we have been cooperating with other Baptists and working toward the accomplishment of goals for the last 110 years and our prayer is that we will be allowed to continue that work until Jesus returns.

As I mentioned to you last week, Jesus left us our marching orders before he returned to heaven to be with the Father. We read those orders in Matthew 28, the passage that we call The Great Commission...

Matthew 28:19–20 CSB

19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

This week, as we look at What We Do, we will turn to a different passage to guide our study as we look into What We Do here at FBC Pharr. Let’s read our focal passage for today...

Colossians 3:12–17 CSB

12 Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive. 14 Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. 15 And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

[pray]

I have taught you about these characteristics and how we do our work together. You’ll recognize many of the Fruit of the Spirit mentioned in that passage, but also the message of unity, that we have discussed several times before.

When I begin to think about the things that we do as believers who congregate together, the verses come quickly to mind...

Ephesians 5:19 CSB

19 speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music with your heart to the Lord,

1 Corinthians 14:26 CSB

26 What then, brothers and sisters? Whenever you come together, each one has a hymn, a teaching, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Everything is to be done for building up.

…these seem to be the most prescriptive of our corporate congregational activity.

I. We do these things together...

We sing spiritual songs and hymns when we worship together.

We study the word and seek to understand how it applies to our Christian life as we study the Bible together.

We also come together in prayer as we seek to accomplish the work that we have been given.

And, being devoted to unity, I can’t miss an opportunity to add unity...

Ephesians 4:32 CSB

32 And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.

We have work that we accomplish together as a congregation. But just as important is the way that we accomplish this work.

Our attitude in undertaking the task speaks volumes about our motivations in the work that we do. We should always work together in unified mind and purpose.

We do this better sometimes than others. This is a constant struggle in leadership. I can guarantee you that you and I won’t always agree on everything that comes to a decision in this church. This is human nature.

How we deal with those differences of opinions is important. In everything we do, we should always seek to “be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.” This is Christ’s nature within us.

When we do this work poorly or we do it for the wrong motivations we will fail miserably. This is our sinful nature working within us.

Our Core Activities

I look back at Colossians 3:16 and at these actions that the early church counted as their core activities. I see these three things:

worship

prayer

Bible study

I also see several attitudes prevalent here:

thanksgiving

forgiveness

correction

Fruit of the Spirit - the character of Christ (v 12) (compassion, kindness, gentleness, humility, and patience)

And most importantly unity of the body.

When I boil this down, this is internal work that we do connecting with each other and connecting with Christ. Our collective work is building each other up, using scripture and song and prayer as the tools that we use to build each other.

For this reason that I say repeatedly, “We should encourage each other to do the best, be the best, and take steps toward a deeper connection with God.”

Colossians 3:14 CSB

14 Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.

Paul says here in verse 14 that love binds us together in unity...

Unity is about treating each other with respect

Unity is about being willing to overlook unintentional wrongs

Unity is also about setting wrongs right (even when that means taking corrective action)

Unity is about patiently working through differences (and we do have a few of those, don’t we?)

Unity is about making sure that there is room at the table of fellowship for everyone in the body

Unity is about hearing many voices, many opinions, and working together to find a solution that will work for many

Unity is about being willing to set aside your own preferences for the sake of another

This passage goes back to looking at our discipleship. This is something that Jesus took seriously and his disciples took clearly. We talked at length about discipleship last week.

II. The Most Important Action: Service

I have told you before that your volunteer service and giving are both important to this church and the mission that we are working together to accomplish. Volunteer service is critical. As a church we cannot do everything that we need to do without each of you participating and bringing your gifts and talents to the table.

Service is important. When I use the word “service” I mean how we serve each other, serve the corporate body of believers and carry the mission of Jesus Christ outside our walls to the community, the region, and the world.

Serving the Church

Serving Each Other in the Church

Serving Our Community

Service is personally directional activity. By that I mean that you choose to give of your own personal time, resources, talents, money to another. Nobody can compel you to serve against your wishes.

That might be giving to the corporate body of believers for the purpose of advancing the church. This might be serving as a greeter, or teaching a Sunday School class, or serving on the worship team or any one of a hundred other possible things you could do to serve this church.

It might also be giving of those resources for the benefit of another church member or regular attender. This might be helping them move or bringing them a meal when they are sick. It might be as simple as providing for their physical need or as complex as mentoring them or discipling them as they deepen their connection with God.

Additionally, we can choose to serve those who are not in our church fellowship. It might be serving our community by taking blessing bags or providing warm clothing on a cold day. It might be caring enough to hear their story and praying with them. There are a thousand ways that we can serve those around us and bless them with the love of Jesus Christ.

These are directional acts of service. They involve the individual believer making a decision to give of themselves to the body of believers, to an individual believer, or to someone outside of our church body.

When we do this, we give of ourselves for the benefit of others. And I personally believe that we should keep our eyes and ears open to these opportunities when they present themselves. We should remain open to the prompting of the Holy Spirit and be ready to give in these moments.

I look at Romans 12:1, where the Apostle Paul wrote about sacrifices that we make for God and explains how we worship God...

Romans 12:1 CSB

1 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.

Interestingly enough that last word, translated as “true worship” can also be translated as “divine service.” The King James Version translates it this way.

Romans 12:1 NKJV

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

This means that we use our bodies, our physical resources, as an act of worship to God. I believe that we serve God when we interact with each other in His name. Worship is not just something that we come together and do on Sundays. Worship is not just something that takes place in our mind. It is something that we do together and something that we perform in the sight of the world. I look to the words of James to see evidence of this fact...

James 1:27 CSB

27 Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Scripture is FULL of these opportunities to serve others in the name of Jesus Christ...

Mark 9:41 CSB

41 And whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in my name, because you belong to Christ—truly I tell you, he will never lose his reward.

John 15:13 CSB

13 No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends.

Hebrews 13:2 CSB

2 Don’t neglect to show hospitality, for by doing this some have welcomed angels as guests without knowing it.

Matthew 25:35–36 CSB

35 “ ‘For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me; I was in prison and you visited me.’

Matthew 18:5 CSB

5 And whoever welcomes one child like this in my name welcomes me.

We are going to dig deeper in looking at this next week as we have our Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. I hope you’ll be here for that. We have a special guest coming to bring the message and we will have several ministries here to tell you about how you can be involved in ministry to the most needy in our community.

III. Sharing Your Faith is the Root of Discipleship

One thing is critical to all of the acts of service that we do. Every opportunity that we have to share our faith with others should be taken.

I am often surprised at how few Christian believers in Christ have ever shared their faith or led anyone to Christ. When Jesus tells us to “Go...make disciples” he’s not saying “if you think about it [or if you have any extra free time] you should really go do this.” He says...

Matthew 28:19–20 CSB

I told you last week, these are our marching orders.

It’s not a suggestion. It’s a command.

It’s not something you hire the pastor to do. It’s a command for every believer.

It’s not something for someone more religious or more faithful than you. This is a command for YOU to “go, make disciples.”

This is a command for every believer.

We will never become a discipler if we refuse to first do the work of the evangelist.

Personal evangelism is the act of telling someone else about Jesus. This can happen one on one or with just a few people at a time. One does not have to be a great public speaker to tell others about Christ.

Often the acts of service that we talked about open the door for spiritual conversations. When we serve others with the love of Jesus Christ without expecting anything in return, those inside and outside of the church, we are practicing evangelism.

Galatians 6:10 CSB

10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith.

Paul wrote in Romans that “God’s kindness leads to repentance” (Rom 2:4).

If you feel like you are stuck in your faith, not growing, I encourage to get out and begin serving others. There are many positive benefits in serving others, that I have seen it in my own life to pull me up out of a place of depression or self-pity to turn my eyes outward and bring a perspective to my own situation that makes it seem manageable.

If you want to take your faith to the next level, get out and serve others.

Conclusion

Related Media

Related Sermons