Sermon Tone Analysis

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Churches are confused.
There appears to be no consensus on what function the church serves in the world.
Building up believers, evangelizing the lost, feeding the poor, lobbying government, and protesting legislation are just a few of the functions churches feel compelled to perform.
Rick Warren recognized this lack of direction and has created a Purpose-Driven empire paving a path for everyone to follow.
If number of books sold is any measure, his ideas have clearly become the /de facto/ standard in the church.
Warren’s five functions for the church are: Worship, Fellowship, Discipleship, Ministry, and Evangelism.  Warren is not the first to develop such a list, of course.
Most books on the church contain a similar list with some level of modification.
The unsettled question continues to be /how much of its resources and time does the church reserve for each function?/
The answer to this question is, to some degree, the distinguishing mark among various local churches.
The impact of Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, and the church-growth movement has lead most churches to focus almost exclusively on evangelism.
Most fundamental churches focus more on a form of discipleship, almost to the exclusion of evangelism.
Other churches place the emphasis on worship (expressed in singing, dance, art) almost to the exclusion of true discipleship.
With churches focusing on such a variety of functions today it is not difficult to ask, /if the church is the only institution Jesus established and promised to build, was he so terribly vague in telling it what to do?/
The purpose of this research paper is to demonstrate Scripture’s pervasive teaching that discipleship (maturing of believers) must be the local church’s primary function.
Scripture beats the discipleship drum through the Great Commission, the descriptions of the church, the commands to the church, the metaphors of the church, the leaders of the church, and the gifts of the church.
Once the church embraces its primary function, it will be better equipped to accomplish the multiple demands of Scripture, and it will avoid activities which have no place in the church.
Churches fulfilling their biblical functions and avoiding unbiblical activities will then find greater unity and cooperation among other local churches resulting in a stronger witness to the world and ultimately more glory to God.
Matthew 28:18-20 is one of the most under-applied passages in Scripture.
In this passage Jesus sets forth the so-called Great Commission:
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
This text has become the rallying cry for every evangelistic activity by churches and religious organizations alike.
Rick Warren exemplifies this when, directly under the heading “Purpose #3: Go and make disciples” he states, “This purpose we call /evangelism.”/
[1]  He further confuses the issue by stating the fifth purpose of the church is discipleship.[2]
Understood exegetically, Jesus’ command is not evangelism, but discipleship.
Jesus establishes the authority undergirding the command and then states, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matt.
28:19a).
The verb “make disciples” is the only imperative in vv.
18-20.
“Go”, “baptizing”, and “teaching” are all participles acting as verbal adjectives which describe “make disciples.”
If this was a call to evangelism, it would be a radical shift in methodology from preaching the gospel.
Certainly there are no evangelicals claiming that baptism and knowledge (the result of teaching) makes one a Christian.
A disciple /is not/ a convert.
A disciple /was/ a convert.
BDAG defines the verb μαθητεύσατε (make disciples) as “to cause one to be a pupil, /teach/.”[3]
Hendriksen states, “The term “make disciples” places somewhat more stress on the fact that the mind, as well as the heart and the will, must be won for God.
A disciple is /a pupil, a learner/.”[4]
To make a convert means causing someone to change their mind and hold an opposing belief.
A pupil, or a disciple, is made when the convert sits under the feet of a teacher in order to grow in their knowledge and understanding, and then conforms their life according to that understanding.
Jesus is clear that discipleship, not evangelism, is his intention when he states in vs. 20, “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”
Evangelism is the first step of discipleship, and in that sense it is part of the Great Commission, but only in that sense.
“The emphasis in the commission thus falls not on the initial proclamation of the gospel but more on the arduous task of nurturing into the experience of discipleship.”[5]
Therefore Matthew 28:18-20 teaches that discipleship is the primary function of the church.
/Perhaps the Great Commission is a call to discipleship/, one might say, /but the church is commanded elsewhere to evangelize/.
While it is true that there are passages that emphasize evangelism over discipleship (Mk.
16:12; Acts 1:8), discipleship is the emphasis of the New Testament commands and descriptions of the church.
Many of the occurrences of the term ἐκκλησία (/ekklesia, /translated /church/ or /assembly/), when used a reference to the Christian church, are in the context of the edification of believers.
Acts 9:31 speaks of the church having “being built up”.
Acts 16:5 says, “the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily."
In 1 Corinthians 14:5 Paul desires the expression of gifts “so that the church may be built up.”
Paul, ever the evangelist, “went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches” (Acts 15:39).
Jesus died “that he might sanctify” the church (Eph.
5:25).
Acts 11:26 states regarding Barnabas and Saul that “for a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people,” displaying an emphasis of building up the church.
In addition to the descriptions of the church, the commands to the church emphasize discipleship.
Paul exhorts the Ephesian elders to “pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock… care for the church of God” (Acts 20:28).  1 Timothy was written so that “you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God.”
It interesting that in such a key letter regarding the church evangelism is completely absent.
Instead, Timothy was to “charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine” (1:3).
Timothy is also to “command and teach” everything Paul has written to him (4:11).
Timothy is never commanded in this letter to do any form of evangelism, but instead is told to “devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching” (4:13).  2 Timothy is very much the same with only one reference to evangelism.
Paul exhorts Timothy to “do the work of an evangelist” (2 Tim.
4:5).
That command is preceded by the commands to “follow the pattern of the sound words” (1:13), “remind them of these things” (2:14), and “preach the work… reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching” (4:2).
Paul’s concern for the church is not that they be preoccupied by evangelism, but that they would grow in spiritual maturity.
The metaphors of the church have been appropriately used to support various truths about the church.
The church as the body of Christ demonstrates how each individual member plays a unique role in accomplishing God’s purposes (1 Cor.
12:12-31).
The church as the bride of Christ teaches Christ’s love for the church, the one he has redeemed (Eph.
5:25-27).
The church as the flock of the Good Shepherd instructs us of our helplessness and dependence on the Shepherd for guiding, feeding, and protection (Jhn.
10:7-18).
The church as part of God’s family tells of God’s love for his children as co-heirs with Christ of all spiritual blessings (Gal.
4:7).
Yet Scripture expounds these metaphors even further, revealing that the church’s function is to build itself up in sanctification.
The physical body is made up of many different parts both external and internal.
At its most basic function every part is to serve the body.
In fact, there are very few body parts which even have the ability to serve something other than body.
The appendages and the mouth are the only body parts which have the potential to affect the outside world—yet even these are primarily self-serving to the body.
Without the arms and hands the body wouldn’t be able to feed itself.
Without legs and feet the body wouldn’t be able to go to where food and shelter are.
The internal organs are dependent on the external parts for their own sustenance.
They in turn process food, break down chemicals, and send nutrients throughout the body so that the external parts can continue to work.
Similarly, every time Scripture speaks of believers as the body of Christ it is in the context of purification, sanctification, and building itself up.
In other words, the body of Christ in Scripture is entirely self-serving.
Paul writes to the believers in Rome reminding them, “so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another” (Rom.
12:5).
He then goes on to exhort them to use their spiritual gifts: prophecy, serving, teaching, exhorting, contribution, leadership, and mercy (12:6-8).
Though these gifts could potentially be used to serve those outside the body, Paul intends for them to serve one another.
In 12:9-21 he continues with the well known “one-another” commands.
In writing to the church in Corinth Paul defends against the idea that any part is unnecessary.
In fact, “God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it … that the members may have the same care for one another.
If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together” (1 Cor.
12:24-26).
Paul does not say that all are needed in order to evangelize the lost, but instead to serve one another with care and compassion.
Ephesians 5:24 is a brief but compelling passage.
Paul exhorts wives to submit to their husbands “as the church submits to Christ…”  How what does the church submit to Christ?  Paul has just stated one way, by “submitting to /one another/ out of reverence for Christ” (v.
22, emphasis mine).
Of course that is not the only way.
Generally speaking the church submits to Christ by being obedient to Christ’s commands.
Within the context of Ephesians this obedience occurs when the church relates to itself properly.
After establishing the immeasurable blessings we have in Christ (1:1-23), and the grace by which we are brought into this body (2:1-10), Paul speaks of the unity that exists between to the two peoples of God—Israel and the church (2:11-22).
The church is, after all, a mystery (3:1-13) for which Paul exerts himself that the body would be strengthened (3:13-21).
This body is to be unified and is “to /grow up/ [not out] in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, join and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it /builds itself/ up in love” (3:15-16, emphasis mine).
Paul continues for the rest of the letter exhorting the believers how to live so that they may “grow up” and build themselves up.
Let it be said again that Scripture gives no purpose to the “body of Christ” other than to serve itself to a sanctified end.
This is a powerful metaphor and one that deserves more attention than is possible here.
An even more vivid metaphor Scripture has made use of is that of the church as the bride of Christ.
Ephesians 5:25-27 is a common text for husbandry, but it is even more powerful in ecclesiology.
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