The Church

Good morning church…it is so good to be here this morning. I know there are those that are out of town and on vacation, but how great is it that we have the technology to bring those of you that are not here physically to be a part of our extended spiritual family this morning online…I am so grateful for that, so welcome…We also get to welcome our kids right now to go out to their teacher, Sherry Bixsler, who has been working this week to make sure they have a great class that is more than just babysitting, but a class where they are able to learn in a way that makes sense to them. Hey kiddos, you are in for a treat because Sherry is amazing...

Hey, we are in a series right now where we are learning all about what we believe as a church. I love this series because it gives me an opportunity to really talk about some of those topics that we don’t really talk about directly very often, you know. Like, when is the last time you heard a sermon specifically on “regeneration” like we talked about last week? It’s not something that is broken down like that very often. I love this because it gives us a chance as a church to confirm what we still believe, and maybe even remind ourselves a bit on what we originally believed. You know, sometimes you need to be reminded of why you’re here…even in a marriage, sometimes you have to remind yourself why you love that person, or why you are married, right…So, as a church we have been reminding ourselves about what we believe so that hopefully we can deepen our relationship with God…or maybe realize that we don’t actually have a relationship with God. So we have been going over the doctrine of LRBC.

Now, doctrine is a big and frankly boring sounding word and so I have been attempting over the last few weeks to remind you how important doctrine is and frankly how exciting doctrine really is…I even gave us a definition of Doctrine so that we can all be on the same page when we discuss this…Doctrine is a set of guiding principles (stop and allow church to finish) that helps us navigate the twists and turns of life. There you go…and we all have twists and turns in our lives. Again, and I know I say this every week, but thats because Im talking to you guys every week, and I happen to know for a FACT that there have been some twist and turns this week in some of your lives…You know what you have been going through, and hopefully what we are reminded about doctrine will actually help us deal with those things. For instance, a few weeks ago we talked about the Holy Spirit and the personhood of the Holy Spirit. We talked about how the Holy Spirit has chosen to give you gifts to serve others and glorify God…Then last week we talked about how the Holy Spirit chose to exchange your dead spirit for Christ live spirit the moment you submitted to the Lord. So we are seeing things happen, and Doctrine gives us the truth that helps us get through the stuff that happening, right...

But thats not all…You see, there is a practical application that we deal with on a daily basis, but then there is also a Godly mandate that was given to us to be ready to give an answer to questions…Remember

1 Peter 3:15 (ESV)

but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

Always being prepared for what? (wait for an answer)…thats right…always be prepared to make a defense, or give an answer to those who wold question your hope. That means that you need to be prepared to answer the questions of those around you, but you also need to be prepared to answer the questions that you are gonna ask yourself! You see, God doesn’t ever tell you to do something that is not good for you…thats why learning what you believe is important, but learning why you believe it is equally important. I don’t want you to believe anything I ever say just because I said it…I want you to believe something because it says it in the Word of God…That’s why it is so important that you are reading Scriptures for yourself…every. single. day. Those of you that are joining in our Bible reading challenge this year, we are in Jeremiah today and it is so cool seeing the promises that God made to the Israelites even after they rejected him the way they did. But God didn’t give up on them, just like God doesn’t give up on you...

Now, we really need to take a look at our next doctrine this morning so that we can continue to grow and learn about what we believe as a church. What is a church though…I mean, can anyone define what a church is? Seriously, can anyone here tell us what a church is?

give time for response…repeat what is said into mic

Thats good stuff right there…Let’s take a look at what we believe as a church, about the church. This morning we are going to look at

The Doctrine of the Church

Thats an interesting topic actually. You know, once a year, or maybe once every other year or so I do a series on the church, remember its called either “Be the Church” or “We are the Church” and every year we discuss a few aspects of what a church is and what we should or shouldn’t be doing. I think it’s kind of fun and its a nice reminder for us all…so really today should just be a recap of all of those previous messages. Now, if you want to find those, the easiest way to do that is to search Spotify, Apple, or Google Podcast and you will find those sermons on the church podcast there. Anyway, let’s take a look at what LRBC believes about the church...

We believe in the universal church, a living spiritual body of which Christ is the head and all regenerated persons are members. We believe in the local church, consisting of a company of believers in Jesus Christ, baptized on a credible profession of faith, and associated for worship, work and fellowship. We believe that God has laid upon the members of the local church the primary task of giving the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost world.(Ephesians 4:14-16; 1:22,23; 5:25-27; Acts 2:41,42; Matthew 16:13-18; Matthew 28:18-20)

So as we look at this, we see a couple of things that are really important. First we see that there is a couple of different types of church…Then we see there are tasks that those type should be doing, so I think the best thing to do is to look at the church in the same manner as this statement and start with the

Universal Church

Now this is interesting, because here we are talking about something larger than ourselves. We are talking about the capital “C” church. So if you ever hear me say something like, capital C church then you know I am not talking about LRBC…I am talking about the universal church that is under God the Father. You saw how the universal church is made up of everyone that has been regenerated by the Holy Spirit. So in other words…the Universal Church is all Christians of all time. Actually, this is how I have said it before,

I believe that the church is the universal body of believers, who have received the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit. This is to include all the redeemed of all ages, believers from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation. — Pastor Billy

Now where did I get that, or where do we get that as a church? Take a look at this passage,

Revelation 7:9 (ESV)

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,

A great multitude…To many to number…In other words, as Revelation is telling us about all that have come before us, we learn that there are people from every nation, and every tribe. Then we have this passage talking about faith,

Hebrews 11:4 (ESV)

By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.

Even though Abel died…he still speaks. In other words, Abel is dead physically, but because of his faith he is alive as a part of the universal church. You see, the universal church is not simply those who have faith today in Leaf River....No, the universal church is all believers of all time who have experienced the regeneration of the Holly Spirit.

So, now that we know what the universal church is…whats the point. Well, Jesus specifically gave his last command to the universal church. You see, when he was up with his apostles and he was about to leave, here is what he said to those men.

Matthew 28:19–20 (ESV)

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.”

Go and make disciples....how does one do that though? Well…thats where this next group comes in. Lets take a look at the

Local Church

Now, when you think about the local church I don’t want you to think about your local McDonalds, or your local gas station that’s part of a bigger corporation. No, I want you to see a local expression of what is already happening globally. Does that make sense? In other words, we aren’t connected in the sense of obligation…we are connected in the sense of identity. There are some that are in the universal church that are members of the Catholic church. Then again there may be some here today that are not members of the universal church…You see, the universal church is who we are…the local church is how we experience.

The local church was organized at an event called the Pentecost. This is an event that happened in Acts. ch 2. Look at what happened here with me,

Acts 2:1–4 (ESV)

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

There was this amazing thing that happened, and at that moment the local church was born. The New Testament instructs those who are part of the universal church in every generation, scattered throughout the world, to meet together regularly in local assemblies. This idea of meeting together is so important that the author of Hebrews reminds us to,

Hebrews 10:25 (ESV)

not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

You see, the local church is the gathering of the universal church…But its more than an event that happens a few times each week. The local church has leadership and functions. For instance, within the local church are Two offices: Pastor/Elder…and...deacon, we read about that throughout Titus. Then we have two main actions, or ordinances that occur within the local church. Those Two ordinances: baptism…and…communion. One of these we are going to participate in later this morning, but both of these are equally important.

Now, I do want to spend a moment talking about the last part of our statement of faith here this morning, I guess asking if it still applies to us today in 2023…Bear with me here. Look at this portion of our current statement:

We believe that God has laid upon the members of the local church the primary task of giving the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost world

Now, my question is, Is this true? I mean, do we really believe that? Do we, as a church really believe that God has laid upon the members of this church the primary task of giving the Gospel? Se if we don’t really believe that, then well....we should probably remove it from our statement of faith. So…let’s take a look at Scripture and see what Scripture says, because maybe those that gathered to write this simply misunderstood Scripture…I think we should make sure that what we believe is actually Biblical, right? Well....let’s take a look at the last thing Jesus said to his followers before ascending to the Heavenly places.

Acts 1:6–8 (ESV)

So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Ok, so according to this, the Holy Spirit will come with power to these men to be witnesses…Well, maybe this applies to us as well since we did talk about the Holy Spirit a couple weeks ago and talked about how the Holy Spirit has given us gifts to accomplish his purposes…

So maybe that was the Apostles job or someone else's job and we can just ignore it now…or maybe we could even complain and grieve over the fact that so many people don’t know Jesus in our community...Well, but then what do we do with this?

Romans 10:14–15 (ESV)

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

So here we have Paul telling the Christians in Rome that it is their responsibility to tell the Romans about Christ. I guess we can see that serving others is actually pretty important. We can see that Scripture does tell us to do these things, and we could look at more Scriptures all day long that will continue to tell us the exact same thing…But I think some of you might read a different translation...

and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth…until you get tired

and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth…until you retire

and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth…until you have kids

and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth…until you have to work overtime

and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth…unless you don’t like the people

and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth…unless it’s hot/cold

and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth…unless…fill in the blank with your personal excuse

You see, I could go all day long couldn’t I…but are is no conditions on this command from God, are there? Feel free to look around tell me if you can find a loophole in there somewhere that would give us a way out of telling others…But I don’t think you’re gonna find it...

Listen…I know this is gonna ruffle some feathers here and step on some toes, and you’re just gonna have to bear with me, because sometimes a pastor has to talk straight. I’ve been here now for a full 4 years…did you guys know that…Today marks the beginning of my 5th year here in Leaf River. There’s some things I’ve been hearing over the last 4 years that are a bit troubling…You see every one of those conditions I just gave are things that I have actually heard from this body of beleivers…Now, maybe you have said one of these things or maybe you have thought one of these things, or maybe its been some other excuse as to why you can’t serve the community around you and share the Gospel. Now…not everyone is going to do the same things, The Holy Spirit is going to gift you with abilities to serve others in various ways…we don’t all serve the same way…but we should all be serving.

When I first came here I asked if we disappeared would anyone miss us and every single person I asked that question said no…I don’t think thats true anymore…I think people in the community would absolutely miss LRBC if we were not here anymore. I think God has used this church to make an impact on peoples lives. But have you been a part of that…are have you missed out or even caused a slow down? Listen, there is a small group of people that I have seen faithfully reaching out into the community outside of our own walls. When it comes to missions and sending a check to assist the mission work around the globe, man LRBC is the first one with our check books aren’t we…It’s so awesome. When it comes to helping those within the walls of LRBC we are all about helping each other out and supporting each other through some incredibly hard events in life...What about those outside these walls that don’t have a spiritual family? What if instead of a small group of people reaching outside we had only a small group of people that didn’t…What if we all decided to live our lives as people who are actually on fire for Christ and not just people who attend church on Sunday…You know it’s been said that we need a cross on the building so people would know we are a church and not a club…what if people knew we were a church because we were in the community sharing the Gospel…Because we lived our lives unashamed of what we believe…because we actually believe what talk about in these walls…Do you know what could happen? Church this whole community would be transformed! We have seen it happen historically all over the world…why wouldn’t it happen right here!?! We have a Christian school coming to Mount Morris, we have Leaf River right outside where they have pretty much given us an open door to do anything we want to do in the community. What if we actually did what God has been leading us to do for years!

As a church, LRBC believes that God has laid upon the local church the primary task of giving the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost world…to Ogle County

This morning we are going to participate in one of the two ordinances that a local church should practice. We are going to experience communion. Now, I want to tell you about communion. Communion is a practice that Jesus started right before he was arrested and beaten and crucified. Communion was a time with the disciples where he told them about what was about to happen, and told them that this event was meant to remind them about the sacrifice that he was going to make for them. He told them that this was the last Passover meal he would have with them until he comes back in glory, and that every time they partake in this ordinance, they should remember this sacrifice that is about to take place. Every time they participate in communion they should be reminded that Jesus died for them…that Jesus rose for them…and that Jesus is coming back for them…For us today I want to ask that we not keep that a secret…that we be willing to sacrifice a little of our free time to serve the community around us so that we can tell them about Jesus. Listen, we are so blessed as a church to have people asking us to come and serve them and share the Gospel with them…are we to tired or to busy to say yes?

Let’s Pray

Now Im going to ask the Elders to come up and prepare for communion. Im going to go ahead and read this passage of Scripture and then we will have the Elders pass the elements of communion to each of you.

Matthew 26:26–29 ESV

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

With this picture in mind I want to ask you to have a conversation with God this morning as the Elders pass these elements. (Men, please begin to pass the elements at this time) Now just before Jesus passed these elements Jesus is having the Passover feast with his disciples and he reveals that one of them will betray him. Jesus also showed them what serving looks like when Jesus, as the teacher, bent down and washed his disciples feet. Just after this Jesus shares with Peter that he will deny him three times to people in their community. Later as they go to the garden to pray, Jesus asks his closest friends to pray for him and they fall asleep. Jesus wakes them and continues to pray and then soldiers come and arrest Jesus to prepare him for execution…That is what this ordinance is all about. The second ordinance is the practice of baptism, and that is a practice that we do in order to show others that we have made a commitment to Jesus as your Lord. That is not something we have done in a while, and so I want to remind everyone that if you are ready to make that commitment, that it’s not that hard to take that step.

For now though, let’s have Elder pray as we remember Jesus body broken for us....

Elder Pray

For now though, let’s have Elder pray as we remember Jesus blood that was spilt for us....

Elder Pray