CHRISTMAS, CHRIST, AND THE CHURCH: WHY THESE CANNOT BE SEPARATED

INTRODUCTION

I am sure that you have noticed all the different claims retailers and others are making to convince you that in order to have an old fashioned perfect Christmas you really need to purchase their products. The interesting thing about making a claim about something is that making such a claim is not necessarily true.

Similarly, everything that claims to be a church doesn’t meet the qualification of a church. Many cliam to be churches, but if those claims do not follow something very special, those “churches” are nothing more than religious societies.

Further, churches are not necessarily defined by all the activities that they are about. Over the last several years we have rid ourselves of things that are not essential to being a church. Yes, there are things that we can get rid of and yet not get rid of the church, despite what some of you might think. For example, we do not need to own church property to be a church. It is not necessary to have a brick building with white columns with a steep attached to the roof to be considered a church. We can be a church without a building at all. This means that it is not a requirement to have a beautiful sanctuary with padded pews to be a church. Hymn books are not a necessity and we have certainly proven that. For that matter we do not even need that overhead screen to be a church either.

One of the most useless items in the church today is this thing I am standing behind- the pulpit. Yes, it is a convenient place to lay my Bible. Yes, there are many things we can get rid of and we have not negatively impacted the substance of the church. The text before will give us three things, however, that we can never get rid off in connection with Christ, Christ, and the church.

CHRIST HAS GIVEN THE GIFT OF LEADERS TO THE CHURCH (EPHESIANS 4:11)

What exactly is the church and why do we need it? First, the church must be built upon a sure and specific foundation. As soon as the winds of opposition begin to blow and the rains of difficulty begin to pour down, the potential of disaster is a real danger. What is the sure and specific foundation upon which the church must rest? [read verse 11]

“And He have some to be apostles.” Earlier in the book of Ephesians we are informed that God built the church upon the foundation of the apostles with Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief Cornerstone. There is no such thing as a church unless it is built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets.

“Pastor, are you saying that we still have apostles today?” NO! A biblical apostle was someone who had seen the Lord after His resurrection. There are no modern-day apostles because no one alive today fits the qualifications. However, there is another sense in which there are apostles and prophets. Today we have before us the record in Scripture of what they said under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. The apostles and the prophets have been preserved for us so that we could understand the foundation upon which the church has been securely constructed.

To claim to be a church and fail to follow the witness of he apostles and the prophets is to fail to be a church. “to be a church you must follow the Cornerstone of the church, the Lord Jesus Christ and the testimony to Him by the apostles and the prophets.

Furthermore, the Lord Jesus has given to His church the gift of evangelists, pastors, and teachers. These have been given to the church to give the sense of Scripture. He has given to His church the gift of evangelists. What is an evangelist? An evangelist is one who has been divinely gifted in leading others to faith in Jesus Christ. In reality, all of us are responsible for sharing our faith in Christ. Yet, there are those who are especially gifted in doing this. You see, there is a difference between the gift of the evangelist and the command of evangelism. Everyone of us as believers has been given the command of evangelism, but not all have been been the gift of the evangelist.

Christ has also given to the church His gift of pastors. Some argue that the terms pastor and teacher ought to be hyphenated. Regardless of this, the pastor is the person who has been given the responsibility of being the primary vessel of giving biblical and theological truth. Herein lies the test of a church. The church must have a pastor who is teaching and preaching biblical truth. He is not called to give twelve biblical steps to keep from ticking off your neighbor in the pursuit of mowing the yard. He is not called to preach messages on How to Win Friends and Influence People. Churches that put up with that sorry excuse for preaching are probably not a church anyhow. The best that can be said about such a group is that they are a religious assembly of “Do Gooders” wanting to be told on Sunday morning how good they are. They may be many things but they are not a church.

There is a big difference between being a motivational speaker and being a preacher. The pastor is a shepherd. He is not someone who is hired to do everything the church fold don’t want to do. The pastor must keep in view the welfare of the flock. Christ is the Chief Shepherd, the pastor is the under-shepherd, and the church is the flock. As under-shepherd, the pastor is responsible for the guidance and protection of the flock. He does that primarily by teaching and preaching to the flock the Word of God.

Is the church important? Is the church relevant? Is the church needed in our day? The answer to all three of those questions is YES! In every generation there will always be the need for the church. The fact that Jesus gave the apostles, prophets, pastors and teachers to the church evidences the fact that we cannot do without the church. Additionally, the very heart of Christ is for the church as demonstrated by the fact that He gave Himself for her and has called her to function with His kingdom authority. Is the church important today, you better believe she is!

CHRIST HAS GIVEN THE PRINCIPLE FOR GROWTH FOR HIS CHURCH (EPHESIANS 4:12-13)

Christ has given spiritual leadership to His church (11) and this has been given for the purpose of the work of the church (12). This involves two primary purposes: equipping and edifying. The first primary purpose is the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry. The second primary purpose is for the edifying (building up) of the body of Christ. The pastor is to prepare the church to do the work of the ministry so that the saints can do the work of the ministry. It is not the pastor doing the ministry of the church. It is the pastor equipping the body to do the work of the church. Notice the result of this (13). The result of the equipping and edifying is unity and growth.

CHRIST HAS GIVEN THE GOAL FOR THE SPIRITUAL HEALTH OF HIS CHURCH (EPHESIANS 4:14-16)

If I could start over at the beginning of my ministry, I would not hold services only on Sunday night. I would have them every night. God has called us to build up the church. We must understand that this will not happen just on Sunday morning. This goes against all the prognosticating critics saying that you better not do that. Yet, the Bible states that we are not “to forsake the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of most contemporary-focused churches do not offering people the opportunity for Sunday night worship and/or Bible study. Rather, so much more the often do it as you see the Day of Christ approaching.”

Why are we to assemble the church together as often as possible? It is because there are sixty-six books that constitute the whole counsel of God. It will take a pastor his entire lifetime to teach everything that is contained in those sixty-six books. and that is if he does it regularly. More importantly, there are people, especially lost people, who will come out on a Tuesday night that might not make it out on a Sunday morning or a Sunday night.

Why are we to assemble the church together as often as possible? It is because there are sixty-six books that constitute the whole counsel of God. It will take a pastor his entire lifetime to teach everything that is contained in those sixty-six books. and that is if he does it regularly. More importantly, there are people, especially lost people, who will come out on a Tuesday night that might not make it out on a Sunday morning or a Sunday night.you! How do you invite such a big eye to a food fellowship? Mr. Eye, would you like something to eat? The eye just looks at you because that is all he can do. Mr. Eye, could you give me a hand? He can’t because he doesn’t have one. Mr. Eye also doesn’t have a mouth to say, “I would love to but I don’t have one.” All it can do is roll and and look at you. That is all an eye can do.

I believe Paul was being purposefully preposterous. Paul was using comedic sarcasm to prove the point that the body of Christ is a body for good reason. The members of the body need each other.

CONCLUSION

Pastors are often overwhelmed with reports sent to them on the current sad condition of the church. They go on endlessly about how bad off and how unneeded the church is. I consider those reports and think about the statistics. Many of those reports are written by guys who prognosticate and prophesy the statistics and never deal with the issues behind the statistics. In the end, they become prophets of doom and gloom as they condemn the church.

Is it it true? Does the church have problems. YES. However, let me remind you that Christ is the originator of the church. He is the one who has gifted the church for the purpose of fulfilling the work of the church by the body of Christ. He has a goal of spiritual maturity for His church and He will take care of His church.

Let me remind us that God will use the church and her problems to reveal our need to deal with those issues before a watching world. God used the chaos of 2020 and beyond to grab our attention and set this church on a trajectory that I pray we will not abandon. So, how do we keep from doing that? We simply do what Christ has commanded us to do. We simply stop making excuses for disobedience and get back to the issue of being kingdom-focused.

You see, Christmas is about the incarnation. The church is about transformation. In the middle of it all is Jesus the Christ of Christmas, the originator of the church, and the initiator of the faith once delivered to the saints. You cannot attempt to dissolve one without seeking to do damage to the others.