A Church on Mission: Serving Family and Community

First Free Will Baptist Church exists to worship the Triune God by proclaiming the truth of the gospel, training disciples who make disciples, and serving families and community with the love of Jesus Christ.

I want to begin by pointing out that each of the three pillars in this mission statement point back to one thing: worshiping the triune God.

Worship of God should be at the center of everything that we do both as human beings as well as as a church.

Romans 12:1 ESV

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Our entire being should be dedicated to worship of God as individuals. But as the body of Christ, the same thing should be true. Each service we have should be about worship. Every event we have should be about worship. All of our interactions should be holy and acceptable to God.

And when we worship, The idea that everything that we do should point people to God is also supported by Paul writing in 1 Corinthians 10.

1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

With that in mind, we now turn our attention to service this morning. We will look at three aspects of service that our church is committed to. First, there is

A Focus on Serving the Family Unit

Studies show that when a father in a family comes to faith, 93% of the time the rest of the family also is saved. I not only believe this because we have seen it here in our church but I also believe it because of the way that God has established the family unit to function with the father being the spiritual leader of the household.

Genesis 2:24 ESV

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

God established the family to function with a Christ-honoring marriage. This is why we are hosting a marriage conference next weekend because God is glorified through Godly marriages. But we also see the gospel flow through a family the man comes to Christ. We see this throughout the New Testament but one example is in Acts 16:32-33 . The Philippian jailer comes to faith and listen to what comes next!

Acts 16:32–33 ESV

And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family.

Because of this, we are committed to the family and its flourishing. Next, there is

A Focus on Serving Our Church Family

Acts 2:42–47 ESV

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

When we say that we exist to serve family I’m sure most of us had in mind the idea of serving the church family rather than the family unit as God intended it. However, the church family, those who attend here and are committed to belonging here are an important part of what we do. We see this displayed in Acts two where the people were sharing things with one another. We have a benevolence fund so that when someone comes to us with a financial need, we tend to it. When one of our own finds themselves in need of childcare, many here will reach out to others to get help. We take care of one another on a regular basis. Recently, when a beloved deacon went on to be with the Lord, so many of you loved on that family in a tangible way by providing food. Not only is this the right way of going about things but it is also the biblical way that we should do church.

However, we don’t just serve our church family in physical ways but also in spiritual needs. We worship together just as the first churches did in Acts 2. We pray with and for one another. We go to one another when things seem to be upside down in our lives or when we simply don’t understand a passage in the bible. All of this is important for the way that we operate.

And finally, a church that centers in the family also should be looking outside of the body. It is important that there is

A Focus on Serving Our Community

There are plenty of times in scripture where the needs of the people outside of the core of Jesus’ followers are tended to. One of these examples takes place in Matthew 14:13-21 .

Matthew 14:13–21 ESV

Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” And he said, “Bring them here to me.” Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

It is particularly important to see that Jesus had compassion on the people in verse 14. It was because of His compassion that He healed them. It was because of His compassion that he took the loaves and fish and created a meal for the masses.

I also want to look at one more example from Acts that we see where the community is served.

Acts 6:1-4 .

Acts 6:1–4 ESV

Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

There was a need in the community of believers and so the church changed what it was that they were doing in order for that need to be met and so that the word could continue to be preached without any sort of pause or sacrifice on quality.

This is where we need to ask the question, why do we serve? We serve for the same reason that Jesus did. Because we love these people. As we close this morning, it is important that we evaluate the level of love that we have for our church family as well as our community. Have we made the mistake of serving out of obligation or because it makes us look good or are we doing it out of compassion just as Jesus did?