What is the Church

Introduction - Who I am, family, why I’m here.

Sermon Intro

I’ve been praying about what I would preach when I came here. I thought...let me just use one of the sermons I’ve already preached...give them a best of sermon. I went through a few of the ones that were well received and each time I sensed in my spirit that God was saying no. I think he was telling me each time that those sermons, while good, were for that Sunday, but not for this Sunday, for Crossroads, but not for Websterville.

Then I began to pray through some of the things you are facing as a church, some of the things that Crossroads may face at some point...Searching for a new pastor, ministries that were once thriving and good, but are now struggling. What would I want someone in the future to preach to the people I pastor now? I would want someone to remind them of their purpose, I would want them to do so lovingly, but without sacrificing the truth. That’s what I want to attempt to do today in the short amount of time I have with you.

If you are a note taker, I have titled this message “What is the Church”.

The Church is the Bride of Christ

The church as the bride of Christ has such wonderful imagery captured within it. Keep in mind, this imagery is from what the culture at the writing of the text would have understood.

This passage I am going to read is quite controversial in our culture today because the culture at large rejects a biblical worldview, but this passage would have made sense to the Ephesians as an analog of the church’s union with Christ:

Ephesians 5:22–33 NIV

22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. As the Bride, the Church:

Submits to Christ in all things

Is Holy and blameless by grace as she submits to Christ

Is fed and cared for as the body of Christ.

If we turn to revelation, we’ll see what the church has to look forward to as the bride of Christ:

Revelation 19:7–9 NIV

7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. 8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.) 9 Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”

A couple more things about the church:

She has made herself ready - (Joke about what groom does on wedding day vs the bride) In the same way we, the church, must make ourselves ready as the bride of Christ

She has been clothed with righteous acts. These happen here and now. Feeding the poor, comforting those who mourn, helping the sick...

The Church is the witness to the world - Matthew 28.

Matthew 28:19–20 NIV

19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

There are 4 distinct commands here in this passage:

Go - The church is to go out into all the world. Acts tells us to go into Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth. For our context that would mean Websterville, Washington County, Vermont and the ends of the earth. Going means that. The church can sometime have the mindset of come and see...while that is not bad, that is not what this verse says. Church Go! Next...

Make disciples of all nations - a disciple is someone who spends time with someone else with the goal of learning and growing to be more like the person doing the discipling. That requires one-on-one interaction, time spent and intentional teaching. The world does this well in the area of medicine, plumbing, electrical...those are all disciple making professions. We are called to make disciples of Christ - helping others mature in their faith while we ourselves mature in our faith. Two more...

Baptize them… - This simply means that we are seeing people come to Christ and participate in believer’s baptism. Seeing people put their faith in Christ and then being baptized

Lastly, Teach them to obey - This means that it is the church’s function to teach obedience to Christ’s teachings.

One quick note here...This command was given to the disciples as the way in which they, as The Church, would know when they are engaged in the right things. There is no qualification here for who in the church is supposed to do these things. The way I read it, all parts of the church are to go, make disciples, baptize them and teach them to obey. To be more clear, I believe that if you are a Christ follower, these 4 commands apply to you. Not just the pastors or leaders...everyone.

The Church is more than just ‘a’ church

Ephesians 2:11–22 NIV

11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. 19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

vs 11-13 - do a quick gospel presentation,

Vs 14-18 - two become one. That which is separate has been made one Church through the cross.

vs 19-22 - The church is being built together. This letter to the God’s people in Ephesus that included both Gentile and Jewish churches. It really is no different than if Paul had written a letter to God’s people in Washington County. That letter would have applied to Websterville Baptist Church and to Crossroads. Just as Paul is saying to the Ephesians that the churches there are to be built together, God’s desire is for the churches here to be built together.

All three of these “What is the Church?” answers could have been a sermon on their own...

The Church is the Bride of Christ

The Church is the witness to the World

The Church is more than just a church

I want to close with a warning to you. And by close I mean 8 more minutes or so. Turn to Jeremiah 23...

This warning is a bit unorthodox. It is as much a warning to you about someone like me as much as it is about another who claims to have a message from the Lord. I want to tell you that I do not claim to be a messenger of the Lord. I hope and believe I have treated God’s Word with reverence and have imparted it to you with grace and love, but it would be very bold of me to claim this message as thus says the Lord...It would be bold anyone to claim I know what the Lord has for us. Jeremiah’s warning here is against false prophets who were telling people what they wanted to hear. In essence, they were distorting God’s word for their benefit. Here’s what it says...

Jeremiah 23:16–22 NIV

16 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. 17 They keep saying to those who despise me, ‘The Lord says: You will have peace.’ And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts they say, ‘No harm will come to you.’ 18 But which of them has stood in the council of the Lord to see or to hear his word? Who has listened and heard his word? 19 See, the storm of the Lord will burst out in wrath, a whirlwind swirling down on the heads of the wicked. 20 The anger of the Lord will not turn back until he fully accomplishes the purposes of his heart. In days to come you will understand it clearly. 21 I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied. 22 But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds.

Jeremiah 23:30–32 NIV

30 “Therefore,” declares the Lord, “I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me. 31 Yes,” declares the Lord, “I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare, ‘The Lord declares.’ 32 Indeed, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” declares the Lord. “They tell them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies, yet I did not send or appoint them. They do not benefit these people in the least,” declares the Lord.

Again I do not claim to be a messenger sent of the Lord. I don’t claim that this message is a thus says the Lord message. It is very bold of someone to claim that. I have come today as a fellow Christ follower who is like you struggling to know what it means to follow him. What it is that God wants from me, what God wants for my church.

I was at a July 4th party on Friday and someone who I knew had been dealing with debilitating migraines told me that their doctor said to cut out all sugar, dairy and gluten. I immediately said, sounds like you need a new doctor. I would be upset and angry with a doctor who told me this. I love my oreos and milk way too much. But then she told me that her migraines were less frequent and less intense since she started the diet.

What would have offended me was a message of life to this friend.

Just like a tough prescription from a doctor, a message from the Lord may be offensive to us. The Lord may be asking us to give up something we want and like so very much. It might even be something that is good or at least something that is not “bad”, but by giving it up we chose life. We chose Jesus.

What does Jesus want for Websterville Baptist Church? I don’t have a play by play list, but I believe He wants you to be about and for Him as the bride of Christ. He would want you to be His witness to the world and He would want you to be a church as part of the Bigger Church. Perhaps one or more of these were to you like the no sugar or dairy prescription...I would ask that you personally wrestle with God’s word and either dismiss this word today as a message from a false prophet, or treat this word today as life giving and worthy of believing.

Pray