Message of the Church

II Cor. 5:18-21

Welcome to Friend Day here at Mountain View Baptist Church. We are delighted to have you join us. If this is your first time, please stop by the welcome center just below the steps to your left so we can connect with you. It would be a blessing to connect with you.

We have been studying the Cause of the Church through the summer and today is the last message in this series. We learned that Christ died for the church because of His love for the church. This might be one of the astounding thoughts regarding the church. Often, the church is battered and bruised by the world, but God still loves the church. If God loves the church, we should love the church also.

Since the church is so loved, what is God’s plan for the church? Why is it here? It is here as a witness to the world who does not know its message? What is the message of the church? If we were to narrow down the message into a short phrase, what would it be?

Some think the message is giving or politics or God’s law or even religion. None of these are the message of the church. The Bible gives us the message. If God’s Word is the message and what is God wants us to know?

Surprisingly, Jonah when he was swallowed by a great fish, he declares the message in Jonah 2:9 “But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.”

It is amazing the places where we can get the message like Jonah in the belly of a fish. It may be a doctor’s office, a hospital, or a foxhole in Afghanistan. It might be at your door step or right here in church.

Please notice the last part of that verse: “salvation is of the Lord.” This is good news because we cannot reconcile ourselves to God. It is the gospel which means Jesus died on the cross for our sins, was buried, and rose again. That is the gospel and Jesus took care of our sin through the gospel.

The passage we just read is about reconciliation. Christ is the central figure in this reconciliation. When man sinned, the relationship between man and God was broken. All of mankind have sinned and we are all estranged from God. However, the message is God comes to restore us, to bring us back to Himself.

This message has three qualities. These qualities are revealed here in this passage. Here God gives a message for you.

Quality 1. . .

It is divine

A friend invited you today to hear a message from God. A message that spoke to our need of a Savior. This message for everyone today. In a world filled with bad news, it is the good news.

The message begins with God. From the beginning of time, God has communicated with mankind. Sin has brought a separation between us and God. God brings to us a message of reconciliation and forgiveness.

2 Corinthians 5:21 “For he (God the Father) hath made him (Jesus the Son) to be sin for us (mankind) , who (Jesus) knew no sin; that we (mankind) might be made the righteousness of God in him (Jesus).”

God initiated reconciliation. The Bible makes it clear that “all we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way.” (Isaiah 53:5. It seems we are going our own way until a Christian invites us to hear God’s message. Or God may get our attention through a trauma or tragedy.

Several years ago, I was out on a ride along with our local police when we were called to a scene of a husband taking a knife to throat of his wife. Jeremy, the officer upon arrival tackled the man who was hitting on his wife. She came out of the house while Jeremy and the other officer was dealing with her husband. We talked for quite some time as I was offering comfort to her. I was telling her how the best comfort you can have is Jesus. She asked for a tract and came to church the next week. She accepted Christ as her Savior that day. God gave her reconciliation with God the father through His Son.

Later, she told me if it wasn’t for that tragedy, she would not have heard the gospel.

It is God who brings HIs message to us in ways we may not always understand. The message is found in God’s Word. God shows us this is His authoritative message that you can trust which assures us of a home in heaven. It is secured by what Jesus did for us. Hebrews says, Jesus is the captain of our salvation. The Bible is the very Word of God to man to offer Him hope, forgiveness, and new life.

God is the only One who can bring reconciliation for mankind to God the Father through His Son Jesus Christ. If you are trusting in religion, which man’s feeble effort to be right with God, it will fail. Jesus is our mediator to God the Father.

1 Timothy 2:5–6 “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.”

God’s message is divine and the only message that offers to mankind true forgiveness.

Quality 2. . .

It is relational

The message is personal and is centered in a relationship. All the religions of the world are about doing this or doing that. It is do, do, do, but in Christ it is a relationship. It is not what we do but what Christ has already done. It is not about the head but about the heart.

The cross epitomizes the love of God which is relational. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” An amazing verse which points to this powerful relationship given to us through Jesus Christ when we believe on Him and Him alone as our Savior.

This love is described in John 15:13 “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” This verse is quoted often but demonstrated by Jesus Christ who died for the sins of the whole world. He died because He loves us.

He loved them, not for anything that he could ever gain from them, for he had all things in himself, but because of what he would impart to them. Christ’s Love To His Spouse, Volume 42, Sermon #2488 - Ephesians 5:25

Charles Spurgeon

Can you imagine the love God has for us that He was willing to die for us? What kind of love is that? It is indescribable, incomprehensible, and unexplainable. There have been those who died for our nation so that we can have our freedoms which all should be grateful. My heart goes out to those who have lost family members for our country.

Jesus died for us so that we can be free from the penalty of sin. Only Jesus can pay that price. Here notice: Jesus became sin for us. This means God treated Jesus as if He were a sinner when He poured out His wrath on Him and Christ bore the guilt and penalty for all our sins on the cross.

Even though Jesus did not have any sins personally, He carried our sins in Himself. Even though you didn’t know Him, He knew you and died for you.

Job asked “how can a man be right with God?” Isaiah says, Isaiah 45:22 “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: For I am God, and there is none else.” Please notice: there is none else.

Salvation is not a work or a ritual or a performance or an act, it is a relationship with Jesus Christ. Do you have a relationship with Him? Have you turned from yourself and from your sin to come unto Jesus Christ? There is no better relationship we can have than knowing Christ.

He loves us and you cannot get Him to not love you. When we sin after we are a believer, God still forgives us. 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This means fellowship is restored when we confess our sins. Perhaps you know Christ today, but your fellowship has been lost because of sin or neglect, I John 1:9 is still in the Bible for you. You may need to restore your fellowship with Him.

The message: What is your relationship with Jesus Christ? Do you know Him? Are you walking with Him? Is He first priority over everything in your life?

Quality 3 . . .

It is transformational

“We might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” This means Christ met the demands of God’s Law by dying on the cross for us. Those who believe on Jesus will have their sins are forgiven. Just as Jesus took on our sins when He died on the cross, when we accept Christ, we take on the righteousness of Christ on us. We are forgiven, we are justified which means: just as if I never sinned.

Coming to Christ and trusting Him is more than an intellectual assent to the face that Christ died on the cross. It is placing our trust in Him as our personal Savior so we can experience transformation from the inside out. Romans 10:13

God’s salvation is not ceremonial but transformational.

Ken Heer

Salvation is new life, new peace, new way of living, and a new way. Salvation is the power of God transforming from a sinner into a child of God.

The songwriter says it: Once I was clothed in the rags of my sin Wretched and poor, lost and lonely within But with wondrous compassion, the King of all kings In pity and love, took me under His wingsOh, yes, oh yes, I'm a child of the King His royal blood now flows in my veins And I who was wretched and poor now can sing Praise God, praise God, I'm a child of the King

Is God speaking to your heart about your need of Christ? Will you let me pray for you?

Today you can begin that relationship with Jesus Christ. A good friend wants you to know how you can have a relationship with Jesus Christ. You can accept Him today? Will you turn from your sin and accept Christ today? In the back, we will have someone posted with a red lanyer that says Altar Worker. They will take you to a private place and show you how you can accept Christ.

If you are a Christian, is God speaking to your heart about your relationship with Him? If you feel away from God, be assured He didn’t move. Let me invite you come and make things right with Him here at the altar. Will you come.