The Purpose of the Church

Doxology:

This is my Bible. It is God’s Holy Word. It is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path, and I will hide its words within my heart, that I might not sin against God. Amen!

Scripture Reference: Acts 2:40-47

Context

A few weeks ago, I put out a sing-up sheet for a “New Member’s Class” in the foyer. We have had several sign up, but I have also had several who shared with me over the past month or so that they had questions concerning membership.

So instead of having “New Member’s Class” throughout the month of December, I have decided to preach to you the three messages that I would have taught during that class to the whole church. After we are finished with this mini-series, if you will, anyone wanting to move forward with membership just needs to come see me and we will work out the details.

Now, what is the church? That is where we must start. What is the church?

We have to realize that the term church is multifaceted, and because it is such, we must be careful how we use the term and be sure that we are teaching the fullness of what it means.

The local assembly (little c church)

Most of the time when we use the term church, we are referring to the local assembly of the church… Allons Baptist Church.

When we use the term in this way, we are referring to a group of people in a centralized location who come together for the cause of Christ. There is nothing wrong with using the term church in this way. Matter of fact, Scripture even uses the word “church” in this way:

1 Corinthians 16:1 NKJV

1 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also:

This verse is referring to all of the local assemblies in the general area of Galatia. Paul had given orders to all of the churches of Galatia.

Acts 11:22 NKJV

22 Then news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch.

Acts 13:1 NKJV

1 Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

These verses do not use the plural form of church, but they do distinguish between the church in one place from the place in another place.

We see references like this, where the term “churches” is used in a plural form, as well as when it distinguishes one church from another, over 40 times in the Scriptures, identifying the different local assemblies of the Church. But please note also that in all of these references, the term is never describing the building but the people.

The Body of Christ (Big C Church)

When we look at the verses of Scripture that deal with the church, many of them refer to the church using animate terms:

Acts 5:11 NKJV

11 So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things.

Acts 8:1 NKJV

1 Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem…

Acts 9:31 NKJV

31 Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.

All of these verses clearly show that the term “Church” is referring to the people, not the building. Even when it breaks it down to a local assembly, it is still referring to the people, not the building.

I wanted to share that with you all, because before we can begin to understand the purpose of the church, we must first realize exactly what the church is. It is not a building but a body, and that body (Big C) is made up of many different local assemblies (little c).

So when we begin having conversations concerning the purpose of the Church, we must be careful to articulate whether we are speaking in terms of the purpose of the Big C Church, or the little c church. Now some would say that the purposes of both should be the same, and I would agree to that to a certain degree, but there are conversations that must be had concerning the little c that you will not have concerning the Big C and vice versa.

For instance, not every little c church is equipped the same. Each local assembly of the church has different people with differing gifts. This means that the ministries Life Church offers will be different from the ministries that we offer, and so on. Each local assembly has been equipped by God for a purpose, and when you survey the people whom God has brought together within your little c church, you begin having conversations about vision, mission, and other things of the like.

But for today, we are going to look at the first of three messages that will be taught. I have titled this series, “Building TEMPO”, and that will make more sense as we get through the message today.

Our first message is called “The Purpose of the Church”.

Acts 2:40–47 NKJV

40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” 41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. 42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43 Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. 44 Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, 45 and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. 46 So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

Content

Testify

Acts 2:47 NKJV

47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

The first thing that the church has been called to do is to glorify God. This means that we are to give Him praise and worship Him continually in all that we do. Every ministry that comes forth from this body should be rooted in the purpose to shine the light on Jesus. Every event that we have should be rooted in the purpose of shining the light on Jesus. Every time we as individuals go out from this place, our purpose should be to shine the light on Jesus. We have been called to be light bearers of Christ:

Matthew 5:14–16 NKJV

14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

This is the main purpose of the Big C Church.

Jesus alone is the Son of God. Jesus alone came from Heaven to Earth. Jesus Alone lived a perfect life. Jesus alone loved us enough to die for our sins. Jesus alone rose from the dead three days later. Jesus alone ascended to the Father. Jesus alone has been given a name above every name to which every knee will bow and every tongue confess. Jesus alone has paved the way for mankind to be in fellowship with God the Father. Jesus alone has been given all power and authority in Heaven and on earth.

So yes… our first and main purpose is to bring glory and honor to the name of Jesus. He is our Savior… He is our Protector… He is our Friend… and He is our Lord.

We as a little c church are an extension of the Big C Church, and as such, we are to do our part in serving the body as a whole. Each little c church is tasked with doing such, though they may do this in different ways.

Every church that I know of sings songs to praise God. Some do it without any music at all; some do it with just a piano only; some do it with whole bands on the stage. I do not believe that any of these ways are necessarily right or wrong, but simply different ways to express their praise based upon their own genetic makeup.

Every church that I know of has some kind of ministry. Some have many ministries, because they have many people, and some have few because they have few people. But as long as we, the little c churches, are doing our part to bring glory to God, then the Big C Church as a whole will do a fantastic job of proclaiming the name of Jesus.

Acts 2:40 NKJV

40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.”

To testify is to tell your story. This is what God has done for me. This is something that we all can and should be doing. We all have a story to tell, and this church has a story to tell. And each one of those stories bring glory and honor to God in its own special way. The more stories we tell, the more times His name gets lifted up and exalted.

So let us testify of Jesus and all the wonderful things He has done for us individually and as a local assembly.

Amen!

Equip

Acts 2:42 NKJV

42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.

In order for them to continue in the doctrine, they must first have been taught it. Now this function speaks of training and equipping leaders within the body of Christ.

Ephesians 4:11–12 NKJV

11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,

Jesus has equipped each local assembly of the Church with leaders and their function is to lead. Though that leadership is once again multifaceted, part of what they are called to do is to train, or equip, others for the work of ministry.

I personally believe that this is one of the major failures of the recent Church. I have been in church all of my life, and as a kid, I heard much of the same preaching that you hear today. I was told that we as a church should be evangelizing, which is leading others to Christ. I was told that as a Christian, as a child of God, I should be discipling others. I remember hearing a lot about what I have been called to do, but then I hardly ever remember getting taught how to do those very same things.

As a child, we never had any evangelistic training. We ourselves were never intentionally discipled. In other words, they placed an expectation upon us without equipping us to meet that expectation. That hardly seems fair right?

It makes me think of when Israel was in Egypt. Pharoah doubled the expectation of how many bricks that the Israelites were supposed to make each day, but then they quit bringing them the supplies to actually make the bricks, and then they beat them when they didn’t hit the quota.

This is where the local assembly of the church comes in. God has set the expectation of what a biblically functioning local assembly of the church looks like. We know that in order for the church to grow, we must be leading new people to Christ. That means there must be evangelism. That means we must be training our people to evangelize.

We know that in order for our people to model Christ as they go out into the world, they need to know what that looks like. This is where teaching comes into play. We cannot expect our young Christians to model a life of Christlikeness if we are unwilling to teach them what that looks like.

We know that as the church grows, there will be a need for more leaders, more teachers, and maybe even more pastors. This means that there must be teaching and training taking place to raise up more leaders within the body.

If we want there to be more ministry accomplished, then more equipping must also be accomplished. This issues a challenge to all of us.

As the Pastor of this little c church, it is my responsibility to make sure the necessary training is taking place. But we also have many seasoned and experienced Christians in the room who are more than capable to administer such teaching and training. If we are going to be effective in ministry, then we must also be effective in equipping our younger Christians to do the work of ministry, and that means that we must all work together to accomplish this goal.

Testify… Equip...

Ministry

As we administer the necessary teaching and training that is needed to do ministry, then comes an expectation to actually do ministry.

Ministry can take on many different forms. There are countless ministries out there and all of them have their place and all of them are making a difference in the world for the cause of Christ. But each local assembly must survey the spiritual gifts that God has placed within their group and determine which ministries they will personally administer based upon that.

No individual local assembly is equipped to check all of the boxes. Each local assembly of the church is equipped differently and that is by design. We all have a part to play in the grand scheme of things, and we all have a part to play right here within this body.

Now almost all ministry can fall into one of these three categories:

Evangelism

There are only two ways to grow a church: internally and externally. To grow a church internally is to have babies. Is to raise our kids in the church and teach them about Christ, so that one day they will be equipped to step into a role of their own and contribute to the purpose of the Church.

The other way, is to lead those who are far from God to Christ by preaching the Gospel, and sharing our faith.

Acts 2:40 NKJV

40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.”

The early church exploded: three thousand souls were saved on one day:

Acts 2:41 NKJV

41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.

Some churches say, “Let’s get them to church so that they will hear the Gospel and get saved.”

Other churches will say, “Let’s send out our people into the community with the Gospel so that people will get saved.”

Honestly, it’s not a case of either or but both and. We should be inviting people to come here and hear the Gospel, but we should also be willing to share our faith with them right there in the moment. If we are faithful in both of these things, the church will experience new births on a regular basis, but we must do our part.

Notice that here in this text, the salvations did not stop after the 3,000 were saved:

Acts 2:47 NKJV

47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

They were experiencing new salvations each and every day. Why? Because God was blessing their efforts to reach the lost. They put feet to their faith and shared Christ everywhere they went. It says they were breaking bread from house to house, and as they did, they shared Christ with their families, their loved ones, their neighbors, and even strangers.

They evangelized their community, and we have been called to do the same.

Many ministries focus on sharing the Gospel.

Discipleship

Acts 2:42 NKJV

42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.

Discipleship is the training of young Christians. It is to take a young Christian and place them with an older Christian for the purpose of spiritual growth.

This can take on different forms, but the key is to just do it. Every young Christian has questions. They need someone specific whom they can reach out to with those questions and get answers.

Sometimes, churches will do this in a group setting, and sometimes they will do this in an individual setting. Again, the key is to just do it.

Sunday School is a form of discipleship if we utilize it as such. It is an opportunity for us to teach and train a child from birth all the way to 18 years old what it means to be a Christian and equip them to live like one and do ministry. The question is, when our 18 year olds come out of the youth class, are they ready for service? If not, we must reevaluate our Sunday School Program to see what changes we need to make so that we are preparing them to stand as a Child of God in the face of constant opposition. This is not just for the sake of the Church, but also for their sake.

Our our adult Sunday School classes teaching and training and equipping people for the work of ministry? If not, let’s reevaluate and make the necessary changes.

Listen, I’m not against studying to gain knowledge. We need to know what the Bible says and what it means. But at some point we have to take what we have learned and put it into action. Let’s disciple our people to serve Jesus Christ!

Evangelism… Discipleship

Missions

Acts 2:44–45 NKJV

44 Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, 45 and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.

The last category is missions. Missions can be split really into two groups: Evangelistic missions and Care Ministry.

Evangelistic Mission is when we go overseas to build a house, but while we are there, we preach the Gospel to them so that they can come to know Jesus.

Care Ministry is when we have those who already within our church, they are already saved, but yet they are struggling financially, mentally, spiritually, etc. When we go build ramps on a house for the elderly of our church, we are fulfilling this verse right here. When we give money to those of our church who come down with illness, have to have surgeries, and are out of work for a little while, we are fulfilling this verse right here. When we give money, or do projects for the widows of our church, because they are on a fixed income and inflation is killing them, we are fulfilling this verse right. And when we send over 3,000 bags of food home through the Allons Elementary School Backpack Program to care for children in need, we are fulfilling this verse right here.

These are all missional efforts to either tell someone about Jesus, or love on a brother or sister in Christ because they just need a little something extra in the moment. And we are commanded by God to do these things:

James 1:27 NKJV

27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

Prayer

Acts 2:42 NKJV

42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.

The next biblical function of the Church is prayer. Prayer cannot be overemphasized.

Sometimes I will hear someone say, “Well I’m not going tonight, because all they are doing is having a prayer service.” What???

What do you mean, “...all they are doing...” If they are having a prayer service, they are doing the most effective thing as a Church they could possibly be doing.

let me ask you all a question: If Jesus were to walk in right now… in the flesh, how many of you would line up to get some one-on-one time with Him? Everyone....right?

We all have questions that we would like to ask Him. We all have issues that we are in the middle of and would love to get some advice. We all would love to have a moment with Him.

That is exactly what prayer is. It is the only means that we have to communicate with God. That is how we talk to Him. Every single day, we should be talking to God in prayer multiple times throughout the day.

He is our Lord, so we should not be moving and operating without consulting Him first.

He is our friend, so we should be sharing our life with Him every single day.

He is our Savior, so we should be thanking Him for the new life we have in Him every single day.

He is our God, so we should be bringing every petition that we have before Him.

And let me tell you that prayer works. Prayer is the conduit in which God moves and operates. The more we pray and seek His face, the more we see God move and operate in our lives. It’s just how it is. God blesses prayer.

And prayer is not just for the individual, it is a ministry of the Church. Some people are gifted with being prayer warriors. They pray for hours every single day. These people should be at the forefront of the Church’s prayer ministry and leading others into a deeper prayer life.

James 5:16 NKJV

16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

Testify...Equip...Ministry...Pray...

Oneness

Lastly, there is the function of oneness. This is the function of unity.

Acts 2:44 NKJV

44 Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common,

Acts 2:46 NKJV

46 So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart,

As we operate, we are to operate as One with the One. Everything we do is to be done in the will of God.

The only way can truly accomplish this is if we are also performing the others biblical functions of the Church as well. It is through the teaching of God’s Word and prayer that we come to know the will of God. So if we skip those things, then everyone will be seeking to accomplish their own will instead of His will.

Also, when it comes to ministry, if we are not honestly evaluating who we are and who God has called us to be, we will not be unified in our missional and ministry efforts.

God has called us to be in one mind and one accord with one another, and when we do this, we will accomplish more for Him than we ever could individually.

Ephesians 4:11–15 NKJV

11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—

Commitment

As a little c church, we are here to bring honor and glory to God through our testimony, through our equipping leaders, through our ministry efforts, through our prayers, and through our oneness.

When you line these all up vertically and then look at the first letter of each word, you will see the word TEMPO.

This is our goal for the immediate future. We will strive to build TEMPO for the glory of God. We will strive to Build TEMPO as we seek to grow and develop and equip leaders for the work of ministry. We will seek to Build TEMPO by being focused in our ministry efforts and even expand our ministry efforts. We will seek to Build TEMPO by being intentional in building a thriving prayer ministry. And we will seek to Build TEMPO by seeking out the will of God for ourselves and this local assembly, which will provide a oneness within this body that locks arms together as we push forward for the cause of Christ.

As we come to a close today, I want you to simply ask yourself, “What is my purpose? How can I help this local assembly grow and develop? Where has God called me to serve?”

Maybe you want to come and pray about that today. I’m telling you that prayer works.

Maybe you are going through some things right now in your life, in your job, in your marriage, etc. and you just want to come and pray about that. This altar is open for you to come and pray. I’m telling you that prayer works.

Maybe you have never truly acknowledged Christ as your Lord and Savior, and you need to come and do that today. I encourage you to come and pray. I’m telling you that prayer works.

Whatever the case may be, if God is leading you to do something, just be obedient to whatever that is.