Function of the Church - I

Text: Matt. 18:15-20 &

Place Preached - (Mississauga International Baptist Church)

Date Preached - (09/28/03)

Introduction:   

REVIEW of PREVIOUS MESSAGE

1. What is the Church? What is it’s purpose?

DEFINITION OF CHURCH:  A local church is an organized body of believers who are immersed upon credible confession of faith in Jesus Christ, who recognize only two offices (filled by pastor and deacon), who are sovereign in polity, and who are bonded together for work, worship, mutual edification, observance of the ordinances and the worldwide proclamation of the Gospel.

CLARIFYING NOTES....

1. Explain LOCAL vs. UNIVERSAL Church positions.

Study Definition & Usage of ecclessia in NT

Basically – “A Called Out Assembly”

# of Occurrences = 118 X – vast majority are clearly local church references.

2. Explain the Difference between ISRAEL (OT) and the CHURCH (NT).

Israel is not the OT church, The Church is not the Israel of the NT.

There are Scriptural proofs of their distictiveness.

1. Israel continues to exist after the establishment of NT Church.

2. There are many yet-to-be-fulfilled national promises in effect for Israel.

The LOCAL CHURCH is....

I. An Expression of Christ in our Community.

II. An Organism under the Headship of Christ.

III. A God-ordained Institution.

IV. A Caring Community.

V. A Bulwark of the Truth.

2. How is the church to function?

– How is it to be organized and operating?

1 Corinthians 14:33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.

1 Corinthians 14:40 Let all things be done decently and in order.

Today we want to talk about function.  Not Function without Focus, Direction, Purpose or Meaning.

Focus Governs Function (EXPLAIN) 

ILLUSTRATIONS - The Automobile (1925 Model T) / The Creation

Next week we will get into the Nuts & Bolts of Function.

1. Planning & Conducting Services & Ministries of the Church

2. Participation of the membership – What is our Role?

3. Provision of Resources for the functioning of the church.

4. Polity or government of the church.

What is the THREE-FOLD Focus of the Church?

I. Upward Focus

Ephesians 3:21  Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

Our First Love is Christ

Revelation 2:4  Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. READ CONTEXT

• Worship

[Worship is] to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open up the heart to the love of God, to devote that will to the purpose of God.  -  William Temple

A. W. Tozer, in the preface of his classic book The Knowledge of the Holy, explains why he wrote the book:

With our loss of the sense of the majesty has come the further loss of religious awe and consciousness of the divine presence. We have lost our spirit of worship and our ability to withdraw inwardly to meet God in adoring silence.

Modern Christianity is simply not producing the kind of Christian who can appreciate or experience the life in the Spirit. The words, "Be still, and know that I am God," mean next to nothing to the self-confident, bustling worshiper ... of the twentieth century.

A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy (New York: Harper & Row), 6.

• His Glory

• He is our life

LOOK UP & READ Col. 3:1-4

There can be no church without Christ!!

• Communion / Fellowship with Him

• He is to be Exalted

John 3:14  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

John 12:32  And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

Exalted in our personal lives and in our community.

POEM – “Christ is the Head of this House, the Unseen Guest at every meal, the Silent Listener to every conversation.”

Actually He should not be a treated as a guest, but as a Resident!

Does He Reside and Preside in our Midst?

Several pictures of Christ in New Testament that teach us the centrality of Christ to our lives.  And what our focus towards Him ought to be.

A. Christ is our head.

He is our leader, our authority, our commander-in-chief.

He is the Captain of our Salvation!!

The head is that which moves the body.

The FOCUS of Submission – Eph. 5:23-24

B. Christ the Groom

We are the Bride.

The FOCUS of Intimacy / Love – Eph 5:25

(Song of Sol.  – “I am my beloved’s and he is mine...”)

Hosea 2:16  And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali.

C. Christ is our Crown – Rev. 4:10

He is the Prize – Phil. 3:14

The FOCUS of Purity – Eph. 5:26-27

LOOK UP & READ I John 3:2-3

II. Inward Focus

“One another” 

SEE Passages in I JOHN  Love One Another

1 John 3:1111For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

1 John 3:2323And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.

1 John 4:77 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

1 John 4:11-1211Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.12No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

OTHER “One Another” PASSAGES

Romans 12:10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;

Romans 15:7 Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.

Romans 15:14 And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.

Romans 16:16 Salute one another with an holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute you.

Galatians 5:1313For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

Ephesians 4:22With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;

Colossians 3:1313Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

1 Thessalonians 4:18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

1 Thessalonians 5:1111Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.

Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:

Contrariwise, in other NT passages  we will find that we are not to Judge, Stumble, Devour, Provoke, Envy, or Hate one another.

A. Love is the Measure of Our Discipleship

John 13:35  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

B. Love is the Mark of Pure Religion

James 1:27  Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

C. Love is the Master of a disciplined man.

2 Corinthians 5:14  For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:

III. Outward Focus

Evangelism

Matthew 28:19-20 19Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Mark 16:1515And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

A. Evangelize

B. Baptize

C. Mobilize

2 Timothy 2:2  And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

Conclusion:     (Review)