BFM" The Church
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Introduction
Introduction
How many times have you heard someone say, “I don’t need to go to church to be a Christian”? I know that I have heard many people say this expression in order to rationalize or defend the fact that they no longer attend a church. Typically what follows this statement is someone saying that they “worship God their own way on their own”. Can this be done? You bet it can! We do this day in and day out, do we not? We study our Bible daily and we spend time with God in prayer. We talk about God with our family/spouse and we try to reflect the love of Jesus in the way that we live our lives. Most certainly the Christian faith is a private faith between us and God… However, our faith is also certainly a public faith that we share with other people! I mentioned that there is a vertical and horizontal spiritual axis that exists. We have a relationship with God (vertically) but we also have a horizontal relationship with others. This part is vital to being a Christian and we are called to walk in the light with one another!
Our message tonight will look at the importance of “going to church” in addition to what the Church (globally) is supposed to look like and act like to the world around us! I pray that this message motivates us to action this week as we read what the BFM and Scripture has to say about the importance of the church.
The BFM writes: “A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. In such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord. Its scriptural officers are pastors and deacons. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.
The New Testament speaks also of the church as the Body of Christ which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages, believers from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.”
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
Matthew 1
15 “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. 16 “But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. 17 “If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 “Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. 19 “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. 20 “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”
41 So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. 42 They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.
5 For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you, 6 namely, if any man is above reproach, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion. 7 For the overseer must be above reproach as God’s steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain, 8 but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled, 9 holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.
1 Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, 2 shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; 3 nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
There are several things that stand out as we read this article. Tonight we are going to focus on 3 of these items: 1st, what the church is. 2nd, how the church operates. And 3rd, some differences between a “Baptist” church and other denominations.
What the Church is
What the Church is
The word “church” comes from the Greek word “ekklesia” which means the universal church. Not just a local group of Believers but rather all believers around the world. This word is a great word as it breaks down barriers that humans like to put up (rich/poor, black/white, American/non-American) and illustrates the church as a singular assembly of Christians united in Christ. That is what the church is supposed to be, correct? A group of everyday people from all walks of life that gather to worship the King in spirit and truth because He is what brings us together.
In our day and age the “church” has unfortunately stumbled in this regard and we put these barriers up more times than not. We divide ourselves often in denominations (which is not entirely a bad thing, as we will talk about later) and as “charter”/lifelong members versus new members or guests. The church (worldwide) has suffered from division and we have lost our identity in some ways because we can be so focused on ourselves rather than the God that brings us together in the first place! The church is not a social club where Believers gather to gossip and talk about what is going on in our lives - we do those things, but that CANNOT be the primary reason we gather. The church is not a place where we focus on our wants and needs - although we can do that, once again, it cannot be our primary focus when we gather! The church is a place where we humbly bow and worship the King with one another. Where we lift up our burdens in prayer and we lift one another up in encouragement as a body of Christ. The church is a place where we seek first the Kingdom of God. The church is to be a place where we come together and minister to the lost.
It is interesting to see that the BFM states that the church is a “local congregation of baptized believers.” Baptism is important because it gives an outward testimony of your inner change! It gives believers encouragement and seems to be a “spark” in the life of the Church as a whole as this is certainly an exciting time. The church is not a place for people to play the political game of showing up, making relationships to boost ones business and then hoping to eventually end up on the “good side” of eternity. Millions of people treat church like that, however. Our church is a local congregation of baptized believers. We gather with one another to worship. We pursue a Christ-like lifestyle. We encourage one other along the way. We give towards missions and hopefully we pursue missions as well! We don’t expect non-Chrisitans to do some of these things because they are not baptized believers. But for those of us who are, these things are not only expected of us but commanded of us. The Christian is supposed to be missional (not only mission minded but live a life on mission). We are supposed to give our time and resources. We are to encourage one another and we are to worship together! Therefore, the Church is supposed to do all of these things as well!
The Church is not a place where we should come to feel comfortable but a place where we feel conviction and experience hope in what Christ has done for us. Praise God for the church and what the church represents (the kingdom of God on earth).
How the Church operates
How the Church operates
Every church operates a little bit differently than the church down the road. Whether it be urban or rural, a 10,000 person church or a church with 10 members, each church will operate differently. What we see in Scripture and in the BFM, though, is that there are clearly some things that the church must do. The church must be set up so that all things that are done reflect Christ. We cannot have ministries that do not point people closer to Christ. If we do then we are simply doing things for the sake of doing things. Now, I will counter this point by stating that there are certainly areas that our church can do more things to point people towards Christ. Whether that be a mission trip or simply a men’s prayer breakfast once a month, there is ALWAYS more that we can do, however everything that we do must be done in an effort to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with those around us!
There are 4 examples of this in the BFM
The BFM shows that the church belongs to Jesus Christ
The BFM states that the church is governed by His laws
The BFM states that each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ
The BFM states that each member is accountable to Jesus
It’s all about Jesus! You cannot claim to love Jesus and divorce yourself from His bride. If you truly love Jesus, you’ll love His church and love to worship with the church!
We see throughout the New Testament that there are leadership positions. We know that today we have deacons and pastors. The basis for these positions is straight out of the New Testament!
1 Timothy shows us what the expectations of deacons are supposed to be and we see that the word “deacon” in Greek literally means servant.
8 Deacons likewise must be men of dignity, not double-tongued, or addicted to much wine or fond of sordid gain, 9 but holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. 10 These men must also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons if they are beyond reproach. 11 Women must likewise be dignified, not malicious gossips, but temperate, faithful in all things. 12 Deacons must be husbands of only one wife, and good managers of their children and their own households. 13 For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.
1 timothy 3:
1 Timothy shows us
We also know that churches have pastors. This word was not around in Biblical times, so whenever you read your Bible and see the word elder realize that this is where we get the word pastor from. Pastors are responsible for feeding and protecting their flock. They are called to preach the Word boldly and to make sure that sheep are taken care of. talked about the expectations and responsibilities of the pastor in this position. These positions are straight out of Scripture and these positions help the church operate. The pastor preaches and helps the flock grow and stay protected and the deacons are Godly helpers in this process! They help serve the church and praise God that our church has servant minded deacons because not every church has that - trust me.
We also see other important roles in the church throughout the New Testament. We see that the church in Jerusalem had servant leaders (). We see that the church in Antioch called Paul and Barnabas to be missionaries and to share the Word (). We see that there are also correct ways to go about teaching correct doctrine () and disciplining church members (, ). These are things that our church does as well! We have wonderful leaders who serve in various capacities in the church and we do things to help our missionaries around the world through giving to the Annie Armstrong and Lottie Moon offerings. These are great things, and we do a great job of faithfully giving to them (and exceeding our goals), however I pray that 2019-2020 is the most year that Morgan Baptist gives the most to missions both in our offerings and in the way that we live mission minded lives outside of the walls of the church. If the Lord wills, I also pray that next year will be a time where we travel to the front lines and help our brothers and sisters who are in the trenches day in and day out because that is one of the responsibilities of the church.
Differences in Churches
Differences in Churches
We see that some denominations are led from a single place (Rome - Catholics) and others have their “hub” be a single place (Springfield, MO - Assembly of God). However, Baptists are different in that while we do have a “convention” and a mission board, our churches are autonomous (we do not take orders from a higher authority on who we have to hire or what we must preach about). As a Baptist church, we are able to do those things based upon what our members vote for. We have the freedom to seek God and make decisions without having to go through another body or organization.
As Southern Baptists we know that the Southern Baptist Convention office is in Nashville and that there are various conferences and meetings that make decisions that effect others around the world (for example, LifeWay closing their physical stores). We know that we vote for the President of the SBC (or at least our church sends people to vote) and we play a role in this process, however this President has far less power than say the Pope. There is a lot of power in the local church (as there was in Paul’s day).
Another thing that separates Baptists from other denominations is that we help support our missionaries. The cooperative program helps to provide financial support for Southern Baptist Missionaries around the world! Whenever we give, part of our giving helps advance the Gospel (yet another thing that the Bible commands we do!). As Southern Baptists, we are not commanded to do something by a synod or a committee as Lutherans and Catholics are. We have freedom. One of the great things about the Baptist Faith and Message, though, is that we have a unifying document between all Baptists that we can affirm and have some common ground with one another! We might not completely agree, however we have the ability to understand the basic beliefs of every Baptist from our BFM document.
There are certainly things that Baptists can do better, and by no means are we a “perfect” denomination! With that said, though, Baptists do a good job of going about the Biblical model of what a church looks like. One other notable difference between Baptists and other evangelical denominations nowadays is the fact that Southern Baptists do not have women pastors. Many denominations have begun to call women to be their pastor and Baptists simply disagree with this based solely upon Scripture. I want to point out, though, that it is silly to say that women cannot lead in the church. Some of the most godly people I have known in my life have been women. Praise God that there are women in this church and around the world that God has gifted with the ability to lead and teach others. We see in that Phoebe was commended by Paul as a servant of the church (there is a huge debate regarding this fact because the Greek word for servant in is “deacon”). Whether women were deacons in the early church is up for debate, however what is not up for debate is the fact that the office of an elder/pastor was for males. This is not an excuse for women not to serve in the church though! As SBC President JD Grear wrote recently about his church (Summit Church), we are unashamedly complementarian - we believe that women are called to serve in important, complementary roles (simply not eldership).
Next week, on Mother’s Day, we are going to take a week off from Ephesians (I know we just started) and look at what Biblical Womanhood looks like because it is unfortunately far removed from what our society and culture claims that it is today. I pray that this chart helps give you references to what Scripture has to say about specific things regarding the church!
Conclusion
Conclusion
The church is a wonderful thing to be a part of! As a child I genuinely loved going to church and as I matured in my faith I began to see the beauty of being involved in my local church and how we were playing a role in the advancement of the Kingdom of God! It is a blessing to be able to come to a church building but it is an even greater blessing to gather with other believers and worship the King. As we looked at tonight, we have a command to gather with one another - we cannot be loneranger Christians because calls us to walk in the light as Christ is in the light. We can only do this by gathering with one another and encouraging one another along the way. We see that the church is called to missions and to not shy away from controversial things (such as discipline or women being involved in the church) because there is a Biblical basis for these things. We are not to look like the world but we are supposed to be a light to the world and to share the love of Jesus Christ with the lost. I pray that as the summer approaches and as 2019 continues on that this would be the year that our church rallies behind the call to missions and that we begin to explore opportunities for us to share the Gospel with others. There is no greater call for the church than to do exactly that!
Let’s pray
